The Signal Tribune emailed 15 identical questions to the seven Long Beach mayoral candidates — Joshua Rodriguez, Rex Richardson, Lee Goldin, Oscar Cancio, Terri Rivers, Chris Sweeney and April Ronay — and gave them one week to respond. We only received responses from Sweeney and Goldin at the time of publication.
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These responses are copied verbatim from candidate Sweeney.
1. Long Beach is a majority-renter city, but has few renter protections. Do you think the City should be doing more to protect renters from rising costs or rent and substantial remodel evictions, and if so, what would you propose?
Roughly 60% of Long Beach residents are renters, so housing stability has to be a priority. But we also have to recognize that many local housing providers are small landlords, not large corporations. The goal should be protecting residents from displacement without discouraging responsible housing investment or making housing even more expensive.
California already caps most rent increases at 5% plus CPI, with a hard maximum of 10% annually under AB 1482. I support exploring Long Beach-specific rent increase caps based on property type and ownership scale, particularly for large corporate landlords.
I also support stronger oversight and documentation requirements for substantial remodel evictions, along with minimum tenant relocation or buyout standards.
For landlords with more than 100 units nationwide, I support multi-year tenant stability requirements after property acquisitions to prevent rapid displacement of long-time residents, while streamlining housing approvals and avoiding new taxes that raise rents.
2. Local organizers have been calling for an eviction moratorium on residents impacted by federal immigration action. According to the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity, undocumented workers contribute an estimated $253.9 billion in total economic output, equivalent to 17% of the County’s Gross Domestic Product in 2025, yet 70% of businesses in LA County experienced staffing shortages following ICE raids in June 2025. What’s your position on an eviction moratorium for those impacted by the increased ICE raids?
Federal immigration enforcement and workforce disruption are having real economic impacts across Southern California. After the June 2025 ICE raids, nearly 70% of businesses in LA County reported staffing shortages, affecting industries from hospitality to construction. Families should not immediately lose housing because a household suddenly loses income due to federal enforcement actions.
At the same time, Long Beach has many small property owners with 2 to 8 units who still have mortgages, insurance, maintenance, and property taxes to pay. We cannot solve one crisis by financially collapsing local housing providers.
I would support a targeted emergency tenant stabilization program where temporary rental assistance is paid directly to landlords for qualifying hardship cases. Those payments should function as recoverable loans with defined repayment timelines and accountability standards, not open-ended taxpayer losses.
Any broader eviction protections should distinguish between small local landlords and large corporate property owners with greater financial flexibility.
3. Do you think the City is doing enough to protect its residents from federal immigration enforcement? How do you think the City should respond to ICE in Long Beach?
Long Beach should protect public safety and constitutional rights at the same time. I support the Long Beach Values Act and the principle that local police should focus on local public safety, not act as federal immigration enforcement.
I support deporting individuals convicted of serious or violent crimes. But there is a major difference between targeted enforcement against dangerous offenders and broad tactics that create fear among hardworking families and lawful residents.
The Constitution matters, especially during emotionally charged political moments. Due process, equal protection, and protections against unlawful searches and detentions are foundational American principles, not political conveniences.
When immigrant communities are afraid to report crimes, cooperate with police, testify as witnesses, or seek emergency help, public safety suffers for everyone. The City should ensure LBPD does not participate in civil immigration enforcement while opposing warrantless detentions, racial profiling, and indiscriminate sweeps. Safety and constitutional rights can coexist.
4. Long Beach has to meet State housing requirements of 26,502 units (15,346 have to be affordable) by 2029. What is your plan to build more housing to hit that goal of overall and low-income housing?
California is requiring Long Beach to plan for 26,502 new housing units by 2029, including 15,346 affordable units. That is roughly the equivalent of building 133 new 200-unit buildings in just a few years, including about 77 fully affordable developments.
We need more housing, but we also need honesty about the challenges: labor shortages, rising material costs, financing difficulties, infrastructure strain, and permitting delays.
From 2023 through November 2025, Long Beach approved 5,210 housing units, a 147% increase over the previous three-year period. We need to build on that momentum by making the city faster and easier to build in responsibly.
