Results tagged “City Hall” from Press Corps

I've gotten several responses since last week's column offering to answer the public's questions for city officials or about Long Beach government. But I wanted to use this blog to remind our faithful readers about this opportunity. If there's anything you've always wondered about in Long Beach, or maybe there's a specific issue or project you're interested in, then e-mail me at paul.eakins@presstelegram.com and I will get your questions answered. At least, I will include answers to as many questions as I can in this monthly feature for my column, 333: Inside City Hall.

Really, your question can be anything, serious or quirky. Heck, if you want to ask fashionable 2nd District City Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal where she buys her clothes or ask 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia about why he is such a Superman fan, feel free.

The District Weekly's Dave Wielenga reported today that all police records about a confrontation at City Hall last year, first reported by the Press-Telegram, between a member of Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal's staff and the councilwoman's husband, Superior Court Judge Daniel Lowenthal, have disappeared. Wielenga said he had made a public records request for the documents after police were called yet again for another incident at Suja Lowenthal's office last week. In the most recent case, there was an alleged confrontation between two of Lowenthal's staff members, as first reported by the District.

So where are the reports from last year's incident, which police said at the time was under investigation? Police officials told Wielenga that no records exist. That's a bit suspicious, to say the least.

Read the District's report here. Below is the Press-Telegram story about last year's incident, dated July 22, 2008.

It wasn't heated debate, fiery dialogue or hot tempers that stoked the fires of Monday evening's Budget Oversight Committee meeting and City Council budget workshop. It was the air conditioning system, or lack thereof.

Apparently, the AC wasn't turned on for the meetings that began at 5 p.m. and ended close to 8:30 p.m. True, it is unusual for a meeting to take place in the council chambers on a Monday night. The chambers are tall and spacious, and the crowd was small, both of which probably helped the situation. But by night's end, the room was hot, humid and uncomfortable on a day when the high temperature reached 91 degrees in Long Beach. I know I was sweating, and I wasn't one of the city staffers sitting in the hot seat (no pun intended, really) as council members asked them rapid-fire questions about the budget.

Maybe that's why council members Gary DeLong and Patrick O'Donnell disappeared midway through the 6 p.m. workshop (both are part of the Budget Oversight Committee and had been there since 5 p.m.). Councilman Dee Andrews disappeared later as well, as did Mayor Bob Foster, ironically just shortly after he responded to Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, who had been complaining about the members being absent during an important budget meeting. He told there was nothing he could do to make people stay, and apparently that included himself.

Let's just hope the AC is on tonight, when budget discussions very well could go on for hours. My guess is the meeting could approach midnight. So, a plea to whoever is in charge of that "on" switch at City Hall: Sitting through hours of city budget meetings can seem like hell, but please don't make the room temperature feel like it.

OK, I can't confirm that, but certainly Tuesday night's regular council meeting was the shortest in recent years. It was even shorter than last week's 79-minute meeting, which appeared to have the record, though only briefly it turns out.

According to the unofficial minutes of the City Clerk's Office, Tuesday's meeting began at 5:04 p.m. and ended at 6:09 p.m. The agenda was an extremely light and routine one, and the meeting probably would have ended even faster if not for one unexpected speed bump that caused some extra discussion.

With City Hall dark this Friday because of furloughs, the Fourth of July next week (City Hall will be closed Friday, July 3, also), and council members starting to take summer vacations, that may be one reason the meetings have been short lately. But ultimately, these short meetings are the calm before the storm.

Soon, by Aug. 1 to be exact, the city will make public its fiscal year 2010 budget, including measures to cut programs, lay off workers, likely increase fees and other actions to help eliminate a projected $43.3 million budget deficit. Then the council can expect a storm of controversy and contention as everyone from city employee unions to library supporters and other angry residents turn out to give a piece of their minds.

Make no mistake, it's coming. I can see the clouds on the horizon ...

I'm a little late in this, but it's worth noting among all the bad budget news and recent criticisms by community activists at City Hall, there is some good news now and then.

