Tues | Jan 15 Mayor Bob Foster gives his State of the City address and tells the folks who’ve paid like $100 a plate that we need money. Somebody get on that.

Wed | Jan 16 Alumnus Terry Rhodes donates $1.25 million to Cal State Long Beach saying the lessons he learned at the school helped him become a very successful lawyer. Rhodes, who graduated from CSULB in 1962, said . . . wait, what? Graduated? People graduate from Cal State Long Beach? In the six years I was there I never once met someone who graduated. Most had their matriculation held up by some bureaucratic snafu or dispute, say with the campus library over a book, perhaps The Joy of Kama Sutra, which was in that condition when I checked it out.

Thurs | Jan 17  Generalness.

Fri | Jan 18 I feel pretty stupid. Last week, I gushed about how well the city responded to the wishes of its residents, those wishes being made clear at a Jan. 10 meeting of the Belmont Shore Residents Association where residents told Parks and Rec officials they wanted them to scrap their plans to move the basketball and handball courts and hockey rink from their present location at Ocean Boulevard and 54th Place to a spot on the beach at Granada Avenue. The officials, Mark Sandoval and Dennis Eschen, were peppered with hostile questions and comments regarding the plan to the point that an exasperated Sandoval finally asked, “Is anyone here for this [plan]?” and received an immediate “No!” to which he said “I think we’re done,” and cheering ensued. Hooray for democracy! Several people followed up with Sandoval to make sure that what he was saying was that the project was dead. Yes, he said, telling the crowd, “If you hear rumors about [the project] I’d be very surprised.” He told me that ultimately the decision lay with his boss, Parks and Rec head Phil Hester, but that Hester “agreed that we didn’t want to do anything for the neighborhood that the neighborhood didn’t want,” adding “Why would we want to fix something the residents don’t want fixed?” Then, yesterday, at a meeting for Third District Councilman Gary DeLong, Sandoval presented the same proposal, saying the move was necessary because of all the complaints from the neighborhood. Of course, just a week earlier a good deal of the neighborhood had not only NOT complained but said specifically they liked the way things were. I asked DeLong if he was aware of Sandoval’s comments at the Jan. 10 meeting and he said he was. I then asked if Sandoval had spoken out of turn. DeLong said, “I wasn’t there so I don’t know how the question was asked. I need to understand the nuances of the question.” Uh, I was there. There was no nuance, just a lot of “Does this mean the project is dead?” followed by “Why would we want to fix something the residents don’t want fixed?” Yeah, why?

Sat | Jan 19 Long Beach held its big Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade and our Theo Douglas was there. You can read his whole account of the day at thedistrictweekly.com, but here’s a taste:

“I found the perfect spot to watch the parade at the northeast corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Nineteenth Street. Also, I had the good luck to be standing right in front of a couple of boulevardiers who lent the scene their own commentary—which was usually priceless. On a gorgeous Southern California winter’s day—nice and hot, the way we like our winters—the first parade entries rounded the corner—police motorcycles circling. Said one of the raconteurs behind me: “Those police just love to ride in circles.” Later came Mickey Mouse, making his first parade appearance sitting on the back of a lifted, metalflake ’66 Impala convertible. “Dang, Mickey Mouse doin’ it!” one of the men exclaimed. “Mickey Mouse is gangsta,” another said. But the best was when the equestrian units turned the corner—wearing western shirts that would have made Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys proud. They rode high-stepping palomino stallions that the announcer immediately remarked on—and the guys behind me picked up on it, too. “Those stallions,” one of the men noted, “are as big as horses.” 

One thing Theo didn’t mention was the mascot for a wonderful cause—Children’s Day. Now, I’m sure it wasn’t anyone’s intention to have a Mussolini-esque looking mascot whose countenance fell somewhere between McGruff and the Hypnotoad (Futurama reference), but there it was. Still, it’s important to remember that children are our future, as well as an excellent source of protein (Jonathan Swift reference).

Sun | Jan 20 Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin of neighboring Huntington Beach cross the finish line first in Anchorage, Alaska, to win the $1 million first prize on TV’s The Amazing Race. On the final leg, Rosales, 23, and Erwin, 22, braved snapping crabs and sheer glacier walls, which made the going slow but still faster than the 405 at Beach Blvd. . . . It’s the pedal on the right, dingus!

Mon |  Jan 21 The Los Angeles Times fires yet another editor for refusing to cut millions from its news budget. Um, could someone tell the folks in Chicago we’d like our newspaper back? Apparently they need money. Somebody get on that.

Tags: belmont shore, bob foster, gary delong, hypnotoad, LA Times, Long Beach, martin luther king jr. day parade, State of the City