November 28th, 2016

11/28/2016

My Personal Rant........

Like most of us I have just returned to my "real life" after enjoying a Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.

I returned to read the community frustration on NextDoor from both sides of our airport and to see that not one council member thinks it is important enough to hold their own community meeting on the $350K FIS study they approved last summer. Oh wait! When I arrived home this Monday evening around 6:15 p.m. my phone was ringing...."Are you going to the FIS meeting in the 5th district?" "What meeting I replied?".....

It appears that 5th district council woman Stacy Mungo decided to hold an FIS information meeting tonight at 6:00 p.m. How was it communicated with her public? It was not on her website along with her recognition of being a TOP 40 under 40 winner......it was shared via Next Door that does not spread across the city as one would hope. It was not delivered via e-notify from our City of Long Beach staff. It was not shared by the 4th, 7th or 8th district council offices (who by the way should be holding their own meetings....) nor was it mentioned in any of their online district communications.

So what is the public to do....I read the remarks from the 8th district side on Next Door and heard frustration, anger and pessimism...maybe even a bit of the Stolkholm Syndrome going on.

Wake up Long Beach!! You have a voice. This decision, that appears will still be made during the holiday season, is strictly political. How will their 9 council votes personally benefit them in their political future? Is it best for them to stand up for the residents who voted them into office or side with a corporate request from one tenant? Do these 9 elected officials who make decisions that effect each and every one of us every single week care about our quality of life? Do they care about the impact that losing our noise ordinance could have on our city as a whole? Do they understand the history of how LGB got to where it is today?

Call and/or write every council office and the mayor with your demands. Their numbers are on the header of this lbneighborhoodsfirst.com website. Nothing fancy or formal. Simply state your position, your frustration and demand their attention. I was privileged to serve in the city council position for 8 years. I know that the public can truly rattle the electeds, your collective voices are heard. Especially if their future is at stake.

This site is here to help you stay informed about citywide issues. It reaches a small audience of the nearly 500,000 residents. Do your part and tell your friends, family and neighbors to sign up. Ask them to commit to attending the council meeting when they finally agree on a date. Even if that date remains in the 2016 holiday season.

If you hear the airplanes of today, consider what that can mean for tomorrow as more and more are allowed. Or worse, if our ordinance is challenged and we, the City of Long Beach, does not prevail. There is no FAA requirement for any city to approve to move their city owned airport from municipal to international!!! More fear mongering by Jet Blue, a month to month LGB tenant.

Stay Tuned....we'll update during the week as news becomes available. In the meantime, make your calls, write your emails, talk to your neighbors and mark your calendars for December 13th 5:00 p.m at City Hall.

Jet Blue has formally asked their frequent flyers to write to our city officials asking to approve this FIS facility. Even those travelers who have never been to LGB. Get up, stand up and make the statement for your homes and your communities.

Need a yard sign? Just ask. We deliver.

Most Important....Stay Involved! Rae Gabelich

p.s. Our next post will be from Bob Joy who has dedicated hours of his personal time to review and compare the stats within the Jacobs Study. Very interesting!

26 Comments

Susan Kollins

11/28/2016 11:56:22 pm

I went till 7:30. It lasted till 9:00. Hammering the noise ordinance would be safe to convince us the international would work. Then needing more study sessions. I need to know how much it will cost and who is paying for it (not that I am for it). I have never heard any costs associated with this project.

Craig Adam

11/30/2016 12:08:17 am

Maybe the City (mayor and council) would better understand our objections to an international airport if we persuaded them to put the new ivory tower of city hall on the airport property or the adjacent business park instead of primer waterfront real estate.
BTW speaking of spending money the city does not have, is everyone aware of the repairs needed by the Queen Mary? First estimate I read was $23M.
We're so screwed by this city's administration

11/30/2016 12:20:48 am

If I recall, the $23 million is just the first installment. The total is, are you sitting down?, a quarter of a billion dollars-$250 million.

Anne Proffit link

11/29/2016 12:54:39 pm

Thank you for posting this, Rae. Although I'm not immediately affected, living downtown, I know that most decisions this council - and many of its predecessors - makes have been decided behind closed doors and the public be damned. The Downtown Plan, for one, this international flight plan for another. My demand is this: Keep Long Beach Local.

Michael Vaccaro link

11/29/2016 01:05:45 pm

I wrote all the council and the mayor several months ago. I will do it again. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. I have no trust in the city being on the side of the citizens they are their own entity in business for themselves. The company that did the study only does studies for cities and that should tell us something. Follow the money and it will end up in city coffers. Guess who wants that, the city. I hope our own councilman is talking loudly in our behalf and will vote in our behalf or I will personally take up the flag to see he is not re elected.

Anne Proffit

11/29/2016 01:21:26 pm

Thank you MIchael - They are a cabal and we are not welcome. We must change that and do it quickly.

