grunion gazette 03-22-12

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VOL. 35 NO. 12 MARCH 22, 2012 Follow us on

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CSU FREEZES SPRING ADMISSIONS ........... Page 4A

OCEAN BOULEVARD DELAYS ..................... Page 8A

CONGRESSIONAL CUP RETURNS ............... Page 9A

BROADWAY MEDIANS NEED PLANTS ......... 0A

ONE YEAR AFTER PLANE CRASH ............... Page 15A

A PINCH OF SALT ........................... Page 2A

EYE ON ART .................................. Page 22A

BUSINESS BEAT .............................. Page 24A

PROFILES IN DINING ....................... Page 25A

MUSICAL NOTES ............................ Page 26A

BY ASHLEIGH OLDLANDEDITOR

Second Street will be a choco-late lover’s paradise this Saturday during the Belmont Shore Choc-olate Festival & Spring Sweets event, which is in its eighth year. In exchange for tickets, about 30 participating businesses on Second Street are serving up a variety of chocolate treats as well as other sweets, from “Royal White Chocolate High-Tops” (or cupcake sandwiches) at Frosted Cupcakery to chocolate-inspired (no cocoa added) dog treats at Pussy & Pooch. For restaurant owners, the Bel-mont Shore Business Association event is a chance to showcase

their best desserts and cuisine to new customers that might return for a meal in the future. For re-tail merchants, the event brings in new walk-by traffi c and expo-sure. “This is one of the best events of the year,” said Jill Pharis-Yeak-el, owner of Sweet Jill’s Bakery. “I like to see new faces and ex-citement in the shore with all the people walking from one place to another looking in windows.” Sweet Jill’s doesn’t make a profi t on ticket sales from the Chocolate Festival, but she said that isn’t really the point — the point is attracting potential new customers and participating in a family-friendly event that brings

the community together for a few hours. For Frosted Cupcakery, the event also is a chance to promote some of Frosted’s Easter products and remind customers to come back to the business before fi lling their Easter baskets. In previous years, when the event took place before Valen-tine’s Day, Frosted used the day to promote products for that holi-day, as well. At Apostrophe Books, owner Valerie Kingsland said this is the fi rst time her bookstore is partici-pating in the Chocolate Festival. Apostrophe has partnered with Chocolate Dove Discoveries to

Street Sweet On Chocolate

(Continued on Page 30A)

—Gazette fi le photoHOW SWEET. Some extra chocolate is sprinkled over the top of a Homemade Chocolate Dessert Contest entry last year.

BY HARRY SALTZGAVEREXECUTIVE EDITOR

Daryl Supernaw has lived in Long Beach all his life and been involved in community affairs for a good part of that time. Now he wants to serve his hometown as the next Fourth District City Councilman. Supernaw, 60, has been mar-ried 32 years to the childhood sweetheart he met at Buffum Elementary School. His father was a fi refi ghter with the Long Beach Fire Department for near-ly four decades. “Not only have a lived in Long Beach, but I’m a lifelong Fourth District resident,” Supernaw said. Some people know him as the man who spent two decades trying to, and ultimately suc-ceeding in, covering the Ather-ton Ditch along Atherton Street. Supernaw said that tenacity and his business background, coupled with his longevity in Long Beach issues, make him the best candidate. He faces incumbent Patrick O’Donnell, who is running a write-in cam-paign, and retired Long Beach Police Sgt. John Watkins. “With the dire economic times our city is facing, I felt compelled to bring my business background and mindset to the

FOURTH DISTRICT

LifelongResidentOn Ballot



Isabel Allende fi rst met Zorro through a black and white televi-sion series in her childhood home of Chile. It took the hope of meeting An-tonio Banderas to convince her to renew that acquaintance in 2004, when Zorro Productions came to her with a proposal to revive the 100-year-old folk hero. “When they fi rst approached me, I wasn’t very interested,” said the renowned author, who has published seven other novels and

three memoirs, plus three chil-dren’s books. “I don’t write on commission. But then I started re-reading and watching the movies, and I fell in love with Zorro all over again. And I thought if I did it, maybe I’d get to meet Antonio Banderas!” Allende was born in 1942 in Lima, Peru, and raised in Chile. She was forced to fl ee that coun-try in 1974 when her uncle, Presi-dent Salvador Allende, was assas-sinated. She lived in Venezuela for the following decade, working as

a journalist and author, before moving to America in 1984. She now lives in California with her husband, Willie Gordon. Allende’s “Zorro” is this year’s Long Beach Reads One Book selection, and she will appear tonight, Thursday, at the Terrace Theater to discuss her work in support of the Long Beach Li-brary Foundation. One of Allende’s better known novels, “Daughter of Fortune,” was set in the early California Gold Rush days, and historic fi c-

Allende Marks Long Beach With A “Z”

(Continued on Page 28A)ISABEL ALLENDE

—Gazette photo by Geronimo QuitorianoMarlene Hurtado was named the winner of the Long Beach Giving Project Sunday. Story on Page 6A.

GIVING IS RECEIVING

BY JONATHAN VAN DYKESTAFF WRITER

With the Long Beach Rescue Mission’s winter shelter clos-ing its doors last week, offi cials said that some of that homeless population would fi lter back onto the streets — but it’s diffi cult to tell whether those populations around the city have increased, decreased or stayed steady since the last homeless counts took place about a year ago. According to LBRM’s Presi-dent and CEO Jim Lewis, the shelter served 1,065 homeless people this last winter season. To get an idea of the complexity of the situation, Lewis said that of those people, 13 were placed

in other emergency shelters, 23 into transitional housing, two into detox and 12 into permanent housing. Of the 30 families that sought help from the shelter, fi ve transferred to other emergency shelters, fi ve went into transition-al housing and 10 got into perma-nent supportive housing. “We fi nd that the majority of the people utilizing the winter shelter are repeat clients over the years, and many are those who will only come off the street into a shelter during inclement weath-er,” Lewis said. “As the number of clients cycle according to the timing of general relief and other forms of welfare or disability

HOMELESS BACK ON STREETS

Shelter Closes AsSeasons Change


A | GRUNION GAZETTE | March 22, 2012GAZETTE COMMENTARY

Chance to ChangeTo The Editor, Attributed to Rita Mae Brown in her 1963 book “Sudden Death,” is the quote: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting differ-ent results.” This quoted insanity has domi-nated the political landscape, both in California and Washing-ton D.C., for many, many years. Every election cycle, we are

asked to return John or Jan Q. Politician to Sacramento or to Washington D.C. As evidenced by the continued fi nancial messes and gridlock in both capitals, I’d say the electorate is guilty of in-sanity on local, state and the na-tional level. There are candidates on our 2010 mid-term ballots that are new and different regardless of party. In some cases that candi-date is running against an incum-

bent, or, in other cases, for an open seat with distinctly new and different ideas. Ideas that they will be held accountable for to enact into law. Instead of blindly voting along party lines, look at what a can-didate with a new perspective would bring. This opportunity is happening countrywide, bringing fresh candidates to the chase. Many voters look at the elec-

Don’t call the offi ce looking for me this week — I won’t be there. Oh, I’ll be in town. But I’ll be busy wearing another one of my hats — the one that says I Love Parks on it. The region-wide California Park & Recreation Society con-vention is in town. Technically, it is called the California & Pa-cifi c Southwest Recreation & Park Training Conference, and it draws professionals and advo-cates from Arizona, Nevada, even Hawaii. I’ve been a Long Beach Parks and Recreation Commissioner for going on 11 years now, and have had the good fortune to attend several of these state conventions. I’ve also experienced a couple of national conventions, which was a real treat since Long Beach was being honored as the best Parks and Recreation Department in the country. Why should you care? Well, outside of knowing that you’re probably safe from me for a few days, your city representatives are there with me, learning how to make a better city with fewer resources. That fewer resources has, sadly, been a primary topic at literally every convention I’ve at-tended. Cities across our region, across our country, are facing the same budget squeeze Long Beach has suffered for the last decade. Sometimes it’s a bit better, and sometimes it’s a bit worse, but rare has been the parks and rec-reation offi cial who is looking to fi nd ways to spend more money. We’re going to go through the same thing again this year. Our city fathers and mothers at 333 W. Ocean already are debating budget scenarios, all of which involve another round of cuts in

the Parks, Recreation and Marine (and every other) Department. The real question is not whether, it’s how much. Here’s the mantra I’m guaran-teed to hear over and over this week, and one I want you all to remember: Parks and Recreation are Public Safety, too. You can add libraries to that mantra if you like. The libraries certainly will. The concept is pretty simple, and has been proven over and over again. It’s called prevention. Recreation programs provide the alternative, particularly the after-school alternative, to gangs, drugs and all that other bad stuff our police departments are forced to handle. Having parks, particularly parks with organized, super-vised recreation opportunities, has proven to be a powerful crime-fi ghting tool where crime begins — with our youth. It is a cost-effective approach, too. One recreation leader with a ball can engage 20 or more youths. Com-pare that to two cops arresting one gang-banger. Those activities don’t even need to be overly organized. Can you say skate park? The skate-board godfather, Mike Donelon, can offer some eye-popping fi g-ures about how a neighborhood skate park can eat into crime sta-tistics. But all that good recreation takes at least a little nurturing. Community centers with locked doors are criminal opportunities, not crime stoppers. A shabby

park, skate or otherwise, with lit-tle maintenance breeds contempt, not healthy bodies. I’m not saying we should sup-port parks and ignore police. Far from it. A one-legged stool falls down no matter which leg you cut off. But when there are no options to gangs for socialization, no alternatives to drugs for experi-ence, no outlet for energy outside of trouble, we are creating a situ-ation where the need for police becomes greater and greater. You’ll need far fewer cops to hold up the stool of public safety if you have a strong prevention leg sharing the job. To be fair, I think that many of our city leaders understand this philosophy. Police Chief Jim Mc-Donnell has been known to utter the phrase prevention is impor-tant too. Eighth District Coun-cilwoman Rae Gabelich, who is currently leading the charge to take money from other depart-ments to give more to the cop shop, continues to say that parks and recreation are part of public safety. The question is, how big a part? I truly wish that I could con-vince some of our decision mak-ers to hang out with me this week. I think they’d gain a new understanding of the importance of parks and recreation. We often call this work the toy department of municipal government — we do the feel-good things. But we do the important things, too. Maybe I’ll be able to better ex-plain that next week, when I put the green eyeshade hat of news-paper guy back on. See you then.

