Community activist Robert Fox announced his candidacy for the 2nd District Friday. Photo by Thomas R Cordova
It’s been five lonely, uneventful, skirmish-free years since Long Beach has held a bloody and punishing election. Save for some down-ballot measures last year, there was no drama in the city’s last election in November. Long Beach’s elected officials won either unopposed or virtually unopposed and were swept back into office by a slumbering and utterly disinterested electorate, when voters had to hold community rallies to boost their interest level up to apathetic.
For 2020, though, things are already getting good, with the chances of blood being spilled along the campaign trail looking very rosy indeed.
Already, the “Son of the 6th” District, Councilman Dee Andrews will be facing at least two members of the district’s Cambodian community, Suely Saro and Steve Meng, both active in their sector of town that’s been increasingly impatient with its lack of representation on the council. Al Austin in the 8th will have to grapple with Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, and in the 2nd District, incumbent Jeannine Pearce is under a mammoth assault, if not by challengers Jeanette Barrera and Richard Harrison, then certainly by Robert Fox, who announced his candidacy on Friday.
Pearce would be vulnerable enough if only for her troubles incurred during her tenure, which peaked with a unanimous censure by the council last May in the wake of her freeway-side chats with her former aide and (for lack of a less-fancy term) paramour Devon Cotter. So, she’s beatable at any level, never mind when facing a challenger like Fox, an ultra-vocal community activist who gave a Churchillian statement in his Friday announcement:
“It is truly a great honor to step into this fight—and for me it truly is a fight. It’s a fight for the lives and well-being of the friends and neighbors I love, some of whom I’ve come to know in just the last few years and others for decades, often fighting in the trenches of activism together.
“I have put my blood, sweat, and toil into this district for more than three decades, and while retirement was an option, I could not look away from today’s urgent need for new leadership.”
Well, when you put it that way, yes, it is sweet and proper to die for one’s country. Or council district.
Fox, whose resume is liberally littered with dozens of affiliations with community groups as founder, president, board member and other positions ranging from founding president of the Broadway Business Corridor Association to host of the 2nd District Holiday Celebration Potluck.
Pearce, meanwhile, has earned a certain amount of local fame for being difficult to reach; when I tried on several occasions to reach her on Friday I received an immediate automatic message: “I’m in a mtg, can we try later?”
Eventually (“sorry, I’m swamped today”), she texted a short comment: “I, of course, welcome the democratic process. I will remain focused on the issues of my district, such as parking, safe streets, clean neighborhoods and ensuring all of my residents have a voice. At the end of the day, I know residents of the 2nd District will continue the progress we have collectively made.”
If Fox is Churchill, Pearce is Mamie Eisenhower.
Fox, on the other hand, is the most-available-for-comment person I’ve known, at least as a candidate. He spoke for more than 30 minutes on what he considers the mess Pearce has made that he hopes to inherit.
“I don’t need to do this,” said Fox, 66. “I have a home in Honolulu. I could blow town and go to Honolulu and have a great time,” he said Friday. His chief beef is the SNAFUBAR that the section of the Broadway, between Alamitos and Redondo avenues, and the crowding of Alamitos Beach, is in general.
“There’s been 57 recorded accidents in 45 days on Broadway,” he said. “Head-on collisions at Kennebec, Obispo and Orizaba, cars flipping over at Cherry. Ten people have gone to the hospital. Can you even imagine? It’s dangerous not just for drivers and cyclists, but it’s dangerous for police and fire departments. It’s putting paramedics and patients at the Broadway By the Sea (convalescent home) in peril.”
(Like many candidates, Fox often speaks in stats. Best to just let him go, or you might lose an arm.)
Fox says he doesn’t believe he is a mean person, but said he can only take so much, and that’s what’s launched him into this race to represent his neighborhood of 35 years.
It will be interesting to say the least, because Fox is a sometimes compelling, if not relentless, speaker and he is more than willing to debate anyone about anything anywhere.
Pearce, on the other hand, isn’t quite so chatty. She will likely get Mayor Robert Garcia’s golden endorsement, because, regardless of his feelings about Pearce, the mayor definitely isn’t looking forward to spending Tuesday nights with Fox.
Tim Grobaty is a columnist and the Opinions Editor for the Long Beach Post. You can reach him at 562-714-2116, email [email protected], @grobaty on Twitter and Grobaty on Facebook.
