Plenary Group USA Ltd. (Part Of Civic Center Rebuild/Operate Private Consortium) Is Latest To Give Thousands To Pro-Sales-Tax-Hike Measure A; Others Now Bring Total (Cash + Non-Monetary) To Over $420,000

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(June 3, 2016, 4:40 a.m.) -- Plenary Group, USA Ltd., part of the consortium (Plenary-Edgemoor Civic Partners) chosen by City Hall to build, operate and maintain a new Civic Center, gave $5,000 on May 31 to the Mayor-led political committee running the campaign for Measure A that would raise LB's sales tax to 10% (currently 9% in Lakewood/Signal Hill and 8% in most OC cities) whose revenue the Council could spend for any general fund items they wish.

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Under the Civic Center transaction (approved by the Council without seeking bids for City Hall seismic retrofit and without voter approval on Dec. 15, 2015, closed April 20, 2016) LB taxpayers will now have to make 40+ years of annual escalating (CPI) payments to Plenary-Edgemoor, although city management says the new Civic Center is fully "budgeted" [mainly from LB taxpayers' General fund] without requiring revenue from the sales tax increase measure. Measure A would drop to 9.5% in six years and sunset by ten years...unless a future Mayor/Council puts a measure on the ballot and LB voters vote to continue it. LB's current Mayor/Council say they "intend" to prioritize the Measure A sales tax increase for police, fire and neighborhood infrastructure but wrote the measure in a way that doesn't require themselves or future Mayors/Councils to do so.

The "Mayor Garcia, Foster & O'Neill Committee to Support Measures A & B to Protect Police & Fire and Repair Infrastructure in Long Beach. Major Funding by Long Beach Police Officers Association PAC and Long Beach Firefighters PAC, Local 372" received the $21,700 in the last five days of May from the following:

May 26: Acebo and Associates, LB 90807 [2005-2008: Kevin Acebo was Deputy Mayor to then-LA Mayor Villaraigosa; 2001-2003, was Political Dir for CA Democratic Party]	$4,200
May 26: Noapara Enterprises, Arcadia, CA	$5,000
May 26: Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 426, Norwalk CA	$7,500
May 31: Plenary Group, USA Ltd., Los Angeles	$5,000

The $21,700 from these entities adds to sums (cash and $36,941 in non-monetary contributions) for the pro-sales-tax-hike committee that now total $422,891.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, other sums received by the Committee in May include:

May 25: Firefighters for Better Government, Camarillo, CA	$2,500
May 24: Operating Engineers Local Union 12 Political Fund, Pasadena, CA	$5,000
May 23: JetBlue Airways Corporation, Rockville MD	$2,500
May 23: Orange County Professional Firefighters Ass'n, Santa Ana, CA	$2,000

May 17: Integral Partners Funding, Newport Beach, CA [Integral Communities is Riverwalk developer (former Will Reid Scout Camp site)]	$5,000
May 17: HDR, Inc, Omaha, NE [Firm providing engineering services for Port's Pier B railyard]	$5,000
May 17: All American Asphalt, Corona, CA [City contractor for Pine Ave. improvement project]	$5,000

May 5: Laborers Int'l Union of North America, Local 1309	$40,000
May 5: Southern CA District Council of Laborers PAC	$40,000
May 5: So. CA Pipe Trades District Council 16	$50,000
May 10: West Coast Arborists [on May 10, 2016, Council approved $1.8 million contract to handle LB tree trimming]	$ 500
May 20: District Council of Iron Workers PAC	$5,000
May 21: BYD America Corporation [LB Transit choice for electric bus contract]	$2,500
May 21: CRC Services, LLC [website text: "oil and gas operations...include THUMS Long Beach Company [operates offshore portion of Wilmington Field] and Tidelands Oil Production Company [operates onshore portion of Wilmington Field..."]	$5,000
April 6: Lyon Communities and Affiliated Entities [owns "Pumpkin Patch" parcel on PCH in SE LB and has various LB residential/apartment holdings]	$16,000 [May 25, 11:50 p.m. update: Committee campaign treasurer Mark Taylor indicates this amount is an in-kind contribution of office space]

May 17	Darren McElroy, President, Environmental Construction Group Signal Hill, CA [LBREPORT.com note: Contractor for demolition of old LB courthouse. Source: company website here.]	$5,000
May 17	The Long Beach Project Owners, LLC Newport Beach, CA 92660 [LBREPORT.com note: The Long Beach Project was among the listed litigation parties that prevailed at the trial court level against CARP [Citizens About Responsible Planning] which challenged the City's EIR for the 8th dist. Riverwalk project.]	$5,000
May 15	Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters Political Action Fund Los Angeles	$20,000
May 15	United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local Union 112	$3,000
May 12	CCE Consulting Group, LLC Hawthorne, CA [LBREPORT.com note: LinkedIn.com lists Erick Verduzco-Vega as a partner in CCE Consulting Group. Mr. Verduzco-Vega was one of Mayor Garcia's Oct. 2014 appointees to the LB Planning Commission.]	$1,000
May 12	The Gallos, Inc. Long Beach 90802	$1,000
May 11	Shooshani Fahrshad President Etc. Real Estate Services, Inc West Hollywood, CA [LBREPORT.com note: We found no LB connections to Shooshani Fahrshad (or Fahrshad Shooshani), but a prominent LB figure, Tony Shooshani is listed on Downtown LB Associates website as the owner representative for LB's downtown City Place and serves on DLBA's Board of Directors.]	$5,000
May 6	Mike Walter [title for ID], Exec. Ass't to CSULB President [and former LB Harbor Comm'r.]	$1,000
May 2	Int'l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 PAC	$10,000
May 2	James Callahan, chairman, Metropolitan Stevedore	$2,500
May 2	Frank Colonna, Real Estate Broker	$500

To launch the campaign, LB's police officers union PAC gave the committee $100,000 and LB's firefighters union PAC gave the committee $50,000, and together contributed roughly $21,000 as in-kind contributions to pay for a survey that contended the public would support a sales tax increase if told that it would fund police, fire and infrastructure.

Lyon Communities and Affiliated Entities gave the campaign committee a $16,000 in kind contribution for office space.

Measure A is a general tax that the current and future Council can spend on any general fund items. In putting the measure on the ballot, the Council approved a non-binding resolution stating the Council's "intent" to prioritize spending of the tax revenue on police, fire and infrastructure; it will also create a "citizen advisory committee" (chosen by the Mayor) that can review but not change Mayor recommended and Council approved spending.

Vote by mail ballots began flying May 9. Election Day is June 7.