R. M. Greer, thank you for your letter and I think Aldous Huxley (1894-1963, English critic and novelist) said it best, Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. 

Fact: The lodging tax fund, which is used for festivals and the Visitors Bureau, has been spending more than it takes in since 2008 ($404,000 revenue, $652,535 expenditure in the 2011 budget). 

Fact: In 2008, funding for the Visitors Bureau increased 900 percent ($10,000 in 2007; $95,000 in 2008). 

Fact: Long Beach pays the Visitors Bureau 10 times more than Ilwaco for the same service (Ilwaco $9,269; Long Beach $102,500 2011 budget). 

Fact: Two council members who vote on the allocation of these funds sit on the Merchants Association and Visitors Bureau boards. 

Fact: I brought the budgeting concerns to the mayor, council members and staff in an analysis I did in November 2010 after a workshop where the Visitors Bureau requested $10,000 more for 2011, when they listed $55,000 in a contingency fund in their budget. 

As for my qualifications, I retired from IBM after 30.5 years where I managed multi-million dollar budgets and supported employees worldwide. I started attending the city council meetings three years ago and was amazed at the scope of issues and have been in regular attendance ever since, as well as attending workshops and the annual budget workshops. I was appointed a planning commissioner position in 2009. 

After I retired from IBM in June 2009, I started volunteering at city hall and was given multiple responsibilities including shared administration of the water plant construction grant along with the city administrator and finance director. I volunteer and support a wide range of community groups, so my service to the community has been demonstrated over the years. 

As to what I hope to achieve, I would say balance, to bring all parties to the table during the budget workshops so everyone can work towards a balanced budget and the final budget has consensus from all parties! I hope to remove even the slightest suggestion of an appearance of fairness concern, such as having a sitting voting councilmember on the board of any group that receives money from the city. They should attend as the citys representative, but not be an active member of the board or subject to its by-laws. 

I will use the voteformarkperez campaign website to discuss what I see are campaign issues and offer suggestions for improvement. Finally as councilmember, I hope to serve the citizens of Long Beach with undivided loyalty, to serve uninfluenced by any one groups interest or motive, and to always keep the citizens best interest at heart. 

Mark Perez 

Candidate for Long Beach City Council