City Council Candidate Preview: David Glick

There are six candidates lined up to replace Andrew Hamilton on City Council should voters in Lake Forest choose to recall him on Jan. 2, 2018. The primary reasons for the recall of Hamilton are his commitment to development in Lake Forest, his commitment to the high-kill Orange County animal shelter that locked the City into a 10-year contract that will cost millions extra, his decision to ignore the dangers of Saddleback Ranch Road until he faced a recall, and several instances of unethical and just plain rude behavior.

Candidates vying for the available council seat are Tom Cagley (click here), David Glick, Neeki Moatazedi, Mark Tettemer, Frank Wagoner and Stan Yombo.

Second in the series: David Glick

Glick’s main claim to fame within the community is that he is president of the Lake 1 HOA. These positions often fall to residents who are simply willing to serve because it can be a thankless job, often without much community engagement unless the stuff is hitting the fan. It does provide an opportunity to lead under the radar; two of the current Council’s most solution-oriented members, Leah Basile and Jim Gardner, were also presidents of their HOAs before seeking office.

The primary difference between them and Glick is the level of public involvement in citizen action within the City. Basile fought for the changes to Saddleback Ranch Road and spearheaded a recall of Hamilton, Dwight Robinson and Scott Voigts that fell short of its goal but created awareness and education for thousands of residents, and set the foundation for the current recall of Hamilton. Gardner was an outspoken advocate against the maximum security Musick Jail, corrupt behavior and lack of transparency by the Council, the rezoning and residential over-development of the Foothill Ranch Auto Centre, and lobbied for the City’s first dog park -- among other things; he attended so many meetings, and spoke so often, he was jokingly referred to as “the sixth councilman.”

Glick has not taken on such a public role. He can periodically be found milling about at the back of the room at City Council meetings -- and good for him for attending -- but only sporadically commenting publicly on issues, including occasionally those that impact his HOA. As I recall, the most notable contribution might have been his encouragement to the Council to begin reconstruction of Village Pond Park after falling into disrepair. He is not a graduate of the City’s Leadership Academy, unlike Yombo or former councilman Tettemer.

Glick has a vested interest in the leadership of the City; he has been included in lawsuits against the City that have continued for several years, including Village Pond Park and, separately, water quality issues in Lake 1 and a dispute about drainage into the lake. The HOA was fined by the City for failing to adequately screen the runoff systems, but litigation continues. It’s not the best precursor for getting involved with the Council.

However, it’s unclear what Glick’s agenda is, except as perhaps an insurance policy should the field be limited to Hamilton clones -- which it’s not. Remarkably, he did not provide a Candidate Statement to the city clerk as part of the process (unlike Cagley, Moatazedi and Tettemer); given that’s a primary way to express one’s agenda and qualifications, it calls into question his sincerity, commitment and vision.

Glick is one of three candidates (Cagley and Yombo the other two) who responded to a request by Gardner to make clear their stance on whether they would accept special interest money in an election or going forward; each of those three said they would not, and Cagley and Yombo said they would support a City ordinance forbidding companies seeking City contracts from making campaign contributions. Glick said he would self-fund and market: “I will not accept any funds from an outside source.”

By all accounts, Glick seems to be a nice and personable man. He is senior mortgage banking manager at Bridgeview Bank in Los Angeles.

Next: Neeki Moatazedi

Photo via LinkedIn

About the author: Martin Henderson won several Los Angeles and Orange County press club awards while an editor at Patch in 2012-13.