GreaterLongBeach.com
THEY CAME TO PRAISE LB’S CIVIC CENTER, NOT TO BURY IT—AND YET …
In the wake of Long Beach's startling announcement that it is inviting anyone who says they can build a new Civic Center to prove it, GreaterLongBeach.com re-publishes this Sept. 12, 2012, story Theo Douglas, who saw it coming.
LB CIVIC CENTER: GOING BACK TO THE FUTURE …AND THE RUMORS
In the wake of Long Beach's startling announcement that it is accepting the qualifications of anyone interested in building a new Civic Center, GreaterLongBeach.com re-publishes this Sept. 7 story by Theo Douglas, who saw it coming.
UNLIKELY INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS TELL THEIR STORY TONIGHT
Free reservations are still available for tonight's appearance by Brian Hews and Randy Economy, the reporters who revealed massive corruption by LA County Assessor John Noguez. At McKenna's restaurant beginning at 7 p.m. E-mail RSVP@GreaterLongBeach.com to confirm.
RETELLING 2012: IS BERTH 55 WALKING SAME PLANK AS PIERPOINT LANDING?
The longtime businesses on Berth 55 are living on a temporary reprieve from the Port of Long Beach, but face the same sad fate as another long-gone Long Beach icon, Pierpoint Landing.
RE-TELLING 2012: HIDDEN BEAUTY OF ROSE PARK’S BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL
The Rose Park Bluegrass Festival tranforms a quiet, historic neighborhood into a full-on music festival venue. In only its second year, the event already feels like a Long Beach summer tradition.
RE-TELLING 2012: “TEXTS FROM LINE AT ‘HIRING SPREE’”
GreaterLongBeach.com is republishing some of our best journalism of 2012, which we believe once again told this area's most-important stories in the most-compelling, insightful and comprehensible ways. Here, again, are texts from a man who spent a day in April waiting with thousands of others to enter a Job Fair in Downey.
LB PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS HISTORY’S SECOND-MOST-POPULAR CHRISTMAS STORY
"A Christmas Carol," contends that if a bad, hard and horse's ass like Ebenezer Scrooge can turn a night of bad dreams into happily ever ... so can we. At the LB Playhouse from Dec. 8 to Dec. 23.
LAST TYPEWRITER MADE AT BRITISH FACTORY BECOMES INSTANT MUSEUM PIECE
From the Los Angeles Times: The last typewriter to be made in the United Kingdom—at the Brother factory in Wrexham, where 5.9 of the machines have been produced since 1985—has rolled off the production line and straight into London’s Science Museum, where it will join 200 other typewriters in the museum’s collection. “This object represents [...]
THIS YEAR, LET SANTA WAIT ON YOU—AND “SIR GAWAIN & THE GREEN KNIGHT”
Heeeeere's the Holiday Season! Nervewracking? O, Holy Night! But don't worry. Heeeere's the GREATER LONG BEACH HOLIDAY ARTS, EATS & EVENTS GUIDE---an everything-you'll-need list of the best ways to happy holidays.
The first installment of the "Greater Long Beach Holiday Arts, Eats & Events Guide" recommends a 14th-century tale performed by LB Shakespeare Company to avoid an early Santa overdose.
ONE BEHIND A CAMERA, ONE BEHIND A BAR, BOTH LIVING DREAMS COME TRUE
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN to filmmaker Renee McClellan and 49ers Tavern owner Tracy Kittinger in conversations with Dave Wielenga on the Nov. 15 edition of Greater Long Beach Radio. We’re calling this the Dream-Come-True edition of Greater Long Beach Radio, the latest in what has become a loose series of shows that explore what we’re pretty [...]
LA COUNTY OFFICIALS TRIED TO DISCREDIT LOCAL PAPER’S CORRUPTION PROBE
Hundreds of internal e-mails reveal LA County officials working with developer Rick Caruso's public relations team to discredit the Los Cerritos Community Newspaper's report on the relationship between Caruso and jailed County Assessor John Noguez.
IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS BEHIND BARS FOR JOHN NOGUEZ
When jailed LA County Assessor John Noguez was denied a reduction in his $1.6-million bail by a Superior Court judge Wednesday, it began to look a lot like he will spend the holidays behind bars. His next court date is a preliminary hearing on Jan. 22, 2013.
JAILED LA COUNTY ASSESSOR IN COURT SEEKING BAIL REDUCTION
LA County Assessor John R. Noguez, who doesn't like the solitary, three-showers-a-week life he's lived in the Men's Central Jail since his October 17 arrest on corruption charges, is in court today asking a judge to reduce his $1.6 million bail.
REGISTRATION OPENS FOR TWO NEW ADAPTIVE RECREATION CLASSES
Registration has opened for two new adaptive recreation programs—an art class for young adults and a socializing opportunity for adults who, shall we say, are not as young—just added to the offerings from the Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine department. In the ArtBeat for Humanity Drum Painting class, 18 to 22-year-old artists with disabilities [...]
ELECTRICAL EXPLOSIONS KNOCK OUT POWER IN DOWNTOWN DOWNEY
More than 1,800 homes and businesses in Downey were rendered powerless Tuesday night by an apparent electrical explosion near Brookshire Avenue and Firestone Boulevard. The outage most heavily affected the downtown area, where many shops and restaurants closed due to the blackout. Residents reported hearing several “explosions” at about 6:30 p.m. and there are unconfirmed reports that a [...]
THE FUNNY THING ABOUT “FUDDY MEERS” IS THAT SOME PEOPLE FIND IT FUNNY
The leading characters In "Fuddy Meers" are people whose lives are changed---and whose identities are absorbed---by the comic possibiliies of the following medical conditions: amnesia, stroke, severe burns, limping, lisping, baby-talking, criminality and emotional overreliance on hand-puppets. Closes Nov. 24 (Saturday).
TODAY IN QUEEN MARY HISTORY: BING CROSBY WEEPS BEFORE LADY LIBERTY
The Queen Mary, known as The Grey Ghost for the color of the camouflaging paint she wore when transporting troops during World War II, churns into New York to complete one of her trans-Atlantic journeys. Bing Crosby, like many of the stars who enjoyed her luxuries during peacetime, hitched a ride to do USO shows.
HAVE-A-GREATER WEEKEND: AN HOMAGE TO VETS, BEACHES, BIRDS & SHOPPING
It's Veterans Day Weekend, and GreaterLongBeach.com has a short list of tips to help you make the most of it---including a play at The Found Theatre, a parade in North Long Beach to the Patchwork Festival at Marine Stadium
CALL HER COMMIE GIRL, WONKETTE OR CARETAKER FOR ONE CRAZY COOT
It’s been a busy year for Rebecca Schoenkopf---apparently, so busy that the erstwhile Commie Girl hasn’t had time to phone GreaterLongBeach.com while she became editor at Wonkette.com … and now, it seems, a caregiver for this crazy coot.
THE CLOSING OF [ OPEN ] ENDS AN ERA, BUT NOT NECESSARILY THE STORY
[ OPEN ], the used book store and cultural force founded nine years ago by Se Reed, was sometimes a beacon and other times an engine---but was always a home for Long Beach arts, music, literature and pride. The store is closing this month.
ANGELS GATE CENTER ASKS: WHERE FOR ART THOU, WILDERNESS?
With its year-long exhibition "Into The Wilderness: The Journey Within," Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro continues the contemplation of vanishing wilderness and frontier that in the United States extends back at least to 1890 and historian Frederick Jackson Turner.
DEADLY DOWNEY SHOOTING RAMPAGE BEGAN WITH CAR SALE AD ON CRAIGSLIST
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the shooting rampage in Downey last Wednesday [Oct. 24] that left three people dead began with a Craigslist ad a family had posted in an attempt to sell their Chevy Camaro. Suspect Jade Douglas Harris remained in jail without bail today [Oct. 30] on charges which include three [...]
ALL WRITEY: OF SEETHING JOHNSONS, SMACKING CRONYISM & HOT AIR
These recent stories on GreaterLongBeach.com are among those that incited readers to make sure their points---some of them quite sharp---were registered.
SEARCHING FOR THE GREAT PUMPKIN AT LOS CERRITOS YMCA
The annual Pumpkin Patch fundraiser at the Los Cerritos YMCA has been moved behind the building---now it's more of a Pumpkin Porch---but the orange gourds are still selling like ... well ... like pumpkins at Halloween! But only through Tuesday (Oct. 30) at 9 p.m.
ZOMBIE WALK’S LOGAN CROW: YOU CAN’T KEEP A DEAD MAN DOWN
A year after Logan Crow brought the Zombie Walk downtown to "catastrophic success"---massive attendance, massive debt---and called out Long Beach officials, amends were made to create a better model for Zombie Walk V on Saturday (Oct. 27).
THE 49′RS TAVERN: COME CELEBRATE THE SURVIVAL OF A LOCAL LANDMARK
Although it’s been 54 years since The 49’rs Tavern was established, Saturday night’s anniversary party will also celebrate the two years since Tracy Kittinger became proprietor---and saved the local landmark.
A RARE (AND WELCOME) GLIMPSE OF JAMES JOHNSON’S SEETHING, SCATHING SIDE
LB Councilmember James Johnson attended last year's public hearing on impacts of proposed Port of LA railyard at Silverado Park (above, center), and when he learned no hearing will be held in Long Beach on the project's new EIR ... well, we all learned something about James Johnson.
BNSF RAILYARD HEARING: IS TALK OF CLEAN AIR A LOT OF HOT AIR?
A large crowd is anticipated this evening in Wilmington for a public hearing on the Southern California International Gateway, a mega-railyard proposed by BNSF. This was the scene last November when a hearing on the project was held at Silverado Park in Long Beach.
ICT KNOWS “AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’” AIN’T EXACTLY ABOUT BEHAVIN’, EITHER
Although the show is called "Ain't Misbehavin'," this high-powered vehicle for the music of Fats Waller definitely ain't about behavin', either. Fortunately, the International City Theatre cast---including Niketa Calame, Jennifer Shelton and Amber Mercomes---finds the rhythms and the blues in its rendition of this classic joyride. Through Nov. 4.
ASSESSOR JOHN NOGUEZ ARRESTED, DETAILS COMING FROM DA COOLEY
Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez, the subject of a series of investigative stories by the Los Cerritos Community News that has spanned 2012, was arrested this morning (Oct. 17). following a corruption probe by the District Attorney.
COUNTY ASSESSOR NOGUEZ ARRESTED; DA COOLEY EXPECTED TO GIVE DETAILS AT 10:30 AM
Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez has been arrested, according to news reports. Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles County District Attorney, has scheduled a press conference for 10:30 a.m. today (Oct. 17), where he is expected to announce the arrest of Noguez, as well as other persons, and likely outline the charges against them. The [...]
LOWENTHAL COUNTERS RICH TV AD BLITZ BY STAGING SIMPLE POLITICAL PLAY
Facing a multi-million-dollar blitz of campaign ads for Republican congressional candidates by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Democrat Alan Lowenthal has invited specific local business owners to a Retro Row eatery today to snack and chat---and show specifically invited local reporters that he's down with business, too.
AN “AMERICANA ENTHUSIAST” COMES BACK TO WHERE IT ALL STARTED
"We live in a theme park world," says Charles Phoenix, who presents his 'Big Retro Slide Show' at the Art Theatre on Saturday. "I grew up in a theme park environment, in Southern California, and wherever you go, everyone is trying to be a little bit theme park."
BALLOT BOXING: PROP 30 A SMART RESTART FOR GOLDEN STATE
GreaterLongBeach.com reader Uduak Ntuk contends the passage of Proposition 30---which increases funding for public education through a tax hike on the rich---is essential to creating the educated and motivated work force California must have if it is to recover.
TAYLOR PARKER, ELIZABETH LAMBE TALK WETLANDS RESTORATION ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO TODAY
Has public interest in Long Beach’s coastal wetlands receded as the long-raging controversy over their acquisition as subsided? Or is it just us and our addiction to drama? Taylor Parker of Tidal Influence, who just finished two public updates about the status of restoration projects in the Los Cerritos Wetlands and the Colorado Lagood, will [...]
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 [...]
NOW AVAILABLE: LEE ADAMS TELLS THE STORY OF ‘SAVE BERTH 55′ ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO
Greater Long Beach Radio’s Sept. 20 program about the Save Berth 55 campaign can now be heard anytime—in the show’s archives and as a podcast—by [FOLLOWING THIS LINK]. The program retraces and further explores the story of a small group of Westside Long Beach locals whose fast-and-loosely mustered crusade against the Port of Long Beach [...]
AT TASTE OF DOWNEY, THE POLITICS WERE SERVED UP PIPING HOT, TOO
The decidedly political flavor at Taste of Downey included the shirts and stickers of council candidate Alex Saab and a heated discussion between Councilmember Mario Guerra and Firemen's Association president Steve Davis
DAN PRESSBURG’S OPINION: COUNCIL SHOULD REJECT PREDATORY LENDERS
Title loan companies tend to locate in areas close to low-income families, people who may be in such desperate financial difficulty that they are willing to put their automobiles in jeopardy by using them as collateral for short-term, high-interest loans.
ENDEAVOR’S PASS ABOVE THE QUEEN MARY WAS A MOMENT OF POETRY
There was enormous poetry in being on the Queen Mary grounds as Endeavor passed overhead---one historic vehicle and feat of engineering joining another in retirement---and there were many moist eyes amid the cheering. Besides a beautiful and moving moment, it was the kind of event that enhances the Queen Mary's standing.
SOMEWHERE, A LITTLE FAT BOY WITH A LONG MEMORY IS SMILING
DOWNEY– The car dealer who illegally demolished much of the historic Johnie’s Broiler in 2007, has lost his lawsuit against the city. An appeals court last week found that a filing by auto dealer Ardas “Alex” Yanik had no merit and that Yanik failed to prove vague claims that the City of Downey was infected [...]
SAVING THE LOS CERRITOS WETLANDS HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN
We-the-people have worked hard to get the Los Cerritos Wetlands into protective custody, but their oft-degraded condition means there's much more to do. The upgrades begin tonight with a 6:30 workshop at the Aquarium of the Pacific.
COUNCIL TAKES FIRST STEP TOWARD DELIVERING ON MAYOR FOSTER’S THREAT TO LONG BEACH CITY WORKERS
Following through on a threat delivered by Mayor Bob Foster when he unveiled his proposed 2013 budget, the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday ordered the preparation of a ballot measure that would cut and limit the pay and benefits of the City’s non-public safety and mainly lower-paid employees. The vote was 6-2. City Attorney [...]
MAYBE YOU YOU DIDN’T KNOW, BUT YOU’VE DEFINITELY GOT PLACES TO GO
What? You figured you'd blow off Joe Garem's swearing-in tonight as the newest executive member of the Downtown Residents Council? Dude, they're having it at KDB! And I hope we're not going to have this talk about the Deputy Registrar of Voters'
training being given Tuesday at King Park. Registering voters? It's like doing CPR on our democracy!
AFTER 55 YEARS, DOWNEY WOMEN’S GROUP AWARDS FINAL SCHOLARSHIPS
After 55 years, the Downey branch of the American Association of University Women has held its final meeting—and handed out its last scholarships. The chapter, which began in 1957 by providing scholarship to female graduates of Cerritos College who continued their higher education at four-year institutions, decided to decommission itself because membership had declined to [...]
LB QFILM FEST EXTENDS A LOCAL TRADITION AND A MOVIEMAKING MOVEMENT
"Elliot Loves," a comedy-drama about two crucial times in a Dominican-American's life in New York---at 9, as his mother's sidekick; at 21 and looking for love---exemplifies the variety in the 2012 QFilm Festival. "Elliot Love" screens at the Art Theatre tonight at 9:30.
“THE CHANGELING:” SEX AND DREGS AND BLOOD AND GORE AT LB PLAYHOUSE
"The Changeling" succeeds, at least, as a souvenir of theatrical history. Nobody writes theatre like this anymore—and without such plays, we wouldn't be in the relatively sophisticated position we are today. A piece like this helps us see that our road was paved with more than Shakespeare. At LB Playhouse through Sept. 29.
THEY CAME TO PRAISE LB’S CIVIC CENTER, NOT TO BURY IT—AND YET …
In an event that was literally 40 years in the making, more than 100 paying ticketholders listened as a panel of local historians, architects, structural engineers and city officials praised Long Beach's futuristic, much-maligned Civic Center---not that it killed rumors that a public-private partnership is planning a replacement.
PORT OFFICIALS VOW TO TAKE A “FRESH LOOK” AT BERTH 55 PLANS
Port of Long Beach (PoLB) officials vowed Monday to revisit their plans to evict three businesses from Berth 55 after a members of a community group called Save Berth 55 addressed the Harbor Commission---its third public appeal in 11 days.
QFILM FESTIVAL: HEAR ALL ABOUT IT BY LINKING TO GREATER LB RADIO
Listen to Porter Gilberg, administrative director of The Center Long Beach, provide an insider's preview of the 2012 Long Beach QFilm Festival, which will present nearly 30 films at the Art Theatre and The Center this weekend---September 14, 15 and 16.
IS BERTH 55 WALKING THE SAME PLANK THAT DEEP-SIXED PIERPOINT LANDING?
The Save Berth 55 campaign will take its case to today's meeting of the Harbor Commission, the potential demise of the waterfront eateries, sportfishing business and hangout strikes longtime Long Beach locals as déjà vu---which in this case, is French for a long-gone place called "Pierpoint Landing."
WITH SO MUCH DRAMA IN THE LBC, HOW DOES A LOCAL LIFER STAY UPBEAT?
A link is finally available to Uduak Ntuk's recent appearance on Greater Long Beach Radio, wherein he is asked why somebody who grew up in the LBC only to find it in this condition when he reached adulthood, continues to live, currently works for and is engaged to be married in the City of Long Beach.
