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VOL. 5 NO. 10 MARCH 9, 2012 Follow us on Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, North Long Beach and Virginia Country Club Gazettes.com INSIDE YOUR UPTOWN WWW.GAZETTES.COM FIND US ONLINE AT: Please recycle this newspaper. DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME STARTS SUNDAY. SET CLOCKS AHEAD ONE HOUR. GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS PRESENTS THE ANNUAL GREEN GAZETTE. INSIDE. A PINCH OF SALT ........................... Page 2 BUSINESS BEAT .............................. Page 14 CALENDAR .................................... Page 16 CLASSIFIED ADS ............................. Page 17 OUR MAILBOX ............................... Page 2 COLUMNS STORIES /gazette.newspapers /LBGazetteNews /grunionlb BY STEP HANIE MINASIAN STAFF WRITER Two candidates have stepped forward to announce their can- didacy for the District 2 seat of the Long Beach Unified Board of Education election on April 10. Current board president Dr. Felton Williams and newcomer Ricardo Linarez will be vying for the seat, with both candidates offering their own ideas and ac- complishments that will help to continue improving schools. District 2 includes part of Wilmore Historic District, Wash- ington Neighborhood, Wrigley Area, Westside Long Beach, Central Long Beach and a portion of Los Cerritos. Long Beach native Linarez, a graduate of Long Beach City College and California State Uni- versity, Long Beach, spent eight years in the United States Marine Corps before returning to work as a public servant. He has been a member and chairman of the Citizen Police Complaint Commission; a mem- ber of the Central Project Area Committee; and was a field rep- resentative from 2009 to 2010 for the Seventh District City Council office. The father of two said that his active involvement in the commu- nity for the last 14 years, and at his daughter’s school, Lafayette Elementary, would allow him to be more accessible to concerned parents and residents. “Last year, Lafayette lost 18 teachers out of 40 positions,” Linarez said. “When we asked for help, we felt abandoned and Two Vie For LBUSD Board Seat —Gazette photo by Harry Saltzgaver The Museum of Latin American Art hosted a kickoff Wednesday night for the “Zorro” Long Beach Reads One Book 2012 program. MASKED HERO (Continued on Page 9) BY HARRY SALTZGAVER EXECUTIVE EDITOR A dire budget forecast with a deficit of more than $26 million in the next three years — even with cuts — had City Council members scrambling for new ways to do business Tuesday, in- cluding potentially a ballot initia- tive to raise some taxes. The forecast, from Finance Director John Gross, is the first in a series of meetings about the Fiscal 2013 budget to take place over the next six months. Gross told the council Tuesday that revenue will not meet expenses without fundamentally changing how the government serves its residents. That is the case even though the city has cut 811 posi- tions and $209 million from its general fund budget since 2004. “I feel like I haven’t done my job to the best of my abilities,” Eighth District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich lamented after Gross’s presentation. “We’ve made cuts since the day I got here. I know that situations change, but each year, we’re told that if you do this it will get better, and then we’re back cutting again the next year.” Gross said the situation would be much worse if the police and fire unions had not agreed to pension reform. But even while spending for the current fiscal year is down a projected $9 mil- lion, projected revenue for this year alone has dropped $11.8 million since the last projection. “As of February, that means we will be facing a $16.4 mil- lion shortfall in the Fiscal 2013 budget,” Gross said, “and the shortfall over two years is $23.4 million; over three years, 26.1 million. These projections are with no pay increases.” “Ultimately, the service levels we are providing today are in fact unsustainable in the future.” Since Pat West became city manager, the budget has been prepared using a philosophy of proportional cuts — departments cut budgets in the same propor- tion as they share in the general fund revenue. That has meant that because public safety — po- lice and fire — spend nearly two- thirds of the budget, they have absorbed two-thirds of the cuts. Gross acknowledged that ap- proach may no longer be vi- able, with some resources reach- ing critical levels. He said city staff would review proportional share at the council’s direction, but warned that a shift to more spending for police and fire would mean severe cuts in other departments, such as library ser- vices and Parks, Recreation and Marine. Dire Budget News Concerns Council (Continued on Page 4) RICARDO LINAREZ FELTON WILLIAMS —Gazette photo by Geronimo Quitoriano The movement of a heavy rock through Bixby Knolls — on the way to its display at LACMA — caught the attention of onlookers. ROCKIN’ AROUND BY STEP HANIE MINASIAN STAFF WRITER James Q. Wilson, a leader in the world of political science and a renowned professor, crim- inologist, economist and politi- cal analyst, passed away March 2 in Boston,at the age of 80. Before his work as a policy pi- oneer in the “broken windows” theory, Wilson began his career in North Long Beach as a gradu- ate of Jordan High School, and went on to earn his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Redlands in 1952. “He also was the student body president at Jordan, and he was quite accomplished to say the least,” said Jordan High School Principal Shawn Ashley. “His philosophy of communication policing really changed thinking all over the country.” After college, he joined the United States Navy, where he served as a lieutenant, junior grade, in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He com- pleted his Master’s and PhD. in political science at the Univer- sity of Chicago. Wilson began teaching as the Shattuck Professor of Govern- Political Pioneer Passes (Continued on Page 4)

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Page 1: Uptown Gazette

VOL. 5 NO. 10 MARCH 9, 2012 Follow us on

Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, North Long Beach and Virginia Country Club Gazettes.com

I N S I D EY O U RUPTOWN

WWW.GAZETTES.COMFIND US ONLINE AT: Please recycle this newspaper.

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME STARTS SUNDAY.

SET CLOCKS AHEAD ONE HOUR.

GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS PRESENTS THE

ANNUAL GREEN GAZETTE. INSIDE.

A PINCH OF SALT ........................... Page 2

BUSINESS BEAT .............................. Page 14

CALENDAR .................................... Page 16

CLASSIFIED ADS ............................. Page 17

OUR MAILBOX ............................... Page 2CO

LUM

NS

ST

OR

IES

/gazette.newspapers /LBGazetteNews /grunionlb

BY STEP HANIE MINASIANSTAFF WRITER

Two candidates have stepped forward to announce their can-didacy for the District 2 seat of the Long Beach Unifi ed Board of Education election on April 10. Current board president Dr. Felton Williams and newcomer Ricardo Linarez will be vying for the seat, with both candidates offering their own ideas and ac-complishments that will help to continue improving schools. District 2 includes part of Wilmore Historic District, Wash-ington Neighborhood, Wrigley Area, Westside Long Beach, Central Long Beach and a portion of Los Cerritos. Long Beach native Linarez, a graduate of Long Beach City College and California State Uni-versity, Long Beach, spent eight years in the United States Marine

Corps before returning to work as a public servant. He has been a member and chairman of the Citizen Police Complaint Commission; a mem-ber of the Central Project Area Committee; and was a fi eld rep-resentative from 2009 to 2010 for the Seventh District City Council offi ce. The father of two said that his

active involvement in the commu-nity for the last 14 years, and at his daughter’s school, Lafayette Elementary, would allow him to be more accessible to concerned parents and residents. “Last year, Lafayette lost 18 teachers out of 40 positions,” Linarez said. “When we asked for help, we felt abandoned and

Two Vie For LBUSD Board Seat

—Gazette photo by Harry SaltzgaverThe Museum of Latin American Art hosted a kickoff Wednesday night for the “Zorro” Long Beach Reads One Book 2012 program.

