Schipske Declares Candidacy for Long Beach Mayor

Long Beach Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske announced her campaign for Long Beach Mayor today,vowing to focus on bettering public safety and employment opportuities for residents of this city of nearly a half million.

The 5th district council member, who represents about 55,000 residents on the east side of Long Beach, has served on the Long Beach City Council for the past seven years. Schipske said she intends to focus on reforming the city's governance to provide more "transparency and accountability," she said in a news statement.

 “Long Beach deserves a Mayor who's committed to fixing local problems and moving our great city forward,” said Schipske.  “I am running for Mayor to create quality local jobs, protect our quality of life, and make City Hall more efficient so we can keep our kids safe by putting more police on our streets and expanding after-school programs.  I am proud of my track record of delivering results for local neighborhoods and I am looking forward to talking to Long Beach residents in living rooms and coffee shops throughout the city about what it will take to meet the challenges we currently face.”

The remainder of the press announcement:

 Schipske was born in Long Beach and has served the community as both a City Councilmember and a Long Beach City College Trustee.  Schipske is well known locally for having walked her district with residents to inventory sidewalks, trees and streets through a program she started called Shaping Up the 5th.  She has brought infrastructure reforms to the city with a number of innovations which resulted in a 30% savings in the costs to repair sidewalks.  Her work on Open Up Long Beach, a website aimed at increasing transparency and accountability at City Hall was recently praised by California Forward. 

Schipske has worked locally as a registered nurse practitioner, attorney and California State University at Long Beach instructor.  She served as Long Beach’s first Public Information Officer in the late 1970s and has authored three books on the history of the city. 

 Schipske has been an active member of a number of community organizations over the years, including the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Women’s Political Committee, the National Organization for Women, the American Association of University Women, the Young Women’s Christian Association, the City of Long Beach Board of Health and Human Services, and the Queensway Bay Advisory Committee.  She helped establish the Police Department's Women's Advisory Committee, the Sexual Assault Response Team, Long Beach Cares and the Long Beach Rosie the Riveter Foundation.  She was appointed to the U.S. Attorney General’s National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women and currently serves as the Vice President of the Medical Board of California. 

She resides in the Plaza neighborhood of Long Beach with her partner of more than 33 years, Flo Pickett.  She and Flo have three grown children and a granddaughter.

 The Primary Election for Mayor will be held on April 8, 2014. 

 For more information visit www.schipskeformayor.com.