The seven-member executive committee of the Downtown Long Beach Associates that met this morning to complete its annual performance review of the organization’s president and CEO, Kraig Kojian, has proven it is a group that works well together. Maybe too well?

Wellllll, let’s just say that six of the seven members of the executive committee—the exception: Tony Shooshani, who owns the CityPlace shopping center–has at least one ongoing business relationship with the DLBA, its partner Long Beach Redevelopment Agency or another member of the committee.

In a couple of hours of connecting the dots, here is just some of the monetary cross-pollination that came up among this group:

Craig Beck, executive director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, is both a city employee and a voting member of the DLBA executive committee, as well as the organization’s most powerful stakeholder. Just a few weeks ago, Beck kicked another $430,000 into the DLBA’s coffers, via a vote by the RDA board.

 Jim Anderson of AndersonPacific LLC, the chairman of the DLBA’s executive committee, has partnered with Beck and the RDA to purchase property at Ocean Boulevard and Alamitos Avenue, where they plan to erect the 35-story Shoreline Gateway residential-and-retail tower.

Phil Appleby of Appleby Real Estate brokerage also has a limited liability corporation, Armory Lofts, that the RDA has granted exclusive negotiating rights for property from 825 to 837 Seventh Street. According to an RDA document, those rights can be granted “at the sole option of the Agency’s Executive Director.” That’s Craig Beck, whose signature is at the bottom of the page.

Richard Lewis of East Village Partners LLC, who is wrapping up a development project at Fourth and Linden, is in contact with the RDA about the old Americana Hotel on Third Street. Additionally, Lewis holds a position at JLOOP, the company that recently received a contract to produce the DLBA’s property inventory web portal and is among three finalists for another DLBA contract that will be considered at this morning’s meeting of the downtown marketing task force.

“JLOOP has been around for nine years in Long Beach and Richard has only been involved for the last 6 months as a contractor, currently averaging 4 hours a week,” wrote Jen Christopher, a principle of the company, in response to an earlier post of this story. “While Richard is valued at JLOOP he plays a very small role, does not hold a top position, and does not interact with any of our clients.

“Regarding the DLBA portal website which we are currently producing, we responded to a public RFP [Request For Proposal] and were included in a competitive bidding process. We won the job on our merits and are proud of the work we have accomplished thus far. In addition, it is important to note that we have unsuccessfully bid on several other DLBA projects.”

Another member of the executive committee, Jane Netherton, is the president and CEO of International City Bank, where the DLBA keeps its cash—and the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau does, too.

John Morris, the owner of Smooth’s Sports Grille, is the only member of the executive committee who operates a retail-style business—but even he makes deposits and withdrawals in Netherton’s strongbox.

Except for Morris, who keeps squeaky-wheeling about closing Smooth’s and maybe heading back down to Belmont Shore where he started as a restaurateur, everybody on the DLBA executive committee has done pretty well under Kojian’s presidency.

Odds are, then, that Kojian got a good recommendation from this group, despite the emergence of a grass roots petition by downtown businesses and residents asking that Kojian be fired—and right before this morning’s suddenly called closed meeting of the board of directors to discuss an unspecified “personnel matter” that everybody knows is the Kojian Kontroversy. That meeting isn’t likely to go so well.

Tags: connecting the dots, Craig Beck, Downtown Long Beach Associates, International City Bank, Jane Netherton, Jim Anderson, JLOOP, John Morris, Kraig Kojian, Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, Phil Appleby, Richard Lewis, shoreline gateway, Smooth's, Tony Shooshani