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Stephanie Raygoza/Signal Tribune
At Dramatic Results’ 20th anniversary fundraiser last week, a large puzzle-shaped assemblage was positioned in the middle of a banquet room at the Museum of Latin American Art for attendees to share messages with the organization.

Stephanie Raygoza
Staff Writer

The theme for Dramatic Results’ 20th anniversary fundraiser celebration was “Art Connects,” and on the evening of May 3, the nonprofit succeeded in doing just that by connecting hundreds of attendees to the works of local and international artists.
Live jazz music set the tone for the evening as sponsors, supporters, teachers and volunteers from the nonprofit arts-education agency dined on hors d’oeuvres and interacted with one another over the common goal of preserving the power of art.
The agency hosts its grand fundraiser once a year to raise money for its various programs that are intended to improve students’ academic confidence and performance through art. This year’s event hosted a silent auction of various forms of art framed throughout a dimly lit banquet room, raffle drawings, a pledge board and a large puzzle-shaped assemblage positioned in the middle of the room, created for guests to sign and customize with anniversary messages for the organization.
Board of Directors President Julie Mendell, who is also a retired elementary-school principal, reflected on the growth the organization has had over the years.
“It’s evolved into a program that very strongly supports students to develop their skills in math and language arts through art,” Mendell said. “We worked real hard to have people realize that it’s our 20th anniversary. We need their support, and we want to celebrate.”
The variety of art available for auction was vast, multi-cultural and entirely homemade. Choosing the Museum of Latin American Art as the location for the celebration was fitting, as it allowed guests to also explore the museum’s art. Adorned vases, carefully crafted wood carvings of kitchen items and wild animals, crystal ware imported from Italy, art photography, interpretive paintings, hand-woven baskets and luxurious scarves were just some of the items donated by friends and artists from which attendees could choose for their bids.
Dramatic Results began its journey in 1992 with one pilot program, and since then the organization has expanded to more than 30 weekly programs serving over 16,000 students in Southern California. Through its art-based programs, the organization fosters creativity to second-graders through junior-high students. Write-On Arts, Math in a Basket and InCreasing Math are programs that link 2D and 3D visual art, writing, drawing, theater, origami and basketry with students’ core subjects.
Also in attendance for the celebration was second-grade teacher Madeleine Cruz, who has witnessed first-hand the impact the program has had on her students at Stevenson Elementary School. “It’s of utmost importance because without a program like this teachers are not able to integrate art in a way that’s like Dramatic Results, where an artist is coming in and teaching techniques in different art styles,” Cruz said. “We have Dramatic Results on Thursdays, and the kids love it.”
Volunteer Maritza Ramirez, an 11th-grader from Jordan High School, has been involved with Dramatic Results since the fourth grade and credits the program with helping her enjoy doing math. “I thought it was a fun way to learn math because you do all these things that involve math, but you are actually doing it in a fun way so you don’t even notice you’re doing math,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez plans to continue volunteering through her senior year and has even decided to pursue her college education in art therapy because of her time spent in the program.

The nonprofit organization Dramatic Results raised $11,000 more than its goal of $14,000 at its fundraiser last week.

Photo by Michelle Lecours
Resident Lisa Wibroe speaks during Monday’s Wrigley Association meeting in opposition to Pennbrooke Financial Services.

After 10 years of an empty lot at one of the gateway corners of the Wrigley neighborhood, Pennbrooke Financial Services, a high-interest auto-title loan company, is the top contender to set up shop at the northwest corner of Pacific Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway.
According to an April memo distributed by 6th District Councilmember Dee Andrews’s office, the property at Pacific Avenue and PCH has been empty for over a decade. For the last five years, the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency tried to attract new retail, and among those interested were Shoe City, Prepaid Cell Phone Store, Indoor Swap Meet and Family Saver. However, they were declined by the owner as not being suitable establishments for the location.
The 6th District office worked to attract interest from larger corporations such as Fresh & Easy, Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and In-N-Out Burger, but they all rejected the location for various reasons including realignment, saturation and store closings in California.

Enter Pennbrooke Financial Services
As the second-largest auto-title loan company in the country, Pennbrooke has over 500 locations under different names in 22 states, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. At present, it has no stores in California but is actively working to open several locations, including in Whittier, Corona and Long Beach. Two of those sites are set for Long Beach: one location in north Long Beach at South Street and Paramount Boulevard, and a second in the Wrigley neighborhood at the northwest corner of Pacific Avenue and PCH.

