Rich Dines (Maritime Clerk Active In ILWU, Mayor Foster-App'ted Harbor Comm'r, Contributor To Mayor Garcia's 2018 <nobr>Re-Election</nobr> Campaign) Files Paperwork Prepping Fifth District Council Run To Unseat Incumbent Mungo '

' Rich Dines (Maritime Clerk Active In ILWU, Mayor Foster-App'ted Harbor Comm'r, Contributor To Mayor Garcia's 2018 <nobr>Re-Election</nobr> Campaign) Files Paperwork Prepping Fifth District Council Run To Unseat Incumbent Mungo '

LBReport.com

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Rich Dines (Maritime Clerk Active In ILWU, Mayor Foster-App'ted Harbor Comm'r, Contributor To Mayor Garcia's 2018 Re-Election Campaign) Files Paperwork Prepping Fifth District Council Run To Unseat Incumbent Mungo

He speaks at Oct. 4 Land Use Element meeting, takes implicit swipe at Mungo's record re SB 35 and blasts proposed increased ELB density

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(Oct. 6, 2017, 9:45 a.m.) -- LBREPORT.com has learned that Rich Dines -- a Marine Clerk active in the Int'l Longshore Workers Union (ILWU), appointed to LB's Harbor Commission in 2011 by then-Mayor Bob Foster and a campaign contributor to Mayor Robert Garcia's 2018 re-election campaign -- has filed paperwork to allowing him to begin raising and spending money in the April 2018 election to unseat 5th district Councilwoman Stacy Mungo.

The CA Secretary of State's office website indicates formation of a "Rich Dines for City Council" campaign committee, a step candidates traditionally take prior to making a formal campaign announcement shortly thereafter.

[Scroll down for further.]

Mr. Dines was visible at the Oct. 4 Town Hall on land use density increases, seated in the front row alongside retired Harbor Commissioner/retired 3rd dist. Councilman Doug Drummond (photo below.) He was also audible, taking the opportunity to be heard by several hundred mainly ELB residents to blast proposals to increase ELB density...and took an implicit swipe at Councilwoman Mungo's record on SB 35 (who is one of three members of the Council's "State Legislation Committee," along with Councilmembers Austin and Gonzalez. Without mentioning Mungo by name, Mr. Dines said:

"I don't know why the Committee "did not bring an opposition to this bill." [Ed. note: The Committee and the full Council both voted for a 2017 "state legislative agenda" that said the City would oppose legislation threatening local control, but the Council didn't explicitly oppose SB 35 and the City remained "neutral" and "working with the author" as SB 35 advanced with the voted support of state Senators Ricardo Lara (D, LB-Huntington Park) and Janet Nguyen (D, SE LB-west OC) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D, NLB-Lakewood-Paramount). A week before the Assembly vote (with Dem votes effectively secured), Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell announced his opposition to the measure and voted "no."]

Mr. Dines added, "I don't support any mixed development in the 5th district...We don't need our City of Long Beach to be one big downtown," he said, drawing loud room cheers. For VIDEO of Mr. Dines' statement and city staff's response (which included a polite factual correction to part of his statement), click here.

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Mr. Dines' entry into the race was the subject of local political speculation. His six-year Harbor Commission term expired in July 2017 and Mayor Garcia chose former Councilmembers/Vice Mayors Frank Colonna and Bonnie Lowenthal to succeed Commissioners Dines and Drummond (the latter having previously indicated his desire to step down.) City Clerk records indicate that Mr. Dines made a $250 campaign contribution on April 27, 2017 to the 2018 re-election campaign of Mayor Robert Garcia.

Councilwoman Mungo, now seeking a second term in office, has raised roughly $58,000 between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2017 (salient contributors and details in LBREPORT.com coverage here). In late September, Mungo (a Republican) and state Senator Janet Nguyen (one of the few Republicans who voted for SB 35) appeared together at a LB Area Republican Party mixer. Mungo has a campaign fundraiser scheduled next week at Cal Worthington Ford.

