Join me for the kickoff of Summer Reading Club...Oh the places you will go.

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Public Meeting on Visioning Future of Main Library

JAG (Photo credit: L.A. Filming Location Expert)

Schipske To Hold Community Meeting on

 “Visioning the Future for the Main Library”

Meeting Set for Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 12:30 pm in

El Dorado Library Community Room

Long Beach, CA – June 20, 2013 – Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske is inviting residents to attend a public discussion on “visioning the future of the Main Library” on Saturday, June 29 at 12:30 pm, in the community room at El Dorado Library.

Schipske called the meeting after several residents expressed concern that the public had not be given the opportunity early in the process of discussing what they want done about the Main Library and that the process and decision would be developer driven.

“Since its beginning, the City of Long Beach has had a main library either in or adjacent to its downtown City Hall,” reminds Schipske. “Recently, the City sent a Request for Qualifications (http://www.uli.org/wp-content/uploads/ULI-Documents/Long-Beach-Development-Services.pdf)  to interested parties for the possible construction of a new main library at the current site or the relocation of the Main Library to another part of the city as part of an overall new Civic Center. The public has not been asked what they vision for our Main Library. This meeting can be the start of that discussion.”

The RFQ states about the Main Library: “Rebuild or relocate within the Downtown area the existing Main Library with a modern facility that meets current user needs and use patterns, giving it a more prominent identity and enhancing efficiencies.”

Once the City Council receives all the responses to the RFQ and their proposals, the Council will have to decide what to do with the current City Hall, Main Library, and old courthouse.

“While I personally think the City should retrofit and refurbish the Civic Center and Library which would be less costly, I really think it is important that the residents provide input on what they want these facilities to look like and what services they should provide. I invite the public to attend so we can have this discussion.”

El Dorado Library is located at 2900 N. Studebaker Road. 

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Schipske Calls On Mayor Foster to Oppose AB 76 -- Will Damage Domestic Violence Victims and Public's Right to Records

Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske Urges Mayor Foster To Speak Out About Damage 

Assembly Bill 76 Would Do to Long Beach Domestic Violence Victims,

TB Prevention Efforts and Public Records Access

June 19, 2013 -- Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske today called on Mayor Bob Foster to speak out against Assembly Bill 76 which is on the desk of Governor Brown for signature. The bill is a complex collection of acts that amend, add or repeal over 100 laws spread over 14 different California Codes. The act is intended to reduce the number of mandates on local government. Among the provisions included in the bill are serious changes in the mandatory handling of domestic violence crimes, an elimination of funding the City’s Local Health Officer duties in tuberculosis reporting and elimination of the 10 day reporting requirement for Public Records requests.

 “I just read that the District Attorney of Sacramento Jan Scully has identified that buried in the bill are provisions that infringe on the rights of victims and seriously impact the fight against domestic violence,” says Schipske, who has served on the US Attorney General’s Violence Against Women Advisory Council.

 “Specifically, if approved the law would change from mandatory to discretionary the requirement that law enforcement keep complete records of domestic violence restraining orders. It would also change from mandatory to discretionary standards for police officer responses to domestic violence crime and the tracking of domestic violence calls. These changes would abandon the years of work undertaken in Long Beach to protect the rights of victims of domestic violence.”

Schipske also notes that AB 76 suspends current law that requires local government agencies to respond to requests for public records within 10 days, and to give the requestor a response if they need more time or have to reject the request.  “Transparency should not be optional,” says Schipske whose efforts to open up local government have won the praise of California Forward in its “State of Transparency Report.” The bill would also suspend the mandate that local government help members of the public frame their records requests to increase the chances they will obtain what they are seeking. The local government could also now opt to release records on paper rather than electronically. “This is an assault on the public’s right to know and should be opposed.”

Schipske says that what is less clear about AB 76 is whether or not it includes the Governor’s budget proposal to eliminate funding by the state to local public health officers for a LHO Review of Treatment Plans. Health facilities are required to submit treatment plans to local health officers and obtain approval prior to releasing Tuberculosis patients. Long Beach is one of three California cities with its own local health officer and the City has been hit with a high number of TB cases. “Elimination of this funding is short-sighted and should be opposed so that the health of our residents is not compromised.”

Schipske notes that the City Council did not receive any information concerning the serious impact of AB 76. “I had to find it on the internet when I was reading the State Legislative Analyst May 2013 report on ‘Newly Identified Mandates’ and then track down where the changes wound up in legislation. I would hope in the future the Council gets this information so it can take a position in a timely manner on legislation which would impact our residents.”

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Grace Clements Art Once in LB Municipal Airport Hangs in Florida Gallery

WPA artist, Grace Clements, who designed the tile mosaics on the floor of the Long Beach Municipal Airport and murals on the walls of the terminal (which were painted over in 2005), apparently did other pieces of art for the Long Beach Municipal Airport.

I found three of them and they are now owned and displayed at the Florida International University Wolfsonian Gallery.

So how did they leave the Long Beach Municipal Airport and wind up owned by Michael Wolfson? I am trying to find out and to see how they can be brought back to Long Beach where they belong.

Grace Clements was a 28 year old artist who was part of the post surrealist movement. Her art was patterned after German expressionism and cubism. She participated in several public arts works that used murals in different media such as tiles, collage and paint. Her theme in the LB Airport was communication (aviation and navigation). The tile mosaics were assembled in Los Angeles by workers and then installed in the LB Airport. Scheduled to open on December 8, 1941, Clements was reported to be working inside the airport terminal when word arrived that the grand opening would be cancelled because of the attack on Pearl Harbor.