Welcome Home 1498th Transportation Company

It was my distinct honor to welcome home the men and women from the 1498th Transportation Company as they came off the airplane at Long Beach Airport. Mayor Bob Foster and Vice Mayor Val Lerch were also there. We shook the hands of each and every man and woman who came off the plane in uniform and with backpacks -- some of which had stuffed animals peeking out which provided an interesting contrast of warriors returning with soft personal items that probably brought a touch of home while they were in Iraq for a year.

The 1498th Transportation Company was activated on November 2002 at Riverside as part of the Army National Guard Division Redesign Study strategy.

They were sent to Iraq in 2008 and then sent again last year.

The unit is commanded by Major Caroline Morales (who holds a juris doctorate) and looked incredibly young for such a serious position.

The greeting and ceremony brought tears to my eyes. Thank god not one person in the company was injured or killed. The look on the faces of their families was priceless to be able to witness.

We owe them our gratitude for a job well done.

Youth Start Sprucing Up 5th District Parks

Cleaning and repairing the restrooms, benches and tables and improving the landscaping around community buildings in the 5th Council District parks are at the top of my “to do list” this summer and in order to help me get the work done, I has requested that a half dozen youth be assigned to my “sprucing up our parks” project.

Long Beach has received funding through the federal Recovery Act 2009 to employ young adults, ages 14 - 24, 20 - 25 hours a week beginning July 13 through August 31 for up to 200 hours explains Schipske. I have coordinated a work plan with the City’s Parks, Recreation and Marine Department that will allow 5 to 8 youth to work with me to fix up Pan Am, Wardlow and Heartwell parks this summer.

We started on Monday and the young workers made a lot of progress in one day on the first building we're working on in Pan Am Park.

Working on improving the parks will give these young people not only a summer job but a way to make a real difference in the community in which they live.

The Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network will provide wages, worker’s compensation insurance, a job coach and all required administrative procedures. The Summer Youth Employment Training Program is administered by the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network’s Youth Opportunity Center.

Bright Spots This Week

The financial news on the city's budget was devastating.

But I did have several bright spots this week:

• Worked with an Eagle Scout on his project to prepare his neighborhood to get ready for an earthquake
• Joined my council colleagues in approving a permanent prohibition on second stories and demolition of homes in the Ranchos PD-11. The residents worked very hard on this proposal and are to be commended.
• Met the 8 young people who are working with my staff on sprucing up our 5th District parks -- painting, cleaning, landscaping. They started today painting in Pan Am park. It's going to be a great experience for them improving parks; they can come back and show their friends how they made things better in their community.
• Getting some great e-mails from constituents who are very pleased with the level of service my office is providing.
• Walking door to door on several streets and learning how many people actually get updates from me and know what is going on in the city.
  

We all need to start reading up on government finances

I recommend to readers that you go on line to the following link: http://www.californiacityfinance.com/ if you want to know about government finances.

This is no easy topic, especially right now. And lest anyone not believe we are in deep financial trouble, just read the following email I received from the City Manager today:

Potential State Impact to Long Beach of $44 million from State Budget Raids

Long Beach has learned that proposals being discussed at the State Level could impact the City of Long Beach up to $44 million in Fiscal Year 2010. While no State budget has been approved and the negotiations are ongoing early Wednesday evening, raids on local government funds continued to be discussed at the State Level. These potential raids include:

$8 million in Gas Tax

• An illegal raid of up to $8 million in Gas Tax funds, which are used for local street projects and to fund critical transportation operations such as Street Light Power, Engineering/Project Development, Street Tree Maintenance, Street Markings/Signs, Potholes crews, and Traffic Signals Operations and Maintenance.

$10 million in Prop 1A Borrowing of Local Government Property Tax

• The State would borrow eight percent of the property tax revenues received by cities, counties and special districts.

$6 million in RDA Funds

• An illegal raid of $6 million or potentially more from the Redevelopment Agency, which would not have to be paid back.

$20 million in Low-Moderate Income Housing Set-aside dollars

• One proposal is to raid the entire amount of housing set-aside next year. These funds are used to increase, improve, and preserve the supply of housing for low- and moderate-income households and provide loans to those in danger of foreclosure. These dollars also leverage significant other investment in workforce housing – a recent project funded with housing set-aside dollars leveraged other funds by a factor of 10.

The League of California Cities and the Community Redevelopment Association have threatened immediate lawsuits to strike down the Gas Tax raid and Redevelopment raids, should the State Legislature enact these proposals.

We will be dealing with how to respond to these cuts, if implemented, during budget deliberations. We will keep you apprised of further developments.


PATRICK H. WEST
City Manager

Issue of Equal Benefits Goes to Committee and Citizen Human Relations Commission

Glad that my colleague Robert Garcia agreed to my suggestion that the proposal to require benefits for the domestic partners of employees employed by companies doing business with the City of Long Beach needs to be studied and vetted before we take any action and that the proper places to do so are the Council Committee on Economic Development and the citizen Human Relations Commission.

There are a number of issues that need to be reviewed before the Council instructs the City Attorney to draft an ordinance: who has to comply; can religious organizations be exempted; what is the dollar amount that triggers compliance; does this include the workers at the hotels and other businesses which lease city owned land; what is the appeal process if a company is rejected on the basis they don't provide benefits; what types of benefits will be mandated -- in most ordinances on this topic it isn't just health benefits that need to be provided -- it's sick leave, family medical leave, etc.

I look forward to the study and the discussion. It will make much better law in the long-run.