The requests from Quen Ma of World Market (1031 Pacific Coast Highway) and Paline Soth of PCH Market (1821 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave.) are agenda items No. 4 and No. 5 of a meeting that begins at 5 p.m. at Long Beach City Hall. Staff reports by the Long Beach’s Development Services Department recommend that the Commission approve the applications.

GreaterLongBeach.com has received calls from people claiming that Andrews’ office has contacted them to encourage support for the applicants—and charging Andrews with publically playing his constituents in order to privately play politics.

During an interview this morning, Andrews’ chief of staff Jon Edmond denied any doubletalk, insisted Andrews has remained neutral during the beer-and-wine permit process and has no comment on how the Planning Commissioners should vote this evening. He indicated that doesn’t mean Andrews’ staff has not been involved in the requests by Ma and Soth for permits to sell beer and win. But he insisted that does not amount to contradiction.

“We don’t see this as an inconsistency,” Edmond said. “It’s something we’ve worked on for a long time.”

That’s how long Andrews has been harping on the downsides of liquor stores, insisting they contribute to a variety of crimes and social problems, especially when many of them are located in a small area. But he took his attack to a higher level last July 23, when he teamed with the Redevelopment Agency to throw a party—with complementary refreshments—timed to coincide with the high-noon demolition of notorious Whistler Liquor.

Whistler’s longtime location on the northwest corner of Pacific Coast Highway was a frequent destination for Long Beach police. According to statistics released by the LBPD, there were more than 1,600 calls for police service and graffiti removal between 2004 and 2009. Andrews told reporter Seyed Jalali of the Signal Tribune that those numbers made Whistler “a cancer in the City of Long Beach.” He said that knocking down Whistler represented his philosophy converted into accomplishment.

“When I came into office, my first priority was to clean up this area,” Andrews said. “With the help of the RDA it is finally happening.”

So Whistler is gone. But so is the RDA. Now, the  likely arrival of beer-and-wine sales at stores a block away from Whistler’s vacant lot burial plot—as well as within 500 feet of the Poly High campus—reposes the question: what’s happening now?

“It’s an upgrade in the overall quality of life in that part of the 6th district,” Edmonds contends. “PCH Market and World Market are not liquor stores—they are not beer-and wine stores disguised as markets. They are actual markets that serve the day-to-day needs of the neighborhoods. And along with the food and soft drinks and everything else, people want to be able to buy a little beer or wine in these markets, too.”

Edmonds points to the long list of conditions that are attached to the applications:

A video surveillance system hooked up to the LBPD is required.

A security guard can be required at the discretion of the city.

Loitering is prohibited, and to discourage it so are video games and pay phones.

Alcoholic beverages can only be sold between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Beer or malt liquor cannot be sold in amounts of 22 ounces, 32 ounces or 40 ounces.

The sale of one or two beers is prohibited.

Wine cannot be sold in small bottles.

All the alcohol for sale on the premises must fit into one cooler.

“One cooler!” Edmond said, kind of incredulous as he considers it. “This is one of the tightest sets of conditions I have seen in the history of Long Beach. It’s more than enough.”

The Planning Commission makes that decision today at 5 p.m.

BRIGHTON, England—Why do people come out in the rain for a dance performance? I know why I’m here—I have the good fortune to be in Brighton writing about the impact of the massive injection of arts into this life of this city during May, and I have press tickets.

The Trisha Brown Dance Company is a headliner for Brighton Festival 2012, where we can see the work for the price of a theatre ticket rather than a plane ticket to New York. At this performance, the audience sees and feels movement that has played a part in the evolution of the lexicon of contemporary dance. Since the 1960s, New York-based choreographer Trisha Brown has asked us to think again about what we believe we know dance to be. The event brings a well-known, world-class artist into one of Brighton’s metaphorical living rooms, where locals like Susan Suman (above, left) and her daughter Amita can enjoy.

I call the Brighton Dome a living room because of Brightonians’ sense of ownership of their public spaces; there is a bustle and a liveliness to the streets, foyers, buildings, and gardens around town; public space is well used and activated through gatherings, events, and performances. Eavesdropping on pre-show conversations in the bar reveals that the attendees are knowledgeable about Brown’s place in dance history.

For many, love of dance overcame the usual barriers that keep people from attending art events—lack of money and time, and bad weather. It would have been interesting, albeit impractical, to ask everyone in the audience why they had chosen to come to this specific event. Before the curtain went up, I did have time enough to ask that question of Susan Suman and her step-daughter, Amita. Susan said they try to see festival events each year, but noted that rising ticket costs constrain their choices a little. They were determined to make it to the Dome because “Amita is a dancer so we wanted her to see this performance.”

Not all international artists are here because of the official festivals. Matteo Cusimano (above) travelled to Brighton from Italy to busk in this city that attracts so many visitors.  Tourists attract artists and artists attract tourists—a great cycle!

But Amita, a tall 14-year-old who certainly had the look of a dancer, was definitely drawn by the festivals, and I was reminded of research studies that show the single greatest factor in a person’s likelihood to participate in the arts throughout their lives is whether or not they were involved in the arts as children. Not only is Amita already an experienced audience member for the arts,  but her creative experience includes seven years of participation in the annual Children’s Parade that kicks off each Brighton Festival. “The year we were robots was the best,” she explained. “The costumes were amazing.”

I’d say that in a non-statistically significant way my conversation had borne out the findings of those research studies. I felt that I was talking to someone very likely to continue enjoying the arts, as audience member or dancer, or maybe both. Time will tell.

When I follow up next day to see what Amita thinks of the performance, I find that the non-traditional style of the choreography and music has puzzled her but she has found the dancers to be “amazing.” First-time viewing of Brown’s work is not an easy, familiar experience, even for a young dancer. For example, in the photo at right, Tamara Riewe is dancing Trisha Brown’s 1971 Accumulation, on a pre-show stage in the Dome foyer bar.  Brown’s focus in the choreography is addition and multiplication, with movements of the joints being accrued into increasingly long chains of action.

I find myself wondering how the evening will resonate with Amita in the future, as she expands her own creative practice. Whether or not Amita ever becomes a fan of Brown’s style, it was an amazing master class for a young artist.

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Blogger Bio: Victoria Bryan is an artist, curator, teacher and has been a Long Beach resident since 1985. Originally from London, Victoria lived in Brighton during school holidays with her grandmother, and later at her parents’ house after they settled there. During the past nine years, Victoria has taught in the Art and Theatre Departments at CSULB, and the Arts Management program at Claremont Graduate University. Currently, she is very pleased to be teaching the Arts Capstone class for future elementary teachers, in the CSULB Liberal Studies Department.

Instead, the headline refers to St. John Bosco High School, a fixture in Bellflower since 1940 (just six years after he was canonized), and in this circumstance the lackadaisical nature of the announcement really does underserve the message. Because it’s big news when St. John Bosco High names a new principal.

For one thing, the venerable institution has had only 13 previous principals in 72 years. For another, the new principal—No. 14—is named Casey Yeazel.

To repeat: Casey Yeazel.

“It is a privilege to welcome Casey Yeazel and his family to St. John Bosco High School,” said Paul M. Escala, the school’s president.

Actually, it’s probably a lot more than that, inasmuch as, well, you know, dude’s name is Casey Yeazel.

The new principal holds a Master of Education in Administrative and Policy Studies from the Principal Leadership Institute at UCLA and a California Administrative Service Credential. He also holds a second Master of Arts in Secondary Education from Loyola Marymount University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Administrative Studies from UC Riverside. He is currently completing his Doctorate of Education at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

And then, of course, and it really does bear mentioning again, there’s the matter of new principal’s name:  Casey Yeazel.

READ MORE IN THE DOWNEY PATRIOT

Think Pink

Kick off Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride Weekend at the 5th annual Pink Party in the East Village Arts District.  This official Pre-Pride event hosted by the one-and-only Jewels Long Beach will feature a Drag Diva contest, DJ Barry Weaver spinning dance music, outdoor bars by Hamburger Mary’s and Bliss 525, and Big Pink Hair and Nail stations.  And, in case you missed the point, you should be wearing pink.

THE 5TH ANNUAL PINK PARTY • 1ST STREET AND LINDEN AVENUE IN THE EAST VILLAGE • 7:00PM-MIDNIGHT • $10 AT THE DOOR

Saturday, May 19

We Love a Parade

Of course the big news this weekend is the Long Beach Pride Parade and Festival.  The parade steps off at 10:30 a.m. at Ocean and Temple and heads west along Ocean Boulevard to Alamitos Boulevard.  Show up at the parade start at an hour early– 9:30 a.m.–and you could win some Pride schwag or even free admission to the festival (otherwise $20/day).

