Breakwater study is a heartbreaker

Breakwater study done. (http://www.longbeach.gov/citymanager/ga/breakwater/default.asp) Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

Good news. Well the study shows that removing a portion of the breakwater could help clean up the water and improve waves slightly.

Bad news. To do anything beyond the study will cost the City of Long Beach millions and millions of dollars. Oh, then there is the issue of whether or not the Army Corps of Engineers even approves doing anything -- and since they control the breakwater they call the shots.

So let's say they say "yes" -- well, the City of Long Beach has to commit to paying 1/2 the costs of the further study which amounts to @ $3.8 million. Then there's the cost of the actual work which could hit tens of millions.

What is missing in the entire study is the fact that people have seen photographs of the shoreline in the late 1940's and 1950's and we had waves. Oh and we also had the breakwater. What we didn't have was the Port of Long Beach sticking way out in the ocean blocking tidal flow.

Nope. We're not taking the Port down. But seriously folks we don't have the money to do further studies or to pay to take a portion of the breakwater down and it isn't likely the feds are interested in taking the breakwater down (things everyone knew when this initial study was ordered) -- so do we all feel better now?

Wetlands Swap Should End

Dave Wielenga of The District Weekly called me earlier this week to ask if I knew that the owners of the "wetlands" being considered for swapping for valuable city property -- the public service yard in the First Council District -- were selling the oil and mineral rights underneath the property?

(see article: http://thedistrictweekly.com/2009/daily/writing-shotgun/exclusive-tom-dean-sellling-mineral-rights-to-los-cerritos-wetlands/?dsq=13113743#comment-13113743)

No.

Unreal. I originally brought this issue up earlier in the process of why the oil and mineral rights were not being included in any deal, especially since we know that the property will have to be cleaned up because of oil contamination. Was told the owner didn't want to sell them.

I guess that was before the Wall Street Journal just ran a story that crude oil will drop to $20 a barrel by the fall because of a glut and it must seem like the right time to bail out of the oil business.

Ok. Then that should put the city in a great position to get these rights. Afterall, we can use the monthly income which is at @$400,000 both for increased revenue and for paying to clean up the site.

Better yet. Stop this madness. We don't have any money. We just declared a fiscal crisis. The State doesn't have any money to buy the land from us.

The "wetlands" aren't going anywhere. The only value of the property is what is underneath and that's about to be sold to someone else.

Air Toxic Hot Spots

Don't know about you. But I am running into more and more people lately with seriously allergies and coughs. People are complaining about the air and with good reason.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District has released its 2008 Annual Report on the AB 2588 Air Toxics "Hot Spots" Program. The Air Toxics "Hot Spots" Information and Assessment Act of 1987 requires local air pollution districts to prepare an annual report and to provide it to local health officiers.

You can view the report which provides a summary of major program activities during the calendar year 2008 and activities planned during 2009.:

http:www.aqmd.gov/prdas/AB2588/AB2588.html

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.

Struggling with Equal Benefits Ordinance Process

When Councilmember Robert Garcia approached me last Sunday afternoon to co-sponsor an ordinance that would be placed on the Council Agenda to mandate Equal Benefits for any business doing business with the City of Long Beach, I asked that we sit down and discuss exactly what was being proposed and also discuss the timing of doing something like this in the current economy. Councilmember Garcia told me we would talk but that he would go ahead with it without my co-sponsorship.

And he did the next day by placing it on the agenda with another co-sponsor for July 14, not the 21st.

So I have had to do extensive research on the concept and what other cities have enacted. As far as I can see, every city that has adopted this ordinance did so after several public hearings and with input from the business and gay and lesbian communities before the ordinance was crafted.

In fairness to everyone, we need to do the same: refer it to a council committee and the Human Relations Commission for public hearings and in-put. That way we can work out the details in public -- such as the dollar threshold for the requirement to kick in. Several cities set it at $50,000 and above -- some set it lower. Also in Minnesota, only employers with 51 employers or more (considered to be large employers) would be required to comply. They also exempt religious organizations. We also need to hear from the City Attorney about how we word the ordinance so not to conflict with our legal responsibility to select the lowest bidder -- which is now causing New York City problems.

The concept is right. The City should not do business with businesses that discriminate against their employees with domestic partners. And since it costs the same for an employer to provide health care benefits to the spouse of an employee as it would for the domestic partner of an employee it is only fair.

That being said, I believe the City Council has an obligation not only to propose law but to get as many people who will be impacted by that law involved. The Council has done this on fire sprinklers, lobbyist registration, second story moratorium, large trucks and many other proposed code changes. It just makes for better law. It just makes sense.

