S IGNA L T R IBU N E Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill VOL. XXXVIII NO. 36
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
September 2, 2016
Experts share analysis, stories of human trafficking A local workshop detailed the violent realities of the sex crime. Denny Cristales
Current city codes don’t limit the size of homes in one of Long Beach’s exclusive neighborhoods.
Editorial Assistant
Experts detailed the violent and tortuous lifestyle of “modern-day slavery” victims at a local workshop last Saturday in an attempt to educate attendees about human trafficking. The speakers presented slideshows that included anecdotes from anonymous victims about their experiences in brothels and with pimps. Almost all the victims were women and children. “I was able to protect my virginity for two months,” read one of the stories– this one a quote from Papia, an anonymous 13-year-old child and victim of sex trafficking. “I was beaten [un]mercifully when I refused customers... Finally, I was beaten so severely, I allowed myself to be raped by customers.” The Long Beach Community Improvement League (LBCIL), a nonprofit and community-based social-service organization, partnered with the Los Angeles County Psychological Association (LACPA) and the Iranian Psychological Association of America (IPAA) to present the lecture at the LBCIL’s Signal Hill Center. The event took place after the passing of SB 1322 last week– a state bill that aims to decriminalize prostitution for kids under the age of 18. The discussion included presentations by: Sgt. Eric Hooker, who serves in the Long Beach Police Department’s vice field–investigations section; Reuben Vaisman-Tzachor, Ph.D., psychotherapist at the Counseling Center of Santa Monica; and Indhushree Rajan, Ph.D., psychological assistant at a private practice firm, who spoke about Papia’s experience. Rajan mentioned other victims of the crime, such as Isha, an adolescent girl who was routinely beaten as punishment and witnessed the death of an infant at the hands of a pimp. She said girls are often threatened at a young age in order to facilitate compliance. “People have everything used see TRAFFICKING page 15
Preventing megamansions CJ Dablo Staff Writer
Infograph by Denny Cristales | Signal Tribune
Experts who study human trafficking shared statistics and details about the crime at a local workshop at the Long Beach Community Improvement League Signal Hill Center last Saturday.
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McMansions– those oversized homes that can significantly overshadow their older, smaller neighbors– can’t yet be built in an exclusive area in Long Beach. In a first-reading vote, the Long Beach City Council on Aug. 23 approved an urgency ordinance to continue a moratorium on a particular kind of development in one specific zone in the Virginia Country Club/Los Cerritos neighborhoods. The one-year moratorium was set to expire on Sept. 1, but pending final approval of the urgency ordinance, it will expire on March 17, 2017. Residents have voiced deep concerns that new development in their particular neighborhoods have led to “mansionization,” mega-homes that have been described to be out of character with the nearby homes in the immediate area. The moratorium only affects the zones marked “R-1-L” in those neighborhoods, and currently it applies to construction of new homes or additions that exceed 1,500 square feet. Long Beach Planning Bureau Manager Linda Tatum explained in an email to the Signal Tribune that there are no pending projects that have been affected by the moratorium. Tatum was also asked to clarify the existing codes as they pertain to that 1,500 square-foot limitation. “Currently, the R-1-L zone, the area subject to the moratorium, does not have development standards that limit the size of a home on a square-footage basis,” Tatum said in her email. “There are a series of development standards that collectively limit the size of a home, including height, setback, lot coverage and floor area ratio. These standards do not include a home-size limit cap, but collectively, the above-mentioned standards limit the size of a home relative to the size of the lot on which the home is built.” Stacy McDaniel, a Los Cerritos resident, has been one of the vocal opponents of the mansionization. “[All] of the other cities that have addressed this issue…have much see DEVELOPMENT page 19
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