The 29th annual Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival takes place along Shoreline Drive and features headliners Queen Latifah on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and The Village People on Sunday at 9:00 p.m.

LONG BEACH PRIDE PARADE AND FESTIVAL • SEE LONGBEACHPRIDE.COM FOR MAPS AND PERFORMANCE SCHEDULES • FESTIVAL IS $20 PER DAY • PARADE IS FREE

Sunday, May 20

eat, drink, listen to tunes, look & shop

Or so says the poster for Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts Festival and it sounds like a perfect way to round out the weekend.  Delilah Snell of The Road Less Traveled and Nicole Stevenson of Random Nicole bring their bi-annual event showcasing local artists and designers back to Marine Stadium in Long Beach this Sunday.  The event features more than 100 vendors selling unique “clothing for men, women & kids, handbags, accessories, art, ceramics, home goods, garden finds, plushies, jewelry, paper goods, edible treats, pet gear, crochet & knit goods, kits & patterns, bath & body goodies & more.”  We’re not sure what plushies are but they’re probably awesome.

Did we mention the food trucks?

Check out the Patchwork Facebook page for updates and previews.

PATCHWORK INDIE ARTS AND CRAFTS FESTIVAL • MARINE STADIUM • 5255 PAOLI WAY, LONG BEACH • 11-5 P.M. • FREE

But to Democrats in Washington, D.C., Xiong represents something else: their best hope of retaining a heavily Hispanic, central California seat that is among their most vulnerable Republican targets. Not that he was the first choice when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) was searching for a candidate who could retain the redrawn 21st district. The DCCC threw its support to Xiong only after more esteemed recruits passed on the race and Xiong proved a capable fundraiser and hired a strong consulting team. Then the campaign arm added him to its Emerging Races list, which identifies candidates who are running smart campaigns and making a district competitive.

“We’re going to continue to count on my community, but the big piece is really the broader support that we’ve now gotten,” the 43-year-old Xiong told Roll Call. “The Emerging Race status means a great deal and opens an even larger base for us.”

Xiong didn’t file his candidacy papers until the March 9 deadline. But thanks largely to Hmong support, he raised $145,000 in about a month. The U.S. Hmong population is now about 260,000, according to the 2010 census, up almost 40 percent since 2000. Their highest concentrations are in California—including a strong community in Long Beach—along with Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Xiong kicked off his fundraising with two trips to St. Paul, Minn., during the first quarter to kick off his fundraising. Out of the $139,000 Xiong raised from individuals last quarter, about $33,000 came from the Hmong communities based in the Midwest.

“Obviously it’s very personal to the Hmong community, not just here in California but throughout the country,” Xiong said. “This is the first opportunity that the community has had anybody to participate in the government at this level.”

The DCCC is optimistic that Xiong’s month-old campaign can help maximize its potential for gains in the Golden State, where the party could pick up half a dozen seats. But GOP state Assemblyman David Valadao is considered a top-tier candidate, and the National Republican Congressional Committee views the 21st district as a major pickup opportunity.

CONTINUE READING IN ROLLCALL. COM

Students protesting increasingly obscene compensation packages for top Cal State University executives will burn themselves to death in June, but only for a week.

In announcing the short-term protest suicides, organizers expressed admiration for the impressive results achieved decades ago by Buddhist monks who confronted crushing political oppression in war-torn Vietnam by lighting themselves on fire. But student leaders also acknowledged that college students are really busy this time of year, and no demonstrator could commit to remaining dead for more than seven days.

“These temporary self-immolations will really ignite this issue and set off a wildfire of protest that will inflame public debate and incinerate the justifications of fat cat public servants in a blaze of righteous citizen fury about this burning issue,” said a giggling sophomore.

Protesters denied that the abbreviated deaths will harm their cause by trivializing the suffering and aims of third-world protesters, such as hunger strikers, who often don’t achieve significant results against physically brutal totalitarian regimes until they are near death or suffer irreversible organ damage following months of principled starvation.

“We’re making it easier for young people to think they’re being edgy and important, even though they appear to be taking a week off school to audition for a new reality show,” said a protest organizer. “Or skipping class to try getting laid.”

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P-T Readers Demand San Fernando Ballots

City election officials are allowing selected Long Beach residents to think they’re voting in the San Fernando Valley in a unique project inspired by the peculiar news coverage of the “local” paper.

Long Beach Board of Elections employees designed the program to deal with the numerous calls they receive from cranky Long Beach Press-Telegram readers who insist on voting for the San Fernando Valley candidates they routinely see endorsed in their hometown paper.

Plans call for all P-T subscribers to report to a vacant warehouse in Long Beach, where each reader will be placed into a large cardboard box.

After the tops are closed, election officials will circulate among the boxes, gently bumping into them randomly while imitating truck noises “and other sounds encountered along the freeways from here to Van Nuys,” said an elections board spokesman.

After about an hour, the boxes will be opened amid shouts of “Welcome to the San Fernando Valley!” The blinking subscribers will then be led to obsolete surplus voting booths set up in an adjoining warehouse, where ballots filled with the names of San Fernando Valley office-seekers (all drawn from P-T editorials) will be displayed.

After subscribers “vote,” the process will be reversed and the voters sent home, proud to say they made a difference in the distant elections their local newspaper oddly cares about.

Although officials concede their plan is “wildly, unfathomably illegal,” they have no fear of arrest or imprisonment.

“It’s not like we’re dealing with bright four-year-olds, or people with average common sense,” said an elections board employee.

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Trapped Councilman Swims in Circles

Rescuers worked feverishly through the night to cut large holes in the Long Beach Breakwater, but were ultimately unable to coax a politically exhausted city councilman to leave safe harbor.

Wetsuit-clad Patrick O’Donnell remained in Long Beach waters this morning, mere hours after desperate civic leaders repeatedly promised the termed-out councilman that no one would forget his name during the two years until Bonnie Lowenthal vacates her seat in the California Assembly, if he would just leave, already.

A ray of hope shined briefly when rescuers lured O’Donnell onto the beach by placing a microphone and surfboard at water’s edge. But when O’Donnell realized no photographer was present, he scuttled back into the brine before marine biologists could subdue him.

Ongoing efforts to keep the floundering politician’s career alive are hampered by simple geography, as any straight path from the breakwater to Sacramento leads directly through Long Beach City Hall. Scientists now believe O’Donnell lacks the imagination necessary to navigate outside the council chamber and migrate northward.

“He seems so lost out there,” said one onlooker, wiping away a tear. “He’s completely out of ideas.”

BRIGHTON, England—Question: What do artists and people working in the nonprofit sector have in common?

Answer: Big dreams and not enough money to realize them.

When I heard about a collaboration involving Australian wearable art produced by both disabled and abled-bodied artists (CasArt), a runway fashion show in one of Brighton’s most sought-after arts venues and a Brighton charity called Spiral that provides opportunities for people with learning disabilities, I marked it on my calendar immediately. As I sat in The Old Market theatre, the experience of waiting for Red Rock to Royal Pavilion to start was like a huge sugar rush as anticipation crackled in the air around the 200 audience members.

Through fundraisers, including an 80-kilometer bike ride, the Australian artists collected money to send a team to the Brighton Fringe Festival, but there wasn’t enough cash to bring the models they needed. Enter the Spiral participants, more than happy to model the work of their Australian colleagues. Brighton’s mayor, Anne Meadows, was on hand to support the Spiral models and the Australian team.

Following the event at The Old Market, the wearable art moved to The Spiral Charity Shop, to be showcased and sold in a gallery above the shop, providing much-needed funding for both organizations.

Simone Guascoine, program coordinator, is looking forward to establishing the CasArt program as a fully independent social enterprise when the group returns home. There is not enough funding in the original organizational structure to grow the program into its mission, so there are plans to build revenue through diverse events and strategies. The lack of grant funding could have curtailed future plans, but Simone believes that “Being unfunded has given our artists the opportunity to take ownership of the program. Following three years of funding their own art program, the CasArt Artists have now created a fashion label and look forward to becoming a self-funded venture.”

This collaborative presentation at the Brighton Fringe Festival is a big step toward building CasArt’s sustainability, and plans now include continued communication with CasArt via Skype and Facebook, as well as joint projects.

The Brighton Festival brings many international artists to the city. While the Australian artists are showing at Spiral, here are some other international programs happening around town:

The Belgian theatre company, The Berlin Theatre Group, presents Land’s End,  a production co-commissioned by Brighton Festival.

The Trisha Brown Dance Company of New York  will perform four works for the Brighton Festival.

Meanwhile, at the Fringe, Anglo/Iranian creative director, Philippa Vafadari, presents her company Bandbazi in Swimming in the Persian Gulf.

