16 years later, council candidate Iseman still wants to listen

Another in a series of profiles of Laguna Beach City Council candidates.

Toni Iseman didn’t have political ambitions while forging a career in education, which included time as a counselor and career planning coordinator at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

A conversation with Bob Gentry in spring 1998 changed her outlook.

Gentry, who served three terms as mayor in Laguna during the 1980s and early ‘90s, asked friends to assemble a list of people who had worked on city committees or with environmental groups and would be a prime fit for public service.

Iseman, who moved to Laguna in 1970, was a member of the boards of Laguna Greenbelt Inc. and the Laguna Canyon Conservancy at the time and rose to the top of Gentry’s list.

“She was familiar with the particular neighborhoods within the city and their issues and needs,” Gentry wrote in an email. “She was open, engaging, approachable and she understood the role of local government in our democracy.

“She also was more about preservation than she was ‘change and grow,’ and I really liked that philosophy, especially for Laguna Beach.”

Voters elected Iseman to the council in November 1998, and the woman who hails from Hastings, Neb., has served ever since.

Iseman, 68, will vie to earn one of three open council seats in a field that includes incumbent Kelly Boyd and challengers Michele Hall, Robert Zur Schmiede, Jon Madison, Paul Merritt and Eli Grossman.

Current Mayor Elizabeth Pearson is not seeking reelection.

Iseman’s streak of 16 consecutive years on the council is the longest in Laguna Beach’s 87-year history, according to the city clerk’s office.

Looking back on Gentry’s suggestion, Iseman said last week that she needed time to mull the decision to run for council and ended up getting further inspiration from Tom Brokaw.

She said she was watching a television program that had the former NBC news anchor asking Harvard graduates what they were willing to do to make the world a better place. And that clinched it for her.

“I thought, ‘Running for office takes courage,’” Iseman said. “I knew then I had a lot to learn.”

Negotiation, a skill learned during a career that included 14 years at OCC before her retirement in 2005, has proved valuable while on the council, Iseman said.

“Everything is better with negotiation,” Iseman said. “I’m frustrated when things go through without any modification.”

Iseman said listening to the public is an important quality in a council member.

At times public vitriol has reached a boiling point in Laguna. For instance, the Village Entrance Project discussion last year included fierce debate over whether a parking structure should be built next to City Hall.

“The volume goes up when people think they are not being heard,” Iseman said. “If you dismiss the public’s concerns, you will have frustration.”

Iseman, who served two years, from 2003 to 2005, on the California Coastal Commission, adheres to a tenet she calls “retail politics.”

“I call people back,” she said. “I think this relates to what I did for the students: working with one person at a time, setting a goal and helping them with problems.”

Iseman said traffic and congestion are two issues most affecting Lagunans’ quality of life.

“We have people coming from far and near and have an obligation to share our beaches with the public,” Iseman said. “It’s wonderful to see wall-to-wall people at the beach, but not wonderful to see bumper-to-bumper traffic. We must find a way to get people out of their cars.”

One way to decrease the number of cars is public transportation, such as the summer trolleys, she said. “A lot of locals love the trolley and are giving up their cars in the summer,” she added.

Iseman and Mayor Pro Tem Bob Whalen will soon facilitate public meetings regarding how to improve Laguna Canyon Road to ease congestion and provide safer walking and bicycling areas.

Iseman balances her council obligations with her roles on the South Orange County Wastewater Authority board and as Laguna’s representative on the Orange County Vector Control District.

Of the committee work, Iseman said, “It’s important to meet people in other communities and learn from them.”