By Cal State Long Beach alumnus Ricardo Linarez filed his candidacy for Long Beach’s First City Council District last month, making the April 2014 election a three-way battle between CSULB alumni.
“I just feel like since I’ve lived in Long Beach all my life — I actually grew up here in the first district — I’ve seen the bad and I’ve seen the good,” Linarez said. “I believe that the district now needs somebody who was raised here.“
He said he looks forward to campaigning in the community he grew up in.
“This is an opportunity that presented itself, with Robert Garcia deciding to run for mayor,” Linarez said. “I’ve been [in Long Beach] almost 30 years, and this is just an opportunity for me to represent my neighbors.”
Linarez attended Long Beach Unified School District throughout elementary and middle school, and he graduated from Lakewood High School before leaving to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
When he returned eight years later, he was appointed to the citizen’s police commission under former Mayor Beverly O’Neill and became involved in other various community associations. He later pursued his studies at Long Beach City College before transferring to CSULB, where he earned a degree in communications in 2010.
During his time at CSULB, Linarez worked in University Outreach and School Relations and was a member of Lambda Theta Phi, a Latin fraternity on campus.
“I was one of the older students at CSULB, but I was still able to relate to both the younger students as well as the older students there,” Linarez said. “CSULB provides really good networks … I got really involved in CSULB with Lambda Theta Phi in their big annual Thanksgiving outreach, where we fundraised to purchase Thanksgiving dinners for families throughout Southern California.”
Linarez, the 37-year-old father of two, also ran for a Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education seat last year, where he lost against incumbent Felton Williams despite being supported by the Teacher’s Association of Long Beach.
During Linarez’s campaign last year, he received endorsements from various city officials and community members including Long Beach City College counselor Javier Villaseñor.
“As a former student at [LBCC], I’ve seen his leadership abilities, working in the community as well as working with council members,” Villaseñor said of Linarez. “He’s a parent… so he’s invested in the community — his passion is reflected by all the people who support him all the time.”
Linarez said running a campaign to become a candidate for city council was a natural step for him.
Wearing a number of hats, he currently serves Long Beach as the senior field deputy for Long Beach City Council District 9, vice president of programming for the Long Beach Democratic Club and California State Delegate for the 70th Assembly District.
Linarez said once elected, the first thing on his agenda is to ensure that the community’s safety and proper infrastructure is in place.
“We need to focus on our neighborhood,” he said. “Let’s make sure we have enough police officers, enough firemen and firewomen, make sure they have the technology so that they can serve our community… and that sidewalks and streets are repaired.”
Linarez said he would like to approach the Long Beach city budget as a challenge to stop cuts on fire departments, police departments, library services and parks.
“If we’re going to make cuts, we should look at other departments and then focus on revenue because if we can generate more, we don’t have to worry about making cuts,” Linarez said. “I also want to work on getting the community more involved in neighborhood projects, clean ups, working with different agencies … If we all work together, I think we can solve the problems we have and make Long Beach a better place.”
Linarez said he met his contender Jason Aula back in CSULB, but that they have different perspectives.
“He’s a nice guy, but we just have different political views, different political ideals and values, so our approaches are going to be different,” Linarez said.
He also said he differs from past city council members because he grew up in the district he’d like to represent.
“The first district hasn’t had anyone who actually grew up here to be elected into city council,” Linarez said. “I mean, people generally move into a district and then run as opposed to actually growing up in the neighborhood they’re being elected in.”
