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At the end of a brief Signal Hill City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 21, under “new business,” Mayor Michael Noll proposed having the city attorney draft an ordinance that would require political-interest groups that attempt to influence city elections disclose their financial supporters and campaign contributions to the City.
The rest of the Council acquiesced to Noll’s request but refrained from discussion. City Attorney David Aleshire said he would have staff provide a list of potential provisions for the ordinance when brought back to the Council at a future meeting.
The ordinance may include putting certain restrictions on political action committees (PACs) or other forms of political-interest groups that are currently not covered under Signal Hill’s municipal election code.
Various political attack-ad mailers were sent out to Signal Hill voters leading up to the March 2011 and March 2013 elections as part of campaigns that Noll called “smear tactics” targeting Council incumbents running for re-election, as well as other longtime city officials.
“We need to have fair and honest elections, where the voters can have the appropriate information to decide on the candidates and the issues,” Noll declared as Councilmember Tina Hansen held up copies of the fliers in question. “I think that this ordinance should be given a high priority since we have a special election in June of 2014, where outside groups may attempt to distort the issue again.”
City code currently limits individual candidate campaign expenditures to about $500 per election cycle and requires that candidates file financial documents with the City. PACs, however, aren’t covered under city code and currently file campaign contributions with the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.
In the weeks prior to this year’s March 5 city election, two separate fliers, which some people have called “hit pieces,” criticized the records of Noll, Vice Mayor Ed Wilson and former councilmember Ellen Ward.
The fliers included snippets of various newspaper articles, attached to statements claiming that sitting councilmembers are “wasting our hard-earned tax dollars,” and compared Signal Hill to the City of Bell, which has been embroiled in scandal over charges of corruption and misappropriation of public funds, for which its city officials have recently been convicted.
A group that calls itself Coalition for Clean Affordable Water was named as the party responsible for the fliers mailed out during the last election cycle. City officials are currently investigating what individuals or entities helped finance the group.
“These two fliers included misleading and inflammatory statements including that crime is up [and] our streets are unsafe to walk at night,” Noll said. “The flier accused the City Council of destroying property values and the moral fabric of our community.”
Signal Hill City Manager Ken Farfsing told the Signal Tribune in a phone interview that only in the last two elections have interest groups tried to sway voters by sending out such mass mailers, some of which were printed on expensive, colored, hard-stock material.
“It’s been a rather recent phenomenon,” he said. “It takes significant resources to do these types of fliers… That’s not an inexpensive proposition to do.”
Farfsing said Aleshire is looking into the financial records of the groups through the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission at the request of the Council. However, he could not confirm any further information before the Signal Tribune’s deadline.
“It takes a while for the records to get up to the State,” Farfsing said. “We’ll continue to do research and track it down.”
The goal of drafting an ordinance is to proactively “shine a spotlight” on PACs, said Noll, who added that during the last two elections, “significant money from outside our community poured into Signal Hill” in an attempt to influence voters.
“The Constitution provides every citizen with the right to freedom of speech, so I have no doubt that the interest groups will attempt to spread lies about Signal Hill in the future,” he said. “I also believe that our voters deserve the right to know the individuals that are supporting the smear tactics.”
In 2011, the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters (LALCV) PAC sent out mailers that criticized incumbent Councilmember Larry Forester’s environmental record, showing a cartoon-figure of the councilmember with a sign that read, “I Protect Polluters.”
LALCV has its own 25-member board of directors made up of “activists, advocates and professionals committed to protecting the environment and improving the quality of life for those who live and work in Los Angeles County,” according to the group’s website. The PAC endorses political candidates in L.A. County and its 88 cities.
Signal Hill will be holding a special election on June 5, 2014 in which voters will decide the fate of the controversial initiative “Taxpayer’s Right to Know and Vote.” The statewide direct primary election will also be held in June next year.
Earlier this year, proponents of the initiative successfully gathered enough signatures (871) to get the initiative on the ballot for a special election. The initiative, which would change the city charter if approved by voters, has several components, including requiring that voters approve all taxes, assessments and fees with a two-thirds majority.