Last month, the city of Long Beach received two awards, officials announced. One is the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Finance Officers Association of the United States for Long Beach's Fiscal Year 2007 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting.

The city's Enterprise Zone Marketing Program also received the grand prize from the California Association for Local Economic Development, California's premier statewide professional economic development organization.

In addition to the grand prize, the city's Economic Development and Cultural Affairs bureau garnered an Award of Merit from CALED for its "Shop Local, Shop Long Beach" program.

So with the enterprize zone program, the city is working to help local businesses and pump up tax revenues to boost the suffering budget. And even though Long Beach may not have much money -- really, it's bleeding cash these days -- at least we'll know where the remaining money is, thanks to the city's great financial reporting.

State Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, will swear in newly-elected 1st District City Councilman Robert Garcia at Tuesday's council meeting, Garcia told me today.

Oropeza endorsed Garcia during the campaign (he was elected April 7), but Garcia said he asked her to do the honors for other reasons as well. Oropeza is a former 1st District councilwoman herself and still a 1st District resident, she and Garcia both served as student body president at Cal State Long Beach, and they have become close, Garcia said.

"She's someone I admire and I think she's really done good work, and was a strong supporter of mine as well," Garcia said.

He will be sworn in at 5 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd.

Last night the City Council voted to have an open discussion, rather than the planned closed session, about a possible lease or sale of the Long Beach Airport. That decision came about in part from pressure by community advocates, gadflies and local news blogger Bill Pearl. See my article about the decision in today's newspaper.

It's rare to see a reporter or any journalist standing at the council meeting podium, and even rarer to hear one give his opinion. We saw this happen last year, and it was the first time in my 10-year journalistic career that I had seen such a thing, when my fellow Press-Telegram employees and our executive editor addressed the drastic changes that had been happening at the newspaper (that wasn't a fun article to have to write, I can tell you that).

But that's the difference between what I do and what Bill Pearl does for www.lbreport.com. My job is to report the news, the facts and only the facts, not to give my opinion. I leave that up to the P-T editorial board.

Bill Pearl, on the other hand, is practically a one-man show at the Web site that he runs out of his home. He's reporter, editor, occasional photographer, and yes, editorial writer. He sometimes posts editorials on his Web site, which he had done about the airport closed session, and gives his opinions freely at council meetings, though that is rare for him as well.

Here's as close as I can get to opinion -- kudos to Bill and the other community advocates for pressuring the council to open up the airport discussion to the public, and to the council for unanimously voting to do so. There's been a lot of talk about creating transparency down at City Hall, and as a journalist, I'm all for it. That's the way democracy should work.

Still high off the defeat of the Measure I infrastructure tax Nov. 4, the Long Beach Taxpayers Association has announced it will refocus its efforts to push for fiscal reform at City Hall.

In a statement released today, the Taxpayers Association says it was "a force in preventing the Mayor from passing Measure I." The fledgling grassroots organization and other opponents of Measure I used mostly word of mouth and limited resources to build opposition, raising little money during the campaign.

Today's statement says the group will work to educate the public about the city's financial situation. Long Beach had to lay off workers and make cuts to eliminate a $16.9 million budget deficit going into the current fiscal year, and city officials are now expecting revenues to fall short by $8 million to $10 million because of the national economic crisis.

"If the city continues 'business as usual', the deficits will continue to grow, due in part to the expensive five year (employee) contracts granted by the Mayor and City Council," the statement says.

That Long Beach has fiscal problems is undeniable. Whether the Taxpayers Association has viable solutions remains to be seen. And whether anyone at City Hall will listen or make any drastic institutional changes to the way local government spends money is anyone's guess.

It's been rumored and referenced around City Hall for a couple of months, but Vice Mayor Val Lerch finally confirmed this week that he does plan to run a write-in campaign for a third term when his current term is up in 2010.

Lerch said he won't make an official announcement until next year.

"I will run a write-in," Lerch said. "The problem is, in politics things can change."

He said he has received much public support to stay in office.

