S IGNA L T R IBU N E Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill VOL. XXXIX NO. 4
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
January 20, 2017
Decision time LB Council to vote on international service for LGB Airport on Jan. 24. CJ Dablo Staff Writer
“greenest” railroad for converting its fleet to clean diesel locomotives. The Port of Long Beach has devised four different options for the project, three of which include expanding the storage and staging yard and a fourth being no work done to the yard. Its preferred approach would be providing increased railcar storage and staging capacity, including 10,000-foot staging tracks to facilitate more efficient assembly of trains. The footprint of the rail yard would extend into the North Harbor area to just south of 12th Street; relocations and/or condemnations may be required. The facility would include additional storage/staging tracks, locomotive fueling tracks and railcar repair tracks.The project would require realignment of Pier B Street, closure of the existing 9th Street
It’s time: on Tuesday, Jan. 24, the Long Beach City Council is scheduled to vote on the controversial proposal that would effectively transform its municipal airport into an international one, and it won’t be an easy decision. From the very beginning, JetBlue Airways’s request to build a federal-inspection services (FIS) facility at the Long Beach Airport has encountered a loud community backlash against the project from residents who say they live along the flight path of the planes. At community meetings and study sessions over the last two years, dozens of residents have criticized the proposal. At last December’s meeting, the council chamber was filled to capacity before the meeting began, and waiting protestors had to watch from a television monitor from the lobby area until seats became available in the auditorium. Community advocacy leader and former 8th-district councilmember Rae Gabelich said in a phone interview that she anticipated that the council meeting scheduled for Jan. 24 will draw about 1,000 residents in protest of the plan. Her advocacy group, Long Beach Neighborhoods First, has organized community members. Many have often carried protest placards and criticized the plan during public-comment periods at every meeting dealing with the issue from the first time it had been discussed. Gabelich criticized the councilmembers who have supported the idea of allowing international flights, explaining that they have not adequately engaged with the public. The Signal Tribune asked Gabelich about repercussions if the vote eventually favors building an FIS facility next week. She described plans to create a political-action committee to be prepared for a future city election, a group that will deal with city leaders when they seek to keep their seats on the council dais.
see RAIL page 15
see AIRPORT page 15
Images courtesy Port of LB
The Port of Long Beach has devised four different options for a proposed on-dock rail support facility at Pier B, three of which include expanding the storage and staging yard and a fourth being no work done to the yard.
Stakeholders speak up at community meeting on proposed rail project Unions say yes, while nearby businesses fear possibly having to relocate. Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
When Levi Javier was younger, he and his family would go angling off a pier in Long Beach. A regular sight they would behold while waiting to reel in the fish was a dense cloud of smog over the harbor. “Back then, you could literally see the smog hovering over the port. On summer days, it would literally be like a rustic red, and you could feel it burn in your lungs,” he said Wednesday night, during a port-hosted community-input meeting. “We’ve made a lot of progress since those good old days. But still– you know, I was going down the
freeway the other day, and you could still feel the pollution on the freeway. So, anything that we can do to minimize the pollution, the noise, the traffic, just as a citizen, I’m 100-percent for that, and this project addresses that.” Javier is now 2nd vice president of the Harbor Association of Industry and Commerce, and the project of which he– and others that night– spoke is the Port of Long Beach’s proposed reconfiguration, expansion and enhancement of the existing Pier B rail facility located along Anaheim Street and the 710 Freeway. According to port officials, the undertaking will support more efficient use of “on-dock” rail at the port’s shipping terminals, which will, consequently, alleviate roadway traffic congestion and improve air quality. More specifically, through the project, port officials are proposing to:
eliminate the existing railroad crossing at the 9th Street and Pico Avenue intersection to improve traffic flow and increase motorist and rail safety; reconfigure tracks already in place and add more tracks to permit trains up to 10,000 feet long to directly connect to the on-dock rail facilities and the Alameda Corridor railway; potentially acquire more land to the north of the Pier B facility to provide for additional railcar storage and staging; and potentially remove the ramps connecting 9th Street and the Shoemaker Bridge. Currently, the Pier B facility serves as a train storage and staging area and is an important juncture in the port’s network of rails, officials say. Pacific Harbor Line (PHL), which provides rail dispatching and switching services, is presently the primary user of the facility. According to port officials, PHL has been recognized as the country’s
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Look for Sweetheart Sweepstakes For more information, Soon in the Signal Tribune! Will you be 1 see of our thead 1000 to 2. take a stand on page February 3-10
Swee pstakes
Tuesday, January 24th?
Your vote and your presence WILL influence the outc