LBReport
DON’T EXPECT DRAMA IN SCHOOL BOARD SEARCH TO REPLACE BARTON
Dr. David Barton’s resignation Wednesday from the Board of Education of the Long Beach Unified School District puts an unexpected item on the agenda—and perhaps atop the list of priorities—at the Board’s next meeting on Feb. 7: finding a replacement. Although there is a Board of Education election scheduled for April, voters will not determine [...]
WHAT SECRETS WAS LB COUNCIL KEEPING FROM PUBLIC IN CLOSED SESSION?
When the Long Beach City Council went into closed session on January 10, it cited "existing legislation" as its legally permitted reason. Problem is, the case it cited had already received a final judgment from the California State Supreme Court on Dec. 29. So ,,, what gives?
THAT THING YOU DON’T HEAR IS THE SOUND OF RECALLING JAMES JOHNSON
In a Dec. 23 press release that left major questions unanswered, the Committee to Recall James Johnson announced it has “suspended” its current effort to recall 7th dist. Councilman James Johnson because unnamed “financial backers” did not keep their word to fund the effort. The announcement isn’t a surprise; the group’s website hasn’t been updated since Sept. 29 [...]
CITY ATTORNEY GATHERING INFO ON LUMACHI’S FATAL TRIP TO FLORIDA
LBReport.com has learned that the City Attorney’s office is in the very preliminary stages of gathering information about the trip to Florida in which Shaun Lumachi, publisher of LBPost.com, was part of a three-person group on official business for the City of Long Beach when he was killed in a Dec. 3 car crash near Key West. [...]
WOULD YOU FEEL SAFE WHERE MAYOR BUILT ‘HABITAT FOR HUMANITY’ HOUSE?
An LBReport.com editorial points out that Mayor Bob Foster, who with the help of 1st district Councilman Robert Garcia pushed through a budget that cut officers from the Long Beach Police Department, oversaw the construction of a Habitat For Humanity house in one of the 1st district's most-dangerous neighborhoods.
STELLA URSUA TO CHALLENGE SUJA LOWENTHAL FOR 2ND DISTRICT SEAT
LBReport.com has learned that Stella Ursua is preparing to announce her candidacy for the 2nd district seat on the Long Beach City Council that is currently occupied by Suja Lowenthal. A press conference has been scheduled for Monday, when Ursua is expected to announce her “platform” along with a “list of endorsements from community leaders [...]
LBPD INVESTIGATING HALLOWEEN NIGHT ASSAULT AS POSSIBLE HATE CRIME
LBReport.com has learned that a Halloween-night assault (Oct. 31) in the area of 4th Street and Cherry Ave. is being actively investigated by Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) violent crimes detectives as a possible hate crime. LBPD Public Information Officer Nancy Pratt tells LBReport.com that on Oct. 31 at roughly 8:10 p.m., LBPD responded to [...]
COUNCIL VOTES TO SEND CITY’S MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORDINANCE UP IN SMOKE
LBReport.com has learned that in an Oct. 11 closed session, the City Council voted 8-1 (Rae Gabelich dissenting) to direct the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance that, if enacted, will repeal the city’s current medical marijuana ordinance — and ban medical marijuana collectives/dispensaries in Long Beach — with the understanding that the issue may [...]
LB FIREFIGHTERS APPROVE CONCESSIONS TO CONTRACT CITY ALREADY SIGNED
Rank and file members of the Long Beach Firefighters Association (LBFFA) have voted to approve changes to their City Hall contract, which were sought by city management and pressed by Mayor Bob Foster, although the existing contract had already been negotiated and signed by City Hall. According to the LBFFA president Capt. Rich Brandt, roughly [...]
SCHIPSKE JOINS LB COUNCIL MEMBERS’ STAMPEDE FOR HIGHER OFFICE
Fifth District City Council member Gerrie Schipske announced her candidacy for the newly drawn Long Beach seat in the California Assembly on Tuesday night, meaning that four of the 10 officials elected to steer the city’s course at council meetings are now running for higher office. In fact, Schipske’s entry into the race for the [...]
DELONG CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN HAS 100K, CITY AUDITOR ENDORSEMENT
Councilman Gary DeLong, an announced candidate for the newly drawn congressional district of LB and western Orange County, has announced that his campaign has raised more than $100,000. In a release, Congressional-candidate DeLong calls it a “significant milestone” and states, “I am truly grateful for all the support I have received, and I am encouraged [...]
