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.

Updates on storm damage to City of Long Beach

Dear Readers -- see current report from City Manager Pat West about storm damage to the City of Long Beach. Please thank the Police, Fire and Public Works employees who have been out there helping to keep us safe and to clean up this mess.

Long Beach received more than 8 inches of rain over the past seven days, breaking previous rainfall records. Needless to say, City Crews and Public Safety Personnel were busy throughout this time. The following is a summary of storm related work activities and current conditions.


Responded to a total of 33 Trees and 43 Flooded calls.


Trees:

East:

1T - 7

2T - 1

3T - 5

4T - 1

6T - 3 (2 uprooting)


West:

1T - 5 (1 vehicle)

2T - 2

3T - 2 (1 private, 1 vehicle)

5T - 3

6T - 4 (3 uprooting)


Flooded:

East - 10

West - 33

Current Road Closures

TI/Willow (Broken Pump Station) - Willow closed, Contractor to begin pumping at noon, could take 24 hours, enhancing traffic control

Del Mar south of San Antonio (Large area of standing water) - Del Mar closed, Contractor pumping, Engineering requested to review

14th/Gaviota (Sinking Area) - Intersection closed/extending on 14th and Gaviota, Engineering working on repair

Potholes City Wide - Repairs are taking place with cold mix (heavy traffic, water saturated asphalt and base are making these repairs difficult ), most have been repaired several times during the past 5 days. Efforts to repair with hot asphalt will be scheduled for next week. Some areas have traffic control.

Pump Stations - SD18 (Wardlow/El Dorado Park) & SD7 (TI/Willow) are off line with broken pumps - all other stations are operational, staff is inspecting systems.

Trees - We are working a few pending calls and have started the debris collection of downed/stacked debris from the event. Palm fronds locations are being addressed as resources allow.

Sand - Bin and sandbag locations are being visited and replenished as needed

It now appears that the storm front has past, however we will continue to monitor condition. I would like to acknowledge the outstanding work of all the City Crews and Public Safety Personnel during this week of storms. Despite long hours and adverse conditions, everyone did their part.

 

Sandbags and Sand Available at Fire Station 5

Alert: Sandbags and sand are now available at Fire Station 5 in the 5th District.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?address=7575+E.+Wardlow+Rd.&city=Long+Beach&state=CA

Storm Alerts -- December 20 at noon

Just received the following message from the City Manager:

Our biggest issue was loss of power at Pump Station 5, located at the on-ramp to the 710 North at Willow Street.  Power was lost at approximately 6pm on Sunday night. SCE was notified.  The freeway quickly flooded and was down to one lane in each direction by 8pm.  City staff and Cal Trans responded.  City staff secured a 1500 kW generator on site by 9pm.  The generator had to be manually wired into the pumps to ensure the proper phasing of the circuits.  City staff succeeded in starting the generator and activating the pumps just before 1am Monday morning.  By 4am, the freeway was cleared and open at full capacity.
The weather forecast is for additional rains throughout the week with the heaviest amounts expected Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as high tides around 8am Tuesday and Wednesday.  Staff is working to coordinate efforts to ensure a rapid response to call for service.  Further updates will be provided as warranted. 

Trying to get sand and bags for the 5th Council District:

Readers: See press release below for more information. Please note I am working on trying to get sand and bags over at one of our Fire Stations.

Press Release: With powerful storms bearing down on the region, residents and businesses are urged to prepare themselves for the possibility of significant rainfall. 

The City is providing sand and bags for residents to make their own sandbags. The public may pick up sand at four fire stations – Fire Station 7, Fire Station 12, Fire Station 13, and Fire Station 14.

Residents must bring a shovel and fill their own sand bags; however, residents with mobility impairments, or seniors who need assistance can obtain filled bags at the Senior Center at El Dorado Park West, 2800 Studebaker Road, and the Long Beach Senior Center, 1150 E. 4th Street. 

In addition, the City of Long Beach has prepared a list of important safety tips and emergency phone numbers for residents to access in the event of power outages, downed trees, flooding, etc. Emergency responders train and are prepared to respond to a disaster or other significant incident; however, residents are strongly urged to prepare themselves for a major emergency, with the goal of being able to be self-sustaining for at least 72-hours.

Preparation for the Storm

• The City of Long Beach is providing free sand to residents at four Fire Stations.  Residents must bring and use their own shovel (self-service) to get the sand, which is available in large bins outside the following five fire stations:

• #7              2295 Elm Ave
• #12            6509 Gundry Ave
• #13            2475 Atlantic Ave
• #14            5200 Eliot St.
  
