May 2009 Archives

Long Beach's elected leaders and officials aren't just politicians or administrators, they're also becoming local TV stars in their own right.

The city of Long Beach's cable channel LBTV, Channel 8, received nine government programming STAR awards at the states of California and Nevada National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors annual conference in Santa Monica this month, city officials said.

LBTV received first-place STAR Awards for "Pulse of the Port," a co-production with the Port of Long Beach, in the Magazine and non-English categories, and for "SportsBreak" in the Sports Show category.  Second place awards were received for "Heart of the City" (Talk Show); "Inside Long Beach" (Economic Development); Parks, Recreation & Marine (PSA); coverage of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (Community Event); and for the station's Web site. A third place award was received in the Public/Community Meetings category for LBTV's coverage of City Council meetings.

Check the shows out for yourself at on Charter Communications' cable channel 8, Verizon's FiOS TV Channel 21, and on the Internet at www.LBTV8.com.

As was reported in today's Press-Telegram (see the article here), former Long Beach councilman Doug Drummond has been removed from the state Parole Board because of anti-gay comments he made in 1993. I dug through our archives to find the original Press-Telegram article from Sept. 30, 1993, after Drummond's comments were first made public. Here it is:

Councilman Doug Drummond told a conservative political group that people with AIDS should have been quarantined to prevent its early spread, and he said he doesn't worry about gays gaining political power because the disease is killing their leaders.

Drummond also told the Long Beach Chapter of the Eagle Forum of California Sept. 21 he supported the military's homosexual ban and opposed gay adoptions.

According to a tape-recording made of his talk, Drummond told the audience, ``Do you want to know why I don't worry about gay activity? I'm gonna give you a clue. So far in San Francisco, over 10,000 have died. In Long Beach, over 1,000 have died.''

He noted that many gay leaders have died of AIDS and added, ``I'm not concerned about that community in terms of being a political threat.''

In a telephone call from Evanston, Wyo., where he is on a hunting trip, Drummond said, ``I spoke those words, and if anyone wants to further discuss my meanings, I would be happy to.''

However, he said he had not expected a tape of his comments to be circulated publicly and complained about the nature of some of the audience questions.

``The interest was to humiliate me....The manner of the questioning was really pointed and intended to get me to make comments that were improper,'' he said, adding, however, that he said nothing improper.

Gay leaders are denouncing Drummond and plan a news conference today to call for his resignation and his censure by the City Council, said Paul Self, president of the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club.

``Bigotry is bigotry, and it goes beyond just lesbians and gays,'' Self said. ``He probably thinks in his own mind that we are a safe target.''

Drummond said he would not resign.

``Have I been a vocal advocate of gay rights in the community? I have not,'' Drummond said.

Packets containing an eight-minute excerpt of his hour-long talk and a two-page transcript of his comments were anonymously delivered Friday and Monday to the media and several civic leaders.

Although Drummond denounced the excerpt as doctored, a reference to its editing, a comparison of the excerpted tape to the complete one shows that he made all the comments.

On the tape, he endorsed Cuban leader Fidel Castro 's quarantine of people with AIDS. He defended the comment Wednesday, saying it is too late now to attempt a U.S. quarantine.

He said homosexual people don't reproduce but engage in dangerous and deadly recruiting.

And he endorsed efforts in Congress to keep gays in the military from openly declaring their sexuality.

Drummond also said it was pitiful for courts to allow homosexual people to adopt children.
Dick Gaylord, former head of the local Realtors board and the city planning commission, said he was a longtime Drummond friend and supporter.

``I'm very disappointed. I thought he represented everyone in the 3rd District,'' said Gaylord, who is gay. ``I thought he was very tolerant of gay individuals...and understood the AIDS crisis and wanted to resolve some of the problems.''

Wayne Trevathan, executive director of The Center, a community services center for gay and bisexual people, said, ``I cannot imagine that an elected official in this day and age, especially in Long Beach, with one of the strongest gay populations in the country, would make such homophobic remarks.''

Jeanne Goodin, director of the Eagle Forum of California Long Beach Chapter, which hosted the discussion, said a nonmember in the audience, whom she declined to identify, distributed the tape without the group's permission or involvement. The group routinely tape-records the comments of its speakers.

Eagle Forum is a nationwide organization that advocates ``traditional, natural family values,'' a strong defense, excellent schools and private enterprise, Goodin said.

She sent the original tape to Drummond 's office and said she would have no further involvement.

