Meet Your New City Council, Rancho Palos Verdes

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA – Rancho Palos Verdes has two new City Councilman today. John Cruikshank coasted to victory with 32 percent of the vote followed by Eric Alegria who garnered 23 percent of the vote.

Alegria narrowly defeated Dave Emenhiser who lost by less than 250 votes.

With all 16 precincts tallied, the results of the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council are:

1. John Cruikshank 32.10% of the vote with 1,883 votes
2. Eric Alegria 23.15% of the vote with 1, 358 votes
3. Dave Emenhiser 19.40% of the vote with 1,138 votes
4. Krista Johnson 15.05% of the vote with 883 votes
5. Ben Kelly 5.40% of the vote with 317 votes
6. Matthew Vitalich 4.89% of the vote with 287 votes

The polls closed at 8 p.m. on this election day. In the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, two city council seats are up for grabs – each position will last for a full three-year term and expire in November 2020.

All candidates generally focus on combating crime in the city and favor conservative spending habits, according to Daily Breeze. There are two Planning Commissioner candidates, Dave Emenheiser and John Cruikshank, two Finance Advisory Committee members, Krista Johnson and Eric Alegria, and two political newcomers, Matthew Vitalich and Ben Kelly.

Here is the candidate information:

• Dave Emenhiser
  • Businessman/City Commissioner
  • Email: emenhiser@aol.com
  • “I don’t think the good times are always going to prevail, and one of these days a recession will return … and (the city) will be stuck with all these infrastructure costs and no way to pay for them,” he said.

• Eric Alegria
  • Finance Boardmember/ Businessman
  • Email: ericdalegria@gmail.com
  • “If you live in L.A. County or Orange County, you see that cities like RPV are becoming increasingly rare in terms of that protection of open space,” he said. “It can be the focus of some … to target what is very high-priced land and try to put higher density type developments in areas that may not fit the city’s character.”
• John Cruikshank
  • Planning Commissioner/ Engineer
  • Email: john@johncruikshank.us
  • “You have to stop businesses from leaving first before you can attract anyone,” he told Daily Breeze. “That’s the first thing is to make businesses feel safer.”
• Krista Johnson
  • Executive/Financial Boardmember
  • Email: kjohnsonrpv@gmail.com
  • “I understand rules and regulations and building code compliance, and I don’t particularly have an issue with that … but when it becomes so burdensome that people are building without going through the city, that tells me there’s a big problem,” she said to Daily Breeze.
• Ben Kelly
  • Student – Meet the South Bay Teen Running for City Council
  • Email: kellyforcouncil2017@gmail.com
  • "I have definitely an impartiality with what I'm learning," Kelly told Patch. "Since I have more time to research, I think my perspective will be less opinionated than it would be if I was older."
• Mathew Vitalich
  • Writer
  • Email: vitalichforrpv@gmail.com
  • “A lot of (residents) were sort of unaware of what was going on at the city level, and I feel like the best watchdog is an active citizenry, and it is ultimately their local government,” he said, according to reporting by Daily Breeze.

From now through Nov. 7, new citizens may register to vote, and registered voters may also vote through an emergency vote by mail. For more information from the City, see below:

1. New Citizen Eligibility to Register and Vote: Persons who become citizens after the close of registration may register to vote and vote up to Election Day. You must register to vote and vote at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorders Norwalk main office only. New citizens must present a Certificate of Naturalization and declare that they have established residence in Los Angeles County.
2. Emergency Vote By Mail: Between these dates, any voter may apply for a Vote By Mail Ballot if conditions require his or her absence from the precinct on election day. The voter may designate an authorized representative to pick up and return the ballot.

Come back to Patch for full results as they come in.

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