MASKED HERO

(Continued on Page 9)

BY HARRY SALTZGAVEREXECUTIVE EDITOR

A dire budget forecast with a defi cit of more than $26 million in the next three years — even with cuts — had City Council members scrambling for new ways to do business Tuesday, in-cluding potentially a ballot initia-tive to raise some taxes. The forecast, from Finance Director John Gross, is the fi rst in a series of meetings about the Fiscal 2013 budget to take place over the next six months. Gross told the council Tuesday that revenue will not meet expenses without fundamentally changing how the government serves its residents. That is the case even though the city has cut 811 posi-tions and $209 million from its general fund budget since 2004. “I feel like I haven’t done my job to the best of my abilities,” Eighth District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich lamented after Gross’s presentation. “We’ve made cuts since the day I got here. I know that situations change, but each year, we’re told that if you do this it will get better, and then we’re back cutting again the next year.” Gross said the situation would be much worse if the police and fi re unions had not agreed to pension reform. But even while spending for the current fi scal

year is down a projected $9 mil-lion, projected revenue for this year alone has dropped $11.8 million since the last projection. “As of February, that means we will be facing a $16.4 mil-lion shortfall in the Fiscal 2013 budget,” Gross said, “and the shortfall over two years is $23.4 million; over three years, 26.1 million. These projections are with no pay increases.” “Ultimately, the service levels we are providing today are in fact unsustainable in the future.” Since Pat West became city manager, the budget has been prepared using a philosophy of proportional cuts — departments cut budgets in the same propor-tion as they share in the general fund revenue. That has meant that because public safety — po-lice and fi re — spend nearly two-thirds of the budget, they have absorbed two-thirds of the cuts. Gross acknowledged that ap-proach may no longer be vi-able, with some resources reach-ing critical levels. He said city staff would review proportional share at the council’s direction, but warned that a shift to more spending for police and fi re would mean severe cuts in other departments, such as library ser-vices and Parks, Recreation and Marine.

Dire Budget NewsConcerns Council

(Continued on Page 4)

RICARDO LINAREZ FELTON WILLIAMS

—Gazette photo by Geronimo QuitorianoThe movement of a heavy rock through Bixby Knolls — on the way to its display at LACMA — caught the attention of onlookers.

ROCKIN’ AROUND

BY STEP HANIE MINASIANSTAFF WRITER

James Q. Wilson, a leader in the world of political science and a renowned professor, crim-inologist, economist and politi-cal analyst, passed away March 2 in Boston,at the age of 80. Before his work as a policy pi-oneer in the “broken windows” theory, Wilson began his career in North Long Beach as a gradu-ate of Jordan High School, and went on to earn his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Redlands in 1952. “He also was the student body president at Jordan, and he was quite accomplished to say the least,” said Jordan High School Principal Shawn Ashley. “His philosophy of communication policing really changed thinking all over the country.” After college, he joined the United States Navy, where he served as a lieutenant, junior grade, in the Offi ce of the Chief of Naval Operations. He com-pleted his Master’s and PhD. in political science at the Univer-sity of Chicago. Wilson began teaching as the Shattuck Professor of Govern-

PoliticalPioneerPasses

(Continued on Page 4)

Page 2: Uptown Gazette

PAGE 2 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | March 9, 2012GAZETTE COMMENTARY

Pick Up SlackTo The Editor, Those of us who enjoy walk-ing our dogs have always been meticulous about picking up their droppings. We don’t like seeing waste on the streets, but lately it seems that some dog owners have forgotten their “pooper bags” or their manners. So, Dog Owners Unite! Carry extra pooper bags and of-fer them to those without. Go the extra mile and pick up waste that

your dog didn’t leave, but that you know is offensive. We have to pick up the slack for those who have forgotten their manners. Maybe they’ll catch on and be more responsible.

Marjorie RiveraLong Beach

One-Eyed ViewTo The Editor, Here the other side of Mr. Van der Upwich’s coin (“Our Mail-box,” March 2).

I have yet to be notifi ed, much less asked for permission by, a CEO of any corporation I in-vested portions of my savings in whether I agree with their mon-etary support (campaign contri-butions) of their CEO’s choosing. All Mr. Van der Upwich does is plaster his hypocritical view of a now even playing fi eld for every-one to see. Fairness is not Mr. Van der Up-wich’s desire, gaming the system

(Continued on Page 3)

Leaders Tell Us What Future Holds

Long Beach LeadsGreening Of America

I’ll admit, I’m not the greatest at letting people tell me what to do. Speak to my colleagues, bosses and former bosses, and you might get a slightly stronger opinion about my shortcomings in that particular fi eld. But this Monday, I found it particularly instructive to allow a certain group to tell me what they thought I ought to be doing. It was at a meeting with the 2012 class of Leadership Long Beach. If you’re not familiar with the program, you ought to be. Former class members are found frequently in city leadership roles, up to and including City Council chambers. Essentially, it is an outfi t that tries to explore the inner work-ings of the city with an eye to train people to make their home a better place. Just joining the class (many pony up signifi cant cash) means the members are motivat-ed. Past classes have completed community projects that still res-onate in the city today. I’ve spoken to the group a number of times — understand-ing how the media works is a core piece of the curriculum. But new executive director Jeff Williams offered a twist this year. Instead of a three-hour panel of talking heads declaiming on the Fourth Estate, Williams allotted a brief hour. Moreover, he didn’t want the editors to do all the talk-ing. He wanted the class members to discuss what the news business would look like fi ve to 10 years from now. It just so happens that topic is priority number one in the biz these days. The difference is, we’re fi ve or 10 weeks from now, not years. So a chance to conduct a short

focus group with people who are motivated, engaged and con-cerned was a godsend. I took full advantage. It didn’t hurt any that there were a couple of fans in the group — folks who swear by the Ga-zette and say they read it faithful-ly. It’s probably no surprise that the comment I like the most was “keep doing what you’re doing so well.” But even that comment de-serves to be parsed. What he was talking about was providing the kind of community-focused in-formation and stories that have made the Grunion an integral part of the city. The exact phrase was, “be small, but mighty.” Now I have to tell you I’ve fought for years against the per-ception that we are “that cute lit-tle paper.” I seethe when someone calls me small — I guess it is a matter of delusions of grandeur, I don’t know. That said, the idea of being what that reader wants us to be gained traction. Someone else said they didn’t really start pay-ing attention to the Gazette until we started the Uptown Gazette some three years ago. That paper targeted his interest because he lived there. We talked about the necessary evil — advertising to pay the bills. And I was relieved to hear that many of those folks under-stand that advertising is a service too — it is getting business own-ers’ messages across. And today’s digital fi rst world

of communication and advertis-ing — the fascination with the social media monoliths Facebook and Twitter in particular — offer some clues to ways we might change news delivery. “Advertising, particularly on Facebook, is scarily tailored to your life,” one leader said. “News should be that way too. Maybe you could choose your front page, have it tailored to your in-terests.” That idea brought on a con-versation about news you want versus news you need — another topic I can discuss for hours. But we moved on quickly. “I think it needs to be more in-teractive,” another leader offered. But what does interactive mean? Does it mean having ev-eryone and their brother post sto-ries or submit pictures, with no verifi cation? Which brought us to my core value (a buzzword for this age) — credibility. How can you tell what sources are credible and what must be taken with, pardon the pun, a pinch of salt? I can’t tell you how much relief I felt when one gentleman said, “You have to trust the reader to do the work. We can fi gure it out. And most of us will.” In other words, they know that just because it’s on the web, it’s not necessarily true. And they’re willing to do the work to fi nd the sources where the information is true. Now all I have to do is make sure they can fi nd us whenever they need us. I want Leadership Long Beach to know they can trust us now, and fi ve or 10 years from now.

