Hear Them: 2nd, 6th, 8th dist. Council Candidates Are Asked If They Support Sales Tax Increase Ballot Measure

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(Mar. 3, 2016) -- LBREPORT.com provides below a salient portion of the March 2, 2016 Leadership Long Beach candidate forum for City Council candidates in the 2nd, 6th and 8th Council districts. (4th district incumbent Daryl Supernaw had no ballot opposition.)

[Scroll down for further.]

Among 2nd district candidates, Eric Gray said he supported putting the measure on the ballot "for the voters to decide." Candidate Jeannine Pearce said she supported the proposed tax increase, said the general fund hasn't grown with inflation and cited fire, police and infrastructure needs. Candidate Joen Garnica said she had "concerns" about the sales tax increase on grounds a lot of things (she didn't specify) would be implemented or on the ballot that affect 2nd district residents "so adding one more thing is a little bit worrisome to me." She said "we need to find sustainable ways to increase our general fund...and not just adding a burden to our residents and our businesses...We need to make sure that we put ourselves in a position to...compete with surrounding cities and surrounding municipalities...we don't want to cripple ourselves" but stopped short of providing a direct "yes" or "no" answer on whether she supported the proposed tax increase.

To hear the 2nd district candidates' answers, click here.

6th district candidate Robert Harmon said that he'd been skeptical at first, but after meeting with the Mayor and management, he now supports the proposed tax increase. "I think [6th district residents]...will get a lot more out of the tax increase than what they put in, so I'm going to try and sell it to the 6th district. I don't like it but we kinda gotta do it." The two other 6th district non-incumbents, Erik Miller and Josie Villasenor, likewise voiced their approval for the sales tax increase, as did incumbent Dee Andrews (seeking a third term via write-in) who'd joined his Council colleagues in voting to put it on the ballot.

To hear the 6th district candidates' answers, click here.

Among 8th district candidates, Wesley Turbnow didn't give a direct "yes" or "no" answer on whether he supports the sales tax increase. He said "raising sales tax is a short term gain" and the city needs to be more business friendly, adding "We have to stop doing these little things that say 'Don't come to our city, cause if you come to our city, we're going to hit you hard'..."

8th district candidate Laurie Angel cited a number of specific objections, saying the sales tax increase hadn't been sufficiently vetted publicly, would have a terrible impact on local businesses, would be a burden on people that don't make very much money and noted "we're going to have among the highest sales tax rate in the state, so I think that's problematic."

Ms. Angel was the only candidate among all of the participants in the Council candidate forum to note (accurately) that the proposed sales tax hike increase "is written in such a way that the money could actually be spent on anything. There's no guarantee that it's going to be spent on public safety and infrastructure..."

Incumbent Councilman Austin supported the measure, having voted to put it on the ballot. "I think this is a values conversation...What do we value and...what do we want to see for the future of our city. I think Long Beach is in many respects on the verge of being a world class city or a third world city when you look at our infrastructure and the public safety needs before us."