Council Gadfly Withdraws From Race for L.B. Mayor

To avoid an impression that he is using City Council meetings to espouse his personal platform, Dan Rosenberg said this week he no longer plans to run for mayor.

A regular speaker during the weekly council meetings, Rosenberg, 58, recently has received criticism from council members as well as from a neighborhood group he helped create. Last month, the South Long Beach Residents’ Assn. told the council that Rosenberg no longer represents them.

Several council members have grown visibly irritated with Rosenberg, who supports less development and often criticizes the city for what he calls inadequate environmental reviews and insufficient public notice about new projects.

Rosenberg said he decided to withdraw his candidacy so he can continue to speak before the council without the appearance that “this is some sort of crusade” for political office. “What is important is issues and not personalities,” Rosenberg said earlier this week.

Rosenberg said he intended to run for mayor only until “a credible, viable candidate comes along.” Although he said no such candidate has entered the race, he said there is greater public participation and he expects that others will run against Kell and Councilwoman Jan Hall in the mayoral race next year--when the position becomes a full-time job.

Rosenberg’s plans to run for mayor contributed to a rift between him and the South Long Beach Residents Assn.

Bob Pace, chairman of the neighborhood group which has successfully sought a building moratorium for its area, said it did not want to become “a platform for (Rosenberg’s) political program” or candidacy. Pace agreed that his group did not want to “aggravate” council members, who he said are annoyed with Rosenberg because “sometimes, he pursues issues that are dead issues.”