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Blogger Bio: Victoria Bryan is an artist, curator, teacher and has been a Long Beach resident since 1985. Originally from London, Victoria lived in Brighton during school holidays with her grandmother, and later at her parents’ house after they settled there. During the past nine years, Victoria has taught in the Art and Theatre Departments at CSULB, and the Arts Management program at Claremont Graduate University. Currently, she is very pleased to be teaching the Arts Capstone class for future elementary teachers, in the CSULB Liberal Studies Department.

Jongluck “Lucky” Mutrais, 59, was arrested Thursday (May 10) morning at her home in Orange, according to the release, which said she is charged with “multiple felony counts, including misappropriation of public funds, altering or falsifying an account, embezzlement by a public officer, and filing false tax returns. She is currently being held at the Long Beach City Jail on $500,000 bail. If convicted of all the charges, Mutrais faces up to nine years in state prison.”

Mutrais had 21 years of service with Long Beach Animal Care Services when she resigned on Sept. 1, 2010—the day after the alleged embezzlement was discovered by new management in the Animal Care Services Bureau, which implemented a comprehensive computer system to improve animal license, dispatch, and shelter information, and to enhance tracking of their daily financial operations.

City management notified the Long Beach Police Department and City Auditor Laura Doud, and both immediately initiated independent investigations.

Doud’s office has also issued a media release, reporting that it uncovered more than $250,000 missing during an 11-month period, resulting in the criminal investigation. The City Auditor says she completed her report in October 2011, but did not release it until the police investigation had been completed.

Quoting from the information released by Doud’s office:

“At the time the audit was conducted, ACS was a bureau under the Department of Health and Human Services. In the summer of 2011, the City made organizational changes, and the ACS Bureau was placed under the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine.
During FY 2009 and 2010, bureau management was implementing significant improvements to ACS operations. This included the installation of new technology overseeing the animal licensing and cashiering functions. This new system allowed management, in August 2010, to identify a discrepancy in deposited revenues. Upon discovery of this discrepancy, management contacted the Office of the City Auditor for an audit.
The key findings of the audit focus on the inadequate reconciliation process, a lack of proper segregation of duties, and the need for supervisory review.”

Quoting from a statement from Doud:
“This [alleged] misappropriation of public funds was able to occur, because one employee had the ability to perform the reconciliation and deposit the money without any supervisory review, creating a high risk environment for fraud. As the City continues with cuts to the budget and the possibility of eliminating staff, this instance heightens the importance of ensuring proper controls are in place to verify all monies are deposited into the City’s treasury. This includes having clear procedures and training for managers overseeing cash so they can adequately design and implement proper controls that will safeguard our City revenue. I hope our audit reinforces the need for improved technology which will enable the City to properly monitor and track every dollar owed and received and reduce the opportunity for fraud.”

BRIGHTON, United Kingdom—Brighton in the month of May is like a giant ball of string made up of thousands of stories—individuals and communities, all knitted together by the experience of the arts. It seems that everyone and every community of the city is a part of the experience of the festivals. With hundreds of performances, events, and exhibitions on offer each day of the festivals, any attempt to review the work would be hit and miss, to say the least. Instead, I’ll explore the festivals in the context of the city and its diverse communities.

There is a powerful marriage of the global and the local in the Brighton Festival, a joyous blend of legendary mega-celebrities and a mind-boggling level of community participation. In recent years, The Brighton Festival has been stamped by the particular interests of its guest Artistic Director, and this year is no exception—actress Vanessa Redgrave brings a political awareness born of her years of passionate advocacy in all areas of her life and her art, as well as her performances and  talks focusing on human rights and children’s issues.

Redgrave joined with Anne Meadows, the mayor of Brighton and Hove, and 5,000 children from 77 local schools to kick off off the three-week arts event with the Children’s Parade. Along the route, through Brighton’s twisty lanes, Vanessa Redgrave and Mayor Anne Meadows pause to look at a mural of Aung San Suu Kyi, last year’s Festival Artistic Director.

The Children’s Parade is produced by Same Sky, who work with parents, teachers, artists, musicians, choreographers, and 5,000 young people from across the city. This year’s theme, “A Story of Stories,” turns a universal impulse into a spectacular parade through the streets of Brighton. “We work for months with the kids to get ready for this day. They are so excited to have their designs and performance appreciated by so many people,” beamed Sandy, a primary teacher and proud parent whose students and children were marching happily alongside the celebrities. Students from Fairlight Nursery and Primary School embody the cave dwellers period of civilization.

Jude Black, 9 years old, is looking forward to participating in the Children’s Parade again next year, as he did for the past two years. There is so much enthusiasm among schools that a roster system has been implemented to make sure all schools get a turn. This year, Jude’s school is taking a break and he had to make do with visiting artists’ open houses while the Parade was on—the cakes were a definite compensation.

Karim Kharboush (left), computer science student, and Jamie Payne, retail salesperson, are two of the stewards who line the parade route. Their primary job was directing people to where they might get the best view of the parade and both enthused about how the festivals bring people together to enjoy their community. Although the Festivals rely on hundreds of volunteers to staff many activities, stewarding offers part-time paid work through this festival season.
So, it seems clear to me that the festivals bring the residents of Brighton together.

Next: A look at how those links expand outside the city to connect Brighton with the wider world.

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Blogger Bio: Victoria Bryan is an artist, curator, teacher and has been a Long Beach resident since 1985. Originally from London, Victoria lived in Brighton during school holidays with her grandmother, and later at her parents’ house after they settled there. During the past nine years, Victoria has taught in the Art and Theatre Departments at CSULB, and the Arts Management program at Claremont Graduate University. Currently, she is very pleased to be teaching the Arts Capstone class for future elementary teachers, in the CSULB Liberal Studies Department.

One of the best products ever to come out of Chicago (along with deep dish pizza and Schwinn bicycles), This American Life, the award-winning weekly radio show hosted by Ira Glass, will be performed on stage in NYC this Thursday and beamed live via satellite to more than 500 select movie theaters.  Three years ago, 50,000 people showed up at theaters to watch a similar show, so best get your tickets now for the show at the Art Theatre of Long Beach.

From their site:  “The show will feature stories by Ira Glass, writers David Sedaris and David Rakoff, comic Tig Notaro and Snap Judgment host Glynn Washington, plus live music by OK Go. It’ll also include things you could never do on the radio, like a new short film by Mike Birbiglia, dance by Monica Bill Barnes & Company, original animation, projected illustration and more. Plus special surprise guests.”  Psssst….one of the surprise guests is David Sedaris…

If you plan to attend, make sure to download the This American Life/OK Go smartphone app for the performance; they say you’ll need it.

THIS AMERICAN LIFE- LIVE! THE ART THEATRE OF LONG BEACH • 2025 E 4TH STREET • DOORS OPEN AT 8:30PM, SHOW STARTS PROMPTLY A 9:00PM • TICKETS 19.00 WWW.BROWNPAPERTICKETS.COM

FRIDAY, MAY 11

FREEEEEEEEE STUUUUUUUFFFFF!

MOLAA is offering free reciprocal admission May 11-13 for members of participating museums (also 20% off purchases at the Museum Store).

Long Beach Museum of Art is free EVERY FRIDAY.

MOLAA 628 ALAMITOS AVENUE • 562-437-1689 • LONG BEACH MUSEUM OF ART 2300 EAST OCEAN BOULEVARD • 562-439-2119

SATURDAY, MAY 12

A Bike Rodeo doesn’t sound like the safest event in the world, but apparently if it’s run by the non-profit Safe Moves, and sponsored by the bike-friendly City of Long Beach, its all about safety.  If you and your kids are thinking about taking advantage of those new LB bike lanes but haven’t been out and about on two wheels lately, bring the family and take advantage of this free bike safety clinic Saturday at Veteran’s Park.  Expert instructors will teach you how to safely navigate city streets, boldly use the sharrows and bike boulevards, and shamelessly brag to your friends about how your family “never” uses the car anymore.  You can even get a complimentary bike inspection and minor adjustment at no charge.

Then take your bike expertise on the road for Bike Saturdays, an ongoing event to encourage biking and support local businesses.  You’ll get special deals at participating local shops and restaurants in Long Beach EVERY Saturday just for riding your bike. Helmets on.

BIKE SAFETY RODEO VETERAN’S PARK • 101 E. 28TH STREET • 10 AM TO 1PM • CO-HOSTED WITH THE WRIGLEY ASSOCIATION • FREE

SUNDAY, MAY 13

Tell your mom we said “hi”.

The show goes live from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. every Wednesday on KBEACH.org, the online radio station at California State University/Long Beach. Each episode is also available in the KBEACH.org archives.