RECALL JAMES JOHNSON GROUP GOES PUBLIC, IN A PRIVATE KIND OF WAY
Proponents of an effort to recall 7th district city council member James Johnson made their first public statement Wednesday during a press event outside Johnson’s field office at Admiral Kidd Park, but still kept their cards close to the vest. Mike Kowal, a longtime activist in the 8th district—in fact, the only announced candidate for [...]
RECALL JAMES JOHNSON COMMITTEE TO PRESENT CHARGES THIS AFTERNOON
The Recall James Johnson Committee, which on Tuesday announced its intention to circulate recall petitions against the 7th district’s representative on the Long Beach City Council, says that it will present a list of charges this afternoon—among them “Neglected Duties; Incompetent Performance; and Misuse of his Office.” The group’s media advisory states that “community leaders [...]
JURY: VINSON GUILTY OF 1ST-DEGREE MURDER IN MELODY ROSS SHOOTING
A jury today today found Tom Love Vinson, now 18, guilty of first-degree murder in a gang shooting that killed 16-year-old Melody Ross in October 2009 outside the Wilson High School homecoming football game. An Long Beach Police Department release says the jury deliberated three days before also finding Vinson guilty of two counts of [...]
PORKY’S REVENGE? COUNCIL’S SPENDING WISH-LIST WOULD BLOCK PROPOSED BUDGET ALTERNATIVE
LBReport.com has learned that a list of Councilmember-desired spending items is quietly circulating on City Hall’s 14th floor—a list that would deplete surplus upland oil revenue and effectively prevent its use to avert the police, fire, parks and library cuts proposed by Mayor Bob Foster and City Manager Pat. Councilmembers Rae Gabelich, Steve Neal and [...]
DID TELEPHONIC TOWN HALL ON BUDGET OUTDRAW IN-PERSON MEETINGS?
LONG BEACH (Via LBReport.com)—Participants in the Telephone Town Hall held Thursday evening on the alternative Long Beach budget plan proposed by three city council members appear to have outnumbered in-person attendees visible at budget meetings held in some council districts. The office of 9th district representative Steve Neal, who along with Rae Gabelich (8th) and [...]
CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE DESCRIBES ITS PENSION REFORM ACCOMPLISHMENTS
After publishing in full the Long Beach Taxpayers Association’s announcement that it will submit information and seek a Grand Jury investigation alleging “years of corruptive practices that have resulted in the lack of fiscal discipline in managing the City’s finances,” LBReport.com asked City of Long Beach Public Information Officer Ed Kamlan if the city had any [...]
LB COUNCIL ALLOTS 90 MINUTES FOR 5 BUDGET ISSUES, BUT MAKES TIME TO KISS KNABE’S BUNDT
LONG BEACH (via LBReport.com)—Someone inside City Hall has crammed five of the most-significant subjects in City of Long Beach budget debate—police, fire, code enforcement, libraries and parks—into a special Council meeting … that will last only 90 minutes … and begins at 3 in the afternoon. Yes, this afternoon. Such curious scheduling obviously raises some [...]
AMNESIA FILE: DURING LBPD’S 2010 CUTS CHIEF STILL HAD HOPE FOR ACADEMY
Maybe you've forgotten, but while accepting budget cuts last year, Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell expressed strong hope for a Police Academy to replenish the thinning ranks of the LBPD this year. Anyway, forget it. Ain't gonna happen.
FOSTER’S FIRST-TERM ACTIONS CREATED MILLIONS OF LB’S CURRENT DEFICIT
Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster's push for new, longer and richer contracts for the city's firefighters and police officers created an economic situation he now calls unsustainable---and for which he now seeks to cut funding to police, firefighting and library services.
A NEW CONTRACT WITH COPS? LOTS OF Q’S, NOT MANY A’S, WITH STEVE JAMES
LONG BEACH—Less than 24 hours before releasing Long Beach city management’s proposed fiscal-year 2012 budget, Mayor Bob Foster’s office released a “joint statement” with Long Beach Police Officers Association President Lt. Steve James on “an agreement in principle on a new contact.” The full text—both paragraphs—is available at LBReport.com. The current City Hall-LBPOA contract is [...]
