Friday Newsletter Friday

Long Beach Courthouse Developers:

Lankford, Phelps

California Judicial Partners

Balfour, Beatty

The Jury Deliberates

May 14, 2010

 City of Long Beach Memorandum
Working Together to Serve

Date: May 14, 2010

To: Mayor and Members of the City Council

Patrick West, City Manager
From: Suzanne Frick, Assistant City Manager
Subject: Friday Newsletter

And the Winner is….

We are hoping that sometime next week the Administrative Office of the Courts
for the State of California will select the developer for the Long County
Courthouse. This announcement has been a moving target, but it truly appears
that we may actually get to know who the developer is within the next week or
two. We have been a bit concerned that this project could be a victim of the
State budget, but we are told it is still moving forward.

Busy Week for Our SWAT Team

This has truly been a busy week for law enforcement, specifically, our SWAT
Team. As you know, they were called out for the containment at 200 West
Ocean in the Pike area on Monday morning. Additionally, they were very active
in yesterday’s containment for a bank robbery suspect at Woodruff and Willow.

$36 Million Dollars to the State

This week we sent a check for over $29 million dollars to the State of California
from the Redevelopment Agency to help balance the State budget. We will later
be asked to send another check in the amount of $6.5 million dollars for a total
RDA hit of $36 million dollars. There was a conference call yesterday of
Redevelopment Agency Executive Directors from the large cities in California
with the California Redevelopment Association to strategize about what other
steps can be put into place to protect these precious redevelopment dollars.

Scout Project

The landscaping of “Lot 33” (33rd & Atlantic) will begin this Saturday with scout
Ben Eastman leading the project. John Royce from Cal Heights Relief will be on
site to help coordinate. This is a very grass root attempt to beautify a vacant lot
in California Heights with assistance from the Bixby Knolls Business Association.
Hopefully, the vacant lot will be the site of a new Fresh and Easy store soon.
May 14, 2010
Page 2

Planning Enforcement

Planning reviews more than 5,000 discretionary cases a year to ensure

businesses are following their conditions of approval, which range from issues
such as maintaining landscaping and fencing, to installing public art and other
public amenities, to significant issues such as the appearance of a property
(paint, illegal signage, degraded parking lots) so as not to appear blighted. Over
the past two years, this program has successfully resulted in the painting of 10
industrial buildings and 10 commercial buildings, the installation of 175 street
trees with approximately 125 more to be planted, the fixing and restriping of 15
retail centers, the removal of at least 100 illegal signs and banners. This
successful program and its collaborative approach have addressed over 1,500
outstanding conditions of approval at local businesses this year. See the
nd
attached photos of the completed mural at 4801 E. 2 Street.

Busy Weekends

Last week, we had the Bike Fest, which raised over $60,000 for Miller Children’s
Hospital with our inaugural 30 mile “Tour of Long Beach”. The new event at
Retro Row on Sunday was also a success. This weekend, of course, will feature
the Pride Parade and Pink Party.

Memos to the Mayor and City Council

We sent up the following memo(s) to the Mayor and City Council this past week:

• Responses to Questions from the March 23, 2010 Special City Council
Meeting
• Parks, Recreation and Marine Department’s June – August 2010
Recreation Class Guide Recreation Connection and “100 Days of
Summer” Promotion
• The Toledo Utility Undergrounding – Preliminary Official Statement
• Invitation to Public Works Employee Recognition BBQ Luncheon 2010

PHW:am
 2nd Street Mural
BEFORE

AFTER