Schipske Now Questions if Total Uncollected Parking Tickets Tops $29 million

Closeup of parking violation sticker. Used in some cities to warn those with excess tickets they will be towed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Councilwoman Schipske Notes That Auditor’s Report on $17.6 million in Unpaid Parking Tickets Only Addresses Last 3 Years – Prior Audit Shows An Additional $11.7 million – Asks if this means City is owed $29.3 million

Long Beach, CA – March 29, 2012 – Following the release of the City Auditor Laura Doud’s audit on unpaid parking tickets, Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske issued the following statement:

“Today, City Auditor Laura Doud and Mayor Bob Foster held a joint press conference to discuss the City Auditor’s findings on the mess the city has with uncollected parking tickets. It is unfortunate that City Council members were not invited to a press conference which addresses a City Council agenda item. It was also not appropriate that the City Council was not given a copy of the written findings before such findings were released to the press.

“Now that the written findings are available there appears to be a glaring question that needs to be answered because the City Auditor has actually released two audits on uncollected parking citations that include different time periods and both showing separate amounts owed to the City. As a result, the City may be actually owed $29.3 million in uncollected parking tickets and not just the current $17.6 million dollars included in the current audit.
“Here’s why: the current audit shows $17.6 million dollars in uncollected parking tickets that are 3 years old or less. That would cover the time period of 2008-2011. The City Auditor’s prior audit on uncollected parking citations completed in 2008 covered the years of 2003-2007 and indicated that $11.7 million was owed by those having 5 or more tickets. The question is then: What happened to the $11.7 million owed for the period of 2004-2007 and if the City has now acquired an additional $17.6 million in uncollected tickets then the total outstanding should be: $29.3 million dollars.

Following my blog on this topic I have been contacted by numerous companies who are willing to work with the City to straighten out this mess and to bill and to collect at a much higher percentage than we seem to be able to do in-house. In fact, a representative from one company, Vion Municipal Capital in Milford, Massachusetts contacted me today to tell me his company had offered to purchase our uncollected parking tickets which would give the city immediate revenue, but apparently was told the city ‘wasn’t interested.’

Well, the City needs to ‘get interested’ so that we do not continue cutting core services in order to balance a budget. Unless and until we examine our internal operating processes and determine that we are billing and collecting every penny of revenue the City in entitled to receive, we can no longer keep telling the taxpayers that the services they pay for with their taxes need to be cut.”

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City Auditor Finds $18 Million in Uncollected Parking Tickets -- Schipske Calls for Fixing Problem Now

Dear Readers,

Two weeks ago I met with City Auditor Laura Doud. We meet periodically to discuss how we can find revenue to balance our budget without raising taxes. Laura told me that she was getting ready to release her audit which again found that the City is not collecting owed parking citations. In fact, currently the City is owed $18 million in uncollected parking citations.

This is particularly disturbing on several levels:

• The City Auditor told the City Council in 2009 that $11 million in outstanding parking citations had not been collected. A pilot program to use parking boots was approved (as is used in many cities to get the attention of those who have 5 or more parking tickets) and the Council asked for updates both on the pilot and how improvements were to be made in the collection system. Didn't happen.
• Problems in a collections system means that there are problems in the billing system. 
• There have been serious cuts to core city services made to balance the city budget and very little effort to make certain that the City is receiving every dollar it is entitled to receive from citations, fees and contracts - even after the City Auditor has pointed out that hasn't been done. 
• Citizens should not be penalized with cuts in city services while the city fails to do its job collecting revenue that it is owed.

So here's what needs to be done about the uncollected parking tickets:

• The City needs to contract out for billing and collection services for parking citations, ambulance and paramedic services now. The City might want to consider selling some of this uncollected revenue to a factoring agency who can pay the City a percentage of the amounts owed. 

