March 2011 Archives

 

 Residents and members of the Cambodian community are invited to attend a free play reading presented by the Internatonal City Theatre in honor of Cambodian New Year.

 The play, "Sweet Karma" will be read Monday, April 4 at 7 p.m. at the ICT, 300 E. Ocean Ave. Although the reading is free, RSVPs are requested by calling 562-495-4595, ext. 10 or by email to ict@ictlongbeach.org  

 Premiered in New York in 2009, the play is based on the life of Dr. Haing Ngor, the Cambodian actor who portrayed journalist Dith Pran and won an Oscar in the movie "The Killing Fields." The play tells of Ngor's life and death, when he was gunned down outside of his apartment in Los Angeles.

 The reading is directed by Eileen Galindo and stars Francois Chau from the television series "Lost,"  Jennifer Chang, Jully Lee, Melody Butiu and Ryun Yu 
 The play's release says "The extraordinary circumstances of (Ngor's) life not only makes good drama, but has lessons for Cambodians trying to reconcile their past with life in their newfound homeland."

Here is the flier:

 

 

A crowded schedule of events is on tap from Friday April 1, at First Fridays in Bixby Knolls.

City Manager Pat West will be at Nino's Italian Restaurant, 3853 Atlantic Ave., at 6:30 p.m. for an installment of the popular Beer and Politics with a panel discussion on bike issues.

The Art Exchange joins the fray was an interactive "Make a Mandala" (left) activity in the North Room of Expo, 4321 Atlantic.  The entire family is encouraged to attend and get creative making the decorative circular designs.

Laura and Wade Ashley invite friends, neighbors and anyone interested to the "one-year-wedding-anniversary-vow-renewal-ceremony" at Melinda McCoy's Flowers, 611 E. Carson, at 7:30 p.m.

Throughout the Knolls there will be music, comedy, face painting and entertainment.

 Seventh Distrcit Councilmember James Johnson's "First Books at First Fridays" at the Dana Branch Library, 3680 Atlantic Ave., will be at 5:30pm. with guest Pat West, who will be doing double duty.  Kids will also be entertained by a magician. 
  Bella Cosa, 3803 Atlantic Ave., will have maps, information and all you need to know about First Fridays between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

 The Big Red Bus will be in the area to carry visitors from venue to venue, Full listing of participating businesses at: www.firstfridayslongbeach.com

Sixth District Councilman Dee Andrews will host his monthly town hall meeting Tuesday, March 29 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Veterans Park, Community Center, 101 E. 28th Street.

 The featured speakers will be George Chapjian, the new director of Parks, Recreation and Marine, and Josef Levy, Commander of the Long Beach Police Department West Division.

 This event is free and open to the public. Free parking is available.  For more information call the Sixth District Coucil office at 562-570-6816 or online.

        

At this point, it might be best to just cruise Anaheim Street and look for suds. A fund-raising car wash being put on by the Cambodian community to aid recovery efforts from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami now has a new location: UCC Plaza,  2338 E. Anaheim Street. The date and time reamain the same: Sunday, March 27, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Because of heavy response to the planned event, organizers have twice moved it to larger spaces. The cost of the car wash is $6 for cars, $8 for SUVs. All proceeds will go to the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles.

Here's the latest flier:

Maria Norvell, right, never really thought she see Sacramento again. But then the phone rang last Monday. She learned she had been selected by State Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal as the 54th District's Woman of the Year. It was the second time Norvell had been recognized. In 2001, Jenny Oropeza selected Norvell as the Woman of the Year in what was then the 55th District.

 "I thought, oh my gosh, It was so surprising," Norvell said when she had won a second award.

 "I didn't think I'd be that way again," said Norvell, who was feted at an California State Assembly gathering in Sacramento.

Norvell was recognized for her years of community activism in the Wrigley area and throughout Long Beach.

Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, honored Norvell at a gathering attended by all 80 Assembly members.

Norvell is a founding member of the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance, currently
serving as the President of the organization. She has also chaired the Daisy Avenue Christmas Tree Lane & Parade for 21 years and serves in integral roles with the Long Beach's Veteran's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cambodian New Year parades.

The long-time resident also has had a long association with police organizations, She served on Long Beach's Public Safety Commissioner for 12 years and is a member of the Police Chief's Executive Advisory Group for the Neighborhood Watch and is planning to start a new Neighborhood Watch on Daisy. Norvell also helps organize National Night Out activities in the neighborhood.

