Gerrie Schipske
GERRIE SCHIPSKE: LB’S FIRST GAY MAYOR? WE THOUGHT WE’D NEVER ASK
Although Gerrie Schipske became Long Beach's first openly gay elected official in 1992, she has rarely referenced the subject ... until now, when we asked the 5th district's City Council representative about it---two months into her campaign to be the next Mayor of Long Beach.
HAVE-A-GREATER EARTH DAY WITH PEDAL, SOLAR & MUSICAL POWER
It's Earth Day, dedicated to the proposition that people really should remember not to shit where they eat---at least on one day each year, and we've come up with a short list of fun and healthy things to do, which we hope you won't poo-poo.
SCHIPSKE: WHY IS TRANSPARENCY SO SCARY TO LB MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
[Note: This opinion piece originally appeared on the personal blog of Long Beach City Council member and mayoral candidate Gerrie Schipske] With Mayor Bob Foster’s behind-the-scenes urging, seven members of the Long Beach City Council killed any consideration of several political reforms I put on the April 16, 2013, agenda. The reforms—which are in place [...]
FOSTER STILL MULLING THIRD TERM AS FIELD OF MAYORAL CANDIDATES GROWS
As the field of candidates for next year’s Long Beach mayoral race grows—attorney Doug Otto brought the number to four this week when he officially formed a committee—current Mayor Bob Foster has told LBREPORT.com that he is still thinking about whether or not to seek a third term via a write-in campaign. Foster made his comment during [...]
HISTORIC MOSAICS FOUND UNDER THE RUG AT LB AIRPORT
When workers renovating the Long Beach Airport pulled back the carpet in the main terminal, they discovered the floor inlaid with late Depression-era mosaics by Works Progress Administrationartist, Grace Clements.
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: ACQUIRING SCHROEDER HALL
LONG BEACH — In an unusual development, the City Attorney’s office has given permission to Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske to release information on certain actions that occurred during an Oct. 2 closed City Council session concerning the City’s acquisition of the U.S. Army surplus Schroeder Hall (Willow/Grand) for an East Division police station. The acquisition became [...]
LB COUNCIL EXEMPTS 3 LENDERS IN 1-YEAR MORATORIUM ON HIGH-INTEREST LOANS
LONG BEACH — The City Council on Tuesday night approved a substitute motion by Councilman Patrick O’Donnell to exempt three applications “in the pipeline” — applicants have paid their fees — from a one-year moratorium on payday lending, car title loan lending and short term consumer finance lending land uses. The 8-1 vote (Schipske dissenting) [...]
LB COUNCIL TO CONSIDER 1-YEAR MORATORIUM ON CONTROVERSIAL LOANS
Three types of high-interest loans would temporarily be prohibited in Long Beach under a proposal scheduled to be considered by the Long Beach City Council on Oct. 2. The proposed one-year moratorium on Payday Lending, Car Title Loan Lending and Short-Term Consumer Finance Lending is intended to provide City staff and the Planning Commission with time to [...]
HAVE-A-GREATER-WEEKEND: OF SANDMEN, SHAPING UP, MAKING MOVIES
Why is the Great Sand Sculpture Contest---which turns 80 this year--so popular? Maybe it's the whimsical fun. Or could it be its metaphor for our fleeting presence on the planet? I'm scared!
THE LOCAL NORM: THE ANTI-THEY AGENDA, UP FROM UNDER THE BUS, FASHION BLUES
Where did Councilmember Gerrie Schipske ever get the idea for a Don't Ask / Don't Tell ordinance against solicitors and the "they" lifestyle of promiscuous commercial, political and personal conversation they carry on at people's front doors?
THE LOCAL NORM: ON CHASING RAINBOWS, FAMILY MONEY & DIRTY BASTARDS
Barack Obama's ordination as The First Gay President may have popped Long Beach City Council member Robert Garcia's long-range campaign for that distinction, but it's given Mayor Bob Foster's political advisers an idea so crazy it just might work. This week's report from local correspondent Norm de Ploom.
FIRST OCCUPY LONG BEACH PROTESTER CONVICTED FOR REFUSING TO LEAVE PARK
Jonathan Glen Davidson of Cerritos on Monday became the first protester associated with the Occupy Long Beach movement to be convicted under the city ordinance that prohibits anyone from being in a public park after its 10 p.m. closing time. According to a press release from the City Prosecutor’s office, the jury deliberated only 23 [...]
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 [...]
ONE QUESTION … FOR LATE-ARRIVING LONG BEACH NATIVE SARAH BENNETT
The back story: When Sarah Bennett arrived in Long Beach from Los Angeles via Orange County back in—well, see, Sarah’s not sure precisely which year she finally got here, but figures it was four or five of them ago—either 2006 or 2007, she knew she had arrived. Sarah admits that her earliest clues were related [...]
LB COUNCIL MEMBER SCHIPSKE ELECTED SECRETARY OF STATE MEDICAL BOARD
The California Medical Board today elected Long Beach City Council member Gerrie Schipske as Secretary of the Board, as well as a member of the executive committee, during its quarterly meeting in Sacramento. News of Schipske’s election was disseminated via a press release from her 5th district council office. Schipske has been a member of [...]