Other City Council highlights:
Wastewater service charges
Prior to the Council meeting, the Los Angeles County Sanitation District No. 29 Board of Directors, which is governed by the Council, voted unanimously (5-0) to re-adopt its wastewater service-charge report for Fiscal Year 2013-2014.
A public hearing on the item was required for continued collection of the service charge on the tax roll of residential, commercial and small industrial dischargers. However, L.A. County Sanitation District staff recommended no increase in the service-charge rate for the upcoming fiscal year. In District No. 29, the current wastewater service charge rate per single-family household is $28.31 per month ($339.75 per year).
“You would have been up for a [Proposition] 218 process this year, but, when we looked at the numbers, you’re in good shape going forward,” said Grace Chan, chief engineer and general manager for the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County. She confirmed that staff would look at a possible three-year rate increase next year. The last time the rate was increased was in Fiscal Year 2012-2013, when it was raised 1.8 percent.

Recognitions and proclamations
During the Council meeting, Mayor Noll presented proclamations to the Signal Hill Community Development Department in recognition of National Building and Safety Month and to the Signal Hill Public Works Department in recognition of Public Works Week, which was from May 19 to 25.
Noll and Signal Hill Police Chief Michael Langston recognized Gary Weinberger, Romeo Cantos and Judy Jacobus for their service as Signal Hill police volunteers. Cantos was not present.
In addition, Noll presented a certificate of recognition to Signal Hill resident Hazel Wallace, who received the 33rd Senate District Outstanding Woman of Distinction Award. As director of the Long Beach Health and Human Services Department’s laboratory, Wallace was instrumental in implementing the first HIV-screening program in Long Beach. She has served on the boards of directors for AIDS Walk Long Beach and the health department, and she currently serves on the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District board.

Conduct in public places
In a second-reading vote, the Council voted 5-0 to adopt an ordinance that amends the city charter regarding regulations for conduct in parks and other public places. The ordinance was introduced in a public hearing during the May 7 Council meeting.
Signal Hill’s 10 city parks have become increasingly popular throughout the years due to their “unique designs, cleanliness and safe feeling,” according to a city staff report. However, the influx of organized fitness groups, particularly at Discovery Well Park and Hilltop Park, and other incidents have recently created challenges for staff to be able to manage the parks and facilities, according to the staff report.
New language adopted in the ordinance requires permits for various uses, including: personal barbecues that use bottled gas only; an organized fitness activity, such as a boot camp; any private party with a group of more than 25 people; and temporary personal canopies or tents.
Any party may appeal a decision on a permit through the Signal Hill Parks and Recreation Commission. A violation of the ordinance may be charged as either an infraction or a misdemeanor, depending on the violation.

The next Signal Hill Council meeting will take place Tuesday, June 4 at 7pm in the City’s Council Chamber.

Sean Belk/Signal Tribune
Signal Hill resident Hazel Wallace (center) was presented with a certificate of recognition during the May 21 Signal Hill City Council meeting for receiving the 33rd Senate District Outstanding Woman of Distinction Award. Also pictured, from left, are Councilmember Larry Forester and Mayor Michael Noll.

Sean Belk/Signal Tribune
Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert speaks to a crowd of about 50 people during a North Long Beach Community Assembly on Saturday, May 18 at the Glad Tidings Church, 1900 E. South St. Haubert gave an overview of his office’s duties and functions, including efforts to reduce gang activity and convict gang members.

