O’Neill Has Narrow Lead in Long Beach Mayoral Race

Former community college President Beverly O’Neill was narrowly leading City Councilman Ray Grabinski with almost half the votes counted Tuesday in a hotly contested runoff election for mayor of Long Beach.

The winner succeeds Ernie Kell, who has been the city’s only mayor since voters made the job a full-time elected position in 1988. Kell finished fifth in the April primary.

In another of the county’s handful of municipal elections, a $27.1-million plan to redesign Santa Monica’s Civic Center complex was receiving a narrow majority in early returns. The proposal calls for up to 1.1 million square feet of development, creating a web of parks, ponds and walkways.

The plan’s proponents said it would rejuvenate the 45-acre site near the Santa Monica Pier into a vibrant town square. Critics contended that it would allow RAND, which owns land within the Civic Center area, overly generous development rights that could lead to increased traffic congestion and air pollution.

In Long Beach, both O’Neill and Grabinski said their styles were best suited to help the city’s transition from a sleepy port town to a vital urban center.

O’Neill, the top vote-getter in April’s primary, presented herself as the genteel academic, a coalition builder adept at winning over critics. O’Neill, 63, said five years as president of Long Beach City College gave her experience administering large budgets and staff.

Grabinski, an eight-year council veteran, positioned himself as a maverick leader with regionwide experience. Known as a blunt, blue-collar politician with support in the city’s mostly working-class north and west areas, Grabinski, 50, also told voters that his insider experience, as a member and president of the regional Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, gave him contacts the city needed.

In Long Beach’s three City Council runoffs, there were no clear leaders in early returns. Two candidates in separate districts were vying to become the first Latinos elected to the council in a city whose population is almost a quarter Latino.

Former school board member Jenny Oropeza held a slim lead over community activist Dianne McNinch, while former museum President Tonia Reyes Uranga was losing to Mike Donelon, a general contractor, in a bid to take over Grabinski’s seat. Warren Harwood, a 12-year council veteran, was in a virtual tie with challenger Jerry Shultz, a sheriff’s deputy.