``We're not going to involve ourselves with whoever has a vendetta against the councilman,'' she said. ``We'd never try to embarrass any of our public officials. Whoever put that eight-minute excerpt together is very unprincipled, unprofessional and unethical.''

Goodin and other members of the Eagle Forum were angry at Drummond in March when he voted for a city statement expanding the definition of the family to include nontraditional groupings, including gay couples.

Gay activists, meanwhile, were disappointed with Drummond in June when he led a council vote to cancel any consideration of extending city employee benefits to domestic partners, including straight or gay unmarried couples.

And another item from 1993 that listed Drummond's comments and his later explanations of them:

Here are some of Councilman Doug Drummond 's taped statements and his explanations Wednesday.

Quarantines

* Tape: Fidel Castro ``isolated his AIDS population. The ones that are remaining are quarantined, as we would quarantine under public health law people with problems of that kind. And as a result, Cuba has not had the spread we've had. And I'm not concerned about that community in terms of being a political threat.''

* Explanation: ``I did not advocate that policy for the U.S.A. I think it is way too late.''

Homosexual rights

* Tape: ``In rural America, gays are not accepted, they are not employed, they are cast out.''

* Explanation: ``I did vote for the city's family policy statement (broadening the definition of family to include nontraditional groupings). If it comes to (the) basic rights issue, then I am a very strong advocate of rights.''

On local gay political power:

Tape: ``I see some on the Board of Realtors who think of themselves as being powerful, but I only see them being strong in their own circle....I see them not respected.''

Explanation: He declined to name the people he meant.

Gays in the military

* Tape: ``I'm glad that Congress and the Senate have held the line in the military because if they claim it's privacy as an issue, then it should be kept private.''

* Explanation: Supports the ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy to avoid identifying homosexual people in the military.

Hundreds of Long Beach youths turned out last Thursday for Councilman Dee Andrews' 6th District Youth Job Fair at the Ernest S. McBride Sr. Park Community Center, 1550 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.

Participants could meet with various employers and apply for the 2009 Summer Youth Employment Training Program, which includes 200 hours of paid work experience, work readiness training, and job coaching for youth ages 14 to 24.

Here are a couple photos of the event, courtesy of Andrews' chief of staff, John Edmond: 

 

 

The League of California Cities has created a new video Web site to try to convince state legislators not to borrow $2 billion from local property tax revenues, which would further slash already diminished city budgets. Long Beach is expected to lose $10 million from its general fund if the proposal moves forward.

The Web site, www.SaveYourCity.net, allows elected leaders and community members to upload videos in which they can explain how the state take-aways will hurt their communities. While no Long Beach officials have posted a video yet, several other area leaders have, including Lakewood Mayor Todd Rogers and Bellflower Mayor Ray Smith. See their videos below.

From the League's press release: 

The League of California Cities today is launching www.SaveYourCity.net as a unique and innovative platform for mayors, city council members and concerned members of the public to tell policy makers how communities will be devastated if the state forces cities to bail the state out of its budget deficit. Anyone can register on the site and submit a video. Each video uploaded to www.SaveYourCity.net will automatically be sent to the Governor and the legislators of the person who submitted the video. More than 200 city officials, business and community leaders and the public have already submitted video testimony to lawmakers and the Governor.

Since 1991, state officials have taken over $10 billion in local property taxes to meet state obligations, costing cities over $900 million each year. Now state officials are considering forcing local governments to "loan" the state $2 billion in local property tax revenues to help close the state's budget deficit. This type of borrowing binge to fund today's budget is part of what got California into its budget mess in the first place. It needs to be stopped if we ever hope to have a responsible budget.  

Here are the brief, somewhat rough, videos by two local leaders: 

 

Just found out from the California Redevelopment Association that the state plans to appeal the Sacramento Superior Court's decision that ruled the state violated the Constitution when it required redevelopment agencies to fund $350 million in state obligations.

The state filed the appeal late Tuesday and CRA, which sued the state on behalf of other redevelopment agencies in California, says the process may take longer than a year.

What does this mean for the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency? Would they now have to make a $6 million ERAF payment?

I'll post more details as I hear them.

When the City Council approved implementing mandatory unpaid furloughs for city employees (other than police and firefighters) this month to finish eliminating a $19.2 million budget shortfall in the general fund, the move affected non-general fund departments as well to save money and to show solidarity. Those departments, such as Harbor, Water, and Gas & Oil, don't necessarily have the budget shortfall that the general fund faces, and in some cases, the furloughs may mean very little.

