Within the next two weeks voters will begin to receive their vote-by-mail ballots.  Yes, there is a mess going on in D.C., but there are also some questionable measures being placed before you right here in Long Beach.

Let's begin with what is to me the most important of the 4 measures.  Measure BBB....

"Don't BBB fooled".  The mayor and other supporters of this measure are asking the voters to "strengthen" our LB  term limits.  They are asking us to "close the recently identified loophole".  Giving the elected's 4 more years does not "strengthen" our government. It limits participation of new voices with new ideas and new perspectives.

In 1992 Long Beach voters voted to support two 4 year term limits.  They did that to avoid the same voices, influenced by the outside powers to remain in power because of name recognition.  It's very difficult to unseat an incumbent!

That served our city well until Mayor Foster placed two options on the 2007 ballot.  One choice was for voters to approve three 4 year terms.  That was defeated by a 2/3  majority vote!  The other that did pass, was for an incumbent to be able to run a write-in campaign for the primary currently held in April and if`they took 1st or 2nd place their name could appear on the ballot for the general in June.  The voters agreed that this was a fair compromise!  

Now, one mayor later, they're asking for the voters to support the current mayor and city council to have easier access to that third term. Four more years of making decisions that will influence both the districts and the city as a whole for decades.   Why you ask?  

Job security?  Council positions should not be considered automatic career opportunities or a stepping stone to higher office.  Ideally they should be filled by citizens volunteering for a limited period of time to give their time and experience to represent their neighborhoods in solving common problems.  Fresh ideas. Renewed energy. Diverse viewpoints.  

Giving this council four more years does not strengthen our government.  In fact, today most items that come before the city council are answered with a 9-0 vote.  How is that possible? Do they not have questions related to issues that the community brings forward to them?  Important issues, like the LUE (Land Use Element Plan) or even their 9-0 vote to bring these four measures before you in a "special" election.   That was after witnessing over 150  residents opposing these charter amendments versus 1 LBFD union representative who spoke in favor.  

They may listen to the public's 3 minutes of testimony, but they are not hearing what is being said!  Not one public comment was discussed prior to their vote.

The so called "loophole" is what voters approved in 2007.  If a seated mayor or council member has done an outstanding job then they can be re-elected by their constituents through the write-in process that voters approved 11 years ago. 

​And yes, they could be re-elected for as many terms as their constituents believe in their leadership!  That does not appear to be the problem.......

​More to come.....stay tuned!

Our mayor presented and city council supported amendments seem to be of an honest nature.  However, when you read between those lines what you find may be more self-serving than improving our city government.
 
The fact that a special election for this November will cost Long Beach taxpayers approximately $650,000.00 should flash the first red light.  There is no urgency to move these issues forward before our next election in 2020.
 
The only real urgency is to allow  both Dee Andrews and
Al Austin  to run for a third term with their names on the ballot.  According to assistant city attorney, Mike Mais, the way this measure is written, it would allow Dee Andrews (who won a write in for his 3rd term in 2016) to place his name on the 2020 ballot.  As for 8th district council member, Al Austin, if this measure passes, would not have to run a very difficult write-in campaign.  Instead his name would appear on the ballot and being the incumbent he would stand a higher possibility of winning that election. If passed, it will also give the mayor and other 7 council members a great sigh of relief to know they can most likely hold their seat beyond 2022.
 
In 1992, Long Beach voters denied access to a third term, by their overwhelming vote to limit mayor and city council to two terms. 
 
In 2000, Long Beach voters refused to modify the charter to allow the April write-in candidate to appear on the June ballot if they came in 1st or 2nd.
 
 In 2001, Mayor O”Neill’s team found an exception to the voter approved 2 term limit.  
 
That exception is within our city charter, Section 214(b) that codifies the exception to the term limit rule, allowing voters to write-in any candidate of their choice and allowing candidates who would otherwise be termed out to run additional campaigns as write-in candidates.  
 
Why the exception? Section 1910 of our city charter which stipulates, in part, that…”all municipal elections shall be held in accordance with the provisions of the Elections Code of the State of California governing municipal elections” and 2. State Elections Code Section 15340, which states: “Each voter is entitled to write the name of any candidate for any public office, including that of President and Vice President of the United States, on the ballot of any election.”
 
In short, we in Long Beach, can assert our desire for term limits for local elected offices, so long as we also abide by State law that permits write-in candidates.  State Election Law necessarily controls on this matter and cannot be circumvented purely as a matter of local preference.
 
