Election 2016: 8 seek spots on Newport Beach City Council

Eight candidates are running for three available seats on the Newport Beach City Council in the Nov. 8 election.

Two are running in District 2, which represents the Newport Heights and Newport Crest areas. Three candidates are running in District 5, which represents Balboa Island and the Fashion Island area, and three are vying for the District 7 seat, which represents Newport Coast and Newport Ridge.

The candidates are, in the order they appear on the ballot:

DISTRICT 2:

Shelley M. Henderson

Age: 43

Professional occupation: Consultant

Education: Juris doctor candidate from Trinity Law School

Time lived in Newport Beach and in the district: Three years

Previous public service: Appointed by President George W. Bush to be associate director for outreach at the U.S. Department of Education and as public liaison to the president.

Immediate family: Debonaire (son)

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Fiscal responsibility and accountability: We need to focus like a laser on our unfunded liability. I have a fresh approach as to how we can pay it down at an even faster rate.　

2. Work with our schools to address the public health crisis of addiction and drug abuse. I want to address this problem from the perspective of compassion.

3. Every resident must feel confident that they have a voice on the City Council, and I want to be that voice. Far too many residents still feel disconnected from city government.

Brad Avery

Age: 62

Professional occupation: Director of marine programs at Orange Coast College

Education: Master’s in public administration from Cal State Long Beach, bachelor’s in journalism from USC

Time lived in Newport Beach and in the district: 47 years in Newport, 35 years in the district

Previous public service: Newport Beach Harbor Commission; Board of Advocates, Oasis Senior Center; president of Marineros Catalina Island Conservancy; Santa Cruz Island Foundation board member; USC sailing team trustee

Immediate family: Two brothers

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Harbor revitalization

2. Strengthen Newport’s long-term fiscal position

3. Improved civic infrastructure and harbor water quality

DISTRICT 5:

Jeff Herdman

Age: 70

Professional occupation: Retired educator (teacher, principal, director, assistant superintendent), businessman

Education: Bachelor’s degree in social science, master’s in educational administration, doctorate in educational leadership

Time lived in Newport Beach and in the district: 62 years

Previous public service: President of the Balboa Island Improvement Assn., 2009-13; president of the Little Balboa Island Property Owners’ Assn., 2005-13; board member of the Balboa Island Museum and Historical Society, 2013-15; member of the Newport Beach Charter Revision Committee, 2006; member of the Newport Beach Tidelands Management Committee, 2012-15; Newport Beach Civil Service Board member, 2014-16

Immediate family: Sally Herdman (wife), Jennifer Herdman (daughter), Cindy Valdes (daughter), Mary Palmer (daughter), Jeff Herdman (son)

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Effective representation of the majority opinion.

2. Sound fiscal management of the taxpayer’s dollar.

3. Preservation of our city’s history and culture and protection of its future.　

Mike Glenn

Age: 36

Professional occupation: Founder and chief executive of Devion Custom Software Developers; longtime business executive and Newport activist

Education: Some college

Time lived in Newport Beach and in the district: 11 years on Balboa Peninsula, six months on Balboa Island

Previous public service: Founder and sole operator of SaveNewport.com; vice president of Newport Beach Republican Assembly; board chairman at Newport Harbor Elks Lodge; alternate vote at OC GOP; longtime volunteer at Newport Harbor Republican Women; activist for preserving Newport’s “dog beach”

Immediate family: Did not state

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Reverse the violations of Proposition 13 by the current council. The law keeps politicians from raising property taxes, keeps seniors in their homes and keeps rent low.

2. Shrink the size of government by reducing taxes, giving our employees the tools they need to work most efficiently, reducing expenses and responsibly managing our biggest and most expensive debt: our unfunded pensions.

3. Streamline our water supply, putting us on a 1,200-year supply of a clean, local water source, which would eliminate rationing while drastically cutting the price of water.

Lee M. Lowrey

Age: 46

Professional occupation: Founding partner and chief investment officer of a Newport Beach-based real estate private equity firm

Education: Bachelor of science in business administration (finance) from USC

Time lived in Newport Beach and in the district: 18 years in Newport Beach, seven months in the district

Previous public service: Orange County airport commissioner; founding chairman of The Atlas PAC; USC Marshall Partners

Immediate family: Sarah (wife), Vincent (son)

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Prioritize Newport Beach’s budget to focus on infrastructure improvements, traffic mitigation, curtailing our massive unfunded public employee pension debt and continuing to support our best-in-class public safety departments. We can do this by spending our taxpayers’ hard-earned money wisely and thoughtfully without raising taxes.

2. Maintaining Newport Beach’s unique quality of life and preserving our historical character through smart growth strategies in a completely public transparent process that follows the general plan and zoning laws of Newport Beach as well as complies with our voter-passed Greenlight Initiative. We can do this at the same time to revitalize the parts of our city and commercial centers that are in decline or have been neglected.

3. Curb drug abuse in our high schools by shining a large spotlight on the growing opioid and prescription drug epidemic that is affecting our children in our schools. I will work with city government, respective school districts, public safety and, most importantly, parents to begin to implement new ways that we can fight back against this scourge against our children.

DISTRICT 7: 　

Will O’Neill

Age: 32

Professional occupation: Attorney

Education: Bachelor’s from Stanford University, juris doctor from UC Hastings

Time lived in Newport Beach and in the district: More than three years

Previous public service: In second term on Newport Beach Finance Committee; president of UC Hastings Board of Governors; board member of Association of Business Trial Lawyers; trustee of Celtic Bar Assn.

Immediate family: Jenny (wife), Aubrey (daughter), Sean (son)

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Work toward reducing our long-term liability, which has increased to over $500 million in unfunded pension liability and Civic Center debt. Left unchecked, these costs will crowd out quality-of-life services we expect, like safety and infrastructure.

2. Remain focused on improving Newport Harbor.

3. Recruit and maintain good planning commissioners to maintain a balance between revitalization efforts and our quality of life. 　

Fred Ameri

Age: 76

Professional occupation: Urban planner and engineer

Education: Master’s of science in urban planning and engineering

Time lived in Newport Beach and in the district: 19 years

Previous public service: Newport Beach Planning Commission, 2010-14; president of the Harbor Ridge Homeowners Assn.; vice chairman of the California Water Quality Control Board (Region 8); member of the Newport Bay Watershed Executive Committee; member of the Board of Governors of California Wetlands Recovery; member of the Urban Land Institute; chairman of the board of trustees for the Orange County chapter of the World Affairs Council; member of the American Planning Assn.; member of the board of directors of the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross

Immediate family: Firouzeh (wife), Farhad (son), Maryam (daughter)

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Protect our quality of life and our world-class reputation.

2. Weigh any project’s benefits with the needs of residents and property-rights protections.

3. Maintain and rebuild our city’s infrastructure, including sea walls, bridges, sewer systems and undergrounding utilities, within a balanced budget.

Phil Greer

Age: 63

Professional occupation: Attorney

Education: Juris doctor from Southwestern University School of Law

Time lived in Newport Beach and in the district: 24 years

Previous public service: Little League, junior basketball, Public Finance Advisory Committee (Orange County), counsel to Newport Beach Arts Foundation

Immediate family: Arlene (wife), Alex (son)

What are three things you hope to achieve if elected?

1. Preserve and protect our traditions and heritage by limiting growth and respecting our communities.

2. Eliminate the divisiveness on the City Council by working with all civic and community groups.

3. Maintain sound fiscal policies with regard to the budget, growth and long-term obligations.

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Twitter: @HannahFryTCN