Council race kicks off

Republicans Angelo Lomonte, left, Catherine Quinn and Brian Higgins announced their candidacy for the City Council last week. They will run against Democrats, pictured right, City Council President Len Torres, candidate Karen Adamo and Councilman Anthony Eramo.

City Council Vice President Fran Adelson, a Democrat, announced on Tuesday that she would not seek re-election this year, marking the beginning of a political season in which council President Len Torres, Councilman Anthony Eramo and candidate Karen Adamo, all Democrats, will seek to retain control of the city.

In the battle for three council seats, three Republican-backed candidates, former Zoning Board of Appeals Trustee Angelo Lomonte and newcomers Catherine Quinn and Brian Higgins, announced their campaigns last week, and are looking to wrest control of the city from the Democrats on Nov. 3.

Adelson, a local real estate agent who was elected in 2011 in a sweep that ousted the Republican-led coalition administration, made her announcement at Tuesday’s Long Beach Democratic Committee meeting at the Park Sports Bar & Grill. She said that her husband, the musician Steve Adelson, will be traveling often, and that she would like to be with him and focus on other things in her life. “It was an extremely hard decision for me,” she said, “but the right decision for me.”

Adelson said she was proud of what she and her fellow council members have accomplished since taking office — especially reviving the city’s finances after inheriting a multi-million-dollar deficit — and the progress the city continues to make in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. She said she remained committed to serving the city through the end of her term, on Dec. 31.

“I put my heart and my soul, along with the rest of the council, into this city,” she said. “We have worked so hard to get the city to this point now. We came in at such a devastating time — we were devastated financially, and then we had a storm that nearly wiped the city away. I am so proud to have been a part of helping to rebuild this city and getting it where it is today, along with the administration …

“This slate is going to be a great slate — the work is not done,” Adelson added of Torres, Eramo and Adamo. “Everybody is going to be in great hands — we never want to go back to the way things were.”