Long Beach, News

District 7 candidates

Incumbent: Roberto Uranga

Roberto Uranga is running for re-election as the 7th District councilmember. He wants to focus on job creation and decreasing crime.

  • Housing

Uranga believes that rent control is not an effective solution for addressing renters and the housing needs they face. Instead, he thinks working closely with apartment owners to ensure quality housing and fair rent would be more beneficial to residents.

“A lot of times when a person moves, owners will make improvements to that space and raise the rent so we need a process to keep that from happening that’s more fair to everybody,” Uranga said.

He feels that the housing issue goes hand-in-hand with homelessness, and that one way to address both issues is to create more affordable housing and job opportunities for those struggling.

The incumbent said he thinks working with nearby cities will be more efficient when coming up with a plan of action for the crisis. Uranga is proud of the work that has been accomplished through Measure A, that addresses issues of mental health and drug abuse in homelessness.

Another way Uranga believes that the city can decrease the number of homeless individuals is to create more jobs available to people living in Long Beach. The council member cited the project labor agreement currently in place with many construction companies as a way to ensure those living in Long Beach get priority as an ideal method to create these job opportunities.

“Unemployment is down in the city,” Uranga said. “But we still have issues with getting people jobs in Long Beach, clearly, because we [still] have this homelessness issue.”

  • Public safety

Uranga feels that in order for the police and fire departments to be more effective, they need to be provided with more equipment and staff. He believes that once our public workers are given the resources they need, they will be able to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently.

“There’s never enough resources for public safety,” Uranga said. “We need to make sure… they can do their jobs more effectively and protect the public.”

In the same vein, Uranga believes not only that police should be held accountable for their actions, but that “everybody should be held accountable for their actions.”

The council member said Long Beach is currently taking the correct steps to ensure this, such as getting body cameras for the police and working with a reviewing commission to look over complaints and issues anyone might have with the department.

Uranga commended the efforts of the city’s police department, citing the fact that crime has gone down in recent years, but acknowledged that there is always room for improvement to ensure that the people in Long Beach feel safe.

  • Public services

Among his ideas for improving public services are extending the public library hours, expanding on the public transit system routes and making what he referred to as small, but necessary changes to public parks such as renovated bathrooms and fields.

“We always need improvements,” Uranga said. “We’ve used Measure A funds to make improvements to parks. We put a soccer field with turf and good drainage, we’ve fixed backstops in Little League. We’re making a lot of improvements in places all over the district.”

He also acknowledged that parking is an issue in many parts of the city.

“We do have parking issues in different parts of the city,” Uranga said. “It’s not an issue in 7th District, but I’ll support any measure to improve parking in other districts.”

Chris Sereno
Before retiring last April, Sereno spent 32 years working for McDonnell Douglas, an aerospace manufacturing corporation that has since merged with Boeing.

Challenger: Chris Sereno

A late entry in the race for Long Beach City Council, Chris Sereno is running for 7th District council member. With a background in aerospace and realty, Sereno aims to improve housing and development while creating jobs in the process.

  • Housing

One of his main goals is to establish affordable housing in Long Beach. To address this, he plans to implement a manufacturing plant to develop modular housing, or prefabricated houses. Requiring a building site to carry this out, Sereno suggests the old C-17 manufacturing site at Long Beach Airport.

“It would be my dream to see a huge modular home manufacturing facility [at the C-17 manufacturing site],” Sereno said. “To make modular homes, you need an overhead crane and that would be the perfect site for that.”

The houses, according to Sereno, would be affordable for most residents and create more jobs by establishing the manufacturing site in Long Beach.

  • Public parks

Sereno aims to improve and maintain local parks in the city instead of creating new ones.

His interest in parks comes from the role they play with the youth of the city, especially those with facilities like basketball courts and pools. Being a candidate with no background in politics, Sereno is taking a “learn as you go” approach to implementing his plans.

“I’d have to find out where the money is relative to the budget,” Sereno said. “Whoever is talking about building more parks, I’d like to know where that money is coming from.”

