August 2009 Archives
Sixth District Long Beach City Councilman Dee Andrews has pulled his agenda item for Tuesday night that would have asked the city attorney to craft an ordinance allowing the city to designate parking lots where the homeless could live in their cars. Andrews said in a press release this afternoon that he plans to revisit the issue after the council completes its budget process. The council must approve a budget by Sept. 15. Andrews' item had been scheduled for Tuesday night in a meeting that was wedged between budget meetings and scheduled to last only an hour.
From Andrews' statement:
"This issue requires much consideration from our City Councilmembers and due to the time needed for the Budget, this will not allow Council the proper amount of time to deliberate on this important issue", said Councilman Andrews. "I will be bringing this item back to Council after the 2010 Budget is passed", continued Councilman Andrews.
Admission is $30 for Cerritos Regional Chamber of Commerce members, $50 for non-members, $400 for a table sponsor of 10, $250 half-table sponsor of 5, $100 for event sponsors.
The event will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Call 562-467-0800 or e-mail chamber@cerritos.org for more info.
Ron Nelson, executive director of the Long Beach Museum of Art, sent out an e-mail over the last few days trying to rally support to attend Monday night's City Council Budget Oversight Committee meeting as the council considers whether to support Mayor Bob Foster's proposal to eliminate funding for the museum's administration. A few members of the Museum Foundation's board and other supporters were there, but as you can read in my article today, committee chairman Councilman Gary DeLong didn't have the most sympathetic words for Nelson.
The museum director is also hoping to rally support before the council goes into closed session today at 5 p.m. to discuss the museum's property lease and other issues. Confused about why Foster would want to cut the museum's funding? It's a case of everyone showing up to eat a seven-course meal, but no one wanting to foot the bill. Read an in-depth account of the standoff in the following file: Museum of Art.doc.
Soon, the council may make a decision in an open meeting. They have about two weeks to do it, because the Sept. 15 deadline to pass the budget is growing ever closer.
Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske has announced on her Facebook page that she will have a campaign kick-off and fundraiser Sept. 12.
So far, Schipske only faces one challenger in next April's election, Mike Hedges, president and CEO of Pacific Striping in Signal Hill. Hedges is a political newcomer that so far hasn't drawn much attention to himself. Schipske, on the other hand, is a master at getting her name and face in the media, stirring up controversy and mobilizing her constituents.
A controversial figure, Schipske is often at odds with other council members, city management and especially Mayor Bob Foster. But she also has earned a reputation as one of the most active and responsive council members, staying in touch with East Long Beach residents and responding to their concerns. She maintains a blog as well to keep her constituents informed.
So far, I would consider Schipske a lock for a second term, but it is still very early in the campaign. Who knows what challengers might surface in the coming months, or what Hedges might bring to the table. While Schipske has much going for her, there is also enough controversy in her political history and a few decisions that have upset residents to become ammunition for challengers to use against her.
Nominated to be the United States Attorney for the Central District of California by President George W. Bush on July 12, 2007, O'Brien is responsible for all federal criminal investigations and prosecutions, as well as all civil matters involving the United States, in the largest federal district in the country, encompassing seven counties and more than 18 million residents.
O'Brien also sits on the President's Corporate Fraud Task Force and is chair of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee's Cyber/Intellectual Property Subcommittee.
The event will be at noon at Legend's at 5236 E. Second St. in Belmont Shore. Admission is $25 for Members and $35 for Non-Members.
Call 562-439-9390 or dkla1@verizon.net to RSVP.
Long Beach City Councilman Gary DeLong, 3rd District, has been elected chairman of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority's board for 2009-2010.
The Alameda Corridor is a 20-mile railroad expressline that connects the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to the transcontinental rail network east of downtown Los Angeles. The authority has been involved in widening roads and improving rail infrastructure to improve the efficiency of transporting cargo.
Work on the corridor has resulted in significant air emission reductions. Since the opening of the Alameda Corridor in 2002, more than 10,000 tons of total emission reductions have resulted from the consolidation of freight rail operations and the alleviation of traffic congestion at the more than 200 rail crossings in the Southland, according to ACTA.
Many North Long Beach leaders have big dreams for the proposed North Village Center, which will have retail, housing, a new library, new facades, streetscape enhancements and several new public parking lots. Now you can read all about the impacts it may have on the surrounding neighborhoods. The city's environmental impact report is available online or at a few locations in North Long Beach and downtown. The public has until Sept. 18 to make their thoughts known.