Baeder, who is in his 30s, is a prize-winning journalist who most recently served as deputy metro editor of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, which is owned by MediaNews Group—the same corporation that bought and stripped down the Press-Telegram. He will discus the opportunities and obstacles he faces while trying to keep responsible journalism alive.

According to the “About” section of its website, “The Downey Beat provides deep, constant news coverage of Downey and its surrounding communities. We are local journalists who believe people still want well-reported, useful, entertaining local news.”

 Sounds familiar ….

Down in the San Gabriel’s concrete bottom on the border of Norwalk and Downey lay the bodies of Eddie’s 18-year-old sister Rachel Kaster and the Kasters’ 16-year-old friend Veronica Flores.

Rachel was badly slashed. Veronica had one stab wound to the back. Before midnight, all three teenagers had died. The friends from South Gate had been dropped off for a night of fun at the miniature golf course.

Despite an initial intense media spotlight and the emergence of DNA-matching technology, the case remains unsolved to this day.

“The media were around for about three or four months,” said Sandy Elicker, Veronica’s older sister. “Then nobody cared about it.”

On the 25th anniversary of the murders  in 2009, Elicker wrote letters to newspapers all over the county in hopes that editors would run the letters and jog decades-old memories.

“I don’t think any of them were published,” Elicker said.

—

Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau Lt. Dave Coleman grew up in Norwalk. He was a young deputy working out of the Lakewood Station when he heard about the Kaster/Flores murders.

People were saying it involved the occult. Pentagrams were painted in the riverbed nearby. There were rumors of frogs being impaled on a nearby chain link fence, according to accounts from the time. It was Friday the 13th.

“There was a lot of curiosity about it,” he said. “A lot of theories floating around.”

Coleman is now in charge of the sheriff’s unsolved murder detail. He still wants to know what happened to the three South Gate teenagers, he said. He plans to assign a new detective to the case.

“We’re taking a fresh look at everything,” he said.

CONTINUE READING BEN BAEDER’S STORY AT DOWNEYBEAT.COM

But the most compelling testimony to this point remains Monday’s showing of the previously unreleased surveillance video, a 33-minute exhibit in which a handful of Fullerton police are seen beating the unarmed, shirtless and homeless man as he apologizes, pleads for his life and ultimately screams for the help of his father, a retired law-enforcement officer.

The beating took place on July 5, 2011. Thomas died five days later.

Ramos, 38, a 10-year Fullerton police veteran, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. He faces a potential sentence of 15 years to life if convicted of second-degree murder, and four years if convicted of involuntary manslaughter. He is free on $1-million bail.

Cicinelli, 42, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and excessive force in connection with Thomas’ death. He  faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison. He is free on $25,000 bail.

WARNING: The actions recorded in the video are potentially very disturbing.

The Bellflower City Council commissioned Belle—6 feet tall, 8 ½ feet long, 3 ½ feet wide and 1,500 pounds—in September 2009, as a $95,000 tribute to the city’s name and its historical connection to the dairy farms that once proliferated in the area.

But less than two years later—in June 2011—nobody seemed to remember where they intended to put her. Former City Manager Mike Egan, who now holds that position in the City of Norwalk, scouted various locations, on property public and private, including Kaiser Permanente clinic at Rosecrans Avenue and Clark Street, several parks, the Carpenter House Museum at Caruthers Park, and several major intersections.

But in an April 23 agreement, the City Council accepted the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s offer to lease the site along the former Union Pacific right-of-way—now the bike-and-pedestrian trail—for three years at no cost.

Installation is expected to require from $10,000 to $20,000, the money coming from the city’s Public Arts account, established in 2005 and funded by a one-percent levy on developers or builders on the cost of their projects.

READ A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT IN THE HERALD AMERICAN

In an interview with LBReport.com, an owner of the historic property—
Michelle Molina, who along with her husband, John Molina, comprise 6th & Pine Development, LLC—says negotiations are in progress with a single office tenant to do a build-to-suit development that will use the former Press Telegram building as well as the Meeker-Baker building at Seventh Street and Pine Avenue.

Now derelict, the buildings are part of a square block owned by the Molinas. The property is bordered by Seventh St. and Sixth St. on the north and south, and by Locust St. and Pine Ave. on the east and west.

Diminishment of the block began in the late 1990s, when it was included in the purchase of the Press-Telegram by MediaNews Corp. The Denver-based operation was built by William Dean Singleton by acquiring community newspapers—it currently owns 57 dailies in 11 states—and wringing them into bare-bones operations nearly devoid of journalistic purpose or relevance, using profits to pay debt on the highly leveraged purchases.

The Press-Telegram exemplifies the Singleton strategy. Hundreds of people have been put out of work across the operation, as the composing room was closed, printing presses were silenced and the reporting and photography staff that once covered nearly two dozen cities was stripped to less than two dozen people, total.

When the Press-Telegram property was sold in 2006—estimated price: $20 million—the money was not re-invested in this civic asset, but rather funneled off to Denver.
The newspaper was moved to the ARCO tower, where it first occupied two floors, then one, before finally being folded into the Torrance-based Daily Breeze.

Although it continues to be published under the Press-Telegram masthead, what was once Long Beach’s daily newspaper is now a bureau of the Daily Breeze located in an office at 300 Oceangate, where a few reporters, photographers and ad sales reps rendezvous.

If likeness determined sister cities, Long Beach, USA, and Brighton, UK, would definitely be siblings—maybe even twinsies.

Long Beach (pop. 460,000) is a coastal city on the Pacific Ocean. Brighton and Hove (pop. 260,000) is a coastal city on the English Channel. There are a couple of obvious differences: the weather, LB’s sandy beach vs. the pebbles along the Brighton shore—and, did I mention, the weather?

Overriding the differences, however, are similarities: diverse populations, fun-loving culture, a rich (and sometimes shady) history, large student populations, recognition that visitors are key to local economies, and belief that the arts are important to their communities.

On its website, Long Beach is described as a city “where world-class arts and cultural exhibitions complement a spectacular seaside locale.” Brighton states “our arts and culture scene is important to the social and economic make-up of the city. We are home to many businesses, organisations, artists and creative practitioners whose work makes Brighton & Hove a unique and vibrant place to live, visit and work.”

During May 2012—hey, that’s this month—Brighton will host the 46th annual Brighton Festival, this year under the artistic directorship of Vanessa Redgrave. The three-week festival will explore Redgrave’s interests across music, theatre, dance, film, and literature, including humanitarian, economic and social issues and, in particular, children’s needs.

Other events run concurrently, including the Brighton Fringe Festival, with 675 events planned at 193 venues; Artist Open Houses, featuring work by 1,300 artists in 250 venues citywide; The Great Escape, Europe’s leading showcase for new music talent from around the world, expecting 12,000 visitors and 3,000 delegates; and The Charleston Festival (“where books, ideas, and creativity bloom”) held about fifteen miles from Brighton at the country home of Virginia Woolf, and the other writers, painters and intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury group.

This avalanche of arts and culture offers local and tourist audiences an amazing panoply of free, low-cost, and regular ticket events, bringing hundreds of thousands of people to local venues.

What does that mean for nearby businesses, educational institutions, residents, visitors, artists and audiences? Check back for our daily photo blog exploring what happens when the arts take over a city.

There is much talk about the role and value of the arts in our Long Beach communities—Brighton provides a chance to observe that interaction played out across a whole city, through the “merry month of May!”

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Blogger Bio: Victoria Bryan is an artist, curator, teacher and has been a Long Beach resident since 1985. Originally from London, Victoria lived in Brighton during school holidays with her grandmother, and later at her parents’ house after they settled there. During the past nine years, Victoria has taught in the Art and Theatre Departments at CSULB, and the Arts Management program at Claremont Graduate University. Currently, she is very pleased to be teaching the Arts Capstone class for future elementary teachers, in the CSULB Liberal Studies Department.

So it was with hopefulness that I entered the Center Theatre to see the West Coast premiere of The Fix, billed as “a hard-boiled, darkly comic rock musical about the American political machine.”

The Fix is, indeed, a rock musical about the American political machine—though its supposed insights are surface-deep and not especially insightful. And I presume playwright/lyricist John Dempsey intended something hard-boiled and darkly comic. What I know for sure is that I wish ICT had chosen different material, because no director or cast can repair all that is wrong with The Fix.

The plot, in brief: With the untimely death of presidential hopeful Sen. Reed Chandler (William T. Lewis), his slacker son Cal (Adam Simmons) is groomed to hold the reins of power by his mom (Alix Korey) and crippled, paternal uncle (Sal Mistretta). Despite a Clintonesque carelessness, Cal rises through the governmental ranks, until … well, I don’t want to spoil it for you.