This ain’t your Daddy’s Moth-er Nature. If you’re old enough, or may-be even if you aren’t, you might remember the iconic anti-litter advertisement that fi rst surfaced in the late 1960s. If featured a Native American man standing by the side of a road, staring at a trash-strewn landscape. As a car roared by, someone tosses more trash out the win-dow. A single tear trickles down the man’s weathered cheek. No words, but a powerful mes-sage. It single-handedly turned the tide in Ladybird Johnson’s (wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson) campaign against litter. It also really signifi ed the awak-ening of our country in regards to how humankind’s actions were negatively impacting our envi-ronment. Despite some fi ts and starts, that environmental emphasis has grown over the last nearly 50 years. And just like so much else in our lives, the movement has picked up speed. Less than two decades ago, Long Beach residents (particular-ly those in the southern and west-ern areas) looked with frustration at the fi ne black soot covering their cars, balconies and porches, certain there was nothing to do but wash it off every week or so. But a push led by now-state Sen. Alan Lowenthal got the coke dust piles in the ports covered, and the Long Beach soot became a thing of the past. Our own Port of Long Beach has led the way in the greening of commerce, using a carrot and stick approach with its clients to upgrade technology until a whopping 90% of some forms of air pollution has been eliminated. The Green Port isn’t sitting on its laurels, either, with a primary emphasis on further improve-ments even while it grows its ca-pacity to handle cargo. Our city’s bus system has been, and continues to be, a leader when it comes to reducing air pollution with high-tech buses, and its marketing arm continues to push how much people can save — both environmentally and fi nancially — by using pub-lic transportation. Whether you are a fan of new-fangled bike lanes or not, there’s little doubt about the commit-ment of city leaders to continue to explore and promote alterna-tive forms of transportation. Ped-al power doesn’t burn anything but calories, so it’s hard to argue with that one. Energy-effi cient, environmen-tally-friendly standards are just

that — standard — when it comes to building in Long Beach today. Just a decade ago, almost no one knew the defi nition of LEED-certifi ed building (Leadership in Energy and Environmental De-sign), much less advocated for that standard in public or private buildings. Today, LEED certifi -cation is required if you plan to build something for the city of Long Beach. Our Water Department was far ahead of the pack when it began offering incentives for people to give up their thirsty carpets of green lawn in favor of a more native, drought-tolerant front yard. The city has walked the talk, too, replacing water-hungry landscaped medians for a similar nearly water free planting. You can tell how experienced they are — these new medians offer a beauty and interest all their own. You don’t have to have stamped concrete (or gravel and cactus) to have a landscape that doesn’t waste water. As with any movement, prog-ress hasn’t been without its con-troversy. A few people still are moaning about the plastic bag ban, for example.

And we’ve argued here that there are times when it seems the environmental pendulum has swung too far, with project oppo-nents invoking the Environment with a capital E to stop or at least slow down any development. When protecting the environ-ment is used as a weapon and not a tool, it only proves that even the most positive thing can be used for negative purposes. Even they have served a pur-pose in advancing the environ-mental cause, though. These days, environmental impact is one of the, if not the, fi rst things to be considered when starting a new project. And that’s a good thing. There still are plenty of things to do, plenty of places to remain vigilant. But as the Green Ga-zette in today’s edition amply il-lustrates, Long Beach has taken its environmental stewardship to heart. That proud Native Ameri-can might just have reason to smile if he visited Long Beach today. Because this is your Mother Nature.

“Long Beach has taken its environmental

leadership to heart.”

Page 3: Uptown Gazette

March 9, 2012 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | PAGE 3

for uncontrolled enrichment of the well connected and already powerful is his goal. As an inves-tor, my options are no better or worse than a union member’s.

Only if I was totally blind in one eye would I see the situation the way Mr. Van der Upwich sees it.

Franz O. GerichCarroll Park

Antique ParkingTo The Editor,

This correspondence is in-tended to focus attention on and ultimately lead to an appropriate equitable option for a reoccurring problematic parking situation at East Lew Davis Street, which has and continues to result in Long Beach Antique Market attendees being randomly cited while tem-porally parked in red areas for loading purposes.

The situation was brought to my attention when I naively as-sumed, after having witnessed a flurry of loading activity into numerous vehicles parked in red areas on both sides of the street, that it was acceptable during this unique once-a-month market oc-currence and was ticketed for having done so.

Apparently, according to mar-ket employees, this is an ongoing

occurrence, with most citations being issued by one Long Beach Police officer in particular, which would be questionable and or dis-appointing at best if in fact true. There are always two sides to every story and as much as I may feel like my being cited was in-appropriate and or predatorily motivated isn’t important. What is important and deserves con-sideration is that people are being unnecessarily cited on a monthly basis when there may be a benefi-cial alternative. I’m a 57-year-old Los Angeles area business owner familiar with all Southern California Antique Markets as either a vender or a shopper. Over the years I’ve seen local municipalities make appro-priate, sometimes unconvention-al, choices to address the chang-ing needs of venues as they grow and evolve to encourage market success and or profitability for all parties involved. I believe the afore-mentioned parking situation has that same potential and deserves appropri-ate consideration. What can be done to initiate this process?

Mark FogwellTujunga

What Bible SaysTo The Editor, A recent letter writer to the

Gazette wrote that polygamy was “explicitly approved of in the Bi-ble.” Some people seem to think that polygamy is acceptable because it is mentioned in the Bible. Scrip-ture also mentions wars, plunder, murder, thievery, cheating, incest

and rape, along with some un-mentionable acts. Merely relating what happened in history does not necessarily constitute approval. Although polygamy did ex-ist in ancient times and was evi-dently considered to be accept-able, nowhere in Scripture does it

speak well of the practice. How-ever, it does speak of squabbles and jealousies among wives and half brothers. Most of the Major Prophets had only one wife at a time.

Margaret FinleyBelmont Shore(Continued from Page 2)

The Junior League’s Kids in the Kitchen Fair is back starting at 10 a.m. this Saturday, March 10, at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 1950 Lemon Ave. The day is created to provide parents and children help in mak-

ing healthy food choices and exercise-related activities. There will be veggie bowling, fitness challenges, snack recipes and health food demonstrations from Michael Poompan, executive chef at the Renaissance Hotel.

