Alkire seeks to ‘do it better’

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a series of profiles of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa City Council candidates.

It was “personal” when Newport Beach District 2 City Council Candidate Gloria Alkire decided she wanted to become a schoolteacher, she said.

“I had a few teachers who weren’t very good, so I thought I could do better,” Alkire said.

Now Alkire, a retired school superintendent with no experience in local government, is running for City Council because she thinks she can do better.

Some are critical of Alkire’s previous lack of involvement with local politics — but Alkire believes it is one of her strengths.

“I don’t belong to any groups because I feel a council member works for all people in the city,” she said. “My job is to work for all groups.”

Alkire said although she has been offered funding from factions such as the rehabilitation home activist group Concerned Citizens of Newport Beach, she has turned it down, instead pouring thousands of dollars of her own money into her campaign.

A Newport Beach resident for the past 33 years, Alkire spent most of her career working outside the Newport area. She began her teaching career in Santa Ana Unified School District as a fourth-grade teacher, working her way through the ranks and earning a doctoral degree in educational leadership in 1996 before becoming superintendent of Heber School District in the Imperial Valley.

She retired from her superintendent post early about four years ago and now seeks to become more involved in the Newport community, she said.

“I would like to be role model, not just for citizens, but for kids,” Alkire said. “I want to talk to kids about public service and the need for more people to get involved.”

Alkire has spent the last few months studying local issues writing position papers on hot-button topics in Newport like Banning Ranch and rehabilitation homes, she said.

She’s opposed to development on Banning Ranch except for parks. The roughly 400-acre parcel of undeveloped land sits next door to Alkire’s Newport Crest home. Alkire also wants to push for legislation at the state level to better regulate drug and alcohol group homes.

Although she says she’s even read the Newport’s general plan from cover to cover, critics charge Alkire doesn’t know enough about local issues.

“I don’t think she’s as well informed as I am,” said incumbent Councilman Steve Rosansky. “I think I’ve got probably about a five-year head start on her.”

Her prior involvement in local politics isn’t as important as her leadership skills, Alkire said.

“I am a leader. I have a degree in leadership and I’m experienced at developing policy — that’s what a school superintendent does,” she said.

Alkire also has struggled to gain endorsements, garnering only the formal support of the Corona del Mar Republican Assembly.

“I don’t expect endorsements if people don’t know my work,” she said.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].