LBReport.com | LongBeachReport.com | News, Politics, Opinion, Community | Serving Long Beach, California

Guest Commentary: My Grown-Up Votes On Ballot Measures
by Lisa Ramelow *
* Ms. Ramelow is a Long Beach writer.
"I’ve been working on staying out of politics. But I do slip every now and then..."MORE

Editorial: Eleven Years Gone, Remembering Melody Ross, Regretting Current LB School Board Election That Failed To Prioritize Ridding Campuses of Gangs

Editorial: No Longer About Explosives/Fireworks; Now It's About Lies

Might August Allegations, Downplayed By Allen During Campaign, Cost Her Newly Elected Office? Taxpayers Deserve Enforcement Agencies' Decision On The Merits

Opinion Counterpoint Councilwoman Price Says She Did -- And Does -- Support Prop 20, Cites Her Record Urging Fix For Props 47/57/AB 109 And Collecting Thousands Of Signatures to Put Prop 20 On Ballot

Opinion: Long Beach Mayor/City Councilmember(s) Could Have -- But Didn't - Agendize Item To Support Prop 20 (Reforms Parts Of Current CA Laws That Invite Business Thefts and Neighborhood Impacting Crimes)

Reference links

Council District Map

Email Your Councilmember

How To Recall a LB Elected Official

Recently	A Few Weeks Ago	Further Past
Two Days, Four Long Beach Shootings, Nine Since Mar. 1 Gunfire Just Blocks South of LBCC's Central LB Campus (1500 block Gaviota), Long Beach's Sixth Shooting Since March 1 Newsom Admin Says Latest Numbers + Increased Vaxs Justify Easing LA County Restrictions, Long Beach Moves To Allow These Reopenings On These Terms (Details Here) Three Council Incumbents (Zendejas, Price, Richardson) Form 2022 Re-Election Committees, Richardson Begins Raising Money Long Beach's Future in Space / A Continuing Series: Famed ZERO G (Weightless) Jet Begins Its 2021 Nat'l Tour in Long Beach; Mar 13 Flight Is Fully Booked So Company Adds A Second LB Flight Two Weeks Later And It's Fully Booked; Company Announces Nat'l Expansion Plans Long Beach's Third Shooting In Five Days Is A Homicide: 1600 block Stanton Pl (CD 4/Supernaw) Council Votes 9-0 To Give Aquarium Operator Tidelands-Backed $5 Mil Loan, Action Cites Pandemic But Allows 13 Yr Repayment Term, No Transparency/Openness Req't For Public/Press Access To Aquarium Board Meetings, No Council Mention Of Six Figure Sums (Pay + Benefits) OK'd by Board For Aquarium Operator's Top Execs As streamed LIVE: On Tuesday night (March 9), the City Council voted 9-0 to to direct city management to pursue a $ 4.8 mil FEMA grant (that city management memo had opposed prior to meeting citing budget grounds) to (if approved by FEMA) fund half of maintaining Fire Engine 17 at Fire Stn 17 into FY25. By THEIR Numbers: LA County & Long Beach Vax Rates Compared CDC Study Shows Counties Allowing In-Restaurant Dining Associated With Increased Daily COVID-19 Case Growth Rates, Cites These Data, Offers These Caveats And Recommendations Grassroots CARP Offers To Drop Legal Challenge If City (Council Majority Vote) Commits To Build At Least Two Pools In Historically Disadvantaged LB Neighborhoods Newsom Admin Will Shift 40% Of Vaccines to Disproportionately Impacted Communities AND Rewrite/Loosen Standards/Protections To Enable More Biz Reopenings Coverage in Detail / Perspective: Long Beach's Privately Run "Non Profit" Aquarium Operator -- Which Paid Its Recently Retired President/CEO $540,000+ (Salary + Benefits) In 2019 And Its Major Execs Sums Between $100k-$200k -- Wants $5 Million Loan (Backed By Tidelands) To Help Meet Aquarium's Operating Expenses City Mgm't Proposes No Council/Public Oversight On Loan