Recently elected Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster knows a thing or two about managing during a crisis. He was on the executive team at Southern California Edison as the giant utility teetered on the edge of bankruptcy during the power market meltdown five years ago. In what Foster describes as “the most frustrating event in my life,” Edison officials saw the crisis coming months in advance but failed to convince state leaders to take action to contain the situation. Just a few months later, Foster himself was tapped to lead Southern California Edison as it sought a state bailout package to keep solvent. From that experience came his motto: “When confronted with a crisis, take swift action, before the crisis controls you.” Foster is now applying that philosophy to his new job as mayor of the county’s second largest city. He faces two major challenges: keeping businesses such as Boeing Inc. from leaving town and tackling the tremendous pollution and congestion problems generated by the city’s port.
Question: You spent more than 20 years in the corporate world at Southern California Edison. What prompted you to run for mayor of Long Beach?
Answer:
I had reached a point where I had done everything I wanted to do in a business career. I worked my way up in a company with a reputation as a good corporate citizen and I helped bring back that company from the brink of bankruptcy during the energy crisis. I was nearly 59 years old and I figured that if ever I were going to seek elected office, this would have to be the time.
Q: Why Mayor of Long Beach? Why not serve in the Legislature where you started out?
A:
First, I love this city. I didn’t have much desire to return to Sacramento. But also, I was attracted more to an executive position rather than serving in a legislative body. There is much more opportunity to solve large issues in cities; as mayor you can really get things done.
Q: What issues are you looking to solve as mayor?
A:
This city faces two huge challenges. One is how to reduce the significant amount of poverty here. That’s done by helping to create a diverse economy with highly skilled jobs. That in turn means attracting and retaining businesses here. Second is the port: It’s a fabulous economic asset growing at such a pace that’s probably not sustainable. It brings a huge amount of economic activity to the city. But that activity comes at a tremendous cost in terms of congestion and the health impacts of pollution.
Q: On the jobs and business retention front, the most pressing issue facing Long Beach right now is the fate of the Boeing Co. plant, where about 5,500 workers assemble the C-17 military cargo plane. What is the city doing to address this situation?
A:
At this point, there really is little that any one city can do. You’ve got entire states playing each other off for contracts like the C-17. Yes, it’s a great plane and yes, we’re doing all we can with our federal representatives to extend production to the complete 222 planes originally proposed. (One hundred eighty planes have been ordered to date, with the possibility that Congress might fund three more.)
Our job now is to do all we can to keep planes being produced here in Long Beach. Right now, Boeing is bidding on a new tanker for the U.S. Air Force; there’s a decent chance some of that work can come to Long Beach. We have to make sure Long Beach is a cost-effective place to produce that plane. That means making sure the enterprise zone here is extended, among other things.
Q: What about helping smaller businesses to come to and thrive in Long Beach?
A:
The biggest thing the city can do is to let businesses know that they have an ally in the city right here in the mayor’s office. That means if they have any problem at all doing business here getting a permit, looking for space to expand, an issue with a city regulation they can call me directly. We are now in the process of setting up a Red Team (a “strike team”) that will go in and help businesses seeking to expand or locate in Long Beach.
Q: Turning to the port, you mentioned the tremendous challenges in dealing with congestion and pollution. What’s your approach?
A:
Look, 70 percent of the goods that leave our ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach go out of state. But along the 710 Freeway corridor that goes through the heart of this city, people are dying and getting sick because of the pollution resulting from port-related activities. They are bearing the direct cost of the economic activity that benefits the rest of the nation. Put it more bluntly: the people in Long Beach and Los Angeles are subsidizing with their health somebody in Iowa or Kansas getting a cheaper television set. That’s not right. What’s needed is the political will to redistribute that cost where it should be: on the consumers all across the nation that buy the products coming through our ports.
Q: OK, but how do you do that?
A:
The state and local governments are stepping up to the plate. The state Legislature has put billions of dollars in bonds on the November ballot, $3 billion of which would go towards alleviating the effects of goods movement. Locally, both ports are working hand-in-hand to reduce pollution. But the federal government must now do its part, and that means more funds and a commitment to address the health impacts.
Q: Long Beach often is perceived as being in the shadow of Los Angeles, especially these days with Antonio Villaraigosa as mayor. How are you going to make Long Beach stand out?
A:
I disagree. Long Beach is not in the shadow of Los Angeles. It has many of the same difficult urban problems Los Angeles has, such as homelessness. We have to work together with Los Angeles and other cities across the region to address these problems. But Long Beach is also in the midst of a major revitalization, especially of its waterfront. In fact, we call it the last affordable place on the waterfront in Los Angeles County.
Q: How different is being mayor from working at Southern California Edison?
A:
As mayor you deal with a collegial body in the City Council. It’s not really a “do this” or “do that” kind of job. People follow you because they trust and respect you. The key is to build that trust among people and that is what I’ve tried to do throughout my entire career, build relationships around trust.
Q: What was it like to work at Edison during the energy crisis?
A:
It certainly was one of the most frustrating experiences I have ever lived through. We had no choice but to watch as the wholesale price soared to $15 per kilowatt-hour while we were only able to charge $7 to our customers. I don’t care how efficient you are, you can’t pay more for something than what you can sell it for and expect to remain in business very long.
Q: But Edison was able to borrow funds, right?
A:
We kept borrowing and borrowing all the way up through December of 2000. We borrowed billions of dollars. But then a PUC ruling effectively ended our ability to borrow and that’s when we were really looking at bankruptcy. The state stepped in to buy power on our behalf, but at a huge cost to the ratepayers.
Q: What did you learn from that experience?
A:
The biggest lesson I learned and one that I repeat to people all the time is that when you are confronted with a tough situation or a crisis, you must act immediately, while you have some flexibility and options to deal with. You cannot wait until the issue controls you; by that time, you basically run out of options and whatever course is left to you is far more painful than if you had acted immediately. It’s a lesson I apply every day, including now as mayor of Long Beach.
Q: What is your typical day like?
A:
I try to start each morning with a workout. Then it’s usually off to a breakfast meeting. Then I either come in to City Hall to meet with department heads or go out and about the city, making speeches at various events. Then, on days when the City Council meets, I do something most elected mayors don’t do: I preside over City Council meetings as a non-voting member. That’s part of the unique way this city is set up. Whenever I can, I speak with employees. This afternoon, for example, I’m speaking with police department employees. Like many cities, we’re having trouble retaining police officers so it’s really important that they realize the mayor cares about their concerns.
Q: You have a rather unusual hobby in the study of the ancient Roman Republic. How did that come about?
A:
It arose from my interest in public administration and in politics. That era was so rich in both.
Bob Foster
Title: Mayor
Organization:
City of Long Beach
Born:
Brooklyn, New York; 1947
Education:
B.A. in public administration, San Jose State University; graduate course work in political theory
Career Turning Points:
Getting internship on state Senate Energy Committee; joining Southern California Edison
Most Influential People:
Father; late state Senators Al Alquist and Peter Behr; former Assembly Speaker Bob Moretti; California Public Utilities Commission president Michael Peevey
Personal:
Lives with wife Nancy, a community volunteer and homemaker, in the Naples section of Long Beach; two sons, three grandchildren
Hobbies:
Daily physical workout routine; golf; study of the ancient Roman Republic
