September 2010 Archives

Long Beach residents wanting to take a trip abroad can now apply for a passport close to home.
The Long Beach City Clerk Department has begun accepting passport applications on behalf of the U.S. Department of State.

The new service was implemented to raise revenues and as a convenience for residents.
United States citizens may apply for their passports Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Long Beach City Hall, 333 West Ocean Blvd. The service is available by appointment or for walk-ins.

For passport application forms, information on documentation required, fees and other passport and international travel information, visit www.travel.state.gov.

If it had been up to Long Beach voters back in November 2008, Proposition 8 would just be a memory. Now, the Long Beach City Council is joining its constituents in opposing the same-sex marriage ban.

Next Tuesday, the council will vote on creating a resolution "affirming the support of the City of Long Beach for full marriage equality, and for the decision of the Governor and Attorney General not to further defend Proposition 8 in court," the meeting agenda says.

Surprisingly, among the four council members who are sponsoring the resolution is new 9th District Councilman Steve Neal. The councilman took some heat from gay-rights groups before he was elected in April for comments he had made to the Long Beach Business Journal about gay marriage.

"I believe marriage is an institution instituted by God," Neal, who is a pastor and a Democrat, told the publication. "And that being said, I don't think that man has the ability or the right to change that."

Neal, who represents North Long Beach, didn't return phone calls Wednesday seeking comment about the about-face on the issue. The other council members sponsoring the resolution are Robert Garcia, Patrick O'Donnell and James Johnson.

Fifty-two percent of California voters approved Proposition 8 in 2008, five months after the state Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages, while in Long Beach 52 percent of voters opposed the measure.

Since then, Proposition 8 has faced legal challenges, and Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker struck it down last month as a violation of gay Californians' civil rights. Attorney General Jerry Brown has refused to defend Proposition 8 because he thinks it is unconstitutional, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is remaining neutral on the issue.

A conservative group took legal measures to force the state to defend the same-sex ban, but California's 3rd District Court of Appeal refused to do so in early September. Now, Proposition 8 backers have taken their case to federal court and are arguing that they have the right to appeal the measure if the state won't.

Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Lakewood, was named "Best of Congress," for working families by Working Mother Media and Corporate Voices for Working Families.

The award spotlights Congressional excellence in supporting working families through legislation and advocacy. It also recognizes those members of Congress who employing family-friendly policies in their own offices.

"It's an honor to be recognized for my efforts on behalf of working families," she said in a statement. "But, like any working mom across the country, I understand what it is like to juggle the demands of kids, work, family, and laundry all at the same time!"

Award recipients are featured in the August/September 2010 issue of Working Mother magazine and at www.workingmother.com.

Today at 3 p.m. in City Hall, 43 collectives will enter a lottery to determine which ones will be allowed to exist in Long Beach. Six of them also have separate cultivation sites that must be approved. Many of the sites -- 25-- don't have to worry about the lottery and will be automatically allowed. Those that need the luck of the draw are the ones that are less than 1,000 feet from another collective, which is prohibited under the new ordinance that the City Council approved in the spring.

The lottery drawing is open to the public.

See a list of collectives and their addresses here

See a map of the collectives, and which ones (marked in blue) are too close to each other, here.

In another park matter, 4th District Councilman Patrick O'Donnell wants to rename a portion of Whaley Park, which is near Cal State Long Beach by the intersection of Atherton Street and Bellflower Boulevard, as the "Cherry Tree Peace Grove."

Volunteers with Soka Gokkai International Long Beach, a lay Buddhist group, planted a cherry tree grove in May at the park. The group is asking that the city rename the area in recognition of the organization and its mission of promoting "peace, culture and education."

O'Donnell is asking the council to send the proposal to the Housing and Neighborhoods Committee and the Parks and Recreation Commission for discussion.

Second District City Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal is asking the council to establish a curfew at Rose Park in the 2nd District.

The park is a tiny, circular park that serves as a roundabout at the intersection of 8th Street and Orizaba Avenue. It also happens to be close to Lowenthal's home. The councilwoman said that for the last six months, her office "has been working with residents, the neighborhood association, parks staff and police to address vandalism, loitering and public safety concerns at the park."

One suggestion was the creation of a curfew, which Lowenthal is proposing from dusk to dawn between May 1 and Sept. 30, and from 7 p.m. to dawn between Oct. 1 and April 30. The council meets at 5 p.m. in City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd. The meeting can be viewed live on Charter Communications Channel 3, Verizon FiOS channel 21, and at www.longbeach.gov.

Imagine zipping above the streets of Long Beach in an aerial gondola, cruising through town on a tram or using other alternative forms of transportation -- anything other than a car -- to get around.

