City Council Candidate: Meet and Greet: 03/20/16 Ernest McBride Park

The Big Vision Board

Using the Vision Boards We Love Long Beach provided for the 2nd annual City Wide Breakfast, we wanted to compile a graphic of all the suggestions that various neighborhoods gave more creating more of a community bond between neighbors. The fonts/ colors represent the various neighborhoods that took pictures of their vision boards. Please let us know anything they left out in the comments below.

City Wide Breakfast Events Page: 02/20/2016: 9AM

Here's the Events Page for the MacArthur Park Neighborhood City Wide Breakfast. If you would like to attend please RSVP through shaynem@hotmail.com?Subject=Breakfast. There is an attitudinal Events Page on Next Door.

In an effort to better enable and encourage Long Beach residents to strengthen their communities, We Love Long Beach, a local nonprofit organization, is hosting this third event to help neighbors CityWideBreakfast1build positive, long lasting relationships for the ultimate goal of creating a safer and healthier neighborhood environment. 

This year's City Wide Breakfast in MacArthur Park will be held at my house, the neighborhood is invited, but please RSVP through the email address above, I believe this will be the first event hosted through We Love Long Beach in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood. The Event is made possible through an organization called We Love Long Beach.

This will be the Neighborhood's 1st Event that is not a Neighborhood Clean Up.

Recap: The MacArthur Park Neighborhood Meeting

Tonight the MacArthur Park Neighborhood hosted its monthly meeting at the Mark Twain Library. The speakers included our neighborhood resource officer, Officer Gabriel Bentanzos and Jason Gallup from Sustainable Long Beach.

A Sustainable Long Beach

The second part of the meeting was a presentation by Sustainable Long Beach. The City of Long Beach Office of Sustainability was created to model leadership and supports practical solutions to improve the environment. Sustainable Long Beach began in 2008 when the City Council decided to go green and in doing so was tasked with developing a Sustainable City Action Plan. In a nutshell, these are attempts to more effectively cut down on waste by more efficiently using city resources. The program offers seven major services, this meeting focused on three of the seven.

Some of programs offered by Sustainable Long Beach include:

1. Free Mulch: As the city  moves away from grass longs to drought tolerant plants, the city has developed a program that delivers free mulch to residents. The mulch comes from city tree trimmings, that were once simply tossed in local landfills. Now instead of throwing the trimmings away, they are shaved down and turned into mulch, which when added to lawns, reduces weeds, adds nutrients to soil, regulates soil temperature and helps retain water.  To be eligible to receive you must be a Long Beach resident and a homeowner.
2. The Civic Garden: This was created to demonstrate how to get the most out of a small growing space. Located at 333 W. Ocean Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90802. The garden is a great place to learn how to grow your own food in garden containers you create. Urban gardening itself is the idea that citizens can grow food no matter where they live, whether it's a high rise apartment, a tiny condo, or a house with no backyard. In addition to monthly classes in urban garden, you can also learn how to make your own containers to save space, like Earth boxes and vertical planters. 
3. The Rain Barrel Rebate Program: Long Beach Residents are currently eligible to receive rebates of up to $75 per barrel with a maximum of four rain barrels per home. These barrels collect rain for lawn irrigation without relying on the city's water supply. This program is not free, but the rain barrels you  purchase will run about $85 before the rebate. After getting $75 back, you are looking at a 55 gallon rain barrel for about $10. Additionally, the company that handles the rebates is also offering rebates on high efficiency toilets, sprinkler heads and clothes washers. 
   

Finally, Sustainable Long Beach is aggressively plugging the Cool California Challenge. This is basically a competition between twenty-two cities in California trying to outdo each other in saving on their water and energy bills.  Basically, you create an account and begin monitoring your energy and water bills. As the program gives you tips on how to bring those bills down, you earn points by using less energy and spending less money. If you are successful, your energy bills come down. And as you saves money, the city of Long Beach stands to win money which can be used to bring more energy saving programs back here.

A Brief Safety Update: The Shooting

Most of the safety update centered on holiday safety and some updated information on the fatal shooting at 14th and Gundry last week. For those unfamiliar with the shooting,  read the previous safety update. Here are additional details from tonight's meeting. The suspect is a 17-year-old juvenile. Because of this, despite being involved in this murder, he may be out by age 24. Also the suspect may be connected to other shootings in the area. During the shooting, the suspect was originally spotted on Gundry and fled south to 1136 Hoffman. Police are working with property owners to evict any gang members that may be causing long term problems for the neighborhood. 

A lot of the holiday safety information was common sense and has been covered in previous posts. Here's a brief recap. 

As we approach the holiday season, here are some safety tips.

1.  Ship items to a location where they will be personally received, and/or ask a trusted neighbor to collect and hold the item rather than leaving it in a common area.
2.  Request carriers to ship items to their local store or distribution center to be held for pick up.
3. Advise your local post office when you will be out of town so they can hold your deliveries until your return.
4. Track the progress of your anticipated delivery and if you don’t receive it as expected, contact the issuing company, and when possible request proof of delivery.
5. Remove valuables and holiday packages from your vehicle, and don’t use it as a storage area - More tips from the LAPD

MacArthur Park Neighborhood meetings for the MacArthur Park Neighborhood  are every third Tuesday and hosted through the Neighborhood Resource Center. The next meeting, unless the holidays interfere, should be on 12/15/2015 at 5:00pm.