In 2007 LB voters did approve a partial write-in bypass for successful write-in candidates.  It allowed their name to appear on the June ballot instead of having to run another write-in campaign.  However, they boldly rejected by 2/3 margin to allow mayor or city council to be allowed three terms.
 
The voters have spoken…….

             How Will This Impact Your Community?

•      Increases of 3 – 10 stories across our city - not just downtown. 
•      Allow 18 homes per acre in residential neighborhoods (today is 7)
•      and up to 48 units per acre in other areas.
•      Parking is NOT required if project is within ½ mile of a bus line.               
•      An EIR will NOT be required, leaving zero opportunity for public to
•      contest each individual development.
•     This extreme increase in density brings more congestion, more pollution,
•      more crime and more strain on public safety, schools, water and power.     

   
               How Do You Want Your City To Grow?        What Can You Do?
               Attend one or more of the City Planning outreach workshops.
              (You do not have to live in the district to attend these meetings.)

•       Sat. Sept. 30th -      3-5 pm Veterans Park Community Center
•      Wed. Oct. 4th -        6-8 p.m. Whaley Park Community Center
•       Sat. Oct. 14th -       11-1 p.m. Best Western Golden Sails Hotel
•       Wed. Oct. 18th -     6-8 p.m. Expo Center Bixby Knolls

View the maps online at: 
http://longbeach.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=5362293&GUID=79C84DE2-1A98-49A2-ABFD-186694AD3F16
        Email Mayor Garcia and all 9 council offices.  The numbers and emails are located on our front page.

Please visit the LB HUSH2 blog page for our most recent updates.  We will be expanding our efforts to reach across our city to provide information on all issues that concern our residents.  

LB HUSH2 will focus primarily on LGB activity.

LBNF is available to inform residents about projects citywide.  From airport, to wetlands, to development or health concern issues.  This is a good place to start.

CARP, our newest Long Beach organization, is still in the organization process.  Their mission is to address all things related to planning and development throughout Long Beach.  

If you are interested in having your community concerns posted here please contact us at lbneighborhoodsfirst.com and leave a message for Jane.

Last night was a testimonial to what citizens can accomplish when they work together.  The final vote was 8-1 (Andrews opposed). But if you have participated or watched this journey for the past 3 1/2 years you know the numerous paths that had to be walked.  There were many!
Dozens of meetings, hundreds of emails and documents distributed.......too numerous to truly absorb. 

Personally speaking, it will take awhile to comprehend what had to take place to bring our elected officials to the point of understanding and showing support for all Long Beach neighborhoods.  But the important piece is,
it happened!  Our concerns were respected, our fears of loss in this arena were consoled and the new connections are priceless.

We have met many new young, energetic, committed, passionate Long Beach residents who played a big part in educating our airport impacted neighborhoods.  Families who have returned or are newly settled into our wonderful "City of Neighborhoods" called Long Beach.  They will be the new leaders of tomorrow.  They will carry the torch, just as many decided years ago to protect and defend the quality of life for each and every one of us. 

As for the city council, we want to personally thank Councilwoman Mungo for taking the lead on this final decision.  The Long Beach Airport does reside in her 5th district, but it is an asset, as well as a burden to many other areas.  Mungo and most others stepped into their new roles never expecting to have to face this type of
in-your-face politics.  They do want to do the best they can for their constituents. However, the lesson learned here for the other district representatives, who are not airport impacted was, we are One City.  Their first and foremost responsibility, after public safety, is to defend and enhance the communities quality of life.  To look well beyond their two terms and understand that the votes of today impact ALL Long Beach citizens of tomorrow.

It is important to recognize that our business communities must be supported to flourish, but never at the expense of the residents.  The taxpayers. The voters.  Unintended consequences should always be considered before making that final vote.

Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers that have participated over the past several years on this mission.  Whether by donations, walking and talking, attending meetings or most recently distributing 8000 fliers to the airport area neighborhoods.  Thousands of volunteer man hours to protect our homes!  Yes, it was worth it.

More updates on this and how we can use our momentum to continue to improve our communities. 

Thank You,

Your HUSH2 Team

Submitted by Mike Kowal on Facebook..........
This issue is not just about Commercial Flight operations which represent only 1 of the 5 noise buckets. How about the other 4 and the impact a Customs Facility will have on their operations? No one has addressed this "Elephant in the Room". Someone needs to ask, and get a straight "number" answer to the following: "How many operations are potentially possible across all 5 noise buckets?"