A group of companies pitched that vision to a City Council committee last month, and now the full council is being asked to enter an agreement with Pittsburgh-based Urban Innovations to start seeking grant funding for potential projects. The Tidelands and Harbor Committee showed interest in the idea last month. Second District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal has floated her own alternative transportation ideas, such as installing streetcars to revitalize business corridors.

According to a city report, there's no cost to Long Beach in partnering with Urban Innovations. The two entities would work together to apply for transportation planning and pre-development grant money from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Federal Transit Agency. Once the funding is in place, the city would do an analysis to identify preferred transportation alternatives, as well as to do technical feasibility and cost analyses, to examine funding sources, and to consider other factors. To complete this, matching local funding would be needed, as it would be for the actual construction, the report says.

Whether the city could afford this is another matter. The council just approved a new budget last week that cuts deeply into city services because of an $18.5 million deficit. More deficits are expected in coming years.

The council meets at 5 p.m. in City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd. The meeting can be viewed live on Charter Communications Channel 3, Verizon FiOS channel 21, and at www.longbeach.gov.

Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell is joining 8th District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich on Saturday at her Community Coffee and Conversation. The public event will take place from 10 a.m. to noon at Mirage Cafe, 539 E. Bixby Road.

McDonnell will speak about his vision for the Police Department and proposed budget cuts, and answer questions. Gabelich will provide an update on issues in the 8th District and take questions from residents.

For more information, call 562-570-6685 or e-mail council.district8@longbeach.gov.

Star Parker, the Republican candidate who is challenging incumbent Rep. Laura Richardson, is holding a community town-hall meeting tonight in Carson. The meeting will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Juanita Millender-McDonald Community Center, 3 Civic Center Drive. Doors open at 6:45 p.m.

During the two-hour town hall, Parker will "share her vision on building economic prosperity and job creation for the Carson area and the 37th District," her campaign said in a press release. Parker is a well-known conservative columnist and commentator.

Richardson, D-Long Beach, represents the 37th District, which encompasses Long Beach, Signal Hill, Carson, Compton, and parts of Los Angeles. She is running for her second full term. In addition to Parker, independent candidate Nick Dibs is also running against Richardson.

Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Long Beach, released a statement Wednesday in support of President Obama's proposal to spend $50 billion to replace and upgrade the nation's aged roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure. She said that she encourages the president and Congress to support and pass a national freight policy.

From Richardson's statement:

This announcement by President Obama is great news for our communities, our families and our economy. By investing this money, we will be able to upgrade deteriorated roads and bridges, like the increasingly fragile Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach, which will create numerous local and national benefits. This transportation proposal, which would be the largest single transportation program in our nation since the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, would improve our system of roads and bridges by replacing, expanding and renovating them and it would improve the economy by hiring workers and creating a transportation system that is better designed for modern residential and commerce uses.

With the President taking this lead in improving our national transportation system, I look forward to working with him and my colleagues on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to take it to the next logical step by creating and making into law a sensible national freight policy. Through a national freight policy we will be able to improve the flow of goods across, out of and in to our nation. I look forward to continuing my work to put in place a national freight policy for the 21^st century, one that improves access to goods by all Americans, expands the ability of businesses to provide what is needed, and creates a more secure national environment by putting in safeguards to prevent catastrophic attacks and accidents.

After months of negotiations between city and Long Beach Unified School District officials, the two entities have reached a deal to continue the service of up to five school resource officers. The officers will be available to high school campuses Tuesday through Friday when school is in session.

Both government agencies are strapped for cash these days, and the city has been trying to recoup all the money it can for any services it gives to outside organizations. Under the new resource officer contract, which runs from Sept. 1 to June 30, LBUSD will pay $602,000 and the city will pay $47,000. The council approved the contract Tuesday.

One year ago, the funding was split evenly between the city and the school district.

The two newest Long Beach City Council members, James Johnson in the 7th District and Steve Neal in the 9th District, got the council's OK Tuesday to have the city clerk make campaign-related independent expenditures available online.

Currently, contributions and expenditures to local candidates' campaigns are available on the city clerk's website, www.longbeach.gov/cityclerk.

However, independent expenditures must only be reported in paper form to the clerk.
According to a memo from Johnson, as of Aug. 27 there were $547,345.45 in independent expenditures for the 2010 April and June elections for council offices. In comparison, $526,989.65 was spent by council candidates themselves, he said. Many of those independent expenditures were made by unions, particularly in support of Neal and Johnson's predecessor, former Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga.

