Englander a No-Show as Candidates Face Off at Forum

Mitchell Englander missed Thursday's City Council candidate forum in Granada Hills and became an easy target for the verbal barbs of the five others seeking to succeed retiring 12th District Councilman Greig Smith.

"That a candidate would only come to one public campaign forum is, quite frankly, reprehensible," said opponent Brad Smith after the event.

[Clarification: Candidate Brad Smith was misquoted in a statement regarding opponent Mitchell Englander's absence from Thursday's forum. He actually said: "That a candidate would not come to one of only four campaign forums is, quite frankly, reprehensible." In an email to Patch he added, "I know, for example, that [Englander] has been to two of them so far—Chatsworth and Northridge—because I have attended them as well."]

However, Englander's campaign manager said Friday that "Mitch ... made a commitment several weeks before receiving the invite to this forum to attend a dinner in support of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. It's absolutely false to state Mitch has attended only one forum," Brenton Tesler said.

The Granada Hills forum was the third in a series of four sponsored by neighborhood councils. A final forum will be March 3 at Granada Hills Charter High School, 10535 Zelzah Ave., Granada Hills. The election is March 8.

Englander notified the sponsors several weeks ago that he wouldn't be able to attend, Tesler said.

The tone was friendlier, however, among Smith and the other four candidates who participated in the forum at Patrick Henry Middle School hosted by the Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council.

The attending candidates were Brad Smith, who is on leave as a manager at a civil engineering firm; Armineh Chelebian, an accountant who has lived in the district for 18 years; Kelly M. Lord, a life-long Valley resident, real estate broker and community activist; Dinesh "Danny" Lakhanpal, an engineer and businessman originally from India who lives in Granada Hills; and 35-year Porter Ranch resident Navraj Singh, a restaurateur and soon to be hotelier, who is also from India.

Lord and Smith, who is not related to the outgoing councilman, said they would vote for each other when asked which candidate would be their choice if they weren't running for office.

"We both value community involvement, of being part of something larger than yourself," said Lord.

Candidates hurled rhetorical jabs—some less veiled than others—at their absent rival, who is on leave as chief of staff to the retiring councilman.

Englander's decade of work in Smith's office has made him the lightning rod for attacks as his opponents call for fresh blood at the helm of CD12. While Englander has touted his downtown experience, opponents repeatedly tried to spin it against him Thursday night and throughout the campaign.

Singh pointed to "$440,000" in campaign contributions that he claimed Englander has received largely from developers "who have business with the city and want to take advantage of the system," said the 35-year Porter Ranch stakeholder.

Singh claimed the quality of life in Porter Ranch has declined. "Porter Ranch is not the same, and I'm not going to let Granada Hills be prostituted," Singh said. "I'm going to ask a builder, 'what can you do for this area'?"

Lord indicated that land-use issues would be a priority if he is elected and painted Englander as the more-of- the-same candidate. He gave as an example a project on White Oak Street, claiming the developer was a campaign contributor to Councilman Smith, which led to an "11th hour zoning change," allowing higher-density construction.

All attending council contenders pledged their commitment to increase the decision-making role of neighborhood councils, especially regarding land development projects. They also unanimously called for more involvement from community members.

"The community needs to have a say before anybody else," said Chelebian, who described herself as "a product of the neighborhood council and the Valley secession movement. Neighborhood councils should have a say if the members of the community are involved in the process."

Lakhanpal called for more impactful feasibility and environmental studies before development projects are approved or rejected. He also highlighted his platform of clean, efficient energy use in response to a question about the West Valley's lack of alternatives to the automobile.

"We have to realize that one day it will be very difficult to drive big cars," he told the audience of more than 100 area residents.

Lakhanpal then described his prototype for a self-charging electric bicycle designed for California State University, Northridge, students and locals who work not far from their homes.

Journalist Jill Stewart and political activist Ron Kaye moderated the forum.

"This is an unusually high-end group of candidates," said Stewart, an L.A. Weekly editor, after the forum. "They know what they're talking about and have experience dealing with city hall. If one of them gets elected, city hall should be very, very nervous."