Logically whatever we currently have or been averaging will increase significantly by accommodating aviation interests world-wide vs. just the US. The public needs to know and understand the potential impact of filling the other 4 noise buckets.         
Submitted by Glennis Dolce on NextDoor.......
No amount of insulation and window retrofitting is going to make living without a noise ordinance enjoyable unless you are gone all day and never enjoy using your backyards, city parks, and other outdoor neighborhood events. What about the schools? We can't even scrape the money together for decent AC for them. Where is the money for them to retrofit? Oh, maybe you don't have kids, or like me, your kids are now grown. What about LBCC and CSULB? Maybe it will end up as bond measures and additions to your property taxes to retrofit for these things. What about your neighbors children? These are neighborhoods. To the folks who like to say " You knew there was an airport here when you bought your home", likewise, JetBlue and other carriers know this is not an international airport. They know they are operating in the middle of neighborhoods filled with people, families, schools, businesses. Do you think they care? 
Forcing this down our throats by making campaign contributions to politicians and putting money in strategic places around the city to serve their corporate desires is politics in service to corporations and not the residents. 
I hope that if this ends up passing, that those in favor of it are still here 5-10 years from now. I'm going to want to talk with you then. 
How is it that only 3 council members with affected residents appear to oppose? So the rest of the council is not interested in supporting their fellow council members on this important issue? Why is that? Politics! They can all come together over support for resolutions on Standing Rock, making pretty crosswalks for fun, 1% for the Arts, free public movies in council chambers (all feel good stuff that looks great on FB, twitter and instagram) yet on these sorts of issues they don't come together. 
Hope you all have been calling and writing letters. and are planning to attend the meeting on the 24th.
                                                                        

Excerpt from Cal. Hts, Los Cerritos and Country Club Manor letter of June 2015 –
 
Those of us who have lived in our neighborhood long enough to remember the lawsuits and conflicts surrounding the noise ordinance do not want to risk reliving these ghastly battles.
 
We know that everyone on the Council and the Mayor have pledged to keep the noise ordinance as is and we appreciate that.
 
Our worry is that everyone on the Council and the Mayor cannot guarantee the ordinance will not be challenged again. If we can learn anything from our history, it is that eventually the ordinance will be challenged and the odds of this happening are increased exponentially with the addition of a Customs Facility at our Airport
 
Our three neighborhood associations represent over 3,000 homes in Long Beach. We have worked hard to rebuild our business corridors and enhance the stability of our neighborhoods.
 
Since property tax revenue accounts for almost 25 percent of the General Fund, we respectfully ask that you stand in support of Long Beach neighborhoods and politely decline Jet Blue’s request for a Customs Facility at Long Beach Airport.
 
While we enjoy the existing Airport and appreciate Jet Blue’s reputation and involvement in Long Beach, our opinion is that opening up our noise ordinance to any potential challenge is not worth the risk to the overall financial health of Long Beach.
 

There is much to read about this weeks (January24) council decision to approve or deny the Jet Blue request for international flights.  LBReport, Beachcomber, The Signal, LBNF/FB page to name a few. 

It is very interesting that 5th district council member Stacy Mungo, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 20th thought it would be responsible of her to announce a meeting she is hosting at LGB with current airport manager, Jess Romo.  She scheduled this meeting for Monday, January 23rd 6-8pm.  I would suggest that this is Ms. Mungo's way to dissuade her constituents from participating in the Tuesday council meeting.  Much easier to vote against the folks you represent when they are not in the room.  And she can then announce her outstanding effort to communicate with the public. 

Mungo stated that she has heard from over 500 concerned citizens and will now attempt to answer their questions.  Shouldn't this have been done before she moved this so far along?  It was Ms. Mungo who strongly supported the Jacobs study to gather more information, yet during her own council study session said not one word. 

Our recommendation.....if you can't get enough of the LGB/FIS details or need a closer look at your 5th district council person in action then come on Monday's impromptu gathering.  If you have to choose between Monday and Tuesday.....Make It Tuesday!!!  Your presence does matter!

