But after Black Lives Matter LB's supporters came to the July 12 City Council meeting and charged during the public comment period for non-agendized items that LBPD had, in effect, targeted, harassed, arrested, shot and killed Blacks and other minority group members, Mayor Garcia had said nothing we could find (as of 9 p.m. July 13) on any of his three Facebook pages or on Twitter or in any public forum of which we are aware.

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Below is a transcript of what Mayor Garcia told a May 23, 2016 meeting of the El Dorado Park South Neighborhood Association after LBPD Chief Robert Luna fielded an audience question about the impact of criticism of police actions nationally (details in extended audio below.)

Mayor Garcia: I'm going to say something that the Chief can't say also or won't say, but we're very clear. As Mayor, I see what's going across the country. In Long Beach, we support our police officers. So at the City level, as Mayor and Council, we support our cops 100% because they're out there every day doing a very, very tough job.

Now there is no department that is immune to having a challenge or having folks that need additional training or need to move on. Every department, every area of work, every place of business has folks like that.

But as a department as a whole, I think we have one of the best police departments anywhere [audience applause] and they do a fantastic job.

And I try to say this at all of our community meetings, but we have to support our cops, because what they hear every day, on the television and other places is a lot, it's a lot to handle, and they're still going out there running towards danger. When you call 9-1-1, you want these guys and our firefighters there real quick. And so we've got to make sure that the men and women of both the departments continue to have that support from the community.

To hear the exchange (begins with audience question, includes LBPD Chief Robert Luna's response and Mayor Garcia's statement), click here. [The whoosh sound indicates an edit irrelevant to the content here.]

One soon-to-be-Councilmember hasn't been shy about her views on LB's Black Lives Matter: incoming 2nd district Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce (the endorsee of outgoing Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal) greeted participants at a July 12 Black Lives Matter event outside City Hall preceding the evening's Council meeting.

[Incoming Councilwoman Pearce]: I didn't come planning on speaking today, but I do want to tell you guys how much I appreciate you being here, how much I appreciate your courage and that your neighbors appreciate your courage.

I know we have a lot of work to do and I know that you guys are going to do what you need to do to share that message, and what I ask is that when we create the space for us to sit down and talk about equity, talk about race, that you're at the table. And we're going to have to have everybody at the table. We're going to have police, we're going to have fire, we're going to have the City at the table.

And that's what we have to do to make sure that we can fight for racial equity in our city and in our country and I'm committed to be your partner in that work. And so thank you. Keep doing what you're doing...It takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of maintaining your integrity every day knowing that you're keeping up the fight that you know if your heart that you have to do to create justice, so thank you.

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On July 5, 2016, the City Council voted 8-0 (Lowenthal absent) to approve an item by Councilman Rex Richardson, joined by Councilmembers Lena Gonzalez, Roberto Uranga and Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal [exiting July 14, will be replaced by Pearce July 15] agendized to ask city management to "explore the feasibility of realigning the initiatives of the City's Safe Long Beach Violence Prevention Plan as well as the Language Access Program into the Department of Health and Human Services; and Evaluate the feasibility and benefits of establishing a new "Office of Equity, Access, and Prevention," or similar title, which aligns these critical initiatives with other key city programs and initiatives..."

Further as it develops among related newsworthy events.

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