• Sandbags will last as long as they don’t have a hole. If the bags are reusable, residents should keep them for the next major rainstorm. To discard, distribute sand in a flower bed or over a lawn, and then throw away the empty bags.
• Do not take sand from the beach. It is illegal to dump sand at the beach, in the gutter or in the storm drain system.  Sand can be returned to the Public Works/San Francisco Yard, 1601 San Francisco Ave.
• For information on how to fill sandbags, visit www.publicaffairs.water.ca.gov/information/sandbag.cfm  

Important Phone Numbers

• In the event of a life-threatening emergency, call 9-1-1.
• To report flooding or a clogged or blocked storm drain, please call 562.570.2726. 
• To report a fallen tree or limbs, call 562.570.2770. For trees or limbs in City parks, call 562.570.4895 during business hours, or 562.570.3101 after-hours or on weekends.
• Fallen power lines are extremely dangerous. Report any downed lines to SCE immediately by calling 1.800.611.1911.  Do not touch a downed line or anyone in contact with the line.  Always assume a downed line is live.  For more information, visit http://www.sce.com/ and click on the "Safety" tab.
• Long Beach Gas & Oil Department, 562.570.2140

• Long Beach Water Department, 562.570.2390
• City Street Lights/City Light & Power Co.888.544.4868

Safety Tips

• Remember to slow down and drive carefully. Please exercise a great deal of caution and patience, and allow yourself plenty of time to get where you are going. Avoid large puddles and do not attempt to cross running water.
• Stay out of the LA and San Gabriel Rivers and Flood Control Channels due to possible high waters.
• Beach-goers are advised to avoid local waters for at least 72 hours after the end of rainfall due to the high bacteria and pollution levels from urban runoff.
• Individuals can monitor the weather on television news, including the Weather Channel 76 on Charter Cable; radio news stations such as KFI 640 AM or KFWB 980 AM; and websites such as http://www.noaa.gov/. In the left hand column, insert a Long Beach zip code, and a local map and report will appear.

Other Useful Information and Websites:  

• American Red Cross, Greater Long Beach Chapter, http://www.greaterlongbeachrc.org/, 562.595.6341
• Long Beach Fire Department Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), www.longbeach.gov/fire/cert, 562.570.LBFD
• Southern California Edison, www.sce.com/Safety 

Long Beach Municipal Airport Terminal's History

Prior to the construction of a 150-acre airport in 1923, pilots could be seen taking off and landing on the long strand of beach or on a sand and dirt field near American Avenue (now Long Beach Boulevard) and Bixby Road -- Chateau Thierry Flying Field -- which was founded by Earl Daugherty. The first transcontinental flight landed in the water off Pine Avenue Pier on December 10, 1911.

Daugherty, a WWI flight instructor and stunt pilot expanded his airfield to Long Beach Boulevard and Willow Street by the late 1920's -- where he organized Air Tournaments and Air Circuses. A young Amelia Earhart (and 75,000 others) came to the December 1920 air tournament to watch Daugherty's stunt flying. She asked for a ride in a plane and was given one a few days later by Poly High School graduate, Frank Hawks. Later, Long Beach area pilot, John Montijo, taught Earhart how to solo and to perform aerobatics -- which she did numerous times in Long Beach Air Circuses.

Realizing that Long Beach could no longer accommodate aviation on its beach nor on Daugherty's small airfield inland, the city council in November 1923 dedicated 80 acres of water department land at Cherry Avenue and Spring Street making Long Beach the first city in California to establish a municipal airport.

In 1924, the City Council established an aviation commission and appointed Earl Daugherty, John Montijo and A.E. Ebrite as its first commissioners. The city council also decided who could fly in and out of the airfield.  WJ Putnam was named the first director of the Long Beach Municipal Airport, known then as the Superintendent of Airports. He served until 1940.

As aviation changed into a commercial enterprise, the City Council and Chamber of Commerce focused their energies on making the municipal airport a site for commercial aviation. Airport records indicated that Western Air Lines first carried passengers, mail and cargo from Long Beach Airport in September 1929.  More and more commercial aviation came to Long Beach bringing with it complaints about the lack of a terminal and modern services.

In response, the City Council approved in the late 1930's plans to purchase 255 acres adjoining the airport and to construct a three story administration building and tower at the east side of the field at a cost of $200,000. The city set about constructing the terminal while war raged in Europe.

 Designed by W. Horace Austin and Kenneth Wind in the streamline moderne style of later art deco architecture, the terminal building looks more like a ship than an airport terminal. Its distinguishing characteristics include: smooth walls, lack of ornamentation, flat roofs, railings and porthole windows. Planned for expansion, it is shaped as a segment of an arc with a radius of 285 feet and a length of 170 feet. The third floor is set back making the building 60 feet high.