NO BUTTS ABOUT IT, CORDERO’S HARBOR COMMISSION CHAIR STILL EMPTY
Mayor Bob Foster ignored a public-access provision of state law when he appointed Doug Drummond to the Harbor Commission, and Councilmember Gerrie Schipske has postponed today's meeting of the Personnel & Civil Service Committee until he complies. Meanwhile, former Commissioner Mario Cordero's chair remains derriere-less.
COURT SAYS 2009 PORT-TRUCKERS SETTLEMENT ON CLEAN TRUCKS PROGRAM VIOLATES ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
LOS ANGELES (via LBReport.com)–A federal district judge in Los Angeles has ruled that the settlement agreement between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations (ATA) industry interest group—a deal in which the Port changed portions of its “clean trucks program” to settle a lawsuit by the ATA—violates the California Environmental Quality Act [...]
WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE FOR RECALLING AN LB CITY COUNCIL MEMBER?
LONG BEACH (via LBReport.com)—In 2003, California voters who were angry over a number of issues did what political “experts” considered impossible: they recalled the state’s recently elected governor. Gray Davis. During the past few weeks in Long Beach, some voters angry over the tactics of 7th district City Council member James Johnson in the redrawing [...]
LBREPORT.COM GETS ANSWERS FROM CITY STAFF … WITH PUSH FROM DELONG
[Editor's note: Several hours after 3rd district Councilman Gary DeLong read LBReport.com’s editorial Monday morning---demanding that city staff answer the questions of two Long Beach residents---those answers arrived.] LONG BEACH (via LBReport.com)LBReport.com publishes in full below an emailed statement from Jacqueline Medina of the City of Long Beach’s Development Services Communications Division in response to [...]
OPINION FROM LBREPORT.COM: SELECTIVE CITY HALL SECRECY ON SECOND+PCH PROJECT
LONG BEACH (Via LBReport.com)—On July 7, the Long Beach Planning Commission shrugged when two taxpayers indicated that City Hall appears to have shared information with the developer of the Second+PCH project that is being kept secret from the public. On Tuesday (July 12), at least one City Council member needs to insist on openness and [...]
JOHNSON USES TACTICS OF A TRIAL LAWYER, NOT A PUBLIC OFFICIAL, TO WIN RESTRICTING BATTLE VS. CITIZENS
[ OPINION FROM LBREPORT.COM] Like an unwelcome but necessary medical diagnosis, the people of Long Beach got a clear view of the unhealthy political machine that’s taken root in their City Hall. Former Sacramento lobbyist Mayor Bob Foster and his primary allies—former Sacramento aide James Johnson, former Republican-now-reinvented-Democrat Robert Garcia, developer-friendly-Democrat Suja Lowenthal and no-wasted-words [...]
OUTSIDE LB POLICE AWARDS, SMALL GROUP PROTESTS COP VIOLENCE
About a dozen people from the Long Beach Campaign to Stop Police Violence demonstrated Wednesday afternoon outside the 43rd annual Long Beach Police Awards ceremony at the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts. The group is a subsidiary of the Los Angeles-based ANSWER Coalition. In a statement on its website and e-mailed to media outlets, [...]
ST. ANTHONY’S GETS ITS 800-YEAR-OLD RELIC BACK, POLICE HAVE A SUSPECT
A nearly 800-year-old religious relic stolen earlier this week from St. Anthony’s Church in downtown Long Beach has been recovered by Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) detectives in the home of a woman who lives about a mile from the church. LBPD Deputy Police Chief Robert Luna announced the recovery at an 8:30 p.m. Thursday [...]
LBPD OFFICER WHO STOLE GUNS GETS A JAIL SENTENCE HE’S ALREADY SERVED
Former Long Beach Police Department officer Damian Ramos was sentenced Wednesday to one year in Los Angeles County jail and three years of probation for August 2010 embezzlement charges—which is what it’s called when you are accused of taking four guns that were supposed to be booked as property. Ramos, 33, pleaded guilty in February 2011 to the single felony count of embezzlement by [...]
STATE’S HIGHEST PCB LEVELS HELP WHITE CROAKER LIVE UP TO ITS NAME
White croaker has always seemed like a funny name for a fish, and after the release of the State Water Resources Control Board’s largest-ever statewide survey on sportfish from California coastal waters, it seems even funnier … in a very-last-laugh kind of way. White croaker in the Long Beach area have the highest concentrations of [...]
