Mayoral candidates (left to right in photo below) Robert Garcia, Damon Dunn, Bonnie Lowenthal, Doug Otto and Gerrie Schipske fielded questions posed by the event organizers, audience members (via cards) and by each other (exception: Dunn chose not to ask his opponents questions.)

The event was co-moderated by retired Long Beach Councilwoman and LBHUSH2 co-founder Rae Gabelich and Los Cerritos Neighborhood Ass'n VP/Treasurer Bob Gill.

LBREPORT.com has on-demand audio coverage below from start to finish as well as with salient clips.

Sparks flew over a currently advancing project to rebuild the Long Beach Civic Center. [The proposed project would let a private developer/operator, still to be chosen, run the Civic Center for its profit for between 30-40 years with the private operator keeping what it builds on the land now occupied by the LB courthouse and the City paying the operator what city staff says the public now pays to operate the Civic Center plus annual CPI increases; the project is supported by outgoing Mayor Bob Foster. Vice Mayor Garcia and an outgoing Council majority with only Schipske dissenting.]

Schipske aimed a question at Garcia: "Why did you not support the fiscally responsible thing to do about the Civic Center and do a real RFP to determine the true cost of retrofit, and have you accepted campaign contributions from anyone that is participating in the RFP for the Civic Center?" A few minutes later, the event organizers directed a question to Dunn and Garcia asking whether they'll "put all options before the citizens of Long Beach for their input and direction prior to committing additional taxpayer dollars?"

Garcia responded by declining to accept Schipske's premises, said safety of the building's workers is his first priority, said the project's financial feasibility and ultimate outcome isn't yet certain yet and will involve public input as it proceeds [and omitted mentioning that he has been among the Civic Center rebuild's most enthusiastic public supporters.]

Dunn said the project's financial costs/benefits aren't yet clear and "the politics seems a little fishy right now." Lowenthal said the process is going too fast, needs more public input; Otto said the current process allows no chance for conversation on issues including whether financing using a bond might be more advantageous) and Schipske gave a one-sentence response: "I'm the only Council person who had the spine to stand up and say 'no, this is wrong.'"

Civic Center exchanges, click here.

The candidates basically agreed on the importance of supporting economic development, supporting small businesses and using dollars received from the Sacramento-mandated dissolution of Redevelopment to help impacted areas in various ways, but differences emerged over on Port-related development projects and their impacts on neighborhood impacts.

Dunn, who's endorsed by a political action committee whose contributors include prominent figures in the LB Area Chamber of Commerce, swiftly focused on the BNSF-sought/Port of L.A. pursued So. Cal. Int'l Gateway (SCIG) rail yard which would abut WLB neighborhoods. Dunn said it's not "in an ideal location" and shouldn't be allowed to move forward "without there being excessive concessions that ultimately the community would have to agree to" and added that "quality of life trumps economic development, particularly when you're putting other peoples' lives at risk."

Otto sought to put the SCIG project in a broader context and urged adopting a "social benefit approach" with a "comprehensive plan" for the westside of Long Beach. That prompted Lowenthal volunteer her own response, which prompted a counter-response from Otto, which prompted a counter-response from Dunn who again stated that quality of life should trump economic development.

Garcia stayed out of the verbal exchange but has said in other fora that he supports the City of LB's legal challenge the project's EIR which contends the projects impacts haven't been sufficiently "mitigated." The WLB Association and other neighborhood groups (in LB and beyond) argue that the project's impacts can't be mitigated at its proposed location next to a residential neighborhood and say the rail yard should be located in the Port for on-dock rail.)

Protecting neighborhood quality of Life exchanges, click here.

The candidates all said that the Airport noise ordinance is important to the residents of Long Beach. Schipske said it's important to send the message that the City isn't interested in changing the ordinance and it needs to stay in place. Otto said the noise ordinance was a great accomplishment but volunteered that one can "tweak" some aspects of it (he cited items such as fines.) Lowenthal said the City can't afford to jeopardize the quality of life in affected neighborhoods and disagreed with making "tweaks." Dunn said City had found a balance of a "win-win" and might be able to devise a different deterrent on late-night flights. Garcia said he's "100%" in support of the Airport noise ordinance but said it's also important to recognize that as aircraft become quieter, this could invite unwanted additional flights and that issue should be addressed.

Asked by event organizers if they'd sign a pledge to do all in their power to uphold the adopted airport noise ordinance and to protect the quality of life in our noise impacted neighborhoods. Garcia, Dunn and Lowenthal said yes, while Otto and Schipske said no. Otto said he doesn't sign pledges in public but said he would absolutely support the noise ordinance and do everything to maintain the quality of life in neighborhoods. Schipske said she commits to support the noise ordinance but said she thinks it's pandering at forums to promise such things (saying officials aren't always held accountable, making them useless) and without seeing other details and applied this to other topics.

Full forum, click here.(1:58)

And mark your calendars: LBHUSH and the Los Cerritos Neighborhood Association will present a combination 7th Council district, City Attorney and City Prosecutor candidate forum: March 6, 6 p.m., at the Petroleum Club, 3636 Linden Ave.,