{"id":4772,"date":"2012-01-30T15:23:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T15:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/floyd-the-man-livingston-steve-neal-s-long-beach-communicator\/"},"modified":"2012-01-30T15:23:00","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T15:23:00","slug":"floyd-the-man-livingston-steve-neal-s-long-beach-communicator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/floyd-the-man-livingston-steve-neal-s-long-beach-communicator","title":{"rendered":"Floyd “the Man” Livingston: Steve Neal’s Long Beach Communicator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

9:30am | <\/strong>In August 2010, when Long Beach native Floyd Hampton Livingston — better known to many as 562 City Life’s<\/a> “the Man” — got a call from Rex Richardson, chief of staff to then-newly-elected 9th District Councilmember Steven Neal, Livingston wondered if he was in some sort of trouble. <\/p>\n

Turns out the call came because several people had bent Neal and company’s ear, recommending Livingston for the position of district communications organizer. “I was real humbled by that, you know?” Livingston recalls. “They had me come in for an interview, and I came in there like I was trying to impress, and I was just\u2026 [Laughs] If I could do that whole interview over, man, I would be more professional. They always make fun of me about it.” <\/p>\n

They make<\/em> fun of him — present tense — because Livingston landed the gig, making the Long Beach native the fourth person on Neal’s five-person staff to live in the 9th District. <\/p>\n

“I knew I was the right guy for the job — getting messages out there, information — ’cause that’s what I do,” Livingston says. “It’s like second-nature for me to do that.” <\/p>\n

That’s not to say there wasn’t a steep learning curve for a political neophyte. <\/p>\n

“When I got on board with the councilmember, I was very green,” Livingston admits. “I was a bit afraid of the responsibility that I would have — that I do now have — but I took it as a challenge, and it’s really taken me to another level. [\u2026] But I saw this as an opportunity to be part of an area where I live. [\u2026] It’s really great, because the work that I do really does have an effect on my community. It sounds clich\u00e9, but I’m like, ‘Man, I can actually see that.’ [Problems with] the empty lots up here or the trash or the graffiti — it’s cool that I would have something to do with that. [\u2026] It makes it more than a job; it makes it a lot more than a job.” <\/p>\n

Livingston is proud of the headway the Neal team has made thus far. “We’re starting to see this change, where we’re starting to get some positive media coverage,” he says. “There was a lot of haters at first, but [eventually] people saw that we were working in the best interests of everybody. We’re just trying to better the community.” <\/p>\n

But bettering the community is easier said than done — a reality Livingston understand much better from his view behind the rail. <\/p>\n

“I hear things like, ‘When are they going to build something there?’ or ‘Why don’t they do this?'” he says. “I’ve really learned that you need to get your facts straight. Because for things to get done in the city, there’s process, protocols — there’s a lot [to it]. So I’ve come to be very reserved in my commentary on certain issues. Before I would just say things like, ‘These people don’t wanna do anything’; but now that I’ve seen kind of the inside perspective, it’s like: ‘Maybe sometimes they can’t<\/em> do stuff, because there are other factors and outside variables that are preventing certain actions to get done.” <\/p>\n

Livingston sees construction as the 9th District’s biggest need. “I think the biggest challenge is getting things built,” he says. “Like, we had some things ready to roll before RDA got cut. [\u2026] We really want to get some structures built, some shovels in the ground. [\u2026] Even just having a brand-new grocery store in our area would make a huge<\/em> difference. The morale, you can just sense it, like, ‘Change!’ When we were doing these community discussions and people were giving their input on what kind of groceries they wanted there or what kind of retail they wanted, you’d see people get excited over just the thought of that happening. But we got that taken away from us [\u2026] But we’re still working on getting things done. [\u2026] Like what [Neal] wants to do with Artesia Boulevard — he really want to make that a destination.” <\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, one of the talents Livingston most admires in his boss is one with which he has experience: bringing the community out. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong>“He’s a great organizer, like with events, getting community together,” Livingston says. “That really resonated with me, because just getting people together, it’s not the easiest thing to do. [\u2026] We were trying to get neighborhood associations together, and [activating] people who thought they never could be active in the community. [\u2026] I really bought into that vision, the long-term vision of getting the community residents involved.” <\/p>\n

There is one thing Livingston admits to disliking about Neal: “He’s a real cool guy; he’s a hip guy. I like that. It sucks that he’s a Raiders fan, but other than that he’s a real cool guy.” <\/p>\n

While Livingston doesn’t feel like working simultaneously for Neal and 562 City Life has given him any sort of identity crisis, balancing his time has been a challenge. And he’s a bit more circumspect about his public persona than he once was. <\/p>\n

“One of the biggest challenges is figuring out when to wear which hats where,” he says. “My 562 City Life hat I put on, and it could be — well, it is — super opinionated, maybe a little rough around the edges. But then I gotta make sure I don’t say anything stupid or do something dumb or whatever, because I represent the councilmember, as well. It has really been a challenge to make sure I’m always on my toes. I’m not saying there are federal agents watching me at every move, but I have to take into consideration certain things that I’ll post online or say.” <\/p>\n

Of course, it was in Livingston’s work for 562 City Life that Neal saw someone he liked enough to bring on board, so “the Man” probably doesn’t have to worry about being anyone other than himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In August 2010, when Long Beach native Floyd Hampton Livingston — better known to many as 562 City Life’s “the Man” — got a call from Rex Richardson, chief of staff to then-newly-elected 9th District Councilmember Steven Neal, Livingston wondered if he was in some sort of trouble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":69816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4772"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=4772"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}