  • Government transparency

Sereno’s opinion on government transparency is uncertain, but ultimately he believes there is a decent amount of it in local politics.

  • Sanctuary cities

Sereno stated that he is in favor of Long Beach’s status as a sanctuary city. Though not versed on the topic, he sees Long Beach as a city that prides itself on being accepting of all.

“If we’re really an international city, and that’s really how I would describe it, sanctuary should just blend right in with that,” Sereno said.

  • Rent control

With rent spikes becoming a rising issue, Sereno sees a need for tighter rent control laws.

“I believe rent control has a purpose,” Sereno said. “I also believe it’s not enforced enough to the right applications in categories like seniors, veterans [and] low-income housing.”

Sereno said he recognizes that some use rent control to abuse tenants. He looks to provide better, stricter rent control policies to protect those being abused by landlords.

With no political background, Sereno said he is unsure of how the city budget is used and was unable to provide a plan for approaching this issue.

With his mother living in Long Beach, the topic came up in a discussion about the off chance of her husband’s passing.

“My mom, who just turned 80, had a talk about it the other day,” Sereno said. “If her husband goes first she’s going to have a hard time paying where she’s renting. We need to have plans implemented for situations like that.”

Natalie Perez
Milrad became a vegan at the age of 14 and served in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.

Challenger: Jared Milrad

Jared Milrad is a prospective candidate for the 7th District and believes the best way to increase revenue in Long Beach is by encouraging spaces for local and independent businesses to thrive.

  • Local businesses

Milrad, who founded his own production company and nonprofit, believes he is the right candidate for city council to promote the growth of small businesses, which he said is not prominent in the Westside. He thinks incentivizing mom and pop shops to stay in the city would best increase city revenue and grow the tax base.

“To grow here — that’s something we need to be proactive about,” Milrad said.

  • Social justice

A member of the LGBTQ community, Milrad wants to provide resources for health equity. He plans to do this through advocating for LGBTQ senior housing in the city, and by having strong HIV prevention and treatment services.

“We do need a strong leader to make sure we get a strong health care reform and we fight back against anything the Trump administration has done to take away and reverse the affordable care act,” Milrad said.

  • The arts

The candidate advocates for arts among the youth and has previously worked with undocumented families and recipients under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in studio projects.

“It’s time for a new generational leader or advocate to do that work,” he said. “So if I were elected I would want to be an advocate for increased arts funding, resources and opportunities.”

  • First responders

Milrad said he wants to allocate more funding toward police and fire departments. He supports instituting neighborhood watches and believes having a police and community partnership with city council is essential in the 7th district.

  • Public libraries

Milrad said that if taxpayers are paying for public libraries, their technology needs to be up-to-date. He wants to make sure libraries throughout the city have the latest computer and broadband access. The candidate also suggested creating a mobile app to help Long Beach residents get access to library resources, specifically targeting college-age students and the elderly.

  • Youth engagement

To engage youth in the 7th district, Milrad wants to create a young leaders program within the district and offer workplace opportunities for them by implementing vocational programs at Long Beach City College and apprenticeship services.

  • Homelessness

He wants to impose permanent supportive housing initiatives to combat homelessness. This housing model would balance low-barrier affordable housing, health care and supportive services to help families in need.

Alongside federally funded resources, he encourages nonprofit developer partnerships to help create the housing units in the city.

“In terms of innovative solutions…we don’t currently have a champion on our city council for [the 7th] district who is standing up for supportive housing,” Milrad said.

Rudy Espinoza
Shin is a co-founder of the organization “Walk Bike Long Beach,” a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing residents’ walking and biking needs.

Challenger: Kevin Shin

Kevin Shin is a candidate running to represent Long Beach’s 7th District. After hearing complaints from residents, he said that he would be a stronger advocate for the community than the incumbent.

  • Public engagement

Shin said that his walks through the neighborhood are a way for him to be connected to residents.

