By Zamná Ávila, Assistant Editor
Now that the April 14 Long Beach special election has taken place, a new representative will be ushered into the seat that Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell has vacated. Daryl Supernaw will join the Long Beach City Council May 5.
“Right now, we are focused on our transition into office,” said Supernaw in an email. “From the date of the election I had nine days to officially assume office.” In a normal cycle April election, not a special election, the elected official has up to 90 days to take office.
Supernaw picked up much of the same areas as O’Donnell did in 2012—an election in which Supernaw ran against O’Donnell. This time around, Supernaw garnered 51.67 percent to Herlinda Chico’s 43.71 percent and Richard Lindemann’s 4.62 percent of the vote.
East Side Versus West Side Story
While District 4 is diverse, there is a clear social, economic and ethnic divide between the east side and the west side of the district. Voting precincts east of the traffic circle have more affluent constituents, who are more likely to show up to vote and are predominantly more concerned with quality of life issues, such as street repair and noise pollution. Voters west of the traffic circle, where there are large Cambodian and Latino populations, are more concerned with issues such as poverty, affordable housing and public safety.
It came as no surprise that the vote also had clear geographic, social, economic and ethnic divisions. There are 17 precincts, which include 14 polling places and three areas where constituents vote by mail. Eight out of the 17 precincts are in the east side of the district, where O’Donnell previously had a stronghold. The majority in those precincts, which include one of the vote-by-mail areas, voted for Supernaw. In contrast, more votes went to Chico in seven of the 17 precincts in the west side of the district. Two small precincts on the west side—each with seven voters—were mail-in votes. The majority of those votes went to Supernaw.
A Bit of Perspective
Chico and Supernaw ran for office in 2012, but O’Donnell, who was termed out, ran for re-election as a write-in candidate. Chico withdrew from the race and Supernaw stuck it out. Though Supernaw won the primary, O’Donnell won the election as a write-in candidate.
Not having to run against an eight-year incumbent also made a difference, Supernaw said. Being a lifelong District 4 resident worked to Supernaw’s advantage. He is well known for his involvement in the community, most notably for having led the Los Altos/Atherton corridor neighborhood group that successfully convinced local officials to allocate sums for a project that covered an Atherton open ditch.
Also, in 2012, O’Donnell had the support of both political parties and labor unions.
“I was based on keeping partisan politics out of this and still am,” he said. “I did not list any endorsements. I opted not to do that.”
Chico, who has endorsed unions, the majority of the city council and local Democratic clubs, campaigned heavily in the west side and garnered most of that area’s votes.
Supernaw said he also advocated for the west side over the years, and plans to continue doing so. “We need to put more resources into where the challenges are,” he said.
Moving Forward
Supernaw said he sees potential for economic development in District 4 and throughout the city. He believes Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia’s revitalized economic development department is a step forward. He would like to include corporate partnerships, such as naming rights, as a form of revenue stream.
“It gets others involved and just a lot of name recognition,” Supernaw said. “Long Beach seems to have a lot of untapped potential.”
But economic development is only one of several issues Supernaw will have to tackle when he takes office.
“The biggest issue is the council district budget,” Supernaw said. “I have to assess the projects already in the pipeline and determine what can be completed and what needs to be cut.”
The council will also be making decisions on issues such as the construction of a new civic center, the arts council and community meetings.
One other discussion he’ll have to take a stand on concerns the Long Beach airport. Recent news that JetBlue is seeking to provide international flights to and from Long Beach sparked concerns of new lawsuits and the reopening of an established ordinance that brought some measure of peace between the airport and its surrounding residents.
JetBlue officials have stated they have no interest in changing the city’s strict noise ordinance, but other situations may arise. Other airlines may want to do the same and that may result in a very litigious battle.
In February, the council voted to halt discussions about international flights until the council member got elected.
Supernaw, whose wife was on the original HUSH (Homes Under Stress and Hazard) group that got the noise ordinance in the first place, said the council should rely on the advice of staff members who are knowledgeable about the airport’s history, City Prosecutor Douglas Haubert and Assistant City Attorney Michael Mais.
“I would like to defer to our experts,” he said. “What I am hearing now is that there are some issues. There are some inherent threats with bringing the international flights forward.”
This time around there is no involvement from his family or himself in the groups that have come out against the international terminal.
“Further, airport meetings within the district will be held under the auspices of the fourth Council District office and hosted by me,” he said.