Travel Records and Council Budgets

While I was away on my first major vacation in many years, I learned that a public records request was made by the local media on travel expenses. No folks, I wasn't on official travel to Alaska.

Apparently over the course of 3 plus years I have spent slightly around $1300 for travel to various city conferences -- that works out to be around $400 a year in travel. Am not sure what budget it comes out of because I submit the bills and they are paid through the council liaison office.

I don't have a travel budget. So I would imagine it comes from the Legislative Department's budget which is a pool of money to pay for Council and Mayor travel.

I keep official travel to a minimum because I don't like to travel and I think we need to be frugal with tax dollars. I also don't take my council staff -- I can't imagine why anyone would.

Back Home

It was great to land at Long Beach Airport from Seattle. I had a wonderful time and spent the afternoon touring Bainbridge Island off Seattle. Beautiful place. Then took the public bus (saving $50) from the Pier to the SEA-TAC Airport. I only was able to do so because we had shipped our luggage from the ship directly to Alaska Airlines (missed flying on Jet Blue) and didn't have to lug them around the bus or airport.

Didn't feel too on vacation when I read the Seattle Times and its editorial was going after a local councilwoman.

Final note on the day. It is a sad commentary when every television program in the airport was focused on who knew Michael Jackson and the various theories on how he died. Folks we have so many serious issues facing us right now -- the wars, health care reform, the economy, etc. News coverage on all of this vanished and celebrity fodder took over.

Alcohol in the Parks

I need to be fair to Phil Hester, our Director of Parks, Recreation and Marine Department who has talked with me for several months about possibly having an OctoberFest in El Dorado Park. This would mean the sale of alcohol. I understood it would be in a very specific contained area with appropriate security.

I supported the concept again provided it was in a contained, secure area with sufficient security, with revenues returing directly to the Parks Dept instead of the general fund. Also, I requested that the community be briefed on the concept before it was brought forth for a vote.

Several thousands of miles away I understand the concept has been expanded to several parks on a year round basis and the proposal was brought directly to the Parks, Recreation and Marine Commission before it was brought to the community -- particularly the community that was so involved in stopping the Sports Complex in El Dorado Park which also had an alcohol sales component.

We need a community meeting to discuss the proposal before City Council takes a vote. Unless that happens I am opposed.

Port Appointment

Am writing off the coast of Canada. Read LBreport.com about "deep throat" report on former State Senator Betty Karnette wanting to be appointed to Harbor Commission. That's not much of a secret, readers. I received a letter from Democractic activist Doug Frankenfield urging my support of Betty to replace Jim Hankla.

But I had already met with former fire chief, Harold Omel, who is a 5th District constituent and who asked me for my support -- which I gave. Because of Harold's long-time experience in public safety I thought that would be a great addition to the current Board. Also it would be great to get another 5th District resident on the Board.

Interesting while being on this cruise I did get to see several large ports. And folks, we need to do a better job in Long Beach welcoming visitors to our port area and providing sometype of historical information for visitors to learn about Long Beach while they are there. We need to incorporate more public useage of the port area and not just around the Queen Mary.

What Happened About LB Museum?

Damn. The city didn't broadcast any report out of closed session. So what happened? Did the council vote to do something about the Museum of Art and the debt we're saddled with?

Met a policeman tonight on the cruise as we make our way out to sea towards Ketchican -- who is from Napa. They are having to forego their raises plus they pay 9% of their PERS. Everyone is hurting.

Spent today in Sitka. It is beautiful. Much better than Juneau. Visited a raptor recovery place. No it isn't for birds that drink. It is for eagles who get injured. Quite impressive as was the Tongass National Forest they walked us through.

Got to keep this brief because internet is on satellite and expensive. Two more days of rest at sea.

P.S. I opposing the allowing of alcohol in our parks. I thought the pilot was for a set area in El Dorado Regional that could be controlled. Now I read it is for several parks and several parts of the El Dorado Park. We don't have enough Rangers. This isn't a good idea right now.

Juneau and Glacier Bay

I walked through Juneau, Alaska's state capitol. It is smaller than the 5th Council District but has more bars/saloons. Sorry, Gov. Palin but I can't see Russia from your back door (saw your mansion which cost $2 million to fix up and looks like it should be in Virginia not Alaska). Saw a little graffiti downtown next to city hall. There are some homeless -- god help them in the winter. And a soup kitchen downtown next to all the tourist shops.

Spent the day cruising Glacier Bay and seeing the awful impact of global warming. The glaciers are melting at a fast pace. But it was spectacular.

The seals are pupping. The puffins are floating. The terns are turning before they dive bomb the ship. It is very cold and gray and overcast.

Skate Park, Museum funding, motion sickness

This has to be fast at 75 cents a minute shipboard somewhere near Alaska. Yeah it is rocking and rolling and for a girl who hates roller coasters...well I will survive.

