by Neena Strichart
April will be a very important month for Long Beach’s voting residents. Not only are they being asked to vote on April 8 for mayor, prosecutor and city attorney (city auditor is running unopposed)— those in districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 also need to decide who they want to represent them as their councilmembers.
I have had the opportunity to attend a few of the forums (debate-type events) over the past few weeks. And although I found them interesting and informative, I can’t help but scratch my head when I see only a short list of those running for mayor participating in the events. It makes me wonder if the sponsoring organizations have invited only a handful of candidates running for the city’s highest elected position, or if those not in attendance have bowed-out on their own.
Furthermore, I have seen a print publication or two running question-and-answer-type features on that same office, yet only the highest-profile candidates seem to be included. Are the others not invited, or are they choosing to ignore the process as a whole? I plan to ask questions and get back to you on this subject.
In the case of the Signal Tribune (who, by the way, celebrated its 14th anniversary on Monday) no candidates will be overlooked. We have reached out to all of those running for office in Long Beach and informed them that we will be sending them a list of questions for publication. Our editor, Cory Bilicko, has been working diligently to contact each candidate and explain our process to them. The same questions will be asked of each candidate, and their answers will appear in an upcoming edition of our paper. The feature will present each office’s candidates in the order in which we received their responses. Strict deadline will be in place. In other words, if they are late, they won’t be included in the section. Period.
This will no doubt be a wild election season, so hold on to your hats, and learn all you can about the candidates.
(Note to Signal Hill residents— your election takes place in March 2015, although you will be welcoming a new mayor next month.)
Anyone who has questions about the Long Beach election in general will find help at the City Clerk’s office. The staff can be reached by calling (562) 579-6101 or by going to their website at longbeach.gov/cityclerk .
