Local Election System Lacks Accountability
1_LBBJ_JULY4_2017_LBBJ 7/1/17 8:11 PM Page 1 July 4-17, 2017 Long Beach’s Newsmagazine www.lbbizjournal.com Inside This Issue Mid-Year econoMic outlook Local Election With National And Regional System Lacks Economies At Full Employment, Accountability Slowing Economic Growth Is Projected Voters Should Be Able To I By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER But in general, the outlook is a positive one, with Vote For More Than One Assistant Editor economists projecting a 2% to 2.3% increase in City Councilmember Encore Welding & Industrial GDP this year. At the national, state and local lev- lower than anticipated increase in gross els, unemployment rates are below 5% – a rate Supply Expands In Signal Hill A I By GEORGE ECONOMIDES domestic product (GDP) in the first quar- consistent with what has been historically consid- Publisher’s Perspective Page 12 ter has somewhat dampened overall expectations ered full employment. for growth in the United States economy this year. (Please Continue To Page 15) t a minimum, our election A system should ensure that voters have the opportunity to hold elected officials accountable for their actions. For the most part, this is not the case in Long Beach. All 9 Long Beach City Coun- cilmembers set policies that decide New President Of The the future of the city and impact 4th Street Business Association residents or business owners. Yet, under our current system, regis- Page 32 tered voters are allowed to vote for only 1 of those 9 councilmembers. The same system allows all voters to elect a mayor. However, the mayor does not vote at council meetings, often denying residents (Please Continue To Page 11) Construction Jobs Throughout Long Beach! City: No ‘Broken Pine Avenue’s Pie Bar While there is no exact figure of how many jobs have been created due to the many projects under construction in Long Beach, a conservative estimate is that it’s more than 1,000 on any given day, and “it could be over 2,000” Promise’ On Hits Milestone In Sales said one city official.
[Show full text]