The Signal Tribune emailed 10 identical questions to the four District 3 candidates — Ronald Sampson, Kristina Duggan, Rebecca Hinderer and Brian Cochrane — and gave them one week to respond. We only received responses from Duggan and Cochrane at the time of publication.
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For more information, including a current list of all LA County Vote Centers, to check registration information or to request a ballot in a different language, visit lavote.gov.What issues do you think are most important in your district, and how do you plan to address those issues?
These responses are copied verbatim from candidate Cochrane.
1. What issues do you think are most important in your district, and how do you plan to address those issues?
The top issues for District 3, in my view, are safety and daily quality of life; pedestrian and traffic protections; meaningful interventions for the unhoused; and roadway, sidewalk and alley improvement. I’ve been leading the Belmont Shore Residents Association efforts to reduce alcohol-related harms and community impacts around Second Street with a funded enforcement mechanism.
Each district should be have the ability to allocate some PD resources on needs specific to its residents, from home and car break-ins to package thefts. I’d staff city biz and codec enforcement during off hours to address community harms. A street, sidewalk and alley assessment would establish a map and a clear timeline with direct imput from neighborhood residents for improvements.
Homeless services needs to staff and have resources to provide one-to-one continuous engagement with the unhoused in District 3 across the city.
2. Do you feel councilmembers in District 3 have done a sufficient job in listening and responding to concerns from its residents? If not, what would you do differently?
Our current council member has centered on talking AT residents, not WITH them, and has not heard or appreciated the depth of community needs on a neighborhood and block level. She’s placed commerce ahead of community and residents’ needs.
Well before becoming a candidate, I’ve gone door to door to elevate community needs in Belmont Shore, and heard from residents about their needs. Residents deserve much better engagement, well beyond generic, ill-framed surveys, and I’ll center my efforts to start with neighborhood associations as the conduit to better listen.
Residents will hear HOW decision making takes place on all key issues. As a journalist by experience, I ask deep and incisive questions, and will bring constituents in on the process to understand details on all D3 issues. I’ll be meeting with community groups actively in my first 60 days in office.
3. Would you rezone any areas of your district? If so, in what way?
Rezoning is a key tool in city planning, and one that should not be undertaken casually for short-term needs. That said, the balance of resident-centered protections is too frequently sacrificed to commercial encroachment in our community.
Many of our D3 neighborhoods have felt the harms of giant delivery trucks, noisy business operations and alcohol-serving issues impinge on residents’ safety and quality of life. Living near the Belmont Pier, I’ve seen firsthand the failings of granting businesses unencumbered access to public spaces without protection of residents’ day-to-day quality-of-life needs.
Future zoning also needs to protect our open spaces, especially the shoreline, from invasive ads, noise and congestion. Zoning along our beach areas also has to ensure residents are not overly burdened by STRs and ADUs.
4. What do you think the City should do to ensure the safety of residents near Second Street, while also balancing the needs of local businesses that thrive on the nightlife scene?
Our current and prior D3 council members, frustratingly, put businesses and commercial needs ahead of residential safety and quality of life. Permanent parklets were a giveaway of public space to bars and restaurants that create additional hardships for residents parking, traffic and navigation while unfairly boosting the bars’ coffers.
We have a handful of late-night bars that essentially dictate policy to the city manager and created conditions that resulted in three deaths in 18 months, with ongoing harms to residential neighborhoods. The enforcement mechanisms advocated in my work with BSRA would foster meaningful oversight and put residents first. My policies will center on incentivizing businesses to be good neighbors to their surrounding communities.
5. How do you think the City should respond to threatening but not violent behavior from both housed and unhoused residents?
First, city resource teams need to be available 24-7 to prioritize continuity of care for the unhoused. Beds and safe housing spaces have to be coupled with individualized care goals and long-term steps building from urgent immediate needs. One-off interventions have not worked.
The policies advocated by our current council member raise grave concerns in relying on reporting of discomfort by witnesses that are likely to lead to unhelpful confrontations rather than meaningful solutions. The city’s homeless policies cannot center on aesthetics and expediency and need to build professional partnerships that focus on long-term care and change.
6. With the World Cup and Olympics approaching, what measures should the City take to ensure District 3 doesn’t see a rapid spike in short-term rentals that would ultimately result in less long-term housing?
Exploitation of our community housing pool for short-term, one-off moments like the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics must not be allowed. Corporate and commercial landlords should not be permitted to exploit the opportunities of a community-centered but global event to line their pockets. A rigorous process must vet qualified applicants with strict standards that protect our residential neighborhoods from encroachment without oversight and adherence to community norms.
7. If you were to receive $1 million, what is the first place you would put that money towards in your district?
I’d allocate portions to establishing a Second Street alcohol-policy enforcement mechanism, priority traffic and pedestrian safety needs, creating a formal and effective citywide polling/engagement manager; reorienting the GoLB app to a resident-centered tool; and setting up a senior-citizen assistance program.
8. Would you support the implementation of new homeless shelters in your district?
Yes. This cannot by a NIMBY issue if we’re to make a long-term difference for both residents and those experiencing homelessness. The “how” is the essential question.
9. What do you think the City should be doing to make residents feel safe with the increased aggression of ICE agents?
Building out its current policies to draw clear lines and ensure safety for all of our residents.
10. The Equity and Human Rights Commission has recommended the City adopt a Civil and Human Rights Investment Screening Policy. Do you support the adoption and implementation of this policy?
Absolutely. Long Beach has the opportunity to be a thought and policy leader by using its investment funds smartly and with a center on human beings.