Kristie Mamelli

11/29/2016 01:17:10 pm

This ought to be titled under the name of "No Transparency". Our taxes paying our "representatives" to make up their own minds? It's insidious, and if you've ever been to a city council meeting, it's like being in a canyon listening to your own echo, because only the people behind you hear anything. All of the people in front are busy behind their desks doing something else. I've experienced it! We need a Long Beach Watchdog reporter, like Orange County's media gal Teri Sforza, who shakes them awake! Someone who digs for and demands transparency and reports it to the public. I haven't seen anyone with the energy she has to wake up a city. Our City Auditor, Laura Doud, does a great job highlighting waste once she audits a department, but we need someone who will highlight it to the public. Maybe our city council as a whole needs an audit?

Anne Proffit

11/29/2016 01:23:21 pm

Thank you Kristie - I really think it's Pat West and Amy Bodek making the decisions and telling council how to vote. Or whoever is lining their pockets, excluding us. And that 1% sales tax that got shoved down our throats? Watch it all go to the 3 "P's" - pay, perks, pensions. The only government entity I've seen with a pittance of transparency is auditor Laura Doud.

11/29/2016 01:22:24 pm

I attended the public meeting on 10/25 & I hate to say it but from what I heard, the council men/women have already approved the plan to go international! The meeting was just a formality! Sad but true.

Anne Proffit

11/29/2016 01:29:52 pm

There they go again - act first and inform the public second. This city has the transparency of an Acres of Books brick. Shall we all go boo boy mayor when he turns on the Christmas tree lights at 5PM tonight?

Luz Bag-aw

11/29/2016 02:04:53 pm

It appears that the council will not include the public of their meeting. We should remind them that we voted for them to advocate for community needs. Since they seem to ignore our concerns, we should remind them that we can vote them out of office and hopefully have someone that is for the people, rather than for their benefit of the city. We should ask them including the mayor that their office is only a vote away.

Rae Gabelich

11/29/2016 02:24:34 pm

First VZ, don't give up! That's what government wants you to do. Michael Vicarro, what district do you live in? There is a lot of chatter out there on recalling two different council members. This could be the icing on the cake for many!

The 3rd, 4th and 7th districts have agendized an item to make December 13th a FIS study session and a final vote sometime in January. They cannot vote on a study session topic, but the public can speak to it. So here we are, smack dab in the middle of the holidays. Very interesting timing isn't it! Fa-la-la-la-la. Stay tuned......

Raman Vasishth

11/29/2016 07:30:35 pm

For those that think there is some crazy conspiracy theory against you, I think my best to let you know by posting on your website and on Nextdoor.com both Via an urgent Alert that was supposed to reach all areas of the city and another that covered only District 5 that I'm in.

I & Christina were involved in asking the Councilwoman to give the presentation for residents. She used a new Q&A format that I requested and she gave an excellent presentation-perhaps her best to date. I chose that formation because I thought it best suited the Councilwoman's strengths and allowed the public to play off each other so everyone could learn. It went very well and everyone had their questions fully answered. I feel that I bent over backwards to try to inform all of you If you missed it on Nextdoor I made sure I posted it on this website. I'm sorry, but I don't have the schedule for everyone's time off.

Our goal was to help reduce their fear and fill residents with up to date and accurate information from the city is a positive setting. I also wanted to obtain more information that I could post that everyone would agree with. It's not my intention to scape goat or write ill of others.

After the meeting, the Councilwoman thanked me for my posts as they were factually correct and researched, but did observe, after reviewing the threads, that most of the bloggers posting seemed to lack much valid information or were not absorbing information in my posts to substantiate their opinions when tended use incorrect information to work themselves up. She also said if people were not coming to any of the meetings, they generally could not absorb many of the nuances and an issue that has many pieces.

IMO it does not appear the Councilwoman has experience in dealing with anti-trust laws. That is not a criticism, just an observation that something I think she will need to get through if she believes the city can lose a lawsuit by doing nothing. If she does not trust the city attorney's opinion, she needs to hire someone that she does trust to give her a warmer fuzzy and feel comfortable rather than living in fear IMO. There are only 3 Anti-trust laws and none seem to fall under this provision. Of these, only the FTC Act come close. She did not specify specifically why she had that fear. I believe it to be very low if non-existent.
1) Sherman Act
2) The Federal Trade Commission Act
3) The Clayton Act

In looking at the others who I see posting on the internet, I think many do not know what they do not know. For those in that state, I have a video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiPe1OiKQuk lol.

Of all meetings that took place so far, I personally think this was by far the best for FIS and her so far to date! I hope she felt the same way and think if she so, keeps it or improves on that.

I applaud the Councilwoman for taking time out of her busy schedule to address residents concerns and I think, for now and everyone there, much of their concerns were addressed as much as the Councilwoman could.

