Despite Recent North Long Beach Shootings And "Measure A" Sales Tax Hike, Councilman Richardson On <i>Facebook</i> Tells His Constituents He Won't Respond To Challenges Seeking To Restore LBPD's Field Anti-Gang Unit, Says They Should Expect Only "Modest" (Undefined) Police Increases Until Sometime In Or After 2017, If Then

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Despite Recent North Long Beach Shootings And "Measure A" Sales Tax Hike, Councilman Richardson On Facebook Tells His Constituents He Won't Respond To Challenges Seeking To Restore LBPD's Field Anti-Gang Unit, Says They Should Expect Only "Modest" (Undefined) Police Increases Until Sometime In Or After 2017, If Then

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(June 18, 2016) -- In comments webposted on the North Long Beach News Facebook page, 9th district Councilman Rex Richardson has indicated that despite two shootings in his district within roughly eight hours (June 17-18, coverage here and here) and nearly as many 9th district shootings per capita from mid-May to mid-June as Chicago citywide (coverage here), he won't respond to a challenge from veteran NLB community advocate Dan Pressburg (or presumably anyone else) to restore LBPD's field anti-gang unit following voters' recent passage of Measure A (a City Hall-sought sales tax increase to 10% labeled for police, fire and infrastructure but legally allowing its use for any Council-desired general fund items.)

In comments on Facebook today (June 18), Councilman Richardson asserted that since Measure A revenue won't begin arriving until January 2017, "any restorations in the first year will be modest." In his comments, Councilman Richardson didn't indicate what he means by "modest," didn't indicate if he means "modest" through all or part of the 2017 calendar year or fiscal year, and didn't offer any commitment to support restoring the field anti-gang unit or any specific number of LBPD officers for taxpayers at any specific time in 2017 or later.

[Scroll down for further.]

Councilman Richardson indicated his position on the North Long Beach News Facebook page in response to a June 18 webposting by long-time NLB community advocate Dan Pressburg titled "Is the Shooting Gallery Now Open For Business." Mr. Pressburg -- whose house is roughly one block and few doors away from a double shooting this morning -- wrote: "So, here is the question and challenge will our councilman [Richardson] step up and stand in the Gap for all of us and ask for the return of the Gang Unit or will the Mayor or other Councilmembers utilize "Measure A" dollars to fill the "Pension Potholes" and fail to build on our children and youth, our future human infrastructure. The ball is their court."

Councilman Richardson responded swiftly, writing in pertinent part:

[Councilman Richardson text] During the Measure A campaign, I didn't accept any challenges online and I won't start now. I don't think it is an appropriate means for setting policy. I prefer meaningful dialogue.
Measure A revenue does not even begin to be collected until January 2017, so any restorations in the first year will be modest, since the revenue is not there. Measure A will not help us through the summer.
The best course of action is to keep a level head, engage our PD, and provide opportunities for our youth while school is out.
That's why, this summer we set up a budget to hire 150 North LB youth (double last year's numbers), funded expanded park hours and programming at Houghton and Ramona Parks, and worked with the YMCA to bring a summer youth institute.
That's the message that we should be promoting through the summer- Support our youth and support our Police Department.

Mr. Pressburg replied that he already knew Councilman Richardson is engaged and he (Pressburg) doesn't "expect everything overnight" so "I am not trying to challenge you in that way you already have a great deal on you plate...Remember It only took Dee, Robert and Suja less than a year to get rid of the gang unit. I am putting in my bid early because I spent an entire year trying to save it. If I don't ask now who can I depend on or trust?"

Councilman Richardson replied, "Thanks, Dan. I have supported and will continue to support the restoration of the Gang Unit" to which Mr. Pressburg responded "Perfect ...PS . We all knew that (lol)."

On June 3, LBREPORT.com reported that in response to our inquiry, an LBPD Public Information Officer indicated that the Department will request additional sworn personnel if funding becomes available [with passage of City Hall's Measure A sales tax increase.] In response to our request for specifics, City of Long Beach Public Information Officer in the City Manager's office, Kerry Gerot, indicated that as of that date, the figure is 8-10 newly budgeted sworn positions in the budget currently being developed by management, and more specifics will be in the City Manager's proposed FY17 Budget. "It depends on funding (i.e. Measure A) and City Council decisions," Ms. Gerot said in an email.

The City Council -- not LB's Police Chief or City Manager or Mayor -- ultimately decide how many police officers to budget for LB taxpayers. (The Police Chief answers to the City Manager; the Mayor has no vote and can only recommend Council actions; the Mayor has a veto that six Councilmembers can override.

LBPD's field anti-gang unit previously deployed 20 officers + 2 sergeants in gang impacted neighborhoods where they could observe conditions firsthand, interact with businesses and residents, gather intelligence and work as a team with other officers and LBPD's internal anti-gang unit. LBPD continues to maintain an inside anti-gang unit (pursues investigations, monitors gang activities, deals with court proceedings and the like) but LBPD's field anti-gang unit has been allowed to disappear by Council actions, or more precisely, inactions.

For years, every Councilmember has had the power to agendize an item "on any Tuesday" to restore the field anti-gang unit; none has done so. Every Council incumbent has had the opportunity to make a motion to restore the field anti-gang unit during August-September budget proceedings in 2014 and 2015; none has done so. In September 2013, NLB community advocate Laurie Angel urged Councilmembers to restore funding for LBPD's field anti-gang unit" during its FY14 budget process, saying she was in fear for her safety; when Councilmembers (including her own) shrugged her testimony, Ms. Angel belatedly entered the Council race challenging 8th district incumbent Austin, who (backed by LB's political establishment and organized labor) outspent and outpolled her and another Council challenger, winning re-election without a runoff to a second term in April.

The upcoming August-September 2016 budget cycle (for FY17) will be the first since passage of the sales-tax-boosting Measure A (which imposes a 10% sales tax rate (while Signal Hill/Lakewood charge 9% and most OC cities charge 8%) starting on Jan. 1, 2017.

In April 2018, five Council incumbents who voted to put Measure A on the ballot -- Gonzalez, Price, Mungo, Uranga and Richardson -- along with Mayor Garcia will face re-election if they seek second terms.

Since September 2009, Councils under Mayors Foster and Garcia (with dissent and refusal to adopt a budget alternative offered by then-Councilmembers Gabelich, Schipske and Neal) approved budgets that erased roughly 200 LBPD officers, the largest number of police officers lost by LB taxpayers within a five year period in the more than 100 year history of the City of Long Beach, amounting to roughly 20% of LB's previous citywide deployable police force. Other nearby cities, including Signal Hill and Los Angeles, weathered the "great recession" without that magnitude of public safety budget reductions that LB's City Council approved. Both Signal Hill and L.A. continue to provide their taxpayers with significantly higher per capita police levels than does the City of Long Beach.

In August 2012, former Mayor Bob Foster first recommended reducing LBPD's budget to the point where the field anti-gang unit disappeared. At the time, Councilman (now Assemblyman) Patrick O'Donnell balked and made a motion to use "one-time" FY13 funding to restore funding sufficient to give then-Police Chief Jim McDonnell discretion to fund up to half the unit (10 officers + 1 sergeant). A year later entering the 2014 election cycle, the Council quietly let the one-time funding expire...and LBPD's field anti-gang unit disappeared.

If Councilman Richardson (or other) Councilmembers take the position he indicated on Facebook (undefined "modest" increases in 2017, unclear if that means all or part of calendar year 2017 or FY 2017), the field anti-gang unit might not be restored in any form until as late as some time 2018, if then. It's unclear at this point which Councilmembers share this view.

Developing.