LOCAL ELECTIONS / COSTA MESA : Illegal Immigration, Apartments Are Dominant Issues : The business climate--how the city attracts and treats firms--also generates discussion. Twelve candidates are seeking two open council seats Nov. 8.

COSTA MESA —  This city isn’t the sleepy little town it once was, and if you ask the 12 candidates running for two City Council seats in the Nov. 8 election, many will say it’s time for a change in leadership.

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Though the issues vary, the top two concerns among candidates are coping with problems resulting from illegal immigration and getting a grip on the growing number of apartments cropping up to house them.

Many of the apartments are bursting at the seams, defying occupancy standards set by city code, candidates contend. And the current council, with its “liberal policies,” isn’t doing enough, council hopeful Chris Steel said.

Steel, 53, a self-employed investor, suggests getting rid of the city-run Job Center on West 17th Street, a place where day laborers gather. He contends that early morning congregations, which have numbered as many as 300 people at a time, are a blight on the community and a waste of money.

Janet L. McCammon, 35, a bank secretary, wants Costa Mesa residents to be served first and that all recipients of social services be screened for their legal status. She has made her support of Proposition 187, which would bar illegal immigrants from receiving public education, non-emergency health care and other social services, part of her platform.

McCammon and Steel, longtime residents of Costa Mesa, both think the city should put a stop to the influx of illegal immigrants.

Steel’s campaign theme is that unless city leaders make changes soon, “status quo will continue to flow.”

James (Jimmer) Wysopal, 29, a lifelong Californian, proposes the political unthinkable: a “Forrest Gump kind of attitude” in running the city, where common sense would dictate difficult decisions, as in the movie.

An exporter of novelty surf products, Wysopal would like to see more of the city’s budget spent on capital improvements and less on employee salaries and benefits. Of this year’s operating budget of $72 million, only $6 million is going toward capital improvements, while 60%, or $48 million, will be spent on the salaries and benefits for 500 city employees, he contends.

Other candidates are interested in generating more revenue by bringing more business to town. South Coast Plaza and Triangle Square are helpful, but more retail, and a stronger industrial base, would be welcomed, said Libby Cowan, another candidate hopeful.

Cowan, 41, a Costa Mesa planning commissioner, proposes streamlining the process of applying for business permits. Applicants should be able to go to one place and get everything done instead of having to “jump from counter to counter in City Hall,” she said.

Another Costa Mesa planning commissioner in the running, Mark Korando, 43, said he wants to preserve existing neighborhoods while keeping growth in check. Both Korando and Cowan work for the city of Irvine--Korando is a code enforcement officer, and Cowan is a community services superintendent.

Still, if there is open space, it should be developed when it can, say candidates Bob Brady and Michael Collier, friends for five years and self-described conservatives.

Collier’s platform: Bring the community together. No ethnic group should be afraid of the other, he said, and so the west side of town should not be segregated from the east, as is the case today, he contends.

“It would be like the way you do things in a family,” said Collier, 39, a father of three and a business manager of a thrift shop in Santa Ana. “We bring up all our problems and talk about them. We might not have the solution, but we could certainly try to solve the problem, and we could cut off all this racial tension before it gets really bad.”

Brady, 44, the manager of a teachers’ credit union, said he’s running because “it’s time to get some ordinary people in the running . . . and get away from people making a career of being politicians. . . . Sometimes we need a fresh look at things.”

The two seats now open are Councilman Jay Humphrey’s, who is stepping down after four years, and Councilman Peter F. Buffa, who’s seeking a third term. The mayor, Sandra Genis, has served six years; Buffa, eight; and Councilwoman Mary Hornbuckle, 10. The only newcomer is Councilman Joe Erickson, with two years.

Candidate Michael Scheafer, 41, proposes creating more recreational facilities for the city’s youth. A real estate agent and founder of Costa Mesa’s first Little League, Scheafer would like to build more sports fields at Fairview Regional Park and create an atmosphere in which businesses would be welcomed to town, not frowned upon.

Gary Monahan, 35, the manager of Goat Hill Tavern on Newport Boulevard, said that if he is elected, he would like to make the city “more business friendly.”

“A big part of the reason I’m running is because the city is viewed as having a negative attitude toward business,” he said.

Monahan also advocates reducing crime by creating more Neighborhood Watch groups and keeping illegal immigration under control by supporting Proposition 187.

Buffa, 45, the incumbent, said that if he is reelected to a third term, he will continue to be a pro-business, anti-regulation voice on the council.

A self-described conservative, Buffa said he has never voted for a tax increase in his eight years in office. He cites among his accomplishments streamlining the application process to make it easier for businesses to open up in the city and saving the police helicopter program when its funds were in jeopardy two years ago.

For the city to continue its level of public services, Buffa said the city needs to maintain a strong business base. Content that the city’s anti-gang unit has doubled from two to four officers in the last year, Buffa, a television producer, said he favors adding a fifth sergeant at the beginning of next year. He supported reopening the west-side police substation in the spring after it was closed for 10 months.

On illegal immigration, Buffa said he favors Proposition 187 but thinks that the heart of the matter lies with the federal government doing its job and closing the border.

Lynn David Clements, 27, a self-employed finance consultant, said that, as a council member, he would try to make Costa Mesa a safer city in which to live.

“Crime is a big issue,” he said. “It’s important to bring safety and stability back to the city.”

Enticing more businesses to relocate to Costa Mesa is another priority on Clement’s political agenda. He said the city’s dealings three months ago with the Auto Club of Southern California was an example of how the city rubs some businesses the wrong way. He said the council made it especially difficult for the company to expand its headquarters on Scenic Avenue, even though the expansion was finally approved.

“We really made them fight for it, and it was a long, drawn-out process,” he said.