 In my discussions with the City Auditor (and during council meetings) I have called for the City Council to direct the City Manager to:

• Request Southern California Edison to perform an audit of all electrical meters on city property to verify that the meters are accurate. (When I was a Trustee at Long Beach City College I requested the same audit and it resulted in a hefty refund that was used to defray the costs of employee health care.)
• Implement an automated time and attendance system that keeps track of the City's 4500 employees and lets management know who is at work, if an employee leaves early, did the employee take lunch, when the employee leaves. That's right folks. Right now the city tracks time and attendance manually with time sheets that are filled out manually at the end of a work week.   

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Send a Letter to the Post Office to Keep Long Beach Facility

Please join me in an effort to convince the US Postal Service not to close the bulk mail facility at Redondo Avenue. This will mean a loss of jobs for Long Beach and a major inconvenience for businesses who bulk mail. On another point, Long Beach will not have a postmark for anything mailed from the boxes there. It will show "Santa Ana."

I have pushed our City Council for a resolution opposing the closure as well as encouraged letters from our City Manager protesting the closure.

Your letters and contact might help.
MCC Postal Service 2300 Redondo Avenue 10-17-11

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Council Supports Schipske's Call for Fire Data

The City Council voted 8-0 last night to request the City Manager to provide data on the response times of the fire department pre and post budget cuts. Although the agenda item was submitted last week, the news broke about the problems in the City of Los Angeles and the data their City Council received on response times. Long Beach City Management gave the council the following memo:

Fire 001

 Although I do not believe what happened in the City of Los Angeles is happening in Long Beach (unreporting of response times) I believe it is important that when the Council makes a policy decision (which three of us opposed), then we need to see the results of that decision. So we need to see if the response rates for fire have increased as a result of the cuts the Mayor proposed and the majority voted to implement. Plain and simple. The cuts either did or did not impact the ability to respond to calls for service within the national fire standards.

 

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Baja Sonora to be Featured at City Council

Baja Sonora Featured During First  Prime Time  for Business Presentation at City Council Meeting

(LONG BEACH, CA; March 20, 2012) – The very popular Baja Sonora restaurant and catering service will be the first Long Beach business showcased during the “Prime Time for Business” segment at the Long Beach City Council meeting, today announced Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske.

Schipske authored a proposal at City Council in February to give local businesses the opportunity to make a 5-minute presentation during the third council meeting of the month and to highlight their services and any job openings they may have for local residents. Each councilmember has the opportunity to invite a business to make a presentation during City Council.

“This is the least the City Council can do to show local businesses that we appreciate they are doing business in Long Beach. These businesses not only provide sale tax revenue, they provide jobs and community services that sometimes goes unnoticed,” says Schipske. “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and Long Beach needs to get more people to start businesses locally. I hope the City Council taking time to listen to these businesses will send a message that we appreciate what they do for our economy.”

Baja Sonora is an authentic Mexican Restaurant with two locations in Long beach, located in the 5^th and 7^th Council Districts. Baja Sonora has been in business for 14 years and is the recipient of awards and distinctions that include: “Best Tacos in Long Beach-Press Telegram 2007”, “Ultimate Taco” in Sunset Magazine’s “Best of the West” and the “2011 Fifth District Good Neighbor Award.”

“Baja Sonora is more than two fantastic places to eat,” Schipske notes. “The owners, Mary Sophiea and Mike Mendelson have made a tremendous commitment to our local schools by donating more than $30,000 for school projects.”

Baja Sonora sponsors PTA Mondays, and donates 10% of purchases made every Monday to any “Parent Teacher Association” selected by its customers.  Baja Sonora is located at: 2940 Clark Avenue and 3502 Atlantic Avenue. Both locations are open at 10:30 am until 9 pm.