Though property crime has spiked this year, violent crime, such as murders, robberies and aggravated assaults, has actually remained relatively low in Long Beach, according to law-enforcement officials.
Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert attributes the reported decrease to various programs that his office has helped implement in the last few years to eradicate gang activity throughout the city. “By targeting the gang members, I think we’re making a dent in violent crime,” he said.
Haubert, who is running for re-election next year, gave an hour-long overview of his office’s duties and accomplishments during a North Long Beach Community Assembly last Saturday, May 18 at the Glad Tidings Church at 1900 E. South St. The meeting was attended by about 50 people and was jointly organized by 8th District Councilmember Al Austin and 9th District Councilmember Steven Neal.
So far this year, north Long Beach alone saw a 29.6-percent drop in violent crime over the same time period in 2012, while property crime is up by 2.3 percent, said North Patrol Division Police Commander Robert Luman, who provided statistics during the meeting. Although there was a 700-percent increase in shootings at the beginning of the year, the number of shootings so far this year has fallen relatively flat compared to last year, he said.
In January, the Long Beach Police Department reported in its year-end report that Long Beach was at a 40-year low for violent crime in 2012, though property crime had jumped by 10 percent.
That reduction in violent crime, however, has come despite cash-strapped times in which the City has slashed its police force and cut back on after-school programs and recreational activities for children. At the same time, Long Beach and other cities across California have seen an influx of criminals being let out of jail early because of the State’s “realignment” legislation.
“If anything, there should be a huge spike,” Haubert said. “The fact that it’s at a record low is good news, and I think it’s a testament of how the [gang] injunctions are being used in part. But it’s also, I think, due to the fact that we’re working smarter now… We need to continue on this path.”
Though the Long Beach city prosecutor’s office handles an average of about 14,000 cases per year, Haubert said one of his main objectives after being elected in 2010 was to go after gangs in particular. He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation states that 48 percent of all violent crimes committed nationwide are gang-related, and in some communities the percentage of violent crimes attributed to gangs can be up to 90 percent.
Long Beach currently has various gang injunctions throughout the city in which an established gang in a particular neighborhood or area is sued by the City of Long Beach and is served a court order as an unincorporated association.
Under the injunction, affiliated gang members in the bounded gang “territories” are ordered to follow certain rules, such as not being allowed to congregate with each other in parks or public places and not being allowed out past their injunction-ordered curfew. If gang members break the injunction order, they could be subject to arrests. Ultimately, however, the injunctions prevent other crimes by allowing police officers to more easily identify known gang members, who are often stopped and found to be in possession of drugs, guns and even weapons that have been used in murders.
Within the last few years, many gangs have been moving their organizations out of the city and moving others in as a way to bypass the injunctions, Haubert said.
As a way to crack down, the Long Beach city prosecutor’s office has become the first to target a prison gang known as the Mexican Mafia by filing an injunction against its affiliate, the Sureño (“Southerner”) gang, which had been organizing Hispanic street gang members and criminal activities in north Long Beach and throughout Southern California, Haubert said.
“These shot-callers were allowing different gangs to operate in other gangs’ territories… almost like pieces on a chess board, moving them around at will,” he said. “The organizational structure was being influenced here at the local level, and we decided we were going to be the first city to actually target the Mexican Mafia by adding the Sureño gang organization… Long Beach is a leader in that respect.”
Haubert said technological advancements, such as enabling officers to use a gang-injunction database from their vehicles, has helped the program become more efficient to do “more with less.” In fact, as of last year, there have been roughly eight times more gang-injunction arrests since 2009, increasing from 35 to 269 per year, he said.
Haubert’s office has also established Operation Opt Out, which provides an opportunity for gang members to break out of the court order and, ultimately, the gang life. In order for that to happen, however, gang members are required to be enrolled in school or working full time, perform community service, completely disaffiliate with the gang and come forward with two community sponsors willing to vouch for them.
“What happens is sometimes people grow up, and they get a family and get a job and you know what? They’re not involved in the gang life anymore,” Haubert said. “Not only are we creating an avenue to remove people from an injunction that helps them personally but it helps our program by showing that there’s a way out of the injunction. It’s the carrot and the stick. There’s hope at the end of this. If you don’t want to gang bang anymore there’s a way off the injunction. We could help you if you want to do that.”
Another way to stop gang violence is to discourage children from joining a gang in the first place. Haubert said gangs in Long Beach recruit children as young as 12 and 13 years old, many of whom skip school. The city prosecutor’s office, however, has implemented a truancy program in partnership with the Long Beach Unified School District to prosecute parents who don’t force their children to attend school.
“When school’s in session [gangs are] finding them on the streets,” he said. “They’re easy targets. They’re prey. They’re sitting targets for the gangs to come up and say, ‘Hey, you want to do this? You want to sell this? Just by getting kids to school every single day and having them stay in school, not only is it good for the schools… because they get money … it’s harder for the gangs to recruit kids who are in school.”
Haubert said about 75 percent of those in state prison are school dropouts, which shows that statistically those dropouts have a higher chance of becoming involved in criminal activity or drugs. He said the number of dropped school days is cut in half once the children and their parents come to the city prosecutor’s office.
Haubert added, however, that he wants to continue to expand the truancy and opt-out programs, in addition to allowing low-level offenders to participate in community service as a way to resolve convictions instead of taking up court time.
Still, Councilmember Austin noted that the LBUSD has had to cut summer school this year due to budget cuts and has also chopped its truancy program. This is why, he said, it’s imperative for the City to allocate more funds ($100,000 per council district from oil revenue) this year toward parks and recreation programs for at-risk youth.
For the first time in many years, the 8th and 9th district council offices are organizing a new midnight basketball program, aimed at at-risk teenage girls and boys to help them stay safe and productive during the summer, in addition to other programming at Houghton Park and Scherer Park in north Long Beach this year.
“We’re really putting a lot of emphasis on making our streets, our parks and our communities safer,” Austin said. “Unintended consequences actually happen… I can guarantee you I will be working to collaborate more with our school district and paying a lot more attention to the decisions made at the school-district level.”

