October 2008 Archives

Long Beach Police Chief Anthony Batts and City Prosecutor Tom Reeves will talk about the effects of city budget cuts on law enforcement at the monthly meeting of the Wrigley Association, Monday, Nov. 3 at Veterans Park.
The event will begin with a mixer at 6:45 p.m., followed by a short general meeting. Batts and Reeves will speak at 7:30 p.m. and be available for a question and answer session afterward.
Information is available by calling Wrigley Association President Annie Greenfeld at 562-225-9462.

 

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, has been invited to speak at the 3rd District Neighborhood Association's monthly meeting, Thursday, Oct. 30 at the Long Beach Yacht Club at 11:45 a.m. The congressman will talk about the ongoing legislative debate and efforts in Washington to deal with the current financial crisis as well as the unprecedented authority given to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson.
Long Beach Police Chief Anthony Batts had been scheduled but has rescheduled for a later debate
Lunch is available for $15 and must be reserved ahead of time with Julie Maleki of Third District Councilman Gary DeLong's office 562-570-8756.

 Got a Jones for Italian food? Want to get the skinny on what's up at the Top of the Town? Tonight's your night as Dine Out 90805 stages it's regularly scheduled event at Nino's Italian Restaurant, 3853 Atlantic Ave. The event is tonight, Monday, October 27, from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. The Dine Outs are informal and open to anyone and are a way for neighbors to meet and discuss topics of local interest, or just chat.

 

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Resident horticulturalists have a chance to go native this weekend. On Saturday Oct. 25 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.,  the Friends of El Dorado Nature Center will play host to their annual California Native Plant Sale at the El Dorado Nature Center 7550 E. Spring St.

Most plants require minimal watering and have fragrant foliage and bright flowers. Proceeds support habitat restoration at the Nature Center. Members of Friends of El Dorado Nature Center may make pre-sale purchases beginning at 9 a.m. The $7 vehicle entry fee will be credited toward purchases of $75 or more.  Information is available at 562-570-4880.

 

We want to give City Traffic Engineer David Roseman big props for an e-mail he sent out to encourage residents to come out to a community meeting Thursday, and simultaneously give the city in general a big raspberry for its, um, low-key outreach.

Roseman's e-mail, which we'll get to, promises a frolicking good time at the upcoming SEADIP community meeting. Quite a promise to live up to.

The city? No so much.

SEADIP stands for the Southeast Area Development and Improvement Plan, and is actually a zoning master plan approved in 1977. It has since been an area of contentious debates and issues for years now, from restoration of the Los Cerritos Wetlands, to the proposed Home Depot Center, to traffic flow, to development of the SeaPort Marina Hotel.

On Thursday night, a town hall on developments in SEADIP is being held at Rogers Middle School from 5:30 to 8.   

 After reading Roseman's pitch about his session, we went to see what the other sessions would be about.

 Went to the city calendar ... not only did we not find what the other sessions were, there was no mention of the meeting.

So we googled and found a cool document from the city about a website to update the community on all things SEADIP. Ta dah, we thought. Typed in  Http://www.longbeach.gov/plan/pb/apd/special_studies/seadip.asp which, oddly redirected us to Long Beach's Development Services http://www.lbds.info/ where we found ... nothing.

Well, at first.

 On a hunch we downloaded the department's newsletter. And after watching our toenails grow druing the download process, lo and behold, deep in the calendar section of the newsletter was the mention of the meeting. Not what the sessions would be, but, hey, it's a start.

 Here, then, is a slightly edited version of Roseman's pitch,

"I want to encourage you to come out for the Southeast Area Development and Improvement Plan, or SEADIP. There will be three sessions and I'm moderating the Mobility Panel that will start at 7 p.m. and I'm really excited about it. I have assembled a great group of panelists and its our intention is to present something a little different and innovative. Let's face it, we are all experts at using our transportation system and we all have ideas on how to make it better. What I hope to accomplish is to provide you, the audience, insight into how transportation decisions are made by witnessing a discussion and debate of possibilities by panelists that are passionate about making Long Beach a better place. Rather than your typical stiff bureaucratic presentation the mobility panel will endeavor to leave our big words and acronyms behind as we candidly debate potential transportation solutions in a lively and engaging manner. So I encourage you to put down the remote control and come out to Rogers Middle School tomorrow night I promise you it will be better than channel surfing."

So, you might want to TiVo "Law and Order."

Oh, by the way, we did find out what the other two sessions are about. Craig Beck, director of Development Services, will be available for a Q&A session at 5:30 and a session will be held on the retail market, urban planning, sustainable development and other issues.

 

 

 Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center has been cited for two of 10 outstanding county programs.

 

The County of Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission will present the awards to the most creative and innovative programs, which are considered models of excellence in public service.

This year these projects reported $242,127,037 in annual cost benefits, according to the county. 

 
Among the Top 10 winning programs:

 Language & Culture Resource Center/Video Medical Interpretation Project
Department of Health Services - Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center 
  
Patient Visit Redesign in Ambulatory Care Clinic
Department of Health Services - Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center

Pico Rivera Station Vandalism Enforcement Team
Board of Supervisors First District, with Sheriff's Department, County Counsel, Office of the District Attorney, Probation Department, Department of Public Works, and City of Pico Rivera

 

Councilmember Suja Lowenthal will host a coffee and chat session Oct. 25 with  Mayor Bob Foster at the Portfolion Coffeehous.

 The two hour session, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, will be at 2300 E. Fourth St.,  and seating is limited.

RSVPs are recommended, and the public should call  Lowenthal's office at (562) 570-6684.

The Westside Project Area Committee holds its regular monthly meeting Wednesday, Oct. 8, at the Police Substation, 2144 W. 16th Street at 5 p.m.
On the docket will be a presentation from Union Pacific about railroad improvements slated for the port area. Also a status report on the upcoming closure of Edison Street and a chance to discuss Measure I, the ballot initiative to levy a parcel tax for infrastructure repair and improvement.

West PAC advises the Redevelopment Agency on how to use funds designed to remove blight and improve businesses of the Westside. It also serves as a forum to discuss issues of interest to the community.