I do, however, want to talk about the music. Imagine the music at a middle American high-school chorale show—except the choir is being “hip” by doing some rock songs—c. 1985, and then tweak it in your mind so that the musicians are overplaying in the midst of compositions with loopty-loops of unnecessary convolutions, leaving a complete lack of energy or groove. That’s The Fix.

Even in “One, Two Three,” the song contextually meant to impart something of basic rock energy and simplicity (“These two hands / Playin’ these three chords”), composer Dana P. Rowe can’t resist meandering in an attempt to show off. He fails, painfully. It seems Rowe has attempted to write a rock musical without ever having listened to rock ‘n’ roll—an unlikely theory that nonetheless garners additional circumstantial evidence from the fact that a good third of the music in The Fix isn’t rock ‘n’ roll by any stretch of the imagination.

Unfortunately, the genre confusion doesn’t help, as is shown in Rowe’s attempts at styles such as Gospel and Ragtime. Finally, near the end of Act One, Rowe builds some energy during “Simple Words,” but meandering again gets the best of him. (And if you’re looking for strong leitmotifs that tie the piece together, forget about it.)

Then there’s the content of the songs. Joss Whedon, creator of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer—which includes the brilliant musical “Once More, With Feeling”—once spoke about his great pet peeve with musicals: Many of them are variety shows dressed up as musicals—a little acting, then a song that doesn’t really advance the action. That’s The Fix all over. While the opening number “Let the Games Begin” is a fitting prologue to the action, almost no other number is anything but a mood piece.

In terms of the writing, character development in The Fix is nil. You can’t feel for any of these cutouts because there’s no flesh on their bones. Sultry lounge singer Tina McCoy (Melanie Fernandez) is a cliché of a good-time girl. Mobsters who help the Reed political machine out of a jam are what you would have seen if ever mobsters were on Happy Days.

Speaking of ’70s sitcoms, that’s the level of the humor on display. Two examples: 1) Cal asks, “What does the city council do?” “Surprisingly little,” he’s told. (Yes, that’s meant to draw a laugh.) 2) “We have to work on your cadence,” Cal is advised. His reply: “My [pause] . . . what?” Ugh.

Clearly the International City Theatre has gone to some pains to put on a good show with The Fix, and director Randy Brenner and his cast and crew deliver a tight performance. But there is nothing, nothing they could have done to make this a positive review.

THE FIX INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE • 300 E OCEAN BLVD • LONG BEACH 90802 • 562.436.4610 • ICTLONGBEACH.ORG • THURS-SAT 8PM, SUN 2PM • $37-$44 • THROUGH MAY 20

Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga

Charlie Gandy and Allan Crawford, who have parlayed their expertise and passion for bicycling into professions that include roles in Long Beach’s push to become the Most Bike-Friendly City in America, will preview some of the dozen or so events that have been schedule for May—including this Saturday’s third Tour of Long Beach and the Bike Fest.

Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga, a weekly hunting-and-gathering expedition into the most-important issues in Long Beach and its satellite cities, goes live every Wednesday at 7 p.m. on KBEACH.org, the online radio station that originates at California State University/Long Beach.  Recordings of each show are available beginning on Thursday afternoons, both in the archives at KBEACH.org and via downloadable podcasts. Links to both are available at GreaterLongBeach.com.

At this evening’s meeting, the City Council will decide whether to have the City of Long Beach—which owns multiple downtown properties and thus has heavily weighted votes—cast its votes in favor of the proposed expanded assessment … a tax that would for the first time include downtown residential property owners.

“If there is a true downtown property owner support for this petition, the commercial property owners will provide the required support, not the City,” says group leader Sandra Rendell in an April 28 mass emailing.

Downtown LB Associates and City Hall management are urging the Council to approve casting City Hall’s votes in favor of the assessment.

CONTINUE READING AT LBREPORT.COM

“We tried to find new, interesting plays,” said Lana Joy, who helped found the series with fellow Downey resident Forrest Hartl. “For now they won’t have all the paint and polish of a full production.”

All the productions will take place in donated spaces—the Number 34 barber shop, the Moravian Church of Downey, Granata’s & Tapas restaurant, and the Epic Lounge. Professional actors will donate their time to act in the shows. Due to union rules that require that actors put in less than 15 hours of rehearsal time for free work, the actors will have scripts in hand.

 Two of the shows have strong local ties. La Vida Lucky is adapted from “Malinche’s Children,” a book that chronicles a barrio in Norwalk. Alexander the Greatest, about a ruthless actor, was written by Hartl.

CONTINUE READING ON DOWNEYBEAT.COM

By a 4-1 vote, the EEOC approved the rules for employers who use criminal background checks, calling for careful consideration of how and when such reviews can be used in pre-employment screenings and in the workplace because of their potential to be biased against certain groups, such as racial minorities.

“The new guidance clarifies and updates the EEOC’s longstanding policy concerning the use of arrest and conviction records in employment, which will assist job seekers, employees, employers, and many other agency stakeholders,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien.

The changes are seen as a boon for workers who have been unable to land jobs or have lost jobs because of their criminal histories.

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When is Bill Pearl’s LBReport.com going to become a REAL news operation and stage a vanity “Who’s Who?” event for the city’s young social climbers and their co-dependents?

LBReport.com should sponsor the Long Beach “420,000 Under 420,000,” a gala
social event featuring 420,000 of the city’s most influential and powerful leaders
under the age of 420,000.

Pearl should heavily promote it on his website, too, although without acknowledging that he would be exploiting the insecurity of the city’s top 420,000 aspiring leaders by
making them look like frightened, grasping toadies.

No one will dare to miss it—see you there!

US BLUES

You can forget about the plot, though, because Rabe’s interest seems to be all about the phenomenological: What is it to experience life in all its immediacy, without recourse to deep analysis or even a properly functioning short-term memory?

That’s why Goose, Tomtom, and everyone else in the play is so childlike. The pair share a childish, testosterone-fueled enthusiasm for their guns and their sparkly Lorraine, herself all about treasure and surface-level stimulation. Freud would have little problem recognizing Rabe’s angle: ids all around.

Admittedly, that amounts to some goofy fun, though I found myself far less charmed with the incongruous utterances of the characters than the majority of the audience.

But where this angle becomes most interesting—and most beautiful—is when Rabe places these ids in contemplation of the sublime. How might a four-year-old be transported to a higher plane by a sunrise which he has insufficient language to articulate—especially when even the most sophisticated language can only (as Wittgenstein might put it) talk around the experience?

That’s exactly what happens when Tomtom (Paul Knox) attempts to describe to Goose (Matt Anderson) his experience of the early morn. Suddenly, Tomtom’s language elevates from gutter to poetic (“chamber of cloud” is certainly a highfalutin idiom Tomtom would not typically have). In these moments, Hamme exploits the excellent sound and light design (Anderson and Michael Stokesberry, respectively) to great effect, giving us a bit of vicarious access to the characters’ wonder.

My favorite of these scenes is Goose’s consideration of himself as perhaps originating as a frog. It’s a monolog with several of those goofy incongruities, but Anderson never plays the laughs; instead, his fear and awe at his uncertain existential past evokes a pathos played up perfectly by music and light. None of us knows from whence our consciousness comes; we are uncomprehending children in the face of it, creating our own little mythologies—which, for all we really know, might be true—in an effort to allay our angst-ridden ignorance.

The acting is stellar, each character seeming an infantile soul dressed up in the costume of a full-fledged body in the world. Knox and Anderson get that across early on, but the interpretation seems further confirmed with each entrance—first Lorraine (Jessica Variz doing a wide-eyed, whiny, would-be street smart), then Lulu (Kristal Greenlea, a fairy princess safe in the knowledge she is fated to a happy ending), then her brother Bingo (Robert Edward, a kid’s version of a guy with his ear to the ground).

Lorraine’s and Bingo’s entrances are just really fun, besides, and I was a little sorry there wasn’t occasion for more of such stuff. (And Bingo’s entrance could probably have been milked for more.)

Some might be annoyed at Rabe’s psychological non-linearity, while others might focus on how it makes for goofy fun. Both, I think, would be looking in the wrong place for what Goose and Tomtom really has going for it: a meditation on the magic inhering to the experiential process, if only we forget our “higher” selves for the moment.

GOOSE AND TOMTOM THE GARAGE THEATRE • 251 E 7TH ST (JUST WEST OF LONG BEACH BLVD) • LONG BEACH 90813 • 562.433.8337 THEGARAGETHEATRE.ORG • THURS-SAT 8PM • $18; $15 FOR STUDENTS & SENIORS; CLOSING NIGHT + PARTY $20 • THROUGH MAY 21 ST

The story arrives the morning after LBReport.com was first to report that serious crimes in Long Beach are up 15 percent in 2012 over a year ago. According to LBPD data, violent crimes have increased by 13 percent, mostly in the department’s North, West and South divisions, while property crimes in the East Division have leaped by 23.4 percent.