Please know that before the meeting took place that I gave the CD 5 office 50 questions that were primarily based on disconnects and challenges I noticed within the Jacobs report. The report itself is not hard for everyone to read and goes fairly quick. After her presentation, although she said her office would endeavor to answer each question, I then realized that she may not be able to address most of the questions and I'm satisfied as to the reason. I would have liked to see included in the scope, the risk of doing nothing since the Councilwoman is uncertain. My goal is not to push any one agenda until I get more information even tough I pretty know how it will turn out. For me the fun is watching the process and the actors play their roles. I ask you to look at the city council meeting agenda for Dec 6 next city council meeting. There is something that was put on the agenda by Uranga just before the holidays that may affect the Dec 13th meeting. So thinks may change!

Please know that this process could take as long as 2 years! And that their is no conspiracy by the city or the Councilwoman in getting you information she is legally allowed to provide you.

In the meantime, lets try staying out of pizza places to hold out meeting for a while...lol :-)

For Rae, please accept my apologies in not finding a means to reach you in time. It doesn't mean I don't love you or anyone else that didn't see it or that Councilwoman is deliberately working against you. I used social media as best I could with the time I had. I was just trying to help. The meeting did not end until after 8PM.

There is gamesmanship occurring behind the scenes with the actors. :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as5LM7kHXGE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBN5U-nA6Is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDbAtWpoA6k&list=RDgDbAtWpoA6k#t=3

wendy nicolle

11/29/2016 07:43:53 pm

I have written to each councilmember and the mayor.

Here is the version sent to the mayor in case anyone would like to modify and send.

Dear Mayor Garcia,
This advises that I have written to each councilmember to request tabling the decision on the FIS Facility until after April 15, 2017 when more information about the impact of the new FAA Metroplex is known.

This is an important decision that affects the future of the city and its residents. It is a permanent and long term decision that cannot easily be reversed. As such in addition to considering impact on city residents, scrutiny of the FIS Feasibility Study inputs and outputs, the future costs to maintain the facility in an unpredictable industry with a high number of mergers, acquisitions and cease of operations, it is important to know more about the FAA Metroplex outcome before reaching a conclusion of whether the FIS Facility is the right decision for Long Beach.

My point of view is that the FIS Facility should not be pursued. I believe that the economic benefit to the city is inflated and that the Facility will reduce what makes the airport attractive- ease of use, convenience and good design. This will be lost the bigger the airport becomes. I also agree that a Master Plan from the airport should be provided to manage planned growth and provide transparency to the city and its residents.

A better path to prosperity is to attract businesses to Long Beach which creates tax revenue, raises property values, and draws people spending money within the city to the city.

Sincerely,

Rae Gabelich

12/4/2016 06:20:20 pm

Thanks Wendy! Please check in to lbneighborhoodsfirst.com or our FB page on Wednesday for updates on the council's decision on the 13th. If they do not move this item into the new year we will be reaching out to as many as possible to attend the meeting on the 13th. When it is only 1-200 the message is not so bold.....let's bring as many as possible. Jet Blue will.

11/29/2016 10:06:40 pm

Ramen, apparently we were at two different meetings. LOL. Very few answers to questions were obtained and beyond that, accurate answers. It is clear that this will be approved and we need to act NOW and BIG. Mungo attempted to play down her preconceptions displayed by past behavior on this issue, at this meeting. She's not kidding anyone, except maybe you. There are obviously several major cons to this expansion. I see them as more strain to City services that we already don't have enough of-not addressed at all. Further pollution and noise by a slowly expanding airport over decades and everything that goes along with it, very well pointed out by Mungo and the new airport director-addressed, but really only accounting for current aircraft with no foresight. The safety and terrorism issue barely discussed but was admitted by airport director that all of the terrorism thus far has occurred at airports with international status-not addressed. This is a big one, especially as time continues to march forward and should not be dismissed.

Mungo admitted to the Jacobs study as being a joke with extreme holes and blatantly lacking information. The entire consideration of this expansion was drilled into us as a requirement to avoid a challenge to the noise ordinance currently in place. I don't know enough about this aspect, however, I would like to here more on it from people truly in the know. At this point I'm not quite buying it. The more desirable this airport is made to the airlines, the more likely the noise ordinance will be challenged and at our expense even if we win.

The International status is of great benefit to an airline as well as a very desirable long runway 30, actually pointed out by the new airport director, as well as other factors. This does not bode well for keeping the noise ordinance. These are really the two biggest hurdles for an airline industry to jump over for the purposes of demanding a court challenge to expand ever further. It is also worth noting that the flight limit for commercial has already increased from 41 to 50 per day due to a little bit quieter plains. All of the assumptions presented were based on current conditions. Please let's not all forget that things change fast in the corporate world, hence mergers, bankruptcies, business model changes, etc-just to mane a few. They can change almost overnight and these assumptions of current conditions can not be trusted into the future with any accuracy, or with an extraordinarily rich and powerful industry pounding on LB's door at a moments notice.

