11:01am | Mike Kowal, a well-known Long Beach real estate broker and community activist, said Friday that he has tossed his hat into the ring and is running for the city’s Eighth District council seat in 2012.
Kowal said in an April 29 e-mail that he has “filed the required documents to the state and city and am now officially running.”
Kowal, who co-founded and is a member of the Los Cerritos Improvement Association, had hinted earlier this year that he would likely campaign for the office.
The community advocate has told reporters in the past that he is unhappy with the manner in which City Hall has handled the city’s budget and that he does not agree with how and on what the city spends taxpayer dollars.
Rae Gabelich, the district’s current representative on the Council, is being termed out next year after serving two consecutive four-year terms.
Kowal has long advocated for responsible growth at the Long Beach Airport. He and Gabelich co-founded in 2004 the grassroots group LBHUSH2, which argued successfully that expanding the airport’s size by 130,000 square feet, as the original proposal called for, was irresponsible and would result in a decreased quality of life for residents who live in the airport’s flight path. The airport is currently being expanded by just less than 75,000 square feet.
The primary election is set for April 12, 2012.
The Eighth District includes portions of the Virginia Country Club, Los Cerritos, California Heights and Bixby Knolls neighborhoods.