SUJA GETS CHALLENGER ON FRIDAY-THE-13TH DEADLINE FOR COUNCIL CANDIDATES
By Dave Wielenga
LONG BEACH (Via LBReport.com)—On Friday the 13th and, let’s hope only coincidentally, the final day for candidates for this year’s Long Beach City Council elections, the fields for races in the 2nd, 4th and 6th districts—were finalized.
The biggest surprise heading into the final day was the emergence of a homeowners-group challenger to Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal in the 2nd District and the lack of an opponent for Dee Andrews in the 6th District.
LBReport.com broke the story that Janet Ballantyne—a supporter of Downtown Homeowners United, the grassroots residents group that has spoken out against an attempted assessment (PBID) on downtown residents by the Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBA)—plans to oppose Lowenthal in the April primary.
They are joined in the race by Stella Ursua, who announced her 2nd district candidacy in November andrequested City Clerk nomination papers in mid-December. Mike Kamer, a Hellman area resident, pulled papers Tuesday (Jan. 10). Kamer previously worked/volunteered with Americorps and will begin a CSULB MBA program in the coming weeks. He tells LBReport.com he plans to accept no campaign contributions and will communicate with voters online.
Meanwhile, no one has indicated an intention to oppose Andrews, under whose watch—or lack of it—the 6th district lost the opportunity to replace the dusty old hole known as Hamilton Bowl with a massive-and-marvelous Kroc Center basically for lack of energy or interest. That is, nobody took the lead in raising the $15 million necessary to prove to Kroc Center patrons—The Salvation Army, overseers of a $1.5 billion grant from the estate of Joan Kroc—that the City of Long Beach would be able to manage the gift of a $120-million facility.
In four years, only a smattering of donations were collected, and on May 4, 2010, Andrews seemed surprised when The Salvation Army withdrew the offer.
Meanwhile, the going-out-of-business sale at iconic V.I.P. Records continues. The birthplace of hip-hop’s Long Beach Sound, which dominated the international music charts in the 1990s, has been struggling for years. When owner Kelvin Anderson announced last fall that the store would likely not survive, Andrews told GreaterLongBeach.com that he was determined to do something to help save it. That comment appears to have been Andrews last mention of the subject.
The fields:
2nd dist: Suja Lowenthal (incumbent) vs. Janet Ballantyne vs. Mike Kamer (latter requested paperwork Jan. 10, filed it Jan. 13, has told LBReport.comhe doesn’t plan to spend money in campaign)
4th dist.: Daryl Supernaw vs. John Watkins (vs. incumbent Patrick O’Donnell who’s indicated he’ll use write-in campaign procedure for a third term).
6th dist.: Dee Andrews (incumbent) has no filed opposition.
8th dist.: Lillian Kawasaki vs. Al Austin vs. Gustavo Rivera (latter requested paperwork Jan 12, filed it Jan. 13).
The candidate Jan. 13 filing deadline is extended to Jan. 18 in districts where the incumbent hasn’t filed for reelection (4th and 8th districts) and the filing deadline for write-in candidates runs from Jan. 13 to Feb. 27.
12 Comments
I’m surprised Councilman Andrews would know about the demise of V.I.P records or the Kroc Center considering all of the hemp smoke frequently swirling around his on-going dominoe games in the apartment near Wilson High.
What does Andrews care as long as Mayor Foster is pleased Andrews does everything told to do and continues to allow all taxpayer’s money to be spent everywhere EXCEPT the 6th District.
Andrew’s wardrobe sure has become spiffy since he became Foster’s and DeLong’s buddy. Not like the rags he wore when first running for Council. Must be those $millions he gets as a part time Councilmember.
One of the biggest reasons the Kroc Center funding never really got off the ground has to do with Calvin Broadus’ failing to make good on his promise to hold a benefit concert and donate the proceeds from both that and CD sales to the Kroc Center project.
Another main reason was, as this article infers, a clear lack of interest and/or leadership from within the community the Kroc Center would have been primarily intended to serve.
Whether that leadership should have came from the Council Office or from elsewhere is a topic for discussion but, either way, neither sufficient leadership nor interest was present to see the project to fruition.
The Salvation Army saw that and, very unfortunately, eventually pulled the plug in Long Beach. According to their website : “To date, 17 centers are open and operating. An additional 10 centers are currently scheduled to open in 2012.” What a pity Long Beach could not have been one of them.
My question is: Whatever happened to the Kroc Center funds that *were* raised? As I recall, even though they fell short of the required sum, they still amounted to a tidy some. So where are they? If they have been spent, who spent them…and on what?
“One of the biggest reasons the Kroc Center funding never really got off the ground has to do with Calvin Broadus’ failing to make good on his promise to hold a benefit concert and donate the proceeds from both that and CD sales to the Kroc Center project.”
pure bullshit. your hardon for snoop is showing again. next up will be goodhue, the only man on here demented enough to agree with you, with one of his patented racist rants.
I agree with mr. howardx.
howardx conveniently (and quite typically) fails to deal directly with my assertion and, instead, chooses to infer (by association) that my comment was motivated by racism and dismiss it on that basis.
How convenient for him.
Calvin Broadus made a *commitment* to the community to hold a concert specifically to benefit the planned Kroc Center. He failed to follow through on that promise. He made a *commitment* to the community to produce a CD and donate at least a portion of the sale proceeds to the planned Kroc Center. He failed to follow through on that promise as well.
There is *zero* racism involved in these critiques. They are critiques of commitments made and broken, not be some conjured Hip-Hop persona named Snoop Dogg, but by a real flesh and blood professional entertainer named Calvin Broadus.
Why does Broadus get a pass from howardx, while everyone else in the community and at City Hall who also had a part in this failure does not?
Tis not often there is daylight between the views of Mr, Greet and my self re
issues on these page—however in terms of the Kroc Center funding et al.
It was DOA–the moment there was even a hint of the SD’s name being
attached to it. Even were he to offer to cut a check and pay for the thing-
it would be a millstone around the neck of the.
Thoughtful minds–must look to the future and its operating and replacement
cost. Few, if any would want their name-or their family’s name–attached to one with a record of conduct such as SD.
Beyond that : The location is in a flood zone–even the hopefully soon to
be replaced–oh so over his head City Manager Pat West-would not build
the project on that location.
Laurence B. Goodhue
The to often articulated views of Howard X’s hero toward women are viewed
as degenerate.Combine that with the Fruit Looped HX’s vocabulary–they would make the perfect couple.
Isn’t Stella Ursua still in the 2nd dist race?
Truth be told-the 2nd District has not had good leadership since the
good Wally Egerton. There are to many trying to run which makes it
near impossible to get a good candidate elected.
If you want to point fingers at the Kroc Center failure start with the Mayor (Boss Bob) and his developer buddy Dave Neary. It was the loss of the decade for sure!
@LBMike: I think there is plenty of blame to go around all over, including to the general LB Community, which didn’t step up and support the project anyway, in the absence of any true leadership.
What gets me, though, is people willing to lay blame everywhere *but* at Broadus’ well-deserving feet.
“I think there is plenty of blame to go around all over, including to the general LB Community, which didn’t step up and support the project anyway, in the absence of any true leadership.”
If the general public didn’t step up and demand the Center be constructed, then the public obviously didn’t want or need the Kroc Ctr.
Case closed.