Long Beach Mayor O’Neill to Seek Reelection

With sizable portions of Long Beach appearing like a half-finished canvas, Mayor Beverly O’Neill announced Wednesday that she will seek a second term to help finish the overhaul of the port city.

O’Neill’s expected reelection announcement kicks off what could be one of the city’s most important rounds of elections. Voters in April’s primary will cast ballots for mayor, city attorney, city auditor, city prosecutor and five of the nine seats on the City Council.

Underscoring some of the issues that may come into play, O’Neill made her announcement at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, in a room overlooking the Aquarium of the Pacific, now under construction, and several large parcels of undeveloped waterfront land that the mayor and city leaders plan to develop as the Queensway Bay project.

“We’re in the midst of a massive change in the city of Long Beach, and I just wanted to see that to completion,” O’Neill told reporters.

The massive change has come too fast for some environmentalists and preservationists, who warred with City Hall over such things as the reuse of the abandoned naval base on Terminal Island and a since-abandoned plan for a play-for-pay expansion of El Dorado Regional Park.

O’Neill’s early announcement allows her to begin raising money and assembling a campaign staff. So far, she does not have any major challengers.

When she won the office in 1994, O’Neill ran against 12 candidates, including the incumbent, Ernie Kell, and two members of the City Council. She won in a runoff over Councilman Ray Grabinski.

This time, O’Neill has the strong support from members of the City Council and the local business establishment.

“She’s tough, she’s well liked, and anyone with serious intentions of running against her should have their head examined,” said Jeff Adler, a political consultant who supported Kell’s campaign in 1994.

O’Neill, 67, was born and raised in Long Beach. Having retired after a long career at Long Beach City College, she won the mayor’s job at a low ebb in the city’s history.

The Walt Disney Co. had recently abandoned plans for a waterfront theme park, and the Navy had shut down or was planning to close its naval station, shipyard and regional hospital. And the city’s biggest employer, McDonnell-Douglas, went through a downsizing that caused it to shave about half its work force and eventually merge with Boeing Co.

O’Neill helped forge a consensus that led to construction of the Aquarium of the Pacific, which will open next summer, several retail shopping centers, and planning for the Queensway Bay project. She recently helped break ground on a million-square-foot shopping center on the site of the naval hospital.