Elliot Gonzales: ‘My appeal to power now is to the public’

Location: Bike ride south on Long Beach Boulevard from 10th Street to Birdcage Cafe, 224 W. 4th St.

Riding bikes with 32-year-old Elliot Gonzales in Downtown Long Beach, you’ll hear a lot about his love for the city. While a lot of attention may be given to the new hip spots popping up along Pine Avenue, Gonzales’s love extends to the unhoused folks living along Long Beach Boulevard. He thinks about their stories and what got them there. Love for the city means forging community with the less fortunate, says Gonzales, and it’s something he can’t help but ponder while biking this transforming urban center.

“I’m moved by the city; it moves me every day. This overwhelming feeling. It’s love. It is love, not attached to any one particular person, it’s attached to a community. It’s attached to the earth itself. I feel as if the city itself is beaming with an energy.”

Community and social justice are the crux of Gonzales’s pitch for running for City Council. The two merged organically while Gonzales was living in a cooperative-style house of artists and activists on Cedar Avenue in the 1st District. Collective gardening, drum circles, veganism, and herbalism were all par for the course. It was about a decade ago and Gonzales, like many young people discovering themselves, was far away from his religious upbringing as a Jehovah’s Witness.

In 2014, his bohemian lifestyle was given new context when one evening a shooting occurred in the neighborhood.

“I realized just how much privilege we had. Even though no one necessarily had money, we got to experience things that a lot of people in our community had no idea (about) in terms of the friendship, the music, the art, the community, the vegetarianism,” said Gonzales. “People in our community were going through some real difficulties while we were living in an isolated bubble of liberalism.”

While Gonzales had been politically active before this point, the incident drove home the importance of becoming integrated into the larger community.

One of his first major projects was spearheading a proposal to save a roof-top park on the former Long Beach Main Library, which he cites as a formative effort.

This was back in 2013, when the city was accepting proposals for the new civic center that opened in July. Gonzales acknowledges that city hall needed to be replaced due to seismic concerns, but the former library building could have been refurbished with relatively minor fixes and a smaller price tag. He organized a team of architects to study the costs of retrofitting the library with the hopes of saving it along with the park, an avant-garde feature at the time of construction in 1976.

Architect Cameron Crockett, one of the architects who joined in Gonzales’s efforts, commented in 2013: “The amount to update it seismically is in the range of two to four million (dollars), not tens of millions. It’s a fixable problem.”

Gonzales was also critical about the level of community input that was solicited prior to deciding on developing the new civic center.

“There was mention of community meetings. When was that? I know that you guys know who I am, I’ve been up here (for) five years. I talk about the library all the time … I would have loved to have gone to a community meeting, there hasn’t been any community meetings,” Gonzales said before the City Council in October 2013.

Elliot remembers his experience with the main library as a 101 lesson in the machinations of power in city hall.

“I think that there was value to (my) idea … the architects helped validate that. Once I had an actual plan that was worthwhile, to see even that get ignored, it made me realize that it wasn’t really about the issues, it was about the money,” Elliot explains. “They weren’t interested in (retrofitting the existing library) … I went to the campaign fundraisers. I saw Robert Garcia move from Councilmember to Mayor. I went to some of these fundraisers and I met some of the architects who were invested in a new civic center. That’s where I really started to see the influence of money.”

While the council didn’t end up going with Elliot’s plan, he was eventually given an appointment to the Sustainable City Commission, which advises the city on environmental issues, where he used the platform to advance another central piece of his advocacy: ending the city’s reliance on the fossil fuel industry—a goal he’ll remind you has existential implications. Elliot believes that challenging the city’s oil industry made for a politically active period for the normally staid commission.

Gonzales continues to publicly call out elected officials for their perceived bias towards monied interests. Has this closed doors for Gonzales?

“My appeal to power moved from where I’m like kissing (Former Mayor) Bob Foster’s ass as a young 20-something-year-old—‘I would love a seat at the Commission.’ At this point, I don’t really care about them because it’s not about them. My appeal to power now is to the public. And that’s really the harshest judge of character,” said Gonzales.

He has a lot of bold ideas for the city. He wants to divest from fossil fuels, including eliminating offshore drilling and the use of fracking-adjacent methods of extraction. He wants to establish a publicly owned bank that would provide low-interest loans to the city for infrastructure projects, wresting away that function from corporate banks. He wants to kick Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of Long Beach, which has an office at the Comerica Bank Building in Downtown. And he wants to establish a public land trust that would provide public housing for low-income residents. Simply put, he’s an ardent supporter of big, structural change. But his plans sometimes lack extensive detail.