Kids Get In Kitchen With Junior League

Page 4: Uptown Gazette

PAGE 4 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | March 9, 2012

ment at Harvard University. He was highly esteemed and penned 24 books on government and criminal justice, and also taught University of California, Los An-geles, and Pepperdine University. “In his writings, he refereed to Jordan regularly,” Ashley said. “We use one of his textbooks in Advanced Placement U.S. Gov-ernment class at Jordan.” The work that put Wilson on the map was his article in the At-lantic, “Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safe-ty,” which he co-authored along-side George L. Kelling in 1982. The article was believed to have altered the way the country did its policing. The theory looked at soaring crime rates across the U.S., and argued that police should be pay-ing closer attention to the small crimes happening in communi-ties, rather than solely fighting the big crimes, such as murder and robbery. This method, Wil-son and Kelling believed, would reduce a criminal’s ability to

commit a major crime. “James Q. Wilson’s rise to prominence as one of our na-tion’s most respected thinkers is an example of why public schools matter,” said Long Beach Unified School District spokes-man Chris Eftychiou. “Wilson publicly acknowledged that if it weren’t for the talented teachers at Jordan High School, he would not have embarked on his career as a writer, political scientist and professor. His life’s work, particularly in the area of crime prevention and community polic-ing, has been credited with sav-ing thousands of lives, and it all started at a public high school in North Long Beach.” Wilson has written about 100 articles addressing the issue of crime, bureaucracy and politics. He also served as chairman of the White House Task Force on Crime in 1967, chairman of the National Advisory Commission on Drug Abuse Prevention from 1972 to 1973, a member of the Attorney General’s Task Force on Violent Crime in 1981, and others. He received the James Madi-son award in 1990, which was for distinguished scholarship from the American Political Science Association — which he later served as president, according to LBUSD officials. Wilson looked back on his start at Jordan High School in 2003, when he accepted the Presiden-tial Medal of Freedom in Wash-ington, D.C. “I had two teachers who

If a strict proportional share continued in the next year, the Police Department would face an $8.9 million cut and fire a $1.1 million cut. Parks, Recreation and Marine would cut $1.8 mil-lion and libraries $900,000. But if police and fire are ex-empted from cuts, Parks, Rec-reation and Marine would face more than $6 million in cuts and libraries nearly $3 million. That translates to closing eight of the 11 branch libraries and ending programming in 23 parks, includ-ing after-school programs. Still, some relief for public safety, particularly the police de-partment, seems inevitable. “I think proportional share has served us well, but it appears that we’ve reached a floor in certain areas,” First District Councilman Robert Garcia said. “That cer-tainly appears to be the case with police. I think we need to look at proportional share, but we need to be careful.” Mayor Bob Foster and Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie

Schipske, in a rare moment of agreement, both said the city has to look at new ways to conduct business. “We don’t want to get to the point with cuts where we do nothing well,” Foster said. “That’s worse than no service at all. We may get to the point where we have a passive park in-stead of an active park. We have to be innovative, be willing to change.” Gabelich said that it was time to talk again about going to a vote of the people to consider a tax in-crease to provide more revenue. For the first time, she received support, including a unanimous vote to have city staff study dif-ferent potential revenue sources. “No one has ever said that a revenue measure wasn’t at some point going to be necessary,” Foster said. “But I for one can’t support that when we still have reforms to complete. We still have $4 million, $12 million in all funds, out there (in pension savings with reform for miscel-laneous employees). “I think we have to be able to look the people in the eye and

say, ’we’ve done everything we can do. Now what kind of a city do you want to live in?’” Schipske said she didn’t think a tax initiative could pass, and suggested that the city find out if it could levy an oil severance tax on production in Long Beach. She said such a production tax wouldn’t impact consumers be-cause it is levied before oil gets to a refinery. Oil revenue was the one bright spot in Gross’s conversation with the council. When pushed by Fourth District Councilman Pat-rick O’Donnell, Gross said that if current price trends continue, the city could realize “about the same as last year, $7 million or $11 million or so.” The city budgeted based on a per barrel price of $55, the price has hovered around $100 per barrel. Council members asked that a series of work sessions take place between now and the beginning of formal budget hearings in Au-gust. Topics range from police staffing and a police academy to health insurance to a budget “game” to allow resident opin-ions.

(Continued from Page 1) (Continued from Page 1)Budget Cuts Pioneer Dies

(Continued on Page 9)

Page 5: Uptown Gazette

March 9, 2012 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | PAGE 5

BY STEP HANIE MINASIANSTAFF WRITER

With much of the future of California schools in the hands of voters this November, the Long Beach Unified Board of Educa-tion approved two fiscal stabili-zation plans addressing possible budget scenarios at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

LBUSD board members re-viewed the bleak future that could become reality if voters don’t ap-prove Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative in November. The two fiscal plans will be sent to the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools to show that the dis-trict will be able to meet its fiscal obligations, and remain solvent during these next two years.

With the worst-case scenario budget projecting a $189 mil-lion deficit out of LBUSD’s $700 million operating budget in two years and a loss of $370 per Aver-

age Daily Attendance (ADA) per student, the district is looking to potentially cut 29 of its programs, if the tax initiative falls through. These include reducing the school year by 20 days, elimi-nating middle school and high school sports, taking away the AVID program, cutting back all adult education programs and freezing both certificated and classified hiring. “There are really some bad ideas on here,” said board mem-ber Jon Meyer after reading some of the programs considered to be cut in the worst-case scenario. The district’s “best-case” sce-nario means that the state will pass the tax initiative, but would still need to make about $20 mil-lion in cuts. “We’ve cut hundreds of mil-lions of dollars from our pro-gramming and our programs have changed because of these cuts,”

said LBUSD Superintendent Chris Steinhauser. “It’s impos-sible to do everything that we did with less money and less people. The only positive out of this is that there are districts right now that are making cuts at this pres-ent time because their financial situation is so much worse than ours that their county won’t even take this type of plan.” Megan Kerr, a Long Beach parent of three, also spoke to the board at Tuesday’s meeting to address her concerns regarding some of the potential program-ming cuts if the tax-initiative fails at the ballot. “I was deeply saddened to read the fiscal stabilization item over the weekend,” Kerr said. “While I realize these are preliminary ideas, the fact that they are even being proposed as possible is alarming. I wish I could say I was shocked or surprised, but as

someone who has been watching this closely, it feels like a train wreck I’ve been watching in slow motion suddenly hit full speed.” This year, LBUSD is aiming

to slash between $15 million and $20 million for 2012-13, and is projected to meet its fiscal obliga-tions this year. The board will lay off 308 teachers this year.

The Arts Council for Long Beach has announced its 2012 Distinguished Arts Awards Hon-orees. The winners were selected by an independent panel from nomi-nations submitted by the public. Recipients are recognized for playing an essential role in fur-thering the arts in Long Beach. The council added a new award this year, Emerging Artist or Arts Leader, which went to Yoshino Rosalia Jasso. The rest of the winners are: Long Beach Unified School Dis-trict (James H. Ackerman Hon-oree), Trace Fukuhara (Distin-guished Artist of the Year) and Mark Zahn (Distinguished Arts Leadership of the Year). The awards will be presented at the 2012 State of the Arts Celebra-tion at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, at the Expo Arts Center, 4321 Atlantic Ave. To RSVP, visit www.artslb.org. The Arts Council is a private

nonprofit dedicated to excellence in the creation and presentation of arts endeavors in Long Beach.

