Below is the text of a Sept. 3 mass email advisory from recently elected 7th district Councilman Roberto Uranga.

Dear neighbor,

You are invited to join Long Beach City Manager Pat West and the Office of Mayor Robert Garcia to discuss how the recently adopted Fiscal Year 2015 budget will affect our Seventh District neighborhoods. The $401 million FY2015 budget ensures Police, Fire, Public Works, Parks, Libraries and all other major services are preserved.

My priorities for the 7th District are focused toward enhancing public safety, economic development and youth/education programs.

Police and Fire - 70% of the General Fund is allocated to Public Safety with $2.2 million in enhance revenue overtime for gang prevention and other efforts;

Development Services - A Historical Preservation Planner and a Saturday "call-in" Code Enforcement Officer to deter illegal construction; and

Library Services - Strategic Investment of $2.1 million to complete funding the North Library with $48,650 to upgrade outdated phones in 10 branches to enhance VOIP and network equipment.

City Staff from Police, Fire, Library, Public Works, Development Services and Parks, Recreation & Marine will be on hand to take your questions and address any concerns.

WHAT: Seventh District Community Budget Workshop
WHEN: Thursday, September 4, 2014 at 6:30pm
WHERE: Miller Family Health Education Center, 3820 Cherry Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807
*Light refreshments will be provided.*

To RSVP, please call (562) 570-7777 or email district7@longbeach.gov

Respectfully yours,

Roberto Uranga Councilmember, Seventh District

Councilman Uranga's email neglects to mention a few other items. The budget for which he and his Council colleagues voted without dissent means taxpayers will get:

• No restoration of any of LB's roughly 200 previously budgeted police officers [roughly 18 "full time equivalents" will be shifted internally from administrative tasks to sworn police duties and some overtime is added]
• Complete elimination of LBPD's field anti-gang unit (previously 20 officers + 2 sergeants) [proposed by Mayor Foster in Aug. 2012, allowed by previous Councils to shrink until now]
• No restoration of three fire engines (capable of spraying water to extinguish fires) no longer operating at three fire stations
• No change to a public-as-guinea-pig pilot-test paramedic program
• No restoration of previously budgeted park rangers (LBREPORT.com coverage here.)

Is that what you want?

It's fairly easy to produce a budget "surplus." Prove this yourself. Just stop buying necessary items like food and medicine for your family and at the end of the month you'll have a "surplus."

How is it that other cities, from Los Angeles to Signal Hill, manage to provide their taxpayers with higher levels of police and fire services than LB? They face the same sour economy and Sacramento shenanigans. Do LB's endless excuses make LB's neighborhoods more desirable for new homeowners and more competitive for new businesses?

On nearly every General Fund item, the Council can revisit the budget and make changes "on any Tuesday."

We wonder if any 7th dist. Council serfs will politely but firmly inform their Councilman (who works for them not vice versa) that what he did without dissent on Sept. 2 needs to be revisited and better done in the coming weeks...and he should be among the Councilmembers who do it.

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