Joe Ganem: ‘I’m not somebody that just sits back on the sidelines’

Location: Trademark Brewing, 233 E. Anaheim St.

Joe Ganem is the most qualified candidate for the 1st District City Council seat. According to Joe Ganem at least.

His résumé makes a compelling argument: He’s the only candidate with experience in city management, rising through the ranks of a small town in Oklahoma to be an interim city manager (he wasn’t ultimately picked to be the permanent city manager but noted that the guy they did pick only lasted nine months and “made a real unfortunate mess of things”). While small, the city maintained its own airport, golf course, dam, and reservoir. He’s got private sector experience, becoming a real estate developer after being passed up for the city manager gig. The market took a sharp downturn in the mid-eighties and Ganem fought hard to stay afloat.

“(Unless) you’ve ever had the pleasure of paying $120,000 today’s equivalency of money every month, just for interest on loans, then you wouldn’t understand where my positions on housing and all the other things related to it come from,” Ganem explained. “It’s not a simple and easy slam dunk; (it’s not) a you’re-going-to-get-in-and-make-millions-of-dollars kind of business. It’s not. It’s one that takes a long lead time and it can go into these troughs when the economy starts to dip.”

Ganem and his wife of 42 years left his development business after the crash and started a new life in Seattle. Ganem became Vice President of the Building Industry Association, a lobbying group for developers in the state. He’s knowledgeable about real estate—something he believes is noticeably lacking on Long Beach’s council. And he has a unique policy proposal that he believes could be monumental in solving the housing crisis.

Ganem is proposing establishing a municipal bond that would fund applicants’ down payments on their home mortgages. He says it could be a way to close the equity gap between low- and high-income residents.

We met at Trademark Brewing near Anaheim Street and Long Beach Boulevard, where Joe enjoyed a citrusy I.P.A. with a relatively low alcohol content. He talked about his passion for cooking and love of hand-rolled cigars. Ganem’s slight Oklahoma drawl became a bit more pronounced as our conversation progress. If elected, along with being the only councilmember with a high-level of real estate expertise, he might also be the only councilmember that is also a home brewer (this has not been confirmed as of press time).

Trademark is a prime example of new investment transforming the Anaheim corridor in the northern part of the district. Renewed investment is something Ganem knows about directly, having served as President of the Downtown Residential Council during a period of large-scale development by the public and private sectors.

In a 2014 Orange County Register feature, Ganem and his wife were interviewed, the supposed new face of a district long associated with working-class communities and inner-city strife that some residents of wealthier districts would just as soon avoid.

When Ganem arrived in Downtown Long Beach in 2005, development was on the rise. The construction of high-end lofts at The Promenade was underway; repurposing of historical buildings like the Insurance Exchange Building on Broadway and the Press-Telegram building on Pine was happening; there was talk of the Shoreline Gateway development (its second phase is slated to open in 2021 and become Long Beach’s tallest building).

The creation of the Downtown Plan began in 2007 and was adopted in 2012. It raised building height limits and updated design guidelines in the Downtown, among other things. It spurred even more development by encouraging mixed-use architecture preferred by a burgeoning class of urban professionals.

“It’s a little more expensive to live here,” Ganem told the Register. “Many of us have some economic power, and we want to be active in the community, so we’re hoping to use some of that.”

But while Ganem saw the benefits of increased investment in the Downtown area, he also realized the huge wealth disparity that existed, and became active in the city’s efforts to address homelessness. He was a member of the Continuum of Care Board as well as the Homeless Advisory council. He promotes a solution to the crisis supported by many activists and leaders in government and the nonprofit sector: “permanent supportive housing.”

“Almost immediately the thing that we noticed was the high degree of homelessness,” said Ganem. “It really began to bother me.”

After becoming involved with the Downtown Residential Council, Ganem was recruited to the Homeless Services Advisory Committee, which needed a representative from the 1st District. He was recruited by then-Field Deputy Lena Gonzalez, serving then-Councilmember Robert Garcia’s office.

Ganem says the attitude and urgency regarding homelessness—what the mayor currently refers to as one of the city’s “largest” challenges—was quite different at the time than it is now.

