Congressman-elect and outgoing Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia — along with a slew of other city officials — touted the city’s progress over the last eight years during Garcia’s farewell address at Cal State Long Beach on Monday, Dec. 12.
Garcia won election to the House of Representatives during the Nov. 8 general election, where he ran to represent the state’s newly formed 42nd District. He will succeed Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, who both announced their retirements after their respective districts were merged to form the new 42nd District in 2021.
Garcia, along with the rest of his new colleagues in the 118th Congress, will take office on Jan. 3. He will represent Long Beach, Lakewood, Bellflower, Downey, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Vernon, Maywood, Bell, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Walnut Park and the unincorporated community of Florence-Firestone.
At the farewell reception on Monday, several city officials spoke about Garcia’s contributions to Long Beach’s successes since he was elected mayor in 2014.
“We could be here forever to go through the accomplishments and the projects we’ve done over the past eight years,” City Manager Tom Modica said in a speech at the event, “and if we got to tell the funny stories of what happened along those eight years up here even longer.”
CSULB President Jane Close Conoley, Long Beach City College District Superintendent-President Mike Muñoz, Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Jill Maker, Harbor Commission President Sharon Taylor, Richardson, and Garcia’s first Chief of Staff Mark Taylor also delivered remarks about Garcia’s contributions to education, public safety, and economic development in Long Beach.
Garcia, though, said that serving as mayor throughout the coronavirus pandemic — and protests in Long Beach’s downtown against police brutality following the murder of Black man George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020 — offered valuable life lessons that he’ll carry with him to Congress.
Both Garcia’s mother, Gabriella O’Donnell and stepfather, Greg O’Donnell, died due to COVID-19 related complications in 2020.
“It’s daunting to be in a situation where your parents are in the hospital, intubated — and you’re being screamed and yelled at by folks in our community, people in positions of power, about reopening their golf courses,” Garcia said during his farewell address. “It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever been through — I wouldn’t wish on any single person.”
Still, Garcia continued, the experience helped him realize that above all else, he wanted to protect the residents of Long Beach as much and as often as he was able.
“It made me realize that I needed to focus on doing the most good for as many people as much as possible, and since those moments, I have never had more confidence about what the most good is,” Garcia said. “It doesn’t mean that I’m perfect or I made every decision the way I would have liked, but I walk now with a sense of purpose and strength forged in a very dark moment.”
That confidence, Garcia said, helped him spearhead Long Beach’s COVID-19 response and recovery along with Department of Health and Human Services director Kelly Colopy, City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis, City Manager Tom Modica, and countless other city staff.
Long Beach was the first city to vaccinate its first responders, frontline health workers, teachers and achieve a 99% vaccinate rate among seniors — and has been commended by state and national leaders for its response to the pandemic. The city also established the Long Beach Recovery Act — largely funded by American Rescue Plan Act dollars — in 2021, which has dedicated hundreds of millions toward bolstering the city’s economic security after pandemic-era fallout.
“The thing I’m most proud of and the thing I stand here today so immensely grateful for, is that I know in my heart because of the work of the city of Long Beach and our team, we saved countless lives,” Garcia said. “The decisions we made during the pandemic, no matter how unpopular they were, were the right thing. We saved people’s lives. And and that’s something I’m going to walk away with from this job just being very grateful for.”
Garcia will take office in Congress on Jan. 3.
Back in Long Beach, meanwhile, Vice Mayor Rex Richardson will take over the city’s top political position on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
Five city councilmembers — Mary Zendejas, 1st District; Kristina Duggan, 3rd District; Megan Kerr, 5th District; Roberto Uranga, 7th District, and Joni Ricks-Oddie, 9th District — along with City Attorney Dawn McIntosh, City Auditor Laura Doud, and City Prosecutor Doug Haubert, will also be inaugurated on Tuesday.