Other races.

Development interests had a mixed record in last Tuesday's municipal elections.

There was a victory in Beverly Hills as voters approved a referendum on the $200 million Montage Hotel and public gardens project in that city's Golden Triangle. Developer Athens Group and the Montage Hotel & Resorts spent more than a million dollars in mailers and cable television commercials in support of the project. Opponents, including several local merchants and the Peninsula Hotel, also spent upwards of seven figures in one of the most expensive campaigns in Beverly Hills history.

In Redondo Beach, development interests did not fare as well. Voters rejected the concept of a mixed-use project of hotel rooms and residences for a 76-acre site now occupied by a power plant being phased out of use. They chose instead to back the creation of a huge park.

Redondo Beach voters also approved a 2 percent increase in the city's hotel bed tax. But in a victory for local businesses, they rejected a measure that would have indexed the city's business license tax to inflation.

Finally, in South Gate, a 5 percent utility tax went down to defeat by more than a two-to-one margin. The tax would have hit businesses in the city the hardest.

Staff reporter David Greenberg contributed to this column. Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached by phone at [phone], ext. 227, or by e-mail at [e-mail].