Who Won The City Council Candidates Forum?

The six candidates vying for three open seats on the City Council squared off Thursday in a Candidates Forum at Long Beach Library. They fielded questions from constituents that ranged from what are the top two issues the city faces, to their stand on a proposed offshore liquified natural gas station, to the prospect of a funding shortfall for the $44 million boardwalk. Other questions centered on financial plans for the coming two years, recycling, and the future of food trucks.  

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Three Republican-endorsed candidates — Michael Franceschini, Janna Jachniewicz and Damian Walsh, all newcomers running as “clean slate” independents — look to wrest control of the council from the Democrats, who hold a 4-1 majority, in the at-large election Nov. 5. They face Democrat incumbents Scott Mandel, the council president who is serving a two-year term, Eileen Goggin, who was appointed to the council in February, and Anthony Eramo, another newcomer who is also a candidate for the Working Families Party.

Co-sponsored by the Long Beach League of Women Voters and the library, and moderated by the LWV's Harris Dinkoff, the forum attracted a crowd that filled the library’s second-floor auditorium.

So who do you think won the forum? Who gave the most satisfactory answers to the questions and why? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The West End Neighbors Civic Association will sponsor a second candidates forum at The People’s Church, 111 Delaware Ave., from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Nov. 2.