The fabulous (and free) downtown music series that DLBA execs don’t want you to know about

Top officials at the Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBA) have made an unexplained, last-minute decision to keep this Sunday’s Soul Motion Scooter Fest, part of downtown’s Summer and Music (SAM) series, a secret from readers of The District Weekly—perhaps reasoning that exposure to the event’s incendiary mixture of ’60s mod/pop and Latin soul might unleash a volatile chain reaction of ironic retro posing, jerking and frugging; the shaking of groove thangs; and an outbreak of jigginess. Also? Much getting busy.

That’s one possibility—and it is pretty well known that District Weekly readership comprises exactly the kind of people who would raise their hands in the air and wave them as if they had not one iota of concern for the consequences.

But there’s another plausible explanation for the DLBA’s sudden decision last Saturday to override SAM promoter Justin Hectus and break the advertising agreements he had made with The District Weekly —Saturday just happened to be the morning after DLBA President Kraig Kojian received a vote of confidence from the organization’s board of directors—a vote held in a hurriedly called special session, in response to a grassroots petition from businesses and residents calling for him to be fired.

The District Weekly was the first to report on the petition, in an online story on June 4, and had been providing periodic updates ever since—including an eve-of-the-vote analysis of the DLBA’s executive committee, outlining the personal financial relationships that six of the seven members have with the DLBA and/or Redevelopment Agency.

Maybe Kojian didn’t like that?

The petition is rather unflattering, criticizing Kojian’s 10-plus years as head honcho in remarkably straightforward language, with regard to both his job performance and his management style. The 32 businesses that signed it include nearly every Pine Avenue merchant and restaurateur between Fourth Street and Ocean Boulevard, and it is still growing online at savelongbeach.com.

“During [Kojian’s] tenure, the retail and restaurants in downtown have suffered a steady decline,” the petition reads. “The business owners have brought forward their concerns and ideas to improve the situation, and have found Mr. Kojian dismissive, uncooperative and unwilling to take the initiative necessary to implement improvements.”

It’s possible Kojian and other DLBA officials especially didn’t like the connections The District Weekly highlighted among members of the board’s executive committee—whose chairman, Jim Anderson, had said in a prevote telephone interview was strongly supportive of Kojian and the status quo.

Once again, those members and their connections:
• 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 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 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, these 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. In February, Beck’s RDA awarded Appleby and his “arts nonprofit” the Acres of Books site and big-money in development assistance for the “Arts Exchange,” a project which has no private investment—that is, it’s 100 percent taxpayer subsidized.

• 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 works as a part-time contractor for JLOOP, the company that recently received a contract to produce the DLBA’s property inventory Web portal and is among two finalists for another DLBA marketing contract. In fact, Lewis is the chairman of the committee that will decide on that contract.

• Jane Netherton is the president and CEO of International City Bank, where the DLBA keeps its cash—and where 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.

Copies of The District Weekly story were circulated in Friday morning’s DLBA board meeting. Soon after Kojian got his vote of confidence, The District Weekly received news that advertising for the Summer and Music series was canceled.

That doesn’t confirm there’s a connection, of course. Summer and Music promoter Hectus says, “I’m not gonna speculate.” But at least he says something. By press time Monday afternoon, Kojian had not return an interview request left on his voice mail. Neither had board members Anderson, Appleby or Morris.

Meanwhile, the music: It’s going to be good. Sunday’s lineup includes former Beastie Boys keyboardist-turned-boundary-hopping-soundscaper Money Mark, the Animal Liberation Orchestra, the Boogaloo Assassins, the New Fidelity and between-set selects from DJ Dennis Owens of the Good Foot. (Other music events will be held throughout the summer as well.)

And based on the fact that District Weekly readers use musical beats to synch up with the rhythm of Satan’s sonic perversion—hell, that’s knowledge as common as the Russians’ ability to induce remote-control heart attacks, the U.S. Air Force’s plan to computer hack your brain and the mind reading your doctor does with every MRI—the DLBA’s decision to keep Summer and Music a secret may be the best prevention against a demonic infestation of Pine Avenue.

Then again, at least someone would be there.

SUMMER AND MUSIC PRESENTS SOUL MOTION SCOOTER FEST FEATURING ANIMAL LIBERATION ORCHESTRA, MONEY MARK, BOOGALOO ASSASSINS AND THE NEW FIDELITY WITH DJ DENNIS OWENS PINE AVE AND BROADWAY | LONG BEACH 90802 | SUMMERANDMUSIC.COM | SUN 4-10PM | FREE ADMISSION, SCOOTER PARKING AND VALET

Tags: dlba, Kraig Kojian, Long Beach, soul motion scooter fest, summer and music