#30

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Schipske Praises Long Beach College Promise

Administration building on Carson St, Long Beach, California. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wilson Classical High School (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske Salutes LBUSD, LBCC, &CSULB On Working Together On Long Beach College Promise

Long Beach partnership to continue to make higher education a #1 Priority

(LONG BEACH, CA; March 19, 2012) – Former Long Beach City College Trustee and current Long Beach City Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske today saluted the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), Long Beach City College (LBCC), and California State University at Long Beach, (CSULB) on the third year anniversary of their joint effort to provide every Long Beach student the  “Long Beach College Promise.”

Pyramid, Long Beach, California English: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Despite the financial difficulties facing our three education institutions, they are pledging to double their efforts as they begin the third year of this program to ensure every student in Long Beach who wants to go to college, can,” says Schipske, who also teaches part-time at CSULB. “They are to be commended for their efforts to continue to make higher education a top priority in Long Beach.”

All three educational institutions are working together to improve college preparation, access and completion for members of the greater Long Beach community. The Long Beach College Promise is combination of financial rewards (a semester of free community college tuition) and admission preferences for Long Beach Unified students, college education classes for parents, and college preparation courses for Long Beach Unified seniors.

Schipske points out that the Long Beach College Promise came from the Long Beach Seamless Education Partnership that was launched in 1994 when she was President of the Long Beach Community College Board of Trustees. “The Partnership was established to ensure that all students would progress smoothly through the education systems and into the workforce.” 

 “This concept came from the community through  variety of efforts, including the School to Work Transition Project that helped identify what was needed for students to be able to complete their schooling and to be prepared to become teachers in the Long Beach Unified School District,” Schipske adds.

“We need to continue to support these efforts to make the educational system in Long Beach the best in the nation.##

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Go 5th! Go Cubberly! Go St. Baldrick's!

Image via Wikipedia

Students, parents and teachers of Cubberley K-8 School hosted the 11^th Annual St. Baldrick’s Head Shaving event today, March 16, 2012.  The Fifth District School has been instrumental in its perennial collection of donations to help support childhood cancer research.  

Volunteers attended the event as a “shavee” or barber, with the sole intention of shaving hair off heads to show solidarity with children who have been stricken with various cancer related illnesses.  Several Long Beach Firefighters stepped up and had their heads shaved.

Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske spoke at the event to support St. Baldrick’s worthy cause, and to distinguish the charitable actions of Cubberley’s faculty and students.  “Today, Cubberley stands in unison with St. Baldrick’s to support children who suffer from childhood cancers”, Schipske said.  “Our students, parents and faculty share the same passion in helping children conquer this dreadful disease, and we will continue to lead the nation in attendance for St. Baldrick’s events.”

Cubberley has raised over $480,000 over the last 10 years.  The school has been recognized by Jerry Finklestein, who works with the Jaques Children’s Cancer Center in Long Beach, as the #1 school in the country for the largest student participation in their annual St. Baldrick’s event. This year, 200 volunteers had their heads shaved.  Half of them were children between first and eighth grade.  SuperCuts, with its two Fifth District locations, contributed hair stylists to help sheer the locks off the “shavees”. Total donations received today amounted to $60,000.

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers.  Founded in March of 2000, founders John Bender, Tim Kenny and Enda McDonnell turned a St. Patrick’s Day party into a head-shaving event that raised $104,000.  The foundation has grown exponentially, now having raised $117 million.

The funds collected today go directly to the Miller Children’s Hospital and the Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center for life saving research and programs for children with cancer.

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Public Works of the Future

The Department of Public Works (Photo credit: Brandon Doran)

Interesting look at public works in the future. Click here to read.

Public works trucks of the future will have to accommodate the limits of budgets and the need to be efficient. That's why this story is so interesting. Many of the suggested improvements are being implemented already in cities across the US.

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Schipske Calls for City Manager to Disclose Fire Department Response Times

For Immediate Release

Contact Office of Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske

562 570-6932

Schipske Calls on City Manager to Disclose Response Times for Fire Department – States Concern that Budget Cuts May Have Caused Slower Response Times

March 13, 2012 – Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske didn’t support the cuts to the fire department when they were proposed by the Mayor and the City Manager and now she wants to know what those cuts did to response times.

