Community leader, linguist and two-time 1st District council candidate Jana Shields announced her intention to run for mayor Friday, becoming the second person to do so this week. Damon Dunn also came forward with a bid for the seat, which is up for election along with all of the odd-numbered council seats, in April 2014.

As a resident of the 1st District since 1996 (and of Long Beach since 1980), Shields is the past president and current treasurer of the Willmore Heritage Association and is also Board treasurer for the Central Project Area Council. As a linguist, she received her MA from Cal State Long Beach and has been published in several academic journals.

She also co-founded and is president of the nonprofit Friends’ House At Drake Park, providing everything from after-school programs for at-risk kids to English classes for adult immigrants.

“[I am] skilled [in] guiding culturally and politically diverse people to find common ground and agree on a course of action,” Shields said in a statement. “Since Long Beach is the most diverse City in the Country, this skill will facilitate people and departments working together.” 

Shields ran twice for city council, first in 2009 during a 1st District special election where she received 3.7 percent of the vote, and again for the same position in 2010 when she garnered nearly 30 percent. She previously ran on platforms of balancing the city budget without raising taxes, a quest that will continue; she says structural pension reform will be her mayoral platform’s top issue.

“Mayor Foster has made baby-step progress on fringe pension reform, much of which is neutralized by pay raises and layoff freezes,” she said. “All of this will need to be renegotiated in a year or two when the current contracts expire.”

Shields is running without party affiliation and without backing from special interest groups.

“City elections are supposed to be non-partisan, but current elected officials use their positions for promoting partisan politics,” she said. “Voters are tired of the partisan bickering that is currently paralyzing progress in National and State legislative action.”

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