"Maria has such a long and varied history of involvement as a local activist and
volunteer." said Lowenthal in a release. "It was an honor to recognize her in today's ceremony as our Woman of the Year."

Norvell said the award had special meaning because it would have meant so much to her late husband, Bill.

"That lifted my spirits," Norvell said. "I know he was looking down."

Although the recognition is nice, Novell says she doesn't plan to stop, even in the wake of recent foot surgery.

"As long as I'm able, I will continue to help," she said.

But she'd just as soon not have to make the trip north again.

"I'm still kind of tired. I'm getting too old for this," Norvell said.

Residents are invited to weigh-in today when the West Eastside Community Association (WESCA) shows tentative plans for a community center to be installed at the recently expanded Orizaba Park. On hand for the meeting will be Fourth District Councilman Patrick O'Donnell and representatives from the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine and the Redevelopment Agency. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Lee Elementary School, 1620 Temple Avenue. See flier below

WESCA (West East Side Community Association) will stage its monthly clean-up Saturday, March 26, 8 a.m. - noon at 1376 Coronado Ave.

A free barbecue for volunteers will be held afterward. Tools and supplies will be provided and tires and e-waste (anything with a cord) are accepted.

For information call Jill at 562-570-2895 e-mail: cleanlongbeach@longbeach.gov

The location of a fund-raising car wash for Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims has changed. The event, which had been scheduled for the lot of the Phnom Pich jewelry store has been moved to the Parts for Less lot a few doors down at 1050 E. Anaheim St. Here's the event flyer:

 

 

A new dining and social group has been organized called the Monday Night Supper Club. It will have its inaugural get-together Monday, March 28, at 6:30 p.m. at diPiazza's, 5205 E. Pacific Coast Highway. The group is open to all and will visit a different restaurant each month. Information is available by e-mailing Brad Shore at bradpshore@eathlink.net.

 

The next meeting of the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance ( WANA ) is Monday,
March 21, 7-9 p.m.at Veterans Park Social Hall, 101 E. 28th Street .
   Robert Zur Schmeide, at Deputy Director at  Long Beach Development Services will speak about recent news about redevelopment agencies in the state. Also John Cross, Seventh District representative, will speak.

Meet & Greet, 6:45 to 7:00 p.m.
 Free coffee, deserts and refreshments provided by WANA Volunteers while you chat with friends and neighbors. Mix and mingle with our special guests and speakers.
   Public Welcome! Parking and on-site child care also provided at no charge.
   For more information or questions call : Maria at 562 - 427 - 5021 or email :wrigleyalliance@msn.com

Members of the Cambodian-American community are coming together to hold a fund-raising car wash Sunday, March 27, from 9 p.m. until 3 p.m.for victims of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. Here are the particulars.

Residents are invited to attend a "Season for Nonviolence" event at the Cafe Room of Antioch Church, 1535 Gundry Avenue on Tuesday, March 15 from 9 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. 

The event will present findings of an assessment project between the Health Department's Weed & Seed youth leaders, UCLA Public Affairs students and United Cambodian Community leaders who walked door-to-door and surveyed more than 165 residents and businesses in the MacArthur Park community last November of 2010.

UCLA professors, students and youth leaders will show data, maps and resources about safety, access to healthy food, neighborhood walkability and mobility.  There will also be a discussion about strategies to build a strong and vibrant MacArthur Park/Whittier School Neighborhood. This is a free event and that includes a continental breakfast
.
 "A Season for Nonviolence", is a national 64-day educational, media, and grassroots campaign inspired by the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from January 30th through April 4th.  For more information, please contact the Long Beach Health Department Weed & Seed Program at 562-570-4402 or visit us online at www.facebook.com/LB.WeednSeed.

Presenters are Sixth District Councilman Dee Andrews, Vice Mayor Suja Lownethal, the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services Weed & Seed Program and the UCLA School of Public Affairs.

   The Pine/Locust neighborhood is seeking volunteers to help with a neighborhood clean-up Saturday, April 9 from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. near Pine Avenue and 20th Street.

The area to be cleaned is between Pacific Coast Highway and 20th Street along Pine Aveunue. Brooms, shovels, rakes, trash bags, and gloves are provided. No hazardous material will be collected. Information is available by calling Juan Bucio at 562-570-1100 or via email at Juan.Bucio@longbeach.gov  or Courtney Richards at 562-570-3852 or via email at Courtney.Richards@longbeach.gov

People interested in learning about jobs that will become available once the Port of Long Beach begins its Middle Harbor redevelopment are urged to attend a workshop Thursday, March 17 from 9 a.m. until noon at the social hall at Martin Luther King Jr, Park, 1950 Lemon Avenue.

