Adelson is named Long Beach City Council president

“It’s a new year and a new day,” Fran Adelson said during her induction speech, shortly before she was unanimously voted City Council president on Sunday. “I am very grateful … I am honored to be your newly elected councilwoman in our wonderful hometown of Long Beach, I am overwhelmed by the support …”

Adelson, who was sworn in by State Supreme Court Judge Joel Asarch, was one of three council members who were elected in November and inducted during a ceremony that was packed with hundreds of supporters on the sixth floor of City Hall, including newcomer Scott Mandel and incumbent Len Torres, who was named the council‘s vice president.

The significance of the ceremony on New Year’s Day was not lost on its inductees and keynote speakers. Throughout it, many noted the ‘positive’ spirit and changes the new council will bring to Long Beach in the coming months.

“What makes today a special day is the change that takes place in our government and our city, and that change only takes place due to the hard work of the men and women involved in the political process,” said Mike Zapson, the head of the Long Beach Democratic Committee and a former councilman. “And there is change coming - between Fran, Scott and Len, and Mike and John … we have five people who are going to work day in, day out for the good of the community. I do predict that two years from now, Long Beach is going to be a better place to live, to work and raise your family.”

The new team will take the reins of what was a fractured City Council, one that was fiercely split between the three Republican-led Coalition council members - Tom Sofield Jr., Mona Goodman and John McLaughlin - and its two Democrats, Torres and Mike Fagen who, after they were first elected in 2009, claimed that they were not included in council decisions.

The Democratic trio ran against Sofield and Goodman on a campaign platform that included a pledge to bring more transparency and accountability to City Hall in the months leading up to the Nov. 8 election, saying that many residents felt shut out of the governing process.