Heart of District Draws Council Candidates as Vote Nears

As always, the 6th District City Council candidates, armed with lists of registered voters, have come to the 1400 block of Lime Avenue.

Wherever else they may go in the central city and West Side seeking support, the politicians come back to Lime--and to nearby Olive and Myrtle avenues, and a handful of other neighborhoods that have residents who always seem to vote.

For 50 years these streets, with their well-kept homes and abundant churches, have been the heart of Long Beach’s growing black community. They surround Poly High School in an intermittent network of stable residences, broken only by apartment rows and liquor stores and other reminders of the inner city.

And now on a hot August afternoon, two of the three apparent front-runners in a 10-candidate race in Tuesday’s special, winner-take-all election pick the 1400 block of Lime to begin their canvassing.

Two-Month Sprint

Neither Clarence Smith, 55, nor John Rambo, 41, has personally walked the street before in this campaign, a two-month sprint to decide who will replace the late James H. Wilson. The 16-year councilman resigned in May after a fraud conviction, then died suddenly of a heart attack in June.

But as the election approaches, both candidates gravitate to the neighborhood.

Smith goes to church a few blocks away and for eight years has been the director of the city Park Department’s Central Facilities Center, up the street about seven blocks.

Rambo lived here as a child, discovering on these streets the skills that would bring him a bronze medal in the high jump in the 1964 Olympics and a professional basketball contract with the St. Louis Hawks. He has coached youth sports teams on nearby fields for 20 years. And he has set up novel education programs in nearby schools while working in community relations for 17 years for General Telephone Co.

Smith goes to each door as the candidate who has raised the most money (about $12,000) and garnered the most endorsements from labor, community and religious organizations. His candidacy has the blessing of the central city’s United Ministerial Alliance. He also claims the near-unanimous support of the active members of the NAACP’s local board of directors, even though a third contending candidate, Frank L. Berry, president of the Long Beach chapter, insists that “several” directors will be voting for him. Berry also says that 4 of the 11 churches of the ministerial alliance have endorsed him.

Community Activist

Rambo is hoping that Smith and Berry split the vote of older, more conservative central city residents--the group Wilson credited with consistently returning him to office. At a lean 6 feet 7, Rambo has nurtured an image as a young and enthusiastic community activist who does not wait for the approval of the churches or the NAACP to try to force change.

At 4 p.m. the temperature on Lime Avenue is still in the 90s. Smith, dressed in slacks, white shirt and a tie, knocks on three doors and secures promises of five votes.

A 55-year-old woman says she had “an encounter” with Rambo 15 years ago and wouldn’t vote for him. She likes Smith because, as his campaign literature points out, “he has served in the religious areas.”

Nealie Whittacker, 73, says she and her husband will use the absentee ballot applications provided by Smith to vote for him. She knows Smith, she says, because he has been helpful to senior citizens at the facilities center at Martin Luther King Jr. Park. “Everybody I talk to says they’re going to vote for Clarence,” she says. (The Whittacker absentee-ballot applications are among 1,137 returned during the campaign, the city clerk’s office says. Smith returned about 500, Berry about 300, and Nil S. Hul, a grocer and Cambodian immigrant, about 270.)

Two doors away, Charles Henderson, 42, and his 36-year-old wife, Patricia, also back Smith. Henderson and Rambo played together as kids, Henderson says. But Henderson, like Smith, is a city employee and both are church officers. Smith had spoken briefly at the First Providence Baptist Church the previous Sunday and been well received, Henderson notes.

Vow to Fight Drug Sales

As Smith goes from door to door, he emphasizes themes that have been adopted by almost all of the 10 candidates. They say they will better organize the community to fight crime, particularly drug sales, and to get a fair share of the new development that is occurring in most of the city.

But Smith adds a twist that he thinks has won over some voters. “If I win, I’ll retire and work full time as a councilman. And that’s a great advantage for this district,” he tells a woman who has an “Elect Frank Berry” sign in her window.

By 5:30 p.m., the amiable and casually dressed Rambo is on the stump with his 15-year-old goddaughter, Shayla. He yells across streets to old acquaintences, asking about basketball skills and waistlines.

His pitch is simple and quick: “Vote, even if you don’t vote for me.” Often there is a flash of familiarity. “This is Dukes’ place. Seventy years old. Pitched softball,” Rambo says. But Wilbert Dukes is not home.