“I’m okay with not necessarily knowing all the details on some of the proposed policies, because I know who I stand with. Measure WW? I don’t know all the details of that off-hand. I can think of the one that struck me. I’m sure there’s some technicalities that I didn’t thoroughly read … But I know that I stand with working women,” Gonzales said.

He has yet to receive any endorsements from prominent unions or some of the larger left organizations in the city like the Democratic Socialists of America, Long Beach or Our Revolution Long Beach, a grassroots progressive organization. But he’s in it for the long haul. When the topic of vote-splitting came up (there are at least three self-defined “Progressives” in this race) on LB Politico, a Facebook page Gonzales created but which has grown to include folks from all sides of the political spectrum, he didn’t mince words: “I’m pretty sure folks know where I stand and I plan to stay in the running until November 5th.”

Here’s Gonzales:

There are serious health disparities between this district and other parts of the city. A big part of that is due to pollution. Are there any policies you’re excited to expand upon or bring to City Council that would help improve the air quality?

This is probably one of the most important issues that I’m running on … Right now, when we talk about a lot of the pollution, a lot of that money ends up in private hands, a lot of the polluters aren’t paying a dime. And the public is the one who’s paying either for the health effects, paying for the cost of healthcare. But more importantly, with the lungs of people, with people actually getting diagnosed with cancer, maybe they might not die from cancer, maybe they just suffer from the cancer …We need to have courage to take on (the fossil fuel) industries …When I talk about a Green New Deal, it’s not only a federal project that I hope will be funded by the federal government at some of its most major parts of infrastructure development. But it’s a promise to the entire globe … So Long Beach’s number one export is petroleum coke, a byproduct that can’t be burned in the United States, because it doesn’t meet our air requirements. So it’s burned in some developing country where corporate interests say that their lungs can be sacrificed. So Long Beach, as such a major player in the global economy, we need to take a leadership role.

Homelessness is a pretty big issue facing the 1st district. What are some of the solutions that you think can help alleviate homelessness?

My main concern when it comes to housing, the only way to solve homelessness is to build homes. So that’s the only thing that I’m really looking at when it comes to homelessness, I think there is, of course, a need for mental health treatment, of course, a need for many other services that come alongside of homelessness, even homeless prevention. But I think the primary need is to build the housing … Because when you go into the homeless world, as I’ve gone to try to understand this subject more, I see a lot of nonprofit, a lot of aid. But I just want to see the building of the house, especially when you talk to the homeless people. That’s what they say that they just want.

The city is in the process of developing an inclusionary zoning policy. In general, are you in favor of such policies?

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Yes, I would support it. I just feel that it is insufficient. I think we need to go much further and that’s why I called for a land trust … So when you have a land trust, you have a nonprofit organization that serves a mission around housing; a totally different environment than your developer private model framework. If you’re going to build a house as an individual, your very first step is probably buying land. So when we look at addressing our public housing needs, which is now in a state of crisis, we need to start with the land. So with the land trust we’re able to have an entity that is not an individual ownership and it’s not a corporate ownership. It would be something like a nonprofit, a housing trust, that establishes a nonprofit on behalf of the city that essentially is the land owner and the land manager. And what this does is this gives us the benefit to participate in the market at a way that individuals can’t, on behalf of the public. So a lot of times the only other private investment in housing is from the developer aspect, which is based on the idea of profitability. You know, unit profitability, getting the most per unit. Well, if we have a land trust that’s acting as a nonprofit then our our end goal won’t be the profitability, it will be the housing. So that gives us the opportunity to not have to charge such high rent, not have to be subject (tenants) to the forces of the market, which is what’s happening.

State law went into effect this year that raised the cap on what cities can charge for fines associated with building code violations—amounts that haven’t been adjusted in over three decades. The 1st District contains some of the oldest housing in the city and tenant advocates say raising those fines would help crack down on unhealthy housing conditions. Where do you stand on this?

When you talk about the building, that affects people who have the means to own a building, who are in a business of owning buildings, so that’s part of the cost and the best way they can avoid the cost, because I don’t want to charge anyone, is to comply with our codes. So yes, if they find themselves in violation, and they get higher fees, and that helps them reach the codes, that I think it’s a benefit to everyone. This is a way to help landlords.

The district has had very low voter turnout in previous City Council elections. What are you doing now and what would you do if elected to increase voter engagement and increase turnout?

What I would propose is to host more public debates on the city networks and city channels. ..What we have to do as a movement is get people excited about politics. Politics can be fun. It determines your future … Many of the people, especially the working class, are busy trying to make ends meet (and) don’t connect their struggle to politics … How did (presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders) get such a groundswell? By offering a powerful message. So I have to do that. As a candidate I will have to continue doing this. You know, once I’m elected, it’s not just me, but our movement.

