Residents demand ‘real reforms’

More than 50 protesters calling for “real reforms” on issues ranging from policing to housing to hiring practices rallied outside City Hall Tuesday, and later took their grievances and demands to the City Council meeting.

Comprising mostly North Park residents, the group, which has no name, presented a four-point plan for solving a range of problems to City Manager Charles Theofan and council members. The plan includes zoning laws that would allot 30 percent of all new residential development to “affordable” housing for low-income residents; equal and anti-nepotism policies for all city agencies; community control of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center; and the creation of a civilian complaint board to review reports of police misconduct.

“We want the police to develop a better relationship with the community as a whole,” said resident Maurice Mitchell, who organizes the group’s monthly meetings throughout the city, and led the group in chants at the pre-council meeting protest in Kennedy Plaza.

North Park resident Mike Pariti called on police to do foot patrols through his neighborhood, as they do in other parts of town, and to visit the MLK Center in plain clothes and talk with the children and teens there.

One resident, Jackie Hardwick, alleged that her son was assaulted by police who refused to give him medical attention. When she confronted them about the incident, Hardwick said, “They laughed in my face.”

Theofan told Hardwick to put her complaint about the incident in writing and he would investigate.

Other residents asked the city to set up programs to help people who have returned to town after being imprisoned. “Long Beach is not reaching out to the younger generations,” said one man.

Resident Linda King told the council about the group’s idea for a civilian review board. Council President Tom Sofield Jr. asked King and Pariti to be among the group members. “I will be happy to sit down and talk with you,” Sofield said.

In addition to policing, group members who addressed the council touched on a variety of subjects, claiming that various complaints to the city about their neighborhoods have fallen on deaf ears, and that the city hires people who never took civil service tests while dismissing those who scored high on such tests.

“Around hiring and firing, we want a strong no-nepotism policy and a strong, very robust conflict-of-interest policy on the books,” Mitchell said. “... We feel that no matter if it was Republicans or Democrats who ran City Hall, if you didn’t have an in, if you didn’t have some relationship, it would be hard for you to get a job. And I think that’s true for anyone in any neighborhood in Long Beach.”

At the pre-meeting rally, the crowd brandished hand-made signs that read, “Who’s policing the police?” and “Resume not race.” Resident Lucy Centeno said that Long Beach has “the good ol’ buddy system all over the place, even in the schools.” Inside City Hall, she told the council members to give benefits to city workers “who are entitled to them.”

Sofield, Theofan and council member Mona Goodman all told the protesters that when they were elected to the council, starting in 2004, they found “an enormous number” of employees who had been working for the city for many years — some for nearly two decades — without health benefits or vacation time, and that they are making an effort to convert more and more part-time workers into full-time employees with benefits.

“We’ve made a commitment to make as many of them full-time as we could,” said Goodman, explaining that the process is a gradual one, starting with the most egregious cases, but will continue.

“We are doing the best we can,” Theofan told one resident, Ty Copeland, a high school student, who echoed others who expressed concern about longtime workers who are paid $8 to $9 an hour.

Former city employees James Hodge and Ronnie Miles aired their grievances about what they described as their unjust firings earlier this year. Hodge argued with Sofield, saying he was fired because of politics, and Sofield said Hodge was offered another job with the city that he turned down. Echoing Hodge, Miles repeatedly called Theofan a “liar” for his characterization of how Miles lost his job, and called for Theofan’s resignation.

Mitchell called the protest group a “a no-name, very grass-roots organization of people of Long Beach that are not aligned with any specific group or organization.” He said that the group formed in the mostly minority North Park area in July, but has since held meetings in different parts of town in order to attract a more diverse representation of the city. The Rev. Isaac Melton of the Christian Light Missionary Baptist Church and the Rev. Delores Miller of the Evangel Revival Community Church were among the original organizers, Mitchell said.

“We plan to grow our numbers, and we think that there are a lot of people in Long Beach who have similar concerns and feel like they’re boxed out,” Mitchell said. “Folks haven’t been involved because there hasn’t been a very clear avenue to get involved. And hopefully this is a way for people to get involved.”

Asked about the timing of the rally, a month before the City Council election, Mitchell said the group wanted to wait to hold a protest until members came up with some solid recommendations, but it is nevertheless putting both Democrats and Republicans on notice about the changes it wants to see. “Regardless of who gets elected ...,” Mitchell said, “we plan to be consistent with these demands and hold either party to making this happen.”

Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.