Russell Cyrus, who played football for Rambo, lives next door. “Rambo!” exclaims Cyrus’ grandmother, Lucy Neal. “You don’t have to worry about it. You’ve got my vote.”

‘Inspired by Him’

“I can count on you,” Rambo says. “Doggone.”

On the same block, Will Stokley, 28, a registered nurse, says Rambo has his support. “I heard Mr. Rambo speak when I was a student in junior high school. He talked to our basketball team. He said to work hard for whatever you want in life. I was inspired by him.”

Stokley also knows Berry and candidate Dezebee T. Miles and thinks either would be a good councilman.

In fact, in the same three-block area, there are several green Berry signs. Odessa Mitchell, 86, keeps one in her apartment window because a chat with the candidate on another day impressed her.

Berry, 43, a planning and budget administrator at Todd Shipyard in San Pedro, has served on a number of citywide boards as well as heading the NAACP chapter since 1978. A longtime friend and ally of the late Councilman Wilson, he now carries the support of Wilson’s widow, Audrey, and Wilson’s legislative aide, Molli Ellis.

“I think (Berry’s) the most qualified candidate,” Audrey Wilson said. “Also, my husband wanted him. My husband’s the one who tried to convince him to run. He knew his views on a lot of issues.”

Loss of Support

Berry, however, has received few endorsements from other prominent people and organizations in the central city. “The big shock to me was that some of these people who have supported me over the years committed to supporting someone else even before they knew who all the candidates were,” he said.

Joseph Brooks, Rambo’s campaign manager and a former NAACP president here, is one of those who says he might have backed Berry had he not hesitated in announcing his candidacy. And Brooks empathizes with Berry.

“You give your best shot over a period of years for the community, and when you want to run in your own right, people find reasons not to support you. I really believe that has to hurt,” Brooks said.

Berry said his candidacy may have also suffered a little because some people seem to think his aggressive advocacy on behalf of the NAACP could keep him from working well with those outside the 6th District.

“I have heard it mentioned that many people in the district who are non-black might feel my past has been too much for black people and not the larger community. . . . And you have some conservative (blacks) who feel that the role you play as a civil rights advocate casts you in a bad light in the broader community’s eyes,” he said.

Carpetbagger Allegation

Berry has been troubled, too, by allegations that he is a carpetbagger and that drugs and sex have been sold from a building he owns in the central city.

Berry denies the charges, and challenges the motives of those who repeat them--specifically Rambo and Smith. “Both of them have benefited from my efforts over the years and for them to use something like this for political gain can only be termed dirty politics,” he said.

Berry was a Long Beach resident from 1964 until 1977, when he moved to Carson. He lived there until April, then returned here to run for office, he said. While living in Carson, he retained strong ties with the NAACP and other local organizations, he said.

The charge of illegal activity at his Atlantic Avenue storefront was made public during a local cable television debate as a question from a member of Smith’s campaign staff, Smith acknowledged. The question was allowed by the moderator, Smith said, “because it was a prevailing question in the community.” But Smith said he’s running solely on his credentials and has not repeated the accusation.

Rambo still questions whether Berry lives in the 6th District. In an interview he also mentioned the allegations about Berry’s property, but he says that he doesn’t know whether they are true.

Most Quite Active

Meanwhile, seven other candidates are attending forums and walking districts. Most have been quite active, though only Hul has raised much money, and nearly all of his $7,770 is from a small number of Southeast Asian backers. By Aug. 9, Smith had raised $11,678, Berry $9,700 and Rambo $7,557--small amounts compared to other council races this year.

The other candidates are:

Ron Barnes, 41, a claims assistant at a state unemployment office until he took a disability leave almost a year ago; Emma Calhoun Conley, 60, a retired elementary schoolteacher; Hul, 53, a grocer and county employment consultant who is on the city’s Public Safety Advisory Commission; Hudena James, 32, a law school graduate who does research work for law firms and prepares tax returns; Miles, 32, a medical clerk for years and now a booking agent for professional athletes; Mineo Miyagishima, 45, a West Side engineer who worked at Rockwell International and is now a private engineering consultant, and Wendell W. Whisenton, 55, who worked his way up to electrician during 23 years as a city employee and is now owner and operator of two local cocktail lounges.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.