Here is the press releae that city officials sent out recently, which also explains a few more details:
The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency has announced the availability of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to determine the nature and extent of the proposed North Village Center project's impact upon the surrounding environment. An EIR also identifies ways to reduce environmental effects and analyzes reasonable alternatives to avoid or minimize significant environmental effects. The Draft EIR is now available for public review.
The project site encompasses two full city blocks in the North Long Beach Redevelopment Project Area. Atlantic Avenue bisects the approximately 6.3-acre site. The West Block, approximately 3.15 acres, is bounded on the south by South Street, on the west by Linden Avenue and on the north by 59th Street. The East Block, also approximately 3.15 acres, is bounded on the south by South Street, on the east by Lime Avenue and on the north by 59th Street.
The proposed project is a mixed-use "village center" with the following primary components: 61 units of multi-family housing in a mix of row houses, courtyard units, and units built atop ground floor non-residential space; 36,000 square feet of commercial retail space, including restaurant space, oriented primarily toward Atlantic Avenue; and a public library and community center totaling approximately 30,000 square feet fronting Atlantic Avenue on the East Block. A General Plan Amendment and Zoning Ordinance Amendment would be required to allow the proposed mix of uses and density.
The Initial Study and public EIR scoping process identified the potential for significant project environmental effects in the following issue areas, which are all studied in the Draft EIR: aesthetics, air quality, cultural resources, geology, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, land use and planning, noise, population and housing, public services, transportation and circulation, and utilities and service systems.
The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency will receive written comments on the Draft EIR through Friday, September 18, 2009. Comments should be sent to:
Craig Chalfant
Department of Development Services
333 W. Ocean Boulevard, 5th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802
Via fax to: 562.570.6068
Via e-mail to: craig.chalfant@longbeach.gov
DOCUMENT AVAILABILITY: The Draft EIR is available for public review online http://www.lbds.info/planning/environmental_planning/environmental_reports.asp and at the locations listed below during regular business hours:
Long Beach Main Library, 101 Pacific Ave.
Long Beach North Neighborhood Library, 5571 Orange Ave.
Long Beach City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd, 5th Floor
TO PURCHASE A DRAFT EIR: The Draft EIR and Appendices (Volumes 1 and 2) are available on CD-Rom for a fee of $20.00.
They say an animal is most dangerous when cornered, and if that's the case, we better keep a few steps away from Long Beach's employee associations.
With furloughs already implemented, pay freezes or more furloughs on the horizon, and now the City Council deciding this week to open up discussions about reforming the costly pensions held by public employees, the unions are being threatened from all sides.
Last night at the 5th District community budget meeting, the Long Beach Firefighters Association bared its teeth as it faced attacks from political gadflies, who are starting to smell blood.
Many of the usual suspects who regularly hammer at the council and city management over workers' pay, pensions and making financially sound decisions in general were at the 5th District meeting in El Dorado Park Community Center. There was Larry Boland, a loud voice for pension reform who has dedicated much of his time to analyzing why Long Beach's pension costs have grown to $80 million citywide. Also among the crowd were the founding members of the Long Beach Taxpayers Association, Tom Stout and Kathy Ryan, and a few other critics.
They all railed against past city councils for approving pay raises and fat pensions for employees, against city management for letting it happen and against the unions for seeking the kinds of benefits that critics say few workers in the private sector enjoy.
Following a presentation by City Manager Pat West and Finance Director Lori Ann Farrell about the budget, Boland was the first to talk, and as he went on and on about pensions, Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske had to ask him to sit down and let others speak.
Then Ryan said that, as Long Beach faces 34 potential police officer layoffs and the partial closure of Fire Station 18 in East Long Beach, "We've priced ourselves out of the public safety market."
Firefighters Association leaders disputed these claims, saying that Long Beach firefighters are below the median pay of comparable California cities and that the Fire Department budget hasn't increased significantly in recent years. Things got tense as Rich Brandt, president of the Firefighters Association, was speaking. He suddenly turned to Stout, who had been grumbling under his breath, got right in his face and asked him if he had something to say. Stout didn't respond.
Ultimately, it took Schipske to calm things down again, and while a few 5th District residents asked questions or made comments, many of them seemed caught in the crossfire between gadflies, unions and city management as the debate escalated. My recommendation: When the growling starts, stay out of the way.
Read more about the Fire Department budget, how the department operates, and what it could be doing differently, better or more cheaply this Sunday at www.presstelegram.com.
Remember last year's city budget process, when city officials scheduled budget workshops and meetings right before their regular council meetings? Remember the long lines of residents who wanted to speak but ended up being rushed? Remember how council members didn't have time to ask all their questions and the budget meetings went over schedule? Remember how city management promised this year it would be different?
