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Updated: Council Incumbent Suja Lowenthal's Misnamed "Season of
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(March 21, 2012, updated 11:30 a.m.) -- We noticed that 2nd district Council incumbent Suja Lowenthal, in the midst of her reelection campaign, appeared to have quietly ditched her self-declared "Season of It's an event she's held annually 2007 between Jan. 30-April 4 (an annual educational, media, and grassroots campaign that was inspired by the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.). No agenda item, no photo op, not a peep on her City Hall website as of this morning (Mar. 21). We since learned that there are posters up at City Hall and posters/banners in some parts of town promoting this event. We've updated our text below and reiterate our criticism of the incumbent's record. [Updated text] In our opinion, conditions in part of her 2nd Council district make a "Season of Non-Violence" self-embarrassing for someone who prioritized a jihad against plastic bags and imposed frequently empty bicycle lanes but considered it smart to cut LB's budgeted police level by 140 officers in Sept. 2009 & 2010 (9-0 Council vote) and by about ten more officers in Sept. 2011 (6-3, Schipske, Gabelich, Neal dissenting). Last Friday (Mar. 16), LBPD detectives and volunteers distributed fliers in the area of 7th St./Rose Ave. -- in her Council district -- because in October 2011, a 32 year old man was left paralyzed when he was shot while sitting in a parked car. LBPD says detectives learned that the victim had just left a marijuana collective on 7th St. and returned to his vehicle when he was targeted...with robbery being a possible motive.
The Blue X with the arrow belongs to that 32 year old man, left paralyzed in that Oct. 2011 shooting. The Vice Mayor wasn't visible distributing those fliers related to that crime. That might have been an unwelcome photo tie-in to her record on police as well as marijuana outlets. [On the latter point: one of her own constituents (relegated to public comment on non-agendized issues) twice has pleaded with the Council to notice the negative impacts he and his 2nd district neighbors have endured from one such marijuana outlet; Vice Mayor Lowenthal responded by telling him [paraphrase] she felt his pain...and went on to advance positions sought by organized marijuana outlets.] Below is a map of reported 2011 shootings (data from LBPD; map is Jan to mid-Nov.) [Background: Tale of Two Cities: 2011 Shootings in Long Beach, CA Mapped] The result of Vice Mayor Lowenthal's misguided priorities has helped leave Long Beach, L.A. County's second largest city, with a per capita police level roughly equivalent to cutting L.A.'s police level by over 25% of LAPD's officers. When confronted on the facts of LB's too-thin blue line, Vice Mayor Lowenthal has scorned as "simplistic" references to officer per thousand levels, an unblinkable metric accepted elsewhere. Dismissing facts is like insisting the sun goes around the earth, and not vice versa, because facts don't fit one's belief system. And we think "Out, damned spot" is the wrong response to real world shootings. And we find it significant that the 2nd dist. incumbent has let Lincoln Park, once the City's downtown park jewel, turn into a frequently avoided eyesore and too often public pissoir next to City Hall. [How many public events has Vice Mayor Lowenthal scheduled in Lincoln Park during her incumbency?] We haven't and never will oppose conveying the teachings of Gandhi and King. There's always a chance, however slim, that their inspiring words might penetrate a hardened heart. But in our opinion it's civic quackery, akin to telling a patient with a compromised immune system to ignore their condition, to prescribe pleasant words while leaving people's neighborhoods at risk. In our opinion, that's what Vice Mayor Lowenthal's Council votes have done. She wasn't alone...but she's on the ballot and 2nd district voters have the power to do something about it.
Contact us: mail@LBReport.com |
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Contact us: mail@LBReport.com