My priorities would include:
- Streamlining permits, inspections, and certificates of occupancy.
- Prioritizing mixed-income and transit-oriented housing.
- Expanding adaptive reuse and infill development.
- Updating the City’s 18-year-old Nexus Report and impact fees to support infrastructure growth.
- Preserving neighborhood character while increasing housing supply responsibly.
5) Long Beach’s Black population has been slowly dwindling over the years, mostly due to the high cost of living. What are some ways you would approach this issue?
Long Beach’s Black population has declined from roughly 21% of the city in 1990 to under 12% today, and that should concern everyone. Black families helped shape Long Beach’s culture, neighborhoods, businesses, and identity, and rising housing costs and economic barriers are pushing many out.
Only about 25% of Black residents in Long Beach are homeowners, while roughly 73% are renters, making displacement and affordability major issues.
My focus would be on helping families build long-term stability and generational wealth:
- Expand pathways to homeownership and small business ownership.
- Invest in education, trade programs, apprenticeships, and workforce development tied to Long Beach industries.
- Make it faster and less expensive to open small businesses.
- Support anti-displacement protections against large outside investment firms.
- Avoid unnecessary tax increases that disproportionately impact working families.
- Invest in public safety, parks, green space, and infrastructure in historically underserved neighborhoods.
6. The city’s police budget has doubled over the last 20 years, yet it still struggles with staffing shortages. Do you think the police department’s budget is too high, too low, or at the right amount but in need of restructuring?
Long Beach’s police budget has grown from roughly $135 million in 2005 to more than $300 million today, yet the department still struggles with staffing shortages and rising overtime costs. That tells me the issue is not simply the size of the budget. It is whether the system is structured effectively.
The City often points to hiring more than 200 officers in recent years, but many of those hires simply replaced officers who retired or left the profession.
My priorities would include:
- A full operational and financial audit of overtime, staffing, and deployment.
- Rebuilding proactive neighborhood and business corridor patrols.
- Reducing overtime dependence through stronger recruitment and retention.
- Expanding mental health and alternative response programs so officers can focus on violent crime and emergency response.
Residents deserve measurable public safety results, not just larger budgets.
7. In 2018, in Long Beach, Black people were arrested at a rate 2.11 times higher than white people, even though the white population in Long Beach is at least double that of the Black population, according to the Vera Institute. For non-violent, non-serious incidents, Black people were arrested at a rate 2.06 times higher than white people. On the specific charges of drug possession and disorderly conduct (situations that allow for officer discretion), the Long Beach Police Department arrests Black people at rates 1.8 and 1.72 times higher than white people, respectively. How would you address this disparity as mayor?
Public safety only works when the community trusts the system is fair, constitutional, and applied consistently. When residents feel unfairly targeted or disconnected from opportunity, they leave, and that is part of why Long Beach’s Black population has declined significantly over the last several decades.
As mayor, I would focus on:
- Expanding transparency and public review of stops, arrests, and discretionary enforcement patterns.
- Increasing community involvement in public safety policy discussions and neighborhood policing strategies.
- Expanding mental health and alternative response programs for nonviolent incidents.
- Continuing investment in de-escalation and community-based policing strategies.
- Investing in youth programs, apprenticeship pathways, workforce development, and economic opportunity in heavily impacted neighborhoods.
- Strengthening accountability systems while improving relationships between officers and residents through proactive community engagement.
Public safety should mean residents feel safe both from crime and from inconsistent or unfair enforcement practices.
8. Long Beach has made homelessness its number one priority over the last few years, yet there has been little progress, as evident in the 6.5% increase in homeless residents in last year’s Point in Time Count. What is your proposed approach to reducing homelessness in Long Beach?
The current system is too fragmented, too reactive, and not producing measurable enough results.
My approach would be compassionate, but much more accountable and outcome-driven. The goal cannot simply be managing homelessness. The goal has to be reducing it.
I would:
- Create a consolidated homelessness crisis department coordinating outreach, shelter, treatment, sanitation, public safety, and workforce services under one strategy.