Do you support the upcoming ballot measure to make the Measure A sales tax permanent?

I support the idea behind Measure A. I think it is unfortunate that too much of that money ended up in the police. I wish they had been a little honest in telling us how much of it was going to end up in the hands of the police … (More should have gone to) parks, libraries, all the other things that they promised.

Is your campaign taking corporate contributions?

No. What I see is more likely, to answer that, I can see (the fossil fuel industry) putting a million dollars against me. And really, it’s in their best interest that they do. Because if I had my way, I will cost them a lot more than a million dollars. And to me what they’re threatening is worth more than a million dollars. So I’m willing to call out these issues. I’m willing to inform the public to a level where they can’t drill anymore.

Would you be in favor of reforming officeholder accounts or even abolishing them?

Abolish them. Remove them. Go back to whatever we had before them. We were lied to. We were received by the proponents of it. That’s (then-Councilmember) Robert Garcia, that’s former Vice Mayor (Suja) Lowenthal. They told us this was to overcome shortfalls in budgets because of the recession and that it wouldn’t be used for political or campaigning purposes. That was an outright lie because three years later, four years later that’s mainly what they are there for. They are slush funds for political campaigns, people giving money to candidates left and right. They have nothing to do with office, they have nothing to do with serving the public. We were lied to and they should be abolished.

How would you assess State Senator Lena Gonzales’s tenure as the 1st District Councilmember?

I like Lena. The only thing that I didn’t like is the stuff that happened at the end with the oil industry. I wish I could have endorsed her. I would have loved to have endorsed her, supported her, celebrated that victory. If Chevron didn’t put a million dollars into a positive campaign. If Chevron put a million dollars against her, she would be my champion. But I think I know who Lena is as a person … But we also needed to recognize and celebrate progress. So Lena voted against oil drilling. That’s the right way to vote, when she voted against the Los Cerritos Wetlands (drilling). She, she paid out of her personal income to (charter) a bus to take Long Beach residence to go—let’s see if I can get through this about without choking up—to go to these to go to these, you know, concentration camps, detention camps … camps of inhumanity against these children, we heard you know, the children calling out to us. I was there because of her.

How would you reduce crime in the district?

I think to address crime, you have to address poverty. I think a lot of the crimes that we see are crimes related to poverty when it comes to the crimes that, you know, seriously concerned most of the public. It’s usually interrelated with poverty. So I believe the economic uplift of society will reduce the crime rate. I believe that if everybody had a job that they can wake up to it, that would guarantee meaningful work there would be less time for anything other than taking care of business. That’s not my idea. That’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s  idea.

Do you think police transparency is an issue for the city? If so, what would you do to address it were you to be elected?

Oh, absolutely, and I think the TigerText is a great example of that … There’s always a scandal, one scandal or another, coming from the police department … I would say police departments everywhere should be held accountable to the public, just as much as public officials … I would reform the (Citizen) Police (Complaint) Commission, I would grant them subpoena power, and I would diversify the people that are on it, so that it reflects the people who have been affected by police misconduct rather than advocates for the police. 

Some law enforcement agencies in Southern California have encrypted some or all of their police radio traffic, making it inaccessible to the public, including to reporters. The Long Beach Police Department maintains its public channels, but last year bought equipment that allows them to encrypt the signals. Would you support a move toward encryption?

I would definitely oppose it. i think the police department is opening the city to lawsuits from the media. I think it’s in a bad spirit of transparency. I don’t see anything wrong with having those airwaves made public. I don’t see any reason to hide any information like that. I support transparency versus secrecy … Sounds like a step back that could also make us susceptible to lawsuits in the future.

Do you think there should be more bike lanes in the district?

We need bike lanes all throughout the city all throughout the state. We need everyone to feel that a bike is just as much of an option to get around as a car is. So I think all of the city should be covered in bike lanes, absolutely, as much road and as much money as we spent on car infrastructure, which is toxic, and expensive and adds to global warming … And when we’re talking about the 1st District, I’m specifically looking at the west side, there’s a lot of congestion in that area … I go to West Long Beach, I see that (biking) is not really a lifestyle option for most of the residents there. So I want to build a bike lanes all throughout West Long Beach, in the 1st District in the 7th District, you know, partnering with the 7th District.

Would you support increasing funding for youth programming in the city?

Oh yeah. That should never be on the chopping block. That’s a direct investment in our youth. I don’t understand how anyone thinks that’s something we can negotiate with. I would bring it back, advocate for it, to increase it really.

How would you make the city more accessible for people with disabilities?

I would say probably one of the most important things we could do is build housing that meets universal standards for accessibility. I would include that in our housing code. And in our building of public and affordable housing through the land trust, we’ll make sure our buildings are universally acceptable.