And No Public/Press Access To Aquarium Board Meetings That Council Could Require As Condition Of Loan Councilmembers Supernaw, Allen, Price and Saro Agendize March 9 Item Directing City Mgr. To Seek FEMA SAFER Grant To Help Cover Cost of Fire Engine 17, One Add'l Council Vote Needed To Override City Mgm't Counter-Recommendation AND City Mgm't Contends City Can't Afford To Pursue Fed'l Grant To Fund Fire Engine 17 at Stn 17 (Argonne Ave) AND Solicits Councilmembers' Views On What To Do Using Non-Agendized Memo LBREPORT.com Submits Complaint Letter Alleging Management Solicitation Evades Council Public Actions In "Serial Meeting" Prohibited By Brown Act, Seeks March 9 Agenda Item Allowing Open Council Discussion (As Fed'l Grant Application Deadline Looms March 12) Senior Citizen Is Struck/Wounded By Gunfire, 17th/Gundry South of LBCC Central LB Campus (CD 6/Saro) By The Numbers: In Feb. 2021 Per Capita, Four Long Beach Council Districts (Again) Equaled (And Two Exceeded) Chicago Person-Hit Shootings Afternoon Gunfire Alamitos Beach, 4th St./Hermosa Ave.	Long Beach's Future In Space: A Continuing Series: How Mars Perseverance Rover Benefited From 2015 Cal Tech Experiments On Zero G Aircraft; Plane Begins Its 2021 Nat'l Tour in Long Beach In Detail / Perpective: Long Beach City Hall Gave Media Inflated Number of LB Residents Vax'd By City, Included LB Residents Vax'd Outside LB Perspective: Councilman Austin's Recent Zoomed "Community Update/Town Hall" Ducks Discussing District's Dozen Shootings Since Jan 1. NLB Combined (CD 8 + CD 9) Has Had 26 Shootings In 7 Weeks Read His Opinion: Fed'l Court Judge Denies Grocers' Request To Block Long Beach "Hero Pay" Ordinance While Lawsuit Challenging Measure Continues Rec Park Area Residents Suffer Multiple Shattered Car Windows; LBPD Arrests Suspect For That And More CA Health Dept. Spox Mum On Long Beach Bending State Rules To Vax ILWU Dockworkers Now And Vax Mayor/Concilmembers in mid-January AND Long Beach Bent Newsom-Admin Vaccination Rules (Again) To Let ILWU Dockworkers Jump Ahead Of Others As "Food & Agricultural" Workers Now It's A Homicide: Two Men And A Woman Shot/Wounded, One Of The Men Dies, 300 block E. 25th St. Following Argument Councilmembers Let Civic Ctr Operator Avoid Paying $1 Mil Firm Was Supposed To Pay City; City Mgm't-Negotiated Deal Cites Operator's Economic Development Setbacks But Fails To Reduce Escalating Annual Sums Operator Seeks From Budget-Strapped City...And No Councilmembers Question Or Discuss Taxpayer Impacts Of Deal THREE Shootings Within Just Over Three Hours Feb 20-21 Leave Three Persons Wounded, Residences/Vehicles Struck Man Is Shot/Wounded 5800 block Brayton (CD 9/Richardson) By THEIR Numbers: (1) 34,000 of 52,000 LB Residents Who Got First COVID-19 Shot Haven't Yet Received Second Shot And (2) City Still Scheduling Appointments For Some In Priority Groups Who Still Haven't Gotten Their First Shot LBUSD Mgm't Signals March 29 Reopening for K-5 Students, Teachers/Staff Will Have Opportunity To Be Vax'd; District Acknowledges Parents Are Split, Will Be Offered Choice of Classroom Or Distance Learning; Middle And High Schools Reopening Will Require Lower COVID Case Rate Than Now, Tentative Mid School Return April 20, High School Seniors April 19 With Grades 9-11 April, 26. Follow-Up: District Attorney's Office Files First Degree (Felony) Residential Burglary Charge Against LBPD-Arrested Suspect In Break-In At 85 Yr Old Woman's Belmont Shore Home; If Convicted, He May Face 2, 4 or 6 Years In State Prison In Addition to Homicide (CD1/Zendejas), LB