Was distressed to read LBREPORT.com about someone switching the funding for the 14th Skatepark to make it part of stimulus package. Right as usual King Bill. I don't recall the council approving adding it to the stimulus package request. Especially when districts such as mine have neighborhoods where they still don't have a paved alley and where it floods when it rains.

I love the Museum of Art.

I will not support bailing it out however. City Management has had more than 2 years to come up with something other than the city paying the $3 million bond. I remember specifically asking during City Council for management to talk with the Smithsonian or another reputable museum organization to find out how we can save it and get it run efficiently.

Oh, I know some in city hall thought they would rescue the museum with blighting lower income neighborhoods with electronic billboards. What a concept! Put monsterous billboards up in redevelopment neighborhoods so we can fund a museum in a very high income neighborhood.

I do believe that the Museum should be funded with Tidelands funds as it art is funded in San Diego and Seattle by their Ports....

Well at 75 cents per minute on the shipboard computers, I think I will blog everyother day.

On Lake Washington

Went out on a small boat last nite and went past Bill Gates' waterside home...great outlook...stunning vista...lots of windows...okay bad puns...but it was beautiful.

His former partner Paul Allen has bought up a number of old buildings in the downtown to save, including the Cinemax which is featuring Star Trek and the Long Beach City Council Chambers (you have to see the movie to appreciate that).

Still overcast -- guess it stays that way alot. A little drizzle.

On to Alaska today.

Seattle transit is beautiful. No ugly ads. They allow one sponsor for each bus and it has a small logo in the corner.

Saw a little graffiti in the downtown area and a handfull of what looks like remnants of the 1960's hippies. Lots of people with backpacks.

In Seattle

Arrived in Seattle yesterday to a warm and sunny climate. They have been having unseasonably warm and dry weather. Promptly at 5pm the spell was broken and it rained or rather drizzled.

Took a tour of the city and hit all the usual spots. Today am off to see the "underground tour" and other items of interest...oh yes, and lunch at the top of the space needle.

Was sad to see that Boeing has an elaborate "Future of Aviation" exhibit which is quite a tourist attraction that includes interactive videos for kids and a flight simulator. They also provide a tour of the Boeing plant...why or why can't we do something similar in Long Beach?

That is my mantra as I tour Seattle's port that includes an art walk (just like San Diego), a children's musueum, a reused naval station for commercial (non-shipping), a science museum, a science fiction musuem, a downtown that is packed with people because there are so many shops and yes, a mall that has real stores that draw people.

Their headlines tell the same story as Long Beach -- they have a shortfall. Just south in Portland, Oregon city workers are having to take a 2 week furlough. And, their Development Services Department (Planning and Building to the rest of us) is laying off 90 people because afterall with the downturn in construction there is little need for staff to approve permits and plan checks.

I have to say I slept more than 10 hours last night. I was exhausted from the week, the trip and my walking. It is overcast this morning as I write. I am in touch with my family and my staff via Blackberry so I don't feel so far away.

North to Alaska

I will be going to Seattle and Alaska for my first real vacation since taking office in 2006.

Luckily, since I know how to browse the internet, I will be able to stay in touch with Long Beach and my staff. While in Seattle I will visit their "parking strip" gardens they are encouraging residents to build. Parking strips are the areas between your sidewalk and the street and usually contain a city tree. By removing the grass and planting drought tolerant plants, it saves a tremendous amount of water and they look wonderful.

When I get back I look forward to launching our Spruce Up the 5th summer jobs program for youth in our area who will be helping fix up our parks in the 5th District. This will be a great experience for the youth and our district.

I will blog while I am on my trip.

My favorite color is red

So now that the Press Telegram has told you where I browse on the internet (complete with photos no less), I thought I would tell you the rest: my favorite color is red, rocky road is my fave ice cream, 70's music especially soft pop is the best, I once tried rock climbing, crossing the bar at the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon in a small boat to go salmon fishing was the most frightening experience of my life, the first time I held my three children was incredible....

Give me a break. It took two reporters to cover a story one lone blogger -- Bill Pearl -- broke several weeks ago! Where was the in depth analysis of the middle harbor project -- which by the way the council is powerless to stop? Actually where is the in depth analysis about any topic?

Ok. So I admit maybe we shouldn't have a laptop at council to distract us...even momentarily. Then take away everyone's Blackberry, including the Mayor's, and Mr. Learch's "trio." And stop staff from giving us folders of work while we are sitting there.

I personally put in an incredible amount of hours on council business and use my council time to read and answer email, write a blog on what we are doing, look up information on what is being discussed (why I even consult our city charter and municipal code), and yes, I strayed and looked elsewhere. I know how to multi-task -- every parent learns how to.

Meeting on Hawaiian Gardens

This has been a very busy week. Thursday 50 residents or so showed up at Newcomb Academy to learn about what the City of Hawaiian Gardens is planning on doing by connecting 226th Street to Pioneer Blvd.

Basically, HG wants to remove a portion of the cinder block fence and a mature tree that blocks the view of traffic on the Long Beach side. They also want to install a 3 way stop on the Long Beach side to keep traffic controlled out of Long Beach so cars don't crash into cars going east to west on 226th Street.