LONG BEACH CIVIC CENTER: GOING BACK TO THE FUTURE … AND THE RUMORS
What's to become of Long Beach's internationally award-winning, locally disdained Civic Center? A panel of experts will consider that question---and any variation of it you may submit---during a discussion this evening (September 10, 2012) at 7 p.m. at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Tickets are $5.
LB QFILM FESTIVAL PREVIEWED ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO TODAY, 11 AM
The 2012 Long Beach QFilms Festival, the city’s longest-running celebration of the celluloid art, is coming to the Art Theatre and The Center on Sept. 14, 15 and 16. Administrative director Porter Gilberg previews highlights and reflects the power of moviemaking on Greater Long Beach Radio today at 11 a.m.
“SAVE BERTH 55″ CAMPAIGN COMES TO CITY COUNCIL TO FIND IT MUST COME BACK
After citizens from Save Berth 55 waited long and patiently for the Long Beach City Council to reach item No. 22.1 on Tuesday night's agenda, Councilmember Gary DeLong immediately moved that the the issue be postponed until the same time next at the request of the Port of Long Beach.
POLICE PLANNING SWEEP OF DOWNEY IN SEARCH OF PAROLEES
DOWNEY (Via Herald American)—Officers from the Downey Police Department are coordinating with law enforcement officials from several other cities to conduct a sweep of the city to verify the addresses of 69 parolees reported to live there. The sweep—similar to others that have already occurred in surrounding cities—is a ripple effect of the realignment of [...]
ONE QUESTION … FOR ALL-AROUND EVERYMAN, GREGGORY MOORE
So now you're a drummer in a bluegrass band, Greggory Moore? All of that other stuff, all of that everything else---and you drum in a bluegrass band, too? What the hell, Greggory Moore? Seriously: What?
ONLINE PETITION DEMANDS LARGER POLICE FORCE IN LONG BEACH BUDGET
With the Long Beach City Council poised to vote—either September 4 or September 11—on a budget for fiscal year 2013, a grassroots petition drive has been launched online telling the city’s elected officials: “We want a larger police force—NOT a shrinking one.” The petition, authored by Jennifer Gomez, is accessible at this link — and [...]
OUT IN 562: MOST AREA SCHOOL DISTRICTS IGNORE ANTI-GAY BULLYING LAW
Phillip Zonkel of the Press-Telegram, whose "Out In The 562" blog alerted GreaterLongBeach.com to his two-part series examining the bullying of gay students in Greater Long Beach area schools and how school districts are addressing the issue ... or not. Here is Part I.
PILOT ERROR PROBABLE CAUSE OF CRASH THAT KILLED 5 AT LB AIRPORT
Pilot error was the probable cause of the fiery plane crash that killed five men—Mark Bixby, Tom Dean, Jeff Berger, Bruce Krall and pilot Kenneth Earl Cruz—and seriously injured Mike Jensen on March 16, 2011, during an attempted takeoff at Long Beach Airport. The determination was reached after a long investigation by the National Transportation [...]
OVERFLOW CROWD AT BERTH 55 OVERWHELMINGLY OPPOSES PORT PLAN TO OUST LONGTIME BUSINESSES
More than 100 people overflowed a small restaurant in the Long Beach harbor Thursday evening for a community meeting in response—and apparently overwhelming opposition—to the Port of Long Beach’s plan to evict longtime businesses from Berth 55 to make way for a fire/police station. None of the community members who addressed an assortment of Long [...]
DAVID CRONENBERG’S “COSMOPOLIS” AND ITS INDICTMENT OF CAPITALISM
In "Cosmopolis" (now playing at the Art Theatre), director David Cronenberg uses a limo ride across New York City with Robert Pattinson to argue (in so, so, so many words) that capitalism is carrying us to hell.
UDUAK NTUK: A LIFELONG LB RESIDENT ASSESSES THE CITY THIS MORNING ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO
Uduak Ntuk was born, raised, educated, still lives, currently works for and is engaged to be married in the City of Long Beach, and though he loves his hometown … well … let’s just say he doesn’t need any help counting the ways it’s become a hot mess. At times like this—when Long Beach’s shorter-and-shortercomings [...]
“GHOST-WRITER” AT ICT: HE’S CLOCKED OUT, SHE’S WORKING OVERTIME
How do we let go of someone who has gotten so far inside us as to become part of our very being? "Ghost-Writer" poses that question but playwright Michael Hollinger doesn't go far enough inside his characters to find the answer. Or does he? At ICT through Sept. 16.
GARCIA WON’T JOIN HIS CONSTITUENTS AT BERTH 55 FORUM AFTER MEETING WITH PORT AND FIRE BRASS IN HIS OFFICE
Although some of Vice Mayor Robert Garcia’s 1st district constituents are among the organizers of Thursday evening’s Berth 55 Community Forum—intended to persuade Port of Long Beach officials not to demolish the longtime seafood-and-sportfishing gathering place—Garcia has indicated he does not plan to attend. Apparently, Garcia got all the meeting he needed on the subject on Aug. 14 [...]
BERTH 55: IT’S THE PEOPLE VS. THE PORT FOR THE HEART OF THE HARBOR
Whether by signing petitions or showing up for a community forum Thursday, residents of the harbor area and customers of businesses on Berth 55 hope to persuade Port of Long Beach officials to spare their historic hangout by finding another place to build a fireboat station.
OUR APOLOGIES: A HARD WAY TO RELEARN JOURNALISM’S FIRST LESSON
Next Friday’s community meeting at iconic Berth 55—where the Port of Long Beach is forcing out four long-standing businesses to build a fire station—is still on. It’s set for Aug. 30 at 6 p.m., exactly as GreaterLongBeach.com reported Wednesday. However, nearly every other aspect of that report was incorrect—in some aspects, profoundly so—and represented a [...]
PUBLIC FORUM: GIVE YOUR 2 CENTS ON PORT DECISION TO 86 OLD BERTH 55 ON AUG. 30
Business reporter Sean Belk says Port of Long Beach officials will hold a public forum regarding Berth 55 seafood restaurant and sportfishing docks on Aug. 30---only 82 days before the deadline the Port gave those business owners to be off the premises.
PUBLIC HEARING WEDNESDAY ON PORT’S EIR FOR ROCK & GRAVEL IMPORT FACILITY
Anybody got anything to say about the draft Environmental Impact Report—prepared by the Port of Long Beach and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—for a facility that would import construction-quality sand, gravel, granite and aggregate on a 8.3 acres of privately owned and currently vacant land on Pier D the Harbor District? If so, you can [...]
LOCAL NORM: GRANTING LB SERENITY TO ACCEPT WHAT IT CAN’T CHANGE
"We're pioneering new ways to keep our citizens blissfully ignorant and thereby assure their absolute and total happiness, which is our only concern," City Manager Pat West said serenely after enacting the budget handed down from his Higher Power.
DIRECTOR TONY SCOTT DEAD AFTER LEAP FROM VINCENT THOMAS BRIDGE
The man who jumped to his death Sunday from the Vincent Thomas Bridge was Anthony David Scott, 68, of Beverly Hills—better known as Tony Scott, the British-born director of such films as Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II and Days of Thunder, according to a story by LBReport.com that cites the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office as its [...]
TAMING OF SHREW: LB SHAKE FUNNIES UP FARCE BY FOCUSING ON NUANCE
"The Taming of the Shrew" isn't The Bard's greatest work, but LB Shakespeare Company makes it pop, flavoring each joke with inflection and facial expression necessary to make the jibes work---not just as points of humor, but as true repartee. Today through Sept. 9.
BLUEGRASS BECOMES AN ANNUAL CROP AT ROSE PARK FESTIVAL
When an event begins to advertise itself with the word “annual,” it begins a transformation from “that one-time cool thing that happened last year” to part of the community. Such is the case of Sunday's Rose Park Bluegrass Festival.
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!
DEAD BODY FOUND LYING OUTSIDE LB CITY HALL; INFO SLOW FROM LBPD
A dead body was lying outside Long Beach City Hall as people arrived at the downtown civic center at a bit past 7 o’clock this morning. It went publicly unmentioned by the Long Beach Police Department for more than six hours
ON THE ROAD TO FIND OUT, SOMETIMES YOU FIND YOURSELF … IN BISHOP
I’d just been forced to take a buyout from my middle management position in a once-bustling newsroom. My girlfriend and I were splitting up after 6 years. I had no income and no home, so I took a vacation.
THE LOCAL NORM: MAYOR BIG BOY HOPES TO PULL A FAST (FOOD) ONE, TOO
"If Chick-fil-A has taught us anything," says Mayor Bob 'Big Boy' Foster, pushing a budget that slashes basic services and keeps things cushy for his inner circle, "it's that hateful ideas seem almost patriotic when accompanied by hot fat and hig h-fructose corn syrup."
THEY WERE DANCIN’ IN THE STREETS—AND A HARDWARE STORE PARKING LOT
Nick Waterhouse brought his geeky get-down to Saturday night's Dancin' In The Streets---held in the parking lot of a downtown hardware store---the second of four 2012 Summer And Music events.
HERE’S LINK TO “OUT IN THE 562″ BLOGGER PHILLIP ZONKEL’S APPEARANCE ON GREATER LB RADIO
Phillip Zonkel’s hour of interrogation by GreaterLongBeach.com publisher Dave Wielenga on the August 2 episode of Greater Long Beach Radio has been posted on KBEACH.org, where it can be accessed from the station archives as well as downloaded as a podcast. [CLICK HERE TO LISTEN] Zonkel’s appearance generated a discussion that ranged from the specifics of terminology to [...]
THE LOCAL NORM: PANAMA JOE DECRIES CRUDE CROWD AT DOWNTOWN HI-RISE
This 2011 photo of Councilmember Robert Garcia exiting the bulldozer he has just used to turn a downtown check-cashing business to rubble epitomizes the raucous behavior of the crowds that patronize a strange establishment that does business most Tuesdays in a 14-story downtown building.
A HOW-TO-GET-HEALTHIER FAIR IN NORTH LONG BEACH ON FRIDAY AT 4 PM
Unite The Night, a healthier-community fair filled with music, games, food, activities and fun, will be presented to North Long Beach residents Friday at the LB Police Department’s North Division Substation (Del Amo Blvd. and Atlantic Ave.) from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. It’s free. The event was conceived and organized by the We Union [...]
THE PROBLEMS WITH “MACBETH” BEGIN WITH THE GUY WHO WROTE IT
GreaterLongBeach.com theatre reviewer Greggory Moore has never much liked "Macbeth," and after attending the Long Beach Playhouse production ... he still doesn't.
LOCAL NORM: A ROAR O’ GUNPLAY ECHOES IN CIVIL WAR REPLAYS
On a weekend when re-creation of comic-book violence turned tragic, some at El Dorado Park's two-day Civil War Re-Enactment wondered whether firing blanks and pretending to fall dead was really such a great idea, anymore. Norm de Ploom reports in The Local Norm.
AGRARIAN TRADITION RENEWED TWICE WEEKLY, INCLUDING FRECKLED FARM KID
The Lincoln Spring Farmstand sells near-flawless vegetables and fruits grown on 1.5 acres of urban land---and tended by 12-year-old volunteer Eric Fuson---from a shaded wooden structure at Spring & Elm on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
LISTEN TO ALICIA MURPHY & Sé REED SING AND BE SISTERLY
A link to Greater Long Beach Radio's delightful and moving interview with singer/songwriter Alicia Murphy and her older sister, Sé Reed, is available 24/7.
HAVE-A-GREATER BIXBY PARK: ART UNDER UMBRELLAS, JAZZ ATOP BAND SHELL
With two more events this weekend---the Arts Under The Umbrellas exhibit Saturday, the Poly Jazz Combo's regular evening gig Sunday---all the talk about Bixby Park's revitalization isn't just talk.
LISTEN AS ALMOST-A-COUNCILMAN AL AUSTIN ANSWERS EVERYTHING
Days before he joins the Long Beach City Council, Al Austin answers every question thrown at him by GreaterLongBeach.com publisher Dave Wielenga during a July 5 appearance on Greater Long Beach Radio. Listen!
link=”http://greaterlongbeach.com/12/07/2012/sister-act-alicia-murphy-se-reed-on-greater-lb-radio”]
SISTER ACT: ALICIA MURPHY & SE REED ON GREATER LB RADIO TONIGHT
Alicia Murphy (right) continues her residency at the Blue Cafe tonight at 9 p.m., as always with her sister Se Reed supplying background vocals. But first, both women spend an hour on Greater Long Beach Radio. Tune it at 6 p.m. on KBEACH.org.
THE SNAKE, MONGOOSE AND LIONS: BIXBY KNOLLS GIVES THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES
Forty years after Don "The Snake" Prudomme and Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen closed Lions Drag Strip forever, they will be at the Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show on Saturday to share the memories of a lost-forever era.
THE LOCAL NORM: HOW THEY’D LIKE TO SPEND YOUR SUMMER VACATION
Norm De Ploom suggests that the people rumored to be posing as utility workers to set up home burglaries may actually be a shadowy alliance of elected city officials targeting residents for political abuse.
PRIMAL FLOWER POWERS A DOWNTOWN TREND—LINK TO GR8R LB RADIO SHOW
It's just a little eco-conscious flower shop, but Primal Flower's first anniversary is a celebration of authenticity in downtown Long Beeach. Read this story and listen to the interviews on Greater Long Beach Radio at KBEACH.org
HAV-A-GREATER WEEKEND: FIRST FRIDAY IN THE KNOLLS AND A FIRST-THING SATURDAY STROLL
Hav-A-Greater Weekend is not a command or strategy or even a guide to packing Friday, Saturday and Sunday with enough fun to get through the rest ofthe week. It's a shared response to our spontaneous inspiration ... and a wish: Hav-A-Greater Weekend!!!
“HUNTER GATHERERS”: DARWINIAN LOVE STORY AT GARAGE CLOSES JULY 28
Two married couples, friends since they went to prom together 17 years ago, renew an annual ritual to commemorate their love for each other. What could go wrong? The answer runs at the Garage Theatre through July 28.
SOON-TO-BE COUNCILMAN AL AUSTIN TAKES QUESTIONS ON GREATER LB RADIO TONIGHT AT 6
What just shot to the top of Al Austin’s to-do list, only 11 days before he officially—and finally—sits down in the 8th district’s seat on the Long Beach City Council? An appearance on tonight’s edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga, which goes live at 6 o’clock on KBEACH.org, the on-line radio station [...]
SHE PUTS MUSIC ON, HE PUTS MOVES ON, SHE TELLS HIM TO CALL, AND SUDDENLY HE’S AXING HER … FOR SEX
By Jack Chavdarian / Daily 49er To some, “Call Me Maybe” may just be a dumb pop song that’s playing nonstop on the radio. To others, it may be just the push they need to hand their number over to an axe murderer. “I just met you, and this is crazy,” sings Carly Rae Jepson, [...]
WITHOUT STARRY NIGHTS, DO PEOPLE FORGET HOW TINY THEY ARE?
As city light obscures the celestial show that has humbled people through history, filmmaker Ian Cheney's "The City Dark" suggests "we're losing this reference point, a sense of perspective ... a sense of our place in space."
MEDPOT OUTLETS ON THE SCALES: COURT STRIKES DOWN COUNTY BLANKET BAN, COUNCIL TO WEIGH IN ON LB DISPENSARIES
A three-judge panel of the 2nd district Court of Appeal — whose rulings are controling authority in Los Angeles County — has struck down L.A. County’s blanket ban in non-incorporated parts of the County on medical marijuana outlets, reasoning that it conflicts with and is preempted by the Compassionate Use Act (Prop 215, enacted by [...]
MIKE DUREE PROMOTED FROM WITHIN TO BECOME LB’S NEW FIRE CHIEF
Mike DuRee was appointed Long Beach’s new fire chief on Monday by City Manager Pat West, a move that has been expected since March, when Chief Alan Patalano retired after publicly differing with Mayor Bob Foster about the staffing of the department. A City Hall release says DuRee began his LBFD career in 1994, and has [...]
“SPAMALOT:” HIGH POINTS AND WHAT’S-THE-POINTS FROM PYTHON LEGACY
Musical Theatre West's production of "Spamalot" extracts everything possible out of this showbiz stepson of the Monty Python legacy. It still doesn't feel like quite enough.
THE LOCAL NORM: LB TRANSIT’S FAST & SPURIOUS RACE WITH THE TRUTH
Did Long Beach Transit officials overreact to the comments of a few people at a public meeting---characterizing Seal Beach residents as racist and eliminating their bus service---to save themselves the hassle of dealing openly with budget strains?
GREATER LB RADIO LINK: HEAR “LOLPERA” CREATORS SEPARATE IDIOTIC FROM EPIC
Here's a link to the Greater Long Beach Radio episode on which "LOLPERA" creators Andrew Pedroza and Ellen Warkentine share their observations on the unlikely journey of their epic parable about cats, cheezburger and the search for meaning.
HUNDREDS LAID OFF AS DOWNEY BUSINESS RELOCATES OUT-OF-STATE
DOWNEY – Hundreds of employees at the local branch of a direct mail company joined the ranks of the unemployed this week. About 263 employees at IWCO Direct’s office in the 7300 block of Flores Avenue were let go as part of a “reset plan,” according to a statement on IWCO’s website. According to a [...]
QUICKER DRIVE TO DOWNTOWN, BUT GOOD LUCK FINDING STREET PARKING
DOWNEY—After debates, meetings and public hearings, the city has decided to make Firestone Boulevard a six-lane road with no street parking throughout the entire length of the city. The project calls for bus stops, trees, medians, plants and new asphalt. The goals of the redesign are to make the street look better, increase traffic flow [...]
LB CITY GIRL: MY DOG-OF-A-YEAR OF LIVING TRANSFORMATIVELY
A year ago, I saved a nine-year-old girl from drowning. She was blue when she was pulled from the pool, and it seems miraculous she was revived. But the next day, for whatever reason---it made sense at the time---I quit the job I loved.