OPINION FROM LBREPORT.COM: IS ARMORY PARK DISTRACTING PEOPLE FROM THE HI-RISING OF DOWNTOWN?
“Armory Park’ is a proposal to provide a patch of green space to a densely populated, park-scarce part of downtown Long Beach by closing about a block of Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave. between 6th and 7th streets. That part of the proposal may or may not make sense. But the real point—which went unmentioned [...]
WIND-WHIPPED FIRE ON WETLANDS—NEAR OIL TANKS—KNOCKED DOWN BY LBFD
It took more than an hour for the Long Beach Fire Department to quell two blazes that originated this morning on wetlands property near the intersection of 2nd Street and Pacific Coast High—and near oil storage tanks that presented the potential for disaster. LBFD Public Information Officer/Firefighter Matt Dobberpuhl says multiple calls came in at [...]
ATTENTION SPRING BREAK KIDS: CURFEW MEANS NO EASTER PARADING AFTER 10
The Long Beach Police Department says it will enforce the city’s curfew law—and the city prosecutor’s New Parent Accountability Program Too (PACT)—during the upcoming Spring Break, which will close Long Beach Unified School District campuses April 25-29. LB Muni Code section 9.58.010 states: “It is unlawful for any minor under the age of eighteen (18) years to remain [...]
EDITORIAL: YES, REMOVE NEIGHBORHOOD NUISANCES; NO ON NANNY NONSENSE
A proposal advanced by four Councilmembers (Neal, Garcia, Andrews and Vice Mayor Lowenthal) to handle liquor-store related nuisances is basically a copycat of the Conditional Use “deemed approved” process already used in Oakland, Pasadena, San Francisco and other cities…which is just fine with us. Better late than never for Long Beach. In our opinion, no [...]
LBUSD SEEKS APPROVAL TO LAY OFF 772 TEACHERS, MAKE BIG CUTS IN PROGRAMS
Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) management will ask the school board today for authority to send layoff notices to 772 employees holding teaching certificates (mainly classroom teachers but also including librarians, counselors and the like). Board approval would effectively let management implement the layoffs in June if Gov. Brown’s state budget proposals [or some [...]
HAS JOHNSON CHANGED HIS CAMPAIGN POSITION ON PORT RAILYARD EXPANSION?
Eleven months after a campaign declaration that he did not support a proposal to expand the Union Pacific ICTS and BNSF railway yards, Seventh District City Council member James Johnson is now merely urging that a “zero emissions option” be included for consideration in an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the expansion proposal. LBReport.com notes [...]
LBUSD BOARD TO HEAR DETAILS OF BUFFUM/BURROUGHS CLOSURE PLAN
The Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education will hear a budget-cutting proposal to close Buffum and Burroughs Elementary Schools at the end of this (2010-2011) school year when it convenes Tuesday. According LBUSD spokesman Chris Eftychiou, the proposal by district management staff is in response to the state’s repeated and massive reduction in [...]
FOSTER THREATENS CITY UNIONS WITH BALLOT INITIATIVE TO CURB PENSIONS
In his State of the City address Tuesday night, Mayor Bob Foster said if the city's three largest public employee unions---police, fire, non-public safety/machinists---do not accept his pension curbing proposal he will support a ballot initiative that would do it.
WHERE CRIME OCCURS IS NEWSWORTHY—ESPECIALLY WHERE CRIME OCCURS
In our opinion, two things shouldn’t go unnoticed concerning the Long Beach Police Department’s Jan. 4 news conference, where it released citywide 2010 crime data that showed significant drops in categories including murder (lowest number since 1971), gang-related murders and gang-related shootings. The first thing to notice is Police Chief Jim McDonnell’s intellectually honest response to [...]
DID GARCIA KEEP PROMISE TO PROTECT RESIDENTS NEAR PUBLIC SERVICE YARD?
Did 1st District City Council member Robert Garcia live up to his re-election campaign promise to protect residents living near the City of Long Beach’s now-former Public Service Yard from potential negative impacts from a transfer into private ownership? We may soon find out, now that businessman Tom Dean—who acquired the property little more than [...]
COUNCIL WRESTLES BEFORE ADDING RESTRICTIONS TO MEDPOT ORDINANCE
In a lengthy item marked by multiple motions and divided (and in one case reconsidered) votes, the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday night voted 6-3 (Andrews, Johnson, Gabelich dissenting) to approve amendments to its medical marijuana ordinance. If approved on a second council vote, the amendments will expand allowed hours of operation, require surveillance [...]
