I’m still amazed at the meeting I went to last night in Belmont Shore. Amazed at how quickly nothing happened–and by nothing, I mean a whole lot. So much, in fact, that by the time Marine Bureau Manager Mark Sandoval said “I think we’re done here,” the meeting broke out into the kind of cheering [...]

Lieutenant governor’s office weighs in on 2007 Veterans parade controversy

Remember the 11th Annual Long Beach Veterans Day Parade? So do a lot of people, especially members of the three veterans groups–Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out and Veterans For Peace–who were told they couldn’t march in the Nov. 10 parade. Organizers said [...]

Or twice, I don’t remember exactly. But I’m not proud of it, believing as I do that there are certain businesses – record shops, flower shops, running-shoe stores, breakfast spots and coffee houses — that just ought to be indie operations. But a story in Slate presents evidence that the proliferation of Starbucks (15,000 stores and expanding [...]

P-T editorializes the Gene Rotondo ATM-parking saga
Belmont Shore restaurateur Gene Rotondo’s problems with the ATM at his newly-renovated and reopened Legends sports bar have been well-documented in the Press-Telegram.
It’s just interesting, sometimes, to take a step back and consider what it’s all about–and to wonder how much we’d care about all this if, say, Rotondo [...]

Live bands are headed for the Puka Bar, the Wrigley area’s noted Tiki-style bar at 710 W. Willow St.–including jazz and lounge combos.
But they’ll arrive over the objections of a half-dozen nearby residents, who told Long Beach City Council Tuesday night that the bar is a difficult neighbor even when its visitors are well-behaved.

AND $1.5 MILLION FOR FRANK COLONNA!
Even as they downplayed the importance of their 7-0 vote Tuesday evening, the members of the Long Beach City Council nonetheless set in motion a process that could ultimately result in a $5.8-million bond issue to renovate the alleys behind the Belmont Shore business district–and pay that district’s former councilman, [...]

Former City Council member Frank Colonna may make as much as $1.5 million by selling the city a Belmont Shore parking lot he has for years maintained for the businesses that rent space in a building he owns on the corner of Second Street and Park Avenue.
Two items on the consent calendar of tonight’s City Council meeting set the stage for [...]

Cedric the Entertainer: More observations about everyday life from one of the Original Kings of Comedy. 3&7pm. $27.50-60.
CERRITOS CENTER 12700 Center Court Dr, Cerritos 90703. 562.916.8501; cerritoscenter.com.
Art and Craft Fair: Belmont Shore hosts its art and craft fair which features over twenty five local artists hocking their wares. 10am-4pm.
BELMONT SHORE Various locations. belmontshore.org.