For our first voting guide, we collaborated with Streets For All on a questionnaire for all of the district races happening here in Long Beach. We asked tough questions regarding vision zero, transit funding, and transportation inequity, and we tailored each questionnaire to each district.
It was a lot of fun.
District 2 – Cindy Allen
Neither candidate filled out our questionnaire this year, so we went off of what we knew about Cindy Allen from her voting history and experience, and Ketty Citterio from what she has said in discussions with some of our members.
Our general vibe regarding Allen is that she has been “fine” for safer streets in Long Beach, and she helped kick off a parking study that has helped spur our current city council further away from “why can’t we just build more lots” to “we need to do something about all these cars.”
Citterio wants more required parking. That means higher costs for housing construction, fewer overall units, less open space, more traffic. That’s a bad policy, and on that basis alone we choose Allen over Citterio.
View the D2 Questionnaire Here
District 4 – Herlinda Chico
The current incumbent, Daryl Supernaw, has been a net negative for transit in his district. He recently voted to oppose even studying a proposed BRT line from Long Beach to Sierra Madre Villa Station along Lakewood and Rosemead Boulevards. This is not the guy we want. He also did not respond to our questionnaire, which was not really a surprise.
Our mantra for this district was essentially “Not Supernaw,” and with that being said, Herlinda Chico had the better answers between the two candidates who filled out our questionnaire. Chico has voiced support for increasing the subsidy for Long Beach Transit, as well as committing to representing Long Beach at the Gateway COG in support of the Lakewood/Rosemead BRT.
View D4 Candidate Responses Here
District 6 – Suely Saro
Suely Saro has been a good ally for safe streets as a member of the Mobility, Ports, and Infrastructure committee, and stood up to CalTrans’ absolutely terrible PCH proposal during one of the committee’s meetings last year. While she has been tepid surrounding charging for parking in her district and increasing funding for LBT, she has expressed support for protected bike lanes in her district.
Her opponent, Cristino Pinto had worse answers to our questionnaire and at least two questions felt like they were ripped from ChatGPT. We do not blame Mr. Pinto for using ChatGPT if he actually plans on following through on the language that was copied and pasted, but we are skeptical of that too.
View D6 Candidate Responses Here
District 8 – Tunua Thrash-Ntuk
Between Tunua Thrash-Ntuk and Sharifa Batts, we are going with the candidate who filled out our questionnaire.
Her answers were great, and if she can stick to half of what she promised in her answers, she will be the best champion of alternative modes of transportation in the city. Time will tell.
She expressed strong commitments to increasing LB Transit funding, enforcement of bike lane obstructions, and constructing protected bike lanes in her district.
View D8 Candidate Responses Here
County Supervisor – Janice Hahn
For the County Supervisor seat, we did not create a questionnaire as we threw this endorsement in at the last minute. However, incumbent Janice Hahn has been a good ally for public transit and pretty successful at getting her way. Her opponents, Alex Villanueva and John Cruikshank are both worse options.
Villanueva is the disgraced former LA Sheriff who upheld that the LASD had no “deputy gangs” while the LASD definitely had deputy gangs.
Cruikshank is the mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes and has very little to gain from promoting sane public transportation policies, considering that where he lives is utterly inaccessible by public transit.
We need the Southeast Gateway Line to get built in a way that doesn’t completely suck, and Hahn is our best bet for that happening.
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