Had Two No-Person Hit Shootings On Same Day: One in CD 1 (Zendejas) And One In CD 9/Richardson) While Council Boasts of Beautifying City Hall-Adjacent Lincoln Park, LBPD Finds Man Shot To Death In DTLB-Adjacent "East Village," 600 block Olive Ave.; It's Second Homicide in CD 1 (Zendejas) Since Jan 1, Second CD 1 Shooting Within 48 Hours Former Mayor Eunice Sato, Sic Transit, Passes At 99; EXCLUSIVE: Hear AUDIO Of Her At Memorial Day Ceremony Speaking About Historical Events And Her Life Developments On Possible Initial School Reopenings: CDC, Sac'to, LA County; LBUSD Sup't Plans Feb. 17 School Board Briefing; What Will Elected School Board Members Allow/Support/Oppose?	Los Altos Sears To Close; What Land Use Changes Might Advancing Sac'to Bills (If Enacted) Invite For Kmart, Sears, Ralphs Parcels? DTLB Shooting: Man Is Wounded, Woman Possibly Also Wounded, In Gunfire 600 block Pacific Ave. (CD 1/Zendejas) While Long Beach City Hall Bemoans Budget Deficit (Spending Exceeding Revenue), Blames COVID-19 And Risks Spending Part Of City's Emergency Reserves, Neighboring Lakewood (Also Facing COVID-19) Shows Budget SURPLUS Subsequent develolpment above: Here's What's Happened Thus Far On Krikorian-Commented Break-In At 85 Yr Old Woman's Belmont Shore Home By Suspect Using Her Bathroom To Take A Shower Bullet Flies Into Occupied Church, 4100 block Cherry Ave. (just north of Carson St.) WLB Gunfire (2900 block Adriatic/CD 7 Uranga) Strikes Vehicle, No Person(s) Hit Mayor Garcia-Backed Dems Win Party Policy-Steering Spots, Outpoll Progressive/Indie Challengers by Joe Brizzolara Special to LBREPORT.com CDC Guidance Says Schools Can Reopen WITHOUT Teacher/Frontline Staff Vaccinations With Multiple Other Protective Measures Including Possible "Screening Testing," Leaves Key Decisions To Locals Detailed Coverage / Extended On-Demand Audio: Coastal Commissioner (LB Councilman Uranga) Motions Give City Mgm't What It Wants -- Approves Belmont Beach Aquatic Center -- BUT Coastal Comm'n Adds What City Hall Doesn't Want: Req't To Actually Implement Equity Promises -- To Be Reviewed By Comm'n Before Final Approval Coroner Identifies LB Woman, 29, Who Died In Single Vehicle Accident (Studebaker Rd/Spring St); LBPD Says She May Have Suffered Medical Emergency That Caused Her To Lose Control Man Is Shot/Wounded Sunday Afternoon, 5400 block LB Blvd. (CD 8/Austin) LA County DA Spokesman Says Materials Sent In August By Grassroots Group Alleging Voter Registration Fraud By Then-Candidate Cindy Allen Remain (Under New DA George Gascon) "Under Review" (No Change From Early November Statement Under Then-DA Lacey) In CD1 Neighborhood (15th/Magnolia) With 5 Shootings Within 5 Block Radius Since Jan 1, Officers Respond When A Man Allegedly Brandishes A Gun, Refuses To Drop It, They Shoot Him, He Dies LBPD released photo of gun recovered at the scene LBPD Confirms Sat Afternoon Shooting 5400 block Olive (CD 8); PD Says It's Gang Related Long Beach Police Chief Luna Struck/Injured By Vehicle While In Walking In Crosswalk Near El Dorado Park Nature Center; He's Recovering, Driver Is Cooperating With Investigation Subsequent development above Equity (SE LB Location) Is Key Issue In Upcoming Coastal Commission Hearing On Belmont Beach Aquatic Center Man Shot, But Where? He Says 1500 block Henderson But Police Say No Casings Found And He's Uncooperative In Investigation Special Remembrance: The Life and Times of Thomas R. (Tomas) Gonzales By his wife Ginny Ransom-Gonzales, CPA Unbroken/Unbowed Whistleblower Tomas Gonzales Towered Above LB's Electeds, Then And Now