How an auto-title loan works
At the Wrigley Association meeting on Monday, David Carlat, lobbyist and land-use specialist hired by Pennbrooke, said auto-title loans are basically short-term “bridge loans” designed to help the small-business owner who needs capital to get out of a bind. “The loans will start at $2,500 and go to about $25,000 and are issued on clear titles of vehicles only,” said Carlat. “The target customer is typically a small-business [owner] or independent contractor or someone who has a vehicle such as a work truck or food truck. These loans are no less than $2,500, which means the vehicle must be worth at least $5,000 and they are only given on cars with a clear title.”
The interest is applied as daily simple interest based on the number of days for which one has the loan. After 30 days, it is renewable for an additional 30-day period if the interest has been paid on the first 30 days, according to Carlat. He said Pennbrooke’s starting rate in California calculates to one-third of one percent a day, which means that a borrower who gets a $2,500 loan on a vehicle will owe $8.25 per day until that loan is paid off. “They’re daily loans on a daily interest rate,” Carlat said. “They’re not compounded… and are almost never longer than four months.”
That annual percentage rate calculates out to a 120-percent APR. However, Pennbrooke may change the interest rate at anytime, according to Carlat. “Based on prevailing business and competition, that rate may go up or down depending on their competition,” he said.

Lobbyist David Carlat speaks to the Wrigley Association last Monday about Pennbrooke Financial Services

“Banking center” façade and security
In the same memo, Councilmember Andrews’s office states that if Pennbrooke opens business at this location the office will require a professional façade that looks similar to a “banking center.” Cameras will be installed on the exterior to “aid in four-corner safety and keep an eye on Eddie’s Liquor,” the memo reads. Long Beach Police Department will be connected and able to view live surveillance of the location.
John M. Edmond, Andrews’s chief of staff, said the City of Long Beach has adopted design guidelines for all retailers to utilize. “What we are trying to do over time is to sort of beautify the façades of all the businesses that come into the central area,” Edmond said.
Edmond also said Andrews’s office wants to impose conditions on the business that would help improve neighborhood security. “We want them to get the closed-circuit TV because that puts eyes on the street where police can’t be or have time to get to so they can assess (a crime) situation before they get there,” Edmond said. “If we can have a camera on Eddie’s 24/7 from a place across the street, that will substantially help law-enforcement.”

Pennbrooke’s legal troubles and California’s AB 336
Pennbrooke conducts business under the company name Loan Max in the state of Virginia. In 2009, Loan Max and a second lender, Cash Point, were sued by the District of Columbia for actively soliciting D.C. residents from Virginia. The Washington Post reported that D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said, “These companies were charging annual interest rates of about 300 percent and taking the titles of people’s automobile, and if somebody fell behind, they would auction off their cars.” In that lawsuit, Loan Max and Cash Point agreed to pay more than $1 million to hundreds of D.C. residents who had lost their cars and had paid thousands of dollars in interest for auto loans.
California Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento), who introduced AB 336 to regulate high-interest auto-title loans, had his bill shot down in January by the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee. That legislation would have required additional disclosure conditions to the borrower, specifically to be named a “high-interest loan” as well as a complete amortization schedule of the life of the loan. In addition, lenders would be required to verify the borrower’s credit and would not be able to finance loans when the payments would be in excess of 50 percent of the monthly income of the borrower.
“They make money on getting paid on the loan or they make money on taking the car and selling it,” Dickinson said. “In fact, to a certain extent, they probably make money on both because the chances are that someone will take the loan out and at least make some payments before they can’t make (the payments) any longer and then the car is seized. So the lender gets the benefits of the payments made plus the resale of the car after it’s repossessed.”
Carlat says those are not Pennbrooke’s policies. “If the cost of the sale of the car does not cover the cost of the loan, Pennbrooke does not go after [the borrower] for the cost of the balance,” Carlat said. “If there’s more money from the sale of the vehicle than is owed, [Pennbrooke would] redeem 100 percent of that back to the customer.”
When asked why opponents to AB 336 support this type of loan, Dickinson said, “The point of view that some (Assembly) members have is that these financial products such as payday loans and auto title loans are the only thing that’s available in terms of credit or lending to lower-income consumers,” said Dickinson. “There’s a universe of people who can’t get, for one reason or another, credit or borrow funds through the more typical channels such as banks or credit unions. They can’t go to a bank or credit union and get a loan. If they can’t get something like an auto-title loan, then they won’t be able to afford to get their car repaired and they’ll lose their job, and that’s even worse than getting a loan where you pay 200-percent interest.”
Carlat disagrees that auto-title loans target financially challenged citizens. “Most poor people don’t own their vehicle outright and have at least $5,000 equity [in their vehicle],” Carlat said. “So it’s certainly not targeting low-income people.”
Resident Lisa Wibroe is opposed to Pennbrooke moving to this Wrigley gateway location, and she created a petition for Wrigley residents as a preventative measure. “Wrigley was hard-hit with the mortgage fiasco,” she said. “Everybody knows where there’s an empty home in this neighborhood, and it’s done nothing but lower our property values, and we’re trying to look for businesses to elevate ourselves and make our property values come back up again. I don’t believe that this business will do so.”
At Monday’s meeting, another resident reminded neighbors how that area had been hard-hit by the L.A. riots 20 years ago and that there had been two banks there. “One of them is now a dollar store, and the other is a laundromat,” she said. “And many of you remember we lost our DMV building. It was burned down right here, and that took a lot of business out of this area. For 20 years we have been working very hard to bring this neighborhood back. A key element is that we need businesses that we use. I don’t understand why here we are 20 years later talking about a business we wouldn’t have considered then. We’re supposed to have progressed.”

