<p><i>﹔ue barbaridad!</i>

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Editorial

﹔ue barbaridad!

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who would?No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report.

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(July 22, 2019, 12:10 p.m.) -- LB taxpayers pay LB's Mayor a six figure sum for City Charter duties that state in pertinent part: "The Mayor shall have no vote [but] shall be recognized as head of the City government for all ceremonial purposes...[and] shall represent the City at large and utilize the office of Mayor to provide community leadership and as a focal point for the articulation of city-wide perspectives on municipal issues."

As of July 21, Mayor Robert Garcia has failed to provide community leadership as a focal point to articulate cityside perspective, or offer any specific recommendations, as mainly working class, historically disadvantaged LB neighborhoods have endured 40 shooting crime scenes (fatal + wounding + no persons hit) within 75 days.

The two most recent shooting crime scenes were homicides. One left a woman dead in the 10th St./Alamitos area (border of 1st/6th Council districts) when shots fired outside in her neighborhood struck her home, one bullet flew inside and struck and killed her.

The concept that anyone -- adults, families, children -- might be unsafe inside their Long Beach home from shootings outside in any Long Beach neighborhood should prompt citywide outrage and calls for change. (No more candlelight vigils, please.)

If previous shootings hadn't been enough, what has just happened should have been more than enough to prompt LB's Mayor to advocate meaningful City actions that no longer quietly tolerate the status quo.

Instead, Mayor Garcia couldn't even bring himself to acknowledge that it was a homicide. In a July 21 Tweet, he tried to fog its fatal outcome by calling it one of two "shooting incidents." (That spin prompted LBREPORT.com to respond and inquire as indicated below; no, the Mayor hasn't responded.)

@LongBeachMayor They're not "shooting incidents" Mr. Mayor. They're homicides. Will your recommended FY 20 budget include restoring any add'l police officers and if so how many?
— Long Beach Report (@lbreport) July 21, 2019

[Scroll down for further.]

We subsequently learned that Mayor Garcia wasn't in Long Beach. He was in Iowa, using his personal Twitter page, to boast about supporting Senator Kamala Harris' presidential campaign and displaying photos of himself addressing Hispanic voters. We doubt he told them that woman killed inside her home by gunfire in her Long Beach neighborhood was 59 year old Genoveva Rivera Robles.

The Kamala Harris campaign is on ?? here for the #IACaucus - lots of energy on the ground and voters excited for her upcoming 5 day bus tour across the state ?? pic.twitter.com/NlX8aGyg3u
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarciaLB) July 21, 2019

Have joined the Kamala Harris campaign in Iowa to meet folks on the ground working to change our country. Attended mass in Sioux City, joined supporters for coffee, and attended a @Demswoodbury picnic highlighting the growing Latino community. All in #ForThePeople & #IACaucus. pic.twitter.com/RDcRbJSqse
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarciaLB) July 21, 2019

Of course Mayor Garcia couldn't physically stop bullets from entering Ms. Robles' home, but he could recommend City Hall budgets that would restore LBPD's field anti-gang unit that could take off the street gang members who terrorize LB neighborhoods with gunfire like the kind that killed Ms. Robles. [No, LBPD hasn't yet said the gunfire was "gang related" but we doubt it was church related.]

And any LB Council incumbent(s) could on any Tuesday agendize an item to restore budgeted funding for LBPD's former field anti-gang unit, part of 186 officers that LB taxpayers had before the 2016 Measure A "blank check" sales tax increase but no longer have after Measure A (that the Mayor/Council now want voters to continue permanently.)

To LBREPORT.com's knowledge, no candidate seeking to become LB's next Councilmembers in districts 1, 2, 4, 6 or 8 have committed to do so if elected.

﹔ue barbaridad!

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Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.