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

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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.

Related articles

• Eldred Resident Creates St. Baldrick's "Bald Avatar" Initiative to Raise Awareness of Childhood Cancer
• Firefighters shave heads to raise money for children's cancer research - Stamford Times

• St. Baldrick's Foundation goes bald for kids with cancer - News 10NBC (drugstoresource.wordpress.com)

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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• Schipske Launches "Open Up Long Beach" Effort (openuplongbeach.com)

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

Lakewood and LB To Repave Carson Near Towne Center

Here's the City memo on the partnership with the City of Lakewood to pave Carson Street adjacent to Towne Center. Repaving Carson

Why LB Needs to Review Investments

 About a month or so ago I asked the City Manager to provide a report on the City's investments to determine what if any can be done about the fact that the city invests millions with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae -- the two largest holders of mortgages. In light of the ongoing investigations into the two agencies, the City Council needs to be given the full extent of our investments and whether or not they remain prudent.


Click here http://www.savelongbeachhomes.com/2012/02/more-bad-news-on-freddie-mac.html

When They Don't Like the Truth...Some People Exaggerate

I previously posted both here and on Facebook that too much money was given to council members from those who had interests in medical marijuana collectives being scheduled to be closed because of a recent court decision.

Precisely, $9,100 was given for council and congressional campaigns underway. No one disclosed during the council meeting that they had accepted the money. I think they should have.

So when that tidbit of truth hit the air...someone posted several times on Facebook and on the Press Telegram that I had accepted $600,000. Wowee is that a whopping lie. I spent the large sum of $69,000 on my first council campaign and $20, 596 on my 2010 campaign.

Folks, not only did I not accept a penny from anyone connected with the marijuana business, but since being on city council I have raised only @ $64,000, qualified for candidate matching funds in the amount of @$7,000 and loaned my committee @$17,000. Do the math. That is nowhere near $600k.

Here is the link to my campaign contributors so you can see the truth.

So why the distortion of facts? I can only guess that this supporter of medical marijuana thought she needed to smear me because she and her friends are very angry that the council listened to the advice of our City Attorney and passed a ban on these collectives. I received a handful of angry emails yesterday and today telling me so.

Why are they so mad at me when the vote was 8-1? Because I have been upfront from the beginning that I am not in favor of these collectives but I did vote in support of the city's efforts to try to work within the Compassionate Use Act and allow reasonable access. Then the Court of Appeal said "No" to the City and I voted with 7 other "supporters" of the collectives to ban them in 6 months.


We can argue all day about whether or not marijuana should be legal. It is not legal and only the federal government can change that.

We can also debate -- and the City Council did so extensively -- about whether or not Long Beach should ignore the court ruling in the Pack case which stated that the city could not regulate marijuana collectives because they were illegal. If the city can't regulate we could not stop them from opening in any neighborhood.

And that folks, is the truth.

Long Beach Needs to Thank Those Who Returned From Iraq --Planning Freedom Walk on 4th of July

As you know, US troops have returned from Iraq and several cities have held parades and other celebrations to acknowledge their service.

It is time Long Beach stepped up and did the same.

I am putting together a working group to plan at Freedom Walk on 4th of July on Clark Avenue from Carson to Spring. The route goes by Vets Stadium and Rosie the Riveter Park and Interpretive Center where we are flying the Long Beach Hometown Heroes banners honoring the men from Long Beach who died in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Please contact me if you want to help plan this event to thank those who served in Iraq. We hope to include the fire and police historical vehicles to add to the festivities.

Note on LB Chamber of Commerce Attack on Me -- You Got the Wrong Opponent

I received a wonderful valentine in my email inbox while sitting in City Council from Randy Gordon, Executive Director of the LB Chamber of Commerce.

Randy, who lives in Huntington Beach because he loves Long Beach so much, wrote a long email missive about his love and admiration for Gary DeLong and claimed that Gary, unlike that big, bad woman in the 5th Council District Gerrie Schipske, is the only business person on the entire City Council and that Gary needed to be applauded for launching 100 visits to 100 businesses in 10 minutes or something like that. Oh, and Gary is strong and not pro labor like that working wench Schipske. (He missed the part where Gary is described as dapper and a Young Gun...)

Note to Randy:  I know love can be blinding but you don't serve your membership well (including the Port of Long Beach which gave $30,000 to you as a member) when you don't tell the truth and you go after the wrong opponent for your endorsed candidate, DeLong. Gary isn't running against me for Congress. He is running against himself, Steve Kuykendal and State Senator Alan Lowenthal.