EDITORIAL: FOSTER’S SELF-SERVING MOVE SERVES LONG BEACH RESIDENTS, TOO
Mayor Bob Foster has done Long Beach residents a service by thumbing his nose at a key portion of the city’s voter-enacted 1994 Campaign Reform Act. Foster was legally entitled to do what he did, thanks to the same First Amendment that gives us the right to sandpaper him and others on various fronts. In essence, Foster simply [...]
FURUTANI OPTS OUT OF RACE TO REPLACE OROPEZA IN 28TH SENATE DISTRICT
Assemblyman Warren Furutani (D—Carson, LB) says he will not enter the special election to fill the seat of the late Senator Jenny Oropeza, who was reelected to represent the 28th district three weeks after her death. Below is a “Dear Friend” letter provided to LBReport.com this morning (Nov. 15) in response to our inquiry: Dear [...]
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO CENSOR CANDIDATES’ DEBATE
For the second time in two days, a group conducting a debate among Congresswoman Laura Richardson (D—LB, Carson) and challengers Star Parker (R) and Nick Dibs (Ind) tried to ban photographs and recording at the event. Saturday’s debate was organized and conducted by the Long Beach branch of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) [...]
A WEEK LATER, IT DAWNS ON COUNCILMEMBER JOHNSON THAT, YES, HE DID NOT MEAN TO VOTE NO
A week after casting the only dissenting vote, the Long Beach City Council’s seventh-district representative, James Johnson, says he meant to vote “yes” instead of “no” on a measure to explore ways to connect downtown with the Queen Mary area. Johnson voted no on Sept. 21 during a 7-1 council vote—Council member Rae Gabelich was [...]
WHY DOES THE PHONE KEEP RINGING, AND WHO’S ASKING ALL THOSE QUESTIONS?
A Long Beach resident---and LBReport.com reader---reports receiving a telephone call Wednesday from a person indicating they were calling from "Western Wats." The Western Wats rep wouldn't say who's taking the poll. We don't know who's taking it or for what purpose.
AFTER ALMOST 60 YEARS, ONLY 119 DAYS UNTIL FRED KOREMATSU DAY
January 30 will henceforth be known as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, which is a mouthful, but still doesn’t come close to describing the brave stand this American citizen of Japanese ancestry took during World War II in defense of the United States’ fundamental principles of freedom and fairness. Governor Arnold [...]
FOSTER’S BUDGET VETO KILLS DEAL WITH FIREFIGHTERS TO FORFEIT RAISES AND PREVENT STATION CLOSURES
Long Beach Firefighters Association president Rich Brandt and members of the group’s leadership on Tuesday night told the Long Beach City Council that Mayor Bob Foster’s veto of roughly $330,000 in Fire Department spending killed a deal in which firefighters had narrowly voted to give up roughly $2.4 million in raises to prevent rotating fire [...]
LB FIREFIGHTERS NARROWLY VOTE TO SURRENDER RAISES, BUT MAYOR FOSTER’S VETO RAISES A NEW WRINKLE
LBReport.com has learned that members of the Long Beach Firefighters Association (LBFA) have narrowly voted to give up this year’s negotiated pay raises—contingent on avoiding management imposition of “Plan B” cuts this year including fire station “rolling brownouts.” LBFA president Capt. Rich Brandt tells LBReport.com that it was the most contentious vote he can recall [...]
FOURTH CAT BURGLARY IN BELMONT SHORE/HEIGHTS PROMPTS ANOTHER LBPD WARNING
A fourth “cat burglary” (in which a male suspect entered a residence while a woman was home alone) has taken place in the Belmont Shore/Heights area, prompting the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) to issue a second warning: “Keep doors and windows secured at all time.” In a release, LBPD says that on Wednesday, September [...]
HEAR HOW COUNCIL VOTED TO SELL CITY-OWNED OFFICE BUILDING TO WELL-CONNECTED DEVELOPER FOR $4 MILLION
The Long Beach City Council voted 6-2 (Gerrie Schipske and James Johnson dissenting, Rae Gabelich absent for entire meeting) Tuesday to approve sale of City Hall East at 100 Long Beach Blvd. for $4 million to Lyon Capital Ventures, LLC. The Council action approved the sale (approximately 36,725 square feet of land area plus a [...]
