Al Austin II was elected to the Long Beach City Council in 2012 and re-elected to a second term in 2016.

Councilmember Austin has been a leader in the region on issues such as transportation, economic development and sustainable planning.  He has represented Long Beach on the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, which consists of 27 cities in Southeast Los Angeles County, focusing on transportation, air quality, housing and economic development.  As President of the Council of Governments, Councilmember Austin worked on several initiatives, including the I-710 Corridor Project, the Climate Action Planning Framework, and regional approaches to address homelessness.  Austin also served for four years on the League of California Cities Board of Directors.Austin was appointed by the California Secretary for Natural Resources to serve on the Working Group to develop the Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan.  The Working Group was tasked with a 2-year effort to create a strategy to revive the river through the development of a watershed-based, equitable, community-driven plan, that helped connect residents to the river that flows through their communities.

Councilmember Austin serves as chair of the City Council’s State Legislation Committee.  He also serves on the Budget Oversight, Public Safety, Housing and Neighborhoods, and the I-710 Oversight committees.  He also currently chairs the Long Beach Unified School District Joint Use Committee.

Among the programs that Councilmember Austin has initiated are an annual Back to School Summer Blast that provides free backpacks and school supplies to more than 1,000 local kids, a free annual college fair that highlights more than 50 Historically Black Colleges and Universities and draws more than 2,000 students from throughout Southern California, and the “Share Your Heart, Share Your Home” event which raises awareness and provides information about the need for foster and adoptive parents. Councilmember Austin also established a Senior Advisory Committee in 2014, and worked with them to establish an innovative program to provide free activities for hundreds of seniors at the Expo Arts Center twice a week, including exercise, guest speakers, arts and crafts, and lunch.

On the City Council, Austin has authored numerous policy initiatives, including a “Good Government” proposal to establish an ethics commission and an independent citizen redistricting commission; funding to establish a police task force to remove firearms from “prohibited possessors” who are legally restricted from having guns; funding for a parks and open space drought response plan; and new resources to address the homelessness crisis.

Austin has made a priority of developing new parks and open space in under-served communities.  This year, Austin helped celebrate the opening of the new DeForest Wetlands, 34 acres of trails and open space adjacent to the Los Angeles River in North Long Beach.  He also worked to create C. David Molina Park and develop the second phase of “Pops” Davenport Park.

Councilmember Austin represents the Eighth District on the City Council, which includes the communities of Bixby Knolls, Los Cerritos and North Long Beach.

Councilmember Austin moved to Long Beach as an aerospace worker at McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing), where he worked for over a decade.  He later worked as a district field representative for a State Senator in Los Angeles and Culver City.

For more than 10 years, Councilmember Austin has served as a professional staff representative for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, where he works in support of working families, and quality public services throughout California.

Councilmember Austin, his wife, Daysha, and two sons are proud residents of the Uptown Long Beach community.