Gardenia Street Is Clean from PCH to 14th Street

There was an announced cleaning of Gardenia Street starting at 1611 Gardenia. The clean up headed north and south down Gardnia. All dumped items, with the exception electronic devices such as TVs and an water heaters, were removed. In the end, the dumpster was filled in about one hour.

I have personally signed up for a large clean up on the 12th of December 2015. This will be a joint clean up with friends from the Wrigley Neighborhood. I intend to make this a slightly bigger clean up than we've don in the past. There will likely be food, prizes and other reasons for our neighbors to get involved. Stay tuned for details. #SupportJosephine

District 6,7 Budget Summit Summary & Central Long Beach

According to a budget summit held for Long Beach's District Six and Seven on 08/10/2015, Long Beach currently faces the last of three years of budget peace. The surplus we currently have is expected to turn into a $7.5 million deficit over the next two years. The reason the city cited for less revenue was a decrease in revenue from utility taxes and parking citations. The parking citations will probably become significantly less as the city is planning to narrow the no parking times for street sweeping. Another reason for the deficit will be the pensions as city workers retire.

Most information was broad and about Mayor Garcia's budget overall. Of all available funds, only the destination of the general fund is being debated. That general fund is $412 million out of Long Beach's entire $2.7 million budget. Almost two thirds of those funds are going to fund the police and fire departments. Despite those numbers, there is an overall reduction in the amount of policemen and firemen currently on staff. About 9 percent has been allocated for Public Works and 8 percent to parks and recreation. The city has also prioritized some capital improvement projects including transportation, public facilities, storm drains, beaches, the marina and the airport.

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Want to make your own budget: The Long Beach City Budget Challenge

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While it does not appear in the budget, the City did recently approve the creation of the Cambodia Town Business Improvement District. The City Council approved a resolution to turn the business corridor into a business improvement district this Tuesday night after 79.53-percent of property owners voted in favor of the proposal. This move came after three town hall meetings convened to help the community give those business owners some feedback about how those improvements should be implemented; one of the biggest challenges was incorporating everyone's suggestions in a neighborhood that is incredibly diverse. Those meetings, dubbed the Anaheim Corridor Re-visioning Project, concluded on July 25th, 2015.

Marry Simmons from AOC7 asked Parks and Rec if there would be money left over to repair the bathrooms at MacArthur Park after the playground, library and community center were done. While a spokesperson from Parks and Recreation did say yes, there have been different answers in the past. Also the amount being staked on MacArthur Park is entirely being put up by the state, so far the City has pledged no support. Also that repair of the bathroom will not be ground up and will not involve changing any plumbing. Though it was not discussed at the meeting, according to Sixth District City Councilman Dee Andrews the Night Market will commence early next year after the construction at MacArthur Park has been completed. I received this email from Tonya Martin, the Legislative Analyst for the office of Dee Andrews, "After careful consideration, it has been rescheduled due to the construction at MacArthur Park that will start in August and lead into the fall." Later emails implied a target date of around March, 2016.

A vast majority of the budget is going to build a new two tower Civic Center that will house City Hall. It will also go to building a new world class library in North Long Beach. Sometime afterwards, the City also plans to either replace or renovate the main branch on Pacific. While there is no plan to resurrect the Field Anti-Gang Unit, $2.2 million has been set aside for crime prevention. That Crime Prevention does include detectives focused on gang activity who use officers on patrol in place of the former field Anti-Gang Unit. Commander Robert Luna said making that $2.2 million flexible allows the police department to more easily direct the funds where they are needed most. We also apparently only have the funds for two park rangers, and they tend to focus exclusively on El Dorado Park, due to its size. Mayor Garcia is also pushing to change all the old street lights into more energy efficient LED.

* Note, I have asked the office of Dee Andrews for the slide from the re-visioning project that shows how much the city has invested in each neighborhood. I want to share it because it will show the incredible lack of attention that Central Long Beach has received over the years. I will publish that slide as soon as I find it buried in my old emails. In a nut shell, it says that if you own any house in Central Long Beach, you've invested more in your neighborhood than the City of Long Beach has. Also, as several people have pointed out, it's ridiculous that MacArthur Park would have to fight to upgrade to a safe/ crime free bathroom in a single park, when the city somehow finds $1 billion for a pool in Belmont Plaza.

14 Street Clean Up Cherry to Orange Is Done

It took a little longer than I wanted, but 14th street is litter free. At least for now. I still have enough supplies for more neighbors to get involved. Every clean up participants will be provided with gloves, rolling cans, iron claws, bottled water and soda if you request request it. Next week I will be getting Peterson and Warren. The starting location will be Peterson and 15th at 10am on Saturday 04/18/2015. 

I also encourage all my neighbors to partner with the AOC7 for their cleanup on 11th street which is happening the same day at 8:30am. There are no before and after pictures because 14th street was clean enough, even by MacArthur Park there was no place to get a great shot. In other words, the neighborhood is starting to clean itself up a little.

Help Launch Anaheim Corridor Design Visioning Process

The community is invited to attend a special kick-off event to launch the Anaheim Corridor Design Visioning Process. The free event is on Saturday, March 28, at 11:00 am, at the Homeland Neighborhood Cultural Center's Manazar Gamboa Community Theatre at MacArthur Park, 1321 E. Anaheim St.

In order to attend, I am moving cleaning of 17th street this Staurday up to 8:00am. That way it will be mostly finished by the time the meeting begins. 

The official news release: http://www.longbeach.gov/civica/press/display.asp?layout=4&entry=5044