California Medical Board Grapples with Budget Problems

Readers -- as you may recall, I was appointed by the Senate Rules Committee to the California Medical Board which licenses and disciplines physicians in the state. We also oversee Physician Assistants, Licensed Midwives, and Optical Dispensers.

We meet quarterly and for the past two days we have been in Burlingame near San Francisco. We work two full days because we are a regulatory board so I never get to see much of the city in which we meet.

The board is grappling with a state budget that continues to freeze hiring and fail to fund needed programs. The problem is that we derive our budget from the license fees paid by physicians -- not tax revenue. So for the life of me I cannot understand why our employees who are charged with keeping the public safe from bad doctors are put on furloughs or not given the funds needed to continue necessary safety programs such as Operation Safe Medicine. We have vacancies that need to be filled so the department can do its job. Life doesn't stop just because of a hiring freeze. Consumers expect when they file a complaint against a physician that the California Medical Board has the staff and resources to handle the complaint in a timely manner.

This does not make sense. Hopefully the new governor (who was the Attorney General and the prosecutor for the cases the Medical Board took to him) understands that regulatory agencies need access to the funds that have been paid by licensees so we can do our job.

Latest Crime Stats in Long Beach

Crime 001

Residents Don't Favor Ban on Plastic Bags

I wasn't polling when I sent out emails to residents inviting them to attend a Town Hall I am hosting on Sat Jan 29th at 10 am at the LB Water Treatment Plant (Spring and Redondo), but lordy, lordy have I received a full email inbox from residents (with a few exceptions) who are very angry that the City would be proposing a ban on plastic bags at grocery stores and that the City would allow the stores to charge 10 cents for a paper bag.

In essence, most are saying promote a recycling plan and don't force something on people unless the entire state is doing it. Otherwise they will go elsewhere to shop.

For my district -- the 5th -- this is a significant response. We are fortunate to have the most grocery stores in a council district than in other districts so this will really impact this area more than other parts of the city. We are about to lose Boeing. We don't need to lose a grocery store or two because people shop in Lakewood or Cerritos or they go to a Target or Walmart that sells groceries but aren't grocery stores.

The Town Hall will be very interesting this Saturday. I ask that everyone who attends be civil and courteous to both sides of the issue. We can disagree civily.

                                         

Should Long Beach Ban Plastic Bags at Grocery Stores?

Come and listen to both sides on this issue.
Plastic Bag Panel Discussion Flier

156 Area Schools to Receive Solar Car Kits From Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske

The early bird may catch the worm, but it will be  middle school and high school students from Long Beach schools who will be getting a solar car kit when they attend an orientation this Saturday morning on how to build a solar car sponsored by my office.

156 school teams have signed up to participate in the 2nd Annual Solar Grand Prix and as part of the event they must attend a mandatory orientation in order to find out the rules of the Solar Grand Prix and to receive a solar car kit which they will use to build their cars.

I started this event last year and we received 50 applications from student teams. This year the response tripled because students and teachers found the experience last year to be so exciting and word got out that this event provides an opportunity to learn the basics of this alternate form of energy. Also, the races are fun and the students enjoy being creative in their designs.

Students will receive a solar car kit at the end of the orientation and will have until race day -- Saturday, April 9th -- to build their car. Cars will be judged on creativity and design and will be entered into a series of races on tracks constructed by the local Carpenter's union. The event has expanded so much that it will be moved from Good Neighbor Park to the large area behind the Parks and Recreation Administration Building where soccer is played.

The Solar Grand Prix will also feature solar energy and electric vehicle displays. The event is open to the public.

Several of the winning teams from last year's Solar Grand Prix will be on hand during the orientation to share their experiences with the teams entering the races this year.

The Solar Grand Prix orientation will be held at 8 am this Saturday, January 22 at the LB Water Treatment Plant, on Redondo off Spring. Teams must be pre-registered to attend the orientation and to receive the solar car kit. Kits were donated by a number of sponsors.

Adults wishing to volunteer to help with judging the cars and monitoring the races on April 9th are welcome to contact my office at: 562 570-6932.

Status Report on $600,000 Loan to Worthington Ford

I requested an update from City Management concerning the $600,000 loan that was given to Worthington Ford last year. The following is the response:

worthington ford

Check out the improvements on the Queen Mary

City Council was given a presentation last week that I am sharing with you that shows the numerous improvements made by the current operator of the Queen Mary. You really need to go and see them for yourselves. They are impressive.

queen mary

Why you got a calendar from LB Gas and Oil Department

Councilwoman Schipske forwarded your email to me for a response regarding the 2011 Long Beach Gas and Oil (LBGO) calendar. I can understand why a member of the public might consider the calendar frivolous but I can assure you that there are valid reasons why the calendar is produced and sent.