So I will be asking that we refer the matter to the Council Committee on Economic Development and the citizen Human Relations Commission so that the Council can support an ordinance that will really be effective.

Residents Angry About Proposed Water Rate Increase...and Lack of Enforcement for Overwatering

The letter just started to hit my district. You know. The one that says because we have a shortage of water, the Water Commission is going to raise water rates.

Oh that one. Try explaining to anyone why if Long Beach has conserved more water than any other jurisdiction, it is now being rewarded by higher water rates.

Also, as I walk the district (and respond to many emails), people are mad as hornets over the Water Department's advertising campaign encouraging people to turn in those who waste water. In some instances this has turned into an instant neighbor feud. In others, residents complain to me that when they report offenders, the overwatering continues. (That's because there are no teeth in the water shortage/conservation effort. No fine. Just stern warnings.)

I am voting against any increase in Water rates and for real penalties for overwatering.

Walking and Talking

I am out in the 5th District again walking and talking to neighbors. The feedback is positive. Residents like my outreach and communications efforts. They also like this blog and the fact that I "fight for them" when I ask questions and probe further when proposals are brought to council.

Don't get me wrong. Residents still want their sidewalks fixed and their trees trimmed and speeding stopped on their residential streets. They also expect prompt responses from police and fire. They support our local libraries and the programs in our parks.

They do not want additional taxes or for the city to spend money on non-core services.

If I hear anything different, I'll let you all know.

P.S. It is hot out here on many of the streets where residents had the city trees removed. I've asked a couple of them if they a new tree and usually the answer is "no" because they don't want one more thing to take care of.

All Extra Money Should Go Into General Fund

Last night Council considered a very complex financial transaction that essentially "tenders" 30% of the pre-pay natural gas contracts we agreed to with Merrill Lynch.

Doing so will return about 25 million to the Gas and Oil Department. More importantly it will not increase the cost to the consumer.

In the memo to the Council was a proposal to use some of these new funds to pay for the relocation of the Public Service Yard which is a necessary component of the proposed wetlands and land swap. The council approved my motion that removed that provision so that any additional funds from the tendering of 30% of the bonds will go to the General Fund and not to pay to move the Public Service Yard -- which we can wait to do until we are financially solvent.

Alcohol in the Parks -- Redux

After a meeting with park protection activists and Phil Hester, Director of Parks, Recreation and Marine Department I think we may have worked out a compromise that protects the parks but allows alcohol in specific places (actually reduces the number of places originally proposed) and under very specific circumstances (i.e. weddings, corporate picnics, Octoberfest, etc)

These park protection activists worked years ago to keep alcohol and a sports park out of El Dorado Park and are concerned that the latest proposal would open all the parks to alcohol and would create serious problems -- especially since we have cut the number of Park Rangers.

Mr. Hester is taking the changes back to the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department and then to the City Council.

It was a good meeting. Let's hope we get a good resolution to this issue.

Contact City Manager About Fire Station Cuts

Okay. So I have heard it now not less than 5 times that coming soon to your local city council meeting are proposals to "brown out" several fire stations -- two of which are in my council district.

If I were a worrying sort, I'd say the timing is suspicious right before the start of campaign season. But I am giving the powers that be the benefit that they are "putting everything on the table" and not targeting a specific district.

So help me tell the City Manager and the Mayor to take it off the table.

The 5th Council District has three fire stations: 5, 18 and 19. Click here to see them:
http://www.longbeach.gov/fire/station_locations.asp

I understand the plan is to shut down one station in the morning and one in the evening.

Let me tell you why that is wrong and so very dangerous. The majority of calls for service in my district are for paramedics. If you even add 3 minutes to a response time because the station is closed and another has to respond, you are wasting precious minutes especially for those who are in cardiac arrest.

For three years I have called for establishing a paramedic subscription program that would bring in funds at the same time help our residents by waiving their co-pay. Many, many cities are doing this.

You can contact the city manager at: patrick.west@longbeach.gov and the Mayor at Bob.Foster@longbeach.gov. Tell them it is a bad idea to cut fire services.

Nyet on Using Gas Contract Money For Public Service Yard

In the spirit of Obama being in Russia, I thought I would say "no" in a different language.

I know that some are a twitter (and are twittering) that the cost of moving the City's Public Service Yard can be paid for out of an arrangement involving our natural gas contracts.

So again. "Nyet." "No."

