Street to Be Renamed After Former Mayor

Lew Davis Street, located on the south side of Long Beach City College’s Liberal Arts Campus, will be renamed for former mayor of Long Beach, Beverly O’Neill.

City Council members approved the decision to rename the street to “Beverly O’Neill Way” during its Sept. 15 meeting, recognizing the former mayor and superintendent-president’s accomplishments and contributions to the community.

O’Neill, who just turned 96 on Sept. 8 and grew up in Long Beach, spent 31 years at the college, first as a faculty member, then moving up to the position of the superintendent-president.

In 1994, she was elected mayor of Long Beach, serving three terms before leaving office in 2006.

“Her time as superintendent-president of LBCC expanded student access and built strong academic programs,” Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, representing the 8th District, said.

“She was a wonderful leader, she was highly respected, and when she ran for mayor, people said to me, ‘She’s not tough enough to be mayor,’” Area Five Trustee on the Long Beach City College Board of Trustees, Virginia Baxter, said during public comment at the City Council meeting. “[And] I said, ‘Listen, she was the toughest boss I ever had.’ And she never yelled, she never raised her voice, she just told you what to do and you did it and you never questioned it.”

“Upon transitioning to mayor of Long Beach, she led the city through economic changes, boosted the trade and tourism industries, revived the downtown area and extended civic and cultural resources.

“In and out of her work, she also spread kindness and empathy without expecting anything in return.

“While working at LBCC under O’Neill in the 1970s, Virginia Baxter would help distribute clothes O’Neill wanted to give out to girls who needed them without her personally giving them away.

“She cared about everybody, but wanted to do it anonymously,” Baxter said.

Plans for the renaming of the street began several months ago, when Baxter, Long Beach Community College District Board President Uduak-Joe Ntuk and the current LBCC President Mike Munoz sent a letter to councilmember Kerr asking that the proposal be introduced to the City Council.

“Now that [the] City Council has approved the name change, the Public Works Department will order and install the sign,” Community Information Officer for the Long Beach Community Development Department, Craig Nakano, said in a statement via email. “Public Works and Community Development also will complete some administrative tasks, such as updating maps and informing the Postal Service of the name change.”

At the same time, the college is undergoing a transformation where affordable, on-campus student housing will be built on the very street that will be renamed to “Beverly O’Neill Way.”

In researching the identity of Lew Davis, City Council members discovered that he was an engineer at the Douglas Aircraft Company, founded in 1921 in Santa Monica, but then integrated with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to become McDonnell Douglas.

In the early 1940s, as aircraft production grew rapidly during World War II, he proposed a backway access road for employees to travel in and out of the plant.

One thing the city hopes to achieve out of this important event is to highlight the crucial role women play as leaders in their communities.

“The thing that I want to make sure we uplift is how important it continues to be to uplift women leadership, more than ever,” Councilwoman Dr. Suely Saro, representing the 6th District, said. “As we are in a time where women are not inspired or encouraged to take on leadership roles and to speak up and be direct about what they believe in, and so for that, I think that she’ll continue to be an inspiration for many young women and many generations to come.”