Those four divisions would be reduced to three under a plan being mulled by LBPD management as part of an ongoing preparation of a proposed city budget for fiscal year 2012-2013.

CONTINUE READING AT LBREPORT.COM

Specifically, violent crimes in Long Beach increased 13 percent during January, February and March compared to those months in 2011. The rise was propelled by big jumps in the LBPD’s North, West, and South Divisions. Property crimes leaped 15 percent citywide, led by a 23.4 percent increase in the East Division.

The data was presented in the new conference room of the Veterans Administration Hospital during the latest East Division Community Gathering, a quarterly series of public meetings organized by East Division Commander Michael Beckman.

CONTINUE READING IN LBREPORT.COM

But Tom Stoppard had found his genius even while still in his 20s, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is simultaneously precious and clever, a brilliant existential consideration of the human condition, and drop-dead hilarious (probably the flat-out funniest thing Stoppard will ever write).

Such a masterful script should be a can’t-miss production when paired with a high-caliber theatre company like Cal Rep. And that’s just what we get.

As a theatre reviewer very familiar with both script and company, I pretty much knew what I was in for when I entered the Royal Theatre. The only surprise was director Thomas P. Cooke’s conceit to spin R&G not just from Hamlet, but specifically from Laurence Olivier’s 1948 film adaptation, complete not only with film clips, but period-looking splices of the play’s cast members onto the screen.

The conceit works on two levels. For starters, it’s goofy fun when we see “our” Rosencrantz (Craig Anton) and Guildenstern (John Prosky) full of puzzlement as they find themselves wandering the cinematic mist. But what’s also amusing is seeing how surprisingly bad the film is, how it plays right into the askance angle Stoppard takes on some of Hamlet’s pomposity (à la The Player’s epithet on theatrical dialog: “speaking as no man ever spoke”).

I was not surprised at how well Cooke and Co. hit every comedic note. I was, however, delighted, considering that Stoppard’s comedy fires at all levels, the more highfalutin of which can be lost on a general audience. Not here, though, with Anton & Prosky effectively getting across their characters’ intents in every line.

Similarly spot-on is Robert Prior, who plays The Player as a charming, in-the-know impresario/panderer. The lesser roles are equally good. Mark Piatelli’s Hamlet is what Olivier might have done if he weren’t taking himself too seriously, and David Vegh’s Claudius steals a scene simply with a “Fair thee well.”

Technically, the show comes off without a hitch. Cooke knows this fantastic script, knows what to do with it, and has the talent around him to make it come off right. Want to see what theatre can do? Here’s a damn-fine chance.

ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD CALIFORNIA REPERTORY CO. • THE ROYAL THEATRE ABOARD THE QUEEN MARY (1126 QUEENS HWY) • LONG BEACH 90802 • 562.985.5526 CALREP.ORG • TUES-SAT 8PM • $15–$20 (PARKING $6–$8—BUT YOU CAN TAKE THE PASSPORT FOR FREE) • THROUGH MAY 12

The museum is pretty much all that’s left of the aerospace industry in Downey, where they built things like the Apollo series of rockets that took people to the moon and the Space Shuttle, which … well there was that one that blew up … and then there were those sonic booms they always made when reentering the atmosphere.

Anyway, “Suited For Space” scientifically presents the design and evolution of spacesuits, starting with the pioneers of high-altitude flying in the 1930′s and looking ahead to what kind of suits astronauts will use on manned missions to Mars. There are hundreds of images and artifacts that detail how astronauts were kept safe outside the earth’s atmosphere. The suits are referred to as the “ultimate life-support system.”

The Space Center, on the other hand, is referred to as “what’s gotta be the ultimate family-support system among Southern California attractions.” Admission is $5. Really. You give them $5 and they let you come in. Five. Yes, fiiiiive! As in one-two-three-four-and-what comes next. Dollars.

SUITED FOR SPACE COLUMBIA MEMORIAL SPACE CENTER • 12400 COLUMBIA WAY • DOWNEY • 90242 • 562.231.1200 • TUE-SAT 10AM-5PM • $5 (YES, YOU READ IT RIGHT: FIVE DOLLARS!)

So, there ya go—job applicants, beware.

But apparently we’ve interrupted Velez, who hasn’t finished his sentence.

“…so we did not name our restaurant ‘Bastard’s’ to offend anyone,” he concludes.

So, there ya go—the establishment is going to be named ‘Bastard’s. Actually, since the restaurant’s signage has been completed, it already is.

Under previous ownership, the eat-and-drinkery on the corner of 2nd Street and Downey Avenue was called Downtown BBQ Company. Velez says the new place is going to serve “barbecue, sports and beer”—not a big change—but he prefers the name “Bastard’s.”

Soooo, there ya go! There’s no accounting for taste … except Velez stepped right up and accounted for his at Tuesday’s meeting of the Rotary Club. He told the Rotarians that the name derives from his service in the U.S. Marines, where in 2006-2007 he was a member of the 2nd battalion 4th infantry unit, which is nicknamed the “Magnificent Bastards.”

“It is named ‘Bastard’s’ in respect and honor of those who have served in the magnificent unit,” Velez said at Rotary. “They gave up everything in order to keep this country safe, and free! They are the greatest people I have known throughout my life, and I am honored to call them my friends and my brothers.”

Nonetheless, Pierce reports that the name has prompted lively discussion on the Patriot’s Facebook page, online and in Downey City Hall. The newspaper received two Letters to the Editor in opposition to calling the place “Bastard’s.”

So, here ya go!

CONTINUE READING THE NEWS ACCOUNT AND THE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

But back in that era when somebody would ask—for me, in the late 1970s and early 1980s—it felt as though everybody was always asking. The only question I got more often was, “Can I see some ID?” If my memories of those years often fail to include enough fully realized scenes to compile a coherent story arc, it’s because one or another of my friends —apparently, I used to have lots of friends—was constantly cajoling me for permission to plop on my couch, that portable cot, the air mattress, my sleeping bag or a corner of the shag carpeting. It was that, and all the drinking.

If the appeal from the Port of Long Beach is a typical example, asking for a place to crash doesn’t happen or sound the way it used to. The Port’s request was an e-mail that arrived in my e-mail inbox on April 12, and it sounded … well, this is exactly how it began:

“The Port of Long Beach is requesting information from office building owners and
their representatives as part of its search for an interim headquarters facility.”

Nobody has ever laid that kind of a bleached, starched and pressed question on me, but if someone ever does, I’ll let ’im know: “Dude, I got your  ‘interim headquarters’ right here.”

Even in that baked state, however, the Port’s basic predicament and plea are recognizable to me, and ignite a reaction.  In seconds, they almost palpably reconcoct the aura of uneasy bravura that pervaded that small batch of years. Everybody was always asking somebody for a place to stay, the reasons ranging from vacation to landlord trouble to the breakup of a relationship to the intolerability of home.

The Port’s reasons?

“The Port’s current building on Harbor Plaza, built in 1959, no longer meets the Port’s needs. It also does not meet today’s earthquake codes.”

When you think about it, the Port of Long Beach’s current jam isn’t much different than the ones that got us stuck in old days. And speaking of thinking about it, is anybody considering the consequences of describing these very first-person problems with the icy, empty language of the third person?  It’s got to make it harder to persuade anyone to help. At a time like this, who needs Jeeves?

Not me, and besides, there’s simply not enough physical space at my place to accomodate the more than 400 people who work at Port of Long Beach headquarters these days.

Still, it’s sad the situation has come down to this. The Port has spent years angling for new digs to replace its current seven-story headquarters, the one with the malfunctioning equipment and surrounded by trailers that make the place feel like a KOA Kampground. And the Port’s needs have just kept getting more dire as new plans have been launched, then quickly shot down.

Back in 2010, the Harbor Commission’s $220 million plan to build a new, green facility on a 17-acre site adjacent to the Port’s current building was vetoed by Mayor Bob Foster, who ordered the port search for a cheaper option.

Next, Harbor Commissioners entered into a non-binding purchase agreement to buy the 27-story One World Trade Center Building for $130 million. But Foster reshuffled the commission by appointing two new members, Rich Dines and Doug Drummond. They both voted no, again citing expense. When Foster’s other appointee, Susan Wise, recused herself from voting at the advice of the Long Beach City Attorney’s office—she and her husband, Erich Wise, a maritime lawyer, lease office space in One World Trade Center—the result was a 2-2 vote that the killed the deal.

