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 council members 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 9

• If she wins, incumbent Joni Ricks-Oddie can run again for reelection in 2030 and potentially hold the seat until 2034. 
• District 9 was the most populated in the 2010 Census, but District 7 took that title with the 2020 Census. District 9 grew by 800 residents in those 10 years, while District 7 added 2,834 people.
• This district is one of two in the city in which the voting-age population is more than 40% Latino.

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 9

Joni Ricks-Oddie, incumbent

Joni Ricks-Oddie earned her Ph.D. in epidemiology from UCLA, then moved to Long Beach, where she became a civic leader through her work with the North Long Beach Neighborhood Alliance, the Citizens Police Complaint Commission and as the chair of the Long Beach Planning Commission. She currently serves as a City Council member and as the director of the Center for Statistical Consulting at UC Irvine.

Ricks-Oddie said the first time she ran for office, she was a bit of a “unicorn” because of her science background. But to her, it translates well.

“I’m very much a critical thinker. I’m very much factually based,” she said. “I tend to be less of an emotional response person, and so I really try to sit with information.”

In her own words

Ricks-Oddie is chair of the Budget Oversight Committee, where she said she’s improved transparency around the city’s spending. She said she’s held budget hearings in the evenings so residents who worked during the day could participate. Ricks-Oddie said she also hosted a “speed-dating-style” event where residents could discuss their concerns directly with city staff from a variety of departments, including Public Works and Health and Human Services.

She said one of her central priorities has been and continues to be cracking down on prostitution and human trafficking on Long Beach Boulevard. Ricks-Oddie said she added the issues to Long Beach’s upcoming legislative agenda and hosted an “awareness walk.”

“This is not an abstract issue,” she said. “It’s affecting our kids. It’s affecting our families.”

Earlier this year, the City Council approved a comprehensive public health and safety plan, championed by Ricks-Oddie. The R.E.A.C.T. Strategic Framework aims to address human trafficking through enhanced enforcement, survivor support, increased accountability for area motels and official partnerships with neighboring cities. Ricks-Oddie said her goal is to institutionalize this anti-trafficking work and hire a dedicated staff coordinator to oversee it.

More voter resources:

• Website: VoteDrJoni.com
• Endorsements: Los Angeles County Democratic Party; Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson
• Full endorsements list here.

Go deeper: 

• Compare your Candidates: Joni Ricks-Oddie (Long Beach Post)

Sequoia Neff, small-business owner

Sequoia Neff is a lifelong Long Beach resident, where she attended Poly High School and founded a youth track club and basketball league for underserved kids. She’s spent the past 20 years working in real estate and currently owns a multi-state brokerage firm that handles residential and commercial properties.

In her own words

Neff said human trafficking is the major issue affecting residents’ quality of life, physical safety and property values, as well as business growth.

“I want it to be addressed for the residents, but I also am on the victims’ side of things,” Neff said. “A lot of these girls are manipulated; [predators] use different tactics to keep them in fear.”

Neff said she already works with nonprofits to help get trafficking victims off the street and into housing and jobs.

If elected, Neff said she wants to higher penalties for “Johns” because the citations they receive now are comparable to a jaywalking ticket. She said she also wants to allocate more than patrol officers to the corridor and instead create a dedicated police unit.

Neff said the city needs to start enforcing ordinances that already are on the books — such as nuisance-abatement laws for problematic motels. “They know it’s there,” she said. “It’s been ignored, and they just let it go.”

Neff said another top priority is implementing individualized services for unhoused residents because people experiencing homelessness all have different needs. If the city is providing food and housing, it should also provide job training, mental health services and drug and alcohol addiction support.

She said no matter what approach the city takes, it must be strategic and efficient with its spending — and avoid launching projects that can’t be finished, such as the Tiny Homes campus that had to be scrapped last year.

More voter resources:

• Website: SequoiaNeff.com
• Endorsements: Rachel Glenn, Olympian; Lashinda Demus, Olympic gold medalist

Go deeper: 

• Interview with Long Beach City Council District 9 Candidate Sequoia Neff (It's a Long Beach Thing podcast)

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