November 2010 Archives

As the Long Beach City Council prepares to make a final decision Tuesday -- please, I hope, finally! -- 5th District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske has been conducting a survey on her blog. Interestingly, although Schipske is one of three council members who want to create new and tougher restrictions on medical marijuana collectives, most of the roughly 1,000 survey respondents don't seem as concerned about the issue.

See the survey results here.

The shipping and transportation industry issued the following statement following the passage of Measure D in Long Beach, which is expected to generate an extra $1.5 million to $2 million annually for beach maintenance, lifeguards, marina upkeep, public events on the waterfront and other development along the city's coast.

The extra money will come from revenue generated by terminal leases, dockage fees and other monies culled in international shipping at the Port of Long Beach.

Statement by John McLaurin, President, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA): 

"While we are disappointed with the election results this morning, we are pleased that such a large percentage of the voters of Long Beach agreed that Measure D is an ill-fated attempt to further burden the Port and is the wrong way to address City Hall's budget challenges. Thousands of voters joined with the chorus of voices that view Measure D as a deceptive measure that was rushed on to the ballot literally in the dark of night in order to pass." 

 

"Many city officials and politicians led voters to believe that this measure is a simple clarification.  Unfortunately, voters didn't have all the facts, and neither did the City Council when they put this on the ballot - because Measure D was crafted without any fiscal analysis whatsoever and without review by the harbor commissioners and professional port staff - let alone by the general public and other stakeholders."

 

"Throughout the campaign, Measure D has been described as a modest proposal that would at most divert around $1.5 million from the Port to the City.  Indeed, city officials campaigned on this fact.  As such, we intend to hold the City to this estimate and fight any transfers of property or money as a consequence of Measure D over and above the amounts that were the basis on which this measure was sold to the voters."

 

"As the entirety of the maritime and international business community opposed this charter amendment, accountability and transparency will be of even greater importance to the economic vitality of the Port of Long Beach and the City itself."

To learn more about the non profit organization, visit www.pmsaship.org.

 

 

As I reported last week, Long Beach city officials were late in getting their required employee compensation information to the State Controller's office. Most California cities and counties sent the information on time after state Controller John Chiang announced in August that it would be required. The new rule was a direct result of the scandal surrounding obscenely high officials' pay in the city of Bell.

Check out the compensation of Long Beach city workers and those from any other city on the state controller's database here. The data include last year's actual pay for each employee, including overtime, pension contributions paid with tax dollars, and the cost of other benefits.