By Doug Miller
A special committee of the Long Beach League of Women Voters wants the city to consider revamping the makeup of its governing body and the way it is elected, from a council of five members elected at large to a system of members representing councilmatic - or ward - districts.
The committee, chaired by Kim Gallow, based its finding on the consensus statement, "One of the basic principles of representative democracy is that the closer our elected officials are to their constituents, the better those constituents will be represented."
The committee released its findings at a special forum at the Long Beach Library last Thursday night.
The issue, Gallow acknowledged during her presentation, had pros and cons, the most obvious of the former being to increase the likelihood of bringing a black or Hispanic representative to the council. Every council member in Long Beach's history has been white.
Additionally, Gallow said, "The change would provide a form of campaign finance reform, since less money would be needed to get one's message across to the limited ward district area. And the ward system might increase voter participation because of more personal representation."
On the other side of the ledger, ward systems have traditionally encouraged such colorful creatures as ward heelers and bosses. "Individual ward districts might encourage rivalry and pork-barrel tactics," Gallow added, "and could lead to gerrymandering."
Such a system could also lead to a council full of mini-mayors who rule over their wards like little fiefdoms, and whose exposure and power might make them unbeatable on election day. This has been the biggest complaint about the state Legislature, but Estelle Sealine, the League of Women Voters' Long Beach chapter president, said that any change must respect voters' ability to choose the best candidate, not just the best known.
"The league, nationally, opposes term limits," said Sealine. "Elections are the only term limits we need."
The committee compared Long Beach with municipalities of similar size or location across the state. For instance, the committee looked at Geneva, which is governed by an eight-member council and a city manager. Six of the eight council members represent the city's six wards, and two others are elected at large. Geneva has a population of 13,617, compared with Long Beach's 35,462.
Another example is Oswego, which has an at-large mayor and seven council members representing seven wards. Its population is 18,096.
Neither of those cities, the committee acknowledged, bear any geographic or ethnic resemblance to Long Beach.
The Town of Hempstead has councilmatic districts, but only because it was split by order of the U.S. Court of Appeals in June 1999.
Much of the debate raised by members of the audience at the forum centered on how to divide 35,000 citizens geographically without blatant gerrymandering. Five council members representing 7,000 citizens each is one suggestion, or seven representing 5,000 each or 10 representing 3,500 each.
The problem is North Park, the section of north-central Long Beach where the vast majority of the city's blacks live. The area is not large enough to be its own ward, unless the wards are whittled down to about 2,000 people each. If the mission were to be to put a person of color on the council, then North Park would need to be partnered with another neighborhood with significantly fewer people. But splitting another neighborhood, such as Westholme or the area south of the hospital, for the benefit of promoting North Park could cause resentment.
In attendance at the League's presentation were City Manager Charles Theofan and City Councilman Leonard Remo. Asked by Gallow to comment, Theofan said he had no immediate opinion but was interested in the debate. Remo said he had several "strong" opinions on the matter, but added that he preferred not to influence the discussion by commenting.
The League will continue honing its position on the matter, Sealine said, with a series of internal debates and committee meetings. "When you work for eight to 10 months on something," she said, "you don't want to see it fall by the wayside."
Comments about this story? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