Recently

A Few Weeks Ago

Further Past

Two Days, Four Long Beach Shootings, Nine Since Mar. 1

Gunfire Just Blocks South of LBCC's Central LB Campus (1500 block Gaviota), Long Beach's Sixth Shooting Since March 1

Newsom Admin Says Latest Numbers + Increased Vaxs Justify Easing LA County Restrictions, Long Beach Moves To Allow These Reopenings On These Terms (Details Here)

Three Council Incumbents (Zendejas, Price, Richardson) Form 2022 Re-Election Committees, Richardson Begins Raising Money

Long Beach's Future in Space / A Continuing Series: Famed ZERO G (Weightless) Jet Begins Its 2021 Nat'l Tour in Long Beach; Mar 13 Flight Is Fully Booked So Company Adds A Second LB Flight Two Weeks Later And It's Fully Booked; Company Announces Nat'l Expansion Plans

Long Beach's Third Shooting In Five Days Is A Homicide: 1600 block Stanton Pl (CD 4/Supernaw)

Council Votes 9-0 To Give Aquarium Operator Tidelands-Backed $5 Mil Loan, Action Cites Pandemic But Allows 13 Yr Repayment Term, No Transparency/Openness Req't For Public/Press Access To Aquarium Board Meetings, No Council Mention Of Six Figure Sums (Pay + Benefits) OK'd by Board For Aquarium Operator's Top Execs

As streamed LIVE: On Tuesday night (March 9), the City Council voted 9-0 to to direct city management to pursue a $ 4.8 mil FEMA grant (that city management memo had opposed prior to meeting citing budget grounds) to (if approved by FEMA) fund half of maintaining Fire Engine 17 at Fire Stn 17 into FY25.

By THEIR Numbers: LA County & Long Beach Vax Rates Compared

CDC Study Shows Counties Allowing In-Restaurant Dining Associated With Increased Daily COVID-19 Case Growth Rates, Cites These Data, Offers These Caveats And Recommendations

Grassroots CARP Offers To Drop Legal Challenge If City (Council Majority Vote) Commits To Build At Least Two Pools In Historically Disadvantaged LB Neighborhoods

Newsom Admin Will Shift 40% Of Vaccines to Disproportionately Impacted Communities AND Rewrite/Loosen Standards/Protections To Enable More Biz Reopenings

Coverage in Detail / Perspective: Long Beach's Privately Run "Non Profit" Aquarium Operator -- Which Paid Its Recently Retired President/CEO $540,000+ (Salary + Benefits) In 2019 And Its Major Execs Sums Between $100k-$200k -- Wants $5 Million Loan (Backed By Tidelands) To Help Meet Aquarium's Operating Expenses
City Mgm't Proposes No Council/Public Oversight On Loan And No Public/Press Access To Aquarium Board Meetings That Council Could Require As Condition Of Loan

Councilmembers Supernaw, Allen, Price and Saro Agendize March 9 Item Directing City Mgr. To Seek FEMA SAFER Grant To Help Cover Cost of Fire Engine 17, One Add'l Council Vote Needed To Override City Mgm't Counter-Recommendation
AND
City Mgm't Contends City Can't Afford To Pursue Fed'l Grant To Fund Fire Engine 17 at Stn 17 (Argonne Ave) AND Solicits Councilmembers' Views On What To Do Using Non-Agendized Memo
LBREPORT.com Submits Complaint Letter Alleging Management Solicitation Evades Council Public Actions In "Serial Meeting" Prohibited By Brown Act, Seeks March 9 Agenda Item Allowing Open Council Discussion (As Fed'l Grant Application Deadline Looms March 12)

Senior Citizen Is Struck/Wounded By Gunfire, 17th/Gundry South of LBCC Central LB Campus (CD 6/Saro)

By The Numbers: In Feb. 2021 Per Capita, Four Long Beach Council Districts (Again) Equaled (And Two Exceeded) Chicago Person-Hit Shootings

Afternoon Gunfire Alamitos Beach, 4th St./Hermosa Ave.