Now the Port of Long Beach isn’t sure where it’s going to end up laying its head—“The Port plans to either lease or purchase its new facility”—but there’s no doubt it’s got to get out of its longtime home.

Thirty-some years ago, my back-then girlfriend, Reshell, and I said “yes” to nearly everybody’s plea for a place to stay—so often that we kept a guestbook beneath the squishy, estate-sale couch with the flocked-pattern that dominated our tiny apartment at 38 Argonne in Belmont Shore.

Most guests stayed only a night or two, but occasionally somebody would lock in for several days. Although it was frequently inconvenient, I don’t remember it becoming intolerable.

Not sure why people so rarely ask to crash at my place now, but it’s probably a good thing. Although I would likely still say “yes” occasionally, it wouldn’t be as automatic or sincere. Honestly, just the thought of the question can make me cranky. But while “yes” hasn’t been my orientation for a very long time, yet I don’t remember—or maybe never knew—what transformed it to to trend toward “no.”

Actually, I can’t remember ever having to answer “no”—probably because I radiate the answer, unspoken, so unmistakably that nobody risks asking. Except Rebecca Schoenkopf—but I like having her around.

I’m not sure that I like having become this way, while more people than ever need a place to stay, as more circumstances than ever collaborate to create a world that has left them without one.

“Don’t tell us what kind of weekend to have!” they shouted sharply back to us.

To which we replied:

TONIGHT: MAXI’S IN THE BASEMENT, MIXIN’ UP THE MEDICINE

Soulful stylist Jeff Robinson of New York and DJ Kelvin Anderson of V.I.P. Records are on the bill this week, but it’s those last four words—“the bill this week”—that are key to the 2 The Max series that longtime Long Beacher Maxi Viltz began several months ago. This city used to have a nice collection of wonderful jazz clubs, and for years that observation has been about as far as anyone has gone toward a resurgence. But the Seabird Lounge at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles is beginning to feel like a landmark, and Bliss 525 has pumped life into the old Gazella’s restaurant. Viltz did some booking at the Seabird before trying to give the Basement Lounge a series of shows as impressive as the space. Viltz has proven she can hang for the long hall; her African boutique and gallery, Village Treasures, is in its 11th year of business at 145 Linden, across the street from the Basement Lounge—a rare piece of retail permanence downtown. The question is whether a Long Beach jazz scene is something people want to relive, or just reminisce about.
JEFF ROBINSON, DJ KELVIN ANDERSON BASEMENT LOUNGE • 149 LINDEN AVE • LONG BEACH 90802 • TONIGHT 9 PM • $10

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A $5 ADMISSION CHARGE CAN MAKE YOU FEEL KINDA SPACEY

This is the penultimate weekend—that is, the second-to-last—for the Columbia Memorial Space Museum’s first first-ever traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution: “Suited For Space” which is about space suits. The museum is pretty much all that’s left of the aerospace industry in Downey, where they built things like the Apollo series of rockets that took people to the moon and the Space Shuttle, which … well there was that one that blew up … and then there were those sonic booms they always made when reentering the atmosphere. Anyway, “Suited For Space” scientifically presents the design and evolution of spacesuits, starting with the pioneers of high-altitude flying in the 1930′s and looking ahead to what kind of suits astronauts will use on manned missions to Mars. There are hundreds of images and artifacts that detail how astronauts were kept safe outside the earth’s atmosphere. The suits are referred to as the “ultimate life-support system.” Yeah, we get it. The Space Center, on the other hand, is referred to as “what’s gotta be the ultimate family-support system among Southern California attractions.” Admission is $5. Really. You give them $5 and they let you come in. Five. Yes, fiiiiive! As in one-two-three-four-and-what comes next. Dollars.
SUITED FOR SPACE COLUMBIA MEMORIAL SPACE CENTER • 12400 COLUMBIA WAY • DOWNEY • 90242 • 562.231.1200 • TUE-SAT 10AM-5PM • $5 (YES, YOU READ IT RIGHT: FIVE DOLLARS!)

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ADD PEOPLE PEACE SIGN TO EARTH DAY LANDMARKS

Some of us are old enough to remember the first Earth Day—April 22, 1970—and if we remember correctly … hmmm … it was less than two weeks before the Ohio National Guard shot dead four students at Kent State … two years after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy … a few months before Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin OD’d … and, well, you get the idea—it was an era when a lot of important people were getting into the Earth.  They say Earth Day triggered the modern environmental movement, and “triggered” is a good word for it. By the end of 1970 the Environmental Protection Agency was founded, the Clean Air Act was passed and the voting age was lowered to 18. In 1972, the Clean Water Act became law and in 1976, California voters approved Prop 20 to create the Coastal Commission. That’s a lot! And what are this era’s activists doing in Long Beach to make the 2012 Earth Day something memorable? Gathering on the beach to form a People Peace Sign, pose for photographers, then heading over to Bixby Park to party. See ya there!

EARTH DAY PEOPLE PEACE SIGN PHOTO ON THE BEACH AT THE FOOT OF TEMPLE AVE • NOON • FREE; PEOPLE PEACE SIGN AFTERPICNIC • BIXBY PARK • CHERRY AVE @ OCEAN BLVD • 2PM-8PM • FREE

DeLong didn’t keep it a  secret; in fact, LBReport.com acknowledges learning about his whereabouts from a post on the councilmember’s Congressional campaign Facebook page.

FOR MORE, INCLUDING VIDEO, GO TO LBREPORT.COM

Back on January 11, Supernaw’s first-ever political campaign—a homemade creation grounded in his lifetime as a resident and activist in Long Beach’s 4th district—had just been badly mangled in a collision with the mean machinery of big politics. He barely knew—or could hardly believe—what hit him.

But today, Supernaw is fresh off a victory in the April 10 primary, qualifying for a June 5 runoff against 4th district incumbent Patrick O’Donnell in a three-way photo finish that required recounts to validate. Supernaw received 1,218 votes (33.46 percent), while O’Donnell had 1,205 votes (33.1 percent) and retired Long Beach police officer John Watkins had 1,166 votes (32.03 percent).

In the program’s second segment, Maureen Neeley of the not-for-profit Long Beach Heritage group and GreaterLongBeach.com contributor/architecture aficionado Theo Douglas will examine the impending demolition of another Long Beach landmark—the Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School.

The distinctive Streamline Moderne structure has been sitting at 1574 Linden Ave. since 1935, when it was constructed according to the design of noted Long Beach architect George Kahrs. The Long Beach Unified School District intends to completely raze the 77-year-old school and replace it with a group of contemporary buildings funded with $38,700,000 from Measure K bonds.

Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga is a co-production of GreaterLongBeach.com and the Internet radio station at Cal State Long Beach, KBEACH.org. It goes live for one hour every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Thereafter, the program can be accessed at GreaterLongBeach.com, whether by podcast or a connection to the KBEACH.org archives.

By ALFRED PALLARCA

A former student body president at California State University/Long Beach will receive a Purple Heart award after incurring a serious combat wound during a United States Marines mission in Afghanistan.

Mark Andrews, who served as CSULB’s president of Associated Students, Inc., during his senior year of 2008-2009, suffered a bullet wound to the leg while fighting in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The damage was so serious that amputation was considered, but after 18 days of treatment in various hospitals he was told he could make a full recovery and eventually walk normally again.

“It was nothing short of a miracle that I recovered,” Andrews said. “I am very blessed because it could have been worse.”

CONTINUE READING AT DAILY49ER.COM

http://www.daily49er.com/former-asi-president-to-receive-purple-heart-1.2729818

12:26 pm
Hey, standing in line at job fair. Been here about a half-hour. Spent a little time this morning generalizing my resume and cover letter, and probably shouldn’t have since the security people greeted me with the advisory that I probably won’t reach the door before it closes.

12:27 pm
Another lesson.

12:29 pm
News TV is covering the long line of desperate people.

12:31 pm
Security keeping a close watch on our single fileness, our stay-to-the-rightness and keeping our expectations low.

12:32 pm
“Stay to the right, people, and stay up tight.”

12:33 pm
The sign at the driveway coming in called this a “Hiring Spree.”

12:35 pm
Never been in a line like this.

12:35 pm
A new experience!

12:36 pm
Conversations in line are interesting.

12:38 pm
Woman behind me says she was laid off 18 months ago, has been twice turned down for jobs in her field because she lacks “recent” experience.

12:40 pm
Security guards telling people that if they have “guard cards” there is temporary work available this weekend at the Long Beach Grand Prix and Coachella Festival.

12:43 pm
Here comes somebody with some kind of signup sheet.

12:46 pm
Guy with signup sheet estimates there are 4,000 people here. Seems high to me.