Simple facts: Both Gary DeLong and I have business licenses because we both do consulting work. I ran a very successful law practice on Pine Avenue for several years. I now have a medical legal consulting business. Both DeLong and I file a form 700 so you can see how much or little income his business makes. So stop the nonsense about him being the only one with business experience.

I voted against raising property taxes in Long Beach. DeLong voted to raise property taxes (Measure I parcel tax). I voted against imposing a fee on shoppers who want a paper bag and banning plastic bags. DeLong voted to impose the fee and the ban.

Regarding labor: Both DeLong and I voted for the project labor agreements. Both of us voted for salary increases for our public safety unions. Glad to see you've endorsed the Gary as the prolabor council member in the 3rd.

Randy, Randy. Does it mean so little to you that when the Chamber of Commerce lost many of its small business members because the Chamber wasn't doing much for them, that I formed a Small Business Advisory Committee in my district and that I reached out to you for Chamber support only to be rebuffed and ignored or that I have contacted every newly licensed business in my district and provided them information on who to call for service.

Or that I have been working with the Lakewood Village businesses (yes, Randy, Lakewood Village is in Long Beach) to spruce up their business corridor or that I brought in marketing experts to see how we can attract retail to the district??? Or how about that my staff and I brought TEDXSOCAL to Long Beach which was not only successful in its own right, but resulted in bringing new convention business to the city because some attendees were so impressed that they decided to book their convention here? Or that the Council just approved my proposal to allow local Long Beach businesses to showcase themselves at a city council meeting each month so we have help support their efforts? (Bet you also didn't know that part of the proposal includes a suggestion that council members and the mayor actually go out and visit the businesses to show our support. Oops was that where Gary got his idea?)

Wow, with that kind of track record and dedication maybe I should run against Gary DeLong for Congress afterall. Nah. But until I do, save your attacks for his real opponents, Randy.

Hugs and Happy Valentine's Day.

Gerrie

How Much Money Did You Contribute Concerning Medical Marijuana?

If ever an issue cried out for campaign finance reform in Long Beach, the vote on Tuesday, February 14, on whether or not to ban operation of medical marijuana collectives would be the issue.

Why? Because in excess of $8,000 has poured into the campaign accounts of several council members from businesses and lobbyists from the medical marijuana industry just as we get ready to either heed or ignore the legal advice of our City Attorney Robert Shannon. 

Shannon has told the City Council over the past several months that we need to ban the operation of medical marijuana collectives because the court ruled on a case specifically involving the City of Long Beach’s regulation of medical marijuana collectives and held that the City cannot regulate that which is illegal. Marijuana is illegal. 

Yes, California allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes grown by “caregivers”, but the court reminded that a “caregiver” is someone who prior to growing and giving marijuana for medical reasons, actually provided care, food, housing, etc., for the person receiving the marijuana. The court specifically references that a marijuana collective of 4 or less is what was envisioned in the Compassionate Use Act – not a big business making tens of thousands of dollars a week selling marijuana grown to several hundreds of members. The medical marijuana collectives and their lobbyists are making big bucks and if Long Beach bans their operation as the City Attorney advises they will lose out of one of the biggest cash cows to hit the city.

Elected officials should not vote on an ordinance or a business contract if they have received money from any party related to the ordinance or the contract. They should also disclose at the time of the vote that they have taken contributions from a party, participant or their agents. 

Several cities have enacted laws which disqualifies the council member from participating in decisions affecting his or her campaign contributors. These laws disqualify the council member from participating in certain proceedings if the official has received campaign contributions from a party, participant or their agents within the 12 months preceding the decision. They also require disclosure on the record of the proceeding of all campaign contributions received from these persons during that period. In addition, these laws prohibit solicitation or receipt of campaign contributions during such proceedings, and for three months after the decision, from parties, participants or their agents.

The voters of the City of Los Angeles enacted changes to their charter in 2011 that create new campaign contribution restrictions on contractors bidding on contracts with the City. The changes ban contractors who are bidding on contracts worth $100,000 or more, and subcontractors that are expected to receive at least $100,000 from performing their portion of the contract, from the following:

• Making campaign contributions to any elected City office, candidate for elected City office, or City committee controlled by an elected City official or candidate if the contract requires approval of the Council; and
• Making campaign contributions to any elected City office, candidate for elected City office, or City committee controlled by an elected City official or candidate if the contract requires approval by the elected City office that is held or sought by the person to whom the contribution would be given.

It is time that Long Beach strengthened our campaign finance laws by either the Council putting this issue on the ballot or by taking this issue directly to the voters and getting them to place it on the ballot in the next general election.