2 Winning Pasadena Candidates Break New Ground for Minorities : Balloting: Voters elect the first Latino to the City Council and first black woman to the school board. Card club measure apparently loses in Pomona.
Reflecting population changes that have seen minorities become the majority within the city, Pasadena voters have elected their first Latino City Council member and first female African American school board member.
In Pomona, meanwhile, voters in Tuesday’s elections apparently rejected a measure to allow two card clubs to operate in the city. The measure trailed by about 260 votes, with 411 ballots untallied.
The fate of a second proposal, which would ban card clubs, remained unclear. That measure trailed by only five votes as of Wednesday, the city clerk said. A final vote count may not come until next week.
In Compton, the sound defeat of proposals to give the mayor and City Council members hefty pay raises prompted Mayor Omar Bradley--who had pushed for the measures--to announce that he would not seek reelection to the part-time post.
In Pasadena, Ann-Marie Villicana, a 28-year-old lawyer and real estate agent who has never held office, confounded pundits by winning in the 6th Council District. She narrowly defeated William J. York Jr., chairman of the city’s Planning Commission and the front-runner when the campaign began.
Members of the local Latino community applauded the result.
“The fact that a Latino, a Latina, has finally been elected to the City Council is a very good thing,†said Manuel Valencia, spokesman for Latinos for Economic Awareness and Development. “It breaks down a barrier.â€
In another council race, the specter of controversial Pasadena Councilman Isaac Richard apparently hurt a candidate trying to succeed him. Richard’s choice in the 1st District, Saundra L. Knox, was thrashed by Joyce Streator.
Richard, censured by council colleagues three times in recent years for such contentious behavior as swearing at city officials, admitted he took down Streator campaign signs. He also got into a fight over the placement of a campaign sign with Streator’s brother, who suffered a broken nose in the scuffle.
In the 2nd Council District, neighborhood activist Paul Little heavily canvassed homes in his area to overwhelm Mark R. Nay, the business community’s candidate of choice.
The three council seats came open when Richard and colleagues Rick Cole and Kathryn Nack did not seek reelection.
In the school board race, Jacqueline Jacobs, 57, a Pasadena City College educator, was elected to replace Elbie Hickambottom, who retired after 16 years on the panel. Jacobs, who will join the five-member board May 9 as its first black female member, said she wants campuses to become “neighborhood centers†with a variety of after-school activities on weeknights and weekends for parents and students.
In Pomona, the card club fight was acrimonious from the start. The City Council backed the measure, citing the tax dollars the clubs would generate. But a group of residents argued that the clubs would attract crime and corruption.
The Compton measures backed by Bradley would have made the mayor and City Council posts full-time jobs, with annual salaries of $80,000 and $60,000, respectively. Current pay is $24,000 a year.
Correspondent Emily Adams contributed to this story.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