“This is back during (Bob) Foster’s mayorship. There (was) not support to do more about (homelessness). The city was going through economic downturns of its own and watching its budget,” he recalls. “So they were like, ‘Try not to raise this issue too much, because we don’t really have money to put to it.’ I mean, that was sort of the underlying word.”

While not having expectations of solving the crisis, Ganem took the opportunity to learn more about the issue. He met with the service providers within the city and even used his experience as a lobbyist to contact federal officials in Washington D.C. that deal with the issue.

Now he cites it as one of his top priorities if elected.

Here’s Ganem:

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

Tomisin Oluwole
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Click here to check out our interview with Tomisin Oluwole, a a literary and visual artist based in Long Beach.

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One simple solution: permanent supportive housing. That’s where it begins. How does it matter when you take somebody off the street, to treat them for psychological issues, or mental disease or some kind of an infirmity condition, like they’ve had their amputations or whatever else, or you treat them for drug and alcohol abuse, and then you turn around at the end of the sessions and send them back to live under a bridge? This stuff has a limited shelf life and until you give somebody the safety and the security of some place to live, the rest of it is has limited value. I’m not saying it has no value, but it has limited value. All of a sudden, the value of having (been) placed in some location where they feel safe and comfortable, those other things all of a sudden mean way more, and you can begin to work at the root of the issues.

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

I am (opposed). Inclusionary housing is unfortunately a way in which cities try to solve their need for lower income or affordable housing, by arm twisting the developer to price some of the units below what they would normally price them at. So guess where that cost goes? If they think that it’s going to go on to the developer and he’s sucking up that costs? I don’t think so. He’s passing it on. If you got 100 units, and 10 of them are inclusionary housing units, he’s passing that on to the other 90 units. As much of it as he can. And I got a better way. We’re working on a proposal … that’s going to provide a fund which will assist people in buying units to the tune of roughly 20% of the valuation … It’s not even public money. It’s a way in which you can pool together a fund based upon long-term investor needs for deferred income, that can then be a participant in the equity buildup in that property

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?

I don’t think creating an adversarial relationship between landlords and tenants is a good idea. I don’t think that serves anybody’s purpose. I also don’t think we should tolerate bad conduct if that occurs on either side. So creating a fair and equitable venue for everybody to operate within is  a much better approach. I understand that there are landlords who come in that fundamentally don’t do much to their property and let it fall into decay, and there are tenants that may suffer the consequences of that. And that’s something that needs to be managed and handled properly. But I think they’re in the minority, and I think that they need to be handled that way … If you get some people that are designated by the city as good landlords because of their conduct, because of their record, because of the way that they follow up and deal with problems on properties, I think they should be acknowledged that way and treated accordingly. And then those that don’t, I think they should be handled in that fashion as well.

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?

I feel very strongly about this thing. I don’t think participation even ought to be an option, it ought to be a requirement. And the fact that we have that low of voter turnout is probably going to be why any one person is going to take advantage of that and win in this election. And I hate it. I have as a stated goal in my campaign to get more people involved in this thing, not because I’m just saying “vote for me.” I just think it’s a travesty. I don’t understand how we put people in important positions in our governments with something like 14, 17, 18, 20 percent of the vote. It just doesn’t make sense to me. And frankly, a lot of the cynicism about politics emanates from the fact that government doesn’t do a better job of getting the citizens engaged in the process. That’s a big issue. I’ve worked on this thing in many, many respects over the years. Okay. I think I would prefer to lose and have more people get out to vote, even if they’re voting for the other candidate, than to not have tried to increase the number of people voting. Because that’s how strongly I feel about it.

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

City hall’s has got more information on this so it’s a little hard for me to understand why they’re coming to this conclusion this early. The only thing I can attribute it to is that taxing jurisdictions sometimes bump up against each other in elections or in timing … This is the argument that if the city doesn’t institute the tax the county will … The concern I have overall is sales taxes are regressive. They’re not the best way of providing equity in the funding of whatever you’re doing. They tend to hurt that little guy that came over here worse than us. And frankly, I don’t think that’s an adequate reason: if we don’t grab it they will.

Is your campaign taking corporate contributions?