Well, it hasn't quite worked out that way, and Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske said tonight during a community budget meeting in her 5th District that she and council members Tonia Reyes Uranga and Rae Gabelich tomorrow will release a statement calling for at least two budget sessions each week until the council approves a budget Sept. 15.
Sure, the city has scheduled a dozen community meetings that council members and city managers are attending to explain the proposed budget, the $20.3 million in cuts that are being made, and to get feedback from residents. That seems a good step toward the promise of more transparency and public input in the budget process. But at Tuesday's budget workshop, when the council was discussing library and parks budgets, the meeting again went over, public comments had to be reduced from three minutes to two minutes and not all of the council members had time to ask their questions.
Apparently, another budget meeting, where council members would actually be able to vote and take action (not like a workshop, which is just for information and discussion), had been originally planned for later Tuesday at 7 p.m. For some reason, it was taken off the schedule, apparently, according to Schipske, without consulting the council.
Now Schipske says she and her colleagues want more meetings, actionable meetings, and enough time to get all of their questions answered -- not to mention make some budget decisions of enormous magnitude.
See the full list of the community budget meetings here.
Check out all of the proposed budget details here.
The budget meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the El Dorado Park Community Center, 2800 N. Studebaker Road.
Chief Assistant City Attorney Heather Mahood just announced that the Long Beach City Council in closed session today unanimously approved waiving a 90-day notice stipulation in Police Chief Anthony Batts' contract.
Last week we learned that Batts is heading to Oakland to become the police chief there. While he has said that he would stay through the end of the budget process for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, he was bound by his contract to give the city manager 90 days' notice before he can leave.
Mahood reported that the council unanimously approved the waiver, though we haven't heard yet exactly when Batts' last day will be.
(This is not an image of General Petroleum's facility, but of general trash and debris accumulation in the harbor near the mouth of the Los Angeles River.)
A petroleum refueling facility in the Port of L.A. has been fined $74,473 for dumping toxins into storm drains between 2004 and 2007. General Petroleum - which distributes primarily for Chevron and Texaco - was found in violation of the federal Clean Water Act as well as state laws designed to protect marine environments from petroleum waste.
Polluted runoff from facilities like General Petroleum is a major cause of water pollution in and around the harbor that includes metals, oil and grease, acidic wastewater, bacteria, trash, and other toxic pollutants.
According to the EPA, General's violations were uncovered in an audit of storm water prevention efforts at the ports. Other companies have been fined for similar violations, though the scope of General's discharge made it among the worst offenders.
Surprisingly, General's main offense wasn't so much that it was illegally dumping tons of toxic waste into storm drains, but that it hadn't obtained the proper permits to do so - permits which concievably can control runoff.
To learn more about General's transgressions, visit www.epa.gov/region09/enforcement/pubnotices/pubnotice-gen-petrol.html.
I'm still catching my breath after covering last week's news about Police Chief Tony Batts leaving for Oakland, so here is something that the City Council approved last week -- their committee appointments.
Snoozing already? Sure, committees aren't the sexiest things in the world, but they do serve a purpose, as gatekeepers to much of the legislation that ends up before the council. Mayor Bob Foster made the committee appointments, and most members are on three or four committees, not including the Charter Amendment Committee that is headed by the mayor and on which every council member sits. However, Councilwoman Rae Gabelich sits on five committees.
Councilman Gary DeLong will continue as chairman of the Budget Oversight Committee, supported by council members Patrick O'Donnell and Suja Lowenthal, which could be considered one of the most important ones right now during Long Beach's budget crisis.
Many of the committee appointments seem quite appropriate. Who better to head the Housing and Neighborhoods Committee than man-of-the-people Councilman Dee Andrews? And of course, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd district council members are on the Tidelands and Harbor Committee, since they're the only ones whose districts include a shoreline or port areas. Unlike the other council members, who each leads one or two committees, newcomer Councilman Robert Garcia doesn't have such a role, but he is a member of the Federal Legislation Committee, the State Legislation Commitee and the Tidelands and Harbor Committee.
Click the following link and see the entire committee list for yourself:
A political neophyte has pulled papers to run for the 7th District City Council seat, bringing to four the total number of potential candidates who hope to replace Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga.
Doug Seagraves, 52, a four-year 7th District resident and five-year Long Beach resident who has worked in public relations and acting but is unemployed following a battle with lung cancer, has filed his intent to run with the City Clerk's Office. Seagraves told me last week that he is an advocate for disabled veterans and the poor. He said he was prompted to run for office after seeing how state budget cuts and local cuts to the Police Department's Youth Services Division and truancy patrols are likely to affect 7th District neighborhoods.
