TUES FEB 23 You know, this being February, it’s kind of fitting to look back and see how far we’ve come as a society, which is pretty far. Then again, maybe not. Recently, Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal introduced AB 2199, which aims to repeal a current California law that requires mental-health officials to seek a cure [...]

In case you missed it, the Press-Telegram’s John Canalis spoke recently to our current 54th District Assemblywoman (and former First District Councilwoman) Bonnie Lowenthal about the possibility that the current city council might do something about a lobbyist ordinance, in the wake of the Craig Beck-Mike Murchison debacle.
First question: “Are you feeling vindicated because you [...]

Wondering what good transpired in the City of Long Beach this year?
Well, wonder no more. City Manager Pat West tells the Press-Telegram’s Joe Segura what got done in 2009.
Check it out.

But how much longer will the furor over Craig Beck’s Napa trip really last?
In the wake of last week’s revelations that Long Beach Redevelopment Agency head Craig Beck got a special deal on accommodations during a trip to Napa with powerful lobbyist Mike Murchison, the Press-Telegram reports this morning that Beck is under review, and [...]

Midcentury modern Roberts Department Store meets the wrecking ball Thursday. Don Draper could not be reached for comment
Just when you thought talks to replace Bixby Knolls’ long-vacant Roberts Department Store with a brand new Marshalls might have come to a grinding halt … well, they haven’t.
Demolition begins at 10 a.m. Thursday on the Roberts, long [...]

Opened this week’s edition of The New Yorker to discover a long profile on Elon Musk, the 38-year-old chairman, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, which plans to have top-of-the-line electric cars in full production by 2011—and is considering producing some of them in Long Beach, on the property where Boeing used to make [...]

After debate, city council asks for an update on wooing the automaker

Sometimes even seemingly routine items on Long Beach City Council’s agenda get a thorough airing.
So it was Tuesday with Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske’s request that city staff update her, the rest of the council, and all of us on the city’s progress in [...]

As the city faces a projected $43 million budget deficit for 2010, some residents are wondering if Long Beach should file for bankruptcy

PHOTO by CHIPPIX
Following a recent city announcement of a projected $43.3-million budget deficit for the fiscal year 2010 came a comparison to the economic downturn of the 1930s—an era that brought with it [...]

Officially or not, today must be wetlands day over at the old Press-Telegram.
Firstly, there’s a P-T editorial on the landswap, comparing the, er, swapping of land between the city and ur-developer Tom Dean to the making of sausage–in that both are messy but worth doing, and worth doing right.
Much of the editorial reads like bad [...]

How city asphalt was dumped at the wetlands on Friday, and whether we’re due for a repeat performance.
Remember way back to last Thursday and Friday, when a number of you spotted construction equipment and trucks laden with asphalt on a piece of wetlands which developer Tom Dean had recently sold to 2H Construction’s Sean Hitchcock?