In our reporters’ ongoing series of interviews with candidates, no matter what the offi ce being sought, the politicians invariably ask one question — “Do you en-dorse?” The answer, just as invariably, is “No.” That response has become more popular in recent years, but we’re still in the small, small mi-nority when it comes to media in general and newspapers in par-ticular. An endorsement from the local newspaper long has been one of the top feathers in most successful politicians’ hats. We don’t mean to belittle the importance of endorsements. On the contrary, the endorsements a candidate goes after, and those they play up, can tell a lot about how they will react when they are in offi ce. It’s a pretty safe bet that those folks who put labor union en-dorsements on the front of their fl yers are going to lend a sym-pathetic ear to labor issues. By the same token, an endorsement from the Chamber of Commerce usually signals what is known as a business-friendly attitude. Voters are left to decide exactly what those categories mean for themselves. Party endorsements usually are less revealing. After all, the can-didates, even in non-partisan rac-es like the City Council and the school board, are seldom shy in announcing what political party they are affi liated with. Of course, there’s the situa-tion where you have more than one member of the same party running for the same seat. It hap-pens in primaries, and it happens in those previously mentioned nonpartisan races (which seldom are truly nonpartisan). Those en-dorsements say one thing — the establishment backs one candi-date over another, or one wing of a party (think Long Beach Lam-da Club) prefers this Democrat over that one. That can be either a good or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. Personal endorsements may be of the most value, at least in terms of helping voters decide who to support. Those endorse-ments usually come from people with a track record, and they typ-ically endorse people who are of a like mind on the most important issues. So if you like how Poli-tician A has been doing the job, chances are you’ll be okay with endorsed Politician B, and vice versa. But in all these cases, you are

dealing with personalities as well as affi liations. It can be tough to understand the motivations for an endorsement. Worse, there might be hidden — or not so hidden — reasons for an endorsement: a promise for a job, support for future positions, etc. Believe it or not, that union expects that poli-tician to remember who backed them when it comes to negotiat-ing that new contract. So what’s in it for the news-papers that endorse candidates? As far as we can tell, not much. For the most part, those edito-rial boards are trying to do what they do the other 364 days of the year — offer advice to their readers based on the information they have. Less talked about, and hopefully less frequent, are the endorsements designed to show how much power a paper has to sway the outcome of an election. We are not interested in the later, we’re not to confi dent about the value of the former and we’re loathe to get involved in the whole personality issue. So, short of having a truly dangerous can-didate with the ability to severely harm the community if they win, we’ll be leaving the election de-cisions to you.

By the way, that doesn’t mean we don’t have an opinion. Of course we do. But we see the election of representatives as ul-timately an exercise in personal trust, and see no reason to get in the middle of that process. There are a couple of excep-tions to this rule, just like there are to any rule. Most importantly, we will always weigh in when is-sues are involved. It’s our job to research those issues, whether it is a tax increase for schools or the legalization of marijuana, and we do feel qualifi ed to provide rea-soned arguments to vote one way or the other in those cases. The other caveat is, as men-tioned above, when we think that a candidate could do irreparable harm if elected. That’s only hap-pened once in the Gazette’s 37+ years of existence. Finally, we will offer one elec-tion recommendation. Vote. Ex-press your opinion. We will, on our ballot. Unless you do, too, your voice has been lost.

No EndorsementsFrom Gazette Board


“We see the election of representatives as ultimately an exercise

in personal trust.”

Parks’ Public Safety Value Key

March 22, 2012 | GRUNION GAZETTE | PAGE 3A

tion and say, “my elected repre-sentative is fi ne, change the rep-resentation in the other district.” That is the insanity mentioned above. Do some research, read en-dorsements from trusted sources and vote to end the insanity. On the other hand, if you are too lazy to do the research, stay home on Election Day. You could be voting for something you don’t want.

Jim MitchellLong Beach

Honor Term LimitsTo The Editor,

TERM LIMITS have been vot-ed on repeatedly by the citizens of Long Beach. Besides creating the actual ordinance, there have been no less than three failed attempts by incumbents to over-come the spirit of term limits. The reasons for term limits are

numerous. And, considering the shape of our City’s budget and

loss of services to constituents, a new 4th District Council per-son could provide refreshing in-sight into our state of affairs.

Diana LejinsLong Beach

Fair Parking?To The Editor,

Those of you who have re-ceived tickets on street sweeping day in Long Beach might be in-terested to know that, if you have a handicapped sticker on your license plate, you can ignore the street sweeping days and not get ticketed. In this particular case, the per-son owning the vehicle not only does not live on this block and

would have had to walk a dis-tance to her residence but arrived late in the evening making a lot of noise and disturbing the resident whose house she parked in front of. Then, to make matters worse, she leaves this car past noon on street sweeping day so that the street cannot be swept. Does this make any sense? What kind of handicap must this person have that would allow her to drive a vehicle but not be able to move it on street sweeping day from in front of a residence where she does not reside? Does anyone check on the validity of these handicapped li-censes?

Deborah BartonLong Beach

A public celebration of life re-membering Nini Horn is sched-uled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, at the Steve and Nini Horn Center on the campus of Cali-fornia State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellfl ower Blvd. Horn passed away on Feb. 21, after her long battle with breast cancer. She was the wife of the late Congressman Steve Horn and a supporter of the arts community in her own right. She was 80 at the time of her death. During her life, she served on boards of the California Com-munity Foundation, the Greater Long Beach Community Foun-dation, Family Service of Long Beach and the Todd Cancer In-stitute at Long Beach Memorial Center. In addition, she chaired the committee that proposed de-segregation guidelines for Long Beach Unifi ed School District in 1979 and chaired the Public Corporation for the Arts board. RSVPs are requested to 985-7536 or by email to [email protected]. Free parking will be available in Lot 3.

Public CelebratesNini Horn’s Life

(Continued from Page 2A)

a | gRUNION gaZeTTe | March 22, 2012

By Step hanie MinaSian

Staff Writer

a new $200 million trigger cut is threatening to hit the Cali-fornia State University system if Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative to provide more state revenue to California public schools fails to pass in the November election, officials said Monday. this potential hit will require the entire CSU system of 23 campuses to cancel spring 2013 admissions, with the exception of community college transfers who are part of legislation SB 1440, which allows about 500 of these transfers to attend one of eight CSU universities next spring. those eight campuses ac-cepting these exceptional spring transfers include San Bernardi-no, Los angeles, San francisco, east Bay, Sonoma, Channel is-lands, Chico and fullerton. “this has been an ongoing saga of cuts for several years,” said assistant Vice Chancellor of Budgets robert turnage. “if the CSU waits to see what hap-pens with the election before re-action, it will be too late to close the gap that has opened up in the budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year.” if the tax initiative does not pass, between 20,000 and 25,000 students will be cut from enroll-ment — a 3% decrease from its current enrollment numbers. this is in lieu of further tuition increases, officials said. “i think its clear that the tol-erance around the state for fee increases is not there,” he con-tinued. “No one seems to like fee increases. it comes down to either revenue or spending. ei-ther you increase revenue, or if you’re unable to that, then you cut spending. this is what cut-ting spending an additional $200 million entails.” across all of the CSU campus-es, there are currently 417,000 students enrolled. the decrease will cut down its population to about 392,000. On top of the ad-mission freeze for spring 2013, all student applicants applying for the 2013-2014 school year starting in the fall, will be wait-listed until the outcome of the November election is known. these student applicants will receive notification on the sta-tus of their admission in Janu-ary and february 2013, turnage said. if California voters pass the governor’s tax plan, the uni-versities will enroll its original number of students as planned. “there is still time for things to play out,” he added. “We have several months before we see final legislation on the budget. there’s a great deal of uncer-tainty in many respects around the governor’s budget, but the fact that we’re facing a $200 million trigger cut tells us that there’s no guarantee that this couldn’t grow.” Last year, the CSU system was hit with a $750 million cut, but, if the tax plan passes, university budgets won’t fall further.

CSU FreezesSpring 2013Admissions

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An opinion last week from the state Fair Political Practices Commission has cleared the way for Susan Wise, president of the Long Beach Harbor Commission, to participate in a decision about where to move the Port of Long Beach’s headquarters.

Wise, who is an attorney, re-cused herself from any headquar-ters discussions last year, when port officials were negotiating to purchase the World Trade Center complex. Wise has an office in the Trade Center building, as does her husband, and City Attorney Robert Shannon recommended that she avoid potential conflict of interest charges by staying out of the debate. But when the commission deadlocked 2-2 on the decision whether to purchase the prop-erty, World Trade Center owners Legacy Partners appealed to the FPPC for a formal ruling on the potential conflict. The state panel declined to rule on the third party request, but indicated that they would review the matter if Wise asked directly. That request was made on Wise’s behalf through the city attorney’s office. A lengthy reply that was dated March 12, in essence, said Wise was free to participate in all port headquarters discussions, even those involving the World Trade Center. “The port is developing the process to decide what path to take,” Wise said last Thursday. “I haven’t participated in the past in what we should do, but now I will participate in the process.” In the hearing on Oct. 10, 2011, that resulted in the first tie vote over purchasing the World Trade Center, attorney Skip Keesal ar-gued that the Harbor Commission should instead consider moving to his Union Bank Building and/or build a new headquarters as part of his proposed development in downtown Long Beach. No decision was made then or on Nov. 7, when the same 2-2 vote (Thomas Field and Nick Sramek in favor of the World Trade Center, Doug Drummond and Rich Dines opposed) ended the due diligence period for the deal with Legacy Partners. The commission then decided to start the process over under new Exec-utive Director Christopher Lytle. “We’re in the process now with

a staff committee working with a real estate consultant,” said port spokesman Art Wong. “We’re reviewing some of the selection criteria now, then we’ll start look-ing at potential property… We’ve pretty much started at the begin-ning.” Wise said that she has delib-erately avoided researching the headquarters issue before now due to the decision to recuse her-self. That work has begun, she added. “I think everything is on the table,” Wise said. “I’m not that familiar with the process yet, but I believe we’re more defining the criteria now.” Port officials began efforts to create a new headquarters more than two years ago. The current building is overcrowded, officials say, and faces seismic issues. Consideration of a downtown

headquarters has been in the works for a year, after Mayor Bob Foster vetoed a Harbor Commis-sion plan to build a new head-quarters on port property near the current seven-story administra-

tion building. That building had been budgeted at about $220 mil-lion, in addition to a $80 million maintenance facility being moved to make way for the new Gerald Desmond Bridge. The mainte-nance facility is moving forward on port land. Lytle has made mov-

ing headquarters by the end of the year a priority. “That means that we’re going to have to make some decisions in the next few months,” Wong said. “They made a report to the commission this week, and will continue updates weekly.”

