Putative Write-In / Returning Council Candidate Schipske: "I Have Not Taken Position Publicly" On Int'l Terminal, Most 5th Dist. Constituents "Support An Int'l Terminal"
LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. Support independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.
(Feb. 23, 2017, 6:45 a.m.) -- Immediate past 5th dist. Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske -- who's launched a Facebook page in apparent preparation for a write-in campaign seeking to return to Council office -- acknowledged in a Feb. 22 dispatch on her separate personal Facebook page (full text below) that she has "not taken a position publicly" on what she called "the apparently dead issue of an international terminal," saying that her [now former] constituents "love the airport" and "most support an international terminal." Ms. Schipske adds that "if the issue happens to go on the ballot, I predict the 5th District will support it."
On Feb. 17 and 18, LBREPORT.com reported here and here on an apparent effort by persons and entities presently unknown to pursue a possible ballot measure on the issue. On Feb. 22, LBREPORT.com reported that LB's Airport Advisory Commission will have an item on its March 16 agenda to discuss recommending that the City Council reconsider its Jan. 24, 2017 action (8-1, Andrews) to "receive and file" (take no further action on) JetBlue's request for a customs facility (that could turn LGB into an international airport.)
[Scroll down for further.]
Ms. Schipske's statements were part of her Facebook response to a Feb. 21 LBREPORT.com perspective piece that criticized her for not disclosing in the latter half of 2013 and entering the 2014 election cycle that Airport management informed her (and all then-Council incumbents including Robert Garcia) of JetBlue's request that the Airport study the feasibility of an LGB customs facility and if an airline submitted such a proposal, Airport staff would bring it to the Council with a recommendation. Ms. Schipske wrote on Facebook in pertinent part:
Management often talks to businesses about a variety of matters that do not get forwarded to the council until the issue needs to be voted on. There are projects and ideas being discussed with City Management all of the time that the Council doesn't know about until they are being brought forward for a vote...
At no time did I believe the issue was going anywhere while I was on council, primarily because we were experiencing a change of Airport Directors.
A fact check shows that LB Airport's then-Director, Mario Rodriguez, didn't announce his departure until April 21, 2014, months after he'd sent the advisory memos to all then-Council incumbents (Garcia, Suja Lowenthal, DeLong, O'Donnell, Schipske, Andrews, Johnson, Austin, Neal.)
Sponsor
Sponsor
Ms. Schipske's Facebook page titled:"Write In Gerrie Schipske for 5th Council District" at this link states: "Many residents of the 5th Council District have contacted Gerrie Schipske and asked her to return to the Long Beach City Council in 2018. Before Gerrie decides, she needs to hear from you" and asks "Do you think I should run?" On the Facebook page, Ms. Schipske states that she was "the first and only council member to write a public blog which includes her common sense discussions of the issues facing the City of Long Beach. She posted City documents and other important information so that residents can read the same information that she received before making a decision..."
Airport management's 2013 memos to the Council surfaced (along with a Sept. 4, 2013 letter from JetBlue to Airport management, on which Councilwoman Schipske was cc'd, noting that work had begun to secure a customs facility) among internal Airport records obtained by LBREPORT.com in 2014 using the CA Public Records Act.
Below is the text of Ms. Schipske's Feb. 22 Facebook dispatch:
[Feb. 22 Schipske Facebook text] Now you can make all the conspiracies you want, but you don't get to attack my integrity or commitment to transparency.
Bill I told you repeatedly that Jet Blue wanted an international customs facility from the time they came to the opening of the new terminal until and after I left office.
There was no secrecy. Council received a memo from management that Jet Blue had asked. I believe I showed you that memo.
Management often talks to businesses about a variety of matters that do not get forwarded to the council until the issue needs to be voted on. There are projects and ideas being discussed with City Management all of the time that the Council doesn't know about until they are being brought forward for a vote.
You know that.
At no time did I believe the issue was going anywhere while I was on council, primarily because we were experiencing a change of Airport Directors.
And while I have not taken a position publicly on the apparently dead issue of an international terminal, I will tell you what I have told my friends in LBHUSH for years: I walked the 5th District many times and kept in touch with my constituents. They love the airport, Most support an international terminal. And if the issue happens to go on the ballot, I predict the 5th District will support it.
But hell, the 5th voted against a sales tax increase and look where that got us.
Stop making issues where there are none.
Opinions expressed by LBREPORT.com, our contributors and/or our readers are not necessary those of our advertisers. We welcome our readers' comments/opinions 24/7 via Disqus, Facebook and moderate length letters and longer-form op-ed pieces submitted to us at mail@LBReport.com.
