For third time in as many days, Terry Jensen has made a major announcement about his candidacy for the Third District seat on the Long Beach City Council.
This time—specifically at 5 p.m. today, when he filed papers and signatures in the City Clerk’s office—Jensen is in … as opposed to about the same time on [...]

7th District candidate James Johnson may never have done it before, but he’s definitely been around the block

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY
This is James Johnson’s very first time, and if you stick around awhile we’ll tell you something you didn’t know. You did know that, right? Surely you recognize the never-done-this-before that’s written all over Johnson’s [...]

But as Long Beach’s history of influence-peddling illustrates, you gotta have a lobbying ordinance to monitor public officials’ contacts with their buddies

After a couple of rings, Rae Gabelich answered my phone call, which I was kind of dreading—although I figured she would. That’s one of the things I like about Long Beach’s 8th District city [...]

James Johnson announced in a press release Sunday evening that his campaign for the 7th district’s seat on the Long Beach City Council has been endorsed by state Senator Alan Lowenthal.
Johnson is among four announced candidates for the seat currently occupied by two-time—and termed-out—Councilmember Tonia Reyes Uranga, who is running a write-in campaign for a [...]

Robert Garcia reveals his inner Superman

PHOTO COURTESY ROBERT GARCIA
Robert Garcia was running for city council, I was riding my bike, and when we almost—literally—ran into one another on the sidewalk outside Dale’s Diner—my bad—on a crisp, sunny afternoon last winter, well, it was definitely a gotcha moment. Problem was, I had no idea what I’d [...]

Differing accounts of Councilman DeLong’s vote on a police contract offer a glimpse into the world of closed-session meetings

Were you as surprised as Councilman Patrick O’Donnell was on Sept. 15 when his colleague Councilman Gary DeLong indicated he would vote against updating the Long Beach Police Officers Association’s current contract with the city, and against [...]

For the second time in a little over a year, the cops have been called to her office at city hall. Do we need to be concerned, councilwoman?

PHOTO by DANIEL DE BOOM
By Dave Wielenga and Theo Douglas
Long Beach’s budget was out of balance again, and everyone at city hall was pressed to reduce expenses. When [...]

If we think too much about our homeless living in their cars, then we might have to help them

We smile at them, give them money and let them clean our windshields—but how many of us really know a homeless person? Few—and I’m not one of them. Just two weeks ago I called police twice [...]

Why did the mayor light a fire under updates to a pro-business ordinance?

PHOTO by RUSS ROCA
The city’s local preference ordinance—now being expanded at Mayor Bob Foster’s request—is a stellar piece of narrow-minded legislation. It makes no pretense toward benefiting all; as its colloquial name suggests, it benefits local businesses that service the city—at the [...]

A spokesperson for Mayor Bob Foster does not deny that Long Beach’s chief executive may have declined to reappoint Jack C. Smith to the Housing Development board because of Foster’s suspicion that Smith made negative comments about the mayor’s relationship with well-connected developer Tom Dean. The story was reported first on LBReport.com
In a wide-ranging e-mail [...]