DeMille Middle School and Hawaiian Gardens --what they have in common

What do DeMille Middle School and Hawaiian Gardens have in common?

Answer: government entities going forward without consulting the neighbors.

So the LBUSD is planning on demolishing DeMille Middle School to build a new vocational high school in the neighborhood off Los Coyotes and Studebaker even though the residents clearly do not want the increased traffic and noise. A traffic analysis has not been presented to show how these problems are being mitigated. I am holding a community meeting next week at DeMille and have invited Superintendent Steinhauser to send someone to answer questions. His response: no one is available. Okay. So you want to change a neighborhood and you don't have time to talk with the neighbors. Then I will bring the neighbors to a Board of Education meeting this summer.

Now on to Hawaiian Gardens. Seems as if our friends to the north want to reconfigure a street adjacent to El Dorado Park Estates so they can connect it with Pioneer Blvd. That seems fair. However, to do it they want to remove a fence and a mature tree on the Long Beach side and install a 4-way stop inside Long Beach so that people don't crash into the cars now coming on 226th to connect at Pioneer Blvd. Again. Things they should have talked with their neighbors about. So again. I am having a community meeting this week at Newcomb Academy to discuss this issue.

Come to one or both meetings and voice your concerns.

Smearing People and Retaliation

I am disgusted with the news media today for publishing an article about a Belmont Shore activist's DUI -- they put it on the front page less we miss how important it is to discredit this person.

Folks. We have major problems in this city including increased crime in Belmont Shore and continued complaints from residents about the drinking and rowdy crowds along Second Street. So why aren't these problems on the front page instead of attacking a resident who happens to come to city council and complains about these issues?

This isn't Chicago (or is it?) where revenge is taken out on those who disagree with the political house currently in office by smearing them. (Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, heh?)

The fact that the disclosure about the DUI (which is not relevant at all) came in the same week a resident of the westside contends he was removed from a citizen committee because he allegedly made a comment about the mayor and a certain developer is also disgusting. What next? Waking up to severed horse heads in our beds?

I am still waiting to be given a reason I was removed from the City Council Committee on Federal Legislation and replaced by my colleague from the 6th District.

Just curious. Afterall, I am the only council member to have worked in the US Congress and to have a graduate degree in Legislative Affairs and to have taught for several years at CSULB the topics of intergovernmental relations and political science. I guess experience and expertise doesn't really matter.

Blog is back

Thank you, Godaddy.com for fantastic customer support.

I switched from Yahoo because they allowed someone to hack my blog and disable it and because they cannot support wordpress. Also changed to blogger.com to make my life easier. I simply want to blog not run a website.

Sorry that my prior posts aren't available but there was no way to save them except print them out.

Full Council Meeting

We were in city council until 11 pm last night. While most would have considered the agenda as light on substance we spent an inordinate time re-discussing the Port of Long Beach's Middle Harbor Project and all the ornaments several members (warring factions that is) of the council would like see added.

After that we launched into a vigorous (and repeated) discussion about whether or not we should put further restrictions on when construction can take place. It was suggested by a council committee that the time be restricted to 9 am to 4pm.

Only problem with the new proposed hours is that no one bothered to talk with the construction industry about what these changes would do to contractors who are trying to keep it together financially in this terrible economy.

To my surprise several representatives of the construction industry appeared at the council meeting and basically said what I just wrote.

The changes were sent back to committee where hopefully we can inject some common sense.

Do I care about noise in neighborhoods? Absolutely. I actually suffer from tinnitis which is a constant ringing in my ears. Doctors don't really know what causes it but some of the problem is early exposure to loud noise or certain types of medications.

Anyway. I'd love to have it quiet throughout the city. But the biggest complaints I receive are about city vehicles -- trash trucks, street sweepers and water trucks -- making noise at all hours of the day. The other complaints are about the helicopters which make a lot of noise over Wardlow Avenue.

But before we launch off at a particular industry, let's be reasonable and see how we can reduce the noise that the city generates.

Star Trek and City Hall

I saw Star Trek last night at UA Marina Pacifica. It was okay. The best part were the scenes inside City Council chambers where the "Starfleet Federation" bigshots met.

I thought it was a hoot to see who was sitting in my seat. Star Trek was a little more positive than "Dexter" which glamorizes a guy who kills people with Long Beach as background even though it is supposed to be Florida.

Maybe someday, someone will do a movie about Long Beach that portrays the city in a good light...although I have to admit I did like "Usual Suspects."

Walking the 5th

I am walking the 5th District and talking to people who are at home when I knock on their door.

People are mostly satisfied with what is happening in our district. They are however concerned about the city's finances and are particularly upset about the costs of pensions. Even when I explain the pensions were increased in lieu of salary increases -- it doesn't matter.

People working in the private sector are hurting and without pensions. They want government to know that and to find a way to reduce tax obligations.

Government cannot take away pensions and unless collective bargaining agreements are open or the unions agree to open them, increasing employee contributions to pensions can't happen for a while.