"I've been asked too many times in my community and neighborhood associations to run a write-in," Lerch said.

Lerch was elected to represent the 9th District in North Long Beach in 2002 and was re-elected in 2006. Under the City Charter, his name can't appear on the ballot again, but he can win a third term as a write-in candidate.

While write-in candidates face tougher odds, getting elected through a write-in campaign isn't an unheard of feat in Long Beach. In 2002, then-Mayor Beverly O'Neill won a third term as a write-in candidate.

The Long Beach city budget, and scheduled meetings to discuss it, have certainly been works in progress. What began as a few days of budget hearings with unspecified topics have now grown into focused community meetings in most of the council districts and specific council discussions.

Here is the newest schedule of the remaining meetings:

• Thursday - 3rd District community budget meeting at Long Beach Yacht Club, 6201 E. Appian Way, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Thursday - 7th and 8th districts community budget meeting at the Petroleum Club, 3636 Linden Ave., from 7 to 8 p.m.
• Tuesday (Aug. 26) - City Council budget workshop on Public Works and the Capital Improvement Program at City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd., from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
• Tuesday (Aug. 26) - 1st District community budget meeting at the Main Library, 101 Pacific Ave., from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday (Aug. 26) - Public discussion of proposal to close Main Library and rebuild or relocate it, at the Main Library, 101 Pacific Ave., from 6:45 to 8 p.m.
• Aug. 27 - 6th District community budget meeting at Ernest McBride Jr. Park, , from 6 to 7 p.m.
• Sept. 2 - Council budget workshop to discuss the Main Library at City Hall from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
• Sept. 2 - Council budget hearing at City Hall from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
• Sept. 9 - Council budget workshop on Budget Oversight Committee recommendations and other budget considerations at City Hall from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
• Sept. 9 - Council budget hearing and budget adoption at City Hall from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

That's right. After almost three years living in California and coming up on a year of getting schooled on all the ins and outs of Long Beach City Hall, I finally feel like a real Californian.

My easygoing Midwest attitude had already faded upon hitting the LA freeways, and now I've felt the earth roll, twist, shake and convulse underneath me.

When Tuesday's quake hit Southern California, I was on the phone with a source, talking about, yet again, Congresswoman Laura Richardson, the Long Beach Democrat who has made some questionable and widely reported financial decisions. Then everything began to shake. Maybe it was a sign from God -- enough with the Richardson stories already!

I guess when I moved to California, I had the idea that earthquakes were practically a part of daily life, mostly a minor inconvenience. See, back home in Kansas (make all the jokes you want, KU is still the NCAA basketball champion) tornadoes are a regular occurence, at least in the summer. I remember spending at least a couple of hours a week in my parents' basement to escape tornadoes during one summer of my childhood.

But earthquakes are different. There are no warning sirens to let you know that one is on the way, and no escaping or hiding. You just have to ride it out. Frankly, when the tremor began Tuesday, I had only a brief moment of fear, but mostly I was a little excited and intrigued by the new experience.

However, here in the somewhat new Press-Telegram offices on the 14th floor of the Arco building downtown, once the shaking stopped, the swaying began. It was like being a ship at sea as the building swayed from side to side for several minutes, freaking out more than a few of us.

But my coworkers and I, in fact all of Long Beach, escaped unscathed, for which I am grateful. And now that I've finally had my earthquake experience, and knowing the damage a more powerful one could do, I'll be happy to not ever sit through another one again.

How about you? Any other first-time earthquake-ees? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Just post a comment and share with the rest of the Press Corps readers.

Mayor Bob Foster and City Manager Pat West are planning to announce a $570 million infrastructure investment plan Thursday, sources at City Hall said today.

The "needs-based" improvements would be funded with a bond measure that must be approved by voters.

Although the plan doesn't include the construction of a new City Hall, the need for which city officials have discussed, it is expected to include a slew of street, sidewalk, alley, storm water management, fire station, library and other improvements, sources said.

Read all of the details Thursday afternoon at www.presstelegram.com and in Friday's print edition.