Councilwoman Mungo was also present at the Oct. 4 land use event, circulating among room attendees with a pop-up office tent outside the meeting room. In a brief colloquy late in the event, Councilwoman Mungo asked Development Services Dir. Amy Bodek to make clear publicly that city staff plans to meet with Councilmembers as well as the Mayor to decide what steps to take after the current round of community meetings. (Staff has indicated it will consider public comments at the community meetings, possibly make revisions to the maps in response and bring them back to the Planning Commission.)

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Councilwoman Mungo took office in mid-July 2014. City staff publicly proposed its significant re-write of LB's Land Use element in May 2015. In February 2017 (after staff tweaked some non-5th district aspects of its initial proposal) staff released a formal draft proposed Land Use Element revision. Councilwoman Mungo held no community meetings on the 5th district proposed changes and in April 2017, publicly denied and tried to silence resident taxpayer Corliss Lee who accurately noted (during a Mungo-organized community meeting on other subjects) that staff had proposed to allow up to three story commercial buildings at all four Spring/Palo Verde area quadrants (LBREPORT.com coverage with audio here.)

On June 10, Councilwoman Mungo sent a mass emailing she titled "For the Record: Councilwoman Mungo Provides You with the Facts," in which she stated: "I want to be very clear: I will not support a General Plan update that changes the overall nature and residential character of our community." Mungo's email included unattributed verbiage that LBREPORT.com discovered was paraphrased and/or lifted from staff's proposed Land Use revision document (source: Proposed Land Use Element, pp. 87 and 89. also District 5 Proposed Heights/Changes.) Mungo's email told residents "within [staff's] stated parameters, I believe the updated General Plan will be able to attract exciting new businesses and jobs to the Fifth District without altering the small community feel that we all treasure. The future is likely to include more home delivery and less demand for physical locations for shopping, and this means we need to evaluate what would make sense for our neighborhoods should the trend of online sales continue to rise and more retailers vacate their existing locations."

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In August 2017, the density issue escalated when city staff revised its February 2017 maps to propose further increased ELB density (including mixed commercial plus residential uses) in parts of ELB's 4th and 5th district districts. Two grassroots ELB groups began forming, one of which -- the Eastside Voice -- was organized by Corliss Lee, the 5th district resident whose views Councilwoman Mungo had tried to suppress on the issue in April.

At a September 16 grassroots event organized by a separate group, Density Watch, Councilwoman Mungo appeared in the audience (said she'd been invited by a resident), inaccurately stated that the City Attorney had indicated she couldn't voice her opinion on the proposed land use changes without losing her vote on the matter...and accused the grassroots group of dispensing inaccurate information. "The Land Use Plan doesn't change zoning. Zoning's the next step. This does not change zoning," Councilwoman Mungo told the crowd, which is technically true but downplayed the close relationship between proposed land use changes, subsequent zoning and related policies (LBREPORT.com coverage here.)

When asked about SB 35, Mungo didn't cite the bill itself but repeated what she said state Sen. Nguyen told her the bill does and doesn't do.

Councilwoman Mungo's statement that she couldn't discuss the proposed land use changes was inaccurate (LBREPORT.com coverage here) and on September 26, Mungo issued this written statement: "I am not supportive of the recent maps and I believe the community has communicated a desire to return to the status quo maps"...but left unclear what she means by the "recent maps" and "status quo" maps.

Councilwoman Mungo's most recent stated position (in her Oct. 3 "Neighborly News") is "I want to be clear, I have NOT and will NOT support the planning commission's proposed maps. I will NOT support increasing density in the 5th District, and I will continue to work hard and protect the character of our residential neighborhoods."

Credible candidates traditionally form campaign committees and begin raising money well in advance of the City Clerk's filing period for candidates to submit materials necessary enabling their presence on the April 2018 city ballot (filing period opens December 18, 2017, closes January 12, 2018.) If another candidate(s) were to enter the 5th district race, and none of the candidates receive over 50% of the vote in April, the top two finishers proceed to a June runoff.

Developing...with further to follow.