Rebecca Hinderer: Candidate for Council District 3
- BHCA
- May 14
- 5 min read
Why are you interested in this position?
I am running for Long Beach City Council because I love this city and I know we can do better. I have lived in Long Beach for over 20 years and called Belmont Heights and District 3 home for the last 18, and what brings me to this race is not frustration alone. It is the belief that this district can be the version of itself we already know it can be: safer streets, an honest budget, neighborhoods where small businesses thrive and families plant roots. We are not on that path right now, but we can get there. I am running because I love this community.
What relative experience do you have in this career field?
I am a small business owner who built Let's Yolk About It from the ground up in 2020, and I have spent the years since then navigating City Hall as a constituent on permits, inspections, and operations. I am a member of multiple local non-profits supporting our neighborhood, our restaurant industry, and our residents. My husband is the Superintendent of Recreation Park Golf Course, so our family's life is woven into the parks, businesses, and neighborhoods of District 3. I am not a career politician. I am a neighbor, an employer, and a taxpayer who believes our city can deliver again, and I am ready to bring that experience to City Hall.
What are 3 changes you would like to make while in office?
I will fight for safer streets with Vision Zero as the standard, because Long Beach lost 32 lives on our roads in 2025 and 19 more in the first four months of 2026, with traffic safety policy, visible enforcement, and infrastructure upgrades on the corridors everyone knows are dangerous.
I will bring real transparency and real solutions on homelessness so residents can see exactly what the city is doing, how many beds are open, where every dollar is going, and how we are partnering with rehab and mental health facilities, while I fight to grow that capacity to accommodate those who need it.
I will fight to finish what we started, not just announce what is new, because Long Beach breaks ground on major projects and lets them slip behind schedule while new announcements grab the spotlight, and our city deserves honest timelines, accountable budgets, and the discipline to see projects through.
What are 3 goals or main concerns you have for Belmont Heights?
I will fight to finish the Colorado Lagoon project responsibly and fix the basics we drive on every day, because after years of delays and budget overruns our neighborhood deserves honesty and a real timeline, plus attention to the potholes, broken streets, and 7th Street infrastructure that affect every family driving, walking, or biking here.
I will make our streets safer for everyone, especially our children, because whether kids are walking to Fremont, Lowell, Rogers, or Wilson, our infrastructure should protect them as carefully as it does drivers, and traffic safety, school zone enforcement, and slower speeds on residential streets should be standard, not aspirational.
I will bring concrete safety upgrades to the intersections that need them, starting with a dedicated left-turn signal at 7th Street and Ximeno Avenue, where the lack of a protected turn creates daily conflicts for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists, with traffic safety policy, and enforcement that changes outcomes on our streets.
What are your specific plans to engage with the Belmont Heights business corridors?
Belmont Heights' business community is personal to me, and our business owners deserve a direct line into my office should I be elected. On Broadway, I get my tuna sandwich at Olives, my husband watches sports at The Firkin, and I bought the alpaca that is the highlight of my restaurant for kids from Iguana Imports. My best friends own The Breakfast Bar on 4th Street, and my husband and I spend a lot of time at Ma 'n Pa's, where he is dear friends with the owner. These are not abstract small businesses to me. They are why Belmont Heights feels like home. That is why I will put a dedicated business liaison in my office whose job is to be in direct, regular communication with our owners and to bring their issues to me quickly so we can address them in real time. Faster permitting and a pre-permit process so opening, expanding, or renewing a business in Belmont Heights stops taking so long. Coordinating safety, marketing, and event strategy across our neighborhood associations and business groups, so our corridors get the unified support they deserve instead of competing for City Hall's attention separately. I would like to see Belmont Heights have its own business association one day, one that encompasses every business within the Heights.
Belmont Heights has 2 historic districts. What plans or initiatives that you have been involved with or know of that will benefit our historic districts?
I would love to sit down with the leaders of the Belmont Heights Historic District and the Eliot Lane Historic District to find out what is important to these neighborhoods in terms of support from their local city council. I have walked under our tree canopies past these historic homes for nearly two decades, and that is part of what makes this neighborhood worth defending. These historic homes are the heart of Long Beach, and I have no intention of deleting history.
What is an innovative way you plan to involve the community in your decisions?
The best ideas in any neighborhood come from the people who live there, and my approach is to make participation continuous, not occasional. Before voting on any City Council item that affects a specific Belmont Heights block or corridor, I will commit to attending at least one community meeting in that neighborhood first, so my vote is informed by the people most directly impacted. I will also meet residents where they already are, with active engagement on Facebook groups, Instagram, regular newsletters, and SMS updates, so staying in touch with their council member is as simple as opening their phone.
How have you engaged with the Belmont Heights Community Association in the past...and how do you plan on working with our
team in the future in a way that will help us improve our neighborhood?
One of the joys of my life was walking my stepdaughter to Fremont Elementary, talking to other parents at drop-off, getting to know her teachers, and saying hello to the crossing guard on the way to Viento Y Agua for my morning coffee. She is sixteen now, and looking back I recognize how fleeting those years were and how special this neighborhood has always been for our family. I have spent the last several years focused on keeping my business alive, and now that it is running itself, I have more time to participate in community groups like the Belmont Heights Community Association. Going forward, I plan to attend meetings consistently, and bring BHCA priorities directly into the work of the council, win or lose.
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