News

Hollywood's True Colors

Continued from page 1

Mack refuses to talk about personal issues but counters that Anderson showed up uninvited at a meeting she held in the Crystal Lake area and "ate my food." It was at that meeting, says Anderson, that Mack publicly enjoined him to quit the race and join up with her.

"I wish the black community would get together and decide which one black candidate to support and put their strength behind that candidate," says Coleman.

Furr, Mack, and Anderson are also concerned that one of the candidates, Peter Hernandez, just moved into the district (he lived three houses away) and another, Pete Brewer, lives a block outside the district. Brewer says he will lease a place in District 2 before the election. Neither wanted to run in their own district, District 3, where two popular incumbents are facing off.

"It's the Hillary syndrome," says Furr. "I'm surprised by this. I don't think that's what districting was all about. Especially in district[s] 2 and 5 -- districts that have been severely neglected and are crying out for representation." (Candidate Jose "Pepe" Lopez moved to west Hollywood's District 5 from Emerald Hills.)

Hernandez defends his action, saying moving three houses' distance is far different from moving across town. And Brewer says he didn't agree with the way the boundaries were drawn and feels more aligned with District 2 residents than the more upscale Hollywood Hills residents with whom he was lumped. "I've lived in central Hollywood for 31 years, and I want it to look as nice as Emerald Hills and Hollywood Hills," Brewer says.

On February 8, voters will also consider a charter amendment requiring candidates to live in a district for at least six months before the election.

Districting supporters are comforted by one measure they say will prevent anti-districting forces from completely contaminating the process: runoff elections. Hollywood voters approved runoffs along with districting. With runoffs the dirty political trick of "stacking" an election by putting in a spoiler, a candidate whose purpose is to siphon votes away from the opponent, no longer works. Now, with or without a spoiler, a winning candidate still needs more than 50 percent of the vote -- or else a second, runoff election is held a month later between the two highest vote-getters.

"It's the best we can do," says John Lundin, one of the group that fought for districting. "People can stack elections any way they want. And Hollywood has a tradition of stacking elections. There's only so much you can do -- after all, an election is a democratic process."

And Commissioner Coleman, who was instrumental in pushing through districting, is still happy that it has arrived in Hollywood.

"We now have 22 people running for office in Hollywood, and three years ago you couldn't find anyone to run," he says. "Three years ago you needed $80,000 to wage a citywide campaign. Now almost anyone can run."

Contact Julie Kay at her e-mail address:

julie.kay@newtimesbpb.com

• 1
• 2