Councilman Al Austin votes to approve the renaming of a dog park and the Performing Arts Center but slams renaming a pocket park honoring Dan Pressburg.
EDITORIAL The GPE Committee (Government Personnel and Elections Oversight Committee) was designed to guide policy input and review key city matters before sending them off to City Council for approval. But with Councilman Al Austin as one of its three gatekeepers an oversight Committee that should make our City policies more fair is resulted in several inequitable decisions.
The question is simple. How is it that a longtime Jewish community advocate in the underserved 9th District can have a small "pocket park" renaming shelved for "no community support" while the renaming of both a dog park and the entire Long Beach Performance Arts Center is green lighted with no questions asked?
The History
After Al Austin lost a 2007 special election to Dee Andrews for a City Council seat in Central Long Beach, he moved his family to the 8th District to try his luck in North Long Beach. An outsider, Austin needed local support. So he turned to a local guy who knew the people and the landscape best.
That guy was Dan Pressburg. Having built long lasting relationships with his friends and neighbors over the years, Pressburg graciously vouched for Al around Up Town.
Fast forward a decade later and the same man Austin once sought out to take advantage of his established community relationships is now unworthy, according to Austin, to have the South Street pocket park renamed in his honor because there is no evidence of community support.
But when the community got wind of Austin’s deed it’s becoming clear that Pressburg’s support is as far reaching as it was when Austin first approached him nearly a decade ago.
What Happened at the Meeting
The meeting was moving rather speedily. The committee had just wrapped up a vote approving the renaming of a dog park after the late Dr. "Mickey" Donahoe. The renaming item had been authored by former Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce. Her letter was the sole letter of support.
As the committee rounded to the third agenda item, in a flash it had been moved and seconded. Before the committee was a request to rename the South Street pocket park in honor of local resident Dan Pressburg.Then in a move that seemed to surprise both Council persons Supernaw and Allen, their colleague Al Austin threw a wrench in the gears.
The third term Councilman protested that naming the park in honor of Pressburg was inappropriate because of insufficient community outreach.
Pretending not to know, Councilman Austin rhetorically asked Chair Supernaw whether there were any letters in support of renaming the park in Pressburg’s honor. The answer was that there was a letter from Vice Mayor Rex Richardson. Stammering, Councilman Austin insisted that the Vice Mayor’s letter was insufficient community outreach.
But what exactly was Councilman Austin really up to?
Having served North Long Beach for nearly a decade he’s intimately aware of Pressburg’s track record as a North Long Beach hallmark. For goodness sake, Austin had sought out Pressburg years ago precisely because of his deep ties in the North LongBeach community.
Certainly Austin already knew that Vice Mayor Richardson was the sole author of the letter requesting the park’s renaming. The matter had only recently been presented to City Council by the Vice Mayor. Not to mention, the letter would have been available for Austin’s review as many as 3 days prior to the meeting.
Behind the Scenes of a Bitter Rivalry
In order to understand Austin‘s true agenda there is a bit of palace intrigue at play.
It’s common knowledge among insiders that Vice Mayor Richardson and Councilman Al Austin are embattled in a running feud.
The drama is well documented and even published in a book by Dr. Alex Norman entitled "African American Leadership at a Crossroads". After co-writing a report dubbed the State of Black Long Beach, Dr. Norman unsuccessfully attempted to unite local leaders around a common goal.
A call for unity divided into two factions. Vice Mayor Rex Richardson convened an economic summit on equity which resulted in the creation of the Office of Equity. Austin, on the other hand, championed the African-American Cultural Center.
Four years without structural funding and grossly understaffed, the Office of Equity hasn't had the resources to do much in terms of constitutional policing, black health or environmental justice.The African-American cultural center only recently lost its most qualified head in former school board member Dr. Felton Williams. After several uneventful years it still lacks leadership, funding and a facility.
In his book published in 2018 Norman predicted this outcome when he wrote, “... because they have not reached out to be inclusive of the Black community as a whole… they seem destined to be “pet projects” that have possible implications for furthering a political agenda rather than uniting a community badly in need.”
Furthering political agendas can get rather messy between these two. Often the feud between Austin and Richardson has descended into something of a school yard squabble. Social media analogies to rats, hyper masculine references to gangster culture from the HBO series "The Wire" and even unprofessional yelling during last year’s City Council vote for Vice Mayor.
Younger and more articulate, Richardson often lacks the humility or wisdom not to flaunt his abilities while Austin can wear his heart on his sleeve.
Principle or a Petty Beef
Whether councilman Austin challenged the renaming of Pressburg Parkway based on principle or vengeance requires a closer look at the facts.
His stated objection was insufficient community outreach. However community outreach is not a renaming rule. According to the City Charter rules for renaming are things like waiting for the honoree to have been deceased for a year and not overusing a name.
Deputy City Attorney Anderson, however, clarified that City Council members aren't bound by Charter renaming rules. In fact, he said they are not rules at all but merely “guidelines” that counsel can all together ignore. In other words, the City Council has complete discretion to do what it wants when renaming and no rules apply.
But if none of the naming rules apply to City Council, why was Councilman Austin giving Dan Pressburg and his pocket park such a hard time? Well it might have something to do with former Councilman Dee Andrews.
How Dee Andrews Fits into the Mix
Immediately, after Dee Andrews lost his reelection, Councilman Austin wasted no time pushing for a park to be renamed after Andrews. After all, Austin had endorsed his reelection after Andrews casted a last-minute deciding vote in Austin’s favor. It was a rare five-to-four Council split on a hotly contested housing bond where Richardson ended up on the losing end.
