airport comisison

The Long Beach Airport Advisory Commission (pictured above) is one of five commissions that has one or no women currently serving. 

Mayor Robert Garcia is trying to close the gender gap on the city’s commissions and has extended a call to action of sorts asking qualified candidates to apply for the nearly 20 positions currently vacant.

The city has a gender breakdown of about 45 percent women and 55 percent men on its commissions which help oversee a variety of issues before they reach the Long Beach City Council including airport noise, dimensions of proposed developments, even what kind of turf is installed at local parks.

In an email to residents, Garcia said he wants to close that gap and has indicated he’d like to do that by this summer.

“Our City’s commissions serve a very important function. Commissioners have an opportunity to advise City leaders on policies and initiatives related to issues affecting our community—everything from our parks management, to providing services for community members experiencing homelessness, to how we can make our city more sustainable,” Garcia said. “Since commissions are such a critical part of our local democracy, it is important they represent the diversity of our community.”

The latest United States Census Bureau figures estimate that the US population was about 50.8 percent women as of 2016 which leaves the Long Beach commission figures lagging behind by a few percent when it comes to women being equally represented.

Garcia’s statement attributed that in part to the city receiving less applications from female candidates for vacancies on city commissions.

While the disparity may not be large, the distribution gap of women across commissions is. Females dominate commissions dealing with health, homelessness and pedestrian safety issues but are largely absent on more powerful commissions.

The city’s board of water commissioners, the body that advises the council onadopting rate increases, has one woman on the five-member board. The city’s planning commission, which was a central figure in hearings on the land use element leading up to the council’s vote to adopt the LUE earlier this month, and the city’s airport advisory commission, which makes recommendations related to the airport’s noise ordinance, also have just one woman each.

The city’s harbor commission is made up of four women and one man, with three of those women being appointed by Garcia.

Vacancies currently exist for 11 commissions including those that deal with issues relating to the Long Beach Airport, citizen police complaints, cultural heritage, Belmont Shore parking and oversight of the city’s Measure A funding expenditures.

A full list of the vacancies, term lengths and links to applications can be found here.

[Editors note: A previous version of this story stated that Garcia had appointed two women to the harbor commission. Harbor Commission President Lou Anne Bynum was originally appointed by former Mayor Bob Foster but was reappointed by Garcia. The story has been changed to reflect that.]

Jason Ruiz covers City Hall and politics for the Long Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected] or @JasonRuiz_LB on Twitter.