COURTHOUSE, NOT DOGHOUSE, FOR 12 LA COUNTY DOG FIGHTING RING SUSPECTS
A Bellflower man and a Compton man, along with 10 others, are in Antelope Valley Court today for arraignment on felony dogfighting and felony aiding and abetting dog fighting charges. A tip led Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies on Saturday to a Littlerock home where a dog fight was believed to take place. Surveillance of [...]
THE LOCAL NORM: WARPING TIME, SPACE AND THE REASON VOTERS ELECTED THEM
Turns out that Long Beach City Council members Robert Garcia and Dee Andrews didn't show up for the June 18 meeting's long-scheduled discussion of the City's problematic medpot policies---a review triggered by Garcia's motion last Feb. 14---because they were time-traveling ... that is, traveling so as to bide for time.
“LOLOPERA” ADDS ONE MORE SUNDAY TO ITS HOLLYWOOD STAY
LOLPERA, which has sold every seat in the Hudson Theatre during a run at the Hollywood Fringe Festival that was scheduled to end this Sunday (July 24), has earned one more show on one more Sunday (July 1) at 5 p.m. The opera’s co-creators, Ellen Warkentine and Andrew Pedroza, announced the additional performance during their appearance Thursday evening on Greater Long Beach [...]
AS THEY STEP INTO A WORLD OF TOUGH TIMES, DOWNEY HIGH GRADS WISH EACH OTHER … WELL … YOLO!
DOWNEY (Via DowneyBeat.com)—Facing skyrocketing tuition costs and the worst employment prospects in a generation—more than half of all university graduates are working jobs that don’t require college degrees—Downey High School’s Class of 2012 took a hedonistic perspective on the future: YOLO—You Only Live Once. The social media catchphrase was mentioned by several speakers during Thursday’s graduation ceremony [...]
ROSE PARK RESIDENTS LEFT HANGING BY VERIZON’S HIGH-WIRE ACT
Rose Park residents have a 25-year resume of restoration and beautification, but have been helpless to stop Verizon from adorning the historic neighborhoods with hanging, dangling and tangled wires and equipment. Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal wants the City Attorney to explore legal options.
‘LOLPERA’ CREATORS ON GREATER LB RADIO THURSDAY TO EXPLAIN HOW THEY MADE A SERIOUS HIT FROM A SILLY MESS
Ellen Warkentine and Andrew Pedroza, creators of an opera with a premise so insufferably silly that GreaterLongBeach.com critic Greggory Moore finally saw it just to be nice, will be the guests on Thursday’s edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga beginning at 6 p.m. on KBEACH.org. Warkentine and Pedroza will answer questions about LOLPERA, which may or may not [...]
LOLPERA: OUT OF THE GARAGE AND ON THE ROAD, IT FEELS … DIFFERENT
LOLPERA, last year's smash debut at the Garage Theatre, has been tweaked a little for its current production at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, The laughs are as big as ever, but for those who have seen both versions, every gain made by a change seems to be be accompanied by an offsetting loss
GREATER LB RADIO: PAMELA SEAGER ON WHY RANCHO LOS AL IS WORTH IT; LATEEFAH WIELENGA ON WHY YOU ARE
Pamela Seager, who in 1986 helped write a Master Plan for the accurate and relevant restoration of Rancho Los Alamitos—then spent the next 26 years implementing it—will discuss the impressive project during the opening half-hour of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga today beginning at 6 p.m. on KBEACH.org. For a little background, check [...]
DA WON’T FILE CHARGES AGAINST CERRITOS COUNCIL MEMBER BARROWS
CERRITOS—The Los Angeles County District Attorney has decided not to seek felony charges against Cerritos Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Barrows over a June 4 altercation with resident and city council critic Jay Gray after a budget study session. Barrows and Gray each filed police reports regarding the incident, during which the men exchanged heated words [...]
RANCHO LOS ALAMITOS: STILL PROVIDING THE RIGHT THING AT THE RIGHT TIME
At 7.5 acres, Rancho Los Alamitos is only a smidge of its original size and is hidden behind the walls of an east Long Beach housing tract and so close to Cal State Long Beach’s art department that you can almost audit classes. But its just-completed renovation makes it a historical gem that's more-important than ever.
FRINGE FESTIVALS: AN INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT OF CREATIVE EXUBERANCE
Brighton's Fringe Festival consisted of 5,539 performances of 790 events in 22 days, and they obviously couldn't all be excellent---but on this international circuit of creative exuberance, that's all to the good.
PRIMAL FLOWER + SHORTNIN’ BREAD = RECIPE FOR AUTHENTICITY ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO TONIGHT AT 6
Pastry chef Justina Fenton and eco-florist Shelley Anders, tenants of a downtown brownstone that is a cornerstone of the burgeoning movement toward a more-authentic Long Beach, will be the featured guests in the opening segment of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga this evening to share the joys, stresses and strategies of this grass-roots [...]
OLDA WILL PAY $500 FOR A NAME THATS … NEWA
Maybe you’ve heard of OLDA—that’s Orange Line Development Authority—the agency overseeing the proposed light-rail train line that would connect Santa Ana with downtown Los Angeles, passing through towns like Downey, Paramount, Bellflower and Artesia along the Pacific Electric right-of-ways that once carried the Red Car. Or … maybe not. OLDA, the agency, acknowledges that OLDA, [...]
RAY BRADBURY IS OFF TO THE GREAT ACRES OF BOOKS IN THE SKY
Ray Bradbury left this world for the Acres of Books in the sky Tuesday night, dying at age 91. The writer who influenced the world with the expansive flights of fantasy he presented as into vivid word-pictures never lost touch with the root of his special gift—the library of mankind. During much of the 20th century, a significant portion of [...]
LB CITY GIRL: AS ROAD FORKS, MY SON AND I GO OUR SEPARATE WAYS TOGETHER
“Seriously, Mom?," my son asked me. He was only kidding when he asked for the keys to my new car.. He never thought I would say yes. His face lit up when he realized what had just happened, but he had to ask to be sure. “You trust me this much?”
THE LOCAL NORM: A LIGHTNING ROD, WHETHER OR NOT WE’RE HAPPY TO SEE HIM
Former President Bill Clinton's keel was scraped of barnacles before his permanent installation off Belmont Shore as a lightning rod for controversy. Councilman Gary DeLong's congressional campaign hopes Clinton will increase turnout of voters who live to excoriate a man who left office 12 years ago.
DOWNEY HIGH STUDENTS THROW SOMETHING EXTRA AT RELAY FOR LIFE
The first-ever Relay For Life flash mob at Downey High fell through because of school officials' fears that students might throw things at the dancers. They were right. One student did.
BIKETOWN, USA: HAS LONG BEACH FINALLY FOUND AN AUTHENTIC IDENTITY?
In this cover story for OC WEEKLY, GreaterLongBeach.com publisher Dave Wielenga notes that Long Beach's push for bicycle-friendliness is part of an encouraging trend in the city's long search for an identity---actually identifying with Long Beach. But a history of wacky schemes has made people suspicious.
KNABE TWEETS A PEEK AT COUNTY’S ANTI-SEX-TRAFFICKING BILLBOARD
THIS JUST TWEETED: Don Knabe, who represents Greater Long Beach on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, says, “Here is a sneak peek at the anti-sex-trafficking signage that will be up on billboards in LA County.”
LOWENTHALS’ TAX-BREAK-FOR-SHIPPERS BILL SWEEPS THROUGH SENATE, 37-0
The state Senate voted, 37-0, this morning to approve a measure authored by Alan and Bonnie Lowenthal that would continue permitting shippers to avoid paying California’s sales/use tax on a portion of the fuel they buy. SB 1243, sponsored by Senator Alan Lowenthal in the Senate, thus moves on to the Assembly, where the sponsor [...]
LOWENTHAL’S TAX-BREAK-FOR-SHIPPERS BILL ON TODAY’S STATE SENATE AGENDA
A bill by Long Beach state Senator Alan Lowenthal’s that would continue to free shippers from paying California’s sales/use tax on a portion of the fuel they buy for another 12 years—at an annual cost of between $92 million and $137.5 to the state—is on today’s agenda in Sacramento. LBReport.com will carry today’s state Senate floor session [...]
ALAN & BONNIE’S SALES TAX BREAK ON SHIPPING FUEL COULD COST CALIFORNIA BETWEEN $92 MILLION AND $137.5 MILLION
LBReport.com reports that the Alan and Bonnie Lowenthal bill—SB 1243, allowing shippers to continue buying a category of fuel without paying state sales tax for 12 years—would cost California between $92 million and $137.5 million annually, according to an analysis by the State Board of Equalization. Alan Lowenthal, termed out as Long Beach’s state senator [...]
DESIGN OF “JENNY CHOW!” IS A LITTLE CONVENIENT, BUT QUITE MEMORABLE
Jenny Chow! comes to life in the flashbacks, which reveal agirl whose life is as neurotically limited as her mind is expansive. Jennifer Jung does a solid job rendering a character desperate to keep it all together while clearly at loose ends.
LB OPERA’S “AINADAMAR:” A TRIUMPH OF CHARACTER OVER CARICATURES
In "Ainadamar," director Andreas Mitisek's cast achieves a triumph of chacter over caricature by playing subtleties more generally akin to good theatre than classic operatic scale. The payoff is real emotion among characters who feel authentic. The show closes tonight at the Terrace Theatre.
ON CLAIBORNE DRIVE, A HOUSE OUT FROM HIDING, BUT NOT MYSTERY
Greater Long Beach contributor Theo Douglas takes a walkthrough on the wild side, strapping on a haz-mat suit for a tour of a the big, old, crazygreat house at 900 Claiborne Drive, hoping he can inhale its rambling stories without filling his lungs with fatal contagions.
ROYBAL-ALLARD CHALLENGES HOMELAND SECURITY REPORT IN BEATING AND TASING OF HOGTIED MAN
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D), who represents Downey in Congress, is among 16 members of the House of Representatives questioning the Department of Homeland Security about apparent contradictions between its account of a man’s severe beating and tazing by Border Patrol agents and a video uncovered by the PBS news program, “In The Know.” The man [...]
AT BRIGHTON FESTIVAL, A REAL-LIFE EXHIBIT OF THE ART OF COLLABORATION
The third in a series looking at the similarities between Long Beach and Brighton, England. Both are home to many artists, a happy circumstance that Brighton annually leverages into a month of major arts festivals that reach into every part of the community. Could Long Beach do the same?
FORMER CITY EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLING A QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS IN PUBLIC FUNDS
Detectives from the Forgery/Fraud Detail of the Long Beach Police Department have arrested a former city employee for misappropriation of $251,000 in public funds, according to information released to the media by the LBPD. Jongluck “Lucky” Mutrais, 59, was arrested Thursday (May 10) morning at her home in Orange, according to the release, which said [...]
BRIGHTON IN MAY: A GIANT BALL OF STRING CONNECTING ALL STORIES
After 46 years, there is a powerful marriage of the global and the local in the Brighton Festival, a blend of celebrities and residents. This year's honorary Artistic Director is actress Vanessa Redgrave (right), who didn't mind putting on some rain gear to walk the Children's Parade with the Mayor. Could Long Beach do something like this?
BEN BAEDER OF DOWNEYBEAT.COM TALKS ONLINE JOURNALISM ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO TONIGHT AT 7
Ben Baeder, who has brought old-school newspapering’s traditional principles and ethics to an online local publication he calls the Downey Beat, will be the featured guest on tonight’s edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga. Also joining the discussion is Elizabeth Glazner, whose journalism career ranges from the Los Angeles Times to the [...]
FAMILIES, DETECTIVES STILL SEEK TRUTH IN THREE TEENS’ 1984 STABBING DEATHS
More than a quarter-century after three South Gate teenagers died of wounds they received in a stabbing attack that occurred in the dry San Gabriel River during what was supposed to be a night of fun at Golf 'N' Stuff on the Norwalk-Downey border, the crimes remain unsolved---but the families and law enforcement continue searching for answers.
THE KILLING OF KELLY THOMAS: VIDEO OF BEATING BY FULLERTON COPS
A previously unreleased survelliance video of Fullerton police beating unarmed Kelly Thomas during an arrest July 5, 2011, was shown in court Monday on the first day of a hearing to determine whether two of the cops---Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli---should stand trial in connection with Thomas's death when removed from hospital life-support systems on July 10.
BELLFLOWER WILL WAIT FOR ITS MASCOT ‘TIL THE COW COMES HOME
Belle the Cow, the massive bronze mascot of the City of Bellflower, finally has a home—a spot near the trailhead of the city’s bike-and-pedestrian path, where Woodruff Ave., Flora Vista St. and Flower St. intersect—and tentative plans are to move her in within the next six months, according to a story by Arnold Adler in [...]
LIFE MAY BE RETURNING TO THE PRESS-TELEGRAM / MEEKER-BAKER BLOCK
Meaningful purpose may be returning to the Press Telegram block, where Michelle Molina of 6th & Pine Development, LLC, says negotiations are in progress to do a build-to-suit development.
LONG BEACH’S ARTS & CULTURE SCENE—COULD IT USE SOME “BRIGHTON-ING?”
GreaterLongBeach.com contributor Victoria Bryan---born-and-raised in Great Britain, a 27-year resident of Long Beach---begins a month-long series of reports from the annual arts festivals in Brighton, wherein she wonders: could something like this happen here?
DESPITE ICT’S BEST EFFORTS, “THE FIX” IS BEYOND REPAIR
International City Theatre works hard, but nothing can save "The Fix," in which composer Dana P. Rowe seems to have attempted to write a rock musical without ever having listened to rock 'n' roll.
KICK OFF BIKE FEST ON GREATER LB RADIO BY KICKING AROUND WHAT IT IS
Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga will kick off Long Beach’s celebration of National Bike Month on Wednesday night by spending an hour with a couple of its organizers kicking around what it is, exactly, that is being celebrated.
DOWNTOWN HOMEOWNERS GROUP: LET PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS DETERMINE FATE OF DLBA ASSESSMENT
Downtown Homeowners Unite, the grassroots homeowner group which opposes expansion of a city-collected, privately administered downtown “benefit assessment district” to include residential property owners, has sent a mass emailing urging the City Council not to include city-owned properties in the petition vote. At this evening’s meeting, the City Council will decide whether to have the [...]
THEATRE FROM THE STREETS–AND THE HEART–DEBUTS IN DOWNEY
Urban Acts: New Plays From the Street will present four staged readings in donated spaces ranging from a restaurant to a barber shop beginning this weekend in Downey. Admission is free.
SURE, LBREPORT.COM BREAKS NEWS, BUT WE WANT A PLAQUE OR A PARTY
After LBReport.com publisher Bill Pearl broke two big stories in as many days, GreaterLongBeach.com received this e-mail from a frustrated reader who's beginning to doubt whether Pearl will ever award everybody a plaque or throw a party.
“GOOSE & TOMTOM:” A GOOFINESS THAT GETS NEXT TO GODLINESS
Giggle at the goofy fun, be annoyed by the non-linear story line, but to get what "Goose and Tomtom" has going for it requires forgetting the "higher" self for a moment and joining the meditation on the magic of experience.
AS CRIME RISES, LBPD MANAGEMENT CONSIDERS FEWER DIVISIONS, PATROLS
Another day, another breaking story from LBReport.com, which this morning reveals that Long Beach Police Department management is considering a restructuring plan that would reduce both the number of department divisions and the number of police patrol beats—the latter accomplished by increasing the area size of each beat, thus giving beat officers more ground to [...]
ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN: CAL REP’S EXECUTION IS DEAD ON
Director Thomas P. Cooke turned playwright Tom Stoppard's becoming-a-classic up a notch, using clips from Laurence Olivier's 1948 film to skewer the late overactor for hamming up "Hamlet."
SMITHSONIAN’S SPACE SUIT EXHIBIT CLOSES AT DOWNEY SPACE MUSEUM SATURDAY
This is the final weekend 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 [...]
BASTARD’S OF YOUNG MARINE HAS SOME IN DOWNEY CONSIDERING REPLACEMENTS
“I wake up every day proud to be a bastard …” asserts Nick Velez, who is preparing to open a sports bar and restaurant in downtown Downey, in a story in today’s Downey Patriot by city editor Eric Pierce. So, there ya go—job applicants, beware. But apparently we’ve interrupted Velez, who hasn’t finished his sentence. [...]
HAVE-A-GREATER-WEEKEND: DEEP JAZZ, SPACE ODDITIES, OCCUPY EARTH DAY
"Have a greater weekend!" we cheerily well-wished them. "Don't tell us what kind of weekend to have!" they sharply bubble-popped us. So, instead, we're going to tell you to have a greater weekend ... and how.
DELONG MAKES NO SECRET OF HIS PRIORITIES IN DITCHING COUNCIL MEETING FOR CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN FORUM
Tuesday night’s meeting of the Long Beach City Council got off to a late start, and 3rd district representative Gary DeLong took off early to attend a forum related to his campaign for Congress, according to a story at LBReport.com. DeLong didn’t keep it a secret; in fact, LBReport.com acknowledges learning about his whereabouts from a [...]
WHAT TH–?? SUPERNAW RETURNS TO GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO TONIGHT
Daryl Supernaw, lifetime Long Beach resident and well-mannered Sustainability Commissioner, spent under $3,000 on his campaign for City Council---and emerged from last week's primary as the frontrunner. Hear his explanation tonight at 7 on Greater Long Beach Radio (www.kbeach.org).
TEXTS FROM THE LINE AT THE JOB FAIR … UM, MAKE THAT “HIRING SPREE”
"People in line are very nice, quietly conversational, realistic, resilient. Sharing stories of their fruitless job searches, not self-pityingly, but recognizing that the sum of their stories equals a very messed-up state of affairs."