The calendar fulfills a 2005 requirement from the Federal Department of Transportation (DOT), which regulates the natural gas industry, to increase consumer knowledge on how to safely use natural gas. Therefore, each of the past 5 years, LBGO has mailed out the calendar to all residents and businesses in Long Beach. Hopefully, you noticed on the inside of your calendar extensive information regarding natural gas safety precautions, carbon monoxide, Dig Alert phone numbers, etc. This focus on safety is especially relevant this year as in September 2010, there was a major explosion on a natural gas pipeline in Northern California that killed eight people and destroyed 37 homes.

Some common questions asked are 1) why is taxpayers money used for this purpose?, 2) why not just include the safety information in a gas bill stuffer?, and 3) isn't producing the calendar very expensive?

1) NO taxpayer money is used to pay for the calendar. LBGO only utilizes its gas utility revenues for funding the cost of the calendar.

2) While natural gas safety information in the past had been provided via a utility bill stuffer, DOT has determined that that practice was insufficient because:

§ Few people take the time to read the stuffers

§ Few people retain the stuffers for future reference

§ Many natural gas users, such as apartment tenants, do not receive the utility bill


As a result, the industry has largely gone to utilizing calendars as a cost-effective means to convey important safety information, as people keep the calendars handy year-round.
3) All efforts are made to minimize the cost of producing the calendar. The beautiful Long Beach photos were provided free of charge from an amateur Long Beach photographer and the Long Beach Business Journal. All the design work was done internally by my Executive Assistant; therefore, no additional expense was incurred. The printing of the calendar was done by a Long Beach-based company at a cost of 29 cents per calendar. The cost for mailing the calendar using the least expensive option (bulk mail) is 18 cents per calendar. Therefore, the entire cost for each calendar is only 47 cents per calendar. If LBGO opted to purchase calendars from the American Public Gas Association, each calendar would have cost LBGO approximately $1.89, a significant price increase per calendar.

I can also understand you questioning as to why both LBGO and the Port of Long Beach sending out calendars this year. As I hopefully explained above why LBGO feels it necessary to utilize a calendar to convey its required safety message and, therefore, it was felt that LBGO needed to continue its practice of mailing out its calendar. Attempts were made to persuade the Port of Long Beach to utilize some other marketing means to celebrate its 100th anniversary. However, these attempts were obviously unsuccessful.
If you would like to discuss further, please feel free to call me at 562-570-2001.



Sincerely,



Chris Garner

Director - Long Beach Gas and Oil

State Controller Posts Financial Report on Long Beach Redevelopment

Okay so it is early in the morning and I should be in bed. However, Council just got notice that we are having a special meeting during City Council (aren't all of our meetings, special) regarding some fast action needed to save our redevelopment monies from the newly elected Governor who is proposing...gasp...to shut down redevelopment and return the tax dollars back to the city's general fund...or something like that.

Not quite sure why the City Council can do this since we are not the Redevelopment Agency for the city. Hmmm.

So, being curious about how much money we are talking about, I went on line to find the latest financial report sent by all redevelopment agencies to State Controller, John Chiang.

Okay for all of you who want to know what I know... here's the report. Pay special attention to pages 58 and 124 and 125. Shows that more than 18,000 acres of Long Beach is redevelopment. That the agencies take in millions of tax increment and spend millions.Also shows how much square footage was constructed or rehabed..and how many jobs were created by redevelopment money. The bad news is how much debt redevelopment has.

fy0809_redevelop

Should the City Council let you know what is being offered to public employees?

Psst! Do you want to know when the City Council offers public employees salary and pension increases before it's too late to have input?

Right now, the City Charter allows the Council to direct City Management to negotiate with public employees without telling the public what is being done before the contract is agreed to by both sides. And, nothing in the City Charter requires the City Manager to certify that the City has the funds to pay for what is being given in the contract so contracts can be agreed to without the public knowing "how are we going to pay for it?"

Funny thing is that all school districts are required under state law to sunshine bargaining proposals, to allow the public to comment on the offers and to make the CEO of school districts certify that the school district has the money to pay for the bargaining proposals. This hasn't "ruined" the bargaining process for either side.

