Yep. Los Angeles Times reporter Mark Medina takes a crack at Mayor Bob Foster’s muchly-talked about parcel tax in this morning’s paper.
“Foster has tried bolstering support this fall for Measure I, a 35-year $120 parcel tax for all residential and business properties. Stacey Ann Fong Toda, Foster’s deputy chief of staff, said the mayor he [...]

Haven’t decided how you’ll vote on Mayor Bob Foster’s $571 million parcel tax? Better hurry up–you don’t want to be the only person without an opinion.
With the election less than a month away, both sides have their websites up and running–poised to try to convince you either way.
Catch the No on Measure I people here.
Then, [...]

When Mayor Bob Foster talks parcel tax–as he does frequently–the phrase I’ve heard thrown out most frequently to homeowners is “$10 a month.”
As in, this parcel tax will cost homeowners roughly an additional $10 a month or $120 a year. (Commercial property owners may be another story.) But that’s not all it will cost us.
The [...]

It’s official, as first tipped yesterday by a Los Angeles Times blog, the California Heights Neighborhood Association is canceling this year’s tour of homes in the historic district, which would have been its 12th edition.
It’s sad news for those of us in love with the area’s immaculately-restored vintage Spanish-style, Tudor, and California bungalow houses–to say [...]

Literary superhero Ray Bradbury stands up for threatened Main Library, as the vote to keep it open approaches
With a number of our public officials warming to the notion of keeping Main Library open until real, actual plans can be made for its demise, famed science fiction author Ray Bradbury made what could have been a [...]

Mothers, geezers, students and the unemployed explain why we need this place

The large crowd clustered outside the doors of Main Library at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday is mostly just folks–ordinary people—and that comes as something of a surprise, given the city’s claims that Main Library is too big and used only by the homeless.

Not sure why the level of discourse at last night’s city meeting about closing Main Library seemed so high and lively. Maybe it had something to do with the topic, which hinged on our access to knowledge–and with the fact that the discussion took place just a few feet away from hundreds of classic works [...]

It’s officially not official yet. Despite hearing from Mayor Bob Foster, and devoting considerable discussion to the topic, Long Beach Chamber of Commerce hasn’t decided how it feels about Hizzoner’s proposed $571 million infrastructure bond–which will be in our hands and on our ballots in November.
And it may not know how it feels until some [...]