Wise Can Vote On Port Headquarters


Shaking with enthusiasm, Mar-lene Hurtado couldn’t control her smile or her tears on stage during the Long Beach Giving Project hosted by the nonprofit Commu-nity Action Team. “This experience is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life,” Hurtado said Sunday night during the Giving Project presentations at Bay Shore Com-munity Congregational Church. “Giving aligns you with a higher power… It is so important not just for others, but also for our-selves. I wish I could do this ev-ery day.” Hurtado, a single mother and college student who volunteers regularly for organizations such as the Lakewood Sherriff’s De-partment, Homeless With Dogs and CAT, was named the best giver in the fifth annual com-petition where ordinary people from the Long Beach community are chosen to receive $1,500 to spend on individuals in need.

Giving Project participants had one week to identify needs in their community and purchase gifts to best help at least three different individuals in need. Hurtado’s gifts included hy-giene kits for women at the Men-tal Health Village in Long Beach, five tents for homeless people and lunch for a homeless man and his daughter. Because of the good deeds she performed with her $1,500, Hurtado was awarded an addi-tional $1,000 to spend on other worthy causes. Besides Hurtado, there were eight other competitors vying to become the year’s best giver. Eliot Freutel purchased a com-puter for a student in need. Jen-nifer Kumiyama bought lunch for homeless children at Precious Lamb Preschool. Jeanette Neu-mann replaced damaged books in a classroom at Washington Middle School. Beatriz Nieves created and delivered supplies to homeless people. Dan Reback paid for prescription eyeglasses for two people in need. Israel Ro-driquez purchased groceries for families in low-income neigh-borhoods. Traci Shoblom pur-chased a bus pass for a student who was walking three miles to school. And, Tamara Trujillo cre-ated Easter baskets for children who otherwise might not get a visit from the Easter Rabbit. This was the fifth annual Giv-ing Project hosted by the Com-munity Action Team.

PAGE 6A | GRUNION GAZETTE | March 22, 2012

Giving Project Inspires

Emergency sewer repairs are slated for a stretch of Ocean Bou-levard, which began to affect traf-fic this next week, officials said.

Work began on Monday, March 19, for the area of Ocean

Boulevard between Elm Avenue and Long Beach Boulevard. Con-struction teams are expected to work between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., every day of the week, until April 5.

The work is necessary to enact emergency repairs to sewer infra-structure in the area. Officials said that drivers should expect delays due to the construction work and lane clo-sures. During non-construction hours, two lanes of westbound traffic are expected to be open. Traffic impacts include: • For westbound traffic onOcean Boulevard between Elm Avenue and Long Beach Bou-levard — both inside lanes will be permanently closed. During construction hours only, one lane will be open and during non-con-struction hours two lanes will be open. Also, access to the Westin

Hotel from Ocean Boulevard will remain open. • For eastbound traffic onOcean Boulevard between Elm Avenue and Long Beach Boule-vard — no lane closures except for the left-hand turn lane onto northbound Elm Avenue. •The left-hand turn lane fromwestbound Ocean Boulevard onto southbound Elm Avenue will be closed. • During construction hoursbuses will not be picking up or dropping off passengers at the bus stop in front of the Westin Ho-tel, but during non-construction hours operations are expected to resume.

PAGE 8A | GRUNION GAZETTE | March 22, 2012

Emergency Repairs Cause Ocean Boulevard Delays

Police are still searching for two Belmont Shore robbery sus-pects after an incident early last week. The Long Beach Police De-partment received a call at about 10:15 p.m., Tuesday, March 13, that two women were robbed near the 100 block of Nieto Av-enue, said Nancy Pratt, LBPD public information officer. According to investigators, the two women were walking in the area when they were ap-proached by two male suspects — one had a firearm. The suspects threatened the women and demanded that they hand over personal items, which included money and electron-ic devices. They then fled the scene. No one was injured dur-ing the incident. The suspects have been de-scribed as two men with dark complexions and each was about 18 to 20 years old. One was be-lieved to be about 6 feet tall and the other was about 5’ 7” tall. The investigation is ongoing and police are asking anyone with information on the incident to call LBPD Robbery Detective Steve Trentini at 570-7464. Anonymous tips can be left through the website www.Tip-Soft.com.

—Jonathan Van Dyke

Shore RobberySuspects StillSought After

A FAUX PAINTER



International sailing stars will converge on Long Beach’s big-gest and most community-friend-ly sailing competition of the year next week. This will be the 48th year for the Congressional Cup, which is presented by the Long Beach Yacht Club. It will host some of the top ranked skippers in the world.

“There are a lot of traditions involved with it and it is taken very seriously,” said Rich Rob-erts, press officer for the cup. “We have about 300 volunteers help-ing from the club.” The festivities begin from March 22-24, with the Ficker Cup qualifying event — the win-ner fills out the 10-team bracket of the Congressional Cup. The rest of the competitors for this year’s race will be Ian Williams (ranked No. 1 from Great Brit-ain), Johnie Berntsson (ranked No. 7 from Sweden), Laurie Jury (ranked No. 11 from New Zea-land), Staffan Lindberg (ranked No. 14 from Finland), Eric Mon-nin (ranked No. 15 from Switzer-land), Simone Ferrarese (ranked No. 17 from Italy), William Tiller (ranked No. 19 from New Zea-land), Taylor Canfield (ranked No. 27 from the U.S. Virgin Is-lands) and Gavin Brady (ranked No. 324 from New Zealand). Williams won the event last year and has returned to defend his championship. The winner receives the coveted Crimson Blazer. The Congressional Cup re-ceived its full name in 1964, when Rear Commodore Bill Dalessi

persuaded Congressman Craig Hosmer and Senator Tom Kuchel to sponsor official legislation en-dorsing the name. For about the last 20 years, the race has been known for its Catalina 37 boats, which organizers said are prime for sailboat racing. “They’re built like tanks or the SUVs of sail-racing,” Roberts said. “They’re taken very good care of. They aren’t that fast, but most importantly, they’re all equal.” Because of the equality of the boats’ construction, they are suit-ed to compare skipper skills. The unique match play components of

the races make the cup even more cerebral, he added. For the Congressional Cup, each skipper must race one-on-one against the other nine skip-pers twice. The top four skippers with the best round-robin records move onto the semifinals and then the final two square off in a final — both of which are best two-out-of-three races. “All you have to be is faster than the other guy and using bet-ter tactics,” Roberts said, noting that head-to-head wins matter, not overall times. “It’s a more aggressive race, since you don’t have other boats to care about

other than the guy you’re racing against.” Part of the small-town feel of the race is attributed to the fact that skippers stay with local fami-lies and there are many events during the week to make them feel like part of the community. From 5 to 10 p.m., on Friday March 30, there will be the Sail and Savor, which includes a number of area restaurants serving sample-sizes on the Belmont Veterans Memo-rial Pier. From 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, March 31, there will be a vendor expo at the pier. Racing days take place start-ing at noon each day from March

27-31. Spectators are encouraged, Roberts said, and there is parking and grandstands at the pier. “They’ve done everything they can to make this easy for people to watch the race,” he said. “You can actually come away with some understanding with what the race is all about. The skippers love it because they get to connect with an audience.” Visit www.ConCup.com.

Skippers Set Sail For Congressional Cup WHAT: Congressional CupWHEN: March 27-31 (times and events vary)WHERE: Races viewed from Belmont Pier COST: Free to watch

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A | GRUNION GAZETTE | March 22, 2012


Broadway residents between Park and Nieto avenues are meet-ing tonight (Thursday) to talk fundraising tactics and logistics for landscaping the recently con-structed Broadway center medi-ans.

The more than $1 million con-struction phase of the project is complete — including traffic striping, overlaying asphalt pave-ment (using 15% recycled mate-rial, including recycled rubber from old tires) and construction of concrete curbs, gutters and sidewalks.

Meant to beautify the street as well as slow traffic, the proj-ect was paid for through funding from the Federal Gas Tax, with no impact on the city’s general fund. However, the project does not include a budget for plant materi-als in the medians, which means that the community — through

donations and volunteering — will need to fill the medians now that construction is complete. Broadway resident Mike Du-Ree, who also serves as Long Beach’s assistant fire chief, has been a champion for the project. He is helping to lead the effort to raise between $25,000 and $40,000 to finish the medians. The cost for the landscaping will depend on how much labor is done by volunteers and how much is done by hired professionals. “We want a more neighbor-hood feel, and we want to slow traffic,” DuRee said about him-

self and other area residents. “It has taken a number of years to get to this point, and we are excited to create a more safe environment and beautify the neighborhood.” Belmont Heights Neighbor-hood Association President Dianne Sundstrom said the neighborhood has been talk-ing about constructing medians along Broadway for more than a decade. The Belmont Heights Neighborhood Association is col-lecting and holding the donations for the landscaping project; more than $3,000 has been raised so far, including a $2,500 donation from Signal Hill Petroleum. Third District Councilman Gary DeLong is hosting the pub-lic meeting about the landscap-ing at 6 p.m. tonight at Lowell Elementary (5201 E. Broadway). His office has been working with DuRee as well as other residents and the Belmont Heights Neigh-borhood Association to see the project through to completion. “There was never a funding

Residents Look For Broadway Funding

—Rendering courtesy Mike DuReeREADY FOR PLANTING. This rendering shows the potential overhaul of Broadway between Park and Nieto avenues.



BY JAQULEEN LARSONSPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE

On the eve of the Ides of March, Peter Frampton did in-deed “Come Alive” for a packed house of devoted fans — and me, an observer of the madness and convert by his encore. Let me emphasize something: this man filled the Terrace Theater in Long Beach. On a Wednesday.

Walking in, I was amazed to see four radio stations broadcast-ing from outside the venue, end-less lines at an endless number of pop-up bars, and a definitive age gap that separated me from, well, everyone else. The show had already started by the time I got to my seat. Framp-ton had the feeble but fit body of an aged rockstar. He flailed rhyth-mically on stage while he proved he could still punish a guitar. His fans never doubted that he lost his stuff. When the lights from the stage were bright enough

to cast a glow on the audience, I saw it in their faces. I was sur-rounded by the Class of ‘75 who sat transfixed by their rock-n-roll god. Rows and rows, levels and levels of middle-aged faces mes-merized by Frampton’s melodies and synth-y solos. The screen behind the band was illuminated with images from Frampton’s younger days. Snap-shots of recording sessions, tour buses, festival performances, and old bandmates faded in and out, educating me and helping others to reminisce. I would get lost in the photo montage and forget that the man himself was standing eight rows in front of me. Frampton would often break from a two-song set to swap his guitar, take a sip of English tea, and chum it up with the audi-ence. When he started back up, he seemed to be singing his songs to the audience, his family and friends, by sharing a smile, a

point to the crowd, or an inflec-tion in his voice that let the fans know he was talking to them and the years they’ve shared. By the encore, couples began trickling out to beat the crowd in the parking lot or get home to the sitter. But Frampton played on.

