Press Corps

The monthly Chat with Pat, hosted by 4th District Councilman Patrick O'Donnell, will take place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. today at Los Altos Library, 5614 Britton. Mario Rodriguez, the new Long Beach Airport director, will be the guest speaker.

The event is free and open to the public. It's a great chance to meet the 4th District council member and to find out the latest on the planned airport improvements.

Heading a city with just a little over 16,000 residents and a meager budget, Artesia City Manager Maria Dadian is used to doing more with less.

Dadian, who's been at the helm for nine years, chats with PublicCEO.com reporter Debbie Sklar about how her city isn't different from larger cities.

"Large cities operate with the impression that smaller populated cities that may contract services (police, fire, etc.) are not subject to the same fiscal challenges to serve their communities," Dadian said. "Smaller communities have a difficult time rallying to achieve all what is necessary to ensure that the public (residents and business) in the jurisdiction is served.  Funding and advocacy is lost or limited to small jurisdictions because it is the numbers (population) that gets the attention."

Dadian also said Artesia relies primarily on its investments and conservative budgeting and not on funding from the state.

"We have always struggled to make it financially as a city. We budget and operate conservatively," she explains. "We have never relied on the funds of the State, we have scrimped and saved. Then, through the State's irresponsible manner of managing money we become their 'loan institution?' As the front line to our residents how do we serve them?"

She adds that it's challenging to "simply hold on to the dollars that we have generated through investments in improving our infrastructure and working with those who select to do business and reside in our city."

Read more about the interview here.

Residents tonight can hear more about the ArtExchange being built on the former Acres of Books property and weigh in on the project's environmental impact.

City Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency and the ArtExchange Board of Directors will be on hand to discuss the collaborative art facility project proposed for the southeast corner of Third Street and Long Beach Boulevard.

They'll provide some history of the project, and the architect will do a presentation with more details. The staff also will discuss the project's process under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Long Beach Redevelopment Agency board members earlier this year moved forward with plans to build an art exchange at 240 Long Beach Blvd., which Acres of Books called its home for nearly 50 of its 74 years in business.

Similar to the Torpedo Factory art center in Alexandria, Va., and InCUBATE in Chicago, an art exchange provides a space where visitors can buy art, attend classes and watch artists at work.

The project is about 10,850 square feet of building area with nearly 6,000 square feet in new floor area and would include studios, classrooms and a hot shop for glass blowers and ceramics. Plans for the ArtExchange would incorporate part of Acres' facade.

The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. at the Museum of Latin American Art, 628 Alamitos Ave. E-mail info@eastvillagelongbeach.com for more information.

Russ Roca, a local bicycle advocate and photographer, has made a video of riding the city of Long Beach's newly installed 2nd Street bike lanes, also known as sharrows. Read all about the new green lanes that run from Livingston Drive to Bayshore Avenue in Belmont Shore here.

Roca's video is enlightening, illustrating what anyone who has ever ridden a bike down 2nd Street already knew -- traffic moves so slowly along there, bicycles really don't get in the way. Here's the video:

You can keep watching the budget talks in Sacramento online on the California Channel today as the Legislature tries to eliminate that pesky $24 billion budget deficit. The clock is ticking as Tuesday's deadline approaches. If no budget deal is reached, the state will start issuing IOUs to its workers on Wednesday.

The California Channel has and will continue to have live webcasts of the state Senate and Assembly as they go through their budget discussions. WIth the clock ticking, a June 30 deadline looming and the state's coffers almost empty, there is precious little time remaining for the state to eliminate its $24 billion budget deficit, or at least a short-term $5 billion savings to keep California running for a little while longer.

Right now, the state Senate is debating a $5 billion plan that has been approved by the Assembly, is opposed by the governor and so far has been blocked by Republicans in the Senate. Check it our here.

The Los Angeles Times has a great interactive budget balancing "game" on its Web site. You decide what programs to cut, where to raise taxes and fees, and try to eliminate California's $24 billion budget deficit.

Let me tell you, it's not easy.

Who wants to cut funding for schools or healthcare for children? Yet the idea of raising taxes, even on the rich, doesn't seem very appealing, especially in this economy. Remember that one of the big issues is a plan to take revenues from local governments, which has the League of California Cities and city officials across the state, including those in Long Beach, up in arms.

However the budget is fixed, in the end someone isn't going to be happy. There's just no avoiding it. I have to say that I don't envy our legislators in Sacramento. So, try the budget activity for yourself here and see if you can keep California from a fiscal meltdown.

How important are skate parks to urban communities?

That's the question at next Tuesday's monthly Beer & Politics political discussion. Long Beach's 14th Street Skate Park is slated to receive $620,000 in federal stimulus funding, which has drawn criticism from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. He placed the project on his list of 100 questionable projects being funded by the stimulus package. See our article on that here.

Long Beach officials say the park will create jobs in the renovation work and, more importantly, keeps youths in a rough neighborhood from getting into trouble. Speaking at Beer & Politics will be Mike Donelon, a former 7th District councilman and skate park advocate, and Dennis Thys, the city's director of Community Development.

The public discussion will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Gallagher's Pub & Grill, 2751 E. Broadway. If you can't go, you can watch it live online here. Below you can watch a Press-Telegram video about the skate park as well. Enjoy!

In many ways, Long Beach's Sustainable City Commission is the (hybrid, low-emission) engine that keeps the city's greening efforts going.

On Thursday, the commission will discuss approving its Green Economy and Lifestyle Focus Area and incorporating it into the Sustainable City Action Plan that is being crafted. What that means is some lofty goals to create a sustainable and green economy.

The Economy and Lifestyle plan calls for developing at least 2,000 green collar jobs in Long Beach by 2012 (with the economy the way it is, I'm guessing city leaders would be happy to see 2,000 new jobs of any kind); enrolling 100 green business in the Long Beach Green Business Certification Program by 2012; targeting half of the city's business grants and loans for green business development by 2012; and increase the city's green spending -- such as on office supplies -- to 100 percent by 2020.

Like I said, these are some lofty goals. On the jobs front, Long Beach has 925 green collar jobs now, which is 4.7 percent of the city's 195,000 total jobs, according to a city report. That means the city would have to triple the number of green jobs it currently has, which could be a challenge.

You can hear the commission discuss this plan and other green-related policies that may soon bloom around Long Beach at noon Thursday in the Aquarium of the Pacific's Watershed Classroom. Get more details on the meeting here by clicking on the agenda document.

OK, I can't confirm that, but certainly Tuesday night's regular council meeting was the shortest in recent years. It was even shorter than last week's 79-minute meeting, which appeared to have the record, though only briefly it turns out.

According to the unofficial minutes of the City Clerk's Office, Tuesday's meeting began at 5:04 p.m. and ended at 6:09 p.m. The agenda was an extremely light and routine one, and the meeting probably would have ended even faster if not for one unexpected speed bump that caused some extra discussion.

With City Hall dark this Friday because of furloughs, the Fourth of July next week (City Hall will be closed Friday, July 3, also), and council members starting to take summer vacations, that may be one reason the meetings have been short lately. But ultimately, these short meetings are the calm before the storm.

Soon, by Aug. 1 to be exact, the city will make public its fiscal year 2010 budget, including measures to cut programs, lay off workers, likely increase fees and other actions to help eliminate a projected $43.3 million budget deficit. Then the council can expect a storm of controversy and contention as everyone from city employee unions to library supporters and other angry residents turn out to give a piece of their minds.

Make no mistake, it's coming. I can see the clouds on the horizon ...