CJ Dablo/Signal Tribune
Special “misters” spray a mixture of water and plant material over a hill of waste material to neutralize the odor while trash is processed at EDCO’s new facility in Signal Hill

EDCO, also known as Signal Hill Disposal, began a new chapter in its company history by starting operations in Signal Hill at its material-recovery facility and transfer station on Patterson Street and California Avenue at the end of April.
EDCO’s 68,000-square-foot building is the newest of the facilities of the family-owned company that handles waste and recycling services in locations throughout Southern California. In addition, EDCO will soon be opening a 19,000-square-foot administration building one block away on 28th Street and California Avenue around October of this year.
The location for the regional center appealed to EDCO chiefly because of its easy freeway access, according to EDCO President and Chief Executive Officer Steve South. He explained that the waste material hauled by the trucks will be taken to the facility for processing, further sorted for recycling, and then eventually transferred to an end disposal site. South said that EDCO does not own any landfills, adding that the end disposal sites are typically located within a 30-mile range.
South described the facility as a “one-stop shopping” operation. He explained that the public can drop off debris and recycle their bottles and cans at this new facility. The company also has plans to eventually offer a space where the public may drop off household hazardous-waste materials (items like paint cans and e-waste such as televisions and old computers).
“We’ve been part of the community for many years as Signal Hill Disposal, serving the city, and we just look forward to expanding our services to the city to meet state mandates,” South said in an interview Tuesday.
During an informal tour for the Signal Tribune that day, South took the time to offer a glimpse of the plant’s day-to-day operations. White EDCO trucks periodically rolled in and out of the transfer station to offload waste material for processing or load the material to haul out of the city. At the time of the tour in the main part of the facility, a few workers in orange vests and hard hats worked on the few mountains of trash and debris that awaited processing. One man swept through the facility with his “Bobcat” across the concrete floor. At South’s request, another switched on overhead “misters” that usually run on a timer. The misters sprayed a heavy cloud that quickly filled the warehouse ceiling then spread over the few heaps of waste. That cloud (a mixture of water and plant material) helps to neutralize odor while the waste is handled inside the warehouse.
The operation has impressed city officials.
“All the disposal is occurring inside the building,” Deputy City Manager Charlie Honeycutt said in a phone interview Tuesday. “And they’ve got very high-tech filter systems that will… filter out any dust and odors before it’s released into the air.”

An EDCO truck parks outside Signal Hill’s new material-recovery facility and transfer station on Patterson Street and California Avenue on April 26, 2012.

With this shot of two female student protestors being handcuffed by university police officers at a CSU Board of Trustees meeting last November, CSULB student photographer Stefan Agregado became the national winner of the Society of Professional Journalists 2011 Mark of Excellence Award for breaking-news photography.

A photographer for CSULB’s student newspaper, The Daily 49er, Agregado, as well as the other first-place national winners, will be recognized at the Excellence in Journalism 2012 conference in September in Fort Lauderdale.