“As I [have] been talking to a lot of folks, one of the two challenges they reflected to me is that they feel that the current council member isn’t really present at community events,” Shin said. “They just feel that when they reach out to him he isn’t responsive enough to their needs.”

  • Rent control and taxes

The candidate actively supports rent control and claims that it helps stabilize the housing market. He says that rent control helps reduce speculation which helps renters as well as homeowners. Shin said that a stabilized market will help prevent homeowners from seeing major differences in their tax bills. He believes that rent control should be a temporary solution and the city should be committed to creating more housing. He also supports concepts such as “just cause” eviction.

  • Public transit

Shin thinks it is important for the city to support public transportation and provide adequate access to it. He said that public transportation is one of the best ways to help reduce greenhouse emissions.

  • Addressing homelessness

He said that the best way to address homelessness is to address underlying issues such as mental illness, addiction and the lack of housing. His goal is to help the homeless enter programs that will help them. The candidate also stated that he wants to do more to help homeless veterans and work with Veterans Affairs to take advantage of the military benefits and resources available to them.  

  • Marijuana

Shin stated that it should be regulated similarly to alcohol. He believes that history has shown that the criminalization of marijuana has had a negative effect on communities of color. His goal is to regulate it appropriately and plan out areas so dispensaries do not become overly clustered.

  • Airport noise

One of the major complaints that Shin has heard from the community is the noise from the Long Beach Airport.

He believes the best way to cut down on noise is to strengthen the noise ordinance for Long Beach, which is one of the most lenient codes in the region, according to Shin. He said that its current structure gives airplane companies a number of strikes before being fined for violation of the ordinance. He said it is important to work with the companies.

“The last thing we want to do is take someone who is providing great jobs to our local community and drive them out of the city by being too harsh or not working with them to find appropriate solutions to some of the challenges [presented by the ordinance],” said Shin.

Carlos Villicana | Daily 49er
Delacruz served the United States Navy after he migrated to the United States from the Philippines in 1968.

Challenger: Oscar S. Delacruz

Oscar S. Delacruz is a resident of District 7 and a former outreach minister for the Grace United Methodist Church.

  • Housing

Delacruz stated that he supports rent control and expected the initiative to pass. However if rent control didn’t pass, he said that he has no plans to pursue the matter further.

The candidate voiced his concerns for building density and congestion within the city, stating that he would like to implement a program that would encourage residents to move to other cities or less populated areas. When interviewed March 15, he did not share any ideas for incentives this program could offer but said that some could be found by conducting a study.

  • Banning bars

Delacruz made it clear that he would like to rid the 7th District of bars serving alcohol, stating that they attract crime — specifically shootings. He also expressed his discomfort with the presence of drunk drivers and bar patrons occupying parking spots in the area.

  • Parks

He said he would like to increase police presence at outdoor parks, saying the move would help reduce crime. He also said he would like to introduce some kind of program focusing on cleaning up parks. As of March 15, he did not detail how this program would operate.

“The police patrols are not there all the time, we need to promote safety in those areas so that people will use the park more often and comfortably,” Delacruz said.

  • Sanctuary city

When asked whether or not Long Beach should be a  sanctuary city, Delacruz took a neutral stance, maintaining that the city should do background checks for criminal records of undocumented people.

“I have no objection to the sanctuary issue,” he said. “[But] if they are criminals, we don’t want them here.”

This applies to certain types of crimes, which he described as the “bad ones.” When asked for examples of what those are, Delacruz said “rapists,” “drug pushers,” “killers” and “thieves.” He made sure to clarify that “thieves” referred to someone stealing things like cars or guns, not people stealing food so that they can eat.

  • Addressing homelessness

Delacruz said that he often sees families of homeless people out on the streets, even after they visit shelters. He attributes this to the shelters separating families.

“I would recommend they build shelters that accommodate the whole family,” Delacruz said.

  • Recreational marijuana

Delacruz stated that marijuana dispensaries attract crime, but he does think that these can be regulated. He had no suggestions for regulations as of March 15, but did express doubt that anyone was using marijuana for medical purposes.

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