Sadly, no one from Hawaiian Gardens was in attendance , although they had promised to be there.

It was the consensus of the residents for Long Beach to officially oppose HG doing anything in Long Beach and to request they move their connection of 226th north of where planned to eliminate the danger of on-coming traffic from Long Beach.

One attendee asked if we could do a traffic count at the point of where Pioneer Blvd., leaves LB and becomes HG just to see whether or not the traffic comes from the north or the south.

Everyone agreed that the City of LB needs to fix up the LB side -- the sidewalk is broken and so is the fence. Also several residents asked if the city could extend up the wall behind their homes and make the fence look uniform.

I am looking into all of this and will keep you updated as we find out more.

Thanks to Mark Christoffels, our City Engineer for attending and answering questions.

Meeting on DeMille

Sorry to say that the Long Beach Unified School District could not find anyone to attend the community meeting held last night to discuss the proposed conversion of DeMille Middle School to a high school. I know there are graduations this week, but honestly, I cannot believe that LBUSD facilities management hands out diplomas. Someone should have been there from the school district to provide an update.

That being said, the City Traffic Engineer, Dave Roseman, did an excellent job explaining some of the potential traffic problems that actually exist today and would be made worse if more traffic trips were generated by a high school population.

I had to remind the 7o residents plus in attendance not to "shoot the messenger." As Roseman pointed out, LBSUD has no legal requirement to discuss the plan or the traffic impact with the City of Long Beach because they are governed by the Board of Education (5 members elected by the voters of Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill and Avalon) and the State and County Department of Education.

I am compiling the commments made by participants last night and will foward them with another request to the LBUSD to hold community meetings with residents to provide updates. Afterall, not one person in attendance in the December 2008 meeting received a response from the LBUSD to the questions they wrote on the cards provided by school district staff.

Legal requirements aside. It is not being a "good neighbor" to ignore the good neighbors who live across the street from the project site.

Who Should Fix Potholes?

Read a very interesting article today in "Governing" magazine which is published by Congressional Quarterly. The article is written by Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene and looks at the debate of whether or not it saves money for cities to contract out work.

What they found was that it is actually more expensive to contract out and gave the example of the State of Texas which found that potholes filled by their own Department of Transportation cost $23 each to repair, but the ones repaired by contractors cost $129 each. Sealing cracks cost $327 per square mile for state workers and more than twice that amount for contractors.

The State of Kentucky found in an audit that it could have saved $9 million had its own employees, rather than contractors been used to staff mental health facilities.

The authors point out that in Florida because of its extensive contracting out, a Council on Efficient Government now does a cost-benefit analysis and risk-assessment to look at contract and project management as well as performance measurement and continuity of operationsl plans.

Bottom line is getting "policy makers to think about things before they do them, rathn than do them intuitvely."

Guess the voters of Long Beach were pretty smart in passing Prop L which requires such an analysis before we contract out.

City Cars Cost Plenty

Today in the Committee on Civil Service and Personnel which I chair, we discussed what it costs the city to let employees have a car full time. First of all, the city buys the car or leases it; then the city insures it; licenses it; pays gas and oil for it; and pays for maintenance.

Approximately 110 employees take cars home on a full time basis. The figures given to me today indicate it costs $310,000 a year for gas, oil and maintenance. The city self insures so there are no insurance premiums to pay. I did not get the figures for the purchase or lease of these cars.

I asked for a full report for City Council because we need to go after every nickle and dime. Here's a place to start. No city cars for anyone. Either provide a monthly auto allowance to cover wear, tear, gas, oil and maintenance for a city employee to use their own car or alternatively, require the monthly submission of mileage records for reimbursement.

Looking at this issue was a suggestion of many city employees who provided ideas on how the city can save money.

Court Rules on What a City Can Spend to Promote Ballot Measures

California Supreme Court Upholds Existing Standards for Public Expenditures on Local Ballot Measures

The Supreme Court's recent decision in Vargas v. City of Salinas reaffirms the Court's holding in Stanson v. Mott (1976) 17 Cal.3d 206, and maintains existing limitations on the expenditure of public funds for materials and activities related to ballot measures. Although the Court rejected the adoption of a proposed bright-line test that would have permitted public expenditures for all communications that were not express advocacy, it provided some useful new general guidance beyond that in Stanson. It also provided helpful specific examples both of acceptable publicly funded communications--by approving the specific expenditures by the City of Salinas at issue in the lawsuit--and of unacceptable communications --by expressly disapproving communications from other cases and from a recent California election. --from Public Law news.

Funny e-cards

There is a site called someecards which has some of the funniest e-cards. (Some are too over the top.) They provide some comic relief especially about Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and cell phones.

Someone sent one to me.

In between watching the Tony Awards tonite after coming home from listening to the Long Beach Chorale sing a masterful performance, the e-card was funny especially if you put it into a political context.

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.