Women flocked to the stage, rocking and remembering a time when this had all happened be-fore. Their spouses were sprin-kled throughout. They stood by, entertained but nowhere near as enthralled. I left while things were still

tame. There is no telling the de-bauchery that went down in the hours that followed. I felt that time was sacred. Something special only to be shared with Frampton and his family. They came alive.

Frampton Dazzles Packed Terrace Theater Crowd

source for landscaping,” DeLong explained.

“That is something the com-munity needs to come together for… This is a wonderful com-munity, and I think people will step up and get this done

“The government cannot do everything. This project would not, could not happen without the residents stepping up and helping. We are looking for vol-unteers and resources for the medians. We cannot accomplish

this project without community volunteers.” The city will pay for mainte-nance of the landscaping in the medians, once it is installed, but DeLong said that cost should be minimal because the project calls for drought-tolerant, low-growth vegetation that will require little maintenance. Those interested in contribut-ing to the street median land-scaping effort are encouraged to contact the Belmont Heights Neighborhood Association or the Third District Council Office. Go to MyBelmontHeights.org.


Broadway


BY STEPHANIE MINASIANSTAFF WRITER

The man who once jammed with the Beatles and helped to im-port Eastern music to the Western hemisphere, Ravi Shankar, is set to bring his renowned Indian mu-sic to Long Beach this weekend. Shankar, known for his talent as a Sitarist, will perform a con-cert benefitting the Ravi Shankar Foundation at 7:30 p.m., on Sun-day, at the Long Beach Terrace Theater, at 300 Ocean Blvd. George Harrison once de-scribed the 91-year-old musical ambassador as “the Godfather of world music.”

“I was the first one who started to bring music abroad and bring it all over the world,” Shankar told Gazette Newspapers. “Because I could explain and talk about it, I became very popular” Shankar has worked as a com-poser and musician for nearly six decades, and has penned violin-sitar compositions for Yehudi Menuhin, written music for flute virtuoso Jean Pierre Rampal, Japan’s Shakuhachi player Ho-zan Yamamoto and for Russian Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich. Shankar also is known for his col-laboration with composer Phillip Glass.

His system of playing music is thousands of years old and is learned through a teacher called a guru. “Unlike Western music, which is written down, we depend on learning it through a guru,” Shan-kar said. “We follow this age-old system, and at the same time, we dwell upon ragas (the melodic mode in Indian music). There are hundreds of thousands of ragas — some with more detailed scales.” He said that some of these ra-gas are happy, some are festive and others depend on the time of day and the season. “This is the main melody, which

is very, very rich,” he added. “We dwell upon what we call melody forms, known as tala, which are three beat, four, and five beat cy-cles. It’s a very complex system, but, even if you don’t understand, it can be very interesting and hyp-notic.” When the 1960s rolled around, Shankar was invited to play three concerts for the younger genera-tions at the Monterey Pop Festi-val, a concert for Bangladesh and the 1969 Woodstock Festival. “I met a number of musicians who became friends of mine and helped me a lot,” Shankar said. “They became my students in 1966, during a time when pop and rock music was coming up very strong. That brought me to the younger generation in America.” Some of his awards and honors include 14 doctorates, the Bharat

Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan, Desikottam, Padma Bhushan of 1967, the Music Council UNES-CO award 1975, the Magsaysay Award from Manila, two Gram-my’s and the Fukuoka Grand Prize. The musician’s foundation was founded in 1997 to archive his works, on top of being a re-source for others interested in, or researching Indian music. The foundation also is aspiring to build libraries, classrooms, per-formance spaces and art galleries in California. During this weekend’s perfor-mance, Shankar will be accompa-nied by a few of his students, who also will play sitar, the flute and a one-piece drum from South India. Tickets start at $35. Call (800) 745-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com.

World-Famous Sitarist Ravi Shankar Plays In City

Belmont Shore Businesses will be offering an array of Chocolate Treats for all Chocolate lovers along with other Spring Sweets to satisfy every sweet tooth!

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sponsored by Musical Theatre WestTicket Books $10/12 ticketsTicket Books $10/12 ticketsTicket Books $10/12 tickets

Delectable Chocolate TreatsHomemade Dessert Contest

Hof’s Hut Chocolate Pie Eating Contest

Delectable Chocolate TreatsDelectable Chocolate Treats

Hof’s Hut Chocolate Pie Eating ContestHof’s Hut Chocolate Pie Eating Contest

Saturday, March 24, 2012, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.


BY STEPHANIE MINASIANSTAFF MINASIAN

The 27 applicants vying for the empty District 5 seat at the Long Beach Unified Board of Educa-tion were narrowed down to three final candidates on Tuesday. Independent educational con-sultant Nancy Manriquez-Dow-ell, administrator Maria Wil-liams-Slaughter, and homemaker and volunteer Diana Craighead, were chosen as the final three by the board. A decision for the definitive candidate will be made at a spe-cial meeting at 9 a.m. tomor-row at the district office at 1515 Hughes Way.

“We’re proud that 27 people applied for this position and that the screening and interview pro-cess has been very transparent,” said Christopher J. Steinhauser, superintendent of schools for the Long Beach Unified School Dis-trict. “The result is that we have three outstanding finalists who

were interviewed publicly today. District 5 and the entire school district will be represented well.” Once appointed, the new board member would complete the re-minder of the District 5 term — set to expire in July 2014. The District 5 seat includes East Long Beach and Lakewood, with Mil-likan and Lakewood high schools set within the district. Manriquez-Dowell, who has resided in District 5 for 27 years, said she decided to apply for the position after seeing her three children go through the district during the last 19 years. She has worked as an employee, a parent and a volunteer at LBUSD. Williams-Slaughter also has seen her children learn at LBUSD schools, and has worked as a Vol-unteer in Public Schools, as well as for the LBUSD Drop-Out Pre-vention Committee, the Twain Leadership Council, the Parent-Teacher Association and for Con-cerned African American Parents.

Craighead’s two sons have graduated from Wilson and she currently has a daughter in 10th grade at Millikan. She has been involved on the LBUSD budget advisory committee, the health

advisory council, A through G College Entrance Requirements committee, EPIIC committee and the Academic Success Advisory committee. This seat became vacant on Jan.

25, when board member David Barton resigned to health reasons. The rest of the five-member board decided Feb. 7 to fill the vacancy by appointment, rather than host a special election.

Education Board Candidates Narrowed To Three

Long Beach’s Favorite Community Newspaper


A newly formed organization, Compete 4 Causes, is hosting a 5K Run/Walk that will allow participants to select their own charity. The run/walk starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 24, on the

campus of California State Uni-versity, Long Beach. Compete 4 Causes is a non-profit dedicated to raising support and public awareness for chari-ties, while also seeking to pro-

mote fitness and wellness. Registration for the 5K is $25, while the Wellness Expo is free. To register and select charities, visit the website www.Compete-4Causes.org.

Run/Walk Lets Participants Choose Causes

The Wilson High Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) is hosting an e-waste and paper shredding fundraiser from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 24, at Wilson, 4400 E. 10th St. TVs, VCRs, office equipment

and rechargeable batteries will be accepted, among other specific electronic devices. And, there will be a paper shredding truck on site. For more information, call the phone number 201-1027.

Wilson PTA Hosts E-Waste Drive

—Gazette photo by Jonathan Van DykeCubberley Elementary students have their heads shaved last Fri-day for St. Balderick’s Day to raise money for cancer research.

SHOWING SOLIDARITY



The tragic small plane crash a year ago that took the lives of five men had few silver linings — but emergency officials said they were proud of the response that resulted in one survivor. At about 10:30 a.m. on March 16, 2011, a twin-engine Beech-craft King Air that took off from the Long Beach Municipal Air-port’s Runway 30 abruptly turned around and crashed near Runway 25. The accident took the lives of Thomas Dean (Naples), Mark Bixby (Long Beach), Jeff Berger (Manhattan Beach), Bruce Krall (Ladera Ranch) and Kenneth Cruz (Culver City).

Miraculously that day, fire-fighters were able to pull out Long Beach resident Mike Jensen from the plane.

“In this case, specific to that incident, we had two or three fire-fighters who were standing right out in front of the station, and they had just completed training at the airport,” Long Beach Fire Department Deputy Chief Mike DuRee said. Fire Station 16 faces airport grounds, DuRee noted, and those firefighters saw and heard the crash.

“Our response time was instan-taneous,” he said.

Within about 60 seconds, fire-fighters had mobilized the special apparatus at Fire Station 16 and began to douse the plane with water and foam — there also was 150 yards of fire stretching on grass behind it that they would eventually suppress.

“If there is anybody in there, we have to knock down the fire at the plane first,” DuRee said. Fire Truck 11 arrived within several more minutes and its crew was tasked with going through the smoke and getting into the plane.

“They actually went in when the fire was still very much going on at the front end of the aircraft,” DuRee said. “They opened up a big hole on the side of the fuse-

lage with metal cutting tools and physically pulled the plane open and went inside looking for survi-vors.” The part of the plane they cut out was right at the back of the passenger part of the plane and firefighters quickly identified a passenger they believed was still alive — transporting him as quickly as possible to a local hos-pital. DuRee estimated that the bulk of the fire suppression and action occurred within five minutes of the crash. “I don’t think I can ask, as a chief, for any better levels of performance — all their training came into play that day,” he said. Jensen, who is a broker with Pacific Retail Partners, was treat-ed at the UCI Burn Center, and he was at one point on a ventilator. In a touching moment, he gave a speech about Bixby that cham-pioned his enthusiasm for many different projects that impacted the city — including his love for bicycles — during the January Celebrate Downtown event. Jen-sen presented a Spirit of Down-town Award to the Bixby fam-ily — wife Theresa and children Ryan, Kirra and Jessica. “The Long Beach Airport along with its family of employees, vol-unteers, tenants and friends are very sensitive to the community tragedy that occurred on March 16, 2011,” Long Beach Airport Director Mario Rodriguez said in a statement. “Our heartfelt condo-lences to the families and friends of those who were involved re-main ever present with us still to-day. “We are very proud of every-one’s immediate and professional response to the incident and the collaborative nature that all par-ties demonstrated throughout the process under extreme and diffi-cult circumstances. Long Beach Airport’s number one priority remains the safety and security of all passengers, employees and visitors at all times, and the air-port continues to operate at the highest levels of safety in accor-

dance with the Airport Emergen-cy Plan.” The National Transportation

Safety Board is conducting an investigation on the accident, but it has not released the report yet

— at the time of the crash, it was estimated an investigation would take between 12 and 18 months.

