Seventieth District State Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell answers residents’ questions during the June 18 Capitol on the Corner event in Wardlow Park.” captionposition=”left”] [aesop_character name=”Sebastian Echeverry” caption=”Staff Writer” align=”center”] Shaded under the trees on a sunny day in Long Beach, local residents
gathered to casually meet with elected officials and discuss issues in the
community.
Long Beach 5th District Councilmember Stacy Mungo hosted the picnic-style event called Capitol on the Corner on June 18 outside her field office in Wardlow Park.
As she described it, the event featured a panel composed of government officials
from “every layer of the cake” that is the United States government.
Alongside Mungo, 70th District Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell,
32nd District Senator Ricardo Lara and United States Rep. Alan Lowenthal also
spoke during the event.
Thirty-fourth District Senator Janet Nguyen was also invited to Capitol on
the Corner but could not attend because she had a meeting with the Dalai Lama. Her senior field representative, Joe Sturges, attended the event in her place.
After each representative got the chance to introduce themselves, audience
members approached them and talked about political topics.
Some questioned O’Donnell about the state’s budget, while others, asked
Lowenthal what the federal government was doing in regard to gun laws.
“There is nothing more American than this event,” O’Donnell said. “This
is democracy on the ground.”
The assemblymember said he was glad to listen to his constituents during
the event. O’Donnell said that one of the questions people kept repeating to him
during the meeting concerned the state budget.
“I think the main concern is people want to make sure the state has a sound
budget,” he said. “We do have a sound budget because we have done a lot of
work to ensure that. It is my job to make sure it remains that way.”
Lowenthal said that international terrorism is a major challenge the country
is facing at the moment.
“The great consensus on the part of the American public is ‘We don’t want
military boots on the ground, yet we want ISIS defeated,'” Lowenthal said. He added that the United States is attempting to work with its allies in the region to defeat ISIS.
He also mentioned that in wake of the mass shooting that occurred in Florida
on June 12, there are talks in Congress about having stricter gun laws.
A Long Beach resident and NRA member who only wanted to be identified
by his first name, Chad, said that he was pleased that government officials
told him what they voted for when it came to gun laws.
“They did answer,” he said. “I asked them, ‘Did you vote for these restrictive
gun laws that are going to come down from the federal and state government?’ They told me ‘yes.’ I had my answer. It’s not what I would have liked to have heard, but I got my answer.”
While residents asked questions about the federal level of government,
O’Donnell addressed concerns about homelessness on a more local level, saying that he is looking for more ways to help.
His constituents also asked him about education funding in his district.
“As a classroom teacher and a parent of two school-aged children,” he said, “that’s very important to me and to my district.”
