Dept: News
March 10, 2010
Possibly our friendliest city manager ever, Pat West’s reign is clouded by managerial choices
ILLUSTRATION by LUKE MCGARRY
I never met longtime Cerritos City Manager Art Gallucci—back in the late ’90s, when I covered his part of the world—but I always wondered how he’d fare against then-Paramount City Manager Pat West in a no-holds-barred, fight-to-the-death, tango-’til-they’re-sore Friendly-Off. [...]
Tags: city hall, city manager, Craig Beck, Jim McDonnell, Long Beach, Mike Conway, pat west, politics, Tom Dean
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March 10, 2010
Downtown Showdown creator Arthur Wong’s plan to keep this subculture from self-imploding
PHOTO by RUSS ROCA
In a perfect world, the announcement of this weekend’s fixed-gear-themed event on a local fixed-gear message board would have sparked productive conversation. After all, the daylong social at Bixby Park—which will include a BBQ, alley cat race, trick competitions and a [...]
Tags: bicycles, bikes, Bixby Park, downtown showdown, fixed-gears, fixies, Long Beach
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March 3, 2010
Industry professionals gather to hear how 4th+Linden has survived the recession
PHOTO by RUSS ROCA
Everyone likes a good success story—especially if the ink on it is still drying—and so the newly-renovated former SST Records complex at Fourth St. and Linden Ave. played host Thursday night to more than a score of architects, developers and real-estate industry [...]
Tags: 4th+linden, adaptive reuse, city planning, development, Jan van Dijs, Long Beach, sst records, studio one eleven
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February 24, 2010
Try as you might to clear your name, a felony conviction never entirely disappears
PHOTO by JEFFREY R. GOULD
Even with the air on, the conference room is still heating up. The Union Bank building faces west, and 4 p.m. is approaching; and, the audience, still growing, comprises more than 40 ex-convicts. But that’s not exactly why [...]
Tags: crimal records, employment, expungement, felonies, jobs, Long Beach
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February 19, 2010
Give ‘em up!
ILLUSTRATION by LUKE MCGARRY
Four candidates for the 7th District seat on the Long Beach City Council—incumbent Tonia Reyes Uranga and challengers Jill Hill, James Johnson and Jack C. Smith—will debate under press conference-style questioning amid the South Pacific-style kitsch of the Puka Bar on Monday (Feb. 22) at 7 p.m. in the first [...]
Tags: 7th district, Dave Wielenga, Debates At Da' Beach, Jack C. Smith, James Johnson, Jill Hill, Long Beach City Council, Long Beach Press Club, puka bar, Tonia Reyes Uranga
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February 10, 2010
Strip club king Jerry Westlund gets ready for prime-time
PHOTO by JOHN GILHOOLEY
The sexiest man in America?
Any day now it just may be Long Beach’s very own Jerry Westlund, who just may become the star of the next hit reality-TV show—which just may be based on the small empire of strip clubs that he has stretched [...]
Tags: fantasy castle, jerry westlund, long beach grand prix, Signal Hill, strip club
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February 3, 2010
Our elected officials—some of them—talk about whether they’ve toked
A proposition to legalize marijuana will probably be on the November ballot, and—in a sure sign that our attitudes toward the long-illegal devil’s weed may be softening—eight of nine Long Beach City Council members surveyed actually spoke to a reporter about whether or not they’ve toked. (Apologies [...]
Tags: 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia, 7th District Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga, 8th District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, 9th District Councilman Val Lerch, Anne Cramer, Broc Coward, California, cocaine, Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, Fourth District Councilman Patrick O’Donnell, Frank Stoltze, Haight-Ashbury, KPCC-FM, Long Beach, Long Beach City Council, Los Angeles City Council, Mayor Bob Foster, medical cannabis, medical marijuana, Second District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, Sixth District Councilman Dee Andrews, Southern California, Taylor Honrath, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Third District Councilman Gary DeLong, U.S. Coast Guard, Uncle Sam
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January 27, 2010
One man’s two-month, $2,400 standoff with the city over a towed vehicle
Only a few months after coming to town from Malibu, Michael Deuschel is preparing to move out of his small apartment on Freeman Ave.—and more to the point, away from Long Beach. Sixty-four days (and counting) after his pickup truck was towed away under [...]
Tags: bob foster, erik sund, lbpd, Long Beach, michael deuschel, pat west, suja lowenthal, tow trucks
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January 13, 2010
Mobis/Bikestation goes from non-profit to a greener future
PHOTO by DANIEL DE BOOM
For 13 years, downtown’s Bikestation has been a commuter cyclist’s oasis—a nonprofit shop where passing riders could hit the bathroom, fix their bikes, grab some snacks; plus, with a membership, they could park their steeds until riding them home from work.
But change has been [...]
Tags: bikestation, Long Beach, mobis, nonprofit, transit
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January 6, 2010
Deputy City Manager Reginald Harrison discusses his first two weeks as interim head of Development Services
Is now-former Development Services Department head Craig Beck—repositioned as manager of business operations in the city’s Gas & Oil Department after taking a free trip with lobbyist Mike Murchison—a tough act to follow?
Maybe inside city hall. But from the outside, [...]
Tags: Craig Beck, development services, Long Beach, pat west, Reginald Harrison
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