Fire, Airport Officials Reflect On Crash Anniversary

March 22, 2012 | GRUNION GAZETTE | PAGE 17APAGE 16A | GRUNION GAZETTE | March 22, 2012

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Two candidates will be going after the Fourth Area seat on the Long Beach City College Board of Trustees, with the election set for April 10. Third year incumbent and Board President Doug Otto is up against Wilson High School mathematics teacher Davina Keiser.

Otto, a private practice attorney, husband and father of five, said he has decided to run for a third term on the board to continue to push to make community college ac-cessible to students during these

tough economic times. “Higher education and commu-nity college education is an im-portant battlefield for the future of California,” he said. “The jobs that will be available by 2020 require an increasing number of college graduates. We won’t be successful unless community col-leges succeed.” To keep students on track, Otto helped formulate the Long Beach College Promise and College Pathways program, which starts this fall. “The College Pathways is a learning community of more than 1,000 qualified Long Beach Uni-

fied School District students,” Otto explained. “They receive testing, an ori-entation and priority registration. The goal is to increase the num-ber and pace of local students’ college completion by increas-ing academic preparation in high school. It’s about aligning to col-lege expectations and providing supportive educational pathways for all students towards their goals.” The Long Beach College Prom-ise starts with LBUSD youngsters in fourth grade, and they will make a promise to work towards the goal of attending college. The students who complete the requirements and maintain a 2.0 GPA will receive a free semester at LBCC and guaranteed admis-sion to California State Universi-ty, Long Beach, if they complete

the necessary coursework. Since joining the board of trustees in 2004, Otto said that one of his proudest accomplish-ments was working as the chair of the Measure E bonds campaign, which was approved by voters in 2008 by 72%. The bond allowed the college to gain $440 million for new construction and renova-tion of both the Liberal Arts and Pacific Coast campuses. With budgets slashed across

the state, Long Beach City Col-lege has faced serious cutbacks in the last few years, including a 7% decrease of funding from the state. LBCC also announced a $3.5 million mid-year cut, with an expected $5 million reduction on its way next year. Keiser is set on bringing her knowledge and experience of working in the Long Beach Uni-fied School District for 30 years. The Long Beach native and married mother of two said she understands budgets quite well. In her role as treasurer of the Teacher’s Association of Long Beach (TALB) for six years, Keiser helped turn a $400,000 deficit into a $250,000 reserve by looking at the budget with a “fine-toothed comb.” “I understand budgets,” she added. “I’ve served on our bar-gaining team negotiating con-tracts, and so I know from a teacher’s standpoint. I’m used to working collaboratively … you don’t always agree on everything, but you find a compromise that’s least harmful to all the stakehold-


Otto, Keiser Look To Grab LBCC’s Fourth Area Seat

DOUG OTTODAVINA KEISER


Residents of Long Beach help people all year through a variety of activities. Listed below are the results of some projects, as well as opportunities to reach out.

The YMCA of Greater Long Beach is a finalist to receive funding from the LIVESTRONG Program to bring the program, which offers support to those dealing with cancer. The public will determine which organiza-tion receives funding through on-line voting. To vote, go to http://vote.livestrong.org/vote2012/

applicants/182-ymca-of-greater-long-beach. The deadline is Fri-day, March 23. This year’s Miller Children’s Hospital Auxiliary Fashion Show raised $40,000 which be used to support the Pediatric Emergen-cy Department, which is a 24-hour facility for infants, children and young adults. Year round the Long Beach Rescue Mission helps the home-less and less fortunate through its programs and its two facilities: The Samaritan House for men

and the Lydia House for women and children. They can always use contributions for their Easter meals as well as donations for the rest of the year. Visit LBRM.org. Rogers Middle School Music Department is gearing up for its Spring Scholarship Dinner/Concert on March 30. They’re looking for donations of money or items that can be used for their electronic auction. The deadline for auction donations is March 23. Call 597-7896 or send an email to [email protected]. A screening of “Halloween Party” to benefit the National Coalition of the Homeless is at 9 p.m. Saturday, March 24, at the Art Theatre, 2025 E. Fourth St. The film was shot entirely in Bel-

mont Shore by local filmmakers. A donation of $15 is suggested. The Long Beach Police De-partment Foundation will spon-sor a team in the annual Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay that starts on April 21. They’re look-ing for donations to support their participation in the race. Visit www.lbpolicefoundadtion.org. The foundation encourages pub-lic-private partnerships to support public safety. Donations for raffle prizes are being accepted for the Sixth An-

nual Brain Cancer Fundraiser in Memory of Hank Zavaleta, which takes place April 26. Call (714) 743-2567. A five-bedroom, 4,800 square-foot home is the ultimate prize in the Dream House Raffle hosted by Special Olympics Southern California. The winner can take the house or $1.5 million in cash. There also will be more than 100 other prizes. The final deadline is May 18. For tickets, call (800) 816-6108, or visit www.sosc.org.

ers and will benefit the most.”She has been involved with

several committees, including LBUSD’s strategic planning committee, the high school teacher council, the CTA State Council, Communications Com-mittee, Long Beach College Promise Symposium, and more.

As a high school teacher, Keiser said that she has had sev-eral former students, who have gone on to LBCC, complain about the lack of classes and re-sources, which is one of the pri-orities Keiser has set to tackle.

“They don’t want to see their dreams dashed,” she said. “We need to really look at funds or basically keep cuts from hitting the classrooms.”


Otto, Keiser



Wilson High School is “kicking off its Sunday shoes,” and going “Footloose” this weekend, with a performance of the famous musi-cal Friday and Saturday.

Musical Theatre West (MTW) stepped in in January to assist Wilson in producing “Footloose” the musical by providing them funding and a professional team to bring the show to life. The show is directed and cho-

reographed by K.C. Gussler and musically directed by Bret Sim-mons. Last year, MTW collabo-rated with Wilson to produce its first musical in ten years, “Grease,” which saw strong sup-port, according to MTW Execu-tive Director and Producer Paul Garman. “I try to find shows that involve students,” Garman said. “They are very excited, and from what we’ve found, their talent has in-creased. The students have the opportunity to work with sea-soned professionals and we help them with the technical aspects.” The cast of “Footloose” con-sists of about 35 Wilson students, including crewmembers and per-formers. MTW picked up the $25,000 tab for the production costs, with help from fundrais-ing efforts from the students and a grant from Los Angeles County

Supervisor Don Knabe. Most of the money donated by MTW is raised through its Educa-tion and Outreach Program, with the collaboration stemming from MTW’s Footlighter’s Scholarship program. Last year, the Footlighters hosted its scholarship auditions to give away five $1,000 schol-

arships for students aspiring to perform in the arts. Many of the Wilson students auditioning men-tioned that their school had not produced a musical in a decade, despite having a musical theater club on its campus. “I saw they had no musical the-ater program in the high school,” Garman said. “They did have a club, but they didn’t do musicals, despite having 100 members. We wanted to see what we could do to help.” “Grease” opened for a two-day showcase to large crowds last year. This year, Wilson students ral-lied together to fundraise $5,000 themselves with carwashes and restaurant nights to offset some of the costs of the show. “We supplied Wilson with a professional team and picked the expenses,” Garmin added. “This year, we supplied part of the set, and the students designed and built the rest of the scenery.” With the success of “Grease” and the anticipation of “Foot-loose,” many Wilson students have broadened their love for the performing arts by participating in MTW’s summer youth conser-


Wilson Students Star In “Footloose”

—Photo courtesy Musical Theatre WestMOMENT ALONE. Niccole Finn and Eliezer Berdugo play Ariel and Ren in the Wilson High School production of “Footloose.”



Can a poet be a rock star?Derrick Brown, poet and presi-

dent of Write Bloody Press, has tried during his 17-year writing career to answer that question in the affirmative. This Friday, he will be performing a bit of a fare-well show, reading from his latest poetry book and showing off part of a recent documentary.

“I’ve always been trying to bring poetry back into rock and roll status — where it’s as easy to go and enjoy a poetry show as it is to go to a concert or movie,” he said. “The days of long open mics and stoic features from authors are over. Fun book readings that can also be meaningful and pow-erful are taking over.”

Brown said he might be most

well known as the “poet who opens for all those rock bands.” Before musicians like the Cold War Kids, Delta Spirit and Flam-ing Lips took to the stage, Brown was tasked with entertaining the audience. The documentary “You Belong Everywhere” will take a look at his experience opening for the Cold War Kids in Europe — he will show excerpts of the movie at the event. “We’re doing one final show with one of my favorite bands in Two Guns and we’re taking to this venue that’s never really done a poetry event,” he said, noting the venue First Congregational Lib-eral Social Justice Church, 241 Cedar Ave. Brown’s father worked the naval shipyards in Long Beach during the 1970s and 1980s and

Brown himself went into the army as a paratrooper after gradu-ating high school. “When I got out, I fell into po-etry — I had no idea I would be drawn to a poor-man’s craft like that,” he said. So in order to get his work in front of more audiences, Brown said he worked on making the ex-perience and buildup more like a concert — creating fancy posters and fun T-shirts for merchandise. The performances became very important, and they helped sell books, he said — which led to the formation of his Write Bloody Press, which has operated out of

Long Beach for about a decade. For now, he said, he is hang-ing up the art form and moving to Austin, Texas. There, he will help his father with their property and start a 10-year mission to become a playwright. This Friday, he said, the focus will be on his first love poetry.. “I often say that prose is like a slow strangle that is effective

in reaching you, but poetry is a bullet and a fast kill in that it can move you with one line,” he said. “I’ve always been drawn to that sort of attack.” The free event takes place at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 23, at First Congregational Liberal So-cial Justic Church, 241 Cedar Ave. For more information, visit www.brownpoetry.com.

vatory workshops. “The students have been very good at helping to support Mu-sical Theatre West,” he added. “They’re learning to give back. I think it’s wonderful to support our future stars, and help to pro-vide aspiring young talented with chance to perform.” “Grease” continues this week-

end at the Wilson High School Furjanik/Sandberg Auditorium, at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Tickets may be purchased online at www.musical.org or by phone at 856-1999 ext. 4. Tickets can also be purchased from noon to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, at the Musical Theatre West Box Office, located at 4350 E. 7th St. General admission tickets are $10. Or, reserved seating tickets can be purchased for $20.

