Maness presents self as `consensus builder'

The staff of the Half Moon Bay Review interviewed the three candidates for Half Moon Bay City Council last week. Over the next issues, starting today, the newspaper will present each candidate's answers. The order in which the stories will appear was decided by random drawing. This week John Maness is profiled. He will be followed by Carol Cupp, then David Mier. Following publication of Mier's profile, all three interviews will be posted from May 23 until election day on the Review's Web Site.

Why did you decide to run for City Council?

"I decided to run largely because I didn't think we had a candidate who could join the existing council and work with them, get along and perhaps reach some consensus on issues instead of fighting over them."

Describe the qualities or traits you have that would allow you to work with such disparate personalities as Deborah, Naomi, Dennis and Jerry.

"Probably the strongest quality is that I'm open-minded. I can listen to an idea, regardless of who's presenting it. I haven't been involved in the dogfights of the past, so there isn't any bad blood between me and Naomi or Deborah or anyone."

You seem to have initiated some kind of bad blood just by the fact of your running when Carol was the chosen one from (the Neighbors' Alliance).

"When I learned that Carol was the chosen one, I didn't have a problem with that initially. . . . I called her on the telephone and she told me she wasn't certain she wanted to run. . . . Finally, she told me, in fact it was the night before I filed my papers, that she was frustrated and wished Deborah Ruddock would make a decision. At that moment I decided I was going to run.

"If she didn't know in her own mind that she wanted to run for City Council then I thought that probably she shouldn't, number one, and number two, if she had to ask Deborah Ruddock, that tells me a lot about her. First and foremost, she can't make up her own mind. What this city needs right now is some sense of leadership or at least people who can gather whatever facts are available, analyze them and make their own decision."

What do you think of the characterization that because you're receiving money from Ocean Colony you're a development candidate?

"The fact is, at least to my knowledge, we have not received any money from Ocean Colony."

You don't count Mike Ferreira in with that?

"Mike Ferreira has historically been painted as a developer. And no one person can show me one property he's ever developed. It's not happened. In fact, if Bill Barrett would pull out his file of headaches, Mike Ferreira would be responsible for a number of them. My friendship with Mike Ferreira I don't think aligns me in any way with the golf course, or developers, or anyone for that matter.

"I think of myself as a traditional moderate candidate."

In the past, though, haven't you tended to lean more toward the Neighbors' Alliance view of the world?

"Yes, I have. I've tended to support their view to the extent that they support and led _ continue to lead _ a controlled growth kind of approach to our town. Recently, I've formed the opinion that their attitude has changed and it's no longer controlled growth, but no growth."

What about Devil's Slide? What alternative do you support for fixing the problem there?

"I don't have a preference. . . . I will support whatever the experts recommend."

They both seem to be geologically possible. What it seems to be coming down to is a matter of cost.

"If, for example, the tunnel is deemed to be a viable solution and it costs significantly less than a bypass, I would certainly support the tunnel over the bypass. . . . I think it has the least impact on natural resources. It doesn't carve through the mountain. I don't think you'd see the kind of public outrage that we will likely see with the bypass."

What would you consider significantly less?

"A quarter of a million (dollars)."

What about North Wavecrest? Should the city be taking an active roll in pursuing some kind of development plan out there, or allow the developers to figure out what works for them and let people decide if they like it?

"I don't believe that the city has any real responsibility or urgent need to do anything with that at the moment. If the developer wants to propose a plan, then we look at the plan. I don't see anything wrong with North Wavecrest the way it is now. There's a process. I'm convinced a plan is coming sooner or later and at that point we need to evaluate what it is that's proposed."

How did you feel about Measure I (the North Wavecrest redevelopment proposal)? How did you vote on it?

"I didn't vote on it. I didn't make it to the polls that day. . . . I was working. I couldn't get back in time."

How would you have voted?

"I would have opposed it. I, like a lot of people, didn't have confidence in the proposal. I didn't think that everything was on the table. What it boiled down to for me was a matter of trust. I didn't trust them. Our city, our leadership, was very much involved in that process and I'm not convinced they totally understood the whole thing."

Do you think that the Land Use Plan is a relevant document in today's Half Moon Bay?

"I have asked some people who should know, (city Planning Director Chris Gustin) for example, and he insists that it's an excellent document. It's his job; he ought to know."

What rights do landowners have to develop their property?

"Clearly, landowners have a right to develop their property, but you can't move into the neighborhood and become a bully. You have to find out what the concerns are and you have to respond to them."

Do you think developers have come into town and have been bullies here?

"I don't think so. I think they've gone through our process."

What about residents' rights to control the destiny of their community?

"They have the ultimate right. They do that through electing people who somehow preserve a balance between the property owners and the residents. It's not good enough to say that other folks can't live here for the same reasons that everyone else moved here."

What would you hope to accomplish most as a council member?

"Some degree of consensus on the existing council. I'd like to think that we can restore the town's faith in the City Council. Right now I don't think the people have a lot of confidence in our council, the ability to take care of our needs."

Are there problems in the Police Department?

"No question about it."

What are they?

"Number one, there's a lack of leadership. . . . I think what's happened there is the chief has excused himself from his responsibility to be the leader and instead has . . . spent too much time on extracurricular activities, for example, he's the president of the Police Chief's Association. The first thing he should do is be there and be focused and recognize he has a problem and it's not all money, salaries."

How would you correct the problems?

"Start with hiring a city manager who's focused and someone who's willing to take a look at that and insist that the leadership be restored there, one way or another."

You left the Police Department under somewhat clouded conditions. Why should I believe that you could make objective decisions, or not take out some sort of vengence against a person or persons in the department?

"I guess because of the fact I spent seven years there as both an employee and a manager and I care about the department. I don't believe that Dennis Wick is responsible for my leaving, not entirely. We certainly didn't get along at that time. I think it was a combination of things. It's pretty complicated and I don't profess to understand the whole thing right now.

"I think that the city failed completely with respect to the Police Department four years ago. There was a problem in the Police Department and the city manager failed to deal with it and the City Council failed to deal with it and there's still a problem."

The Conservatory is estimated to bring in $173,000 a year in transient occupancy taxes after the third year. Do you have any spending priorities or things that you want to see funded?

"If I had some money to spend I'd give the cops a raise. That's because I know that's something that's needed. That's not because they're my friends."

What is the appropriate response to something like the fire at The Conservatory?

"To acknowledge that this fire that we now know is an arson is wrong. There's no justification for it and we should stand tall and let the rest of the county and the rest of the Bay Area know that we don't promote this sort of lawlessness on the coast. Period. To suggest that we do something about this hotel plan would be to suggest that we negotiate with this firebug. I don't support that, and I don't think our electorate should in any way legitimize this arson."

"If the answer is to rework the plan, it has to be with his buy-in. One-hundred percent. We're not going to get that by name-calling or ridicule. If you're going to get it at all it's going to be by persuasion. The guy is a businessman, and businessmen understand numbers and someone is going to have to pay for it. He's not going to pay for it. He has no reason to. So the question is: Are the taxpayers in Half Moon Bay and El Granada willing to foot the bill, because that's what it's going to take.