So why is it cities are allowed to keep this process hidden from the public?

That isn't right and as a Charter City, Long Beach can amend its charter to require that this process gets opened to the public for scrutiny.

Will you help me change this and open up the process so that the public knows what is being offered and asked for by both sides BEFORE negotiations begin?

On Tuesday, January 18, during the City Council, we will be discussing my agenda item outlining how our Charter can be changed to require that the City Council open up the negotiating process so that the public knows ahead of time what is being offered to employees and what the employees are requesting in any new contract negotiations. Additionally, the City Manager would have to publicly certify that the City has the funds to pay for any increases given in a contract.

I am trying to get the City Council to put this "sunshine" requirement on the next ballot so you have an opportunity to vote for a fully open and transparent process.

There are many people who want to stop this proposal. You will hear their "argument" that we don't need to set this in law -- that "future city councils can follow our policy." Nonsense. If this requirement is not put into the charter by a vote of the residents, this council and future councils can continue refusing to open up this process.

By helping me get this on the ballot we can open up the process of bargaining so that the public can provide input at an early stage and the City Council is held accountable for that we agree to. This will make a giant step towards real pension reform. 

We can make all the noise we want about adjusting the formula for pensions (and they do need to be changed for new hires)-- but those formulas will not have an impact for at least 15 years because we are not hiring a lot of new employees.

Opening up the process right now will have immediate impact because the public will be brought into the process at the beginning instead of at the end when it is too late.

After you read this email, take a moment and email the Mayor every member of the City Council and tell them you support a Charter Amendment requiring that City contracts be "sun shined" so that the public can know at the beginning of the process what is offered and that the City Manager must certify before the contract is signed that the City has the money to pay for what is being given in the contract.

Please send your email to:
 Bob_Foster@longbeach.gov
district1@longbeach.gov
district2@longbeach.gov
district3@longbeach.gov
district4@longbeach.gov
district5@longbeach.gov
district6@longbeach.gov
district7@longbeach.gov
district8@longbeach.gov
district9@longbeach.gov

Long Beach City Manager's Weekly Report

Friday Newsletter 01-14-11a

Schipske Helps Save Historic Library Cornerstone

I am proud to say that I spearheaded the efforts to rescue a historic granite cornerstone that once was part of the City's first library building.

As you might recall, last year when the City was getting ready to "swap" the Public Service yard for acreage off Second Street, I asked for an inventory of the artifacts and other items stored over there.

During the photo presentation to Council, I noticed a photograph of a cornerstone that read:

Gift of Andrew Carnegie, A.D. 1908

Since the history of Long Beach is a passion of mine (having written two books on the topic and working on a third), I recognized immediately what the cornerstone, lying in the dirt and weeds represented for the City of Long Beach.

Our City was the beneficiary of a $30,000 gift from Andrew Carnegie, who had made his fortune in steel and set about giving away 95% of his wealth to create libraries across the U.S. The condition was a city needed to give the land for the library and promise to tax its residents for the upkeep. Which the City of Long Beach did at Pacific Park (now called Lincoln Park).

Only 1,681 cities qualified for Carnegie grants from 1889 - 1923. It helped that Long Beach had been operating a library in City Hall and that the City was committed to public schools and public libraries.

The cornerstone was laid on September 5, 1908 and on May 29, 190 the building was open to the public. The use of the Long Beach Public Library grew rapidly. In 1906, the library had 6,678 volumes and by 1910, it had 18,373.

Do we all feel better now that the unions are threatened?

I have been pushing to open up the collective bargaining process in Long Beach for several years but found little interest on the City Council. 

But I am offering it again because I do believe "sun shining" would have prevented some of the mess that we face. Why? Because if voters knew what we were negotiating and city management had to certify that we had the money to pay for what was agreed to, then you bet some prior decisions would never have been made.

Sorry folks, but I am not going to jump on the band wagon of threatening the public employee unions. First of all I do think such a threat constitutes an unfair labor practice charge and is bad faith bargaining at its worst form which violates state labor law.

Secondly it is disingenuous. Every one of the employee unions in Long Beach have indicated they  know that there has to be a change in the pension formulas and they are willing to change the formulas. The Mayor and the Council knows that. And we also know that the changes can only be made for FUTURE employees.

