L.B. Democrats: 'We're the Correct People' to Guide the City

The trio of Democrats running for three open seats on the Long Beach City Council vow to continue what they regard as successful measures the administration took to address the city’s financial woes and recover from Hurricane Sandy last year.

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That, at least, was the theme running throughout the opening statements of Democrat incumbents Scott Mandel and Eileen Goggin and newcomer Anthony Eramo at the Candidates Forum held Oct. 17 at the Long Beach Library, which co-sponsored the event with the Long Beach League of Women Voters.

Mandel, the council president who is serving a two-year term, took part of the two minutes allotted for opening statements to say the Democratic administration took office, in January 2012, at “a very challenging time,” even before Hurricane Sandy would devastate the city that October, and he is proud of the steps the administration has taken to “to move this city forward.”

While he did not specify those steps during his statement, Mandel said that he had been asked to serve on President Obama’s task force for Sandy recovery, and that he testified before a Senate and other subcommittees on recovery from the storm.  

A 10-year resident of Long Beach who lives in the President Streets neighborhood with his wife and six-month-old daughter, Mandel is a commercial litigator and an adjunct professor at Saint Johns Law School. He said that his own personal experiences in Long Beach have left him reinvigorated to continue to help guide the city.

“And I think that the council that’s in place, along with Eileen Goggin and Anthony Eramo, … we’re the correct people to do this,” he added. “We have the experience, we’ve lived through it, and we have the plan to move things forward.”

Goggin, a graduate of Brooklyn Law School, works as legal advisor to a judge at Nassau County Court handling felony cases, prior to which she worked as a deputy county attorney for seven years, litigating for various agencies including the police and public works departments.

She was appointed to the council in February, to fill out the four-year term of Councilman Michael Fagen, who was convicted on charges that he illegally collecting unemployment benefits and was forced to resign.

A single mother, Goggin said she consulted with her 12-year-old daughter before she joined the council.  “Her response was: ‘mom, go for it, imagine all we can accomplish if you’re on the city council,’” she said.

Goggin said that this basically sums up why she seeks to remain on the council.

“I love this city,” he said. “I moved here 11 years ago to raise my daughter. I’ve been working hard and been very involved in the community, and currently working with the current administration, which has made tremendous strides. If elected, I promise to continue the work rebuilding [after Hurricane] Sandy, both fiscally and financially and fighting until all of our residents come home.”

Eramo, a newcomer who is also a candidate for the Working Families Party, is a displaced resident who hopes to return next spring to his Sandy-damaged West End home, where he has lived with his wife and two school-aged children for the past 10 years.

Eramo said he was seeking a seat on the council to “give back” to his community, and that he is excited to run with a Democratic administration that “has done a tremendous job” the past two years. 

“I promise to work to rebuild, strengthen and improve our city for everyone and our children,” he said.

Mandel and Goggin asked him to join their team, he said, “to make sure that there was a strong West End voice on the council.”

A full-time worker with Verizon who is also studying to earn his masters degree, Eramo said that his employment with the company and his participation in the Communications Workers of America union have led to more than “ten years experience working with government fighting to protect working families and the environment.”

He said that where the Federal Emergency Management Agency had failed the city, the community jumped into action to help themselves and others.

“It’s crucial that we continue full-steam ahead and do everything in our power to protect our barrier island,” he said. “It’s critical that we move forward with this team, the team that I’m running with, because they worked tirelessly to protect our city.”

The Democrat candidates face three Republican-endorsed candidates — Michael Franceschini, Janna Jachniewicz and Damian Walsh — in the at-large election Nov. 5. Patch will post a story on their opening statements Thursday.