Going a little crazy over the 2nd District election
It’s been five lonely, uneventful, skirmish-free years since Long Beach has held a bloody and punishing election. Save for some down-ballot measures last year, there was no drama in the city’s last election in November. Long Beach’s elected officials won either unopposed or virtually unopposed and were swept back into office by a slumbering and utterly disinterested electorate, when voters had to hold community rallies to boost their interest level up to apathetic.
For 2020, though, things are already getting good, with the chances of blood being spilled along the campaign trail looking very rosy indeed.
Already, the “Son of the 6th” District, Councilman Dee Andrews will be facing at least two members of the district’s Cambodian community, Suely Saro and Steve Meng, both active in their sector of town that’s been increasingly impatient with its lack of representation on the council. Al Austin in the 8th will have to grapple with Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, and in the 2nd District, incumbent Jeannine Pearce is under a mammoth assault, if not by challengers Jeanette Barrera and Richard Harrison, then certainly by Robert Fox, who announced his candidacy on Friday.
Pearce would be vulnerable enough if only for her troubles incurred during her tenure, which peaked with a unanimous censure by the council last May in the wake of her freeway-side chats with her former aide and (for lack of a less-fancy term) paramour Devon Cotter. So, she’s beatable at any level, never mind when facing a challenger like Fox, an ultra-vocal community activist who gave a Churchillian statement in his Friday announcement:
“It is truly a great honor to step into this fight—and for me it truly is a fight. It’s a fight for the lives and well-being of the friends and neighbors I love, some of whom I’ve come to know in just the last few years and others for decades, often fighting in the trenches of activism together.
“I have put my blood, sweat, and toil into this district for more than three decades, and while retirement was an option, I could not look away from today’s urgent need for new leadership.”
Well, when you put it that way, yes, it is sweet and proper to die for one’s country. Or council district.
Fox, whose resume is liberally littered with dozens of affiliations with community groups as founder, president, board member and other positions ranging from founding president of the Broadway Business Corridor Association to host of the 2nd District Holiday Celebration Potluck.
Pearce, meanwhile, has earned a certain amount of local fame for being difficult to reach; when I tried on several occasions to reach her on Friday I received an immediate automatic message: “I’m in a mtg, can we try later?”
Eventually (“sorry, I’m swamped today”), she texted a short comment: “I, of course, welcome the democratic process. I will remain focused on the issues of my district, such as parking, safe streets, clean neighborhoods and ensuring all of my residents have a voice. At the end of the day, I know residents of the 2nd District will continue the progress we have collectively made.”
If Fox is Churchill, Pearce is Mamie Eisenhower.
Fox, on the other hand, is the most-available-for-comment person I’ve known, at least as a candidate. He spoke for more than 30 minutes on what he considers the mess Pearce has made that he hopes to inherit.
“I don’t need to do this,” said Fox, 66. “I have a home in Honolulu. I could blow town and go to Honolulu and have a great time,” he said Friday. His chief beef is the SNAFUBAR that the section of the Broadway, between Alamitos and Redondo avenues, and the crowding of Alamitos Beach, is in general.
“There’s been 57 recorded accidents in 45 days on Broadway,” he said. “Head-on collisions at Kennebec, Obispo and Orizaba, cars flipping over at Cherry. Ten people have gone to the hospital. Can you even imagine? It’s dangerous not just for drivers and cyclists, but it’s dangerous for police and fire departments. It’s putting paramedics and patients at the Broadway By the Sea (convalescent home) in peril.”
(Like many candidates, Fox often speaks in stats. Best to just let him go, or you might lose an arm.)
Fox says he doesn’t believe he is a mean person, but said he can only take so much, and that’s what’s launched him into this race to represent his neighborhood of 35 years.
It will be interesting to say the least, because Fox is a sometimes compelling, if not relentless, speaker and he is more than willing to debate anyone about anything anywhere.
Pearce, on the other hand, isn’t quite so chatty. She will likely get Mayor Robert Garcia’s golden endorsement, because, regardless of his feelings about Pearce, the mayor definitely isn’t looking forward to spending Tuesday nights with Fox.
So it should be an epic clash for once.
Good Lord, the things I get excited about…
Tim Grobaty
Tim Grobaty is a columnist and the Opinions Editor for the Long Beach Post. You can reach him at 562-714-2116, email [email protected], @grobaty on Twitter and Grobaty on Facebook.
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