Recall effort filed against Redondo Beach Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr.
Elliot Lewis, above, crossed paths with Councilman Obagi in 2019 when Obagi represented a Long Beach tenant who sued Lewis’ holding company.
by Garth Meyer
A notice of intent to recall Redondo Beach Fourth District City Council Member Zein Obagi, Jr. was filed Friday, Feb. 18, with the Redondo Beach City Clerk.
Elliot Lewis, of Long Beach, co-founder of Catalyst Cannabis Co., delivered the notice. Lewis is a key backer of the Redondo voter initiative to allow retail cannabis in the city.
The filing states that Obagi, an attorney who was elected last March, is unfit for office, for reasons including disciplinary charges by the State Bar for professional misconduct, and for “making District Four a dumping ground for controversial items that South Redondo Beach city council members want to keep out of South Redondo Beach.”
Proponents of the recall opposed Obagi’s vote to keep homeless pallet shelters at the Galleria, and a vote last October (on a draft housing element) to put all state-required affordable housing in North Redondo.
“I have no problem if somebody has a basis to try to recall me. By all means, they should exercise their right,” Obagi said. “But let the residents know who is behind it and who is doing it. I know my neighbors, they are super smart and super scrutinizing. Name me a single councilmember in Redondo Beach history who has done more in the first 10 months since swearing in, because, if you can, I’ll aspire to do even better.”
Obagi pointed to a new neighborhood dog run, six intersections getting all-way stop signs, and sidewalk “bold-outs” on Grant Avenue – part of his promise to bring safer streets to the city.
Recall proponents will have 90 days to qualify their effort for the ballot by gathering signatures from 25 percent of District Four’s 9,000 registered voters.
Opinions about the recall effort from other city council members vary.
“I think District Four is angry enough about 90 percent of high-density housing put into their district,” said Councilmember Laura Emdee, who represents North Redondo’s neighboring District Five. “That issue alone. The promise to move the pallet shelter; that got people annoyed, but not mad.”
Emdee said she is not involved in the recall.
“I do not (play a role), at all,” she said. “I’m a District Five representative. This is all up to District Four to decide who they want representing them. Not my circus.”
“I don’t support recalls, especially when it’s based on political disagreements,” said District Two Councilman Todd Loewenstein. “Zein has brought more [positive] attention to District Four than it’s had in decades.”
Peter Azizi is one of the residents who signed the intention to recall notice.
“Obagi doesn’t have a vested interest because he’s not from here,” he said. “Ill will and political opportunism, out of an agenda that is not his own.”
Obagi moved to Redondo Beach in 2018 from Hollywood.
Aziz, a State Assembly 66th-district delegate, Redondo High alumnus, and unemployed former Cal-State Long Beach graduate student, at one time intended to run against John Gran – the incumbent Obagi beat by 33 votes.
Aziz asserts that Obagi ignored strong public comment against so much of the affordable housing being placed in North Redondo.
“(He is) mischaracterizing what happened,” Obagi said, emphasizing that his vote was for a draft housing element, and the city will put some of the state-required units in South Redondo.
Obagi previously supported a recall effort against Gran, which failed to qualify for the ballot.
Now, his own recall proponents argue that he should recuse himself from cannabis retail sales votes on the council because he represents cannabis business interests.
“I represent clients with business disputes with one another, not in any regulatory sense,” Obagi said. “My business is litigation, whether their business is widgets or cannabis is irrelevant.”
He added that his experience may lead him in another direction than his opponents expect.
“If I represent cannabis folks, the apparent bias would be to favor cannabis,” he said. “What I’ve generally found, it’s not a desirable place to be. I prefer workers’ rights cases.”
Tonya McKenzie, another signer of the intent to recall, is a Redondo Chamber of Commerce board member, and was appointed by Emdee to the city’s General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC). She stepped down as president of the North Redondo Business Association (NRBBA) after Obagi was elected, so the NRBBA could build rapport with the new representative.
She said she and Obagi had a disagreement about an invitation for him to speak to the NRBBA before he became councilman.
“He votes a lot with South Redondo,” she said. “North Redondo is feeling like we don’t have any representation. It seems like Obagi supports everything that Mayor Bill Brand supports, instead of what his residents have gone to him to support.”
In the end, now under threat of recall, Obagi will defend his short time in office as he continues to serve on the council. He previously requested an expedited trial in the State Bar matter.
“If the recall effort made it to a ballot, my neighbors will get to choose if they want outside groups financially interested in controlling Redondo Beach policy as it concerns residential density and retail cannabis,” Obagi said, “Or the same hardworking, hard-fighting representative I have been.” ER