"I'm tired of the powers that be balancing their budgets on the backs of the poor and the disabled," Seagraves said.
The other three 7th District candidates so far in next April's election are Roberto Uranga, a Long Beach City College trustee and husband of the current councilwoman; Jill Hill, of the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance; and Assistant City Auditor James Johnson.
Last week Uranga officially kicked off his campaign.
In an ongoing effort to remake, revitalize - perhaps write off (doubtful) - the long-suffering Pine Avenue shopping district (OK, Wal-Mart's been a great success), the city is hosting a 6 p.m. hearing at First Congregational, 241 Cedar Ave. on ways to improve the downtown zone.
The city still has a little grant money to spend (not drawn from the General Fund) on landscaping, public art, street furniture or whatever else pleases area residents and business owners. The plan is to redevelop Pine between Shoreline Drive and Eighth Street. Also slated for an upgrade are neighboring portions of First Street, Broadway and Third Street.
The city also has a questionaire to guage public opinion available here.
In an earlier meeting (9 a.m. inside City Council Chamers), the City's Redevelopment Agency is expected to approve a master redevelopment plan for the burgeoning Design District, a revitalization surprise of recent years bordered roughly by Anaheim and 14 streets, Redondo and Temple avenues. Read more about the city's trendy new district, which is attracting an eclectic mix of graphic artists, landscapers, interior designers and architects working out of refurbished boutique studios.
The meeting is 9 a.m. at 333 W. Ocean Blvd.
There's just a few days left to give the city your perspective on the Downtown Community Plan. The more than 90-page document outlines standards for zoning, development and design for areas bordering Golden Avenue, Alamitos Avenue, 10th Street and Ocean Boulevard.
The public has until Friday, Aug. 14, to e-mail comments to DTCommunityPlan@longbeach.gov.
Click here to see the city's Power Point presentation that outlines the basics of the Downtown Plan.
If you want to check out the entire draft document, click here.
City officials anticipate having a final draft available for review in the late fall and hope to get the plan adopted by the City Council in early 2010.
So, Councilman Patrick O'Donnell, then representing the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, was out. Councilman Gary DeLong continued to represent the city of Long Beach on the Wetlands Authority's board. The other two entitities on the board are the city of Seal Beach and the State Coastal Conservancy.
Now, O'Donnell or any other elected official may soon be able to represent any of the agencies that oversee the Wetlands Authority, which is in the process of acquiring and restoring pieces of Los Cerritos Wetlands in southeast Long Beach and by Seal Beach.
Tonight, the council will consider approving this change to the Wetlands Authority's bylaws, which also has been approved by Seal Beach's city council and the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy. The Coastal Conservancy is expected to approve the change next month, which would make the bylaw revision official.
DeLong has asked the council to approve the change tonight, although O'Donnell wouldn't tell me yesterday whether he necessarily wants to return to the Wetlands Authority.
"Our goal is to potentially give Long Beach one more voice on the board, which would allow us to further advocate for the wetlands area and ultimately its restoration," O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell, long an environmental advocate, received some flack last week for joining the council in a 5-4 vote approving a deal to exchange Long Beach's public service yard for part of the wetlands. Environmentalists criticized the lack of a provision to ensure that the wetlands area is preserved and won't ever be sold off or developed by a greedy council. Under the wetlands plan, the Wetlands Authority will buy the property from the city and preserve it.
The Wetlands Authority's board won't have the power to pay more for the wetlands than the state is willing to fork over based on the land's appraised value, so having multiple Long Beach representatives on the board shouldn't influence the deal one way or the other.
Under the proposed city budget, Fire Station 18 in East Long Beach is slated to share a fire engine with Fire Station 1 downtown, which means the Eastside station would be closed during the day. When that news was announced July 30, 5th District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske showed she was more than a little upset about losing one of her stations.
To support her cause, Schipske has started a blog to try to keep her station open -- www.savestation18.com. The blog has an informative section about fire department terms and raising interesting questions, such as whether 5th District residents' fire insurance rates could be affected by losing a fire station for part of the day.
On Tuesday, the council will be discussing the Fire Department and the Police Department budgets, as well as hearing from the public, during a budget workshop at 3 p.m. in City Hall.
On Aug. 17, residents and merchants will get to weigh in on a project that seeks to improve the look of Long Beach's iconic business corridor.
The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency has launched the Pine Avenue Streetscape Improvement Project in an effort to improve the area around Pine Avenue in downtown Long Beach.
