The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles County, an Inter-League Organization, and constituent Local Leagues as available in communities holding elections on April 8, 2008 and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Public Library, Nelles Property

Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest.

Answer from Owen Newcomer:

The library is a top priority for me, right after the police station and Nelles. And, I think we can afford to build a new library.

A new library would benefit our children, our seniors and promote business around the new library. I think it is highly desirable goal.

We could use housing credits that we have earned in place of spending $6 million on housing subsidies.

We could help the project by building a parking lot that would serve the library and the Uptown existing businesses.

We could explore New Market Tax Credits that both reduce the cost to the developer and thus the city of the construction and spread the payments for the construction over 30 years, similar to your home mortgage.

We could dedicate new sources of city revenue to make the payments under the New Market Tax Credit.

A vital part of building a new library is the fund raising by the Library Foundation. Its efforts will make the difference. I applaud the Foundation for there long-term support.

There are other options for funding the library, and I believe a library would benefit all of Whittier.

Answer from Cathy Warner:

There actually are plans to build a new library facility to serve the residents of Whittier.

The City owns the Alpha Beta site in Uptown Whittier. This site is an almost complete city block. The Council has selected a development partner and is in the process of negotiating an Exclusive Right to Negotiate document. The developer has presented conceptual plans at a City Council meeting which give the Council the option of including a new library on the site.

The Council voted to direct the developer to create two sets of plans - one with a library and one without. After the plans have been created, the Council will determine which track they will follow - with a new library or without.

A community group, the Whittier Public Library Foundation, a 501(c)3 is in the process of creating a plan to raise money to "fill the gap" which will give the Council the option to build a new library once again Uptown.

For several months I have been an active participant with this group to achieve this goal.

It would be my desire to build a new library in Uptown Whittier once all the funding is available.

Answer from Owen Newcomer:

No continued state use of Nelles is acceptable. Whittier needs the old Nelles prison property to be developed for housing and retail businesses.

We are actively working to help the state meet its need for new prison sites--somewhere else--while getting the state to sell Nelles to a private developer. We have engaged a real estate firm to seek out other, better, sites for the state to build new facilities. We are working with our state representatives to persuade the court appointed overseer that other sites the state already owns are better suited for a new prison than Whittier.

At our last City Council meeting, we hired a legal team to represent Whittier's interests.

I am confident that we will prevail, and Nelles will be sold for development that truly benefits Whittier.

Answer from Cathy Warner:

Yes, the City of Whittier should continue to work with the State of California to facilitate a sale of the Nelles property, however the sale should ideally be to a developer with whom the City has a development agreement.

In all fairness both the State of California and the City of Whittier have been held hostage in this transaction since the court ruling by Federal Judge Henderson. When the ruling occurred the State was forced to put a hold on their plans to sell surplus property held by the Department of Corrections.

Because the State was not able to craft a solution to the overcrowding issue that affected the health and saftey of the prisoners in State institutions, Judge Henderson appointed a Special Master to attempt to facilitate the situation.

For several months now that Special Master has been looking at several sites within the State (Nelles being one) to consider building a hospital to treat prisoners. The decision of the Special Master need only be reported to Judge Henderson. The Special Master is not accountable to the legislature, governor, City of Whittier or the people of California.

Prior to this court ruling the State and the City worked together to come to a point wherein the State had a willing buyer and was ready to "sign the deal" to deliver the property to that willing buyer. The City would then have a degree of control over what was built on the property through it's zoning laws.

The City has been and should continue to be proactive as it relates to the disposition of the Nelles property. In order to facilitate this, the City maintains a lobbyist in Sacramento and a PR firm in Los Angeles. I and several of my colleagues on the Council have been to Sacramento to lobby and advocate on behalf of the City prior to the court ruling.

The Council is committed to it's proactive stance.

The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.