CLOSURE OF SMOOTH’S SPORTS GRILLE IS THE END OF AN ERA ON PINE AVE.
Smooth’s Sports Grille, the restaurant at 144 Pine Avenue that under a couple of names has been a crossroads of politics and culture in downtown Long Beach for a quarter century, was closed Sunday by owner John Morris, LBReport.com reported early today. “Smooth’s is closed and a new chapter begins,” Morris told LBReport.com. Morris made [...]
MAYOR BOB FOSTER’S ‘GROUCHO STRATEGY’
In the Marx Brothers’ classic A Night At the Opera, Groucho is dining in an elegant restaurant at the height of the Depression with a lady friend. The waiter hands Groucho the check. “This is outrageous,” Groucho responds…as he hands the bill to his dinner guest and says, “I wouldn’t pay it if I were [...]
LBREPORT.COM EDITORIAL: FOSTER’S MAYORAL LEARNING CURVE LOOKS LIKE A DOWNWARD SPIRAL
Mayor Bob Foster has learned a lot since taking office. He’s become so enlightened that he now dismisses years of testimony by Long Beach’s previous police chief, the professional judgment of Los Angeles’ current police chief and multiple research studies cited in a recent Rand corporation study—which L.A.’s current police chief publicly cited in testimony [...]
MAYOR FOSTER SAYS LONG BEACH CAN BE A SAFER CITY WITH FEWER COPS
In a televised interview, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster says that unless the Long Beach Police Officers Association agrees to a second consecutive modification of its contract with the City of Long Beach, layoffs are necessary because the City is paying nearly 70 percent of its budget for public safety and can’t go further without running [...]
LOWENTHAL CONTEMPLATES LONG BEACH BUDGET FROM JAI MAHAL PALACE
Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal participated Tuesday in the proceedings of the City Council's Budget Oversight Committee from the Jai Mahal Palace luxury hotel in India, using the free consumer-level Skype Internet platform.
L.A.’S CLEAN TRUCKS PROGRAM—THE ONE L.B. BAILED ON—UPHELD BY JUDGE
A Los Angeles federal court trial judge has upheld the City/Port of Los Angeles “Clean Trucks Program” against a challenge by the American Trucking Associations (ATA). The trucking industry interest group had contended that the Long Beach/Los Angeles programs violated federal supremacy in maritime matters and interstate commerce regulation. To view the ruling by Federal [...]
DEAN WANTS A TRUCK TRANSFER STATION ON TERMINAL ISLAND FREEWAY PROPERTY
LBReport.com has learned that Wilmington Lomita, LLC, a Tom Dean-related entity, has applied for a Conditional Use Permit “to allow construction and operation of a 50 space truck transfer station on a vacant 3.4 acre site adjacent to the Terminal Island Freeway in the IL (Light Industrial) zone.” The item is scheduled to come to [...]
AMY BODEK PROMOTED TO LB’S NEW DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
Long Beach City Manager Pat West has promoted Amy Bodek to Director of Development Services, effective the first week in September.
Bodek is currently Acting Executive Director of the Redevelopment Agency and Manager of the Redevelopment Bureau---most recently appearing publicly on Thursday (Aug. 5) at an RDA event opening the new Marshall's store in Bixby Knolls.
PROPOSAL TO CUT LB CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS WILL AGGREGATE POWER, NOT SAVE MONEY
The proposal by Long Beach City Councilmembers Robert Garcia, Suja Lowenthal and Gary DeLong to cut the number of Council meetings that they and their colleagues would otherwise be expected to attend isn’t about saving taxpayers money. It’s about power. In the opinion of LBReport.com, their proposal is an abuse of power. We view it [...]
CONGRESS CLEARS LAURA RICHARDSON OF ETHICAL ALLEGATIONS
The House of Representatives Committee on Standards and Office Conduct has cleared Congresswoman Laura Richardson (D., Carson-LB) of allegations referred to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics, dismissing its review of those allegations. Following a seven-month probe, the Committee’s investigative subcommittee voted unanimously to adopt a finding “that Congresswoman Richardson did not knowingly [...]
A WAVE SO BIG NO BREAKWATER COULD STOP IT
It was a wave so big no breakwater could stop it. It had been building for nearly 10 years, and when that wave crashed through the City Council Chamber on Tuesday night, it swept aside years of stale excuses as Long Beach's elected representatives finally faced up to how much those excuses had cost this City.