Long Beach Water Department (LBWD) staff is proposing a 4-percent increase in water rates for the next five fiscal years, starting with 2013-14, which begins Oct. 1.
Water department staff brought forward the five-year spending plan during the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners meeting last Thursday, May 16.
The suggested water-rate increase is being proposed primarily because of rising labor costs and rate hikes associated with pumping and purchasing potable water.
LBWD staff is not suggesting an increase in sewer rates.
According to a presentation, the department’s water fund accounts for 85 percent of the department’s total $119.7-million budget for fiscal year 2013-14. The department’s capital-improvement program budget makes up about $16.4 million.
The largest components of the budget that account for about 37 percent, or $38 million, are costs to purchase and pump water.
More than half of the water supply in Long Beach is produced from groundwater wells, since the City owns pumping rights. On May 10, the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD), however, raised its pumping-assessment rate by 9.9 percent.
The other portion of water is imported and treated surface water that the City of Long Beach purchases. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), a wholesale distributor or imported water from the Colorado River and northern California, has also increased its rates.
Last year, the MWD Board of Directors approved a two-year spending plan, increasing its wholesale water rate by 5 percent for this year and next year.
LBWD staff assumes that, in future years, labor costs will jump by 2 percent, MWD rates will rise by 3 percent and WRD rates will increase by 5 percent, according to a staff presentation.
The average monthly combined water and sewer bill for Long Beach single-family residents is $66.02, according to results from a rate study released in March. The average monthly bill for households in Los Angeles County is $73.34. According to LBWD staff, the combined rate increase for fiscal year 2013-14 would add an additional $1.63 to the monthly bill of the average single-family resident in Long Beach.
The water board will further discuss the rate-increase proposal in coming weeks and is scheduled to adopt the budget on June 20. The Long Beach City Council is required to sign off on the budget sometime in September.
The board is required to hold a public hearing and receive public testimony that allows property owners the right to protest any proposed rate increase.

Sean Belk/Signal Tribune
Intellectual Virtues Academy (IVA) Long Beach, a new charter middle school, plans to move into property owned by Grace Brethren Church of Long Beach at 3601 Linden Ave. in Bixby Knolls. The existing private Grace Christian Elementary and Preschool would share the same property as IVA, although the two schools would operate completely independently of each other.