Reforming employee pensions may be the only way to keep Long Beach's head above water financially in the future, city officials say.

Director of Financial Management Lori Ann Farrell gave a report to the Budget Oversight Committee on Tuesday that showed just how much Long Beach could save if it created new employee pension systems.

The most extreme pension change outlined by Farrell for new employees would require workers to pay their full pension contribution, which is currently mostly covered by the city; would be based on the highest three years of a worker's salary, instead of just the highest year; and would implement later retirements with a smaller percentage of pay -- 2 percent per year of service at age 60 for miscellaneous workers and 2 percent per year at age 55 for police and firefighters.

That change would save a total of $36.9 million over the next five years citywide, including $21.8 million in the general fund.

Forget the $18.5 million projected general fund deficit that city officials have been trying to cut for the coming year. In the current fiscal year, which ends this month, Long Beach's revenue is expected to fall $12 million short.

The good news is that programs and services aren't being affected, Director of Finance Lori Ann Farrell said. Drops in property tax, sales and use tax, hotel bed tax, parking citations and several other revenue sources are to blame, Farrell explained in a report to the council last month.

However, the rising cost of oil and other new revenues, such as the medical marijuana permit fees, will offset all but $2 million of the shortfall. The city had budgeted for a $40-per-barrel oil price, but the price has averaged $70 per barrel over the last year.

The last $2 million will be saved through reducing expenditures and "maximizing other funding sources," Farrell says in her report. There isn't anymore explanation beyond that, so hopefully Long Beach can really cut $2 million. I'm guessing it won't be as simple as cutting back on office supplies.

If you want to know what's to come, click here for the community budget book for the next fiscal year.

On Tuesday afternoon, 2nd District City Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal joined in discussions at the Budget Oversight Committee and cast her votes as usual. What wasn't usual was that she did it from a hotel in Rajasthan, India, to which she had traveled for two family weddings.

It wasn't the first time that a council member has attended or proposed attending a meeting via teleconference -- Councilman Gary DeLong had planned to this year but changed his mind, and Councilman Patrick O'Donnell attended a closed session via teleconference in 2009. However, it was the first time that the start time of a meeting that had been scheduled several days earlier was altered at the last possible moment to accommodate a vacationing council member.

On Monday afternoon, a surprising notice was sent out from the city clerk -- Tuesday's 3:45 p.m. budget committee meeting had been rescheduled for 4:30 p.m. Because the committee meeting isn't the full council's regular Tuesday meeting that is required by Long Beach municipal code, it is a special meeting that only needs to be posted 24 hours in advance.

Reached via e-mail Wednesday, Lowenthal said that she had informed the city clerk's office that she wanted to attend the meeting half an hour before Monday's original 3:45 p.m. deadline. City Clerk Larry Herrera said his staff didn't have time to rewrite and repost the agenda by 3:45 p.m. Monday, so the meeting time was changed to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and the revised agenda was posted.

Lowenthal is also expected to attend the next two council meetings, when the budget will be finalized, via teleconference. Everything approved by the budget committee Tuesday still must be approved by the full council.

Asked why she was so determined to attend the committee meeting when she would have a chance to vote on every action taken there during an upcoming council meeting anyway, Lowenthal replied: "As a BOC member, I wanted to be sure the hard decisions got made and council was provided the necessary budget options."

The bigger-picture question is, does this affect the council's efforts to create transparency and should the council create a policy on remote meeting attendance? Herrera said he likes the idea.

"There's no official rule for teleconferencing or special meetings," Herrera said. "What (Tuesday's teleconference) may bring to light is some kind of discussion on that."

Lowenthal said it isn't necessary.

"These committee meetings are based on our individual availability in the first place," she said by e-mail. "It is very common for Council members to schedule meetings around work schedules and other commitments of committee members."

Director of Technology Services Curtis Tani said the conference call Tuesday didn't cost anything because it was done online. Other than a slight transmission delay, Lowenthal's call seemed to go off without a hitch.

Last week, independent candidate Nick Dibs qualified to challenge 37th District Rep. Laura Richardson for a second time in the Nov. 2 general election. Dibs, a teacher who lives in Garden Grove and Long Beach, ran against Richardson in 2008, also as an independent, and lost with about a quarter of the vote. In that race, there wasn't a Republican challenger.

This time around, however, popular conservative columnist Star Parker is running against Richardson, who is seeking her second full term. Although Parker has strong backing from the Republican Party, about 60 percent of 37th District residents are registered Democrats and 16 percent are registered Republicans, according to the California Secretary of State. The 37th District includes most of Long Beach, Signal Hill, Compton, Carson, and parts of Watts and Willowbrook.