Last week, councilmembers gave their bittersweet farewells to Vice Mayor Dee Andrews and Councilmember Jeannine Pearce.
This week, the pair will be replaced by two new councilmembers— Cindy Allen and Suely Saro.
Pearce, who represents the Second District, did not run for re-election this year. Allen will take her place after winning 53.56% of the vote in a contentious battle with opponent Robert Fox.
Andrews, whose loss for reelection ends his 13-year tenure as Sixth District councilmember, will be replaced by opponent Saro. She will take a place in history as Long Beach’s first Cambodian-American councilmember.
At their Tuesday, Dec. 8 meeting, councilmembers and staff took the opportunity to share well wishes to outgoing Andrews and Pearce.
“Dee, you are a Long Beach legend. To borrow a phrase from Lincoln, you’re of the community, by the community, for the community,” City Manager Tom Modica said. “You have been such an advocate for your community, for your residents, and just for people who need help.”
Councilmembers lauded Andrews’ legacy as a football star at Poly High School and Cal State Long Beach and for his work in bringing employment opportunities to his community.
Andrews thanked the residents who didn’t vote for him, saying it would give him an opportunity to spend more time with his wife. In addition, he encouraged his constituents to embrace his replacement Saro, stating that it can take a decade to get used to the ins and outs of council.
Pearce, who was an advocate long before she joined the council, got teary-eyed at a farewell video made by her staff. Her advocacy towards affordable housing, workers rights and unions were a mainstay during her four-and-a-half year tenure.
Councilmember Rex Richardson, another distinctly progressive council member, said that her work made him look like a “Republican.”
“You have absolutely made me a better mayor. I think you know that in your heart,” Mayor Robert Garcia said to Pearce. “In your one term in office that you served, I would find it very hard to find other council members that have done and changed this city as much as you have. That is just the truth.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn ended her statements to the two with a quote from President Theodore Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
She ended, “Both of you have been in the arena and are better because of it.”
At the upcoming council meeting, both Allen and Saro will take their seats as councilmembers. A new vice mayor will be appointed to the council as Andrews departure leaves the seat vacant.
The next Long Beach City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 5 p.m. via teleconference.
