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California's Oldest Elected Official Wins New Term

By Victoria Marty

Margaret Breland, Maudelle Shirek and Betty Olds won re-election to the Berkeley City Council Tuesday, while District Five candidate Miriam Hawley was elected for a first time despite her endorsements from two warring factions of the current council.

In District Three, Shirek pulled in 72 percent of the votes, with opposing candidates James Peterson and Marcella Crump-William getting a combined 28.3 percent.

At 89, Shirek is California's oldest sitting politician, and she doesn't take that role lightly. Running on the battle cry "I've done a lot, and I ain't finished yet," Shirek is a champion of labor causes and wants to court locally owned businesses.

For District Six, eight-year council veteran Betty Olds received nearly two-thirds of the vote. Her main opponent appeared to be Norine Smith, who received 22 percent of the vote. Eleanor Pepples trailed behind both candidates.

In District Two, Margaret Breland received 2,557 votes, while her main opponent, Betty Hicks, pulled in about half that amount.

Newcomer Hawley swamped four other candidates. The closest contender was Tom Kelly, who received 493 votes. Hawley got 2,931 votes.

The contests in districts three and six were particularly hard fought. Shirek's victory came after a campaign contribution controversy forced Peterson to vacate his seat on the Zoning Adjustment Board.

Shirek followed up on complaints about Peterson when she criticized his contributions, saying most of his $12,000 war chest came from outside-Berkeley donors. Shirek had raised almost half of that, all of it from Berkeley residents.

City council candidates in district six warred over Measure Y, which was headed to victory early Wednesday morning. Measure Y would make it illegal for landowners to evict handicapped and elderly residents who have lived at that residence for longer than one year.

It is a popular measure among renters but unpopular among landowners, and Smith, who represents an upper-hill district composed mainly of homeowners, felt the hit.

"I didn't realize when I was campaigning that my support for Measure Y may cost me the election," Smith said Monday as she passed out fliers outside North Gate Hall.

Smith was the only District Six candidate to support Measure Y.

Candidates for Districts Two and Three focused on economic growth to help the decrepit areas of south and southwest Berkeley. Peterson stated that if elected he would support low-income projects like the Ed Roberts campus, a proposed $30 million project in the Adeline area. He also touted "mixed-use" developments that would occupy all parts of south and southwest Berkeley, an idea that would delay added construction.

Hicks called for increased revitalization, saying added jobs will help Berkeley residents. She claimed that appropriate development can be accomplished when there is effective communication between residents and city council members.

Breland hopes for improvements along San Pablo Avenue, but her main focus is providing good jobs. She also supports an increase in the living wage.

In District Six, the competition was stiff, and ongoing sign wars turned ugly for some of the candidates. Some voters complained that misleading letters from incumbent Olds regarding the Fire and Police Association led the public to open letters they might not ordinarily open, thinking they were letters from the association. Candidate Smith said that at one point she found a squirrel wrapped in her political sign lying dead on her driveway, and Pepples was upset that her signs on utility poles were being torn down, despite a city ordinance which makes it illegal to post signs on city property.

Smith, who has lived in the Bay Area all her life, wanted the council to meet more frequently and said too much time is wasted on partisan party politics.

Olds said she tried to make headway in the attempt to build a new fire station in her district. But the Berkeley Fire Department and the district's residents have not decided on a location for the new fire station, she says. Olds is also concerned about her district's infrastructure, pointing to a $1 million revamp of Hearst Avenue which she pushed hard for.

Candidates for district three included Shirek, Crump-Williams and Peterson.

District Five had its pick of candidates. Mark Fowler, Hawley, Ben Rodefer, Carrie Olson and Kelly have diverse backgrounds - Rodefer is a jazz musician, and Olson runs a dot-com company - and their new wave views forced voters to take a hard look at the issues.

However, the large number of candidates split the total votes, and Kelly was the closest contender to Hawley.

As the only Green Party candidate for District Five, Kelly had a decidedly environmental approach to the city council seat. He wanted the council to approve alternative forms of power, since fossil fuels will someday no longer be an option. And if elected, he wanted to take better care of city creeks.

Former AC Transit Board member Hawley had the distinction of being the only candidate to receive the endorsements of both the Berkeley Democratic Club and the Berkeley Citizens Action Club. Despite this, she said she will be her own person on the council.

"I want to find practical solutions to the problems people are experiencing in the community," Hawley said.

District two candidates included Breland, Hicks, Gina Sasso, Carol Hughes-Willoughby and Jon Crowder.
Breland wanted to improve Southwest Berkeley's business climate. She wanted to focus on maintaining manufacturing jobs because she says they pay more and offer better benefits, and she added that she believes they are central to the city's economic well-being.

Betty Hicks, a moderate who was Breland's main competitor, hoped to expand communication between residents and city government. She hoped to make more loan programs available to struggling entrepreneurs and other local business owners.