Poetry, Rock, Mold Derrick Brown’s Farewell Show

(Continued from A)

“Footloose”


BY JULIAN BERMUDEZARTS WRITER

With the discovery of the Uni-versity Art Museum’s (UAM) “Collections Kiosk” — a new

digital archive of the museum’s holdings available to the pub-lic on site or online — curiosity arose about other online resourc-es of Long Beach museums.

After a few short keystrokes and clicks, a virtual art fair was revealed, illustrating this city’s historic and world-class cultural treasures. Using the same web interface software as the UAM, the Long Beach Museum of Art’s (LBMA) “Collections Online” is similar in function and navigation. Easy to use and iPad-ready, LBMA’s “Collections Online” features a collection overview and intro-duces visitors to many important collections given to the museum over the years. Significant works by early Eu-ropean Modernists such as Alexej Jawlensky, Vasily Kandinsky, Ly-onel Feininger, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Oskar Fischinger were given by “The Milton Wichner Collection.” Contemporary American and

Latin American artworks given by “The Wilma and Roland Du-quette Collection” include artists such as Peter Alexander, Charles Arnoldi, Billy Al Bengston, Wil-fredo Lam, Jose Clemente Oroz-co, Carlos Merida, Michael Todd and Francisco Toledo. LBMA also boasts works by Karl Benjamin, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Shoji Hamada (a preeminent 20th Century Japa-nese ceramist and folk artist), and furniture by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. Aside from specific collec-tions, visitors can search LBMA’s holdings in many ways — artists, subject/theme, period, medium, region and/or style; with sub-cat-egories including religion, nature, food, sculptural, functional and decorative. Although not as flashy or slick

as other museum web sites (and only available online), LBMA’s database is rich with information, making it a worthy tool for both research and pleasure. While the Museum of Lat-in American Art (MoLAA) is no stranger to conceptual and groundbreaking exhibits, its on-line presence is somewhat lim-ited. When exploring MoLAA’s col-lection online, visitors will find information about its permanent collection along with a slideshow (with basic tombstone informa-tion) featuring eight works from its near 900-item inventory; Mo-LAA’s “Spotlight” features new acquisitions, including in-depth information about the artist and artwork. The “Artist Listing” is a veri-table “who’s who” within Mo-LAA’s collection and includes the likes of Javier Arevalo, Fernando Botero, Vladimir Cora, Kcho, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Rufino Tamayo and Francisco Zuniga. Approximately 40 artists listed are given links to pages providing in-depth information about the artist, but not necessarily images to their works. Given MoLAA’s exhibits — oftentimes visual powerhouses — and its sophisti-cated, modern-looking web site, it’s surprising to see the lack of interactivity online, especially as the museum positions itself into an international institution. Still, something is better than nothing. And, while the neither UAM, LBMA nor MoLAA has a per-


Museums Showcase Collections Online


First Congregational Church Choir Performs “Requiem” “Requiem” by Gabriel Faure will be performed by the First Congregational Church Choir at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 25, at the church, 241 Cedar Ave. The choir will be accompanied

by a chamber orchestra and Dr. Mark Dickey on a 70-rank Moller pipe organ. Three finalists from the Long Beach Mozart Festival also will perform: pianist Quenna Nguyen,

pianist Audrey Jaehee Yim and soprano Alyssa Wills. The event is free and open to the community. There is a sug-gested donation of $15 at the door.

fect online presence, the fact that these institutions have placed their collections online shows the importance of offering greater visibility of themselves and the artistic movements they repre-sent to the larger world.

Hopefully, each museum will evolve their product and, in turn, revolutionize art online. To access LBMA’s Collections Online database, visit www.lbma.org and click on the “Online Col-lections” tab; to see a sampling of MoLAA’s collection, visit www.molaa.org and click the “Collec-tion” tab.

(Continued from A)

UAM

—Gazette photo by Jonathan Van DykeOBSTACLE ENERGY. Minnie Gant fourth graders participate in their Jogathon which raises money for school programs.


Easter Comes Early The Easter Bunny is going to hop into Lil Devils Boutique on Fourth Street this Sunday, March 25 — taking time away from pre-paring egg baskets to make a pre-Easter appearance. Lil Devils Boutique, which is a

children’s specialty store for ap-parel, accessories and gifts, is lo-cated at 2218 E. Fourth St. along Retro Row. The store is hosting the rabbit from noon to 4 p.m. Photos with the Easter Bunny cost $5 per sitting. For details, call 439-0555.

Prime Time Business Giving Long Beach’s busi-nesses an opportunity to high-light their services and any job openings available, “Prime Time For Business” segments started Tuesday night at the regular Long Beach City Council meeting. One local business each month (rotating through each of the council districts) has the oppor-tunity to make a five-minute pre-sentation during the third council meeting of each month. The City Council will select the business-es; business owners interested in the program should contact their councilman or councilwoman. “This is the least the City Coun-cil can do to show local business-es that we appreciate that they are doing business in Long Beach,” Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske said in a release. “These businesses not only pro-vide tax revenue, they provide jobs and community services that

sometimes go unnoticed. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy.” The first business to take ad-vantage of the opportunity at City Hall Tuesday night was Baja So-nora, a Mexican restaurant with two locations in Long Beach (in both the Fifth and Seventh dis-tricts). The business, which has operated in Long Beach for 14 years and has donated more than $30,000 to local schools, spon-sors parent-teacher association Mondays and donates 10% of purchases made every Monday to any PTA selected by custom-ers. The restaurants are located at 2940 Clark Ave. and 3502 Atlan-tic Ave. “Prime Time For Business” is a pilot program that will run through December, highlighting one business in each of the coun-cil districts. At the end of the pilot program, the City Council will evaluate the program and con-

sider permanently continuing the segment.

Molina Center Unveiled In December 2011, Molina Healthcare, Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Mo-lina Center LLC, had closed on its acquisition of a 460,000-square-foot office building at 200 and 300 Oceangate in downtown Long Beach. The building, better known as the Arco Towers, consists of two conjoined fourteen-story of-fice towers on approximately five acres of land. This Friday, March 23, Molina Healthcare is celebrat-ing the renaming of the towers with the reveal of new signage for the Molina Center. The unveil-ing ceremony, set to take place at 2 p.m., officially introduces the new name for the towers. For the last several years Moli-na Healthcare has leased approxi-mately 155,000 square feet of the 200 Oceangate tower for use as its corporate headquarters and also for use by Molina Healthcare of California, its California health plan subsidiary. The purchase price of the building was $81 mil-lion, which was paid with a com-bination of cash on hand and bank financing at closing. At the time of the acquisition, Mario J. Molina, president and chief executive office of Molina Healthcare, said that the purchase of both towers would mean Mo-lina Healthcare headquarters will have room to expand into both 200 and 300 Oceangate. “We need to continue to grow right here in Long Beach,” he said. “We just felt we needed ad-ditional space. We were going to run out of space eventually. This will allow us to keep everyone in the same space, which is a beau-tiful location in downtown Long Beach.”

March 22, 2012 | GRUNION GAZETTE | PAGE 25AHEALTH & BEAUTY

BY LARRY HILLRESTAURANT WRITER

Dragon Café, 2417 E. Anaheim St., 439-1887. Hours: Open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. for lunch and dinner. Location: Located near the in-tersection of Junipero and Ana-heim. Street parking is available. Food/Drinks: Appetizers in-clude Egg Rolls, Satay, Nura Kem (salty dried beef), Fried Wontons, Shrimp wrapped with Bacon, Stuffed Chicken Wings and Thai hot wings. Soups offer-ings include Wonton Soup, Hot and Sour Shrimp Hot Pot, Chick-en and Coconut Soup, Thai Boat Noddle Soiup, Fish Soup and Spicy Seafood Soup. Salads include Larb (spicy chopped beef or chicken), Grilled Beef Salad, Shrimp Salad and Green Papaya Salad. Seafood dishes include Apple Trout, Gar-lic Shrimp, Spicy Catfish, Spicy Squid and Fried Talapia. Chef’s choices include Orange Chicken, Chop Suey, Short Ribs, Thai BBQ Pork, Crispy Pork with Curry Paste, Thai BBQ Chicken, Pork Chop and Beef with Broc-coli. There are curries of every type: red, yellow, green, Kung Pao and Panang. They are available with different meats or vegetar-ian. And to round out an already diverse menu there is Pho: rare steak, well done flank, tendon, fat brisket, chicken and seafood. Noodle and rice dishes round out the menu. There are choices like Pad Thai, Pad-See-Ew, Spicy Noodles with Crab, and Spicy Chow Mein with noodles and shrimp fried rice, Thai pineapple fried rice and combo fried rice. Atmosphere: The dining room is clean and spacious with booths lining the walls and a few tables throughout the dining room. The Taste: Jennifer and I stopped for a midweek repast. Jennifer is not particularly en-amored by Asian fusion eateries whereas I find them intriguing. She’d rather them do one thing well where I find choice far more interesting. We started with Nura Kem, dried salty beef. It’s not overly salted, instead more a brined beef like kosher chicken. It’s then mar-

inated with Thai spice and a bit of coconut milk, it seems. The beef is oven dried, but not overly so. It retains a beef texture as opposed to jerky, but it has some tooth. It is marvelous. It comes with a lime dressing for dipping. Jennifer ordered Larb, spicy sliced beef Thai salad and Spicy Chicken Fried Rice. She took one bite of the larb and pronounced it fantastic. It was very spicy. She was most impressed and after a few more bites said it was the best she’d had in Long Beach — high praise indeed. The beef had a nice crunchy coat of crushed peanuts.