Opening ceremonies for the terminal were canceled because of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead, military guns and soldiers were billeted around the terminal building and in the basement for the duration of the war. Showers and hot water tanks were installed for the soldiers. Barracks were build adjacent to the terminal. The building was repainted in camouflage until 1945, when its pastel colors were returned. It formally opened April 26, 1942.

Inside the terminal: first floor included airline offices where telephoned reservations were taken; a coffee shop, telephones and a waiting room. The second floor featured a large dining lounge and open deck to view the airfield. The third floor contained the control tower operated by the Civil Aeronautics Administration as well as the US Weather Bureau and a radio range station. Administration was on the 4th floor.

WPA -- Terminal and Airfield

The Works Project Administration provided several major enhancements to the terminal and airfield in the late 1930's: WPA constructed and repaired part of the airfield.
Grace Clements designed and placed murals and mosaics throughout the terminal. Using a communications theme, she designed floor mosaics and wall murals. The mosaics covered the 4300 square foot first floor. The murals were also painted on the first floor walls. On the second floor remains a zodiac mosaic done by Clements. All the murals were painted over in 2005.

1942: Long Beach Municipal Airport was "Number One in the Nation" because of its military and civilian aircraft activity. City officials recognized once the war was over that the airport could become the center of commercial aviation in Southern California. The airport needed to expand to the east but was blocked by Lakewood Boulevard. On the south, the military structures needed removal. Long Beach voters rejected a "Help Make Long Beach the Heart of Commerce" bond issue to fund airport repairs and purchase land for expansion. It took more than 10 years for the military to leave -- by that time Los Angeles  had moved forward on its terminal and airfield.

On July 3, 1946, United Air Lines made its first scheduled flight from the Long Beach airport. Today, passengers still walk out to the tarmac to board their flights as they did in the 1940's.

Fire Fighters Rescue Woman in LA River

At approximately 3:00 PM yesterday, Long Beach Fire units responded to reports of a female victim in the LA River. Fire units arrived on scene and confirmed that a female was floating down river and updated incoming Marine Safety Swift Water units of the victim's location. Swift Water units arrived and were able to conduct a contact rescue. The victim was immediately transferred to an awaiting Rescue Unit. The victim reported that she slipped and fell into the river.

Thank you Long Beach Firefighters!

Video report on Rosie the Riveter Park and Memorial Dedication

Thanks to LBReport.com for covering the recent dedication of the enhancements made at the Rosie the Riveter Park and Interpretive Center at Conant Street and Clark Avenue.

The following links to the video report done by Bill Pearl. http://www.lbreport.com/video/rosie/rosiewok.wmv

Making Long Beach Job Friendly

Unemployment news continues to be bad. Just click here to see the latest stats from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics which shows total unemployment (including under employment) in California is a whopping 22.1%. That's why last Tuesday I asked the Council and City Manager to focus on creating jobs in the small business sector. Since coming to office I have met with many small business owners who voice concerns about the following: City business license fees that are based upon the number of employees (which is counter productive in a time when we are trying to grow jobs). High "false alarm" fees. Many retailers have alarm systems that if they sound and no crime in progress is apparent, they can be charged a false alarm fee. High credit card transaction fees. Lack of trained employees. So what can Long Beach do to grow jobs? Click here and tell me.

Offering Reduced Credit Card Transaction Fees Several months ago I contacted the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and asked that they join me in urging the City to partner with financial institutions that are willing to offer our local business better credit card transaction fee rates and other banking services. The City of Long Beach has begun talking with several banks who want the business of the City and are including in these discussions the issues of working with our local small businesses.

Please let me know how we can do things better in Long Beach to grow the jobs we need to get us out of the terrible unemployment we face. Gerrie

Wreaths placed at military memorial in Rosie the Riveter Park and Interpretive Center

Yesterday, before 11 am, members of Millikan High School Army JROTC placed Christmas wreaths at the newly opened military memorial at Rosie the Riveter Park and Interpretive Center located at Conant Street and Clark Avenue. The photo shows how beautiful it is at night with lighting.

It was a truly touching ceremony.

The event was the dedication of the newly installed enhancements to the Rosie the Riveter Park and Interpretive Center and the placing of wreaths at the military memorial in coordination with the Wreaths Across America project. The project places wreaths on the second Saturday of December at Arlington National Cemetery and 450 other locations -- Rosie the Riveter Park is now added to that list each year.

Stop by the park and walk the path. Read the historic timeline in the pavers. Look at historic photographs of women who worked at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach. Listen to a recorded tour of the park or just enjoy 1940s music as you stroll.