A new charter middle school to be called Intellectual Virtues Academy (IVA) Long Beach is close to finalizing a lease agreement with Grace Brethren Church of Long Beach to operate on the church campus at 3601 Linden Ave., across the street from the Petroleum Club-Long Beach in Bixby Knolls, according to IVA officials.
The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education approved the new public charter school in October of last year, and the school has plans to open by Sept. 6, starting with about 50 students split between two 6th-grade classes.
According to IVA officials, the existing private Grace Christian Schools would share the same property as IVA, although the two schools would operate completely independent of each other.
Loyola Marymount University (LMU) philosopher Jason Baehr and Biola University professor Steve Porter developed the vision for the new magnet middle school, which considers itself a “grass-roots development of parents, educators and community leaders who are passionate about the flourishing of students in Long Beach.”
With a goal to eventually have 6th through 8th grades, the charter school is being funded through a $1-million grant project at LMU and is sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation.
The school will be governed by a 10-member board of directors, many of whom have backgrounds in marketing, commercial real estate, business management, educational theory, school administration, human resources, university administration and social services. The board will also oversee school staff.
IVA plans to focus on promoting and fostering nine “master virtues,” which include “curiosity, intellectual humility, intellectual autonomy, attentiveness, intellectual carefulness, intellectual thoroughness, open-mindedness, intellectual courage and intellectual perseverance.”
These virtues fall into three categories, corresponding to three stages or dimensions of learning: “getting the learning process started and headed in the right direction; making the learning process go well; and overcoming challenges to productive learning,” according to the IVA website.
IVA officials had viewed more than a dozen potential sites in the Los Altos and Bixby Knolls neighborhoods of Long Beach since last year. In January, the IVA board narrowed the options down to three properties that had the greatest potential of meeting the needs of the school, while staying within budget, according to a statement from IVA.
“We faced a great challenge,” IVA Board member Bob Covolo said in the statement. “We had to find a space that would not only accommodate our growth over the next three years, but satisfy our need for a space that facilitated learning well.”
The committee also worked with LBUSD to find space on existing public-school campuses, but no fitting options were found. “Because the site we pursued offered so many benefits to our prospective students and families, and the landlord was very accommodating, we were extremely fortunate to be offered this flexible option,” said IVA Board member Eric Churchill.
IVA officials state that the location provides “spacious classrooms, a large blacktop with basketball hoops for outdoor play, a fully functioning kitchen, lunch benches, a large multi-purpose room, and additional rooms for activities and assemblies.”
Some parents of children in the Christian school, however, have expressed concerns that their students may intermingle with students from the public charter school.
Still, in an interview with the Signal Tribune, Rebecca Irwin, spokesperson for IVA, assured that the two schools would run on completely separate campuses with different schedules to avoid any conflicts.
Jacquie Bryant, IVA’s newly hired principal, said she plans to meet with the principal and other officials from the Christian school to work out separate bell schedules and lunch breaks. Although the landlord and IVA have unofficially agreed upon a lease, a formal rental contract is still waiting for City review, she said.
“It has been finalized in the minds of the school and the operation on campus next year, and it has been finalized in the eyes of the landlords, but without the certain review of the City, we cannot sign the lease agreement yet,” Bryant said.
She said there are still “a lot of processes” that have yet to take place. Bryant added that IVA would function much like Constellation Charter School, which operated on the same campus as St. Anthony High School for 10 years before closing last year.
Grace Christian Schools Principal Pearlie Davis would not comment about the separate schedules or about the new charter school’s move, adding that she has yet to speak with Bryant about any plans.
“I have not spoken with Jacquie Bryant concerning that program at all, so I cannot say that’s what’s going on,” she said. “I think they’re getting ahead of themselves perhaps, because we haven’t met and discussed anything.”
Ralph Hampton, church administrator for Grace Brethren Church of Long Beach, could not be reached for comment before the Signal Tribune’s deadline.
Chris Eftychiou, spokesperson for LBUSD, said via email that the school board approved the charter school on Oct. 9, 2012 for opening in fall 2013. He said California education code has specific requirements for developing a charter petition, including a mandatory timeline for approval.
“Our district carefully reviews each petition submitted and certifies that all requirements have been met,” Eftychiou said.  “Our board makes the decision based on LBUSD staff’s review.”
He added that LBUSD is not directly involved with the school site’s location but requires a lease to be finalized, which has yet to officially occur. 
“The school district will be requiring a finalized lease agreement, but we don’t have one yet,” Eftychiou said. “The school district has oversight responsibility and will be monitoring the charter school to make sure it complies with state regulations.”
According to Bryant, teachers will be hired and begin professional development by June.
The initial deadline to enroll students was May 17. IVA is a tuition-free public school with open enrollment. Students are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. If more students apply than spaces are available, students would be admitted by lottery, according to IVA’s website.