Hell no. I don’t have a problem with corporations encouraging their people (to vote a certain way) or a corporation executive giving me money, if he’s a constituent, as an individual. I think that the Supreme Court decision that led to the ability of corporations to give money, Citizens United, the fact that our system is open to dark money and things like that, I just think it’s a travesty. And I think ultimately, future generations are going to look at the decisions that were made and they’re going to say, “What the hell were they thinking?” Okay, we allow under the law to create a corporation as an entity. Though, if you can show me that entity has a heartbeat, then they’re entitled to a say in this thing. Corporations hire lobbyists, which are their mouthpieces. They have just as much right to have their positions presented as others. I understand they have their own interest. But I think it stops at the water line where you’re talking about candidacies. They want to talk about an issue, that’s a whole different matter. But when they start talking about candidates, I think people are intended to vote for people, not corporations. And it’s as simple as that.

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

I don’t agree with (officeholder accounts being used to donate to political campaigns). And the reason I don’t agree is because people are contributing that money intend it to be used by the council person to do things in their district, which may not be routinely funded by the public … I’ve contributed to officeholders accounts; I can’t tell you I really liked doing it. Okay. Because of the potential political implications … If I thought they were giving that money to another person to run for office, I would definitely not contribute to it. I’m happy to contribute to them. I’m happy to contribute to whoever they think I should support. If I believe in that other candidate. I’m not happy to have money that I think I’m asking them to use to help create more community engagement in an area and then use it for political purposes, I think they should be held to using it for what they agreed to use it for when the money was given. So simple as that.

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

She was an outstanding deputy to Garcia. No question about it: hard working, approachable, reachable, always on the spot, happy to roll up her sleeves, busted to make it happen. We all loved her. And she kind of shifted gears when she got into the council seat. She had some personal things, she had responsibilities and a new job, and the council position, and at school, you know, she went off got her master’s degree. She had a lot of things going on. And we frankly would have liked to have seen her more. I can’t judge why that occurred. Other than just what I said. I knew what was going on but we would like to see more of her. If I was in that position, I’m not somebody that just sits back on the sidelines.

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?

I think they at least have the appearance of an issue with transparency. There’s an old saying that perception rules greater than reality. And so if people think that it’s there, even if it’s not there, it’s still hanging over them. And that’s not beneficial to anybody. I happen to have a lot of respect for Chief (Robert) Luna. I know a number of the officers. I helped to interview police recruits and fire recruits for four years in a row. And you know, I’m not going to tell you they’re infallible because they wouldn’t say they are infallible … I don’t know why you would expect them to be any more perfect than anybody else, because they’re in fact, just human. And I think in retrospect, if they had recognized that, even if they were just messing around with this TigerText thing, that it could blow up in their face, I think they would have shut it down in a heartbeat. And I think they probably regret that it wasn’t okay. Insofar as regulating them, we’ve got a Police (Oversight) Commission and I have no reason to believe that they can’t do their job.

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 don’t think it’s beneficial (to have it public). If you can convince me that they’re trying to hide something or that it’s allowing them to do something they’re not supposed to be doing, then we have to find it. Undoubtedly, they’ve got it either transcripted or they’ve saved it, or secured it in an off-site location from the PD so that everybody can assess what actually took place. The form of it I don’t think matters that much to me. But I do think that what we need to keep in mind is that the public’s need to know is not always preeminent. There’s a public service provided by the police and municipalities (and) there’s some components of that service that need to be kept sufficiently private for them to do their job safely … You know, (police) have information officers. And it’s very simple to provide a linkage to the media, and to provide information about something going on … (and) inform media at the appropriate time, you know, that there was a robbery happened here, accident there, whatever, without compromising the ability of the police department to work and do their job.

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

I’m in favor of bike lanes as part of a legitimate transportation resource … But when you start putting bike lanes on streets and on arterials and so forth, you need to have a legitimate transportation component that matches. Your fundamental reason needs to be for transportation … I would suggest that the best way to do that is start building a following of people that look at bicycling as a primary source for them to come to and fro … I think what they’ve done in the corridors they’ve established is a start. I don’t have the engineering background to weigh in on the way they’ve done it everywhere in town. But as a bicyclist, I will tell you that my own concern is that if your intention is to have the bicycles and the vehicles separated, that’s the right one. But when you design a roadway, you’ve got to definitely take into account all those transportation users: pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, vehicles, trucks, delivery trucks, all of them.