Forget ageism: Six over 60 Long Beach people to watch in 2016

Every couple of months we’re subjected to some publication’s attempt to gain favor with the sweet and lucrative under-30 demographic with features invariably titled “30-Under-30.”

Thirty callow youths barely out of the nest, with grand and progressive OPM-fueled dreams.

Later, they’ll end up working in escrow offices or become insurance adjusters, spending their weekends helicoptering their kids on play equipment built out of goose down and Simmons Beautyrest mattresses, but while in their mid-20s they’re dedicated to advancements in vermicomposting and tiny-house legislation.

For those of us old enough to fret about ageism, this smacks of ageism. Like no one has anything huge to offer after they reach that certain age.

So it falls to us to get the pendulum swinging in the opposite direction with a look at “Six Over 60 People in Long Beach to Watch.”

1. Bob Foster: The two-term mayor of Long Beach used that extraordinarily powerful and influential position as a springboard to semi-retirement in La Quinta, though he and his wife Nancy continue to keep a pied-a-terre in Long Beach. Foster serves on various boards of directors and has a robust consulting business.

What to watch for: Look for Foster to throw in the towel on boards and consulting to devote his energy and iovative ideas to his reading and his cat.

2. Bobbie Smith: Worked as a librarian at Long Beach City College for more than two decades and served as president of the Long Beach school board for four terms. In 2014 Peter Buett Elementary School’s name was changed to Bobbie Smith Elementary.

What to watch for: Smith narrowly missed making the name-change cut to First Lady Michelle Obama for the new North Long Beach Library, but still a lot more new parents in Long Beach are naming their kids after Bobbie Smith than Michelle Obama.

3. Don Knabe: The beloved former mayor of Cerritos stepped down from that position to spend some time as a L.A. County Supervisor. He terms out this year.

What to watch for: Look for Knabe to get his career back on track after a long layoff from serious politics.

4. Boie Lowenthal: En route to losing a 2012 bid to become Long Beach’s fourth consecutive elected openly non-gay mayor, Lowenthal was a councilmember and an assemblywoman.

What to watch for: Yougov.com reported that people who like Boie Lownethal also like grilled cheese sandwiches and Popular Mechanics magazine, so we’d expect she’ll invent a robot that makes a killer grilled cheese sandwich.

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5. George Deukmejian: Long Beach’s second Califoia goveor. He didn’t even like the George Bushes as presidents, so you can imagine what he thinks of Trump and Cruz.

What to watch for: Duke voting Democrat.

6. Us: We have slowly – and by slowly, we make a crockpot look like a microwave – built our career up to the point where we’re ready to start making our move.

What to watch for: We will eventually cease ending sentences with prepositions. That’s what to watch for.

Contact Tim Grobaty at 562-714-2116, [email protected], @grobaty on Twitter.