- Audit homelessness spending and provider outcomes so residents know what is and is not working.
- Expand shelter and transitional housing tied directly to treatment, employment, and permanent housing pathways.
- Build real-time tracking for shelter beds and services through the City website and Go Long Beach app.
- Continue enforcing health and safety standards around encampments impacting schools, parks, sidewalks, and businesses.
Compassion without accountability is not compassion.
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9. Long Beach is facing a $40 million budget deficit for next year, and that deficit is expected to grow rapidly. What is your solution to closing this deficit?
Residents should not be asked to pay more while City Hall fails to operate efficiently. I do not support solving this problem through new sales or property tax increases.
My first step would be a full operational and financial audit of city departments, contracts, overtime, homelessness spending, consultant costs, and underutilized assets.
We need to grow the economy instead of overtaxing residents. Through my LB28 initiative, we are focused on making Long Beach one of the easiest cities in California to open a business. Right now, some businesses wait more than two years to open, and the recent elimination of four inspectors added roughly 120 more days to permitting timelines.
My plan includes:
- Updating Long Beach’s 18-year-old Nexus Report and impact fees.
- Leasing or redeveloping vacant city-owned properties.
- Expanding grant funding efforts.
- Streamlining business permitting approvals to grow natural sales tax revenue through economic activity, not higher taxes.
10. The Equity and Human Rights Commission has recommended that the City adopt a Civil and Human Rights Investment Screening Policy. Do you support the adoption and implementation of this policy?
I support adopting a clearly defined Civil and Human Rights Investment Screening Policy, but it must be financially responsible, legally sound, and specific enough to work.
Long Beach is facing a projected $60 to $80 million budget deficit in 2027 while managing major public investments, contracts, and pension obligations. Any screening policy must protect taxpayer dollars while reflecting community values.
I support prohibiting investments tied to forced labor, human trafficking, or repeated documented civil rights violations. I also support stronger review of companies with major environmental violations impacting public health and safety, along with annual public reporting on where City investment dollars are placed.
The original proposal raised legitimate concerns because portions were overly broad and lacked measurable enforcement standards. Any policy should include clear criteria, independent review, accountability measures, financial impact analysis, and coordination with state and federal standards to avoid unnecessary legal or operational risks.
11. Do you support the use of Flock cameras, License Plate Recognition and Facial Recognition software being used on residents without their consent?
Technology can help solve crimes, recover stolen vehicles, locate missing persons, and respond to violent threats, but it cannot evolve into constant surveillance of residents without oversight or accountability.
I support limited, clearly defined use of tools like Flock cameras and license plate readers for serious public safety purposes such as violent crimes, missing persons, active investigations, or credible threats. But residents deserve transparency and constitutional protections.
Any use of these technologies should include:
- Public notice and hearings before installation.
- Clear policies on data collection, retention, and sharing.
- Judicial warrant-level standards for targeted investigations.
- Independent civilian oversight and annual audits.
- Public reporting on searches, retention timelines, outside agency access, and misuse incidents.
Public safety and civil liberties should coexist, not compete.
12. Long Beach continues to suffer from extremely high levels of pedestrian and driving-related fatalities, despite Vision Zero’s goal to get to zero fatalities by 2026. What do you think has been the main obstacle in reaching zero fatalities, and how can the City truly begin to make a difference in addressing street safety?
The biggest problem with Vision Zero has been execution. A goal is not enough if the City is not following through.
Long Beach needs stronger enforcement in high-crash areas, especially where speeding, street takeovers, and pedestrian or cyclist injuries keep happening. We also need more traffic safety resources. A city of nearly half a million people cannot rely on a small number of traffic officers to cover every dangerous corridor.
I would look at state grants, better coordination with CHP on corridors like PCH, and targeted enforcement where the data shows the greatest risk. We also need practical improvements like safer crossings, better lighting, electronic speed signs, and traffic calming solutions where appropriate. The goal is not to over-police people. The goal is to prevent deaths.
Vision Zero is an important goal, but Long Beach is moving in the wrong direction on traffic fatalities. One of the biggest obstacles has been inconsistent enforcement combined with reckless driving, speeding, street takeovers, distracted driving, and dangerous roadway design.
