Moore lauded at historic inauguration

Anissa Moore was sworn into office by State Supreme Court Justice Sharon Gianelli at the ceremony on Jan. 1. Photos by Susan Grieco/Herald

Photos by Susan Grieco/Herald

Photos by Susan Grieco/Herald Anissa Moore was cheered by hundreds of her supporters at the Jan. 1 inauguration ceremony at City Hall.

Councilman Anthony Eramo was sworn in by his children, Fiona, left and Maceo, center.

Former Councilwoman Fran Adelson swore in Council President Len Torres.

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Anissa Moore, who brushed off an initial lack of support from the local Democratic club after she was not chosen to run for City Council in the September primary and went on to collect the most votes in November’s general election, was sworn into office on Jan. 1 in what was described as a historic inauguration.

Moore, 46, a professor of communications at Nassau Community College — who ran on a platform of change, accountability and greater representation for all residents — is the first African-American to be elected to the council.

“Today is for the wonderful people that I met throughout my campaign,” she said at the ceremony, noting that her supporters represented a cross-section of cultures in Long Beach. “All who welcomed me and encouraged me to fight the fight for a seat — a fight for a voice, a fight for their voice.”

Moore ran alongside incumbent City Council President Len Torres and Councilman Anthony Eramo.

“Yes, the ceiling has been broken, and it is a historic ceiling,” said the ceremony’s host, Steve Kohut, a longtime Democrat and a former chief of lifeguards, adding that Torres was the first Latino elected to the council in 2009.

Democrats retained control of the City Council, defeating their Republican-backed challengers by a wide margin in what supporters called an affirmation of the administration’s handling of a fiscal crisis it inherited in 2012, and its post-Hurricane Sandy recovery effort.

The Joint Veterans Association and local clergy took part in the ceremony, and speakers included State Supreme Court Justice Sharon Gianelli, who swore Moore into office.

“Today is not an ordinary day, but it is a moment in history,” Moore said. “It is a part of the American dream.”

She thanked her supporters and outgoing Councilwoman Fran Adelson, who did not seek re-election.

Moore, who moved to Long Beach in 2009, noted that her great-grandparents were part of the black American migration to the North in the 1920s, fleeing the oppressive Jim Crow-era South for a better life, and her grandmother toiled in a shoe factory in Brooklyn so her children could have a college education. Growing emotional, Moore said that her great-great-grandmother, Lucy Brown, was born a slave in South Carolina.