Arts Council Annouces Award Winners

29 PROGRAMS ON CHOPPING BOARD

LBUSD Okays Worst Case Budget Plan

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PAGE 6 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | March 9, 2012

BY HARRY SALTZGAVEREXECUTIVE EDITOR

After several years of a hiring freeze and covering unfilled positions with overtime, the Long Beach Fire Department will conduct a “lateral” fire acad-emy this spring and hire new firefighters this year. That announcement came Monday in a press re-lease. A lateral academy teaches Long Beach meth-ods to people who already have basic firefighting training, typically with other departments. The Long Beach Fire Department currently car-ries 24 firefighter vacancies, with necessary shifts covered by calling back current firefighters to work overtime on a regular basis. The hiring freeze was enacted partially due to pension costs, and a deal worked out last year with the firefighters’ union now allows new hires to come in under a lower, more af-fordable pension plan. “A lateral academy is good for our community, good for our Fire Department, and would be a fis-cally prudent solution of hiring needed firefighters while living within our means,” Mayor Bob Foster said in the release. Previously trained and currently qualified fire-fighters can complete a lateral academy in eight weeks, compared to a standard recruit academy, which lasts 16 week.

A lateral academy is in the Fiscal 2012 budget. It will take about four months to compile a list of qualified candidates and prepare a staff for instruc-tion. That means new firefighters could begin taking shifts in September. “Maintaining full staffing is important, and we are able to accomplish this within our existing bud-get,” Chief Alan Patalano said. “We will start the processes to hire new firefighters immediately, with the goal of completing the academy this summer.” Deputy Fire Chief Mike DuRee gave credit to the Long Beach Firefighters Association for making it financially possible to fill some of the vacancies. “We couldn’t have done it without the union step-ping up to the table with pension reform,” DuRee said. “This is a good opportunity to reduce some of the stress that our firefighters have been under for the last couple of years. And we’ll be able to reduce the overall budget at the same time.” The City Council has been debating staffing lev-els at the fire and police departments for the last few months, with several calling for a full police acad-emy soon. New firefighters would pay their full employee share of pension costs and will have a reduced pen-sion benefit formula. The Police Officers Associa-tion has agreed to a similar pension reform plan.

Fire Department To Conduct Academy

A new design for the Paddock Club at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be unveiled at the Committee of 300’s Kick Off Party from 6 to 9 p.m. next Thursday, March 15, at Bliss 525, at 525 E. Broadway. Mayor Bob Foster and Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association

of Long Beach, will be on hand, as will the members of the 2011 Toyota Grand Prix Court. The Committee of 300, known as the Redcoats, is the group of volunteers that helps stage the race each year and participate on a variety of nonprofit projects throughout the year. The C-300 also hosts the Pad-dock Club, which offers a quiet respite from the noise and crowds of the race. The Paddock Club offers a variety of options for attending the race, ranging from $150 to $285 for a three-day pass, which includes breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday, reserved seating, a three-day Indy Car Paddock Pass and more. To purchase tickets, call 981-9200. DJ Danny will provide the music at Thursday’s party and there will be a drawing for a Pace Car ride on Friday of Grand Prix Weekend and other activities to help raise money for the C-300’s charity of the year, the Pacific Sailing Maritime Center. Com-plimentary appetizers will be provided by Bliss 525 and des-serts are coming from the Ross-moor Bakery.

C-300 Kicks Off Grand Prix Push

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March 9, 2012 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | PAGE 7

BY JONATHAN VAN DYKESTAFF WRITER

To many, California’s medical marijuana laws have been in a state of flux for several years — at least their interpretations. The California Supreme Court basically admitted as much when it decided that it would give a ruling on Long Beach’s medical marijuana ordinance and several other cases in the state — clarity on the law, at least for the state, will be coming.

During that time, however, Vice Mayor and Second District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal said she wanted to be ready for anything that might happen dur-ing the coming months or in a year when the Supreme Court is expected to rule. To that end, she has begun the process of creating a Medical Marijuana Working Group. “We want to continue to review where the ordinance is going, re-search similar policy endeavors and continue to adjust it until we get to a place that is right for our city and comports with state, lo-cal and federal laws,” she said. Lowenthal has sent out notices to people she believes would have a stake in the working group. She said she wants to include resident and business groups, dispensary representatives, the city attorney, the city prosecutor and other city staff members. If the group is formed in time, she said she’d like to meet in April — then meetings could be monthly or quarterly, depending on what the group wants. Anyone interested in the group can con-tact Lowenthal’s office at 570-6684. Currently, the City Council just

voted to ban medical marijuana collectives, except that it is tem-porarily exempting 18 collectives that had gone through an exten-sive lottery process. Lowenthal said the point of the group was to keep an open dia-logue with stakeholders, but also to be prepared for changes that might need to be made depend-ing on how court rulings interpret the law moving forward — espe-cially with an eye toward the Su-preme Court ruling forthcoming. “The best policies are those that everyone at the table felt like they gained something and lost something,” she said. “At this ta-ble, there might be very different outlooks.” On the legal front, there was an appeals court ruling in regards to a case in Orange County’s Lake Forest. That city argued that med-

ical marijuana collectives were not allowed because dispensaries were not a permitted use in the city’s zoning laws — and because of that it was an illegal use and could be cited as a nuisance be-havior. The ruling went in favor of the collective and also included language saying that dispensaries must grow the product at the dis-pensary location. City Attorney Robert Shannon said the ruling did not change Long Beach’s partial ban law — several dispensary owners went into trial court lasr Friday for an injunction, citing the Lake Forest ruling, but it was not granted. He also said that law enforce-ment officials have been meeting frequently about how best to take action with the city’s new partial ban law in order to close non-ex-empted collectives.

Attorney Matthew Pappas, who is counseling against Long Beach in its main medical marijuana case, said he believes the Lake Forest ruling helps his cause. He

already has asked the Supreme Court for injunctive relief in re-gards to the Lake Forest ruling, but said he does not know when any ruling will come back.

Medical Marijuana Group To Follow Up On Law

A FAUX PAINTER

Page 8: Uptown Gazette

BY STEP HANIE MINASIANSTAFF WRITER

As a tribute to the members of the Osher Lifelong Learning In-stitute (OLLI) on the campus of California State University, Long Beach, the Bernard Osher Foun-dation recently granted a $1 mil-lion endowment to further educa-tional opportunities for seniors.

