Long Beach Was Devastated in 1933

Building codes have certainly been improved since the 1933 earthquake hit Long Beach. But what is happening in Japan is showing us once again that we cannot be totally earthquake proof. Get yourself and family ready in case we get hit.

90% of Long Beach schools were damaged or destroyed in the 1933 earthquake. Students had to attend classes in tents or sitting under trees in local parks. It took two years for all the schools to be fixed or rebuilt.

 

Damage to the downtown Long Beach was also extensive.

Are you ready for the big earthquake here in Long Beach?

It happened in Japan and it is going to happen here in Long Beach. It is just a matter of time.

So please check out these links on information you need to get ready. Click here.

Also, please read the message from the Long Beach Fire Department on earthquake preparedness that I have posted to the left on this blog.

Pushing for Feds to Remove Cap on Local Hires

Last night , the Council supported an agenda item which I sponsored and which was co-sponsored by Councilman Patrick O'Donnell that will ask the federal government to waive a cap on how many local hires we can require on the construction of the Gerald Desmond bridge. Because federal funds are being used from the federal highway administration, the project is capped to requiring only 30% of the jobs go to local hires.

Long Beach has 14% unemployment -- one of the highest rates in the state. So it makes no sense that any projects that will hire workers would be capped at on 30% of those jobs going to Long Beach residents.

So Long Beach needs to asks the federal government to waive the cap and allow more than 30% of the jobs to go to Long Beach residents!

The agenda item now goes to the City Attorney who will work with the City Manager to craft language making this request of the federal government.

Councilman DeLong Needs to Get His Facts Straight -- and Truthful

So Councilman DeLong thinks that my objections to selling city assets and services to private entities is because I received so much money from the unions.

Don't know if he or his handlers wrote the response to my blog but whomever writes his responses needs to be truthful first. I have not received one penny from the unions that provide the services he is trying to sell -- street sweeping, towing, etc.  Both Mr. DeLong and I received $350 from the LB Police Officers Association. I received an in kind contribution of printing of campaign signs from the LB Firefighters Association. That's the sum of what the city unions contributed.

But I did not receive one penny from the unions whose services I believe should not be contracted out.

Now in comparison, I took no money from Tom Dean either. Mr. DeLong did. So are we to infer that is why he pushed the Dean land swap so vigorously? Since councilpersons are limited to receiving $350 from one source (union or non-union) it would seem silly to infer that any council person could be bought for $350. Don't you think so?

I also sent back a check a towing company sent me during the campaign because I had heard that after the election Mr. DeLong would be trying to get the city to contract out towing services and I felt the money was a conflict of interest.

So back to the facts about contracting out city services. Towing and street sweeping provide an incredible amount of revenue for the city. Revenue that pays for the salaries and benefits of the people who provide the services and then some. The "then some" provides for funding for other things in the city.

So why would we want to share revenue with an outside business? Does that make sense for the taxpayers? No.


So let's have a discussion on the merits and shortfalls of contracting out and what is best for the taxpayers and not the politicians.