Case in point, the Water Department, whose board met last week to discuss their fiscal year 2010 budget, the rising cost of water and the need to raise water rates in Long Beach. At that meeting, officials said that they are implementing furloughs to comply with the council's action, and also voted to cut the salary of Kevin Wattier, the Water Department's general manager, by 1.9 percent to equal the expected savings from the furloughs.

But Water officials also said that running the Water Department -- repairing and maintaining water and sewer lines, treating drinking water, etc. -- is a 24-7 job that means they really can't be short workers. The estimated savings from the furloughs of the Water Department's 218 employees may be $300,000 to $400,000, officials said, but they told me after the meeting that the reality is that other workers have to work overtime to make up for the furloughed employees' absence. So, there may not be any savings at all.

"It is unclear whether we will actually realize furlough savings," B. Anatole Falagan, deputy general manager of business, told the Board of Water Commissioners.

Not that it matters to the general fund one way or the other. With or without Water Department savings, the general fund's $19.2 million deficit this year won't be affected one bit. So it kind of makes you wonder, what's the point?

Long Beach hotel workers, along with others from around the state, have been trying to draw attention to their demands of better pay for months with protests, speaking at City Council meetings, joining forces with other labor groups and even taking legal action in a few cases.

Now, they are using Internet videos to spread the word about their plight. The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy has posted a 10-minute documentary on www.youtube.com about the hotel workers' efforts to get better pay, better benefits and to unionize.

Check it out: 

Also, here's a related video from a TV news report by KTLA5 of a protest in front of the Long Beach Hilton Hotel back in February:

You're going to be hearing a lot more about the city budget in the coming months. I mean more than about swine flu in its brief heyday, more than about JetBlue, more than about the Lakers. It will be pouring out of the pages of the Press-Telegram and from other media as the city starts slashing and burning to eliminate an expected $43.3 million budget deficit in the next fiscal year.

On "Straight Talk with Art Levine," which airs tonight and also is available online, host Levine interviews Braden Phillips, head of the Long Beach Police Department's Administration Bureau, about how the police will handle the budget cuts. Cmdr. Laura Farinella, head of the Gangs and Violent Crimes Division, also talks about Long Beach's latest crime statistics.

The show airs tonight (Wednesday) and Thursday at 7 p.m. on Charter Communications Channel 3. Or, watch it online whenever you want at www.StraightTalkTV.com.

At this morning's Downtown Long Beach Associates board meeting, newly minted 1st District City Councilman Robert Garcia introduced his staff members to business owners and downtown stakeholders and said he's looking forward to working with the organization.

"I just want you to know that I am a 100 percent downtown guy," said Garcia, who previously sat on the DLBA board as a residential adviser. "I own a loft downtown, I shop, I eat in downtown restaurants almost every night. This is where I live, so for me downtown is not just a place I go to to experience but it's my neighborhood.

"So what you guys do here every day ... is very important, not just for the whole city, but for what happens in my everyday life and what happens to the life of my neighbors..."

Garcia, who called himself an optimist, also said "there's great things happening in downtown regardless of our challenges."

The Long Beach Taxpayers Association, a grassroots group that helped lead the charge against Mayor Bob Foster's Measure I infrastructure improvements tax measure that voters rejected last year, will celebrate its first year this week.

The association is having a meeting Wednesday that is free and open to the public. Orange County Taxpayers Association founder Reed Royalty will speak about the state pension "time bomb." The meeting takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. at ECCO's Pizza, 2123 Bellflower Blvd.

For more information on the group, check out www.longbeachtaxpayers.org.

To quote Porky the Pig's famous words: "Th, Th, The that's all folks!"

That's right. Swine flu came, people freaked out, we had a handful of cases in Long Beach, the city declared a local health emergency, and now on Tuesday, the City Council is expected to vote to terminate the emergency.

Long Beach's health officer, Dr. Helene Calvet, is asking the council to end the health emergency that was put in place two weeks ago. Although Calvet tells me that some swine flu cases are still expected to arise, Health Department officials are only testing for swine flu in the sickest of patients. The health emergency allowed the city to seek state assistance if needed and get possible reimbursements for the extra expenses of dealing with the swine flu.

Other parts of the country haven't been as lucky, with New York suffering its first swine flu death last week -- a high school assistant principal. Overall, the number of deaths worldwide
-- 76 -- is pretty small for a feared pandemic. Read all about that here.

