What’s at stake in this race

The City Council is Long Beach’s main legislative body. Its nine members are among the most powerful people in the city, deciding how best to spend more than $3 billion each year on key services such as public health, streets and public infrastructure, law enforcement and the Fire Department.

City Council members have the power to change existing laws in the city and oversee the effectiveness of departments and specific programs. Through zoning and regulations, they directly influence housing and commercial development.

Individual councilmembers also act as advocates for the geographic area of the city they represent and have small individual budgets to support local festivals and nonprofits. Individual council offices are often residents' first and best point of contact when there’s a neighborhood problem that requires the city’s attention.

What do Long Beach City Council members do? 

• Influence and vote on the city budget that funds the Long Beach Police Department, major Public Works projects and more.
• Pass or repeal local laws, called ordinances, that can then be signed or vetoed by the mayor.
• Pass or adjust city fees and fines.
• Hire and fire the city’s top executive, the city manager.
• Set the city’s agenda and priorities through directions to the city manager.

You might know them from

City Council members’ decisions have a direct impact on residents' lives. In their most recent term, they have:

• Lowered speed limits on dozens of city streets and picked where to place automated speed cameras.
• Mandated minimum staffing for self-checkout lanes at grocery stores in Long Beach.
• Allowed cannabis sales at some special events.
• Allocated money for a deportation defense fund designed to protect immigrants.
• Voted to participate in a lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to block roving immigration raids.
• Made decisions on how to spend tens of millions of dollars on homelessness programs — including abandoning a “tiny homes” project and switching to a new shelter provider after an audit raised concerns about the old contractors’ billing practices.

Here are some things Long Beach City Council members don’t do

City Council members don’t control the Long Beach Unified School District or directly influence the city’s independent municipal agencies, including the airport, port, utilities department or Long Beach Transit, which operates the local buses. Council members also have limited power on their own, needing a majority City Council vote to pass ordinances, approve budgets and set policy.

Outside their own small offices, council members cannot hire or fire staff other than the city manager and police oversight director, or direct individual staff members what to do.

Council members are elected to four-year terms and are limited to three terms. It’s a part-time position, and they are paid a little more than $50,000 a year.

The City Council cannot override state or federal law. Ordinances passed must not conflict with California or U.S. law, regardless of local preference. And the city charter — essentially our local constitution — cannot be amended without voter approval.

Fast facts about Long Beach City Council District 5 

• District 5 stretches west and east from Long Beach Airport, encompassing neighborhoods such as Bixby Knolls and Lakewood Village.
• It also includes the city’s burgeoning “Space Beach” district, named for the increasing number of aerospace, defense and tech companies that have relocated here.
• Some neighbors have long complained about noise from the airport, even prompting them to sue to try to force the city to crack down.
• Traffic safety is also a major concern, with many major streets cutting through the district. Long Beach has struggled to lower the number of people dying in crashes, with the most in more than a decade last year.

What’s on the agenda for next term

Long Beach’s budget deficit, projected at over $60 million next year, will be a major topic for all councilmembers, who will have to decide on potential cuts.

Homelessness continues to be a major issue, with frequent discussion about encampments along the Los Angeles River, in Lincoln Park and around the Billie Jean King Main Library.

Olympic preparation, including several events in the downtown area, also will undoubtedly be on the agenda.

What it takes to win

Any candidate who earns more than 50% of the vote in the June 2 Primary wins outright. If not, the top two vote-getters advance to a general election Nov. 3.

The candidates for Long Beach City Council District 5

Megan Kerr, incumbent

Megan Kerr

(

Courtesy Megan Kerr

)

Kerr was born and raised in Bixby Knolls and has served as councilmember since 2022. She also served two terms on the Long Beach Unified School Board. Kerr said she has longstanding relationships with nonprofits in the area, in addition to being a longtime animal advocate who has fostered more than 100 dogs.

In her own words

Kerr said one of the things she’s most proud of during her current term is making “strong investments” in public safety and emergency response. She said the council was able to secure increased funding for the Fire Department, finish construction on a new police training center and add police academy classes to ensure that the Long Beach Police Department has enough officers amid growing attrition and retirement rates.

“For me, this job is also not just about my district, but it is about supporting my colleagues so that we are addressing things citywide,” Kerr said. “Because we know when things are better citywide, then things are better in District 5.”

Kerr said her focus is on public safety, housing and homelessness. But she also plans to focus on expanding “economic drivers” of the city as a whole, such as the port, the downtown area and the airport. Faced with a “hostile federal government” that continues to strip grant funding from Long Beach, Kerr said the city has to be honest about its finances and do the belt-tightening that’s required by the current deficit. But first, she said there should be a thorough review of department budgets to figure out ways to cut costs without affecting core services for residents.

More voter resources:

• Website: MeganKerr.com
• Endorsements: Los Angeles County Democratic Party; Congressman Robert Garcia.
• Full endorsements list here.

Go deeper: 

• Q&A: Meet the 5th district councilmember, Megan Kerr (Long Beach Post)
• Long Beach warns of ‘difficult year’ of budget cuts but promises the pain will be short-term (Long Beach Post)
• Lopsided fundraising in Long Beach mayor’s race: No challengers report bringing in any cash (LAist)

Tara Riggi, small-business owner

Riggi, who was born and raised in Long Beach, earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Cal State Long Beach.

Candidate Tara Riggi

(

Courtesy of the campaign

)

She’s currently serving as president of the California Heights Neighborhood Association and for the past decade has worked as a real estate agent. Riggi said that in that time, she has witnessed local government become a playground for aspiring career politicians who often make decisions based on what is best for them — instead of what’s best for residents.

“I want to run as an independent. I’m not backed by anybody,” she said. “My loyalty is to the community.”

In her own words

Riggi said that if elected, one of her top priorities would be facilitating the development and maintenance of small businesses — what she calls, “the backbone of Long Beach.”

She said the relationship between entrepreneurs and the city needs to be more collaborative — with the city taking a more proactive approach. Councilmembers should be akin to project managers, Riggi said, bridging communication between the community and the government.

Also, the onus should be on the government to track things like permit progress and upcoming deadlines for each prospective business.

“So we really need to make sure we’re helping these businesses because if we help them, that helps the city in the long run, and it’s a win-win.” she said. “Because we’re not a city of big companies, we’re a city of small businesses.”

Riggi said Long Beach has a tendency to do things too quickly and without proper planning,. Take infrastructure for example, she said. When the city did an audit on how much it spends on road maintenance, sidewalk repair and green space, the investigation found that the city spent about $51,000 per mile on infrastructure — a much higher rate than neighboring cities, Riggi said.

The audit also found Long Beach has an ineffective system of tracking how infrastructure money is being spent. So, Riggi said she wants to institute a system that better manages and monitors this type of spending, in addition to rolling out more “plain-language” budgets to make it easier for residents to understand how their tax dollars are being spent.

More voter resources:

• Website: TaraForCouncil.com
• Endorsements: Vice Mayor Jeff Kellogg; Councilmember Rae Gabelich
• Full endorsements list here.

Go deeper:

• 3 political newcomers join forces in bid to unseat City Council incumbents (Long Beach Post)

Campaign finance

How to get involved