BEYOND GREATER: BRUTALISM’S BACKSTABBERS … ET TU, LONG BEACH?
A New York government building designed in the Brutalism style of archetecture---just like the Long Beach Civic Center (above)---is being considered for demolition ... a frequent topic for this building in Long Beach. Why? Among other things, people hate it.
DOWNEY COP WHO KILLED NIDA CRITICIZED FOR TACTICS USED IN EARLIER VIDEO
DOWNEY (Via DowneyBeat.com)—The attorney representing family members of the late Michael Nida says the Downey Police Department officer who fatally shot Nida on Oct. 22, 2011, is shown in a video recorded three months earlier using excessive force while arresting another man. Attorney Brian Claypool says the July 2011 videotaped arrest of Downey resident Miguel [...]
MONEY IN LB POLITICS: HEY, BIG SPENDER! SPEND A POLITICAL TERM WITH ME
Election night in Long Beach won’t only be a matter of tallying the top vote-getters in today’s competition for four seats on the City Council and two on the Board of Education, but also comparing the number of votes collected by the candidates with the number of dollars spent on their campaigns. Since a 2009 [...]
singlepic id=1465 w= link=”http://greaterlongbeach.com/05/04/2012/compton-fire-dept-fire-from-weird-to-worse”]
THAT FIRE AT THE COMPTON FIRE DEPT: IS IT GOING FROM WEIRD TO WORSE?
Compton City officials aren't saying anything about the mysterious fire that ignited at the City's fire department and destroyed $1.1 million in police radios---except that it's still under investigation.
KINDE DURKEE: THE QUESTION ISN’T IF SHE DID IT, BUT WHERE SHE PUT IT
BY AMANDA BECKER / RollCall.com Kinde Durkee’s plea of guilty Friday to five counts of mail fraud against her clients—translation, to embezzling more than $7 million from the campaign bank accounts of California political candidates—did not answer the question that’s been asked most since since she was arrested in September: Where did the money go? [...]
THE HIDDEN INFLUENCE OF LONG BEACH MUSIC: WE ARE THE SUM OF OUR SONGS
Long Beach's music scene is forever being stifled by a paucity of venues, noise-level restrictions and dancing prohibitions. But Long Beach's sound always finds a way, out.and is apt to show up anywhere. It's strength is in numbers---the sheer number of cultures it taps into.
KOOPS STRIKES OPTIMISTIC TONE IN FIRST REMARKS AS BELLFLOWER MAYOR
[From Herald American reports] BELLFLOWER—Dan Koops, a longtime business owner who became a first-time city council member in 2009, was installed as the mayor of Bellflower this week after a unanimous vote by his council colleagues. Councilman Ray Dunton was unanimously selected to be mayor Pro tem. Koops, 59 years old and married to his wife, [...]
POST MORTEM’S SENDUP OF “AMERI-CON-A”: SOMETIMES, BURLESQUE IS MORE
“America: A Political Burlesque,” a sort of risible salve for election fever, is the most elaborate offering yet from Post Mortem, a spinoff of the Alive Theatre. While some quite-talented artists get a payoff for all their work, they might have hit the jackpot by paring things down.
DOWNEY MAYOR WANTS TO EXHIBIT TRAGIC APOLLO 1 AT SPACE MUSEUM
Mayor Roger Brossmer contends that the burned-out shell of the infamous Apollo 1 command module, created in Downey but stored in Virginia since shortly after a 1967 fire that killed three astronauts, ought to be returned to the city of its birth and exhibited near the Columbia Memorial Space Museum. “I get in trouble sometimes [...]
HOW IS PRISON REALIGNMENT WORKING AFTER 6 MONTHS? GET ANSWERS AT TONIGHT’S CORR MEETING
The Public Safety Realignment will be six months old on April 1, but please don’t feel like a fool if you’re confused. Since the California legislature put it into effect on Oct. 1, 2011, by passing Assembly Bill 109 (AB 109), the Realignment has produced far more questions than answers, and among the most common [...]
ONE QUESTION … FOR COUNCIL’S BUDGET OVERSIGHT CHAIR, GARY DELONG
Ten years after consultants informed the Long Beach City Council that it was spending more than it was taking in, Kerrie Aley has one question for Councilmember Gary DeLong, chairman of the Budget Oversight Committee: Is Long Beach in better or worse financial shape now?
THE STORY OF REAL EASTER BUNNIES DOESN’T USUALLY HAVE A HOPPY ENDING
DOWNEY (Via DowneyBeat.com)—‘Tis the season for impulsive rabbit purchases. Due to the Easter holiday, a big colony of rabbits is up for adoption at the Los Angeles County animal shelter in Downey. Normally, the shelter has three or four rabbits; now it’s got 12. There are so many, the pound had to bring in extra rabbit [...]
“THE GREATEST OF LONG BEACH” IS COMING …ON APRIL FOOL’S DAY!
The Greatest of Long Beach, a collaborative hunting-and-gathering expedition into the ultimate of almost everything in Long Beach and its satellite cities, will be published a week from today—that’s Sunday, April 1—on GreaterLongBeach.com and LBReport.com. Yes, we realize that’s April Fool’s Day. Happy New Year! Meanwhile, for slightly more than a month Long Beach’s two best and [...]
DIANA CRAIGHEAD UNANIMOUSLY APPOINTED TO SCHOOL BOARD BY ITS OTHER FOUR MEMBERS
Diana Craighead has been appointed to the District 5 seat on the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education by a unanimous vote of the Board’s other four members, it was announced this morning via a press release from LBUSD spokesperson Chris Eftychiou. Craighead is scheduled to be sworn into office during the next [...]
AS TACO BELL TURNS 50, DOWNEY GROUP WANTS FIRST STORE SAVED
DOWNEY—The year was 1962, and a young man named Glen Bell was searching for the perfect location to launch his new taco restaurant. He’d already enjoyed moderate success with similar spots called Taco Tia’s and El Taco. Now Bell began to envision something different, a small village plaza with retail shops, mariachis, fire pits and [...]
LEARN TO STOP ANIMAL CRUELTY (OR EVEN CRUELTY TO ANIMALS) ON MARCH 29
Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert (above) revealed Wednesday that he is joining forces with Long Beach Animal Care Services on a March 29 conference aimed at preventing animal cruelty. It's free.
THE PAYWALL BLUES: I JUST HIT MY LIMIT OF FREE STORIES ON THE LA TIMES
I knew this day would come. I just didn’t think it would come so soon. I hit my article limit on LATimes.com, and I can’t read more without forking over some cash. What a weird feeling I have. On one hand, I’m glad the Times is putting some value on the hard work of its [...]
ALL WRITEY!! CAN WE GET A LITTLE LOVE FROM THE SPAMMERS? YES, WE CAN!
GREATER LB RADIO TONITE: FANYA BARUTI ON SUIT TO RESTORE 85,000 PRISONERS’ VOTING RIGHTS Quite fine publish. I just just simply happened at your website not to mention wished to say that have seriously loved reading your weblog content. In any case I will turn out to be subscribing to all your posts not to [...]
IF GOD WON’T SAVE THE QUEEN MARY, PETITIONERS HOPE THE MAYOR WILL
Disturbed by the Queen Mary’s condition after nearly 45 years under City of Long Beach ownership, ship supporters are circulating an online petition urging Mayor Bob Foster to protect restore and preserve her.
THE GREATEST OF LONG BEACH: NOMINATIONS CLOSE TUESDAY, MARCH 20
What's the greatest place in the Greater Long Beach Area to eat a meal, see a play, get your drycleaning done, watch the sun set, drink a beer, take an out-of-town visitor, buy a greeting card, ride your bike, play golf, go dancing, eat Cambodian food? Nominate it!
LB CITY GIRL: BEING CELIAC MAKES IT LESS LIKELY I’LL TALK WITH MY MOUTH FULL
Since the worst-case scenario was cancer, when the Celiac diagnosis came I was relieved ... and then I was elated … and then I went to Trader Joe’s, where I found myself standing in the aisle surveying all the food I could never eat again. I started to cry.
GREATER LB RADIO TONITE: FANYA BARUTI ON SUIT TO RESTORE 85,000 PRISONERS’ VOTING RIGHTS
Fanya Baruti of Long Beach, who discovered political activism while incarcerated and has made it his life’s work since his release, will cast light upon the greatest needs and obstacles facing our huge population of current and former prisoners—oh, and solutions, too—during his appearance tonight on Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga. The program [...]
HAS AUSTIN’S FALL FROM THE MAYOR’S GRACE MADE HIM A CANDIDATE OF THE PEOPLE?
Al Austin’s candidacy for the 8th district seat on the Long Beach City Council continues to gather grass-roots support that tends to run counter to the endorsements of prominent elected officials in the area. The roughly 3-to-1 margin by which Austin was endorsed over Lillian Kawasaki at Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Los Angeles County [...]
‘ROMEO & JULIET’ CLOSES ITS RUN AT GOAD THEATRE SUNDAY AT 2 P.M.
The Long Beach Shakespeare Company's production of "Romeo and Juliet" isn't perfect, but it understands these are two idiot kids, who know about hormones, obsessiveness and instant gratification, but nothing about substantive romantic love.
DOWNTOWN LB BUSINESS GROUP APPROVES ITS OWN PLAN TO FINANCIALLY ASSESS DOWNTOWN RESIDENCES
The Property Based Improvement District (PBID) plan proposed by the Downtown Long Beach Associates has been unanimously approved by the Downtown Long Beach Associates’ Board of Directors, according to a media advisory released by the Downtown Long Beach Associates and received by everybody else with absolutely no surprise. The vote by the Board of Directors [...]
WELL IF IT ISN’T THE OLD MILLION-DOLLAR CHRISTIAN ROCK CONCERT TRICK!
A Downey woman who admitted in court that she defrauded investors out of nearly $1 million that was supposed to be used for Christian rock concerts will begin serving a 57-month prison sentence on April 2. Lauren Baumann, 43, was sentenced Tuesday by United States District Judge Josephine S. Tucker. Baumann, who was convicted of [...]
DOWNEY IS STILL THE PLACE TO GO TO HAVE YOUR VEHICLE STOLEN
Downey’s car thieves, who built the city into a car-stealing capitol by riding away in 1,055 vehicles that weren’t theirs in 2011, apparently have no interest in relinquishing their notoriety. That’s the latest from DowneyBeat.com, where publisher Ben Baeder has been keeping tabs on stolen vehicles—well, the number of them stolen, if not the vehicles [...]
WHO WAS IT WHO SAID, ‘MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR A POPULACE TO BE WELL-INFORMED IS VITAL FOR THE OPERATION OF THE OPERATORS?’
City Manager Pat West’s staff is making a budget presentation to the Long Beach City Council today, an agendized item about the “Fiscal Outlook for 2013 and Beyond.” Whoa! In the context of Long Beach’s current economic crisis—or perhaps even more importantly, its traditional inability to manage money, even when times are good—this seems like [...]
SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES WILLIAMS AND LINAREZ DEBATE TONIGHT AT 7
Felton Williams and Ricardo Linarez, candidates for the District 2 seat on the Board of Education for the Long Beach Unified School District, will debate tonight from 7 to 8 at VeteransMemorial Park, 101 East 28th Street, Long Beach, 90806. Williams is not only the incumbent in this race but the current president of the [...]
SPANISH-LANGUAGE MEDIA ON A MISSION TO MOTIVATE VIEWERS TO VOTE
The nation's top two Spanish-language media networks, Univision and Telemundo, have launched separate get-out-the-vote efforts ahead of this fall’s elections so as to capitalize on their broad reach into Hispanic households and to mobilize viewers. They don't influence how viewers vote, just that they should.
WEDNESDAY ON GREATER LB RADIO: THE CENTER MOVES INTO THE UNFAMLIAR TERRITORY OF COMMON GROUND
Last Wednesday evening, Porter Gilberg literally put the LBGT (lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender) community at center stage of the People’s State of the City event that packed the Antioch Church in Long Beach. The new administrative director of The Center Long Beach not only led the organization into the unprecedented role as part of a [...]
SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS TO LBSU BASKETBALL—WILL IT LEAD TO WORSE?
Long Beach State's loss to Cal State Fullerton in its final regular -season game Saturday probably means the 49ers must win this week's Big West Conference tournament to advance to the NCAA playoffs. Don Monson's team was in the same situation last year, and stayed home after UC Santa Barbara came out of nowhwere to win the tournament.
BELLFLOWER, NORWALK BECOME THEIR CITIES’ RDA SUCCESSOR AGENCIES
The cities of Bellflower and Norwalk have officially become successor agencies to their now-defunct redevelopment programs and are charged, under the law enacted through Assembly Bill X1 26,, with winding down redevelopment activities and paying off contractual and financial debt obligations of those projects. Both cities, as required, set up a payment plan to meet [...]
PUT YOUR FUNDS WHERE YOUR FRIENDSHIP IS TO BENEFIT BIXBY PARK
Friends of Bixby Park, the grassroots outfit that’s slowly but steadily revitalizing one of the most-historic public spaces in Long Beach, holds its second annual fundraiser Thursday evening at the Long Beach Museum of Art. Tickets still available.
LB CITY AUDITOR DOUD ENDORSES KAWASAKI IN 8TH DISTRICT RACE
Long Beach City Auditor Laura Doud has endorsed Lillian Kawasaki for the 8th district’s seat on the City Council, according to a media advisory from the Kawasaki campaign. “Now, more than ever, we need elected representatives devoted to being caretakers of the public trust and willing to be financial watchdogs,” said Doud, according to the [...]
LOWENTHALS SEEK TO EXTEND SHIPPERS’ TAX BREAK AS CONSUMERS ASKED TO VOTE THEMSELVES AN INCREASE
State Senator Alan Lowenthal, finishing up his final term in Sacramento while campaigning for Congress in the newly drawn 47th district, has introduced a bill that would indefinitely extend a tax break he helped secure for the maritime industry in 2003—even as Governor Jerry Brown is asking Californians to vote themselves a sales tax increase [...]
BOOM: IF YOU WANT TO MAKE ABSURDISTS LAUGH, TELL THEM YOUR PLANS
In "boom," an absurdist play by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb---now playing by the Alive Theatre troupe at the Long Beach Playhouse---people just can't win for trying ... sometimes including their attempts to understand the play.
LISTEN TO TONIA REYES URANGA’S PERSPECTIVE ON THIS WEDNESDAY’S ‘PEOPLE’S STATE OF THE CITY ‘
Former Long Beach City Councilmember Tonia Reyes Uranga appears on the current edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga to describe the living conditions that have prompted this week’s People’s State of the City event. Reyes Uranga’s delivery of the central address at the event—created by an unprecedented coalition of community groups—is her [...]
ONE QUESTION FOR … DAVID MALMUTH, AND IT’S NOT ABOUT SECOND+PCH
David Malmuth has developed architectural icons from Hollywood to Manhattan, but he's 0-for-2 in Long Beach---most recently when the City Council rejected his Second+PCH development in December. But the Academy Awards are being held tonight at the Kodak Theatre he developed, and we're wondering how he feels about that.
GIRL, 11, WHO DIED FRIDAY NIGHT SEEMED FINE AFTER OFF-CAMPUS FIGHT
Further details on the 11-year-old schoolgirl who died a few hours after an off-campus fight Friday were released at a press conference called Saturday night by Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, Long Beach Police Department Deputy Chief Robert Luna and Long Beach Unified School Distric Superintendent Chris Steinhauser, but each official stressed that the investigation is continuing. LBPD [...]
POLICE STILL INVESTIGATING DEATH OF 11-YEAR-OLD GIRL—APPARENTLY FOLLOWING AFTER-SCHOOL FIGHT
Homicide detectives from the Long Beach Police Department continue to investigate Friday night’s death of an 11-year-old girl, who was unconscious and not breathing when her family brought her to the emergency room of a local hospital. According to information released by the LBPD, a preliminary investigation indicates that the girl had been involved in [...]
ERROR AT RANCHO LOS AMIGOS REHAB MAY COST LA COUNTY $3.1 MILLION
An error by staff members at world-renowned Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center may cost Los Angeles County taxpayers $3.1 million in an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit. The County Board of Supervisors will decide whether or not to authorize the monster payout at its meeting Tuesday (Feb. 28). Robert Vasquez of Whittier was recovering from a [...]
HAVE-A-GREATER-WEEKEND: SEE “THE ARTIST” AT THE ART BEFORE CINEMATHEQUE’S OSCAR PARTY
[Editor's note: This spontaneous Have-A-Greater-Weekend recommendation comes from a regular GreaterLongBeach.com reader who calls him/herself by the initials DWR in the comment sections. Such submissions are always appreciated. Also, for the record, GreaterLongBeach.com is the media sponsor of the Long Beach Cinematheque's current membership drive.] By DWR I saw The Artist at the Art Theatre [...]
THE QUEST–OURS AND YOURS–FOR “THE GREATEST OF LONG BEACH” BEGINS
The Greatest of Long Beach is our shared mission to track down the greatness outside ourselves---but within the Greater Long Beach area---wherever in our vast and diverse region it may be, and in whatever form it may take. Now that's what we call a search party!
THE STATES OF TWO CITIES
Bellflower and Norwalk have scheduled State of the City addresses this week. The Bellflower City Council will present its annual State of the City luncheon around the theme, “Investing in Bellflower” on Thursday (Feb. 23) beginning at 11:30 a.m. at Simms Park, 16614 S. Clark Ave. The cost is $10 per person. Many of the [...]
LB CITY GIRL: PRESIDENT OBAMA, YOU’VE GOTTA BE OFF YOUR NOODLE!
Mr. President, as a devout Pastafarian I'm angry you require the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to provide medical coverage to employees who refuse to eat pasta! This disregards our religious tenets and contributes to sinful eating habits that create a need for medical coverage.
WHO IS PAYING FOR NEGATIVE POLL ABOUT 4TH DISTRICT COUNCIL RACE?