Long Beach has nearly 500,000 residents, yet at times only about 2 motor officers are actively patrolling traffic citywide. That is not enough to effectively monitor dangerous corridors or reduce repeat reckless driving behavior.
My approach would focus on measurable enforcement and infrastructure improvements:
- Increase dedicated traffic enforcement staffing in high-collision corridors.
- Expand partnerships with CHP and pursue additional Office of Traffic Safety grants for DUI and speeding enforcement.
- Increase enforcement along PCH and other high-fatality corridors.
- Install more electronic speed feedback signs and traffic calming measures.
- Improve lighting, crosswalk visibility, and protected bike infrastructure.
- Increase penalties and enforcement for illegal street takeovers and exhibition driving.
13. In the past, countries have pushed out their homeless residents in preparation for hosting the Olympics. How will you balance making the city presentable on a national stage while also caring for its most vulnerable populations?
Long Beach has less than two years before Olympic-related tourism places major pressure on public infrastructure, safety, and homelessness response. The answer cannot be pushing vulnerable people out of sight to create the appearance of progress.
Los Angeles County’s homeless population exceeds 75,000 people, with more than 3,300 unhoused residents in Long Beach. Chronic homelessness can cost taxpayers roughly $35,000 to $150,000 per person annually through emergency healthcare, policing, sanitation, and incarceration.
My focus would be on measurable outcomes:
- Create one consolidated homelessness crisis department coordinating outreach, housing, treatment, sanitation, and public safety.
- Expand shelter, treatment, and employment pathways over the next two years.
- Increase accountability and auditing for homelessness spending and providers.
- Continue enforcing public health and safety standards around dangerous encampments.
- Pursue stronger regional cost-sharing with neighboring cities and LA County.
The Olympics should be a catalyst for solving homelessness, not hiding it.
14. The city has been actively courting defense industry contractors to establish business in Long Beach, while many residents have been vocally opposed to the strategy of reliance on that industry on moral grounds. Where do you stand on this issue?
I understand the moral concerns many residents have about Long Beach becoming more tied to the defense industry. Technologies involving weapons systems, surveillance, and autonomous platforms raise legitimate ethical questions that deserve public discussion.
Long Beach should not become economically dependent on any one industry, whether defense, tourism, oil, or logistics. A resilient economy needs diversification.
If defense-related companies operate here, they should be evaluated based on measurable community benefit:
- Number of local jobs created.
- Average wages and career pathways offered.
- Partnerships with local schools and workforce programs.
- Investments into local infrastructure and small businesses.
We also need strict environmental and public safety safeguards. Recent hazardous material emergencies in Southern California showed how quickly industrial incidents can become major public safety threats.
We should be equally aggressive about attracting clean energy, water technology, climate resilience, biotech, and advanced manufacturing so we remain focused on innovation, sustainability, and long-term economic stability.
15. Residents in West, Central and North Long Beach suffer from poor air quality and less green space than in other areas of the city, contributing to a shorter lifespan on average in those areas. What are some ways Long Beach can close this gap and improve the quality of life in West, Central and North Long Beach?
Residents in West, Central, and North Long Beach experience some of the highest pollution exposure and lowest life expectancy rates in the city. In some neighborhoods, residents live 5 to 10 years less than residents in wealthier coastal areas, while facing higher asthma rates, heavier truck traffic, and less green space.
We need measurable environmental goals tied to real health outcomes.
My approach would include:
- Increasing tree canopy coverage by 15 to 20% over the next decade in underserved neighborhoods to reduce temperatures and particulate pollution.
- Expanding parks, community gardens, and green spaces.
- Creating HVAC and air filtration upgrade incentives near freight corridors to reduce indoor particulate exposure.
- Working with the Port to reduce diesel emissions and expand zero-emission freight infrastructure.
- Publishing annual environmental scorecards tracking air quality, asthma rates, emissions, and life expectancy by neighborhood.
Cleaner air, safer streets, and longer lives should be standard everywhere.