More Information
ivalongbeach.org

Source: American Legion

Leonardo Poareo/Signal Tribune
Ted Stevens, manager of Long Beach Animal Care Services, gives a presentation on dealing with wildlife to the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance May 20.

What should local residents do when coyotes enter their neighborhoods and act aggressively? Haze them.
“Hazing is basically speaking coyote. If you see that coyote coming across the street and you run at him– ‘HEY!!!’– and chase him, he’ll run,” said Ted Stevens, manager of Animal Care Services in Long Beach. “And then what has he learned as a smart, intelligent animal? ‘That person wants to kill me.’ That’s how you keep them afraid of people.”
Stevens discussed coyotes, and how to deal with them, as well as other wildlife, in a presentation entitled “Living With Wildlife in Long Beach” at the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance’s meeting at Veterans Park on May 20.
Just as residential environments attract droves of people, they attract many coyotes too. What bring the coyotes and other wildlife to people’s homes are the essential elements of survival.
“Wildlife are generally interested in only a few things– food, water, and shelter – and if you have those in your back yard, they’re going to hang out there,” Stevens said.
Stevens recommended taking pet food inside and securing the areas under homes with raised foundations. Also, don’t feed animals, and make sure bird feeders are clean, he said.
Coyotes, which are among the fastest land mammals in North America, are attracted to Long Beach because of the habitat and the food, Stevens said. Food and water attract animals like squirrels, rats, and mice to homes, and in turn this attracts coyotes because they normally eat smaller mammals, he added.
With all of these lures, it’s no wonder that residents are seeing more coyotes.
“I see coyotes all the time in these neighborhoods,” said Long Beach Police Department Lt. Kevin Coy.
“It’s something that we’re living with, and it’s more so than I ever have before,” Coy added.
With so many coyotes, some people might try to trap them or remove them. In California, however, it’s illegal to trap wildlife unless they’re damaging property, and it’s also illegal to try to relocate wildlife, Stevens said.
He also highlighted the fact that it’s more important for people to remove what’s attracting the wildlife to their homes, since other animals just move in and replace the removed animals. But if people have legally trapped an animal, they can call animal control, he said.
Yet humans don’t need to worry about coyotes too much. Coyote attacks against humans are rare, as “they don’t look at us as food,” Stevens said.
“We’re too big…we’re too much hassle,” he said. “They don’t really have a reason to attack us.”
Stevens mentioned that most attacks against humans happen when people try to defend their pets against coyotes. He recommended accompanying pets at all times when outside and keeping small pets indoors.
“If you are going to…take your dog outside, go outside with them,” Stevens said. “You want that coyote to see you and associate you with your pet.”
Coyotes, which can jump more than eight feet high, can be aggressive toward large dogs during the winter breeding season because they see them as competition, Stevens added. He recommended clearing away any brush, securing trash cans, disposing of fallen fruit, purchasing motion-detecting sprinklers and lights, and even using water guns filled with vinegar and water as deterrents.
Regarding children, Stevens advised that an adult should accompany them and they should make lots of noise and yell if they encounter a coyote.
“You want them to be big and to make noise and…jump up and down and confuse the coyote,” Stevens said.
Furthermore, since removal and relocation of coyotes aren’t efficient, it seems as if the best bet is to engage in hazing, which Stevens said is “the use of various techniques to re-instill the natural fear of humans back to habituated coyotes.”
Coyotes “understand…dominance,” and pass on their learned behavior to their pups, Stevens said. But he recommended calling Animal Care Services instead of hazing a sick coyote and warned against hazing a cornered coyote.
Moreover, coyotes need to make the connection that it’s a person displaying that behavior, Stevens added.
The coyotes in Joan Greenwood’s neighborhood made that connection when she hazed them. She would dress in a trench coat and growl at them, facing them down with her broom in the middle of the street “to make sure they wouldn’t come back,” she said.
“They’re very cautious now,” Greenwood said. “They totally avoid my side of the street now.”
For more information visit longbeach.gov/acs/wildlife/default.asp .