Who is paying for a telephone survey that appears to be testing negative perceptions and statements about candidates in the 4th district Long Beach City Council race? At least two 4th district residents—one of whom happened to be an LBReport.com correspondent—received such telephone calls on Saturday (Feb. 18). LBReport.com correspondent Joe Mello says he received [...]
HOW TO PICK AN OSCAR-NIGHT FIGHT: WHINE ON ABOUT ‘BRIDESMAIDS,” “POTTER”
If you wanna be starting something at the Cinematheque Oscar Party, don't stop pointing out that doubling the candidates for Best PIcture was supposed to improve the chances for "other" kinds of films. But only 9 films were nominated, and none were of the "other" kind. Above, it appears Oscar just isn't wild about Harry, either.
“QUILLS’” ALLEGORY IS HEAVY-HANDED, JUST LIKE THE MARQUIS DE SADE LIKES IT
Cal Rep's production of Obie Award-winning "Quills"---which invokes the Marquis de Sade to make a case for freedom of expression---gets its drive from high-octane acting and lowbrow bawdy, but slows down when the moralizing begins.
CORONER CONFIRMS DOWNEY POLICE SHOT INNOCENT MAN IN THE BACK … TWICE
Michael Nida not only was unarmed, innocent and on a date with his wife on Oct 22 when a Downey Police Department officer killed him while investigating an ATM robbery---but the Los Angeles County Coroner has just revealed that the 31-year-old father of four was also shot in the back ... twice.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HELP THE GOOD TIMES ROLL SATURDAY AT MARDI GRAS
Volunteers are still needed to assist Saturday—that’s tomorrow—at Long Beach’s annual celebration of Mardi Gras—which is French for, “Fat Tuesday,” and which in Long Beach apparently means, “A Tuesday so fat that we celebrate it on Saturday.” “We still need a significant number of volunteers to help out,” wrote Mike Kamer, the Volunteer Coordinator for [...]
AN ERSTWHILE ATTORNEY’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE ART HE SEES IN THINGS
Former Deputy City Attorney Jim McCabe presents evidence of his photographic artistry during the first-ever exhibit of his digital images. About 20 examples of his art---which transforms in-plain-sight elements of our world into precise and personal observations---are on display in the Paradise Cafe through March 7.
SORT OF TYPICALLY, COUNCIL SORT OF DECIDES TO SORT OF BAN POT OUTLETS
LONG BEACH—Faced with proposal to ban medical marijuana outlets that—whatever else its pros and cons—would have finally established a clear City of Long Beach policy on the contentious issue, the City Council talked for two hours Tuesday night and then voted 8-1 to ban some outlets, temporarily permit others and revisit the issue later. Some [...]
WANT TO BE APPOINTED TO LBUSD SCHOOL BOARD? APPLY NOW!
Applications are now available for anyone interested in completing David Barton’s term as the District 5 representative on the Board of Education for the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD). Barton, the board’s vice-president, had been elected to a term that will expire in July 2014, but unexpectedly resigned on Jan. 25, citing concerns about [...]
MEDPOT VOTE PREP: GREATER LB RADIO’S ‘FOUR GUYS TALKING ABOUT POT’
City Clerk Larry Herrera pulls the winners of Long Beach's lottery for medical marijuana permits from a blue recycling bin because the machine purchased for the event was useless when somebody bought ping-pong balls that were too big for the pneumatic tubes. The Long Beach City Council may vote to ban dispensaries tonight.
ONE QUESTION FOR … LB CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE AND $181,000-A-YEAR LA CITY PENSION BENEFICIARY, LILLIAN KAWASAKI
[ The first installment in something like the fourth or fifth attempt to make this a weekly feature of GreaterLongBeach.com. Pray for us. ] The back story: Lillian Kawasaki is running to represent the 8th district seat on the Long Beach City Council at a time when the city is facing a budget deficit that [...]
HEAR WHY JANET BALLANTYNE WANTS TO REPLACE SUJA LOWENTHAL ON CITY COUNCIL
Janet Ballantyne explains why she is running for the Long Beach City Council seat currently occupied by Suja Lowenthal during a Feb. 15 appearance on Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga. Ballantyne works as a sponsor-relations manager for a financial services firm and serves as president of a large downtown Home Owner’s Association called 133 Promenade Walk. She expands on [...]
ALMOST 58 PERCENT OF DONORS TO LB COUNCIL CANDIDATES FROM OUTSIDE CITY
[ Editor's note: Individuals and entities living and operating Long Beach are legally allowed to contribute to the campaigns of candidates for Long Beach political offices. However, the out-of-city donors aren't affected environmentally (that is, in terms of such things as public services, taxes, infrastructure and air and water quality) by the decisions of those they help elect. [...]
DOWNEY RISKS CITY LAND TRYING TO SAVE THE MEDICAL CENTER ON IT
DOWNEY—Taking a risk to rescue a medical facility with deep local roots, the City of Downey is putting up its stake in the Downey Regional Medical Center as collateral to help the bankrupt hospital get financing. Downey owns the hospital at 11500 Brookshire Ave. and leases it to an operating company. That company, Downey Regional [...]
LB CITY GIRL: IF THEY’RE SERIOUS ABOUT REVISING SEADIP, THEN LET’S PLAY BALL
With the Second+PCH development in a coma, and everybody suddenly chomping at the bit to amend SEADIP, Long Beach City Girl is proposing the construction of a Major League Baseball park at the corner of PCH and 2nd Street.:
We said we wanted a gateway toLong Beach and what could be a finer gateway than an awesome looking ballpark?
DOWNEY LAYING OFF STAFF ON ONE SIDE, PAYING OFF RETIREES ON THE OTHER
DOWNEY (Via DowneyBeat.com)—While the City of Downey is laying off employees and trying to plug a multi-million budget hole, documents show it has also been writing checks for six-figure, lump-sum retirement payouts. More than $249,000 in unused vacation and sick time was recently paid to former Fire Chief and Emergency Services Coordinator Mark Sauter, who retired [...]
LB SIERRA CLUB ENDORSES LOWENTHAL, KAWASAKI FOR CITY COUNCIL
The Long Beach Area Group of the Sierra Club has announced its endorsements of 2nd district City Councilmember Suja Lowenthal and 8th district council candidate Lillian Kawasaki in their campaigns for seats on the Long Beach City Council. “Our interview committee was impressed by both candidates,” said Gabrielle Weeks, chairperson of the local Sierra Club [...]
AS ELON MUSK UNVEILS TESLA MODEL X, WE BURN FOR THE LOVE THAT BURNED US
If Elon Musk’s just-this-side-of-disturbingly elfin head had not been turned on that fateful May 20 of 2010---when he seemed ready to propose putting a Tesla plant in Downey after snubbing $28.3 million in incentives from Long Beach---then maybe we'd be at the big party for the Model X.
FOR FIRST TIME IN ITS 54-YEAR HISTORY, DOWNEY LAYS OFF CITY STAFFERS
Since its incorporation in 1956, the City of Downey had never laid off a staff member for economic reasons ... until last week, when the California legislature's abolishment of redevelopment agencies cost two city employees their jobs.
GABELICH ENDORSES AL AUSTIN TO SUCCEED HER AS 8TH DISTRICT COUNCIL REP
Eighth District City Council candidate Al Austin, shown with his wife, Daysha, in a December 2011 photo, described his endorsement Tuesday by outgoing Councilmember Rae Gabelich as "an honor," but said this is a "pivotal time" for the 8th district and Long Beach as a whole.
GABELICH CALLS PRESS CONFERENCE—WILL SHE RUN FOR 3RD COUNCIL TERM?
Rae Gabelich, who is winding up her second term as the 8th district’s representative to the Long Beach City Council, has called a press conference for this morning at 11 a.m. amid speculation that she will seek a third term as a write-in candidate. Until last summer, Gabelich laughed off any talk of a third [...]
HAROLD & MAUDE: JOIN THE LOVEFEST (AND LB CINEMATHEQUE) ON FEB 14
When young, rich and death-obsessed Harold meets lively septuagenarian Maude---at a funeral---he is changed forever ... and so are we. "Harold and Maude" makes its annual Valentine's Day appearance at the Art Theatre in support of the Long Beach Cinematheque membership drive.
LB CITY GIRL: CAN I SAY I DON’T LIKE O’DONNELL’S SNOW DAY? OR IS THAT CATTY?
What's got this feline feeling so feral and so like hell that absolutely nothing sounds better than a session of taming at the hands of cat-whisperer Jackson Galaxy? It might just be 4th district city councilmember Patrick O'Donnell and his annual Snow Day.
NICK SCHOU OF OC WEEKLY TO DISCUSS CONTROVERSIAL LB MEDPOT STORY ON GREATER LB RADIO WEDNESDAY
Award-winning reporter and author Nick Schou, whose current OC Weekly cover story about medpot dispensaries in Long Beach also serves as a disturbing case study of the institutional culture at City Hall, will be the featured guest Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. on KBEACH.org.Schou and Wielenga, [...]
OC WEEKLY STORY ON MEDPOT A DISTURBING LOOK AT LONG BEACH OFFICIALS
After approving medpot dispensaries in 2010 and conducting a fiasco of a lottery to determine their locations, the City Council is on the verge---twice delaying its vote--of outlawing them. Meanwhile, Long Beach collects millions in pot-related fees and fines, simultaneously permitting and prosecuting various dispensaries.
‘HEY PUNK, I’M NOT GOING TO GET THREATENED ON A TRIP TO MAKE SOME COPIES!’
I didn't mean to see you tag that sign in the parking lot---so why did you ask me what I was looking at? I probably wouldn't have called the cops on you if you had let me go on my way. I don't live in Downey, but I'm not going to get threatened on a trip to make copies.
“GOD OF CARNAGE” AT ICT: THE SIMPLE PLEASURES OF SNEERING AT CIVILIZATION
"God of Carnage" trades on the possibility that civilization---for better and/or for worse---is merely a veneer we apply over our true, wild selves. But not in a way that will keep you from having a wonderful evening.
DON’T EXPECT DRAMA IN SCHOOL BOARD SEARCH TO REPLACE BARTON
Dr. David Barton’s resignation Wednesday from the Board of Education of the Long Beach Unified School District puts an unexpected item on the agenda—and perhaps atop the list of priorities—at the Board’s next meeting on Feb. 7: finding a replacement. Although there is a Board of Education election scheduled for April, voters will not determine [...]
THE PEOPLE ARE NOT PLEASED: PROTEST COP KILLING OF UNARMED MAN
From small children on scooters to elderly anti-war activists, some 150 people marched more than two miles to Downey City Hall to protest the shooting death of an unarmed man, Michael Nida, by a Downey Police officer last fall.
YOU’RE A FOODIE, IT’S THE END OF JANUARY, SO THIS MUST BE RESTAURANT WEEK
Out of more than 300 restaurants participating DineLA's 2012 version of Restaurant Week, nine are in the Long Beach area---and we already know what you're going to say. But please eat what's on your plate before asking for more.
TRAGEDY (POLICE SHOOTING) & COMEDY (LITERALLY) ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO–LISTEN HERE
It’s a tragedy-and-comedy edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga, the collaboration between GreaterLongBeach.com and the Cal State Long Beach internet radio station KBEACH.org that creates weekly hour of interviews and insight into our city’s most-important stories. The program, recorded at Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. in the studio of KBEACH.org, on the bottom floor of the [...]
IN ‘ORSON’S SHADOW,’ ALIVE THEATRE’S ACTORS CAST IMPRESSIVE ONES, TOO
Robert Edwards' effin-perfect portrayal of Orson Welles establishes the tone of "Orson's Shadow," and it resonates through a cast---also playing famous actors/fragile people of another era--that has found their characters and truly fills those roles.
IS TRIAL OF MAN SHOT BY LBPD OFFICERS STRATEGY TO REDUCE CIVIL DAMAGES?
Jonathan Cabrera, still recovering from the bullet wounds he received last May 14 when Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) officers opened fire into the apartment he shared with his wife, went on trial Thursday (Jan. 26) on a felony charge of obstructing or resisting a law enforcement officer. “The only reason for this felony charge is the City [...]
LB CITY GIRL: ONLY BUSINESS FRIENDLINESS WILL SOOTHE MY RAGING GRANNY
Although the Raging Grannies protested in 2010, they stayed far away from the site where Tesla Motors considered building a production line to replace Downey Studios, where workers reported illnesses they suspected were caused by contamination from the former NASA plant--the future home of Tierra Luna Marketplace.
RAINEY: ELECTIONS SHOULDN’T BE CANCELED, EVEN WITHOUT COMPETITION
Former school board candidate Naomi Rainey asserted today in a statement released by the NAACP that the Long Beach Unified School District ought to conduct regularly scheduled elections for seats on the Board of Education even when all candidates are unopposed. “The Long Beach Unified School District should be having elections whether there is one person running or [...]
LB CITY GIRL: POLITICIANS AND FRITTATAS AND WHAT THEY’RE MADE OF
Seeing my chance, I cornered Dan Pressburg in the kitchen and started talking frittata. He tried to change the subject to redevelopment, until I finally had to insist: I wanted that recipe!
LOOKS LIKE THEY’RE TRYING SOME FUNNY BUSINESS AT COHIBA’S SATURDAY
A couple of comedians---one from Great Britain, the other from San Pedro--are opening a new comedy club Saturday in what they believeve is the perfect location: downtown Long Beach's Club Cohiba.
DOWNEY SPACE CENTER SMITHSONIAN EXHIBIT OPEN THRU MID-APRIL
"Suited For Space," an exhibit borrowed from the Smithsonian Institution, opens at the Columbia Memorial Space Center on Feb. 1. The Center's focus on space flight and engineering is a perfect fit with the Smithsonian, which has a huge collection of space-and-flight related material.
UNFORTUNATELY, LBUSD DIDN’T SAVE $200,000 FOR THIS ‘RAINEY’ DAY
Ten days ago Naomi Rainey, the longtime president of Long Beach’s chapter of the NAACP, announced she was running for Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education. Three days later, Rainey announced she was not running. On Friday, however, Rainey learned that there’s more to running for public office—or not running for it—than just [...]
HAVA•GREATER•WEEKEND: SOCAL’S FIRST PARKLET OPENS TODAY AT NOON
[EDITOR'S NOTE: HaveAGreaterWeekend is your preparedness guide for the most-important days of your life---the weekend. Suggestions are welcome, so long as you send them at least three weeks before the event---and never forget who makes the final call.] If you are anywhere but Fourth Street’s Retro Row today at noon, consider yourself doomed to a [...]
DELONG’S CONGRESSIONAL BID ENDORSED BY LB CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Long Beach City Councilmember Gary DeLong announced via a press release this morning that his run for the newly formed 47th Congress District against state Senator Alan Lowenthal has been endorsed by the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee. “It is an honor to have the Chamber’s endorsement,” said DeLong, according to [...]
WHAT SECRETS WAS LB COUNCIL KEEPING FROM PUBLIC IN CLOSED SESSION?
When the Long Beach City Council went into closed session on January 10, it cited "existing legislation" as its legally permitted reason. Problem is, the case it cited had already received a final judgment from the California State Supreme Court on Dec. 29. So ,,, what gives?
AL WILLIAMS: NOT JUST THE FACE OF LIVE JAZZ IN LB, BUT ITS HEART, TOO
Al Williams has made a name for himself--and pretty good money, too---as driving force of live jazz in Long Beach, but his support Maxie Viltz's upstart club in the Basement Lounge (where he headlines Thursday) is the true measure of his commitment to the music.
ADVERTISEMENT: OUR VALENTINE’S GUIDE—ONLY $100 FROM NOW TIL FEB 29
In honor and fear of the most unforgiving day of the year, GreaterLongBeach.com is compiling a Valentine’s Day Survival Guide, a strategy for assembling a February 14 that won’t end up feeling like a Friday the 13th or an April Fool’s Day. The Valentine’s Day Survival Guide will be a special section of GreaterLongBeach.com—a matchmaking [...]
MARTIN LUTHER KING’S DREAM DID NOT INCLUDE CHILDREN IMPRISONED FOR LIFE
As we reflect on the values of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., these photos of children who are sentenced to life in prison without parole illustrate how far we still have to go to realize Kings observation that "whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
GAS COMPANY INSTALLING ECO-FRIENDLY GARDEN AT DEMONSTRATION BUILDING
[ Story by Matthew Guhit ] DOWNEY (Via DowneyBeat.com)—In an effort to reduce energy and water usage, the Southern California Gas Co. hired landscapers to renovate the front of its building on Firestone Boulevard in Downey, dubbed the Energy Resource Center. “We needed to make it a showcase for energy efficiency,” Southern California Gas Co. spokeswoman [...]
SUJA GETS CHALLENGER ON FRIDAY-THE-13TH DEADLINE FOR COUNCIL CANDIDATES
LONG BEACH (Via LBReport.com)—On Friday the 13th and, let’s hope only coincidentally, the final day for candidates for this year’s Long Beach City Council elections, the fields for races in the 2nd, 4th and 6th districts—were finalized. The biggest surprise heading into the final day was the emergence of a homeowners-group challenger to Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal in [...]
DOWNEY COUNCIL FINALLY SPEAKS TO FAMILY OF MAN KILLED BY COPS
DOWNEY (Via DowneyBeat.com)—For the first time, the Downey City Council addressed the family and friends of Michael Nida, a 31-year-old South Gate resident who was unarmed and not involved in any crime when he was killed by a Downey Police officer Oct. 22 while out on a date with his wife. Mayor Roger Brossmer said [...]
FOSTER’S STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS: WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FACTS
It’s apparent to us, and we believe it’s quietly apparent to more than a few others, that Mayor Bob Foster fears certain facts about the current state of the City of Long Beach. Now in his second half decade in office, Mayor Foster’s 2012 State of the City message [text as prepared for delivery, click [...]