12:47 pm
It’s more like 2,500 to 3,000.

12:47 pm
I think.

12:51 pm
People in line are very nice, quietly conversational, realistic, resilient. Sharing stories of their fruitless job searches, but not self-pityingly—yet recognizing that the sum of all these stories equals a very messed-up state of affairs.

12:53 pm
They accept that their only chance at all is to go through stuff like this.

12:54 pm
They kind of interview each other, offer leads, suggestions. Loving.

12:54 pm
I’m close to the door!

12:58 pm
I’m inside!

12:58 pm
They’re giving us visitor’s badges.

12:59 pm
The badge people tell everyone, “Good luck!”

1:00 pm
Remind us, “Don’t forget to smile!”

1:02 pm
Now standing in an inside line, going down long hallway. Security keeps telling us, “Stay close to the wall!”

1:05 pm
One guy says, “We’re breaking fire laws by having all of you in here. The Fire Marshall says he’ll look the other way as long as you stay against the wall. Otherwise, we gotta pay a fine. Me? I’m not gonna go that far for y’all.”

1:06 pm
Handing out a plastic bag to each of us.

1:08 pm
I’m in the room! It’s a long room, with three long rows of tables lined with various representatives from companies and government agencies. It’s packed. Gotta get in on the hiring spree! Talk later.

1:46 pm
Just got out. It was mostly a lot of people giving websites to apply, plus LA Sheriff, Police Department, etc. Lot’s of $8-an-hour, part-time jobs, but a few possibilities. Worth the experience.

++++   ++++   ++++

By ROBIN POGREBIN

GOSHEN, N.Y.—As Modernist buildings reach middle age, many of the stark structures that once represented the architectural vanguard are showing signs of wear, setting off debates around the country between preservationists, who see them as historic landmarks, and the many people who just see them as eyesores.

The conflict has come in recent months to this quaint village 60 miles north of New York City—with its historic harness-racing track, picturesque Main Street and Greek Revival, Federal and Victorian houses—where the blocky concrete county government center designed by the celebrated Modernist architect Paul Rudolph has always been something of a misfit.

“I just don’t think it fits with the character of the county seat and the village of Goshen,” said Leigh Benton, an Orange County legislator who grew up in the area. “I just thought it was a big ugly building.”

Completed in 1967, the building has long been plagued by a leaky roof and faulty ventilation system and, more recently, by mold; it was closed last year after it was damaged by storms, including Tropical Storm Irene.

Edward A. Diana, the Orange County executive, wants to demolish it, an idea that has delighted many residents but alarmed preservationists, local and national, who say the building should be saved. The county legislature is expected to decide whether to demolish or renovate it next month.

Those who want to save it call it a prime example of an architectural style called Brutalism that rejected efforts to prettify buildings in favor of displaying the raw power of simple forms and undisguised building materials, like the center’s textured facade.

“Preservation is not simply about saving the most beautiful things,” said Mark Wigley, the dean of Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. “It’s about saving those objects that are an important part of our history and whose value is always going to be a subject of debate.”

 CONTINUE READING IN AT NYTIMES.COM

Attorney Brian Claypool says the July 2011 videotaped arrest of Downey resident Miguel Macias by Downey Police Officer Steve Gilley—who shot and killed Nida—shows that Gilley is too rough, and that Gilley personalizes the behavior of suspects when the officer makes arrests. Macias has since filed a lawsuit against the city, and he is being represented by Claypool.

Downey Police officials said they reviewed the tapes from incident, and they disagree that Macias was compliant.

CONTINUE READING IN DOWNEYBEAT.COM

Since a 2009 lawsuit by the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce led federal judges to strike down Long Beach’s voter-enacted limits on campaign contributions to ostensibly independent political action committees (PACs), the amount of money collected by PACs now exceeds that collected by the candidates themselves.

 Follow the link below to amounts reported to the Long Beach City Clerk’s office by the Long Beach Jobs PAC (LB Chamber PAC), the L.A. County AFL-CIO Council on Political Education and the LB Police Officers Ass’n PAC in their respective attempts to affect the outcome of elections in the city’ss 4th and 8th Council districts.

CONTINUE READING AT LBReport.com

FROM COMPTON (Via Herald American): The fire that broke out last December 11 at the Compton Fire Department—on the racquetball court—and burned $1.1 million in communications equipment that the Compton City Council was just about to sell … that was weird. But the near-silence that has filled the four-months-and-countng aftermath—Compton Fire Chief Jon Thompson says only that local and regional arson experts are nowhere near finished with their investigations–is taking the sense of weirdness to a place that feels much worse. The Herald American carries this story by reporter Leiloni De Gruy:

+++++++

A four-month investigation into a mysterious fire at the Compton Fire Department, which destroyed $1.1 million in police communications equipment purchased when the city was considering reviving the Compton Police Department, i nowhere close to being solved.

The investigation is still ongoing, said Fire Chief Jon Thompson, who made a presentation to the public and the City Council about the December blaze. Local and regional arson investigators are continuing to look into its cause, while the city’s risk management team has been trying to determine whether insurance will cover the losses.

The story began in the summer of 2010, when the City Council voted to revive the Compton Police Department, and allotted $19 million to do it—until seven months later suddenly remembering that the City is millions of dollars in debt. In the meantime, however, $1.1 million had been spent on communications equipment.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY IN THE HERALD AMERICAN

Greater Long Beach Radio, hosted by yours truly, goes live at 7 p.m. every Wednesday on KBEACH.org, the Internet radio station at California State University/Long Beach. Beginning Thursday morning it is available 24/7 in the KBEACH.org archives. Lately, however, most people are downloading the show as a podcast and listening at their convenience.

If all goes according to plan, tonight’s debut of the Greater Long Beach Voter’s Guy will finally provide voter information that is both comprehensive and time efficient. In exchange for a one-stop, one-hour investment, the Greater Long Beach Voter’s Guy identifies, gathers, analyzes, prioritizes and provides perspective upon all issues, people and undercurrents that are relevant to the election. Best of all, the Greater Long Beach Voter’s Guy is free!

This year, City Council seats are in contention in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth districts. The candidates:
Second District: Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal (incumbent), Janet Ballantyne, Mike Kamer.
Fourth District: Daryl Supernaw, Mike Watkins, Patrick O’Donnell (reached two-term limit as councilmember, running write-in candidacy).
Sixth District: Dee Andrews (unopposed),
Eighth District: Al Austin, Lillian Kawasaki ,

A Board of Education seat is in contention in the fifth district. The candidates: Felton Williams (incumbent, School Board president); Ricardo Linarez.

As is so often the case with big breakthroughs, the Greater Long Beach Voter’s Guy was a solution spontaneously forged when the forces that had convened to present a crisis somehow created a solution. In this instance, it was late on Sunday, and not one consideration had been given to possible topics or guests for tonight’s edition of Greater Long Beach Radio.

That’s when I phoned Dan Pressburg. That’s when I begged him to be in the studio for tonight’s show. That’s when I figured out that we could talk about … uhhhh … the elections! Yeah! That’s when the brainstorm began, when I laid out a basic outline for the hour—starting with an establishing segment on the general state of Long Beach going into the election, and then going through the various districts and their particular issues, and then going on to talk about how each candidate might fit for those issues and those facing the city at large. That’s when I said one more word to Dan Pressburg: “Well?”

That’s when a whole lot of nothing came out of the phone for what seemed like minutes. And that’s when—

“For you, anything,” Pressburg replied, laughing, pleased by how ripe he’d allowed that pause to get, and from there excited about the possiblities for tonight’s show.

And that’s when Dan Pressburg became the Greater Long Beach Voter’s Guy.

Look, it sounds better than “community activist,” which is the generic label people tend to slap on Pressburg because it’s nearly impossible to list all the ways he’s found to contribute to Long Beach in the 30 years he’s lived and raised a family in northwest part of the city. Even if somebody were to assemble a complete list, Pressburg probably would have moved onto something else by the time the whole thing was recited.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Pressburg and his wife, Holly, have been 24/7 activists during the 20 years since they moved into a historically significant, century-old home that used to preside over a dairy. It’s where they host election-year brunches, where candidates, citizens and the press mix among Pressburg’s delicious frittatas. Pressburg also helps oversee candidate forums.

Over the years, he has helped write grants for business-distict improvement, create pocket parks work on commissions devoted to cultural heritage and homelessness. He served on the staff of former 9^th district councilmember Val Lerch, then ran against his former boss when Lerch mounted a write-in campaign for a third term. Pressburg dropped out of the race due to serious illness, and Lerch lost.

It’s quite a resume—and the perfect qualifications for the Greater Long Beach Voter’s Guy.