Connie Boardman

Name: Connie Boardman

Age: 52

Birth place: Lynwood, Calif.

How long have you lived in Huntington Beach? 19 years

Occupation: biology professor at Cerritos Community College

Education: bachelor’s degree in zoology and a master’s degree in biology from Cal State Long Beach

Previously elected or appointed positions: mayor in 2003, City Council 2000 to 2004, member of the Centennial Committee 2009

Community organizations you belong to: president of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, lifetime member of Friends of Shipley Nature Center, member of Huntington Beach Art Center, Friends of the Library, Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center

What do you think are the biggest issues facing Huntington Beach right now? Budget shortfall, infrastructure, City Council that is not responsive to the residents of the city. The three current lawsuits against the city by citizens groups demonstrate that the council is not responsive to the concerns of the residents.

What is one decision in the last year the City Council got right and why would you have supported it?
I agreed with the council’s approval in June of a memorandum of understanding with the Huntington Beach Community Garden nonprofit to establish the first community garden in the city. A community garden is something our city has needed for years, and I hope that this is just the first of several gardens that we will see established in the city.

What is one decision in the last year the City Council got wrong, or partially wrong, and why would you have voted differently?

The vote on the so-called Ridge Project at Bolsa Chica that changed a 29-year-old land use designation on property on the Bolsa Chica Mesa from open-space parkland to residential.

The coastal element of our general plan specifically prohibits residential development of the bluffs that are part of this site. The city has a deficit of parkland, so in my opinion this vote was against the interests of the community, and only benefited a developer (Hearthside) that has yet to complete the housing they already have permission to build at Bolsa Chica.

The environmental assessment done for the project was flawed. Hearthside sprayed herbicides on the property prior to the environmental assessment to kill any rare plants that may have been on the site, and the site houses a 9,000-year-old archeological site. By retaining the land use designation of open space it would have been possible to preserve a small remnant of what once was a thriving Native American village.