Lee Wins Council Seat by Margin of 13 Votes

Janice Lee won the second seat on the City Council by a margin of 13 votes, after a count Friday of absentee and provisional votes.

“It was pretty tense when we waited for the results,” Lee said. “I guess my lucky number is 13.”

Lee garnered 1,183 votes to Daniel S. Glaser’s 1,170, Deputy City Clerk Kris Higdon said. After polls closed Tuesday, Lee led Glaser by 17 votes. Incumbent Dennis Washburn was reelected to the other council seat.

Lee, 48, said she was eager to begin her four-year term.

“I’m ready to go to work,” she said. “I’m grateful for the people who got me here; you don’t get there on your own.”

Glaser, a first-time candidate and chairman of the city’s Park and Recreation Commission, said he would not challenge the results.

“I have the utmost faith in the city staff,” Glaser, 30, said. “Though I would have liked to be a council member, the second best thing is knowing I made a run at it.”

Lee, also a first-time candidate, has been known mainly as an environmental advocate, and she owns a dove rental service called Birds on High. She has been a longtime opponent of the Ahmanson Ranch Project, a proposed development of more than 3,000 homes on the city’s northern border that she said would dramatically increase traffic in the area.

During the campaign, Lee voiced support for the Mulholland Highway Beautification Plan and strengthening safety and monitoring guidelines for the city’s landfill. She also said she would like to improve transportation services for the city’s elderly.

On March 16, the counted votes will be submitted to the City Council, which will confirm the results and make them official, Higdon said.