Long Beach's Future In Space: A Continuing Series: How Mars Perseverance Rover Benefited From 2015 Cal Tech Experiments On Zero G Aircraft; Plane Begins Its 2021 Nat'l Tour in Long Beach

In Detail / Perpective: Long Beach City Hall Gave Media Inflated Number of LB Residents Vax'd By City, Included LB Residents Vax'd Outside LB

Perspective: Councilman Austin's Recent Zoomed "Community Update/Town Hall" Ducks Discussing District's Dozen Shootings Since Jan 1. NLB Combined (CD 8 + CD 9) Has Had 26 Shootings In 7 Weeks

Read His Opinion: Fed'l Court Judge Denies Grocers' Request To Block Long Beach "Hero Pay" Ordinance While Lawsuit Challenging Measure Continues

Rec Park Area Residents Suffer Multiple Shattered Car Windows; LBPD Arrests Suspect For That And More

CA Health Dept. Spox Mum On Long Beach Bending State Rules To Vax ILWU Dockworkers Now And Vax Mayor/Concilmembers in mid-January
AND
Long Beach Bent Newsom-Admin Vaccination Rules (Again) To Let ILWU Dockworkers Jump Ahead Of Others As "Food & Agricultural" Workers

Now It's A Homicide: Two Men And A Woman Shot/Wounded, One Of The Men Dies, 300 block E. 25th St. Following Argument

Councilmembers Let Civic Ctr Operator Avoid Paying $1 Mil Firm Was Supposed To Pay City; City Mgm't-Negotiated Deal Cites Operator's Economic Development Setbacks But Fails To Reduce Escalating Annual Sums Operator Seeks From Budget-Strapped City...And No Councilmembers Question Or Discuss Taxpayer Impacts Of Deal THREE Shootings Within Just Over Three Hours Feb 20-21 Leave Three Persons Wounded, Residences/Vehicles Struck

Man Is Shot/Wounded 5800 block Brayton (CD 9/Richardson)

By THEIR Numbers: (1) 34,000 of 52,000 LB Residents Who Got First COVID-19 Shot Haven't Yet Received Second Shot And (2) City Still Scheduling Appointments For Some In Priority Groups Who Still Haven't Gotten Their First Shot

LBUSD Mgm't Signals March 29 Reopening for K-5 Students, Teachers/Staff Will Have Opportunity To Be Vax'd; District Acknowledges Parents Are Split, Will Be Offered Choice of Classroom Or Distance Learning; Middle And High Schools Reopening Will Require Lower COVID Case Rate Than Now, Tentative Mid School Return April 20, High School Seniors April 19 With Grades 9-11 April, 26.

Follow-Up: District Attorney's Office Files First Degree (Felony) Residential Burglary Charge Against LBPD-Arrested Suspect In Break-In At 85 Yr Old Woman's Belmont Shore Home; If Convicted, He May Face 2, 4 or 6 Years In State Prison

In Addition to Homicide (CD1/Zendejas), LB Had Two No-Person Hit Shootings On Same Day: One in CD 1 (Zendejas) And One In CD 9/Richardson)

While Council Boasts of Beautifying City Hall-Adjacent Lincoln Park, LBPD Finds Man Shot To Death In DTLB-Adjacent "East Village," 600 block Olive Ave.; It's Second Homicide in CD 1 (Zendejas) Since Jan 1, Second CD 1 Shooting Within 48 Hours

Former Mayor Eunice Sato, Sic Transit, Passes At 99; EXCLUSIVE: Hear AUDIO Of Her At Memorial Day Ceremony Speaking About Historical Events And Her Life

Developments On Possible Initial School Reopenings: CDC, Sac'to, LA County; LBUSD Sup't Plans Feb. 17 School Board Briefing; What Will Elected School Board Members Allow/Support/Oppose?