The salad had a nice tang of lime, a bit of sweetness from the onion, crunchy lettuce and some heat. The spicy fried rice was exactly that. As Jennifer said, if you ask for heat in a Thai eatery, you’d better be prepared for some zing. Dragon Café is not afraid to add some spice when asked for. They trust the diner knows what they want. Jennifer thought the rice quite good. I opted for rare steak Pho. I received a steaming bowl of Pho with an aromatic steam rising to scent the area with a hint of clove. The broth was nicely flavored and not overly salted. There was

a healthy serving of noodles, sprouts, rare steak, peppers, on-ions and basil in or to be added to the bowl. It was a wonderful meal. Dragon Café has been quietly serving up some wonderful dish-

es. It’s a family run eatery with great staff, tasty food, generous servings and reasonable prices. Stop by for a wonderful blend of Asian cuisines. Price: Lunch or dinner for two is $15 to $25.

Dragon Café Serves Great Asian Blend

California Heights Parent Partnership Nursery School will observe its 65th anniversary this weekend. All former students as well as the rest of the community are invited to attend an anniversary celebration for the school be-tween 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Sat-urday, March 24, at Somerset Park, 1600 E. Carson Ave. The school was established in 1947 as a playgroup that rotated among the homes of neighbor-hood families. Now, students attend in groups of 12 to 15 chil-dren at a time to help prepare for kindergarten. The party features games, crafts, refreshments, photos and memorabilia from past genera-tions. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.CHPPNS.org.

Nursery SchoolCelebrates 65th

—Gazette photo by Doreen GunnessTRANQUIL QUALITIES. Dragon Café serves a mix of Asian Cuisine at its Anaheim Street location.

A | GRUNION GAZETTE | March 22, 2012HEALTH & BEAUTY

BY JIM RUGGIRELLOMUSIC WRITER

They’re the Big Three of the Baroque era. That would be Johann Se-bastian Bach, George Friderich Handel and Antonio Vivaldi. And works by these three geniuses made up the program by the Long Beach Camerata Singers at Cov-enant Presbyterian Church one blustery Sunday evening. The audience for the Camerata seems to have grown, at least as I eyeballed it the other day. That’s a good thing, and artistic director Robert Istad has his group sound-ing great. He also puts together innovative programs. This particular concert is the culmination of the 38th annual Long Beach Bach Festival, which has included a fascinating recital by Laura Harrison combining

pop, jazz and classical selec-tions, an interesting juxtaposition of a contemporary piece, a little Mahler and one of the Branden-burgs arranged for piano quartet, and an evening of jazz at The Wine Bar. This final concert was kind of a jolly sandwich, with sunny, up-beat works in the Italian style sur-rounding a somber German mas-terpiece. The program opened with Handel’s festive “Laudate Pueri,” with guest soprano Claire Fedoruk contributing some daz-zling coloratura filigree (and a thrilling, and surprising, high note at the end) while the Camer-ata negotiated Handel’s intricate lines with aplomb. One noticed right off the bat that the Camerata’s sound just keeps getting better and better, the tenors especially solid and

satisfying but everyone sounding terrific. Bach’s Cantata No. 4, “Christ lag in Todesbanden,” is a mi-raculous work, richly composed, deeply emotional and quite mov-ing. And the Vivaldi Gloria has always been a favorite, a piece that simply reeks of pure joy. So-loists from the Camerata more than held their own alongside Fe-doruk, with soprano Janette An-astasia and mezzos Jade Clavesil-la and Shannon Kao offering remarkable, professional-quality performances. A word about the instrumental-ists. Principal cello Erin Breene put in a full day of distinguished continuo work, and it’s a shame that the oboes weren’t named in the program. The oboe solo in “Domine Deus” was lovely. Throughout the evening, the small pick-up orchestra was ex-cellent, supported by Peter Bates at the organ and Na-Young Moon on harpsichord. Istad and his crew are to be congratulated, for their excellent performances, innovative pro-gramming and audience growth. Let’s hope they can keep up the remarkably high standard they’ve set for themselves. Click on longbeachcameratasingers.org to learn more. And if you’re reading this, maybe it’s because you like cho-ral music. If so, you’ll want to check out the performances of Haydn’s monumental “The Cre-ation” by Long Beach Chorale, our other fine local chorus, this weekend at Grace First Presby-terian. Check out longbeachcho-rale.org for tickets and informa-tion.

Camerata Songs Close Bach Festival

March 22, 2012 | GRUNION GAZETTE | PAGE 27AHEALTH & BEAUTY

Eureka! is California’s state motto. Don’t you love that a one word excited exclamation essen-tially says all it needs to? “I have found it!” What was found, of course, was gold in 1849. We would all be durned excited if our fabulous state could dig up some gold right now. But Eureka! also refers to a nugget of another sort, namely, an award to be given at the Left Coast Crime Conference in Sac-ramento on March 31 for the best mystery written by a fi rst-time author. Discovering wonderful new authors is certainly golden. Glorioski! Long Beach author Tammy G. Kaehler’s book is a Eureka! nominee. Two weeks after Facebook leaked the nomination list, jump-ing the gun on the offi cial an-nouncement, Tammy was still excited about her selection when we met for coffee. “I was thrilled that enough people thought it was a good book that I got the nomination,” she said. “I wrote the book I wanted to read and it’s great that other people want to read it, too. And to be told that I did it well is humbling and gratifying when there are so many other writers.” Last August, when the book debuted, I wrote here about the research Tammy had done at American Le Mans Series races to give texture to “Dead Man’s Switch” and its protagonist Kate Reilly, a race car driver. At that time, the book had just launched and she was thoroughly enjoying book signings and other author events. It was interesting to catch up with her seven months later for a progress report. As foundation for the book, Tammy followed the Corvette race circuit - the American Le Mans Series - around the country and got to know race people and their milieu well enough that by

the end of the fi rst racing season she had made good friends and was well into the fabric of the race community. She had worked for a while as a publicist with the series. The book’s setting created what the publicists call a non-fi c-tion hook, or a platform, meaning that though the story could be en-joyed by readers generally, there was a built-in market to target, namely, the people who love car racing. The challenge of fi nding book lovers at the races was met by a consignment vendor who set up Tammy to sign her books at four different race meetings. When people stopped by the vendor tents to buy their T-shirts and other souvenirs, they also lined up for copies of “Dead Man’s Switch.” She sold books by the case. And readers were asking about the sequel. From August until December, after working a full-time work week, Tammy headed out on weekends to promote her book. That very busy schedule didn’t leave much time or energy to write that sequel. Right now the publisher’s deadline for Book Two looms. A fi rst time writer has all the time in the world to fi nish a book. But if the book manages to fi nd a publisher and performs well, the publisher will want another, and another. Time becomes a big is-sue for the author from then on. Simultaneously, the writer will be promoting the last book, edit-ing the next, and researching and writing a third. That reality takes a tremendous commitment by the writer, her family and friends. Tammy told me that she started the second book nine times and is working again with her writing group for support with structure. Her husband, Chet, has given up television so that she won’t be tempted. “I think from sentence to para-

graph to chapter to book,” she told me. Making steady prog-ress.” The follow up to “Deadman’s Switch” will again be set at the races. Look for nuggets Tammy gleans from the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach next month.

She has managed to get paddock passes for Saturday, April 14, and will be in the middle of the vro-o-om all day, taking notes. “Saturday is the best day to

go,” she says, grinning with hap-py expectation. If you, dear reader, want some inside race scoop, I can recom-mend a book.

Crime Author Juggles Success, Life


HEALTH & BEAUTY


For at least one weekend, toys are taking back the children’s en-tertainment marketplace. ToyFest West will showcase more than 650 exhibitors looking to market a new wave of toys for 2012. The trade show is not open to the public, but will be having its last year in Long Beach before

it moves to Las Vegas. It pairs the Westin Hotel and the Long Beach Convention Center as site hosts. “(Buyers) come to see what is new and sit down to place orders while being able to test out the newest products,” said Frances Mendez, show coordinator. “The exhibitors are manufacturers. If anyone has invented a game and you want to market it and you

have samples and inventory, you definitely want to be at this show.” In the past, big-time toy names like Mattel and Hasbro have been a part of the show. The show is re-gional, so it has a bit of a smaller feel, Mendez said. “Ours is more for the mom and pop shops,” she said. “I know there aren’t too many of those left, but they love to come.”

The event will showcase toys of all kinds, from flying objects to board games. Toys will be mar-keted to all ages, from toddlers to teens, Mendez said. “Because of all the videogames and stuff, there is a lot of compe-tition,” she said. “I have a kid that is 9 years old and he doesn’t really play with toys that much … but at the same time, you have parents

who are able to encourage their children to play ball or a board game ... I’ve always said that no matter how much families might be struggling with the economy, come birthdays and Christmas, you always want to buy your kids toys.” For more information on the in-dustry-only event, go to the web-site at www.ToyFestWest.com.

Toy Industry Plays At Long Beach’s ToyFest West

tion with a Latin flavor has been her forte for much of her career. She said she thinks that is what attracted the powers that be at Zorro Productions in the first place. But she didn’t want to just tell another Zorro story, and that’s not what the publishers wanted, either. “I couldn’t do just another Zorro adventure,” Allende said. “That would be boring for me. So I decided to write about how he became Zorro. That was worth telling.” In-depth historic research has been Allende’s hallmark, she said, and that paid off hand-somely in writing “Zorro.” Di-ego de la Vega’s mother, Toypur-nia, was a true Alta California historical figure who united the Indian tribes for a series of at-tacks against the Spanish mis-sions, Allende said. She was captured and married a Spanish captain before disappearing into the mists of time. This “Zorro” is steeped in the times of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, with revolutions in Europe and pirates on the Ca-ribbean. The tensions between the missionaries and natives, and the complexities added with the ambitious Spanish all are based in historical fact. But Zorro is, when all is said and done, about the character of Zorro. And that’s what fascinat-ed Allende, she said. “He’s so special,” she said. “He’s not like those superhe-roes; he has no special powers… He’s a loveable character, a hy-per, mischievous kid who has never grown up. He does things with humor and style. He rarely kills. Rather, he uses his sword to humiliate his enemies.” Although Allende has lived in America for more than a quar-ter-century and speaks English fluently, she still writes in Span-ish. All of her books have been translated into English by close friend Margaret Sayers Penden. “I function in English, but I still dream in Spanish,” Allende explained. “I cook in Spanish, I make love in Spanish. Writ-ing is such an organic process, I couldn’t have done it any other way.” “An Evening With Author Isabel Allende” begins at 7 p.m. tonight, Thursday, at the Terrace Theater. The night will include a per-formance by the Poly High School Orchestra of “A Place In Time,” a new composition cre-ated in honor of the new Rancho Center at Rancho Los Alamitos. Tickets are $25 and will be available at the Terrace Theater box office.