OLLI, which is located in the College of Health and Human Services building, provides its members — who are retirees and senior citizens older than 50 years old — a chance to connect with others like themselves through a variety of classes, such as art,

writing and computers. “This endowment is a tribute to our members who volunteer their time to make OLLI at CSULB a dynamic learning environment for mature adults,” said faculty member and executive director of OLLI at CSULB, “and to the College of Health and Human Services’ visionary leaders over the past 15 years who have seen value in promoting lifelong learn-ing and in mingling generations on a university campus.” The program functions on its membership fees, fundraising, grants and the endowments, ac-cording to White, and specifically

uses the interest from the endow-ments to balance its budget. “We deliberately keep our fees low, which especially helps those seniors who are on fixed incomes to participate,” she added. “This helps us annually to keep the fees low. We also want to expand ac-cess to our three sites, such as our downtown and Leisure World locations. The additional income will help us do this again, as well.” With a current membership of about 1,200, OLLI at CSULB is a nonprofit that began in 1996, when it was known as the “Se-nior University.” As its popular-ity grew, OLLI was formed and granted its first $1 million endow-ment from the Osher Foundation. The program was seen as ex-emplary because of its strong fundraising plan, its incorpora-

tion of the Center for Active Ag-ing, which promotes health and exercise programs, and its educa-tional opportunities, according to officials. White said that its state-funded Center for Active Aging would give its members the chance to learn about physical education, in addition to the mental stimula-tion given in traditional classes. The university is collaborating with OLLI to build a space in the Kinesiology Department, where members will be able to take classes and work out. OLLI officials said that with the help of this new endowment, it would be able to keep the rates of membership and lecture class-es at a minimum cost. OLLI members pay a $40 an-nual membership fee, with lec-ture classes at $10 and computer

classes for $35 during an eight-week session. “We are deeply appreciative of the generous gift from the Osher Foundation to support the various programs of our Osher Life Long Learning Institute,” said Ken Mil-lar, who works as the dean of the College of Health and Human Services. With many CSULB faculty, graduate students, friends and members teaching the classes in arts, sciences, literature, his-tory, computers and more, OLLI also functions through satellite locations at Leisure World in Seal Beach, and a classroom on Pine Avenue in downtown Long Beach. For information about OLLI and its classes and registration, visit at www.csulb.edu/osher.

PAGE 8 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | March 9, 2012

OLLI Gets $1 Million Endowment To Further Senior Education

LGB2NETWORK will host a mixer with guest Tony Marti-nez from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 15, at Club Ripples, 5101 E. Ocean Blvd. Martinez is a trainer and nu-tritional coach with clients in-cluding Pink, the Jonas Broth-ers, Britney Spears and Janet Jackson. His talk is scheduled to include tips on “how to work out smart and get better results from training less.” LGB2NETWORK was creat-ed to provide a creative and so-cial professional network for the LGBT community. It meets the third Thursday of every month at different locations. The event is free. For more information, go to lgb2network on Facebook.

LGB2NETWORK Mixer March 15

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March 9, 2012 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | PAGE 9

felt like we weren’t heard by the board. One of the reasons I de-cided to run is because I want to make sure education for kids is funded first — not other special projects going on in the district.”

These special projects, he said, include things like mileage reim-bursement, the district paying for employee cell phones and con-tracted services. According to Li-narez, these should have been cut years ago — before the budget cuts took a more devastating turn.

“Budget cuts have to be made,” he added. “But, there are some things that could have been done a few years ago. Some of the con-tracting out of the general fund, this year alone came to $33 mil-lion. This includes hiring con-sultants, and just in this area, $100 million was spent in last three years, while taking away teachers, nurses and librarians in schools.”

Linarez said he also hopes en-sure a healthy, safe environment for children, and bring more modern facilities and up-to-date curriculum and technology.

“I want students to be better prepared to go to university and receive a great education,” he said. “If they don’t go there, then to vocational school and get tech-nical training.”

When it comes to school safe-ty, Linarez is interested in finding more ways to plan with the com-munity and city to find services that can provide more safety.

Current board of education president Williams comes from an extensive education back-ground, including his eight years on the Long Beach Unified Board of Education.

Williams has spent 36 years in

education, and attended CSULB, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts and M.B.A., with degrees in Business Administration. He also attended Los Angeles Harbor Community College, and earned an associate’s degree in Secre-tarial Science. He received his doctorate in education adminis-tration from Claremont Graduate University in 1985. “I started at Long Beach State (as a staff analyst in the office of Instructional Services), and was involved in innovative projects over there,” Williams said, “such as helping to change the regis-tration from manual to online. I helped spearhead it, and that job changed my focus and allowed me to stay in education.” He went on to implement the graduate program in public poli-cy at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and was the as-sistant to the president there for 15 years. Williams said that the schools in District 2 have seen vast im-provements on the Academic Improvement Index in the last four years — with two-thirds of schools in the area scoring above the state’s standards. “Four years ago, none of these schools were at an API score of 800,” Williams added. “It’s a continuation of how good things are happening to us, despite a bad budget.” A key component of success, he said, is finding ways to work with the city and greater com-munity to collaborate on services in the schools. Williams said he would like to look at more oppor-tunities to work with parents, city and business partners to share costs and ideas to function as a cohesive unit. “An example of this is at Cae-sar Chavez,” he said. “In the eve-

ning when students aren’t there, the community should have ac-cess to things such as the gym. Any time we’re trying to stretch the dollar, public tax dollars, public finds it as a reasonable and prudent action, as part of the school district.” With a graduation rate of 79% and more than $50 million given to Long Beach students, Williams said he believes it is all about good leadership and understand-ing how to manage key issues, to keep the district successful. “We have strategic planning that helps us understand issues in district, and focus on these is-sues,” he said. “We know there are a number of nearby school districts that will fold because their boards made bad decisions. It’s easy to get caught up, but in the final analysis, you have to still have the school. You’re hearing things from everyone, and after all that is said and done, you have to do the best thing for the district and kids.”

(Continued from Page 1)LBUSD Seat

touched me deeply,” Wilson said. “Walter Smith taught me mathematics. Other people tried; Walter Smith succeeded. Why did he succeed? Not by force of terror but by force of example. I wanted to please him. I thought he was a fine man. He seemed to know something that was worth knowing. He could explain to me things that I didn’t realize I wanted to know the answer to until he tried to tell me what the problem was. And by revealing the problem and explaining how you answered it, he enabled me to discover a bit of myself — the ability to do something indepen-dently.”

(Continued from Page 4)Pioneer Dies

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BY ASHLEIGH OLDLANDEDITOR

Internationally best-selling au-thor Shilpi Somaya Gowda didn’t have any expectations for “Secret Daughter” — after all, she had never written a book before, and her goal was more along the lines of finishing the story and see-ing her name beneath a title on a book cover.

Gowda remains humbled and surprised that more than 600,000 copies of the book have been sold in 22 countries, with several translations of the novel into oth-er languages. “I didn’t even know enough to know what a decent book would sell, but usually a first-time au-thor selling 20,000 would be considered very successful,” she