Thirdly, it is hypocritical to claim that public employees are acting as if they are entitled to the pensions and the salary increases. Isn't anyone in the news media ever going to point out that it was this Mayor and this Council (including me) who voted to give the employees salary increases a few years ago and that no one during those negotiations on the management side supported using some of the salary increases to pay for the pensions? (Something that the public would have known about if we had "sun shining.") How about reminding the public that because the Mayor and City Council recently negotiated these contracts that the employee contracts are NOT OPEN for changes?

How about also reporting that the public employee groups were presented with options during the budget process that if they accepted the negotiated salary increases that the Mayor and City Council gave them, then cuts would have to be made in their ranks? So they accepted the cuts and now we're pissed??

So are we saying now that we didn't really mean it? That because they didn't put the salary increases WE gave them towards their pensions but accepted the fact that there would be layoffs -- that we were kidding they had a choice?


Fourthly, the majority of the high salaries (over $100,000) and pensions that are constantly complained about in the press and by those handing out the pitchforks for the rallies -- are for management level employees -- not the rank and file employee who picks up our trash, cleans out the sewers, or does a thousand other services. So where is the plan to carefully weed out unnecessary management and to reduce management salaries? Where is the announcement that we will set the example at the top?


Fifthly, threatening that if things don't get better we have to contract out for basic city services is also unwarranted and illogical. Hello. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs and Fire Department are also public employees with similar salaries and pensions.


Do I think pensions need to be fixed? Yes. Do I think public employees should pay more of the share for the pensions? Yes. And when the contracts which THIS MAYOR and THIS COUNCIL agreed to a few short years ago expire, we need to make it the top issue on the bargaining table and we need to let the public know we are doing it.

But I also feel elected officials should be honest and open about the collective bargaining process and what part they had in creating the problems we face  -- something that right now is not happening.

How to deal with an active shooter. Or what I learned today in my monthly briefing from the Long Beach Police Department.

I wrote on Facebook that the shootings in Tucson over the weekend, hit too close to home for me as an elected official who has received ugly emails or confrontations in public. Whatever your political beliefs, it should be apparent to everyone that violence has no place in politics, let alone in our daily lives.

The seriousness of what happened hit home again today during my monthly briefing with the Long Beach Police Department when I was handed a copy of the the document below.  I pass it along because unfortunately it isn't just elected officials who are the targets of violence.

What a sad commentary on our society today.

Active 001

City Council Needs to Come Clean if We Are Truly Supporting Open Government

Last night, the Council approved two agenda items brought forth by Councilman Robert Garcia and me that would further open up City Hall to the public by requiring a full and transparent city website that is based upon the 10 points suggested by www.sunshinereview.org and by providing a means where by residents can make comments on line about pending agenda items.

These proposals will give residents full access to the important information as detailed later in this post. The good news is that the City of Long Beach already provides a great deal of this information. The most important element lacking, however, is the "Checkbook" register which details how we spend the money. This is not budget information -- which is prospective -- it is as we go along information so that the public can see if we are truly spending money in the most appropriate manner.

On the floor last night, I brought up the fact that if the Council really wants to support open government then those of us who use non-City of Long Beach email to communicate City business, should include a cc in our email messages to our City email account so that the email becomes a public record. Otherwise we are not being fully open and transparent.

I have been doing just that because many people use the contact form on this blog or send me an email to my personal email (yahoo, earthlink, gmail).

Open government "advocate" Peter Scheer says it best about danger in letting electeds conduct government business by private email:  

You don’t have to be a legal scholar to appreciate the size of the loophole that this practice creates. If all it takes to avoid the obligations of the Public Records Act, California’s freedom of information law, is to use a commercial email account for official communications, then all such communications–except the occasional anodyne and self-serving message actually intended for public consumption–will shift to that private channel. The Public Records Act, already porous with special interest loopholes, might as well be renamed the California Official Secrets Act.

 Scheer (see his full article  by clicking here) proposes the following remedies about making communications open and transparent:

1) Agencies and local governments should set up one email account with gobs of storage capacity. To keep it simple and inexpensive, a corporate account (offering extra security) with Google or Yahoo will suffice.
2) Agencies’ .gov email accounts, by default, should “bcc” all emails to the government database account.
3) All government employees should be instructed that, when using their own commercial email account for government matters, they must “bcc” their business messages to the database account (and forward incoming business email there too). Basically, any email that is not strictly personal should be copied to the online storage account.

So, short of putting this item back on the agenda and forcing a public vote, I am asking our electeds to really get on board about open government by only conducting city business in emails that can become public records.

