S IGNA L T R IBU N E Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
VOL. XXXVIII NO. 25
June 17, 2016
Signal Hill ‘We have to take action. We are better than this.’ Public Works Orlando nightclub shooting inspires Department community engagement and congressional action. issues a design-build request for water-capture facility Cory Bilicko
Managing Editor
I
t was a significant week in the history of gun violence in the United States. It began with the killings of 49 people and wounding of 53 others at Pulse, an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, early Sunday morning. Armed with a SIG Sauer MCX semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm Glock 17 handgun, the shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, entered the club near closing time and began firing and taking patrons hostage. After a three-hour standoff with local police, he was shot and killed. Mateen’s assault became the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman and the most lethal act of violence against LGBT people in the country’s history. It was also the worst terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11 and the largest mass murder of LGBT people in the Western world since the Holocaust. On Sunday morning, Congressmember Alan Lowenthal, who represents California’s 47th District, released a statement about the tragedy, saying he had no words to describe how devastated he was by the “horror in Orlando” but that his heart went out to the families and friends of those killed and wounded. “This cannot continue,” Lowenthal wrote. “No one, outside the military, should have access to military-style weapons. We have to take action. We are better than this.” The LGBTQ Center of Long Beach also released a statement about the massacre. “As many of us are celebrating Pride Month, we must remember that there is still hate and discrimination against many races, ethnicities, sexual orientations and gender identities,” the statement read. “During this time, we must remain unified. We must not allow those that are filled with hate to drive a wedge into our communities.” Included in the statement was
City council adopts the mitigated negative declaration presented by the Department of Public Works. Sebastian Echeverry Staff Writer
Storm water During the Signal Hill City Council meeting on June 14, the council allowed the Signal Hill Department of Public Works to issue a design-build request for the department’s Los Cerritos Channel Sub-Basin 4 Storm Water Capture Facility project. The council also adopted a mitigated negative declaration for the storm water capture facility project. Public works is carrying out the storm water project to satisfy a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit that was administered by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. According to a PDF file posted on waterboards.ca.gov, a Los Angeles municipal separate storm sewer system order (MS4) regulates the total maximum daily load (TMDL) of metals found in storm water. Metals, such as zinc and copper, are washed into the Los Angeles River and the Los Cerritos Channel. “When it rains, there is no way to avoid it,” Vice Mayor Tina Hansen said. The capture facility will be put in place to stop the metal fragments from entering the bodies of water. A mitigated negative declaration identifies any environmental changes that may occur as a project is being worked on. According to Councilmember Larry Forester, there could be negative side effects as a result of the project, but the report claims that public works has taken steps to reduce them. see COUNCIL page 15
Photo by Ismael Salamanca
An altar at a Long Beach vigil on June 12 honors those killed in the shootings in Orlando, Florida earlier that morning.
an announcement that there would be a candlelight vigil in Harvey Milk Park in downtown Long Beach on Sunday evening. Later, Long Beach leaders and community members gathered at
the spot dedicated to Milk, the slain gay-rights leader. In his remarks at the event, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, who is openly gay, said “our community was attacked.”
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The Signal Tribune would like to wish a Happy & Prosperous 4th Anniversary!
“The largest mass shooting-murder in the history of our country has now happened to our community,” Garcia said. “That see VIGIL page 11
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