Source: CSULB

After nearly two years of indicating that his views on same-sex marriage were “evolving,” President Barack Obama on Wednesday afternoon told ABC’s Robin Roberts that he supports same-sex marriage.
“I’ve always been adament that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally, and that’s why, in addition to everything we’ve done in this administration, rolling back ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ so that outstanding Americans can serve our country, whether it’s no longer defending the Defense [of] Marriage Act, which tried to federalize what has historically been state law, I’ve stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community,” Obama said, noting that he had hesitated in openly supporting same-sex marriage because he had believed that civil unions would be sufficient to give LGBT citizens basic rights such as hospital visitation of their partners. “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
Local city officials expressed their support of Obama in his endorsement, including Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster.
“President Obama took a tough stand today and did the right thing by openly supporting marriage equality,” Foster said. “Way to go, Mr. President.”
First District Long Beach Councilmember Robert Garcia also shared his appreciation of the President’s decision. “Today is a great day for America and a great day for Long Beach,” Garcia said. “Our city has been on the front lines of equality and civil rights, and I am so proud of our community leaders and activists who have fought so hard for marriage equality. History will judge President Obama well.”
Signal Hill Councilmember Larry Forester noted the significance of Obama’s acknowledgement of the idea of marriage versus unions for homosexual couples. “I truly respect the evolution the president has gone through, and this civil definition of marriage is more meaningful to commited same-sex couples than ‘civil union,’” Forester said.
Obama’s announcement is the first endorsement of same-sex marriage by a sitting U.S. president. In an appearance in Oklahoma on Wednesday, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney reiterated his assertion that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman.

The Environmental Enhancement Committee, which consists of the OSPR administrator, executive director of the California Coastal Conservancy and an officer from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, will determine the projects to be funded.
Disbursement of the grants is contingent on the availability of funds in the EEF.
Grant applications must be received by 5pm on Aug. 28, 2012. Email eefgrant@ospr.dfg.ca.gov . For more information, visit dfg.ca.gov/ ospr/Science/eep.aspx .

Source: City of LB

NOT ‘E’ WASTE OF TIME
What E-waste drive
Who Hosted by American Legion
Where 5938 E. Parkcrest St.
When Saturday, May 12 from 9am to 3pm
More Info Call (562) 321-9310 ext. 9007 or visit globale-r.com .

BE READY
What Emergency-preparedness course
Who Provided by Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
Where Long Beach Public Library, 101 Pacific Ave.
When Saturday, May 12 from 10am to 1pm
More Info Parking available in Broadway and Cedar Avenue parking structure. To reserve a spot, send an email with names and number of attendees to RSVP@getreadylongbeach.org or call and leave a message at (562) 481-3866. This three-hour course will help introduce community members to emergency preparedness in a free, informative and fun forum.

A CENTURY OF HELPING WORKING MOMS
What Long Beach Day Nursery 100th Anniversary Tea for Tots
Who Hosted by Long Beach Day Nursery
Where Rancho Los Alamitos, 6400 Bixby Hill Rd.
When Saturday, May 12 from 11am to 3:30pm
More Info Long Beach Day Nursery’s 100th Anniversary Tea for Tots luncheon and silent auction are being chaired by California’s former First Lady Gloria Deukmejian. Silent auction opens at 11am. Garden stroll from 11am to 12:30pm. Lunch served at 12:30pm. Long Beach Day Nursery Children’s Choir will perform at 1:30pm. Docent-guided tours of the rancho home will be conducted from 2pm to 3:30pm. Reservations are mandatory. Call (562) 591-0509. Long Beach Day Nursery was founded in 1912 by a group of prominent Long Beach women who felt that working mothers needed quality child care– a radical idea at the time since very few women worked outside the home.

REMOVING THE WORRY BEHIND YOUR QUERY
What Writers workshop
Who Hosted by the California Writers Club of Long Beach
Where Long Beach Los Altos Library, 5614 E. Britton Dr.
When Saturday, May 12 from 3pm to 5pm
More Info Attendees will have the opportunity to learn how to improve their query letter writing. Marla Miller, published author and query letter expert, will lead the workshop.

FOR KIDS IN NEED
What Mother’s Day brunch
Who Hosted by Long Beach Kids Connection
Where Mother’s Beach, 5839 Appian Way
When Sunday, May 13 from 11am to 4pm
More Info Cost is $30 ($15 tax deductible) and $10 for children 3 to 16. Children’s activities included. Proceeds go to Kids Connection to benefit homeless children and children in need in Long Beach. RSVP required to (562) 233-4338 or visit lbkidsconnection.org .

40 ACRES AND A VIEW
What California Gardens sunset tour
Who Conducted by Councilmember James Johnson
Where 2745 Orange Ave.
When Wednesday, May 16 from 6pm to 7:30pm
More Info The sunset tour will replace the regularly scheduled tour on the third Saturday of each month, for the month of May only. The tour is free and open to the public. Dogs are welcome, as long as they are on a leash at all times. Contact the 7th District Council Office at (562) 570-7777, district7@longbeach.gov or facebook.com/CAGardens .