The vote on April 12th will be for for the Long Beach City College Trustees, LBUSD Board Members and four City Council races.
This write up will focus on the City Council Candidates only. We will cover the Board of Trustees and LBUSD Board races at a later date. During the debate each candidate was asked three questions prepared by the Neighborhood Leadership Program, which put on the forum. Each candidate was also asked one question from the audience and given a chance to provide a closing statement.
These are paraphrases of the candidates' answers, not direct quotes. We're not being subtle, the candidates we're endorsing have a star next to them.
District Two:
What is the most important quality a leader should have? Vision. I believe the 2nd District is a District in transition. From 7th to Pine to the Promenade the city should elect someone with a vision to bring the District to a better place.
Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? I support putting the sale's tax on the ballot. There are different ways to get funds as we're developing and we need to make sure our initiatives are business friendly.
What is the most important issue facing your district? Chose several issues but added parking. Altimos Beach residents may get home from work and need to drive 45 minutes to find a place to park.
Why we picked Erik Gray. Aside from being endorsed by everyone, Gray comes off as very down to earth, sincere and has already been very involved in the community before running for council. Of all the second district candidates Gray seems to be the best balance of the how to support business and the community as Downtown Long Beach grows.
Jeannine Pearce
What is the most important quality a leader should have? Integrity. Council members, wherever you reside must allow a seat at the table for everyone.Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? Supports the tax. Our number one priority needs to be supporting police and fire as our density increases.
What is the most important issue facing your district? Homelessness. We need a value base budget process.
Joan Garnica
What is the most important quality a leader should have? Integrity. Somebody with integrity will embody all the 14 qualities a leader would be expected to have.
Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? Was less supportive of the idea. I am concerned that we need long term funding. We need to put ourselves in a place to succeed.
What is the most important issue facing your district? Parking, I am the only candidate who has imporved parking in the Second District. I would also say public safety and making sure we have a connected community.
District Six:
Josephine A Villaseñor
What is the most important quality a leader should have? Courage. It takes courage to stand up to the gangs, it takes courage to stand up to the violence, it takes courage do what's right for the community.
Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? I support the sales tax. I'm a part of the Community Emergency Response team and we need to put our police, fire and first responders first.
What is the most important issue facing your district? The most important issue is the gangs. We need to stop them from recruiting from our elementary schools. That's why I started the Wrigley Community Watch which has grown from one person to 35 patroling not just District Six, but District's 1,2,5,6 and 7.Why we picked Josephine Villaseñor: Every candidate running for sixth District listed public safety as the District's number one concern, Josephine is already very active within the community having been a part of CERT, the American Red Cross and forming a large community watch group in Wrigley that has dealt with everything from drug dealing to human trafficking.
Erik Miller:
What is the most important quality a leader should have? Accountability.
Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? There's no question that there's a lot of violence in the Sixth District. You know when you've entered District Six and you know when you leave it.
What is the most important issue facing your district? Violence in the 6th District.
Dee Andrews:
What is the most important quality a leader should have? Service. Service has been lacking in my community. Often times, they get to you when they get to you.
Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? Any dollar is a good dollar. Crime is up but, crime is up everywhere. A clean city is a good city.
What is the most important issue facing your district? Our number one issue is public safety. But I don't think a lot of people know what it was like in the 90s.
Robert Harmon
What is the most important quality a leader should have? Integrity. Integrity is more than just a word, it defines a person. You have to do what is right all the time.
Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? It's a bitter pill we have to take. We have to do the right thing. We have infrastructure that needs to be maintained; it’s been deferred, we pay now or we pay later
What is the most important issue facing your district? Why do people graduate without any financial literacy skills. Let's extend a ladder for people to move up and become home owners.
District Eight:
Al Austin II:What is the most important quality a leader should have? Courage. It takes a lot of courage to run. Every word is scrutinized by the public and the press especially in a district like the 8th.
Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? I voted in support of this. This is about infrastructure and public safety. What do we put a value on. Long Beach is on the verge of becoming a world class or a third world city.
What is the most important issue facing your district? What is the most important depends on where in the district you live. We already spend 70% of our budget on public safety. For those close to the airport the most important issue is airport noise.
Why we chose Al Austin. It's a close call between Austin and Turnbow. In the end, Turnbow's comment about negotiating hard with the unions, seems to imply more police at the expense of lower pay for police and fire. And we think that's a lot to ask of anyone who builds a career out of risking their life for their community. We also don't find it realistic.
What is the most important quality a leader should have? Accountability. I want to bring Town Hall meetings where we connect citizens with City Council.
Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? You must address crime, cities and sidewalks but you don't do it with short shortsightedness. We need to do things that are business friendly or businesses won't come up our city.
What is the most important issue facing your district? Public safety. We have to negotiate hard with the unions to prevent cuts to police and fire during trying economic times.
Laurie C. Angel
What is the most important quality a leader should have? Respect. You have to respect the process, the neighborhoods, citizens, each other and the public.
Do you support the mayor's one cent sale's tax? The sales tax was not vetted in the businesses. We'll have the highest sales tax in the city and there is no guarantee it will be spent on public safety.
What is the most important issue facing your district? Safety. It's a long term and a long range issue. This starts with the youth by giving them constructive things to do and growing up understanding right from wrong.
About Early Voting
There are two options for voters who can't find time off for the April 12th primary vote. The first of those options is mail. Long Beach resident's can also vote early by going to the County Clerk's office and voting in person.
Both options will be open starting on 03/14/2016. Both of these options are meant to fight off the disappointing turn out Long Beach saw in 2014 when only 14.2 percent of registered voters turned out for the primary vote.
The only candidate that did not sit at the table and get questions from the moderator was Daryl Supernaw, who is running unopposed. Instead Supernaw gave a three minute statement in between the candidate's answering these questions and the Q and A with prospective members of the LBUSD School Board.
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