Schipske and Garcia Propose More Openess at City Hall

For Immediate Release




Contacts:



Daniel Brezenoff, Office of Councilmember Garcia

(562) 570 5843



Tiffany Andrews, Office of Councilwoman Schipske

(562) 570 6854



Councilmembers Garcia and Schipske Cosponsor Open Government Initiatives

Council to consider posting contracts and budget information, other reforms



Long Beach, CA



December 30, 2010 – Long Beach Councilmembers Robert Garcia and Gerrie Schipske, of the First and Fifth Districts, respectively, have cosponsored a series of “Open Government Initiatives" to increase transparency and accountability in Long Beach government.

The two motions are on agenda for the Council meeting of January 4, 2011.

The initiative proposes multiple reforms, including the adoption of an open government policy statement for the City, posting completed contracts on line, a system for on line public comments during Council meetings, and a variety of changes to the City website, such as posting budgetary information, information about lobbyists, and access to government records and public documents.

“Openness in government is what makes democracy possible,” Garcia said. “Citizens have a right to a transparent and accessible government."


Councilwoman Schipske said, "Since coming to City Council I have tried to take the Thomas Jefferson approach to local government. He said quite clearly that 'Information is the currency of Democracy' and it should be our approach as well here in Long Beach."


Schipske noted that Long Beach doesn't have to look too far for a model of website transparency adding that the County of Los Angeles has received an A+ rating from sunshinereview.org for its website. "Long Beach is almost there but we need to add a few more features so that the public doesn't have to ask for information -- it will be already there on line."

Councilmembers Garcia and Schipske have a record of open government reforms. Both have long posted their calendars on line for the public to view, and they cosponsored the first and only lobbyist registration law in Long Beach.

Weather Alert -- December 29

Latest from City Manager:

Weather forecast indicates that another storm with wind advisory (20 -30 mph with gusts to 40 mph, noon till 9pm Wed)  is expected to arrive in the Long Beach area tonight and last until Wednesday evening.  Public Service crews have restocked sand bags and sand at required locations, checked storm drains and pump stations.  Two pump stations are down awaiting repairs:  Pump Station 18 in El Dorado Park and Pump Station 7, the pump at Willow and Terminal Island Freeway (both sites currently cleared of water).  As always, Public Service crews will monitor and stand by to respond as needed.  Tides are not expected to be an issue during this event.
With the storms last week and what we are facing in the coming days, it will impact our ability to fill potholes due to the wet conditions.  The storms also are taking a toll on much of our new construction (airport garage, Wardlow Street resurfacing, Long Beach Boulevard resurfacing, Rosa Parks Park, Seaside Park and others).  

Recycle Your Christmas Tree or Better Yet Have It Picked Up

Free Christmas Tree Pick-Up!
Saturday, January 8, 2011

If you have City refuse service, put your holiday tree out where your trash is normally collected by 7 a.m. on Saturday, January 8, and it will be recycled. 

All decorations and stands MUST be removed.  Trees over 12' tall should be cut in half.  Flocked trees will be accepted.

For more information on this call (562) 570-2876 or visit
www.longbeach-recycles.org

December 26, 2010 - January 7, 2011

Free Drop-Off Locations:

• Wardlow Park: Monlaco Road at Rutger Avenue
• Environmental Services Bureau, 2929 E. Willow Street
• El Dorado Park: 2760 N. Studebaker Road (South parking lot behind administration building)

Recycling your holiday tree is easy.  You can drop your tree off at one of these locations.

Notices Regarding Curb Number Painting Are Not Official

I came home the other day to see a yellow notice taped to my front doorknob. The notice was also visible up and down Studebaker. These are same notices I have seen in other parts of the 5th Council District as I walk the district.

Please note that these are NOT official notices from the City of Long Beach. They are being posted on resident's houses by a company that is illegally painting curb numbers on streets. City Code requires companies or non profit organizations wanting to do curb numbers to obtain permits from the Police Department -- so that the City can verify these are legitimate companies.

The California Vehicle Code specifies the size of the curb numbers and the background paint that can be used. Residents are not supposed to have anything painted on their curbs but house numbers -- no flags, surfing scenes or sunsets -- because fire and police need to be able to read the numbers so they can respond to the correct address. Some of these fly by night operations paint the wrong numbers on the curbs.

If you receive a notice like the one posted or are pressured by someone to paint curb numbers on your curb, call the police.

Update on Wardlow Street Construction

Many of you have asked why the City of Long Beach is fixing Wardlow (those of you who live on it know why). I asked Public Works to prepare a memo explaining the what and why of the project.