2004 Municipal Leader of the Year
Atlanta, GA – PRIMEDIA’s American City & County magazine has selected Beverly O’Neill, mayor for Long Beach, California, as the 2004 Municipal Leader of the Year. The magazine presents the award annually in recognition of outstanding leadership in city government.
The subscribers of PRIMEDIA’s American City & County submit nominations for the Municipal Leader of the Year Award. The magazine’s editorial staff selects the award’s recipient each year.
Mayor of Long Beach for 10 years, O’Neill also serves as Vice President for the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Conference of Mayors. During her tenure as mayor, she has effectively guided her community through a transformation from a town reeling from a Navy base closure to a thriving tourist destination. In response to a projected $102 million budget shortfall in 2002, O’Neill called for a three-year financial plan that gathered suggestions from residents, businesses and city employees on how to align expenditures with revenues. The plan won the Helen Putnam Award from the League of California Cities in 2003 for Excellence in Enhancing Public Trust, Ethics and Community Involvement. As a former president of the League of California Cities, she helped craft a statewide ballot initiative that was approved this month that limits the state’s ability to use local government revenues to balance the state budget.
“Beverly O’Neill turned lemons into lemonade after Long Beach’s Navy base sailed out of town,” says American City & County’s editorial director, Bill Wolpin. “Those efforts, plus her foresight in addressing a long-term budget crisis, led us to choose her as this year’s top municipal official.”
American City & County will honor O’Neill at the 2004 National League of Cities Congress of Cities and Exposition, which will be held 11/30-12/4, 2004 in Indianapolis. A profile of O’Neill and her award-winning contributions to Long Beach are featured in the November issue of PRIMEDIA’s American City & County.
About PRIMEDIA’s American City & County
American City & County has been the voice of local government since 1909. The magazine serves a nationwide audience of city, county and state officials who are charged with developing and implementing local and state government policy, programs and projects. American City & County is published monthly and is owned by New York-based Primedia Business Magazines & Media Inc. For more information about the magazine, visit www.americancityandcounty.com.
About PRIMEDIA
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