said. “The furthest I allowed my-self to dream was to imagine the story as an actual book… If I had known enough to have expecta-tions, those expectations would have been a miniscule fraction of what the sales have been.” The San Diego resident, who is working on her second book, will be one of the seven featured authors at the sold-out Literary Women 30th Annual Long Beach Festival of Authors on Saturday, March 10, at the Long Beach Convention Center. Other au-thors at the festival this year will include Lan Samantha Chang, Zoe Ferraris, Gillian Gill, Haley Tanner, Miriam Toews and Isabel Wilkerson. “Secret Daughter” pulls togeth-er Gowda’s experience working in an Indian orphanage as well as her family’s background — she was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, by her parents, who emi-grated from Mumbai, India. The novel is a coming-of-age story focused on parent-child relation-ships, and the plot is split among one mother’s decision to give her daughter up for adoption in India, the American family that adopts that child and how those two sep-arate stories are intertwined. In her college years, Gowda said her time at an orphanage in India helped her see the world in a different way. The experience helped her learn about children and orphans and what she learned stayed with her, planting a seed for a story that would come after Gowda became a mother of two daughters. “I was just 19 or 20 when I was at the orphanage, and I was more connected to the kids,” she explained. “Until I became a mother I couldn’t imagine that none of the parents cared for the children they gave up. I realized there must have been so many in-credible stories.” She worked for more than a decade in the financial and stra-tegic business world, but decided she wanted to try something new when, being pregnant with her second daughter, she and her family moved from their long-time home in San Francisco so that her husband could work in Texas. “I didn’t know a soul in Texas, and I decided I wanted to take the time to explore something new with this blank slate in this new city,” she said. “I signed up to take some night classes at Southern Methodist University in creative writing. It was a good way for me to pivot my life to do something new. I didn’t know about writing and publishing… I knew none of that — I just con-structed a story that I thought was interesting.” Gowda describes her writing style as “unadorned, clear and simplistic.” She didn’t try to emulate her favorite authors; in-stead she said she tried to find her own voice and style for the novel based on what she knew about herself as a consumer of books. After two years of work, “Se-cret Daughter” was published in March 2010. Gowda and her fam-ily moved to San Diego, and she is working on her second book, which touches on many of the same themes as the first one did.

Literary Women Hosts Best-Seller

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March 9, 2012 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | PAGE 11

Three partnerships have sub-mitted proposals to design and build the nearly $1 billion Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement at the Port of Long Beach.

The deadline was Monday for proposals to the port and the state Department of Transporta-tion (Caltrans), which are jointly managing the project. The three pre-qualified teams that moved forward in the process are: • Dragados USA Inc./FlatironWestInc./CCMyersInc.,AJointVenture (major participants in-clude CC Myers Inc., DragadosUSA Inc., Flatiron West Inc.,Figg Bridge Engineers Inc. andJacobsEngineeringGroupInc.). • Shimmick ConstructionCompany Inc./FCC Construc-tion S.A./Impregilo S.p.A, AJointVenture(majorparticipantsinclude Shimmick ConstructionCompany Inc., FCC Construc-tionS.A.,ImpregiloS.p.A.,ArupNorth America Ltd. and BiggsCardosaAssociatesInc.). •Skanska/Traylor/Massman,AJointVenture(majorparticipantsinclude Skanska USA, TraylorBros. Inc., Massman Construc-tion Co., Buckland & TaylorLtd.andCH2MHILLEngineersInc.). Port and Caltrans engineers and other officials now will re-view all proposals, and a contract is expected to be signed by mid-summer. Construction should be-ginin2013andtakefiveyears. While the process is called a design-build, major components of the design already have been determined. The design portion of this contract is for the detail work.

The Gerald Desmond Bridge opened in 1968, connecting Long Beach withTerminal Island andspanningtheInnerHarborChan-nel. It carries about 15% of thenation’s imported goods. The new bridge will have a higher span to allow larger con-tainer ships access to the inner harbor. Italsowillhavethreelanesoftraffic in each direction, as well as emergency lanes on both sides to reduce traffic delays due to ac-cidentsandvehiclebreakdowns.There also are plans to include a bicycle lane. Current cost is estimated at $950 million, and the project isexpected to generate 4,000 jobs during construction. The old bridge will remain open until the new bridge is com-plete. For more information, go tothe Port of Long Beach’s website atwww.polb.com/bridge.

—Harry Saltzgaver

Port Of Long Beach ReceivesThree Gerald Desmond Bids Long Beach’s municipal pri-

maryelectionissetforApril10,but voters can start casting ballots on Monday. That’s the day the city’s new eSlateearlyvotingsystemopensat the City Clerk Department’soffice at City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd.It’salsothedaythatmail-in or absentee ballots will be sent out according to Poonam Davis, ElectionsBureaumanager. The eSlate is an electronicvoting device that is designed to be accessible even to those with handicaps. It’s available from 9a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through FridayuntilApril3,theweekbe-foretheelection.Itisavailabletoanyone who wants to vote early. Also available this year aresampleballotbooksandprecinctmapsviatheInternet.Thesampleballot books are listed by raceand the precinct maps by City Councildistrictatthecityclerk’swebsite, www.longbeach.gov/elections.Eachbookletgivesthecandidate statements in Englishand Spanish (other translations

are available), as well as a sample ballot for that race. Precinct maps are downloaded as a PDF file and list precinctnumbers to allow residents to lookuppollingplaces. Contested races in Long Beach are City Council Districts Two,

FourandEight;LongBeachUni-fiedSchoolDistrictAreas2and4(Naomi Rainey has since dropped out of the District 4 race); andLong Beach Community College Area4. For more information, go towww.longbeach.gov/elections.

Early Municipal Primary Voting Monday

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BY JONATHAN VAN DYKESTAFF WRITER

The Long Beach Public Library Foundation is again asking city residents to pick up one specific book in March and share the ex-perience of reading together.

“Zorro” by acclaimed author

Isabel Allende was chosen for this year’s Long Beach Reads One Book program. To go along with reading the book, library officials and their partners have scheduled a number of events during the en-tire month to help enrich the ex-perience.

“It started 11 years ago,” said Mary Barton, who is co-chair of the program with Susan Redfield. “I had heard on the radio that Chicago was reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ and then every-body was going to discuss it.” Barton said the idea actually

had started earlier in Seattle. “We figured if those two cities can do it, then we surely could do it,” she said. “A few months later, we announced that we were go-ing to do it and our first book was ‘Tuesdays With Morrie.’ We have two fundamental purposes: One is to promote the fun and value of reading and the other is to show the value of community building that occurs when people start to discuss the same piece of work.” To supplement “Zorro,” there will be at least one or two events each week that are either free or fairly inexpensive. “We’ve had many, many part-ners and groups in the community getting involved, depending on the book we have chosen,” Bar-ton said. “The structure changes just a little bit each year.” Allende was commissioned to write in her style the story of Zorro. She has written 19 books that have been translated into 35 different languages. “It is a fun read with the history of the early days of California

and its approach to statehood,” Barton said. “There is a bit about Spain, the Native Americans and what it was like to live back in those days. The social agenda of Zorro is to fight for justice for the underprivileged using his whit, charm and sword according to the situation.” The month’s events will culmi-nate with a visit from Allende on March 22, where she will speak about her experiences researching and writing the book. Also during the event, the Long Beach Poly-technic High School symphony orchestra will debut an original piece “An Island in Time,” which was composed by Karl Preusser for Rancho Los Alamitos for the opening of its new Rancho Cen-ter. Tickets must be reserved in advance for the Terrace Theater event, which costs a minimum donation of $25 (parking includ-ed). Both of the city’s ranchos (Los Alamitos and Los Cerritos) will be involved to provide some his-

City’s Read One Book Fills March Event Calendar

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BY JONATHAN VAN DYKESTAFF WRITER

New to this year’s Long Beach Reads One Book programming is the activity of geocaching.

Geocaching involves entering coordinates into a GPS device and finding that location. At a minimum, there would be a spot to sign in and date, but many geocaches have little trinkets or toys that can be exchanged as well. There are apps for smart-phones so that people who do not want to invest in a GPS de-vice can still participate.

“Geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt game that people actually have been playing worldwide,” said Di LaPlume, Library Foundation volunteer in charge of the geocaching. “A geocache owner hides a contain-er someplace, any place, uses a GPS device to mark its exact location on the planet and then publishes those coordinates at a website.” The Library Foundation has set up six letterbox-style caches in relation to “Zorro.” There will be clues that need to be decrypt-ed in order to find the definitive location of the caches.

“In geocaching, getting to the right spot is only half of the work,” LaPlume said. “Then you have to look around and find the darned thing, which can be the most challenging part.”

She added that experienced geocachers already have be-gun finding the foundation’s six caches — and officials have been getting good feedback so far. Still, she said that the con-cept really was meant for be-ginners and to get Long Beach residents interested in a new rec-reational activity.

“We’ve tried to make them appropriate for an audience of first-time geocachers, with a sort of teaching environment,” she said. “We want it to be challeng-ing, but not so hard that people will be left frustrated.” Anyone who finishes all six caches will be put into a drawing for a special prize. There will be little trinkets and toys at many of the caches, including objects like pearls or Papel Picado piec-es. For more information on the foundation’s geocaching, visit the website www.lbplfounda-tion.org/geocaching or call (877) 233-6722. The geocaching will take place through March 31.

GeocachingOne BookAdventure

torical context, while showing off new renovations that were finished this year. Other pro-gramming will include public discussions, library forums, geo-caching, cultural activities, book clubs, dance, music, cooking and movie showings — most events are children-friendly. Events are hosted throughout the city at dif-ferent locations. For more information, visit www.lbplfoundation.org/zorro.

(Continued from Page 12)Read One Book

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Aquarius Yoga Open Welcoming its clients to the “Age of Aquarius,” a new, com-munity-centered yoga studio opened this year at 301 Atlantic Ave. Aquarius Yoga, offers classes for all levels of ability. Classes are 60 to 75 minutes long and take place at various times Wednes-days through Sundays. Regular classes are $12, or monthly pass-es are available as well. There’s also a community stu-dio class offered once a week for free, with a suggested donation of $10. The community class takes place on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. Aquarius Yoga owner Jeannine Carter said she wants the yoga studio to provide low-cost ser-vices so that anyone can try the exercise. “A community yoga studio is where I first started doing yoga 20 years ago, and I just always liked that idea,” said Jeannine

Carter. “I’m just happy people are doing yoga. It makes me feel good.” Customers who ride their bike to Aquarius Yoga on Bike Satur-days can get a discount on class-es, too. For details about Aquarius Yoga, visit www.Aquarius-Yoga.com or call 495-8252.

Free Conferences Expand Long Beach-based FreeCon-ferenceCall.com, which is cel-ebrating its 10th year in business, announced last week that it has expanded its services to include free conference calls in Mexico. Founded by David Erickson, the company has grown from a one-man operation to include 60 employees handling 20 million calls per month. According to staff, FreeConferenceCall.com is the largest privately owned pro-vider of conferencing services in the country. The company also serves more than 15 other coun-tries. “Free conference calls are sav-ing businesses and consumers around the world hundreds of millions of dollars every year,” Erickson said in a release. “We are very excited to introduce Mexico to our reliable and high-quality service.” FreeConferenceCall .com, which has offices based at 4300 E. PCH, has a Spanish-speaking customer service representative

available seven days a week. The company offers its services free to consumers — a mix of small businesses, nonprofits, govern-ment agencies, families and indi-viduals, including use by Barack Obama and John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign. To use FreeConferenceCall.com, visit www.freeconference-call.com or call the 24-hour cus-tomer service number at (877) 482-5838.

Leadership On The Move The nonprofit Leadership Long Beach has relocated its of-fices from 3939 Atlantic Ave. to a space further south, 743 Atlan-tic Ave. The new office is shared with PeaceBuilders, a community partner that focuses on violence prevention for young people. Dedicated to cultivating and encouraging individuals to be leaders who make an active effort to improve the Long Beach com-munity, Leadership Long Beach offers learning and networking opportunities for adults and youth to increase their knowledge about Long Beach and surrounding cit-ies. Leadership Long Beach of-ficials said the relocation of the offices would not impact services provided by the organization. “Over the last 18 months, we have maintained a smaller work-ing staff, and we had more unused space in our former location,” Jeff Williams, executive director of Leadership Long Beach, said in a release. “This move makes us even more financially able to serve our alumni and the commu-nity. We’re glad one of our com-

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March 9, 2012 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | PAGE 15

For the second year in a row, the community has raised $190,000 to keep team sports alive in Long Beach’s middle schools.

The Long Beach Unified School District board voted in spring 2011 to end the Middle School Sports program in the 2011-2012 school year as one of a number of cuts necessary to balance the budget. When coach-es, parents and players protested, Superintendent Chris Steinhauser said he would find half of the $380,000 necessary to keep the program going as long as the community to find the other half.

Led by the Long Beach Edu-cation Foundation and its board, that goal was met shortly before school began. It quickly became apparent that the district was go-ing to continue to need help, and the foundation started another campaign, this time with First Lady Nancy Foster (who had played a pivotal role in the first campaign) and Damon Dunn as co-chairs.

And this time the $190,000 was raised by the first week in March.

“This was a huge accomplish-ment,” said Mike Murray, former chair and current board mem-ber for the education founda-tion. “For the second year, we’ve raised $190,000 to save middle school sports and put these young athletes out on the field of play. ”

Under Dunn’s leadership, a committee put together a fund-raising lunch featuring football

stars Ronnie Lott and Sam Cun-ningham and former Stanford Coach Ty Willingham. The sold-out lunch packed more than 200 into the 14th-floor dining room at Keesal, Young and Logan, with all proceeds going to the Middle School Sports fund thanks to sponsorship from Skip Keesal. But the drive couldn’t have been completed without the help of major donors, Murray said. That included an anonymous $25,000 donation, a $50,000 grant from the California Endowment, a to-tal of $25,000 from TABC and Toyota, a total of $15,000 from John Molina and Molina Health-

care as well as a number of in-dividual and family donations in the $5,000 to $10,000 range. One PTA, from Rogers Middle School, also stepped up with a $5,000 donation. “The greatest thing, though, is the way the community stepped up,” Murray said. “We had lots of small donations, from $50 to $5 to look at Ronnie Lott’s Super Bowl rings. Lots of credit goes to Damon and Nancy, our co-chairs, and there was a committee of players. And there’s Judy Seal (executive director of the Long Beach Education Foundation). She makes everything happen.”

Middle School Sports Campaign Hits Goalmunity partners, PeaceBuilders, is able to share space that fits our organizational needs.” For more about Leadership Long Beach, visit www.leader-shiplb.org or call 997-9194.

Free Health Screenings Showcasing newly remodeled Rite Aid Wellness Stores, which feature expanded pharmacy ser-vices and an enhanced selection

of wellness products, the Rite Aid locations at 211 Cherry Ave. and 5670 E. Second St. are both offering free health screenings from noon to 4 p.m. this Satur-day, March 10. Free screenings include cho-lesterol, blood glucose, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and memory impairment. Also, there will be free body mass in-dex readings, blood pressure readings and diabetes risk assess-ments.

(Continued from Page 14)Business Beat

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PAGE 24 | GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS | March 9, 2012