This just in from Long Beach Airport public affairs:

Boeing has advised the Long Beach Airport that the U.S. Air Force B-1 Bomber is expected to depart on Monday, May 18 in the afternoon.  The aircraft arrived in July 2008 for maintenance.

Please note, this aircraft will likely use its afterburners upon take off, which will make it louder than the typical airplane departure.

If you're one of the many people who are facing foreclosure or struggling to pay their mortgage in this tough economy, you can learn about home loan modifications at a free workshop this weekend.

Eighth District City Councilwoman Rae Gabelich and 37th District Congresswoman Laura Richardson, D-Long Beach, are hosting the workshop at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Long Beach Petroleum Club, 3636 Linden Ave. No registration is required. Just show up and learn about how to get your home loan modified, get fees waived and more.

For those of you who have been following Long Beach's ongoing budget drama and the newly announced $43.3 million shortfall that is expected in the 2010 fiscal year, here's all of the latest info in one spot.

• City Manager Pat West's PowerPoint presentation to the City Council explaining the budget deficit and how he's going to deal with it.
• My story about West's proposals and a video of the press conference he held Tuesday.
• Council members weigh in on the budget issues, along with a nice graphic that shows exactly what West's budget options entail.

I'll be following this budget fiasco closely, so keep an eye on the Press-Telegram.

 

 

Among the many items that went before the Long Beach City Council in a busy and long-running meeting Tuesday was a resolution in support of the state propositions that will be on the ballot next week.

The council voted 4-3 to support the resolutions. Council members Suja Lowenthal, Patrick O'Donnell, Dee Andrews and Tonia Reyes Uranga voted in favor, while council members Robert Garcia, Gerrie Schipske and Rae Gabelich dissented. Vice Mayor Val Lerch abstained, as he usually does on resolutions about ballot measures or similar issues. Lerch has said a non-partisan governmental body like the council shouldn't take a position on issues going before voters, just as it shouldn't back political candidates. Councilman Gary DeLong was absent from the vote.

Will the council's vote make a difference? Polls show voters are likely to reject the propositions May 19. Only Garcia articulated Tuesday why he couldn't support the legislation -- he said he can't support Prop. 1D, which would shift First 5 Children's Commission funding to general health and human services programs for children, and he called the Prop. 1E mental health measure "draconian."

Read up on all of the propositions at the California League of Women Voters voter guide site. It's an objective site that shows the arguments on both sides of each proposition.

The Port of Long Beach, Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, City of Tulare Public Works Department and Los Angeles-based LEHR Inc. were honored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the Ninth Annual Clean Air Excellence Awards today in Washington, DC.

The awards program, which celebrates innovative achievement toward cleaner air, recognized the port's Green Flag Incentive Program, an annual $2.2 million program that "provides incentives for ships to voluntarily slow down within 20 nautical miles of the harbor, decreasing fuel consumption and reducing air pollution in communities surrounding Long Beach. Vessel operators who achieve 90 percent compliance in a calendar year are eligible for a 15 percent reduction in their dockage rates," according to the agency's release today.

"Congratulations to these Clean Air Excellence Awards winners - their innovative policies, cutting-edge projects and future-thinking products further launch our nation's commitment to cleaner, healthier air," said Deborah Jordan, the EPA's Air Division director for the Pacific Southwest.

I saw the new "Star Trek" movie over the weekend, and while I was excited to see it because I'm a bit of a science fiction geek, I was also very interested to see the movie as the Press-Telegram's Long Beach City Hall reporter.

Why, you ask? Well, in 2007 parts of "Star Trek" were filmed at City Hall, and the council chamber appears in a pair of important scenes -- historic, really, in the "Star Trek" mythos -- in the new movie. I'll address those at the bottom of this blog after the photo, but be warned that there will be spoilers. What surprised me about the scenes was that the movie made few changes to the council chamber, though I guess it does have a somewhat futuristic look already, much like City Hall itself. The chamber is circular and spacious with a high ceiling and enormous windows. In the movie, the council members are replaced on the dais by various admirals, captains and Starfleet officials. Looking down on them from the audience, where Long Beach residents and journalists like myself usually sit, are Starfleet officers in red uniforms.