11/29/2016 10:27:54 pm

It must also be pointed out that the question of, " What is the benefit to LB or the people of LB for this expansion?", was asked over and over. There was NO answer provided other than Mungo stating that someone local may want the ability to fly internationally from LB. NOT a valid reason whatsoever, and quite frankly, was actually a completely asinine answer as to provide some kind of validity to it.

Susan Kollins

11/30/2016 01:14:37 pm

Two things to consider 10-30 years from now . . .

1. We are a port city. If there is no economic potential for the city to change the airport, but if it were to be an extension of the ports, that makes sense to me. More than a cute trip to Cabo.
2. Private-public partnership of the airport. I have not seen any costs for this venture. Who do you think will end up paying for this? We have one such project now in our city. We have ( unless the electoral college does something else) a businessman for a president who will want to tackle infrastructure projects as private-public partnerships from what I have read over and over.

This is what I see. And the money under the table. But that's another subject.

12/17/2016 02:50:08 pm

That would have no bearing on any aspect of the port as it has been here for decades and has an entire rail system to hubs in LA. This port is one of the busiest in the world without an International Airport. I don't think we would like to see rail or big rig trucks trekking over to the LB Airport through our neighborhoods. At any rate, none of this would we worth it as compared to the destruction of our neighborhoods. The thinking needs to change in this Country from everything is about business and money and back to real values.

Steve Ross

12/1/2016 07:54:59 pm

I moved here in '84 when there were 15-18 flights, and it's been downhill ever since. I've been going to meetings all these years, with the dizzying peak, I guess, when that bleepin' judge Laughlin (or something like that) was the main culprit. It is so disheartening to know our fine neighborhood has been and will be through so much, just TO MAINTAIN A DECENT QUALITY OF LIFE!

Raman Vasishth

12/3/2016 07:10:56 pm

Hello Rae Gabelich and others who were not able to attend Councilwoman Mungo's last meeting on FIS. If you would like for me to work with Councilwoman Mungo's office to arrange another meeting please let me know and I will do my best to satisfy your needs. How 'bout Sat at 10AM on the 10th. Please let me know this is good for you.

All I ask for those asking questions to keep their questions civil and keep in mind the answers the Councilwoman provides will need to be unbiased and that she may not have all the answers you seek because the city may not yet have it.

I tried once to help enlighten others and most of the people on this website did not come. I would like to get an idea of the number of people that would like to have since a meeting and what tine and day is best. For those that do not reply or show up if the meeting is held, you will have to reply on others. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

This is an opportunity to get information straight and unvarnished.

Rae Gabelich

12/4/2016 06:23:15 pm

Hello again Raman..... I would suggest that asking both the public and the council woman to attend yet another meeting is too much in such a short period of time.

Let's see how they all vote to move this item OUT of the December calendar in total and take it up in January for all to be involved. If you think she will listen to you, that's a good place to start!

Luz Bag-aw

12/4/2016 02:08:47 pm

Mr. Gabelich, Are we going to met before the Council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13. to voice our concern. I saw the Press Telegram to day, Sunday where the business community is building a 4 story hotel near the airport. Does this meaning that the council member is going ahead to build the international airport dispite public outcry. Just building the hotel is only a precursor for what the council will do. I think we should remind them that we voted them in and we can vote them out in the next election. It seems that government is not responding to people's voice. This is a demonstration how big government can be if not over seen. I am betrayed and my vote for the next election will be voiced.

Rae Gabelich

12/4/2016 06:25:53 pm

Hi Luz, thanks for the outreach! There is not a plan for a HUSH community meeting prior to the 13th, but we are looking for volunteers to distribute fliers in their immediate neighborhoods.

If you are interested and available this coming Wednesday you can call and let me know your address and council district. 562 423-1170.
Feel free to leave a detailed message for me.

12/17/2016 02:55:34 pm

I am continuing to witness, as I monitor different sites, that the pro International Airport people are losing ground, thankfully. It is imperative for 1000's of people to show up at the next meeting on Jan 24 including the mainstream press. It's the last thing the City, Airline Industry, and Jet Blue would like to see. LB citizens have packed the house before so let's do it again and focus our efforts on just that.

anneotheropinion link

12/17/2016 03:15:19 pm

I have marked Jan 24 at 5PM on my calendar to make sure I'm one of those 1,000 or more people that show up to protest this invasion of our quality of life. City council must relearn their duties and stop pandering to the 1% they think will propel them to the next level of mediocrity. An international airport is unnecessary here in the LBC.

November 28th, 2016

My Personal Rant........

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