By Doug Miller
After a 90-minute public hearing that featured heated speeches by council meeting regulars, newcomers and former public figures and was interrupted briefly by the incursion of a paper airplane, the council voted 3-2 in favor of the resolution, which was originally proposed by council Vice President Robert Tepper, along party lines.
The hearing was typical of the City Council: partisan, heated and bordering on the surreal. The speakers at the public hearing were evenly divided - though most said they were in favor of some kind of change in the city charter, including a switch to a mayor - between those who favored Tepper's direct route to a mayoralty and those who embraced the Republican coalition's proposal to form a commission to pursue a top-to-bottom overhaul of the city charter.
Long Beach had mayors from the time of its founding in 1922 until 1946, City Manager Ed Eaton explained. The change came in response to the assasination of Mayor Louis Edwards in 1939 and the unchecked power of Mayor Ted Ornstein, who succeeded him. The charter was revised to simply substitute the words "city manager" for "mayor," essentially making the city's chief executive an employee who serves at the pleasure of the party in power.
The resolution approved Tuesday will ask voters to change the charter back to its original wording. If a majority approves it, a mayor would be elected in November 2009 and take office Jan. 1, 2010.
The speakers brought varying levels of expertise to the debate. Glen Spiritis, who served as city manager in 2004, under coalition rule, embraced Tepper's proposal. "I am a former social studies teacher in Long Beach, and the thing we always taught our students is there are three branches of government," Spiritis said. "But not here in Long Beach. We have a legislature that acts like the executive branch. I take my hat off to Councilman Tepper for taking the lead on this."
But Eaton disagreed, claiming that the city manager form of government best suited the city. "The form of government is fine," he said. "If there's anything wrong, it's the people that constitute the government. ... The change that's being made is just not very substantive."
Denis Kelly, a former Democratic councilman, agreed at least that the matter should be put before the public. "Don't fear the will of the people," he said. "The will of the people put you there. You are not losing anything by voting yes, and I expect this will be wildly approved by the voters."
Be that as it may, the matter has drawn the ire of several Republicans, who have variously called it a dodge to distract voters from last year's 25 percent property tax increase and an inexpensive way to lure Democratic voters to the polls in an otherwise uninspiring election year.
After the vote, Democrat Lenny Remo said he would be in favor of hearings in the fall before the referendum to determine the mayor's powers. "It's very simple," Remo said. "The hearings will give the public the opportunity to discuss whether they want an appointed city manager or an elected mayor - a choice between the current form of government or the original form of government. "
"He's got it backwards," said Coalition Councilman Tom Sofield, who joined Hennessy in voting against the proposal. "They should be seeking the public's input now - specifically, enumerate the powers of the mayor, then put that issue before the voters. The way they're doing it, we'll have to have another referendum to amend the charter to reflect any change in the mayor's powers that resulted from these hearings."
Others who either support the coalition's charter review suggestion or are against a mayor wholesale were more creative in their dissent. "I've lived here three years and I read the letters to the editor," said Robert Pressman. "And I still can't figure out how this city works."
Jerry Hunt, meanwhile, said that without careful study, a change to the charter could be devastating. "We'll be another Florida," Hunt warned. "We'll be the hanging chad of New York state."
Personifying the chaos Hunt predicted was Bob Marino, who wore a black T-shirt featuring an obscenity and an American flag under his baseball cap, worn turban-style. Early in the evening Marino earned a stern warning from an auxiliary police officer for throwing a paper airplane at the council. When it was his turn to speak, he retrieved the plane from the policeman, unfolded it and read a speech to the council, which was essentially an announcement that he would be the city's first candidate for mayor since 1946.
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