POOR RICHARDSON’S ALMANAC: IN TODAY’S ENTRY, GARAMENDI ENDORSES JANICE HAHN
Poor Richardson’s Almanac—the ever-expanding catalogue of Greater Long Beach-area Congresswoman Laura Richardson’s never-ending woes—received its latest entry from RollCall.com, where Kyle Trygstad reports: Congressman John Garamendi, a Democrat from a Northern California district, has announced his support for Janice Hahn in her attempt to win the congressional seat that Richardson currently occupies. It is the second endorsement Hahn [...]
THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN(S)
LAKEWOOD (Via the Herald American)— Capt. Merrill Ladenheim is the new commander of the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station, which patrols 24 square miles filled with 240,000 residents in the cities of Artesia, Bellflower, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood and Paramount. The 26-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will oversee 250 sworn officers and 50 civilian [...]
FREEDOM’S JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR A DOWNEY TRAVEL AGENCY CLOSING
DOWNEY (Via Downey Patriot)—Freedom Vacations travel agency will move out of the downtown Downey location it has occupied for more than 20 years to become a home-based business—but not for the reason you probably think. “We don’t want to commute anymore,” said owner Robert Zavala, a former president of the Downey Chamber of Commerce, who [...]
A NEW YEAR’S EVE OF LOVE AND JOY AND SEX AND DREAMS … OH, AND A BIGOT
On New Year's Eve, men were dressed in kilts and tuxedos, women in spangles and fur, But even in jeans and t-shirt, I was complimented by strange men---and after they determined my date's level of possessiveness, they tried to kiss me on my mouth. Aw, thanks, strange men! None of them were the bigot.
THE GREEN HOUSE: A STERLING CUP OF COFFEE ON A FAMILIAR CORNER
Besides locally crafted coffee beans, The Green House--which occupies the intersection abandoned by Sipology last summer---has a Director of Coffee. His name is Sterling, and you will find him standing behind the counter, answering questions about the various blends and options for drinking them.
HERE’S WISHING YOU HOT DOG OF A NEW YEAR—WRAPPED IN BACON, OF COURSE
DOWNEY (Via DowneyBeat.com)– There are fundamental questions one must ask oneself while trying to make sense of this mortal coil. What is the meaning of life? Do I matter? And, finally, “Got Bacon?” Papas and Dogs, a small, brightly decorated new gourmet hot dog joint at 8740Firestone Boulevard in Downey can now answer that third important query. [...]
LAST LOOK: THE GUY WHO TOOK MY INTRAMURAL SOCCER GAME TOO SERIOUSLY
I saw you taking practice shots, kicking the ball really hard but missing every time, even though there was no goalie. You were trying to impress the women, even though there’s never been a single recorded instance of a woman getting turned on by a man in a neon headband, tank top, blue short shorts and the orange shoes kicking a soccer ball really hard.
FIRST LOOK: RIDING THE LB MONORAIL TO ALL-PROBLEMS-SOLVED-VILLE
If 60 miles of monorail track looks to you like the solution to Long Beach's transportation and employment problems, then you are apparently looking at it the right way ... according to a group called Island of Long Beach, anyway. It claims its project would move 460,000 people an hour and create 300,000 jobs. That's enough for us! All abooooaaarrrd!!!
POOR (LAURA) RICHARDSON’S ALMANAC: LITTLE MONEY, LOTS OF ANGER
The latest entries into Poor Richardson’s Almanac—an ever-expanding catalogue of Greater Long Beach-area Congresswoman Laura Richardson’s never-ending woes—come from the New York Times and Politico.com … oh, and local newsman Theo Douglas, who e-mailed a heads-up about the stories, as well as links to them. NY Tmes reporter Eric Lichtblau describes Richardson as “among the [...]
LAST LOOK: WHEN THE BEST LOCAL PRODUCTIONS WERE LONG BEACH ORIGINALS
Original works characterized Long Beach theatre in 2011, led by Ryan McClary's "General Entropy" at the Alive Theatre and "LOLPERA" by LN&AND at The Garage Theatre---and Ashley Allen (above) played big parts in both of them.
FIRST LOOK: BELLFLOWER TURNS A PAGE—IS IT ENOUGH TO CHANGE ITS STORY?
Bellflower's first downtown development in decades---the $7 million Belmont Court---will replace a stretch of non-descript midcentury buildings with a collection of residential condos above retail shops that the architect describes as "midcentury with a contemporary feel."
HORATIO & NEWT: HEAPING THE BLAME FOR POVERTY ON CHILDREN
Newt Gingrich took a page out of Horatio Alger's books when he called for rolling back child labor laws. Newt wants poor kids as young as nine to replace their school janitors, so they can learn the work ethic, as opposed to well-off kids, who are evidently born with a work ethic.
LB COUNCIL STANDS UP FOR ZONING LAWS, ENCOURAGES COLLABORATION, KILLS SECOND+PCH PROJECT
The Long Beach City Council killed the proposed Second+PCH development late Tuesday evening with a 5-3 vote that supported master planning over spot zoning, laid groundwork for long-polarized community factions to collaborate on revised development standards and bore no resemblance to the alliances that had come to characterize this panel of governing officials. After more [...]
SPECIAL HOLIDAY SONGS TO SING ALONG WITH THE CITY COUNCIL TONIGHT
Just in time to rescue the holiday spirit—but probably too late for justice—the Greed+WTF group has created a slim volume of holiday verse dedicated to the Long Beach City Council's vote tonight on the Second+PCH project. C'mon, everybody! Sing along!!
GAY-STRAIGHT STUDENT ALLIANCE: NOT JUST OUT AND OPEN, BUT MAINSTREAM
Through friendship and frank discussions traditionally unheard of on high school campuses, Gay-Straight Alliances like this one at Downey High are normalizing once-taboo subjects, shedding light on human complexity and helping people feel welcomed and accepted.
VICTIM OF DOWNEY COPS ATTRACTING MORE VOICES FOR POLICE REFORM
DOWNEY (Via DowneyBeat.com)—A collection of anti-police activists and reformers from outside of Downey are slowly coalescing around the family of Michael Nida, a married father of four who was unarmed and on a date with his wife when he was shot and killed by Downeypolice Oct. 22. Nida’s family members and closest friends began speaking [...]
JOHN DIXON’S JOURNALISM: DOING YOUR BEST TO TELL THE TRUTH
The profile of John Dixon by Jim McCormack compies slices of true life that are mostly examples of Dixon's concern about the state of journalism---and Dixon's typical response: to reach into his own integrity for the right thing to do, then to reach into his own courage to put that thing into action.
TERROR AT THE PIKE!: GARAGE THEATRE’S WHY-IS-THIS-A-CHRISTMAS STORY
Don't see "Terror at the Pike!" expecting the poignant stories of other holiday-season theatre traditions. The sixth installment of The Garage Theatre’s annual why-is-this-a-Christmas-story is all about the goofiness, just like the previous five.
TRIBUTE OR NUISANCE? DOWNEY AND THE DILEMMA OF ROADSIDE MEMORIALS
Roadside memorials like the one in Downey dedicated to Michael Nida, the innocent and unarmed man shot to death by a Downey Police officer in October, present touchy dilemmas for cities, which are legally required to maintain public rights-of-way within their borders.
REMEMBERING DOUG ZERBY: NO WORDS TO WARN HIM, BUT PLENTY TO BLAME HIM
Tonight's candlelight vigil at the Long Beach Police Department marks one year since Doug Zerby---drunk and playing with a water nozzle at his Belmont Shore apartment complex---was gunned down without warning by officers Victor Ortiz and Jeffrey Shurtleff, who say they thought the nozzle was a pistol.
JUDGES’ NEW PARKING LOT IS A BEAUTY, BUT THE $1.156-MILLION BILL IS A BEAST
The 8,500-square-foot parking structure just built for judges at Norwalk Superior Court is beautiful—according to the Norwalk City Council/Redevelopment Agency, which has approved the finish project … and it has come in $51,000 under budget. That’s good news, although maybe not quite as indicative of financial frugality as it sounds. The new venue for the [...]
PRETTY GOOD, FOR HUMANS: WARREN HIGH ROBOTICS TEAM BEGINS WITH A WIN
During their first major tournament, one of three robotics teams from Warren High School in Downey has won top honors at a Las Vegas tournament and qualified for the world tournament. Warren’s Columbia 1 Team captured the Nevada Winter Championships on Dec. 3 and earned entry to the VEX Robotics High School World Championship in [...]
GREATER LONG BEACH GIFT GUIDE: IT’S WHAT WE GOT YOU THIS YEAR
Long Beach is crawling with interesting and unique places to pick up something for everyone on your list, and holiday shopping can actually be an interesting way to explore the city in all its quirky weirdness. To get started, check out this list of unique Long Beach shops.
LBPD OFFICER SHOT IN LEG BY OWN GUN DURING STRUGGLE WITH SUSPECT
According to information provided by the Long Beach Police Department, an officer who was physically struggling to take a resisting suspect into custody just before midnight Thursday was accidentally shot in the leg by his own gun when the suspect struck one of the officer’s handguns, causing it to fire. The suspect, a 21-year-old parolee named Ajay Steward, who was not [...]
FROM ROLLCALL: IT’S ‘DICKENS-MEETS-RED-CARPET’ AT CHAMBER HOLIDAY BASH
Instead of eggnog and good will, business giants arriving at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Holiday Party were greeted by protesters, who taunted them and formed a human red carpet designed to force the well-heeled to tread on the less fortunate. Later, there were holiday carols sung by the unemployed.
WHY DOES HELEN BORGERS HAVE ALL THE FUN? IT’S ON THE RADIO NOW!
Helen Borgers,who has been having one hell of a time since she moved to Long Beach in 1958, seemed to enjoy herself on 'Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga' on Thursday night---well, all except that crack Wielenga made abouther not having any range. Open this story and click on the link to hear the show.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL: LB SHAKESPEARE’S HOLIDAY MIRACLE CLOSES SUNDAY!
How does a cast of 10 in a tiny theatre portray 60 characters across big-city London and a time-traveling universe while telling a tale that everybody already knows is headed toward St. Nick-of-time-redemption? Convincingly, movingly, almost miraculously, and God bless them for it, every one!
AD DEAL ON GREATERLONGBEACH.COM: $100 PUTS YOUR BUSINESS ON EVERY PAGE, EVERY DAY OF DECEMBER
Amid a holiday shopping season choreographed and code named things like Black Friday, Smallbiz Saturday and Cyber Monday, and complicated by time-warp store hours and window-of-opportunity specials, does anybody really know how far their advertising dollars really go? They do if they take advantage of the December Special at GreaterLongBeach.com, where $100 will get them from here to next year. Actually, that [...]
MY SISTER, THE FLOWER GIRL AT MY WEDDING, IS A SAILOR GOING OFF TO WAR
What will I say to Anna on the drive down to the Naval Base in San Diego? I will be the last of her family to say goodbye. I don't want to cry. I want to give her a gift. But where she is headed, Anna has neither room nor need for anything I could give her.
ESTRO JEN AND LB ROLLER DERBY ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO TONITE
Estro Jen, one of the founders of Long Beach Roller Derby, will be the featured guest on this evening’s edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga to discus how this sport has gone from instant success to what may be sudden death. Catch the show live at 7 p.m. via your computer or [...]
LONG BEACH ROLLER DERBY: A SUCCESS STORY FIGHTS FOR $URVIVAL
Long Beach Roller Derby nights at the Queen Mary Dome already feel like local tradition, but unless the league can raise $20,000 by early January to pay off the loan for its banked-turn track, it may become another Long Beach tradition lost.
WOULD YOU FEEL SAFE WHERE MAYOR BUILT ‘HABITAT FOR HUMANITY’ HOUSE?
An LBReport.com editorial points out that Mayor Bob Foster, who with the help of 1st district Councilman Robert Garcia pushed through a budget that cut officers from the Long Beach Police Department, oversaw the construction of a Habitat For Humanity house in one of the 1st district's most-dangerous neighborhoods.
TAKING THE NIGHT TRAIN TO LONG BEACH, CHASING A POKEMON DREAM
On the Saturday night train home from Los Angeles, I met a kid named Nick.He was headed to Long Beach---with a little food money and planning to sleep on the streets---to compete in a Pokemon video game tournament. We began to chat ...
BELLFLOWER COUNCIL WILL RUBBER STAMP ITS CITY MANAGER CHOICE
The Bellflower City Council will meet Monday evening to rubber stamp the unanimous decision it has already made to appoint Jeffrey Stewart as city manager with a three-year contract—and options for two more years—that features an annual salary of $191,000, plus benefits. (For the time being, that salary is reduced to $171,000 by Bellflower’s ongoing [...]
UNCONFIRMED E-MAIL WITHDRAWS CALL FOR BOYCOTT OF DOWNEY BUSINESS
Someone claiming to represent the families of the man shot and killed by a Downey police officer investigating a reported ATM robbery, sent an e-mail message to GreaterLongBeach.com Wednesday evening retracting a call for a boycott of businesses in Downey. GreaterLongBeach.com is attempting to confirm the accuracy of this e-mail message. On Wednesday morning, GreaterLongBeach published a story, via [...]
FAMILY OF MAN KILLED BY DOWNEY COPS WANTS CITY BUSINESS BOYCOTT
Via DowneyBeat.com: Family members of Michael Nida, who was shot to death by Downey police on Oct. 22 after twice running from them, are calling for a boycott of Downey businesses. Police said that on the night of the shooting they were looking for suspects of an armed robbery at a nearby ATM when they stopped Nida as he [...]
LB REPERTORY GIVES US A GOOD TALKING-TO … AND SOME LESS GOOD
Shirley Merchant's keep-your-cliches portrayal of a homeless woman who loves McDonald's fries is easily the best of 10 mostly underachieving monologues for women that comprise Jane Martin's "Talking With ...."---the debut production of the Long Repertory company.
‘LOUIS SLOTIN SONATA’ : MUSINGS ON THE (HALF) LIFE OF AN ATOMIC SCIENTIST
Cal Rep explores the motifs that may have played out in the mind of scientist Louis Slotin's during the nine days he lived---knowing he was going to die---after his slip of the screwdriver exposed him to a deadly dose of radiation.
GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO THIS MORNING AT 11: SECOND+PCH AND ‘FOR LOVE OF LIBERTY’
Environmental consultant Heather Altmanand documentary filmmaker Frank Martin are among the guests on this week’s edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga, which goes live this morning at 11 and will be rebroadcast this evening at 7 on KBEACH.org. The ever-controversial Second+PCH hotel/retail/residential development will likely get an up-or-down vote from the Long [...]
IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE … WELL, CERTAINLY NOT THANKSGIVING
The final countdown toward Thanksgiving has begun, and the anticipation is almost palpable. Families across America will soon gather at one of their homes, eat a mid-afternoon dinner---and give thanks that it's almost December, when the really good holidays arrive.
FACING DEEP DEBT, LB ROLLER DERBY BEGINS RAISING FUNDS TO SAVE ITS LIFE
At the height of its popularity, Long Beach Roller Derby finds itself in a deep financial hole that threatens to shut it down. But the women who compete in the hard-hitting roller skating bouts are battling back by establishing a fundraising campaign on kickstarter.com. The two-year-old league’s debt has mounted from expenses that include rent [...]
SAVE THE (REST OF THE) PLANET! COSTA RICA IS SAVING ITSELF
There really is a place on Earth where people do more for the environment than replace their detergent with baking soda, and where that ethos is fully supported by the government. Costa Rica is a botanical wonderland with plentiful (and colorful) animals, birds and fish, great surfing, frijoles y maduras---oh, and very cute sloths.
YES, COMPTON SCHOOLKIDS LOOKED AT SASHA GREY—BUT ONLY FOR THE STORIES
Officials at Emerson Elementary School in Compton are being asked to do some explaining as mortally offended parents demand to know why former porn star Sasha Grey was allowed to commit the sin of reading to a classroom of first-graders. Grey visited Emerson on November 2 as part of the Read Across America program. At [...]
WHERE IN THE WORLD WAS THE MAYOR? IN ITALY, ALL EXPENSES PAID
LBReport.com reports that Mayor Bob Foster, who is paid a six-figure salary, missed the last two City Council meetings because he was on a trip to three Italian cities that was paid for by a private not-for-profit entity based in San Francisco, which is mostly composed of corporate-energy interests and related labor unions.
COMMIE GIRL: EMMA WOULD HAVE DANCED AT OCCUPY, BUT NOT WITH ME
When I was a girl, and my mother got arrested at places like Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, the name she gave was "Emma Goldman". Only now, after reading Vivian Gornick's biography of Emma Goldman, do I realize how little I have in common with my heroine. I don’t want to remake society from the ground up. I just want to re-elect a goddamn Democrat
IN THE END, TRADITION RETAINS HER CROWN AT MISS LONG BEACH PAGEANT
Kristin Bopp, a 23-year-old student at Cal State Long Beach whose extensive experience as a beauty pageant contestant includes the Miss Greater Lakewood title of 2010, was selected Miss Long Beach on Sunday evening at the Grand Events Center. The crowning brought a dramatic—and traditional—conclusion to an event that had returned to the public’s radar this [...]
‘SUJAPALOOZA’ CANCELLED VIA E-MAIL BY ITS MUM’S-THE-WORD PROMOTER … BECAUSE IT MAY RAIN
The same somebody who employed the message board of a political website Friday to announce a Sunday-night concert/demonstration/costume party to criticize and mock Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal deployed an e-mail this evening to call the whole thing off. “Event cancelled due to high chance of rain,” read the e-mail—from somebody who says his name is [...]
DOWNEY COUNCIL VOTES TO RESTRICT SMOKING IN PARKS, CITY EVENTS
Citing public health concerns, the Downey City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to restrict cigarette smoking at public parks and city-sponsored events. Smoking will still be allowed in park parking lots and sidewalks, and other designated areas within the parks. The controversial ordinance, first introduced two weeks ago, is expected to be ratified later this year. [...]
