LONG BEACH : Transition Team to Plan Mayor’s Inauguration

Mayoral inaugurations in this city have typically been low-key affairs, carried out during a City Council meeting, with only the briefest reception following at City Hall.

That isn’t likely to be the case when Beverly O’Neill takes office July 19.

This week, O’Neill named a nine-member transition team charged with, among other things, planning the inauguration.

On Tuesday, members of the team met with Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and his chief of staff, Bill McCarley. The discussions ranged from how to make all residents feel included in the inauguration--and how to pay for it--to how to create a smooth transition between top executives, said Charles Greenberg, chairman of the transition team.

The team will also develop plans to restructure the mayor’s office and gather names of people willing to serve on city boards and commissions.

O’Neill, who defeated Councilman Ray Grabinski last week, is the first mayor to be elected from outside the City Council.

Besides Greenberg, members of O’Neill’s transition team are: Paul De La Cruz Blanco, president of the Federation of Filipino-American Assns.; attorney Rosemarie Burgos; the Rev. Garon Harden of the Greater Open Door Church of God in Christ; real estate broker Ginny Leibrich; Steve Oettinger, community relations director for ARCO Transportation Co.; attorney Fred L. Riedman; Thomas D. Wood, former president of Marymount College, and Dorothy Wiltse, a community volunteer.