The project will look at improvements on Pine Avenue from Shoreline Drive to Eighth Street, as well as Third Street from Pacific Avenue to Long Beach Boulevard; Broadway from Pacific to Long Beach Boulevard and First Street from Pacific to Elm Avenue.
"Design solutions will focus on streetscape improvements including improved sidewalks, pedestrian scale lighting, street trees and related landscaping, decorative hardscapes, public art and a palette of street furniture that provides a desirable identity to the experience of all street users," according to the RDA Web site.
The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on Aug. 17 at First Congregational Church, 241 Cedar Ave. Call 562-570-6615 or e-mail RDA@longbeach.gov for more.
The event, which will feature Mayor Bob Foster, 2nd District City Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, Redevelopment Agency Vice Chairperson Diane Arnold and East Village Association President Richard Lewis, will take place at 7:45 p.m. in front of Utopia Restaurant, 445 E. 1st St.
LA Gateway Region Integrated Regional Water Management Authority announced today that it will use the $10 million it received from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act toward the design and installation of the trash-capturing devices in cities that have storm drains that flow into the river.
Those cities include Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Compton, Cudahy, Downey, Huntington Park, Long Beach, Lynwood, Maywood, Montebello, Paramount, Pico Rivera, Signal Hill, South Gate and Vernon.
The grant will create at least 100 jobs in the gateway region over the next two years. Project construction is expected to start in the fall, and be completed by summer 2011.
"This is fantastic news for our Gateway Region," Kevin Wattier, chair of the Gateway IRWM Authority, said in a statement. "Desi Alvarez from the City of Downey worked tirelessly to put this project together, and he deserves all the credit."
The participating cities will be responsible for ongoing maintenance of the traps after construction is done.
"Currently, more than 800,000 pounds of waste accumulate in storm drains that wash out to flood control channels and eventually into the river," Alvarez said. "This $10 million will be of significant help in cleaning up the river," he said.
The authority is currently pursuing a similar project for the San Gabriel River watershed.
The National League of Cities has chosen 33 communities from across the country as finalists for the 2009 Awards for Municipal Excellence, which recognizes cities and towns for outstanding programs which improve the quality of life in America's communities.
"The city programs chosen as finalists for the Awards for
Municipal Excellence truly embody the spirit in which America's cities
excel and welcome the future," said Donald J. Borut, NLC Executive
Director. "NLC congratulates these cities for their successful efforts
to help their communities thrive."
Two finalists in each population category will be selected as
winners of the 2009 Awards for Municipal Excellence, to be announced at
a luncheon during NLC's Congress of Cities and Exposition in San
Antonio, Texas on Nov. 13.
Finalist communities include:
Population less than 50,000
Apex, NC
Carbondale, IL
Estes Park, CO
Highland Village, TX
Hopkins, MN
Queen Creek, AZ
Rock Valley, IA
Romeoville, IL
Sierra Vista, CA
Signal Hill, CA
Slidell, LA
Population 150,001 - 500,000
Anchorage, AK
Fremont, CA
Garland, TX
Long Beach, CA
Orlando, FL
Reno, NV
St. Louis, MO
The amount accounts for a little more than half the agency's discretionary and housing set-aside funds (money the agency must set aside to pay for affordable housing).
Both entities are alleging that the state action is unconstitutional.
For Long Beach, making the $30 million payment to the state would mean possibly postponing or killing projects from next year's budget.
While specific projects are not yet known since redevelopment officials have not said which projects will be affected.
About the Bloggers
Paul Eakins reports on Long Beach City Hall, and local and regional
politics. A newcomer to the Press-
Telegram, he previously has covered
local and state government and politics in San Diego County, Mexico
and his home state of Kansas.
E-mail Paul at paul.eakins@presstelegram.com.
Kris Hanson reports on the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles,
covering environmental issues, economic triumphs and
pitfalls and trade trends of America’s largest port.
He also writes a weekly column “On The Waterfront”,
appearing Tuesdays, and also produces an occassional video
and column titled “On The Job,” which follows the hard-working
men and women who keep Southern California’s economy humming.
E-mail Kris at kristopher.hanson@
presstelegram.com.
Karen Robes Meeks came to work for the Press-
Telegram
in April 2002 as a beat reporter, covering the cities of
Lakewood, Bellflower and Paramount. She now covers business,
specifically redevelopment, tourism and small businesses.
She also writes Eye on Redevelopment, a monthly column that
appears in the Business Monday section.
E-mail Karen at karen.robes@presstelegram.com.
