District 4 Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr. appears well on his way to surviving an attempt to oust him, with nearly 74 % of voters rejecting the recall, while a measure that would allow up to three cannabis dispensaries in Redondo Beach was also overwhelmingly failing, with about 75% opposed, according to early returns from the City Clerk’s office.
The deadline to drop off ballots at the clerk’s office was 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19. But mailed ballots have seven days after Election Day to arrive, as long as they were postmarked by Wednesday.
The first round of results, announced shortly after 8 p.m., included 9,586 ballots citywide, said City Clerk Eleanor Manzano. Another 1,700 or so — those that arrived after Friday — were still left to be counted, as well as those that will arrive by mail after Wednesday.
Still, it seems likely that the ballots that were part of Wednesday’s tally will represent a significant portion of the overall haul.
The next tally is scheduled for 1 p.m. Oct. 27, Manzano said.
“I’m thankful to North Redondoans for doing their due diligence, and stepping up to vote and make your voices heard,” Obagi said in a Wednesday evening statement. “I am also thankful to my family, the Redondo Beach police officers and firefighters and many other groups and residents who gave time, money and personal effort to keep North Redondo authentically democratic. I see and appreciate you all, and thank you for seeing me.”
While the recall sought to oust Obagi, Measure E asked voters to override a recently passed city ordinance that allows two dispensaries, increasing the count by one.
The City Council called the special election, conducted entirely by mail, as a way to pair two issues funded by Long Beach Catalyst CEO Elliot Lewis, who has admitted to being behind a push to allow dispensaries throughout the beach cities.
Lewis declined to comment on Wednesday.
The off-cycle election, held on a Wednesday and less than three weeks before the Nov. 8 statewide general election, cost Redondo Beach $270,000. Detractors accused the council of purposely scheduling the election to dissuade people from voting. The councilmembers who voted for the special election, however, said a Wednesday election gave voters one more day to turn in ballots.
The Redondo Beach special election has also been closely watched as a test case by residents in El Segundo, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, who are also facing cannabis initiatives in their cities on Nov. 8. (El Segundo’s measure is a city-created initiative, not a citizen’s initiative.)
“This is a bell-ringer for other cities,” Councilman Nils Nehrenheim said in a Wednesday interview, “but they can’t let their guard down.”
As for the recall in District 4, which has 9,458 registered voters, nine-year resident Tonya McKenzie, the only alternative candidate, had campaigned to oust and succeed Obagi — looking to serve the remainder of his term, until March 31, 2025.
It’s a “tough loss,” McKenzie said in a Wednesday evening interview, “but this (election) was all set in motion to do just what it did.”
McKenzie was alluding to arguments she and others had made that tying the recall to the cannabis measure and holding the election on a Wednesday was meant to confuse voters.
Still, McKenzie, who is pro-business and development, also said she’ll keep moving forward, possibly repurposing some of her campaign work in cities that don’t limit growth.
“I still have a business to run, four kids to raise and still serve as a commissioner,” McKenzie said. “So I’m still busy working for the community.”
The recall petition had accused Obagi, elected in March 2021, of abandoning District 4 and “making (it) a dumping ground for the controversial items that South Redondo Beach City Councilmembers want to keep out of South Redondo Beach.”
The petition cited Obagi’s votes last year on a temporary homeless shelter and housing density.
In July 2021, Obagi voted to keep Pallet homes — small housing units for those without permanent shelter — in District 4, near the South Bay Galleria, despite local opposition. Then in October, he voted to locate nearly all state-required affordable housing in North Redondo Beach, including in District 4.
Obagi and his council majority urged residents to vote against both the recall and the citizen’s cannabis initiative, saying the two are joined and only represent Lewis and special interests trying to take over in the small beach town.
“This was a typical special interest trying to buy their way into our city,” said Nehrenheim, who is filling in for Mayor Bill Brand as the panel’s leader while the latter is on leave. “(the results are) just a loud message that we are not for sale at any price.”
McKenzie, however, has disputed that the recall effort is all about pot and she’s denied claims she’s accepted funding from Catalyst.
The recall, McKenzie said in previous interviews, is really about representation for District 4 businesses.
McKenzie, president of District 4’s business association and the founder of a public relations company, said she was asked by former Councilman John Gran and other community members to “jump into this race because they wanted someone to fight for District 4.”
North Redondo, once the economic engine of the city, has become an afterthought to the City Council, McKenzie said Wednesday.
Many people she talked to while campaigning felt “no sense of urgency (to vote) because they felt District 4 would be treated the way it always has” and never see change, McKenzie said.
Now, she added, at least voters know what they can and can’t accomplish in Redondo Beach.
“What this election shows us is if you want new, nice things,” McKenzie said, “you’re going to have to go to Hermosa Beach or Manhattan Beach because Redondo doesn’t want that; we won’t get big, booming opportunities.”
Obagi, for his part, has said that if the recall succeeds, he will sue Lewis, since the special election stems from the cannabis entrepreneur’s initiatives. People have accused Obagi, who is an attorney, of living outside Redondo Beach and of not supporting one of the city’s fire stations, which the councilman has denied.
In his Wednesday statement, Obagi again derided the recall effort and those who led it.
“The recall instigators should be sorry and ashamed,” he said, “that they necessitated our spending hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars on this special election.”
Lewis, for his part, said in a prior interview that Obagi can “wait in line” with a potential lawsuit.
He also said he hasn’t done anything defamatory. And, Lewis said, Obagi did previously vote to initiate a study on whether to shut down that fire station, which didn’t end up happening.
“Clearly, District 4 is quite happy with Councilmember Obagi,” Brand said in a statement, “and our own new ordinance allowing two cannabis stores in limited areas.”
