Tuesday 7:00 PM at the Art Theater, 2025 4th  Street

In the heart of RetroRow.

BIKEable Communities along with LA County Bike Coalition, Steetblogs, the Sierra Club and the Long Beach Post are co-hosting a Long Beach Mayoral Forum on Active Living, bicycling, walking and transit.

How fortunate are we to be in one of the few cities in the nation where the leading Mayoral Candidate are willing and eager to get together and discuss their views on the importance of promoting an active living culture and continuing to work toward the goal of being the Most Bike Friend City in the US. This commitment on the part of our mayor candidates  again shows why Long Beach is on the leading edge as one of the most bike friendly cities in the US.

Our mayoral candidate participants will include Doug Otto, Council Members Robert Garcia and Gerrie Schiepske, Assembly Member, Bonnie Lowenthal and Richard Camp.

The forum will start out by asking the candidates the following question:

Over the past few years Long Beach has attained national recognition as a bike and pedestrian friendly city.  We are routinely cited in national publications for our bike and pedestrian innovation. Even the Mayor of LA has been heard to say…”we look to Long Beach as a model for what can be done to be bike friendly and enhance our city.”

The work of the last few years has put us in a league of our own for mid-size US and California Cities. As a result we have attracted new businesses, new visitors and new residents, particularly Gen Y and millennials.  However our peer cities are quickly catching up.  They are trying to look like Long Beach.

Is being a leading active living, bike and pedestrian friendly city an important differentiator for Long Beach…and if so, what as Mayor would you do to help keep us “ahead of the pack.”

We have several other questions lined up including ones on heath and the connection to active living, increasing programs in our parks and implementing key elements of the city’s recently passed mobility and housing plans, which both focus on increasing bike and walking and transit oriented development.

The final question of the evening will be:

Finally I’d like to come back to the first question we asked about the importance of being recognized as an innovative city, a city that is striving to set itself apart by focusing on active living, a city that takes urban architecture and experimentation seriously.  

Do you think that this focus can be a competitive advantage for the city? Can it help us attract Millennials, keep the best and the brightest who are graduating from CSULB, the finest school in the Cal State system, attract empty nesters who want to live in a vibrant urban environment and importantly attract the companies that what to and need to hire people who are looking for areas where it is fun to live, where an active lifestyle is part of the city’s fabric?  

If so, what would your role be in marketing, promoting and furthering this active life style, beach city agenda? 

All of the questions have been forwarded to the candidates so that they will have time to prepare thoughtful answers to each of the questions.

Please join us tomorrow evening at the Art Theater for an engaging evening with our Long Beach mayoral candidates.

If you like what Bikeable Communities is doing to build more bicycle friendly communities across southern California – please help our effort by making a tax deductible donation to Bikeable Communities