Long Beach Selects 1st Latino City Manager

LONG BEACH — The City Council has chosen Long Beach’s No. 2 administrator, Henry Taboada, to replace his boss, James C. Hankla, as city manager when Hankla retires at the end of the year.

After a nationwide hunt for a new manager, Taboada, 59, won unanimous endorsement from elected officials at a council meeting last week. He will serve as the city’s first Latino city manager. Taboada has worked as a civil servant in the city for 23 years and has a master’s degree in public administration from Cal State Los Angeles. He has overseen the city’s administration since August, when Hankla began juggling his City Hall work with his duties as the new executive director of the Alameda Corridor rail project.