1:45pm | During a debate in March between two candidates for the position of City Attorney, incumbent Robert Shannon answered a question about the difficulties of the job by calling the current Long Beach City Council the “most dysfunctional” that he’d worked with in twelve years on the job.
Last night’s swearing-in ceremony of two new members to the City Council might be the beginning of a new political story and the plot is either “a new day for Long Beach” or “business as usual” for the “dysfunctional” bunch.
If last night’s only agenda item is any indication, we’re all in for another lap around the track. Not because the City Council deadlocked on electing a new Vice Mayor and will revisit the issue next week; there’s nothing wrong officials voting based on their beliefs and coming up even. But Shannon’s main point was that current councilmembers have not learned to disagree with each other civilly, which leads to in-fighting over what can be inconsequential issues that drag on and on.
Traditionally, the position of Vice Mayor is a nice honor that your fellow councilmembers bestow upon you as recognition of their respect for you. It has little actual power or stature, except that this person runs City Council meetings while the Mayor is absent or away for a minute. Two years ago, Tonia Reyes Uranga was vying for the seat but took herself out of the running when she learned that Val Lerch was also interested. Why? It’s just not that big a deal.
But there was already more controversy surrounding this Vice Mayor appointment before the item even came to vote. The two most interested parties, Suja Lowenthal and Patrick O’Donnell, were pit against each other in battle that has split the Council into sides. Robert Garcia, Dee Andrews, James Johnson and Gary DeLong for Lowenthal, with Gerrie Schipske, Rae Gabelich and Steven Neal for O’Donnell.
The item was pushed back to next week’s meeting when a full Council will probably be present, and since DeLong was on vacation this week his return will give Lowenthal the victory if everything remains according to plan. And that’s fine. That’s how the process works.
But we’ve already devoted so much time and energy to this issue while major decisions are slowly creeping up on the city, and it will come down to the City Council to come to civil agreements that will shape Long Beach for the next few years and beyond.
Chief among those issues is the looming $18.5 million deficit that the City must erase to achieve a balanced budget by September 15. City management has revealed strategies such as realigning some departments and, sadly, cutting services. This is a key area where new councilmembers could come into play.
Johnson ran a campaign based on his financial expertise and experience working with City funds as an Assistant City Auditor for several years. Even as a very raw public official, he could offer considerable insight into the budget problem with an expansive knowledge of how government funds work. He replaces an often outspoken and critical councilmember in Tonia Reyes Uranga, which could lead to a unifying presence although Reyes Uranga was never afraid to ask the important questions that deserved to be heard.
As chair of the city’s Budget Oversight Committee, DeLong has presented a very conservative approach to government spending and is openly searching for ways to reform the current pension system for retired employees. Likely, he can count on the support of a few councilmembers including Lowenthal, who not only is a consistent ally of DeLong but has also proven to lean toward fiscal conservancy.
Will the pension reform issue cause friction with another freshman councilmember, Steven Neal, who has made no secret of his alliance with workers unions and during his swearing-in ceremony last night thanked his “labor family?”
However city management and the City Council progress through the budget process, they will need to work together. This is certainly the biggest issue facing the Council in the short term, but since this is the group that will represent Long Beach for at least the next two years, we need to look long term as well.
With the beginning of a new four-year term, one thing that you can expect is more of the same independent, no-holds-barred approach from 5th District Councilmember Gerrie Schipske, who is now one of the most senior voices and is frequently mixed up in the larger issues facing the Council, often on the opposite side of DeLong.
One of the greater long-term tests will be for Robert Garcia in the 1st District. His first sixteen months of service were packed with events and community accomplishments such as investments in technology, the renewed 14th Street Skate Park and the recent New City Farm. Garcia has always made grand promises and a lot of eyes will be focused on his first full term in office.
Of the remaining councilmembers, all have two years left in their current term and are often overshadowed by their counterparts. Recently, though, O’Donnell has become louder on issues such as advocating for reconfiguration of the Long Beach Breakwater and stricter regulations on marijuana collectives. Representing the 6th and 8th Districts, respectively, Dee Andrews and Rae Gabelich have long, established histories in their community and have strong constituent support.
How will this Council’s story develop? Will it show us a civil, unifying group that can make decisions even in disagreement or will it be a continuation of the “dysfunctional” brush that City Attorney Shannon used to paint the last group?
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