“The City Council was assured that the cuts to the Fire Department would not substantially impact response times for calls for fire and paramedic services,” says Schipske, “but that’s not what I am hearing from firefighters.”

Schipske reports that the cuts to the Fire Department  included “rolling brownouts” -- taking an engine out of service at a different station each day - or light-force duty at some stations.

Additionally, daily staffing was reduced to an all time low level , down from a high of 137 firefighters in 2008 to the current low of 117.

“Firefighters report that as a result of these cuts, response time has been slowed in some instances where staff and equipment must travel across the city due to an engine out of service at another station,” Schipske notes. “As a Registered Nurse, who did some training with the Long Beach Fire Department paramedics, I understand that every minute counts when it comes to saving lives.”

Schipske’s agenda item calls for the City Manager to disclose the response times since the cuts were enacted. “The City Council needs to evaluate actual response time information to determine whether or not the cuts to the fire department have been detrimental to the public safety of our residents.”

#30

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Re-Imaging Long Beach

Downtown Long Beach, California (Photo credit: Konabish)

I am writing a series of thought pieces on how and why we need to re-image and re-imagine the City of Long Beach. Please check out my website: www.reimaginglongbeach.com and let me know what you think.

It is critical that we focus on how we can improve the economy of Long Beach by attracting the type of job creators that will bring sustainable, quality jobs for our residents. To do this, we need to re-image the City and decide how we want to be perceived.

This is not an easy task but a very necessary and exciting one. Come join me on this journey.

LB Literary Women Festival Wonderful As Usual

Isabel Wilkerson at the Miller Center Forum (Photo credit: Miller_Center)

Enjoyed the Literary Women Festival of Authors today in the LB Convention Center. Today was the 30th year of this wonderful event. The event was sold out as usual. The authors were witty and fascinating. The attendees so engaged.

Many of the women in attendance work diligently in Long Beach to preserve and expand our library services. 

One of the featured writers is Pultizer Prize Winner Isabel Wilkerson who talked about writing her amazing book on the migration of 6 million Americans from the south to escape Jim Crow laws. The book: The Warmth of Other Suns is an epic non fiction account of how lives were changed forever when African Americans left the south beginning in WWI.


Congrats to the women who put this event on today! Thanks for doing this in Long Beach for 30 years.

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City Management's Response on SEADIP

In my haste to get the document published, I missed scanning some pages. Below is the complete memo.

The Long Beach City Council directed City management to detail how the city could move forward to amend the local coastal plan that includes the area known as SEADIP. Below is the memo just recently sent to the council from city management. The difficulty will be to secure funding to conduct the process necessary to amend the plan.Unless the coastal plan is updated and there is agreement as to how if any development will take place in the area, potential developments like 2nd and PCH that was rejected by the majority of the city council will happen again.

Sea Dip

City Needs to Utilize Next 10

For several years I have pushed for the City of Long Beach to get our budget on line in a format that residents can use to provide their input on what cuts need to be made to the City budget and for those cuts to be shown in a graphic way so residents can see what the cuts will do to services.

This will also actually help the City Council see the impact and the input of our residents.

The California Budget project (http://www.budgetchallenge.org/pages/home) though the non profit Next10 has provided such a capability for cities. The City of Los Angeles uses this program as well as the city of Alameda (http://www.cityofalamedaca.gov/Budget-Challenge/sim/budget_master.html).

Next10 has offered this program to the City of Long Beach for $15,000 which I am willing to take out of my neighborhood services budget and provide for the entire city.

As we launch this effort, I look forward to the involvement of all of our residents who have a real stake in the budget decisions that will impact our city services and the quality of life here.