For you see, the cost of moving the Public Service Yard is about $500,000 and stands in the way of closing the land swap deal in which the city gives the public service yard to the owner of the "wetlands properties" -- thus necessitating the City to move out of the Public Service Yard at a cost of $500,000.

Yes. I am most interested in saving the wetlands. But I am more interested in saving the City of Long Beach from financial ruin or cutting fire and police or other necessary services because we don't have the money.

Use the $500,000 to keep our fire stations open. Use the $500,000 to make certain we have enough police on the streets. Use the $500,000 to restore the Library's budget that has been so cut this year and next.

You have to ask yourself why in this economy and with all of the problems the city and state faces, we are focusing on spending money for anything that isn't our core service.

LB Health Care Reform Town Hall Sobering

I was invited to speak at a town hall on health care reform sponsored by St. Mary Medical Center. Congresswoman Laura Richardson and several other speakers also talked about the need to reform our current health care system.

While most of the speakers focused upon changing the financing of health care, I spoke on the need to deal with the delivery system.

Below are some of my remarks:

"As the first Registered Nurse Practitioner to sit on the Medical Board of California, the agency which licenses and disciplines the 117,000 plus physicians in my state, I need to share with you my perspective on how the current health care system is taking its toll on these physicians and putting the medical profession at odds with the nursing profession and how if these problems are not addressed, we will not be able to ensure that every American has access to health care.

More and more doctors say they want to leave the profession in the next few years. Many others say they wouldn’t recommend the profession to their own children. The suicide rate among male physicians is 40% higher than among the general male population and 130% higher among female physicians than among the general female population.

Those who remain in medicine are mad as hell.

Who can blame them? Doctors are under constant attack from about everyone, for trying to do what they spent many years in training to do.

Doctors note that they are no longer the “captain of the ship” in health care. The medical profession no longer provides the autonomy nor the prestige once given, as insurance companies pay doctors pennies on the dollar for the care they provide and managed care company clerks place limits on the type of care they can give. Doctors spend too much time filling out forms and focusing upon billing problems; time that could be better spent with their patients or their own families.

They agonize as they watch helplessly as some of their seriously ill patients struggle to get insurance companies to cover their health care needs or to pay for the prescription medicine that could save their lives.

The government tells doctors whom they must treat and fines them if they don’t. Patients sue when they don’t like the outcome of the care they receive resulting in malpractice insurance coverage costs taking more of their income.

We began having a shortage of physicians in this country beginning in the 1980’s -- just about the time managed care arrived and began undercutting how doctors practice medicine. To fill this shortage, my own profession provided advanced clinical training for nurses who became nurse practitioners. Although paid far less than physicians, nurse practitioners nonetheless provide primary care in many health care settings.

Many physicians perceive expanding the “scope of practice” of non-physicians to allow health care professionals such as nurse practitioners to diagnose, treat and prescribe, as a further attack on the status of medicine and are waging battles in several states to stop the expanded authority of nurse practitioners. This despite the fact that most studies show that nurse practitioners can safely and effectively provide 80% of all primary care.

The medical community recently sounded the alarm against the a new “Doctor of Nursing Practice” that moves nursing in the direction of other health professions such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, psychology, physical therapy and audiology which all offer clinical practice doctorates.

Expanded scope of practice for non-physicians has been the only means of meeting the need of providing access to health care in many communities.

We need to bring the medical and nursing professions together to discuss how we can work collaboratively to expand access to patient centered primary care in this country.

In some health care settings, that may involve physicians and nurse practitioners working in “multidisciplinary teams” with the “understanding of the distinctive roles, skills, and values of all team members” – as the American College of Physicians just stated in its policy monograph about nurse practitioners in primary care.

But it may also require that in some health care settings, nurse practitioners substitute or replace primary care physicians in order to provide access to primary health care; a possibility that the American College of Physicians strongly opposed in the same monograph.

This independent role of nurse practitioners (which is already allowed in several states: AK, AZ, DC, IA, ID, MT, NH, NM, OR, WA) obviously requires acknowledgement that appropriately trained nurse practitioners can safely and effectively provide such care and that they can access other health care resources such as admitting privileges at hospitals, adequate malpractice insurance and equitable reimbursement for the care provided.

Our health care system must acknowledge and value that each profession, by its training, has a different focus on patient care. Nurse Practitioners are often sought by patients because of our abilities to spend more time with patients and our holistic approach in caring for patients and their families. Physicians have extensive clinical training and experience and are consulted when the patient’s condition requires advanced care. Using a combination of medical and nursing professionals expands the sources of care in all communities.

Medicine and nursing must not be at war with each other over whom should care for patients, especially at a time when such care is so needed in our country.

