Background[]
- Libertarian, Mayor, Belfield, California
Insights[]
Working to make Bellflower, California "the most libertarian city in Los Angeles County" Art Olivier was elected mayor of Bellflower (population 63,000) by a unanimous vote of the City Council.
Olivier, a four-year member of the City Council, won the support of the other four council members to earn the mayor's job. Despite the non-partisan nature of the position, his election was described in local papers as a victory for the "Libertarian" office-holder.
He won despite the opposition of the Bellflower Chamber of Commerce, which opposed him because "I eliminated their annual $35,000 subsidy," he said.
Since Olivier has been on the City Council, he said, he has been steadily chipping away at the size and cost of the city government.
His successes include "privatizing some detective services, cutting expenses, easing up on regulations, and pulling out of the statist League of California Cities." In addition, the council voted to privatize its tree trimming operations, crossing guard operations, and building services -- saving money "at a time when most other local governments in California were crying for more money," he said.
"We fired the Los Angeles Building Department and replaced them with a competitively bidded private firm," he said. "And we've stopped all efforts to use eminent domain in Bellflower."
Olivier has accomplished this thanks to allies on the City Council: An "anti-tax-and-regulation Republican [and] a fiscally conservative Democrat" -- which gives him "an honest majority on the council," he said.
Thanks to their efforts, "the residents of Bellflower can enjoy what is probably the most libertarian city in Los Angeles County," he said.