HAVE A GREATER WEEKEND: GODDESSES, PAGEANTS AND REGRETS
From D.W. "El Imagenero" Gastelum's photographic tribute to Eve in the Garden of Eden at the Art Theatre ... to Greggory Moore's performance-style reading from his wonderfully titled first novel at Gatsby Books ... to Jenelle Hutcherson's bid to become the first lesbian Miss Long Beach at the Grand Long Beach Events Center --- this weekend ought to leave you feeling greater.
OCCUPYLONGBEACH BOISTEROUSLY DISRUPTS LB CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Participants in OccupyLongBeach cranked up the volume on their ongoing protest during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Long Beach City Council by calling upon city officials to permit camping in local parks and establish a so-called “free-speech zone.” When those demands were not immediately met, disrupting the meeting to the extent that it was temporarily [...]
COMMIE GIRL: PROTESTING THE PROTESTERS WHO ARE PROTESTING THE PRESIDENT
It's great that people are pressuring President Obama from the left, but not if these Occupy kids are being co-opted to actively sit out the next election because Obama is just another “bought and paid for” politician. I’m sure President Romney will do just great, and all these kids’ dreams will come true!
Because the Youngs of Occupy LA have apparently never lived to regret their two (2) votes for Ralph Nader votes
PATCHWORK IS TODAY, RAIN OR SHINE—PLEASE DON’T BE A WUSS
The Patchwork Indie Arts & Crafts Festival features about 100 booths stuffed with creative people and the stuff---clothing,
accessories, art, pottery and glassware, pet items, jewelry, soaps, candles, stationary and paper goods, plushies, purses, handbags, gourmet chocolate with sea salt on it---they have created. Sure hope it doesn't rain..
WITH SWELL DAMES & A PRIVATE DICK, HOW COULD THIS PLAY NOT POP?
"Awake from This Noirmare" is the best of the trio of new works that comprise Segment 3 of Alive Theatre's Long Beach Poppin' Play Festival. In a genre so often spoofed that the cliches have cliches, Shawn Katherine Kane's script is a quick, funny and not-at-all-guilty pleasure.
PROMOTER SAYS CITY’S DEMANDS WEAKENED ZOMBIE WALK, LEFT HIM 40K IN DEBT
In an interview with Logan Crow that will be featured tonight on 'Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga,' the promoter of last Saturday's (Oct. 29) Zombie Walk charges that incessant demands and fees by the City of Long Beach diminished the event and left him $40,000 in debt. Listen tonight at 7 p.m. on KBEACH.org
ROSA DEL TORO SELECTED BIG WEST CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
[Editor's note: Although GreaterLongBeach.com loves sports---love-love-loves 'em---so far it hasn't done much sports coverage. It doesn't feel good about that. But there is one sport so close to GreaterLongBeach.com's heart that it will always receive coverage ... and that sport is cross country. GreaterLongBeacy.com loves cross country---love-love-loves it. GreaterLongBeach.com is weird that way.] Long Beach State senior [...]
FROM ROLL CALL: THOSE WHO “OCCUPYCONGRESS” GETTING RICHER
FROM ROLLCALL.COM: Members of Congress had a collective net worth of more than $2 billion in 2010, a nearly 25-percent increase over the 2008 total, according to a Roll Call analysis of Members’ financial disclosure forms. Nearly 90 percent of that increase is concentrated in the 50 richest Members of Congress. Two years ago, Roll [...]
IT’S TIME TO PLANT CALIFORNIA NATIVES—MIKE EVANS TELLS HOW ON NOV. 10
California native plants do best when planted during the next few months, and Mike Evans of Tree of Life nursery is coming to Long Beach on Thursday, Nov. 10, to explain how and why to easily create a garden both beautiful and in tune with the environment. It's free!
LAWSUIT CHARGES DOWNEY OFFICIALS CONSPIRED TO FORCE FORECLOSURE
DOWNEY (Via the Downey Beat)—Lamberto Colon, the former owner of a car dealership parcel, is suing the City of Downey for $4.1 million, claiming city officials conspired to force him into foreclosure by dragging their feet on several proposed developments at the site until they fell through. The 8-acre site at 9715 Firestone Blvd. is [...]
SECOND BIXBY PARK HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL SHOWED PROMISE AND PRACTICE
The arrival of the second annual Bixby Park Halloween Carnival shows promise, not only for the event, but for efforts to revitalize the historic park. It's good practice, too, getting people back in the habit of coming to Bixby Park as it recovers from some difficult times.
THE HORROR: LONG BEACH COMIC CON RETURNS … AND ITS NOT ALONE
In an expansion that fits with its yearly appearance around Halloween, the Long Beach Comic Con has added an element of horror---lots of them, actually. Now it's being called "Long Beach Comic & Horror Con," proving yet again what we've always said about the people who attend this convention: they love comics ... and horror.
SHORTNIN’ BREAD BAKERY TAKES SWEET-TOOTHIN’ TO A HIGHER PLACE
Shortnin’ Bread has been pastry chef Justina Fenton’s dream for more than 10 years. No doubt the organic treats that are hand-crafted in this quaint and clean corner bakery represent longtime wishes-come-true for East Village Arts District residents, too.
‘MOCKINGBIRD’ AT PLAYHOUSE: EVEN WITH CLIPPED WINGS, ITS STORY FLIES
This "Mockingbird" is not the movie, or even Scout Finch's story, anymore. The script is something of a condensed version of the original. Yet when the play winds up in that familiarly bittersweet place, reminding us that people sometimes do the right thing simply because it's right, we know this classic has touched us again.
HUNDREDS HONOR LIFE OF INNOCENT MAN SHOT AND KILLED BY DOWNEY COP
SOUTH GATE (Via the Downey Beat)—On what would have been his 32nd birthday, more than 200 people gathered for a candlelight vigil Tuesday in front of the home in Hollydale where Michael Lee Nida was raised. They mostly reminisced about the many dimensions of their friend—the basketball coach, skateboarder, rap fan, drywaller, kick boxer, father and dedicated husband—but [...]
SIDEWALK ART CONTEST: CHALK UP ANOTHER SUCCESS FOR JUSTIN RUDD
Belmont Shore's annual Sidewalk Chalk Art Contest---presented for the eighth time last Saturday by Long Beach's ubiquitous promoter of community, Justin Rudd---allows spectators the rare opportunity to observe artists during their process of creation while simultaneously getting some exercise as they stroll along 2nd Street.
SECOND MAN SHOT AND KILLED THIS MONTH BY DOWNEY POLICE UNARMED
A 31-year-old father of four was unarmed Saturday (Oct. 22) when he became the second man this month to be shot and killed by Downey Police officers. According to a report by the Los Angeles County Sheriff, the death of Michael Lee Nida of South Gate occurred after he twice escaped and ran from Downey [...]
MAGNOLIA TREES MAKE CRACKS THAT OFFEND HIS NATIVE INTELLIGENCE
The Long Beach Water Department pays homeowners to replace their grass lawns with drought-tolerant plants. But the Public Works Department has not changed its list of approved parkway trees. I can't even spend my own money to cut down the non-native magnolia that is ruining the sidewalk with an urban-life-friendly species of native oak. What gives?
ALIVE FESTIVAL VERDICTS: COUNT ON ‘DRACULA,’ GIVE ‘ROTATIONS’ A SPIN
A nurse drinks urine in 'Bring On the Dancing Girls," and perhaps pith is where you find it. 'Rotations' is worth seeing because of how well Paul Knox, Maribella Magana, and Craig Johnson perform. 'Dracula' has no substance but is so funny you won't care. 'Return to Lightning Mountain' springs from whatever force compels humans to absurd extremes of creation.
ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE: ONE QUESTION … FOR COUNCILMAN ROBERT GARCIA
We ask comic-book-geek and Superman fan Robert Garcia (that's him on the right) who would win if Superman and Zombie Superman (that's not him on the left ... is it?) cross paths during Zombie Walk/Comic-Con weekend and get in a fight. Of course, the Long Beach City Council member has an answer. A couple of 'em.
IF YOU’RE NOT OCCUPIED, LONG BEACH IS AVAILABLE THREE TIMES THIS WEEKEND
According to a press release, Occupy Long Beach will stage three marches this weekend—two Saturday, one Sunday—to emphasize the lopsided distribution of wealth among the people of the United States and to confirm the continuing commitment of its members in Long Beach. The first march is scheduled for Lincoln Park—part of downtown’s civic center complex—on [...]
ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE: ANTIDOTE–BEST BARS FOR A LITTLE ‘HAIR OF THE ZOMBIE’
Even when prescribed as an antidote, a zombie often comes with a limit, or at least an advisory to slow the hell down. With this much alcohol in one cocktail, it's easy to end up walking, well, like a zombie---or what the medical professionals call "getting inoculated on your ass." For more tips, search "Zombie Survival Guide."
ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE: KNOW YOUR ENEMY–WATCH ZOMBIE FLICKS
The best odds of survival against any enemy or scourge---from the Mongols to the Magyars to that damn Dancing Baby---are rooted in learning as much as possible about the adversary. When facing an attack of zombies, that means watching lots of movies. For more tips, search: Zombie Survival Guide
POLLING FIRM HIRED BY ALAN LOWENTHAL REPORTS THAT HE IS DOING GREAT
A memo addressed to unnamed “interested parties” from Goodwin Simon Strategic Research—a firm working with the Alan Lowenthal Congressional campaign—says its voter telephone survey indicates state Senator Lowenthal “has a wide lead over possible Democratic challenger [former state Senator] Joe Dunn among both Democratis and DTS [decline to state] voters” and “Lowenthal does far better [...]
‘GREEN GARDENER-ECO-FRIENDLY-LANDSCAPING-ODD JOBS & KNIFE SHARPENING’
Steve Perez runs his gardening business without using power tools---even his mower is personally powered push kind---and travels his entire gardening route on a three-wheeled bicycle hitched to a trailer. He insists he hasn't gone crazy. He's gone green.
CITY PROSECTUTOR HAUBERT DISCUSSES EARLY RELEASE OF PRISONERS ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO TONIGHT
As the first of thousands of former inmates of California state prisons arrive in Greater Long Beach—released early by order of the U.S. Supreme Court because of overcrowding—Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert and criminology/sociology professor Dr. LaTanya Skiffer of Cal State Dominguez Hills will discuss potential problems, opportunities and strategies on tonight’s edition of [...]
ZOMBIES ARE GONE … BUT JUST IN CASE, OUR “ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE”
Zombie attacks are always remembered for massive casualties, usually after lots of runnin' and screamin'. As thousands of zombies prepare for Zombie Walk IV's downtown invasion on Oct. 29, we at GreaterLongBeach.com offer our Zombie Survival Guide. We suggest you shut up, calm down and read it.
“ROBBER BRIDEGROOM:” A TRITE MUSICAL THAT ICT HITS OUT OF THE PARK
Really, I could give a damn about a musical like "The Robber Bridegroom," which wraps up the International City Theatre's 2011 season. Yet I enjoyed myself from start to finish. The entire cast sells everything to perfection.There's a real joy in seeing a group of people come together and just knock it out of the park.
TONIGHT! RICKY HARRIS’ COMEDY BENEFIT FOR V.I.P. RECORDS AT LAUGH FACTORY
Comedian Ricky Harris, who 20 years ago was among a crew of kids who passed through V.I.P. Records on their way to stardom, will host a benefit show at The Laugh Factory this Sunday at 8 p.m. in hopes of helping to save Long Beach’s iconic record shop.
DO A DOUBLE SHOT OF HABITAT SATURDAY AT NATURE CENTER’S NATIVE PLANT SALE
The El Dorado Nature Center’s annual California Native Plant Sale this Saturday is 2-in-1 opportunity to restore and recover natural habitat to urban Long Beach. Proceeds from the sale of every plant—from fragrant sages to serene ceanothus to colorful monkeyflowers—support restoration of habitat at the Nature Center. Putting those plants in the ground at your [...]
A GREATER CALIFORNIA: MIKE EVANS SEES IT GROWING IN YOUR FRONT YARD
California native plant expert and missionary Mike Evans---a sort of Johnny Appleseed to the salvia set---will share simple instructions (and very good reasons) for replacing a grass lawn with a garden of indigenous plants at 6:30 p.m. on November at the Groundwater Treatment Plant. The free event is co-sponsored by GreaterLongBeach.com and the Water Department.
ONE QUESTION … FOR EX-REPORTER/FUNNYMAN THEO DOUGLAS
[Another in a trying-our-best-to-make-this-a-weekly series] The back story: In the good, old days when he was a member of The District Weekly staff—actually, even in the not-quite-as-good but even-older days, when he was a member of the OC Weekly staff … or way the hell back in the bad, as in going-Medieval on your ass, days [...]
FORMER LBPD CHIEF ANTHONY BATTS RESIGNS AS TOP COP IN OAKLAND
Anthony Batts, shown here with Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, said he is considering a research position at Harvard University after resigning Tuesday as Oakland police chief. Batts resigned as Long Beach police chief in 2009 to take the top cop job in Oakland.In both jobs, Batts was frustrated by city council-imposed cuts to his force.
DOWNEY MAYOR LUIS MARQUEZ TO ANNOUNCE ASSEMBLY RUN TODAY
Downey Mayor Luis Marquez, a senior aide to state Sen. Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach, will formally announce his candidacy today for the California State Assembly in the newly-created 58th District. Marquez’ candidacy was reported Monday morning by the Downey Beat and was confirmed Monday afternoon by The Downey Patriot. Marquez, who was elected as [...]
OCCUPYLONGBEACH AND GREGGORY MOORE WILL OCCUPY GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO TONIGHT AT 7 O’CLOCK
Two representatives of OccupyLongBeach, a spinoff of the social-justice movement that began on Wall Street last month, will be featured guests on Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga tonight at 7 p.m. on KBEACH.org, the online radio station at Cal State Long Beach. The program will open with a long-awaited visit from Greggory Moore—yep, [...]
WHAT IS ALCHEMY, ANYWAY? LET’S JUST SAY SHE KNEW IT WHEN SHE SAW IT
The International Alchemy Conference was coming to Long Beach, but nowhere did it say what alchemy is, so I went to find out for myself. I tried to withhold my preconceptions, and I wasn't proud I kept picturing a cartoon of a bearded man with a conical hat churning a bubbling cauldron.
V.I.P. RECORDS EPISODE OF GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE AND VIA PODCAST
Anyone who missed last Thursday’s special V.I.P. Records episode of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga can now listen to the program at any time of any day via computer or as a podcast downloaded to a personal device. Simply follow this link to the website of KBEACH.org, the Long Beach State online radio [...]
EAST VILLAGE ARTS DISTRICT: IS ITS STAR BEING STRANGLED BY BANNERS
By hanging banners that draw distinctions among the streets in a neighborhood as small as the East Village, city officials and promoters generate a separatist mentality that risks undermining the sense of unity crucial to the area's success. Better to hang an all-encompassing “East Village” banner that leaves the street names to the street signs.
OMG! GARAGE THEATRE’S ‘LOLPERA’ MAKES BRILLIANT LOLZ, SRSLY
What do you get by turning the whole LOLcats phenomenon into a full-blown opera whose libretto is comprised of the actual captions-on-kitty pictures that are on the web site sung by the kittehs made human flesh and composed into a story with the kind of meaning that matters? You get brilliance.
OCCUPYLONGBEACH ARRIVES AT LINCOLN PARK … FINDS IT OCCUPIED
The way OccupyLongBeach worded its Facebook post, I thought an occupation of Lincoln Park was scheduled for Sunday. Alas, this was just an organizing and planning meeting. I got there as the group was finishing its introductions and deciding on an official mission statement.
LOWENTHAL’S SPEECH LIFTED BIXBY PARK BEYOND REHAB … TO RELEVANCE
By delivering her State of the Second District address from the historic band shell at Bixby Park, Council member Suja Lowenthal gave the park's restoration movement the best kind of validation---re-establishing it as a center stage for Long Beach's most-important events.
TEACHING SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS ABOUT THEIR BIG BIDDING ADVANTAGE
A new program that gives small businesses a big advantage on bids for Los Angeles County contracts attracted more than 250 people to a workshop offered Thursday by Supervisor Don Knabe. It was the area’s first county workshop since the Board of Supervisors voted to increase the county’s small-business bid preference from 5 percent to 8 percent. [...]
SHOULD NAPLES RESIDENTS PAY FOR SEAWALLS THAT SUPPORT THEIR LIFESTYLE?
The Naples seawalls keep private mansions and their manicured gardens from tumbling onto adjacent boat docks---with mooring fees that the city deeply discounts for residents---then crashing into the canals. Is fair---or even legal---to repair them by using Tidelands Funds intended for the widest public benefit?
LA PALMA COPS SUE CITY, COMPLAIN TO STATE AND TAKE THE INITIATIVE
LA PALMA (Via Los Cerritos News)—The La Palma Police Association has filed two lawsuits against the city, registered an unfair labor practices complaint with the state and is gathering signatures for an election initiative that would earmark some of the city’s utility tax for public safety—money that currently goes to the general fund. The flurry of [...]
SAN PEDRO DOESN’T PLAN TO END UP IN THE SAME BOAT AS LONG BEACH
The historic battleship USS Iowa is coming to live the rest of its days in San Pedro, and the not-for-profit operators have plans to make the ship a major cultural and educational resources---without draining City of Los Angeleles funds. Let's hope the Long Beach City Council pays very close attention.
DOWNEY’S POLICE MEMORIAL IS A VIVID DEPICTION OF ABJECT SORROW
DOWNEY (Via the Downey Beat)—With hundreds on hand as witnesses, the city on Thursday unveiled a memorial to fallen police officers, with a special emphasis on Officer Wayne Presley, the only Downey officer killed in the line of duty. The bronze statue in front of the Police Department depicts a kneeling officer in a sorrowful [...]