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Come Learn How to Track LB City Council

COME LEARN HOW TO TRACK THE CITY COUNCIL March 12th Meeting of Open Up Long Beach to Focus on Legistar System (LONG BEACH, CA; March 5, 2012) – Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske is inviting the public to learn how to track the activities of the Long Beach City Council at the next meeting of Open Up Long Beach. “Long Beach City Clerk, Larry Herrera, will provide a presentation on how to access the Legistar system used to track the activities of the City Council,” says Schipske. Legistar is a comprehensive, integrated document management and information retrieval system designed specifically to support the legislative process in cities, towns, and counties. Legistar parallels and supports the customary flow of legislative operations, tracking every action taken on each matter, along with dates, free-form notation, and individual votes where appropriate. The March 12th meeting is a part of Councilwoman Schipske’s “Open Up Long Beach” effort which is focusing on how to make city government more open, transparent and accountable. The meeting will take place at 2800 N. Studebaker Road, Long Beach, CA 90815, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and is open to the public. From the time of her election to council in 2006, Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske has been dedicated to open and transparent government. She is the first and only councilmember in Long Beach to communicate with her constituents via blog. She also utilizes Facebook, Twitter, electronic newsletters and email. More information on the effort to make Long Beach more open, transparent and accountable can be found at www.openuplongbeach.com or by calling the Office of Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske at 562-570-6932.

Here's a Free Legal Checkup

Navigating through the law can be especially difficult. I know. Not only am I an attorney but I teach law at CSULB. The California State Bar of which I have been a member since 1990, provides a great publication that walks you through a checklist of what you need to be concerned about legally for the major decisions in your lives, such as buying a new house. See the document below and feel free to download it. Legal Checklist

Check Out Council Agenda for 3/6

Agenda March 6

State Releases Report on Realignment of Adult Offenders

State Senator Alan Lowenthal released a report from the State concerning the planned realignment of adult offenders back into local communities. The report was issued on February 12, 2012 and makes interesting reading. I am reading it and will provide highlights in a later posting. 2011 Realignment of Adult Offenders 022212

Check out Map of Foreclosures in Long Beach

Click here to see a map of homes foreclosed in Long Beach. I co sponsored a council item which established a Foreclosure Registry that allows the city to track homes in foreclosure and to enforce codes against banks who allow the homes to fall into disrepair.

Taco Bell Alert

My council office has received several calls about what is happening to the Taco Bell at Stearns and Palos Verdes. Please be assured that the current closure of the Taco Bell is in no way connected with the City Council passing a "Eat Healthy" ordinance a couple of weeks ago. Or the fact that Taco Bell has put their food to go in ....gasp...plastic bags.

My staff and I are as concerned as some residents about this recent development -- and are happy to report that the old Taco Bell has been demolished to be replaced by a newer, modern Taco Bell within the next 6 months.

 In the meantime, here is a google map of the locations of other Taco Bell's in the area should you all get the urge to "run for the border."

What the City Might Owe

As you recall, I have opposed the City becoming the successor agency for the closed Redevelopment Agency because of the liability incurred by taking this responsibility. The Council as you further recall was not given a decision in open session on whether or not to become the successor agency because a vote was not scheduled in time to meet the state deadline. So now, Long Beach becomes liable for the "enforceable obligations" outlined in the following report. (See first paragraph of the city document that points out this fact.) This is one of the main reasons the Mayor of Los Angeles urged their City Council not to become the successor agency for Los Angeles' Redevelopment. (See this link to read his letter: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/11/las-community-redevelopment-agency_n_1200174.html) Additionally, because the city has used redevelopment funds to pay for citywide code enforcement and graffiti removal to the tune of $6 million we must now run the risk of spending this money as the successor agency on these services and having the newly established "Oversight Board" tell us it is an impermissible use of these funds and then the City will have to refund the money and take it out of General Funds. With another announced deficit for next fiscal year for the City of Long Beach, this was not the time to take on additional financial obligations. Redevelopment 001