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.
HAVE A GREATER WEEKEND: PIRATES INVADE, CLOWNS COMMUTE AND WORKS FIRE
It’s hard to say how pirates---thieving, violent and anti-social---have come to be perceived as Teddy Bears of the High Seas, but it’s easy to see how they are staying that way. The Pirate Invasion of Belmont Pier Saturday and Sunday includes Captain Jack Sparrow’s Kids’ Treasure Hunt, belly and fire dancers, a pirate costume contest, a pirate parade, sword fights and a movie.
PLASTIC OH-NO BAND: COUNCIL QUINTET’S ENVIRO-ODE TO BE HEARD IN COURT
In the first fallout from the Long Beach City Council’s just-approved ordinance that beginning Aug. 1 will prohibit most of the city’s grocery stores from from offering free plastic bags to customers—instead charging 10 cents each—the “Save the Plastic Bag Coalition” has informed City Hall that it will file a legal challenge to the ban. San [...]
POLITICIANS, PRESS IGNORE WORKERS FIRED AFTER HELPING STATE PROBE HILTON
The Long Beach Hilton is in Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal's district and across the street from the Press-Telegram, but Lowenthal and the P-T were no-shows at Wednesday's press conference for five housekeepers fired after cooperating with a state probe into the hotel's tax and employment practices.
A STAND AGAINST SILLINESS: O’DONNELL ONLY DISSENTER IN CITY COUNCIL VOTE FOR ‘LB HEALTHY FOOD POLICY’
Fourth District representative Patrick O’Donnell cast the only vote against a “Long Beach healthy food policy”—an item on Tuesday night’s Long Beach City Council agenda that was spotlighted by LBReport.com in the first installment of its new series on City Council silliness. Proposed by Councilmembers Steve Neal, Robert Garcia, Dee Andrews and Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, the “Long [...]
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 [...]
VECTOR CONTROL: BRIAN GIMMILLARO’S RISE CAN BE TRACED TO HIS FOLLICLES
Have you ever seen Long Beach State women's volleyball coach Brian Gimmillaro’s hair? Like the Grand Canyon, it changes hues and appearance at different times of the day. Like the waters at Lourdes, it has been known to give help and hope to many. It is magnificent.
MAYOR’S WIFE USES HER FACEBOOK PAGE TO PUSH LB CITY COUNCIL FOR TOUGHER MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORDINANCE
The Long Beach City Charter doesn’t give her an official voice and she isn’t registered with City Hall as a lobbyist, but Nancy Foster is the wife of Mayor Bob Foster—and on Monday night she leveraged whatever influence comes with that connection to support additional restrictions to Long Beach’s medical marijuana ordinance. Three city council [...]
DID LB COUNCIL TAKE A STAND ON PENSION REFORM OR JUST PASS THE BUCK TO THE LEGISLATURE?
The Long Beach City Council has voted 7-1 to put the city on record against retroactive increases in pension benefits. The action Tuesday night revised City Hall’s legislative agenda—that is, its lobbying positions at the state capitol in Sacramento—to reflect this position and should apply pressure upon Long Beach’s representatives in the legislature to implement it. [...]
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 [...]
FOUR LB COUNCIL MEMBERS WANT TO TALK ABOUT MAYOR FOSTER’S SURPRISE VETO OF HIS OWN BUDGET
Four members of the Long Beach City Council — Patrick O’Donnell, Gerrie Schipske, Rae Gabelich and Steve Neal — have placed an item on the September 28 meeting agenda to “consider and discuss” and potentially attempt to override Mayor Bob Foster’s veto of one percent of the general fund spending in the city manager’s proposed [...]
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 [...]
NEW COUNCIL CAN’T AGREE BETWEEN LOWENTHAL, O’DONNELL FOR VICE-MAYOR
In a tense, polarized atmosphere accompanying what has previously been a mainly placid ceremonial act, a newly sworn City Council first failed in a 4-4 tie to delay its choice of a new Vice Mayor until Aug. 3, then failed on another 4-4 tie (on a reversed vote) to name Patrick O’Donnell as Vice Mayor. [...]
QUESTION IS, WHY IS MIKE HEDGES RUNNING FOR LONG BEACH CITY COUNCIL?
Mike Hedges had three days to prepare for the question he knew was coming at Monday night’s Long Beach Press Club debate between the candidates for the city council’s 5th District seat. But when reporter Darcy Richardson of the Grunion Gazette asked Hedges about discrepancies in his campaign financing that have attracted the attention of [...]
NO. 1 QUESTION AT 5TH DISTRICT DEBATE TONIGHT: WHO’S FUNDING MIKE HEDGES?
Tonight’s Long Beach Press Club debate between Fifth District city council candidates couldn’t come at a better time—as questions arise about who is funding Mike Hedges’ challenge to incumbent Gerrie Schipske. LBReport.com broke the story of the mysterious money that’s powering Hedges’ campaign on Saturday (March 27), noting that the City Clerk’s Elections Bureau had [...]