Allende


fore,” Supernaw said. “I want to bring a renewed sense of cus-tomer service... I want to improve that sense that you can make a call to your councilman’s office and get something done.”

Supernaw’s involvement with the city budget began a decade ago, he said, as a member of then-Fourth District Councilman Dennis Carrol’s budget advisory committee. He is a member of the Sustainable City Commis-sion, where he has served as chair and was one of the appoint-ments when the commission was formed.

“I’ve been pushing for a long

time for nontraditional, nontax forms of revenue,” Supernaw said. “I’ve specifically proposed corporate partnerships, including naming rights.” In regards to the current bud-get, Supernaw agreed that public safety is a top priority, but added that just hiring more officers and firefighters was not the answer. “Public safety is more than po-lice and fire,” he said. “We need parks, libraries and a stronger collaboration with the school dis-trict… I am concerned over per-sonnel levels in police and fire. But just as troubling is the lack of a support system. We can’t just put more cops on the street with-out the support for them.” As a first-time candidate for

city office, Supernaw said he wasn’t prepared to offer specific opinions about how to balance the budget. He declined to take a stance on whether to continue the concept of maintaining a propor-tional share approach to general fund spending. “It’s a complicated question,” he said. “I’d have to have the op-portunity to analyze the budget. It would be overly simplistic to offer answers now… I think we have to rework the entire budget, with a line-by-line analysis.” He said he would not be able to support a proposed tax increase initiative until “every avail-able revenue resource” has been tapped. Top priorities in the Fourth District, Supernaw said, remain the infrastructure. He said resi-dents want to see more street and sidewalk repairs, and more tree trimming. He acknowledged that means finding more money to do that work. Supernaw also has been active in Long Beach Airport issues in the Fourth District, and said he is pleased with the current direc-tion. “In the Los Altos area in partic-ular, you always have the airport as an issue,” he said. “It’s a real good balance we’re going in now. We’re going to have a quality air-port of the right size that can be

give away free samples of choc-olate; event tickets can be used to enter a raffle to win a choco-late martini package. “We’re a bookstore and we don’t serve food or chocolate here, but we like to participate in anything and everything we can on Second Street,” Kingsland said. “The more businesses that participate, the bigger the event becomes and the more people come to Belmont Shore.” Similarly, retailer Romance, Etc., will feature packaged, up-scale brownies. Owner Deborah Fay said the Chocolate Festival, and the foot traffic it brings each year, can be stressful for a small business, but she added that it’s important for businesses to par-ticipate and do their part. “We are a community, and part of being a community and being here is participating,” Fay said. “This certainly brings more bodies to the street. And, if people are here to eat, then they might shop.” In addition to opportunities to sample desserts, the event fea-tures the Homemade Chocolate Dessert Contest, Hof’s Hut Pie Eating Contests, and activities for children. The event takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. on March 24 along Second Street in Bel-mont Shore. The Homemade Chocolate Dessert Contest takes place on Corona Avenue. Tickets can be purchased outside Chase Bank (5200 E. Second St.) for $10 for a book of 12 tickets. Entries still are being accept-ed for the Homemade Chocolate Dessert Contest. It costs $10 per dessert to enter. Visit www.BelmontShore.org or call 434-3066.

(Continued from Page 1A) (Continued from Page 1A)

Supernaw Street Sweet

a healthy economically sustain-able engine.” A change of attitude on City Council and in the city in gener-al is needed Supernaw said. In-stead of a confrontational, blam-ing approach, the city needs to nurture a sense that “everyone is pitching in to make the city bet-ter,” he said. “We need a renewed collabo-ration with the schools, espe-cially in this budget climate,” he said. “I’ve always been a collaborator. And I want to of-fer more than transparency in government. I want to go one step further, with outreach to the community to make them a part of what is done… I’ve always been known as the one willing to do the legwork and get it done. It’s amazing what you can ac-complish if you don’t care who gets the credit, and that’s what I want to do.”

SUPERNAW


payments, the numbers rise and fall during the month.”

The shelter ran from Dec. 1 to March 14 and averaged about 130 people per night, with a high of 190 and a low of 60. Lewis said that some of his guest/clients will head to shelters in Los Angeles or Bell counties, but about 50 to 75% of the people never enter a shelter except during the winter.

“It is the weather that drives them in and that is the purpose of the winter shelter system in Cali-fornia,” he said.

“While this may paint a bleak picture of the effectiveness of such temporary shelter opera-tions, the opportunity to be a safety net for many of those be-coming homeless for the first time helps get these people off the street and into supportive pro-grams. For all of the heartache and return visits of the chronic homeless, it is worth it to be there for those truly in critical need. And sometimes those who may have become hardened to exis-tence on the streets respond to this hand out and make their first decision to accept our hand up.”

Perception and reality of where the Long Beach homeless popula-tion is at can vary from place to place and person to person, of-ficials said. In downtown Long Beach, the Occupy Long Beach movement shed a light on many of the homeless who reside near Lincoln Park — however, many think gains have been made in that area of town.

“The DLBA’s (Downtown Long Beach Associates) safety guides and staff works closely with the Multi-Service Center’s Continuum of Care, which part-ners with organizations such as Mental Health America and Vil-lages at Cabrillo, to provide out-

reach to individuals experiencing homelessness in downtown,” said Mary Coburn, DLBA operation manager. “Recently the DLBA partnered with Long Beach Connections and other community organiza-tions to conduct a survey of peo-ple experiencing homelessness in Downtown. This survey showed a marked improvement in down-town’s homeless population. In the two years since the survey was first administered, homeless-ness has decreased by 12% in Downtown.” While some residents have wondered about Second Street’s homeless population, evidence hasn’t been readily available to say there has been any increase, officials and experts said. Belmont Shore Business Asso-ciation Executive Director Dede Rossi said that she and business owners have noticed maybe a few more people sleeping in walkups of alleyways, but that the problem doesn’t seem dramatically differ-

ent from years past. “If anything, it’s because our weather has been super, and if you’re going to be anywhere, it may be best to be around here,” she said. Belmont Shore Residents As-sociation President Kurt Borsting said the BSRA has talked with police about options, but there haven’t been a lot of comments on it from residents. “The question does come up occasionally in how to best re-spond, and occasionally there are concerns — especially when it concerns folks doing overnights in residential areas and the prob-lems that can come from that,” he said. “It’s something we’re al-ways mindful of — to help with resources, and anything that is illegal we bring that to law en-forcement, but I don’t think I’ve heard that as an issue of growing concern.” Commander Michael Beckman of the Long Beach Police Depart-ment’s East Division said people

who wish to report instances of loitering, trespassing and nui-sance behavior can call 9-1-1 or 435-6711. “To enhance our responsive-ness, callers should be prepared to describe the activity, provide the location of occurrence, and give a physical description of the involved person, including a last known direction of travel, if ap-plicable,” he said. “On those occa-sions where officers contact per-sons experiencing homelessness, our response is often prompted by a number of conditions, such as evidence of a crime, the exis-tence of a victim, or a victim’s wish to either prosecute or to not prosecute. When circumstances dictate that an arrest should be made, this course is followed. However, in many cases, officers encounter situations where they are only able to refer homeless persons to available social ser-vices and assist them to contact these resources to the best extent possible.”

The next city homeless count, which is conducted every two years, will take place in January 2013. Comparing the 2009 and 2011 numbers, there hasn’t been any noticeable difference in Bel-mont Shore, at least, said Elsa Ramos, coordinator of the city’s Multi Service Center. “There is homelessness city-wide, and there are pockets where they tend to reside — but I haven’t heard anything particu-lar to east trends and rising,” she said. If people run into a homeless person they’d like to help, they can call the center at 733-1147 or go to www.longbeach.gov and search homeless services. With the winter shelter closing, there will be some strain on services, she added, but the center is al-most always able to help as long as the person is willing to work with them. “There are waiting lists, but you can do a good job of being creative,” she said.


Winter Shelter

Gertrude (Geni) C. Collins was born in Boston, Mass. She had a long and fruitful life with many accomplishments that added color to her vibrant personality and independent spirit. She worked as an accountant for over 31 years. After she retired, she volunteered to help low income citizens prepare their income taxes. She also mentored children with reading diffi culties and challenges. She loved classical music, especially opera, which she sang in her young adulthood. Going to Long Beach City College and Senior University until two years ago were one of her passions, as she

was constantly expanding her knowledge of the world. Travel was also high on her agenda, which took her to Africa, where she was a member the Mt. Kenya Safari Club, sponsored by William Holden, China, Egypt and Europe. In her preparation to go to Italy, she took two years of Italian. One of her favorite memories that she loved to tell was the fi rst time she saw an airplane. She was an avid fan of Musical Theatre West. She is preceded in passing by sisters Barbara and Myrtle along with brother Edward. She is survived by Judy McNulty Black (Don), daughter, grandchildren

Michelle Conn (Paul), Andree Powell (Andrew), Kelly McNulty and Renee Buchannan. Great grandchildren include Erika, Katy, Brendan, Elizabeth and Emily. Services are private, however, donations may be made to Steel Magnolias, 6216 Pacifi c Coast Highway, #352, Long Beach, 90803, MTW-Footlighters Scholarship Fund, 4350 East 7th Street, Long Beach, 90804, Long Beach Cancer League, 936 Pine Avenue, Long Beach, 90813 or Assistance League of Long Beach, 6220 E. Spring St., Long Beach, 90815.

Gertrude (Geni) C. CollinsDecember 23, 1919 - March 7, 2012

Osi died on Friday, March 16, 2012, in San Luis Obispo, Ca. He was born in June 25, 1993, in Long Beach, CA, the son of Aniko Ponce. Osi was a gentle giant. A passionate young man, inside and out, who had a love for his Mom that exceeded all. A son, grandson, nephew, cousin and best friend, all of which he was proud to be. A typical teenager, he loved his videogames, music, water polo and being around friends he cared about. His family and friends will miss his sweet smile, his sense of humor and his kind heart. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, March 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Seal Beach Yacht Club, 255 North Marina Dr., Long Beach, CA.

Osvaldo (Osi) Julian Ponce

June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012


June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012

Osvaldo (Osi) Julian Osvaldo (Osi) Julian Osvaldo (Osi) Julian

June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012


June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012

Osvaldo (Osi) Julian Osvaldo (Osi) Julian Osvaldo (Osi) Julian Osvaldo (Osi) Julian Osvaldo (Osi) Julian Osvaldo (Osi) Julian Osvaldo (Osi) Julian

June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012June 25, 1993 - March 16, 2012

grunion gazette 03-22-12

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