One significant change is that the enormous, olive-green curtains that always block the council chamber windows -- at least, I've never seen them open -- are pulled back in the movie. This may have been done totally through CGI special effects, because the scene outside the window clearly isn't Long Beach. Instead, it shows a beautiful, futuristic San Francisco. My friend who was at the movie with me noted one clear difference between the reality of Long Beach City Hall and the utopian cities of "Star Trek" upon looking out that window -- "Where are the homeless people," he asked jokingly. You also may notice a few extra rows of audience members at the back of the chamber, which was completely done with special effects.

Here's a photo of a "Star Trek" scene that was shot at City Hall, featuring Spock (played by Zachary Quinto). Notice the alien in the audience behind him. OK, spoilers after the photo for those who really want to know what scenes to watch for in the movie.

SPOILER ALERT

If you want to be certain to see Long Beach City Hall in "Star Trek," look for it in two key scenes. First, when Jim Kirk, future captain of the Enterprise but at this moment a cadet, faces discipline for cheating on a supposedly unbeatable test (known as the Kobayashi Maru). In the photo above you can see Spock explaining the importance of the test.

Then almost at the end, a very historic moment happens (in the "Star Trek" universe, anyway) -- Kirk becomes captain of the Enterprise in the council chamber. Wow, to think that after decades of TV shows and movies, the creation of a die-hard fan base, and a rich and detailed history of the future that many Trekkies know by heart, it turns out that it all really started in Long Beach.

An interesting new Web site dedicated to reforming California's pension system, created by the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility and appropriately called www.californiapensionreform.com, sheds light on which former government employees have the highest pensions (more than $100,000 a year) around the state. While no former Long Beach employees made the Top 10 list, more than 100 former city of Long Beach and Cal State Long Beach employees still made the cut. The Web site allows users to search for costly pensions by name or by employer.

At the top of Long Beach's list is former City Attorney John Calhoun, who the Web site says earns $194,319.60 annually, followed by former Police Chief Jerome Lance at $177,315.72. Two former city managers, Henry Taboada and James Hankla Jr., are close behind at $174,751.32 and $166,056.36, respectively.

The unveiling of the site this week may be timely for many government agencies, including Long Beach. The city is battling massive budget deficits, and more than a few critics have placed blame on the fat pensions given to employees.

Some in the neighborhood do. The blighted property at 1827 Pacific Ave. had been the site of 2,665 calls for police service from January 2004 to mid-2008, including rape, assault, car-jacking, drugs and other crimes, according to the city.

Now it's owned by the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, which plans to merge the land with other nearby properties for parking and retail.

Today, 6th District City Councilman Dee Andrews and the RDA will erase the remnants of blight with a ceremonial demolition. 

With the economy in the tank, and the housing market even worse, home-buyers have a chance to pick up some potentially good deals on condos in downtown Long Beach.

Thirty-nine condos at the West Ocean Two complex on Ocean Boulevard near the Pike are up for auction, according to an L.A. Times blog. The report says the developer successfully auctioned 33 units from the 114-unit building last year, and another 39 will be offered at Monday's auction.

The auction Web site indicates buyers might get a great deal. For example, the minimum bid for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom, 893-square-foot apartment with a previous asking price of $548,000 is now $195,000, the site says. Go the auction site to get the full details.

Of course, whether you get a deal will depend on how much competition there is. But you don't have to worry about it from me. If I weren't a journalist, I might be able to afford to at least make an opening bid ...

Hotel workers today filed a compliant against the Hyatt in downtown Los Angeles.

According to the release, Hyatt "failed to pay them for all of the hours the employees were required to work, denied employees meal and rest breaks and failed to pay employees for missed  breaks, as all employers are required to do under California Law.  Workers also allege that Hyatt failed to compensate members of the Plaintiff Class in accordance with the minimum wage and overtime requirements under California law."

More to come.

It's always interesting watching a newcomer step into the role of council member. When Robert Garcia was sworn in Tuesday to represent the 1st District, several questions crossed my mind.

Will he tend to vote with the council majority? Or will he join agitators such as council members Gerrie Schipske and Tonia Reyes Uranga in what is often a quite vocal minority? Will he target a barrage of questions and comments at city staff, like the aforementioned agitators, or will he be the silent type, like Councilman Dee Andrews? Maybe he'll be an activist on his specific issues, the way Councilwoman Rae Gabelich is, or he may become that unknown x-factor whose vote could go either way, like Vice Mayor Val Lerch's sometimes is.

His first day on the job, Garcia had a lot of big decisions to make, and the public saw a councilman who was willing to go with the majority or the minority.