Here are the specifics provided by Sixth District Councilman Dee Andrews office:

 "Sixth District Councilman Dee Andrews, along with Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network, The Port of Long Beach, and the Solis Group, will hold a Career Workshop: Featuring the Port of Long Beach Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project.

The free event will offer information on the project and the types of jobs and the employment process available during the first phase of the Middle Harbor Redevelopment project that is expected to begin in the spring of 2011.
 
"With the employment rate at a record low, I am excited to be able to reach out to talented applicants across Long Beach to assist them in understanding the wonderful employment opportunities that the Middle Harbor Project will offer and how they can be part of the employment process," said Councilman Andrews.

"We're talking about a tremendously positive economic impact for this region - this contract alone will create 670 jobs over a nearly two-year period, and is one of the biggest contracts awarded by the Port," said Richard D Steinke, Port of Long Beach Executive Director.

  The Middle Harbor Career Workshop will provide employment information on the Middle Harbor project.  The Port of Long Beach will provide background on the Middle Harbor Project; the Solis Group, the company awarded the contract to administer the Project Labor Agreement and the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network will provide employment process information, and Jane Templin, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' Union, one of the building trades that will likely work on the project, will outline opportunities to become an apprentice, apprenticeship programs, and educational training presentations.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners recently approved the $123 million dredging and wharf building contract that officially starts construction of the Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project, one of the largest and most ambitious efforts ever undertaken by the Port. The overall project is expected to take nine years to construct.
This first phase, which includes building wharfs, dredging one slip and filling in another, is expected to take 22 months to complete. The Middle Harbor project will incorporate environmental technologies and efficiencies that will allow the redeveloped terminal to move additional cargo and create thousands of new jobs while cutting pollution in half.
For more information call the office of Councilman Dee Andrews at (562) 570-6816."  

 

Members of the Long Beach Homeless Connections Initiative are inviting residents to join them as they prepare for a new homeless count in downtown Long Beach in July.

The Homeless Connections group is a coalition of city and volunteer homeless and mental health groups that have helped to find permanent housing for more than 80 chronically homeless residents of the downtown area.

The next meeting of the group is Tuesday, March 15, at 3:30 p.m. at the Family Health Education Center, 3820 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach.

The group, which includes PATH (People Assisting The Homeless), the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services and Mental Health America of Los Angeles, was formed in 2009. In the summer of 2009, volunteers conducted a three-day count of downtown homeless to not only find the number of homeless, but determine their health and susceptibility to disease and death from remaining on the streets.

The  group's original goal was to find housing for the 10 most at-risk homeless in the area, However, with funds made available by the federal government and other sources, more than 80 homeless have been housed and offered appropriate services.

The group is hoping to capitalize on the massive turnout of volunteers who appeared to join the city's biennial homeless count, by inviting those participants to join the Homeless Connections effort.

The purposes of Tuesday's meeting is to talk to interested people about the organizaton and begin planning the July homeless count

Information is available by calling PATH at 323-644-2209..

 

Area youths and teens are invited to attend an upcoming three-day Youth & Police Dialogues program from Monday, March 14 through Wednesday, March 17 at the United Cambodian Community, 2201  E. Anaheim Street #200, Long Beach, from 5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m.

The dialogues are an ongoing program that have rotated through different areas of the city and are intended to give youths and police a chance to better understand each other and the issues they face.

According to the city, "This program is in collaboration with the City of Long Beach Police Department (LBPD), Human Dignity Program and The California Conference for Equality and Justice (CCEJ). The program is part of an ambitious three-day dialogue to develop and promote awareness and understanding between LBPD officers and Long Beach youth. The dialogues provide a unique opportunity for young people and law enforcement officers to engage in productive dialogue about perceptions and expectations of each other while exploring ways to improve police-community relations.  These dialogues are taking place all over Long Beach."

The event is open to youths 12-18 years old, and attendees are asked to come all three nights. The topics are: Day1: Getting to Know Each Other; Day 2: Our Expectations of Each Other; Day 3:  Moving Forward: Action Planning.

 Free dinners will be provided each night and door prizes will be handed out. Reservations are required. Contact Michelle Friesen 562-435-8184   ccejintern@cacej.org