TODAY IS LAST SATURDAY ON 4TH STREET: FIGURE IT OUT AND GET THERE!
Hey, today is Last Saturday on 4th Street! Although that may seem intended to confuse you—as though maintaining that today is September 17, which was the date last Saturday—it’s actually intended to remind you that today is Last Saturday on 4th Street! Although that may seem intended to confuse you—as though suggesting that today may [...]
VAL LERCH FINDS LIFE AFTER CITY COUNCIL: WORKING FOR LAURA RICHARDSON
There was relief in the voice of former Long Beach City Council member Val Lerch Friday when he was hired as a field representative by Congresswoman Laura Richardson, ending well over a year without a job. "It's been a long and difficult time," said Lerch, "But politics is what I truly enjoy."
A COUPLE OF SANTAS HAVE ALREADY SAVED CHRISTMAS IN BELLFLOWER
Summer just ended, but it’s already beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Bellflower. Not in the commercialized way—there aren’t enough stores still open along downtown Bellflower Blvd. to commercialize Christmas … or unfortunately, any other time of year. No, the way in which Bellflower is beginning to look a lot like Christmas is [...]
FARMWORKERS PLANT THE SEED OF KNOWLEDGE AT WILSON HIGH
September 10 was the culmination of Project Avanzando’s six-month program, which shepherds farm workers through the process of getting their GEDs. “Pomp and Circumstance” swelled throughout the school theater for 65 men and women who were receiving high school diplomas.
EVERYDAY PEOPLE POWERING A MOVEMENT IN SUPPORT OF KELLY THOMAS
The Downtown Fullerton Plaza was bustling with life Saturday, a heart-wrenching contrast to the man---Kelly Thomas---who had brought all these people to this place, but an encouraging development, too.This was not an angry crowd, but one united by a desire that justice be done.
DOWNEY TO HONOR ITS POLICE DEPARTMENT’S ONLY FALLEN OFFICER
The only Downey Police Department officer to lose his life in the line of duty will be honored with a monument outside City Hall that will be unveiled during a ceremony on Sept. 22 at 10 a.m. The sculpture, called “The Grieving Officer,” will show a life-sized six-foot sculpture of an officer kneeling with his [...]
IS DISTRICT ATTORNEY TRYING TO MISLEAD PUBLIC IN KELLY THOMAS BEATING
In public pronouncements about the case of Kelly Thomas, the homeless schizophrenic who died in July after being beaten by six Fullerton police officers, the Orange County DA’s office has sometimes given the impression that the office is on the side of the police---even though the police are the criminal suspects. This is unusual. Usually the DA is on the side of the people, and against the alleged criminals.
AS JOHNSON FACES RECALL, A LOOK BACK AT HIS CANDIDACY
A version of this article---based on an interview with James Johnson when he was running for the 7th District seat on the Long Beach City Council---first appeared in January 2010. It is re-published to provide context to a citizens' group's attempt to recall Johnson.
DELONG CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN HAS 100K, CITY AUDITOR ENDORSEMENT
Councilman Gary DeLong, an announced candidate for the newly drawn congressional district of LB and western Orange County, has announced that his campaign has raised more than $100,000. In a release, Congressional-candidate DeLong calls it a “significant milestone” and states, “I am truly grateful for all the support I have received, and I am encouraged [...]
JOHNSON RECALL ORGANIZER ON ‘GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO’ AT 7 PM
Kate Braid, a founder of the Long Beach Rage Against the Machine Working Group (LB RAM) that has endorsed the recall of 7th district Long Beach City Council member James Johnson, will be the featured guest this evening on Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga. The hour-long program goes live at 7 p.m. on [...]
RECALL JAMES JOHNSON GROUP GOES PUBLIC, IN A PRIVATE KIND OF WAY
Proponents of an effort to recall 7th district city council member James Johnson made their first public statement Wednesday during a press event outside Johnson’s field office at Admiral Kidd Park, but still kept their cards close to the vest. Mike Kowal, a longtime activist in the 8th district—in fact, the only announced candidate for [...]
WHITE HILLS: BRINGING TOGETHER SPACE ROCK AND PROTEST SONGS
While “protest record” and “space rock” don’t traditionally go together, the New York City-based band, "White Hills," is just that---railing against government and corporations while pushing its sound to places influenced by Hawkwind and Pink Floyd. The band played Alex's Bar on Thursday night.
RECALL JAMES JOHNSON COMMITTEE TO PRESENT CHARGES THIS AFTERNOON
The Recall James Johnson Committee, which on Tuesday announced its intention to circulate recall petitions against the 7th district’s representative on the Long Beach City Council, says that it will present a list of charges this afternoon—among them “Neglected Duties; Incompetent Performance; and Misuse of his Office.” The group’s media advisory states that “community leaders [...]
LB THEATRES WILL COLLABORATE…WHEN MARLON DELEON FINDS RIGHT DATE
Before the Long Beach Theatre Arts Collaborative can work together to strengthen the local theatre community, somebody's got to find a time and date and place for the group to meet---one which fits into every representative's schedule. That somebody is Marlon DeLeon. On Tuesday, he gave it a try . . .
GOP REPS PAID ANTI-GAY-MARRIAGE GROUP TO TRAIN THEIR STAFFERS
Using Congressional office accounts to send staff to a conservative Christian group's training seminar is perfectly legal, but underscores the relationships that members of Congress can build with favored causes without violating rules against using taxpayer money to fund political activity.
PRIMAL FLOWER: THIS ISN’T YOUR HIPPIE-MAMA’S ORGANIC FLORIST
Shelley Anders created this new addition the East Village from college art classes in Texas, 25 years in the floral industry and collaboration with local artist Jeremy West, who says his dark and edgy work is inspired by Rob Zombie, Geiger, and R. Crumb.
AS GRANATA’S RESTAURANT IS SOLD, A FAMILY—AND DOWNEY—TRADITION ENDS
BY HENRY VENERACION DOWNEY (Via The Downey Patriot)—After 58 years of family ownership—from father, Ralph, to son, Paul—that made their last name one of the most familiar in Downey, Granata’s Italian Restaurant is in escrow, a few shuffles of paper from being sold. The buyer is Frank E. White, a resident of the city for [...]
SWEARING-IN CEREMONY AS NORWALK CITY MANAGER IS A PIECE OF (CHOCOLATE) CAKE FOR MIKE EGAN
NORWALK (Via Herald American)—Mike Egan was sworn in Tuesday night as the new city manager for the City of Norwalk, replacing Ernie Garcia, who retired June 1 after 31 years in the city’s government—the last 18 as city manager. “I have known Mike Egan since I was elected to the City Council,” said Norwalk Vice [...]
DUBLAB MUSIC AT { OPEN }: IT’S A LONG BEACH THING—FOR A DAY, ANYWAY
Saturday's music event and fundraiser for Dublab online radio at { open } may seem like a Los Angeles scene slumming it in Long Beach for a day. But after talking to Markus Manley—longtime local promoter and organizer through his Robots and Angels collective—the event is clearly so much more than that.
LBREPORT.COM EDITORIAL: LONG BEACH STEAMROLLED BY MAYOR’S MACHINE SIX
[EDITOR'S NOTE: With clear and cogent analysis---and not a punch pulled---LBReport.com lays out how the City of Long Beach was laid flat by six Long Beach City Council members who continued their robotic obedience to Mayor Bob Foster by approving a fiscal year 2012 budget that it balanced by stripping the skin from public safety [...]
26 MILES ACROSS THE SEA … NOT MUCH WATER, TOO MUCH AUTO-TUNE
With water sources on Catalina Island being more finite than the mainland’s, you see more conservation: water-saving toilets; more scrubbing than hosing; people drinking their own urine. I also saw a teenaged acoustic duo using “auto-tune” pitch correction technology---giving them pitch-perfect, tight harmony, as sung by inhuman Cylon warriors.
JENELLE HUTCHERSON & MASA ZOKAEI ON GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO TODAY
Jenelle Hutcherson, the first openly gay contestant in the history of the Miss Long Beach Pageant,will be the featured guest today on this week’s edition of "Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga." She will be joined by Masa Zokaei, who wrote an account of Hutcherson's candidacy and its challenges to their relationship. The show is live at 10 a.m. online at KBEACH.org, repeating at 7 p.m. and available in the KBEACH.org archives and via podcast.
KELLY THOMAS’ DAD PRESENTS MEDICAL RECORDS HE SAYS PROVE HIS SON WAS MURDERED BY FULLERTON POLICE
LOS ANGELES (Via OC Register)—The father of Kelly Thomas, the mentally ill transient who died five days after a July 5 altercation with six Fullerton police officers, displayed medical records Wednesday that he and his attorneys contend prove his son was effectively “murdered” by police assault. Ron Thomas, a former Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy, and [...]
AT 11TH HOUR, WHEN PEOPLE HAVE GONE HOME, COUNCIL PASSES BUDGET THEY OPPOSED
At 11:11 p.m. Tuesday, after the large crowd that testified hours earlier had gone home, the Long Beach City Council passed the fiscal year 2012 budget in an empty chamber—enacting with a minor change the cuts to police, fire, parks and libraries proposed by Mayor Bob Foster and City Manager Pat West. The vote was [...]
THE ROAD TO MISS LONG BEACH PAGEANT HAS BROUGHT THEM A LONG WAY
Sunday's Miss Long Beach Pageant is just the latest moment of truth for its first openly lesbian contestant, Jenelle Hutcherson---and her girlfriend, Masa Zokaei---whose relationship has faced and overcome a lot of them during the historic year-long campaign.
ONE QUESTION … FOR THINKIN’-ABOUT-IT COUNCIL CANDIDATE BILL ORTON
The back story: Bill Orton, a 1980 graduate of Cal State Long Beach who moved into Long Beach’s 3rd district a few years ago after 23 years in Seal Beach, announced on his Facebook page in February that he would be considering a run for Long Beach City Council in 2014. But incumbent Gary DeLong [...]
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 [...]
LONG BEACH FILM FESTIVAL HOPES TO ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET IN 2013
Two years before they hope to roll out the red carpet, the Long Beach Cinematheque and the Long Beach Film Foundation have announced their collaboration on what just may be the first-ever Long Beach Film Festival, which would unquestionably fill one of the most-unseemly holes in the city’s arts-and-culture menu.
EX-PROSECUTOR TELLS ‘GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO’ WHY LEGAL SYSTEM GOES EASY ON COPS’ ILLEGALITY
Attorney Mark Cabaniss, who has authored two piercingly clear pieces of analysis and perspective about the Kelly Thomas case—the fatal beating of a homeless schizophrenic man by six Fullerton Police Department officers on July 5—expands upon the themes of those articles in the Sept. 1 episode of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga. • [...]
THE KELLY THOMAS CASE: INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER OR FELONY MURDER?
An involuntary manslaughter charge depends on the assertion that the police were lawfully arresting someone. But if they beat Thomas after he lost consciousness, it was no longer a lawful arrest. Felony murder---death arising from a felony---could be based on Thomas' death arising from battery with serious bodily injury, mayhem or torture, as examples.There does not have to be any intent to kill.
JACK GRISHAM’S “AMERICAN DEMON:” FROM A NOT-QUITE GOD’S LIPS, TO OUR EARS
“I wasn’t really talking to God,” prodigal punk Jack Grisham says of his memoir, "An American Demon." But the literary device is convincing: Grisham as a demon taking his cues from the “Not-Quite,” a lesser God, “an inch shorter, a pound heavier, two degrees less intelligent and nowhere near as loving and kind.”
HARBOR COMMISSION’S UNANIMOUS VOTE TO BUY WORLD CENTER STILL ISN’T OVER
LONG BEACH (Via LBReport.com)—If you missed the big moment—couldn’t be there for the Long Beach Harbor Commission’s special meeting Tuesday or couldn’t stop texting while the panel rolled through the only item on the agenda—maybe the 4-0 vote authorizing the Port of Long Beach’s purchase of the Long Beach World Center office/retail property seems as though the [...]
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 [...]
CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE DESCRIBES ITS PENSION REFORM ACCOMPLISHMENTS
After publishing in full the Long Beach Taxpayers Association’s announcement that it will submit information and seek a Grand Jury investigation alleging “years of corruptive practices that have resulted in the lack of fiscal discipline in managing the City’s finances,” LBReport.com asked City of Long Beach Public Information Officer Ed Kamlan if the city had any [...]
DO JUVENILE CONVICTS DESERVE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR REDEMPTION?
After a long and passionate debate, the California Assembly still can't decide what to do about a bill that would give juveniles convicted of heinous crimes a chance to reduce their "life without possibility of parole" sentences by allowing them to submit petitions for sentence reconsiderations after serving 15 years.
FIRST PERSON: BEARING WITNESS TO LIFE IN BIXBY PARK IS NEARLY UNBEARABLE
I live very close to Bixby Park, and I witness illegal behaviors there on a daily basis. I do not use the park, although I would like to. I have seen drug deals, bloody fights, public drinking and drunkeness, public urination (indecent exposure), public sex acts, littering, loitering, sleeping in vehicles, sleeping in the band shell and more. I awakened one morning to find a man asleep on MY FRONT PORCH!
JACK “AMERICAN DEMON” GRISHAM: STILL RIVETING, REVOLTING AND REAL
Jack Grisham has cannonballed into the pop-culture hot tub. The punk icon, breakthrough author and changed man is also the same person. With "An American Demon," as with his music-making, his art is alternately riveting and revolting. He is riding the momentum of a wave he created, which may again become more than he anticipated. Grisham will be interviewed by Elizabeth Glazner and Dave Wielenga on Greater Long Beach Radio on Thursday morning at 10.
ROSE PARK BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL: BRINGING LB’S MUSICAL SUMMER TO THE PEOPLE
Frank Fairfield, 24 years old and discovered while busking in a farmer's market, headlines Sunday's Rose Park Bluegrass Festival, which continues a surge in public music events in Long Beach. But it is also a sign of progress---and possibly the big first step in taking music out of its arts-district cage and bringing it to the residents.
TO STOP POLICE VIOLENCE, THE PERPETRATORS MUST BE PUNISHED
Punishing perpetrators of police violence does not mean buying off survivors with piles of taxpayer money. It means vigorous criminal prosecution of whatever crime fits the facts, not administrative reprimand or paid leave. If there are convictions, it means prosecuting anyone in the police department who may have lied on their behalf as accessories after the fact.
STEAMED: OVERDUE VEGETARIAN EATS SETTLE IN DOWNTOWN LONG BEACH
Although Steamed has been silently serving sensational vegetarian dishes all summer, that was just its getting-comfy period. The heartwarming place with the fresh food and the coffee-shop vibe will threw a big grand-opening party Thursday evening (Aug. 18).
LET’S CALL AFTERMATH OF KILLING BY FULLERTON COPS WHAT IT IS: CORRUPTION
Whenever the lack of accountability for abusive police officers is pointed out, their union reps insist that police have to endure an enormous amount of scrutiny. But although there are many levels of internal oversight, every level is dominated by law enforcement. Police often brag about the way they “protect their own,” and what happened in Fullerton exemplifies that.
‘THE UNDERPANTS’: STEVE MARTIN RECASTS WILD & CRAZY AS PANTALOON-ACY
There's nothing very surprising or unusual about Steve Martin's script for "The Underpants"---except perhaps the fact it is adapted from a 1910 German farce---and the veteran humorist makes sure everyone knows from the get-go by packing the opening scene with a string of sausage jokes. Sound like pantalunacy? Listen again: that's wild-and-crazy, reheated---Martin, same as he ever was.
REDESIGNING THE 710: EVERY (HIDDEN) PICTURE TELLS A STORY, DON’T IT?
Taxpayers are funding a massive expansion of the 710 Freeway, but the consultants and public employees who are designing it (their salaries also paid by taxpayers) have announced that the public (that is, taxpayers) will not be allowed to see illustrations of the project until 2012.
PROJECT ERANOS TO PERFORM AT RELAY FOR LIFE LUMINARIA CEREMONY
As if walking, jogging, skipping, running—the point is, moving—with hundreds of others toward a cure for cancer in a Relay for Life weren’t its own reward, participants in the American Cancer Society event at California High in Whittier on Saturday will be treated to a performance by the musical group, project ERANOS. The classically trained [...]
GREATER LONG BEACH PUBLISHER DAVE WIELENGA HONORED BY HOPE AND FREEDOM FILM FESTIVAL
GreaterLongBeach.com publisher Dave Wielenga, whose career as a journalist spans nearly four decades and a variety of specialties but has never strayed far from Long Beach, will being honored Saturday during the Hope and Freedom Film Festival at the Art Theatre. “I would like to take the opportunity to recognize you for your work in [...]
“GREATER LONG BEACH WITH DAVE WIELENGA” ON K-BEACH THURSDAY @ 8PM
GreaterLongBeach.com publisher Dave Wielenga will debut as host of a weekly public-affairs radio program---the okay-maybe-we-could-have-put-a-little-more-creativity-into-the-titled “Greater Long Beach, with Dave Wielenga”---in partnership with Long Beach State’s online station, K-BEACH (www.kbeach.org) on Thursday at 8 p.m. That’s tomorrow.
‘SUMMER OF LOVE’: ROGER BEAN’S NEW MUSICAL AN UPBEAT ODE TO OUR NEW OZ
As a VW bus took the stage for Musical Theatre West’s world premier of Roger Bean’s "Summer of Love," the door burst open into a world of Technicolor---but instead of Munchkins, there were hippies.
“THE USE OF REGRET:” COULD IT BE A HEART-SHAPED BLOOD STAIN?
Greggory Moore will be at { open } Saturday night to read from his first novel, "The Use of Regret," which he agrees has a very intriguing title---but about which he is otherwise inscrutable. Very cagey, Mr. Moore, very cagey.