Vice mayor Richardson didn’t endorse Dee Andrews. In a departure with both Mayor Garcia and Austin, Richardson campaigned for Andrew’s opponent who unseated Central Long Beach’s "favorite son" to become the first Cambodian female elected official in Long Beach. Her win and Andrew’s eviction also helped Richardson secure another turn at bat as Vice Mayor.
But when Austin authored an agenda item to rename Chittick field after Dee Andrews the Chittick family were squarely opposed and wrote letters to that effect. However, very few if any 6th District community members wrote in favor of Austin’s renaming request.
Part of the lack of enthusiasm may be because Chittick field is also ground zero for one of the 6th District’s biggest missed opportunities. Under Andrew’s leadership and with celebrities like entertainer Snoop Dog and local football legend Willie McGenist pledging millions, the Councilman dropped the ball on what would have been a sprawling campus and community center for some of the most underserved children and families in Central Long Beach.
Now Chittick Field is one of the most barren park spaces in Long Beach all together and Austin's renaming item hasn't been heard from again.
The sum of the matter is that Councilman Austin authored an agenda item that fell through. So when Pressburg Parkway came before the GPE Committee it met up against Austin’s bruised ego.
Desperate for a win, Austin manufactured a rule to block an ask from Vice Mayor Richardson.
However, in his haste he may have overlooked the optics. Now he faces mounting criticism for why its okay to support renaming a dog park for Dr. Mickey Donahoe that was similarly based solely on a letter from a Council person. All the more glaring is why he failed to challenged the Beverly O'Neil Performing Arts Center renaming despite its several obvious red flags.
In deed, there were plenty of challenges to renaming the Performing Arts Center after Beverly O’Neil. Chief among them is the fact that the center already bears the former mayor’s name and if approved, again the same City building would bear her name twice.
Renaming guidelines expressly forbid overuse.
Were Austin truly a champion for community outreach here too was his opportunity to shine. While an impressive letter was composed by an ad hoc Committee formed to honor Mayor O'Neil, by no means was the laundry list of signatures tantamount to community outreach. In fact, the signatures read more like rolling movie credits at the end of a matinee. Person after person was a campaign staffers, political donors, past and present elected official or a “who’s who” of Downtown Long Beach insiders.
There’s also the pesky fact that here again is another citywide asset that’s found a way to drop the very name of our beloved City. Like the “Belmont Beach Aquatic Center” and the “Aquarium of the Pacific” now even the Long Beach Performing Arts Center will soon join the crowded room of large city-wide assets that refuse to bear (or even hyphenate) our sir name.
So much for civic pride.
Impact Matters
It only takes a bully to pick on the little guy but it takes a leader to stand up for principles that aren’t popular. Pressburg parkway is a pocket park. It’s so tiny a proper park could fit it inside of its back pocket and play all day.
The Performing Arts Center, comparably, has a tremendous impact. It’s not only home to theatre but it also serves as our stage for municipal holiday spirit. Whether lighting the trees at Christmas or opening its doors to administer COVID-19 vaccines to residents, the Performing Arts Center is a big deal.
But Austin hasn’t won three elections by making it a habit of stepping on the toes of Long Beach’s elite. And why start now when the cost of revenge is a cheap dig at a local resident in one of the most underserved districts in Long Beach.
However inequitable the message is clear. If you’re a regular community guy like Pressburg who’s spent a lifetime pushing for more park space, City wide Christmas gifts for poor kids or solutions to gang violence then the “rules” apply. But if you have substantial political connections, your endorsement can help boost mayoral hopefuls or you have a fancy ad hoc committee then the rules are “merely guidelines” and safe to ignore.
What Equity Demands
If this was really about equity and fairness then the dog park, the pocket park and the performing arts center naming items would have been tabled until the City developed principles that hold elected officials accountable to more than petty beefs.
Because that's what true equity demands.
But since Austin is likely driven by his ego rather than principles, his behavior has unleashed an array of unintended consequences.
Austin's thirst for vengeance has brought a far more sweeping concern of government accountability to the surface. For years it has been assumed that the Charter rules on renaming were rules that applied to elected officials. Now the City Attorney says they aren't.
Time and time again residents see examples of how the rules are interpreted to relieve Council of any accountability. A systemic failure where passing the buck between City Management and City Council has become a cultural norm.
In the case of renaming, there are rules but they are only binding for City staff and not for elected officials. The result is that on the books there "seems" to be a rule calling for fair engagement like barring over use of a name. In actual practice, it's merely a paper tiger since on any given Tuesday night City Council can name what it wants whatever it wants.
We've seen this paper tiger farce before with police misconduct.
On paper, there are Charter rules that give residents the impression that a commission is tasked with independently investigating police conduct. In reality, the City Manager has routinely overridden the commission's decision to discipline officers on the excuse that he has information unknown to them.
While officers evade discipline, City Council and the Mayor have political cover because of the appearance of independent Commissioners. In the end the cost of this paper tiger is born by residents to the tune of many millions of dollars in settlements and jury verdicts.
Best use of the GPE Committee would be to provide input and review over "key City matters" such as this. Instead they have become an open platform for a council member gone rogue and drunk on vengeance.
Pressburg’s Perspective
All those years ago Pressburg doesn’t regret having helped Al find a seat on council. “Anything I can do to help someone serve North Long Beach I’m going to do because it’s not about me,” said Pressburg.
Whether or not a councilman stands in the way of Pressburg Parkway Dan says that “Al will always be my neighbor and that’s all that matters.”
Always in good spirits Dan promises that regardless of the outcome of the renaming of he pocket park adjacent to his home, he’ll proudly take his pooch Kevin to the newly named “Mickey” Dog Park once Council approves.