Meet The Calabasas Candidates

CALABASAS, CA — Four candidates are vying for two spots open on the Calabasas City Council in a race centered around fire preparation, budgeting and safety during a pandemic, improving wireless service, and affordable housing.

Susan Fredericks Ploussard is a dentist with a practice in Westlake Village who also has a masters in public health, which she feels will come in handy dealing with the pandemic and draft environmental policies.

Fredericks-Ploussard says that she was partially motivated to run by what she saw as the mishandling of the Woolsey Fire. She believes the city must do better at communicating fire safety with residents, and analyze all of its future building efforts through the lens of fire safety, writing that, “All development must be reviewed to evaluate risk. This includes adequate infrastructure and roads built to handle mass evacuations.”

Fredericks-Ploussard also lists the city’s budget as a top priority, saying that Calabasas is likely to have a $3 million shortfall, and even though it boasts a significant reserve, across-the-board cuts need to be considered. She points to a city holiday party that allegedly cost $50,000 as an example of wasteful spending.

Peter Kraut is an engineer with his own firm and current vice chairman of the Planning Commission, where he has served since 2016.

On the Commission, Kraut voted against the West Village at Calabasas and Raznick Mixed Use plan to build a senior center, claiming they went against the Calabasas 2030 General Plan he helped draft. Kraut says that he wants to bring the development code more in line with that plan. He wants to stop overdevelopment in the city, and wrote that, “Through a process of managed growth, I want to see densities grow consistent with the vision outlined in our General Plan, not into the dedicated open space or as a blight along our scenic corridors.”

Kraut also wants the city to hire a full-time grant-writer to locate state and federal funds available for projects. One of those projects would be a city-wide fiber-optic cabling project, which he said would improve cell and wireless service. He also said that this improved communication would help the city improve its fire readiness, along with an improved evacuation plan.

Kraut wants to improve transparency, and thinks that there should be better communications with residents, particularly about the city budget. He also lists supporting local schools in “every way,” saying the Las Virgenes Unified School District was one of the top reasons he and his wife moved to Calabasas.

Dennis Washburn was Calabasas’s first mayor, and helped the city incorporate and found its institutions and protection zones. He served on the City Council from 1991 to 2011, and has served as a Planning Commissioner since. He also served four terms as mayor, president of the Council of Governments, president of LA County's League of 88 Cities, and held many more positions. A retired marketing executive who also served on the board of the Los Angeles Community County Board of Trustees, Washburn briefly left the 2020 race in August when he thought winning might interfere with his pension. He is now running as a volunteer and not accepting any monetary donations.

One of Washburn’s top priorities is to create “Fire Life Safety Action Zones,” similar to Watershed Protection Zones in Calabasas and Malibu, along the city’s scenic corridor that will allow the city to create specialized strategic plans and funding for a variety of emergencies. He also wants to focus on incorporating new technologies, like fire suppression gels or reclaimed water technology, and said that the city needs to revamp its emergency communications system.

Alicia Weintraub, the city’s current mayor and the race’s only incumbent, has served on the Council since 2015, and the mayor since Dec. 2019. Weintraub has a masters in public policy from Pepperdine University and worked for a number of nearby cities and calls herself a “public policy wonk.”

Weintraub previously served on the city’s Planning Commission and Environmental Commission. During her time as mayor, Weintraub represented Calabasas on the Woolsey Fire Task Force to re-evaluate fire response and preparation of the city and region. She helped initiate improvements, including standardizing evacuation terminology, being able to send wireless alerts to all residents with cell phones, and enforcing fire-resistant codes for new homes built in town.

During COVID, Weintraub and the Council instituted a mask requirement, helped gather PPE for city staff, and also helped provide $10,000 in grants to the city’s small businesses. The city was also able to keep a balanced budget despite the economic downturn.

She also worked to reach out to the community, sending community weekly letters and hosting community coffees.

Moving forward, Weintraub wants to continue to improving the city’s fire readiness, improves its wireless infrastructure (she serves on the Wireless Communication Task Force to upgrade equipment) and figuring out a way for the city to comply with requirements to build 350 units of affordable housing to qualified tenants.

“What makes me uniquely qualified is my background in government, in understanding how to get things done - how to work with people and government agencies,” she told Patch. “Most of all I love this community, and I’m raising my family here.”

Related coverage: Calabasas candidates face off in virtual debate