In closed session, and for the first vote of his career, Garcia voted with the minority -- Schipske and Uranga -- to release confidential documents about the controversial Los Cerritos Wetlands land exchange. But in open session, Garcia joined the majority in voting to implement employee furloughs, while Schipske and Uranga voted against them because they wanted to postpone the vote.

We've also got to give Garcia credit for sticking around through all of the major and contentious votes Tuesday. Typically, newly inaugurated council members take off immediately for a celebration, but Garcia stayed until almost 9 p.m. despite his planned 7 p.m. party.

So, what do you think Garcia's political future and role on the council will hold?

Do you Tweet? Long Beach Development Services does.

LBDS, which includes the Redevelopment Agency, is now on popular social networking Web sites Twitter and Facebook.

The department's Facebook page, which has more than 400 FB friends, began about two months ago and includes information about blight demolishing, community events and the latest RDA news.

"It's about the community and how we're encouraging them to be part of the RDA and be engaged in the RDA process," said Development Services Director Craig Beck.

Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske says in her blog and a statement released today that something is amiss from the city's application with the federal government to resuse the Schroeder Hall Army Reserve Center at Willow Street and Grand Avenue.

That plan, of course, is the one that has stirred up a hornets nest of East Long Beach residents -- the site would be used for a new police substation, but a mental health facility for the homeless would be built across the street next to the Department of Health and Human Services. The feds require that former millitary bases provide some form of homeless services if requested by local homeless service agencies.

Schipske, whose 5th District contains Schroeder Hall, has asked the council Tuesday to rescind its December 2007 vote approving the project. Furthermore, now Schipske says that in reviewing the Schroeder Hall application that the city submitted to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, she has discovered what she perceives as two problems. From her blog:

I have two serious concerns about the statements included in the submission. First of all, it contains several 'guiding principles' that were not approved by City Council.  The submission also fails to disclose to HUD the fact that when the Council voted on the reuse of Schroeder Hall in December 2007 and before the application was submitted three months later, that there were numerous objections by residents of the adjacent neighborhood. Moreover, I specifically asked that those objections be submitted as part of the official record and I don't see them in the submission.

While this may light an even bigger fire under Schroeder Hall opponents, whether it actually influences the council to withdraw the project is another matter. City Attorney Robert Shannon has warned there may be legal consequences associated with resubmitting the proposal to the feds, and city management says doing so could take the site completely out of the city's hands.

Councilman Patrick O'Donnell was the only council member to vote against the plan originally, and Schipske's obviously on board now too. Councilwoman Rae Gabelich has hinted she might be open to rescinding the past vote as well, but it's doubtful that many more council members will join in -- not only because of the legal risks, but because they sure don't want to take a chance that the homeless services end up in their districts instead.

Fourth District City Councilman Patrick O'Donnell will have his monthly "Chat with Pat" community meeting Wednesday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Los Altos Library, 5614 Britton.

The meeting will feature a presentation by the Orange County Transportation Authority on the proposed West County Connectors Project, an improvement project to add carpool lanes at the connection of the San Diego (405) Freeway, CA-22 Freeway and the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway. The project will require a year-long closure of the 7^th Street bridge. Representatives of OCTA will be at the meeting to discuss the proposed construction schedule and detours, which will affect the local area.

If you live on the Eastside or often use 7th Street to get to and from the area freeways (as I do), this may be an important meeting to attend.

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.

The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency may not have to pay the state $6.1 million after all.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly on Thursday ruled in favor of redevelopment agencies, saying it was unconstitutional for the state to ask them to shell out $350 million to fund state obligations.
The California Redevelopment Association, a nonprofit that has about 360 RDAs as members including Long Beach, sued the state in December over the one-time payment of redevelopment dollars to the state to trim its deficit.
The suit claims Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers violated the constitution when they required the redevelopment agencies to contribute more for education programs so the state could pay less.
CRA Executive Director John Shirey called the decision "a win for redevelopment agencies."
"Obviously the state is dealing with very difficult financial problems, but taking away local government redevelopment funds is unconstitutional," Shirey said in a statement. "Not only are these raids unconstitutional, as validated today by the Superior Court, but they're also poor policy during a recession when those funds should stay in communities to generate jobs and economic activity that we desperately need."
Meanwhile, H.D. Palmer of the State Department of Finance said they are reexamining the decision and considering their legal options. Whether the state will appeal the decision has not yet been determined.

Read more about it in Saturday's Press-Telegram.