"I just learned something valuable from my two year old...the louder he is, the quicker I listen. Let's be loud. Let's get them to listen. Share with anyone you can."
                                                        Rita Nayak, West Bixby Knolls

Most of us can all relate to this scenario.  Either through our own experiences with our children or sharing toddler time with family or friends.  It's the old adage- the squeaky wheel......
We have added nearly 120 new names to the LBNF roster!  We have over 100 new volunteers who are canvassing the districts with NO INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS fliers!  We have reached out to citywide leaders to hear their thoughts and shared many documents and suggestions with Mayor Garcia and all 9 council members.  We have done outreach through local media, Facebook and yes even some Twitter! 

This specific attempt to place additional risks on our coveted noise ordinance (only one of five in the country) has been ongoing since 2013.  Our new terminal was officially opened in 2013.  Shortly after the Grand Opening in 2013 was when Jet Blue initiated their request with then LGB Director, Mario Rodriquez.  They met with CBP, communicated with the FAA, hired Frasca & Associates to complete an economic study, provided several blue prints of schematic possibilities and even presented LGB with a term sheet.  All of this without receiving any direction from our city council!  After the 2014 elections your HUSH2 team met with Mayor Garcia and all council members willing to talk with us.  We provided them with the historical documents of LGB litigation history from 1980-2006.  We offered to meet and help each of them in any way that we could.  Unfortunately, not one individual thought it prudent to continue with our conversations.

This Tuesday, January 24th the city council will cast their final vote to either deny the Jet Blue request or grant JB and city staff to move forward on this project.  The agenda item is worded to suggest their will be other points of approval,  but the reality is "this plane will have left the gate....".

If council members from District 1,2,3,5,6 and 9 ( or at least two of them) don't join the efforts of Supernaw, Austin and Uranga to keep our airport "municipal", HUSH2 will begin staging for resident litigation efforts much like the 1700 residents did in the 80's. But more importantly our focus will be about building an army to go against all districts and the mayor who will be running for reelection in April 2018.  The Mayoral position and Districts 3 & 5 are most vulnerable.  Districts 3,5 and 8 have the highest number of voters and their support is crucial to win the mayoral seat.

We will be posting some of the communications we have shared with our elected officials and comments from several of our Long Beach citizens over the next few days.  Please check back periodically for updates between now and Tuesday, 24th.  And of course, your comments are encouraged.

On January 24th, 2 weeks from today, our city council will cast their final vote to approve or disapprove the Jet Blue request to build an FIS terminal to allow the airline to fly international flights out of Long Beach Airport.

There are several moving parts to this ongoing story.  And also many questions that remain unanswered.  Not necessarily questions from our representatives, since Mungo and others basically said nothing during the "Jacobs Study Session", but questions that were presented by numerous residents that did attend the December 13th meeting. 

8th district councilmember Al Austin stated he would submit his list of 100 questions that turned out to be 32 questions that were recently answered.  They can be read at the LGB website and we do urge you to take some time to review.  We will post our comments to these answers over the weekend.

If you feel that your questions were not included or have not been addressed, please email all 9 council members and our mayor with those points.  Also, copy us at longbeachneighborhoodsfirst@gmail.com.

It takes 5 votes to not approve this project.  We believe we have 3 solid votes with the council members who's districts bear the brunt of airport activity each and every day.  Which other council districts are impacted, or would be, if our noise ordinance is successfully challenged? 

We believe next in line will be district 5 and 3.  The 5th district is directly impacted today by general aviation.  With any increase in general aviation, charter or corporate flight activity the 5th district will feel that impact.  It is also a runway that can handle commercial aircraft when necessary.

District 3 is seeing and hearing flight activity overhead near  the peninsula and residents are wondering why now?  It could be because of the new FAA MetroPlex program that is being initiated here in Long Beach and has been implemented in LAX already.  However there are areas of the 3rd such as Bixby Hill and CSULB that deal with commercial aviation each and every day.  Schools must stop and wait for the planes to pass which clearly interrupts the learning process.  Residents complain about noise and soot pollution today, they just have not activated their concerns. 

Imagine what our "City of Neighborhoods" will experience if we should lose our coveted ordinance.  The question remains, WHY would one approve of a project that could negatively impact their respective constituents?  Especially when it has been stated and restated in two reports that there would be little if any economic benefit for the City of Long Beach if this is built.

If Mungo and Price are hoping to be reelected for a second term in 2018 they should be very careful with their decision on this request.  It's not a threat, it is reality.  If you compromise your constituents or bring negative impacts to any part of our city you cannot expect public support in the future.

Stay tuned.......and we welcome the 65 newcomers to this community site.