By: Chris Munzing
With the final "yes" vote from Long Beach City Council President Joel Crystal, the Dec. 16 meeting came to a close and the curtain dropped on the current administration.
When the ball drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve, the dawning of a new year will mean a new City Council, with three new members, Republicans Mona Goodman, Jim Hennessy and one-time Democrat Thomas Sofield Jr. The new council members, who will join Lenny Remo and Denis Kelly, will be sworn in at noon on Jan. 1 at City Hall.
The Republican "Coalition" ran on a platform of curbing what it perceived to be the overdevelopment of the city's few open spaces, fixing the financial mess the city now finds itself in, and showing the citizens of Long Beach that the new council has their best interests at heart.
"The biggest concern is the financial crisis the city is in," said Hennessy. "It's worse than we were led to believe. It's a disaster area."
Nevertheless, Hennessy pledged that there would be no tax increase for the citizens of Long Beach, making the same promise the Coalition made during its campaign. Hennessy stressed that there are other ways to alleviate the financial situation without raising taxes.
"The money's out there," he said. "We just have to go get it. There are other creative ways of getting the job done." Hennessy said that the new council will be exploring state and federal grants to try to alleviate some of the problem. He added that part of the city's current problem was that the Democrat-dominated council didn't look for other ways to raise funds besides raising taxes.
"The first answer should not be to look for the taxpayers to reach into their pockets," said GOP chairman and former council member Jim Moriarty. "The taxpayers have been hit hard enough. What needs to be done is a serious, intense forensic audit of all the city's finances with the goal of eliminating waste and abuse. Every aspect of the city must be scrutinized."
"You have to look a other ways to bring in revenue," said Sofield. "The financial situation is much, much worse than we ever imagined. You don't want to cut people's services, but you have to look at everything. It's just good business."
That includes streamlining every department of the city government and its employees. While Moriarty maintains that the new members will not continue the "overriding, incestuous political relationship" that he said was a feature of city government under the Democrats, he did say that there will be changes made to bring in people, Democrat or Republican, who will fit with the coalition's vision for the city.
Hennessy said that political affiliation will play no part in hirings or firings and that every employee will be looked at. "Every department is gong to be under scrutiny," he said. "Who's doing their job and who's not. Basically, who's going to fit with our vision.
"[The Democrats'] spin is that we're gong to replace one machine with another, and I can tell you right now it's not going to be that way."
Goodman said that there was the possibility that new committees would be formed to better serve the community, such as an environmental committee and a charter-review board. She added that the City Council meetings would also be more open to public comment, giving members of the community more time to speak on certain issues.
Goodman added that the council will be embarking on a listening tour in February, visiting various neighborhoods in the city to hear their suggestions and thoughts on the issues most important to them. "We're eager to listen," she said. "It's the basis of government."
The Coalition ticket was also adamant about curbing what it perceived as the overdevelopment of the city. In the past few years there have been a number of new condominium units built, along with huge new homes in the West End, and there is concern that the area near the Boardwalk is being turned into a smaller version of Manhattan.
Part of the problem, according to Hennessy, is that the Zoning Board of Appeals is not accountable to the city government. The members are appointed by the city manager, but Hennessy would like to see the law changed so that after being nominated by the city manager, zoning board nominees would have to be approved by the council. Hennessy said that when the Republicans were campaigning, one of the most-often-asked questions was, "Who is the zoning board accountable to?"
Goodman said that revising the zoning board to make it more accountable was one step toward making the city government more accessible. "We want an open, responsive-to-the-people government," she said. "The more we open things, the better it will be."
Hennessy and Sofield agreed that the new council also has to reach out to the Long Beach School District. The two entities have always moved alongside one another, but not always together. "We need to work more closely together," said Sofield, who is a father of three young children. "What goes on in the schools affects the city government, and what goes on in the city government affects the schools."