We need to bring about a change in our health care system that not only benefits patients but those who provide the care."

Note: My remarks are my own and not to be construed in anyway as reflecting the California Medical Board.

Some things you can't do in Long Beach...

Thought I would post a partial list of the "most common life-safety and quality of life Long Beach Municipal Code Violations" otherwise known as the list of things you cannot do in Long Beach. If you see any of these violations, please call my office at 562.570-6932 and we'll send out Code Enforcement to cite the offender:

• Discharge fireworks
• Obstruction/storage blocking ingress and egress
• Locked, latched, chained exist doors prevent egress
• No exit sign
• Inoperable smoke detector or fire extinguisher (for business)
• Excessive fuels (over 5 gallons) stored in dwellings or garages
• Weeds or unsightly debris visable to public view
• Abandoned, boarded up buildings
• Broken windows
• Overgrown vegetation
• Junk in front or side yard
• Trash cans stored in front or side yard visible from street
• Graffiti
• Garage conversion
• Extension cords used as a substitute for permanent wiring
• Spitting/discharging mucus from nose or mouth on sidewalk or public place
• Vandalism
• Possession of alcohol in public park
• Juvenile (under 18) curfew violation -- 10 pm to 6 am
• Shed, add-on, non-permitted room used as dwelling
• Unsafe housing
• Possession of a shopping cart
• Loud music
• Storing, selling, displaying vehicles for sale on street
• Repairing, painting, displaying automobiles on street
• Living in the parks
• Canopies in driveways or front area or side area

Inside the C-17

Wow, what an experience I had yesterday --thanks in part to Congresswoman Laura Richardson. You see she was visiting the Boeing plant to talk to executives and workers about the importance of continuing the C-17. I attended because Boeing is in my district (and the Mayor and Vice Mayor were not available).

We had several briefings and then went to the plant to view a plane being assembled and then on to a finished plane where we entered the cockpit and the two of us sat in the pilot and co-pilot seats. (No, I don't know which was which...)

Anyway I credit Laura for my access because she made certain that I was included up front and she acknowledged my being there several times. (This is something Asssemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal is also very good at doing when she attends an event and there are other elected officials.)

We also met with several of the suppliers -- companies which provide parts and other services to make the C-17 happen. They and the employees at Boeing amount to 30,000 jobs across the US directly related to the C-17.

The Air Force continues to say privately it wants the C-17 as its cargo plane -- because of problems with the C-5. However, when the budget comes, AF doesn't put a request in for it. So the House of Representatives added a request for 15 planes.

Currently, most of the planes being purchased are for commercial uses in the Middle East. The C-17 requires little crew, is reliable and can carry a ton (actually many tons) of cargo and personnel.

Long Beach needs the C-17. So does the U.S.

Nominate Your Good Neighbors

It's that time of the year when I ask residents to nominate organizations, youths or adults who have earned the title "Good Neighbor." That means they went out of their way to do something special that qualifies them to be called a "Good Neighbor."

You can click here and go on line and complete the nomination form.

Please don't nominate yourself because the nomination needs to come from someone else who thinks you deserve to be honored and I have to announce you nominated yourself.

I need the forms completed not later than August 31st so that I can give out the awards at the 3rd Annual Good Neighbor Festival and Picnic on Saturday, September 26th at 10 am until 3 pm in the Good Neighbor Park at Studebaker and Barrios.

By the way, this year's festival and picnic will be a lot of fun: free food and drink, music by The Elm Street Band, pie eating contest, penny arcade, info booths, free bike helmets, games for kids, and a sidewalk chalk art contest.

So mark your calendars and enjoy.

Back in Long Beach -- after Metropolitan Water District Tour

Vacation is over. Back to business in Long Beach. Several issues are brewing -- allowing alcohol in the parks; the proposal wetlands land swap; the $3 million debt of the Musuem of Art; the growing City deficit with threatened state take aways.

Yesterday I went on a day long tour of Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County to view a portion of the water system maintained by the Metropolitan Water District which provides most of Long Beach's water.

5th District resident and neighborhood activist, Phyllis Ortman, led the tour. She is employed by MWD and has to be the most knowledgeable person on water issues that I have met.

It was very hot down there in Riverside. Diamond Valley Lake has a visitors' center and the Western Center for Archeology and Paleontology -- which is worth the trip.

The excitement of the day was when the wind whipped up and blew my hat off into the treatment basin. Yes, it had to be fished out and for a brief moment as the hat floated on the water it looked like I may have gone overboard too.