Los Altos Sears To Close; What Land Use Changes Might Advancing Sac'to Bills (If Enacted) Invite For Kmart, Sears, Ralphs Parcels?

DTLB Shooting: Man Is Wounded, Woman Possibly Also Wounded, In Gunfire 600 block Pacific Ave. (CD 1/Zendejas)

While Long Beach City Hall Bemoans Budget Deficit (Spending Exceeding Revenue), Blames COVID-19 And Risks Spending Part Of City's Emergency Reserves, Neighboring Lakewood (Also Facing COVID-19) Shows Budget SURPLUS

Subsequent develolpment above: Here's What's Happened Thus Far On Krikorian-Commented Break-In At 85 Yr Old Woman's Belmont Shore Home By Suspect Using Her Bathroom To Take A Shower

Bullet Flies Into Occupied Church, 4100 block Cherry Ave. (just north of Carson St.)

WLB Gunfire (2900 block Adriatic/CD 7 Uranga) Strikes Vehicle, No Person(s) Hit

Mayor Garcia-Backed Dems Win Party Policy-Steering Spots, Outpoll Progressive/Indie Challengers
by Joe Brizzolara
Special to LBREPORT.com

CDC Guidance Says Schools Can Reopen WITHOUT Teacher/Frontline Staff Vaccinations With Multiple Other Protective Measures Including Possible "Screening Testing," Leaves Key Decisions To Locals

Detailed Coverage / Extended On-Demand Audio: Coastal Commissioner (LB Councilman Uranga) Motions Give City Mgm't What It Wants -- Approves Belmont Beach Aquatic Center -- BUT Coastal Comm'n Adds What City Hall Doesn't Want: Req't To Actually Implement Equity Promises -- To Be Reviewed By Comm'n Before Final Approval

Coroner Identifies LB Woman, 29, Who Died In Single Vehicle Accident (Studebaker Rd/Spring St); LBPD Says She May Have Suffered Medical Emergency That Caused Her To Lose Control

Man Is Shot/Wounded Sunday Afternoon, 5400 block LB Blvd. (CD 8/Austin)

LA County DA Spokesman Says Materials Sent In August By Grassroots Group Alleging Voter Registration Fraud By Then-Candidate Cindy Allen Remain (Under New DA George Gascon) "Under Review" (No Change From Early November Statement Under Then-DA Lacey)

In CD1 Neighborhood (15th/Magnolia) With 5 Shootings Within 5 Block Radius Since Jan 1, Officers Respond When A Man Allegedly Brandishes A Gun, Refuses To Drop It, They Shoot Him, He Dies

LBPD released photo of gun recovered at the scene

LBPD Confirms Sat Afternoon Shooting 5400 block Olive (CD 8); PD Says It's Gang Related

Long Beach Police Chief Luna Struck/Injured By Vehicle While In Walking In Crosswalk Near El Dorado Park Nature Center; He's Recovering, Driver Is Cooperating With Investigation

Subsequent development above Equity (SE LB Location) Is Key Issue In Upcoming Coastal Commission Hearing On Belmont Beach Aquatic Center

Man Shot, But Where? He Says 1500 block Henderson But Police Say No Casings Found And He's Uncooperative In Investigation

Special Remembrance: The Life and Times of Thomas R. (Tomas) Gonzales
By his wife Ginny Ransom-Gonzales, CPA

Unbroken/Unbowed Whistleblower Tomas Gonzales Towered Above LB's Electeds, Then And Now

Notice of right to opt-out: You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information as defined under CA law. LBREPORT.com doesn't currently sell our readers' personal information. If you wish to tell us not to sell your personal information at any point in the future, simply click mail@lbreport.com and send a message stating "I opt out of sale of my personal information."

Copyright © 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000 LBReport.com, LLC. All rights reserved. Content on LBREPORT.com is by publisher Bill Pearl unless otherwise bylined or attributed. Contact: mail@lbreport.com. Terms of Use & Policies, click here. Privacy Policy, click here