SUN SEPT. 23: PARK(ING) DAY LA by DANIEL DE BOOM

Tues | Sept 18 Lakewood is getting itself a brand new Costco, so congratulations all of you who require mayonnaise by the pallet or prefer your Stephen King by-the-pound. And congratulations to the city of Lakewood, which according to the most excellent LBReport.com managed to attract the Big Box without having to offer a lot of tax rebates that would end up taking money away from its residents. Lakewood don’t play that. So every dollar spent at Costco, whether it’s on railway car-sized banana bread or Otter Jerky Pops, will find its proper way back into the community. Of course, some cities do offer such tax incentives, some cities which go by the name of Long Beach. For years it’s been local policy to offer tax rebates to national retailers, the thinking being that that is the only way to attract them. But Lakewood never offers tax incentives and has attracted more than its share of big name stores. Consider that Costco, in 2008, will take its place in the Lakewood Center alongside such retail heavyweights as Macy’s, Mervyn’s and Target. But, it was just a couple weeks ago that Dave Wielenga asked Long Beach’s incoming city manager, Pat West, if he supported continuing tax breaks to attract businesses. West said, “If it means getting a business opportunity that the community and the city are really excited about and want, sometimes it’s necessary.” Lakewood disproves that while Long Beach proves that if businesses know there is a tax incentive if only they demand it, guess what? They do . . . By the way, did you smell that?

Wed | Sept 19 The California State University Board of Trustees votes to increase the salaries for university presidents 11.8 percent. They say the increase is necessary to attract top talent and that they have been turned down by some candidates because they don’t pay enough, so Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander will now make $320,000. But explain something to me. If the problem is that the money they pay now has not been enough to attract the talent they want, why are they raising the amount of money they pay to the talent that would settle for the money they did offer?

Thurs | Sept 20 The Long Beach Unified School District, one of five finalists for the Broad Prize for Public Education, loses out to grand prize winner New York City. New York will get $500,000 in college scholarships while Long Beach and the other four finalists get $125,000 a piece. It’s believed New York got the nod because of improving test scores among students and lowered recidivism rates among teachers. Typical of New York braggadocio, the city’s Public Advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, gushes: “New York City still maintains dismally low graduation rates, especially for black and Latino students, and the Department of Education has failed to engage parents. If we are No. 1 in terms of achievement, it’s pretty sad news for the rest of the nation.” Oh, get over yourself.

Fri | Sept 21 Well, if it’s Friday, it must be time for another embarrassing disaster at Cal State Long Beach’s Department of Journalism. Let’s see, a week ago it was the news that the department’s student newspaper, The Daily 49er, would only be publishing online, something pushed by Liberal Arts Dean Gerry Riposa. The idea was opposed by Journalism Chair William Babcock, who met with Riposa this morning and the two of them agreed that reasonable minds can disagree. Wait, no they didn’t, they met and Riposa busted Babcock down from his position as chairman. One professor, quoted by The Daily 49er—online—said they weren’t entirely sad to see Babcock go, but that “this is not how it should happen—too totalitarian.” Yes, something a little more totalitarian-light, you know, with all the tyranny but only half the despotism. Now, lemme see that I get this straight. They wanted to get rid of the school paper because it costs too much money to produce but they want to spend more money on attracting administrators to a school that won’t pay to give students the tools they need to learn and then removes a department chair fighting for his students to get those tools? And what was that smell the other night?

Sat | Sept 22 Staying with things that reek, theories about the cause of that smell vary from rotting blue whale carcass to South American meteor strikes to District Managing Editor Ellen Griley’s staunch contention that it had something to do with zombie aliens (also from South America). Of course, zombie aliens are Ellen’s explanation for everything: global warming, political unrest, why she keeps stealing stuff from that old lady’s closet. Anyway, we’ve asked our intrepid gal Sarah Bennett to make a few calls and find out stuff.

Sun | Sept 23 Local photographer Daniel de Boom e-mails us this photo from Friday’s Park(ing) Day LA. Billed as a commentary on “the lack of quality open space in American cities,” the mission of Park(ing) Day LA—which saw some 40 demonstration sites, from Long Beach to Eagle Rock to Westwood—was to “reclaim public space over-occupied by parking spaces [in favor of use for] parks and people.” That’s all very well and good—and organizers tell us it was a success—but what we really want to know is: Why is that man strangling that puppy?

Mon | Sept 24 Okay, here’s what Sarah found out when she looked into Stenchgate. One, the fire department reported three dispatches to three separate addresses for stank but the firepeople all came back without finding any reason for the smell. So Sarah asked the police if they’d found out anything and the police told her they don’t investigate smells though they will show up “if there is a dead body.” So, I think we can all rest easy now. Wait . . .

Tags: daily 49er, f. king alexander, lakewood, puppies