S IGNA L T R I BU N E Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill VOL. XL NO. 10
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If it closes, where will they go?
IN THIS ISSUE NEWS Mapping Long Beach’s future
At meeting, Long Beach fire chief informs Community Hospital Task Force that closure will displace patients; group also encourages residents to write letters in support of facility.
City council to review controversial plans for land use.
Denny Cristales
Page 3
Online Editor
Chemical fire breaks out in CSULB building
One university employee injured in the incident.
Denny Cristales | Signal Tribune
Page 6
COMMUNITY Wrigley group discusses how to prepare for active-shooter situation Residents also voice concerns regarding land-use element.
Mike DuRee, the Long Beach Fire Department’s fire chief, said during the Community Hospital Long Beach Task Force’s meeting on Monday, Feb. 26, inside the Assistance League of Long Beach building, 6220 E. Spring St., that the closure of the medical facility will displace about 5,000 patients who are transported by the fire department and require the hospital’s emergency-department services every year. In total, the hospital’s emergency department cares for 20,000 local patients, according to DuRee, per Long Beach Fire Department statistics.
Signal Hill City Council to conduct fee workshop May 1
Council will consider changing or increasing current fees to reflect true service cost.
Anita W. Harris Staff Writer
Page 3
CULTURE Reviews: Daddy Long Legs and King John ICT, LB Shakespeare Company shows are still in performance.
Pages 7 and 10
March 2, 2018
During its Feb. 27 meeting, the Signal Hill City Council decided on May 1 as the date to conduct a public workshop on updating City fees. It also held a public hearing on a property’s code violations, approved a change to Signal Hill police officers’ pensions and approved the use of community development block grant (CDBG) funds to support meals for seniors and help install a rubberized play surface at Calbrisas Park. Fee workshop The council agreed to conduct a public workshop on May 1 at 6pm to discuss changing or increasing 155 public-service fees. The council had begun this discussion at its previous meeting on Feb. 13 but decided to postpone it to get more input from each department as well as the public. At the Feb. 13 council meeting, Finance Director Scott Williams had shared results of a user-fee study revealing that the City is subsidizing expenses for certain services by not
It’s as if locals are mourning the loss of something that hasn’t even passed on yet, because residents, employees and even the CEO of MemorialCare are spreading word of the supposed confirmed closure of Community Hospital Long Beach, a medical facility that has been serving the east side of the city for years, according to those in attendance at a recent meeting. The Community Hospital Task Force is convinced the site can be saved, and at its second congregation this year at the Assistance League of Long Beach headquarters, 6220 E. Spring St., on Monday, Feb. 26, the group continued its discussion from its previous meeting about not only finding viable ways to maintain the facility, including the renewal of licenses and locating an equity partner, but also
convincing residents and even its own employees that the hospital’s closure is not a done deal. Late last year, Long Beach MemorialCare announced that Community Hospital would end medical services in 2019 as a result of an active fault line located beneath the facility that could pose as a seismic threat to the structure. The hospital has a June 30, 2019 deadline to meet the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development’s (OSHPD) earthquake-safety standards. The task force is also seeking to extend its acute-psychiatric and general acute-care medical licenses, which will expire April 28, 2018, with the California Department of Public Health. Part of saving the hospital involves implementing what Matthew Faulkner, executive director of the Commusee HOSPITAL page 15
Signal Hill gets a new post office... sort of Despite being named Signal Hill Station, new location is still in same building in Long Beach.
charging users the full costs. The study identified and accounted for the “fully burdened” cost of each City service, including total labor and overhead, finding, for instance, that certifying a document costs $18.85 but the City is currently only charging $10 for that service. “We’re going to have to raise fees, so that’s not the question,” Mayor Edward Wilson said at the Feb. 13 meeting. “It will be ‘How much do we think we should raise [them]?’” Code violations The council held a public hearing to consider a code-violation appeal for a property on the south side of East 29th Street between Atlantic and California avenues. In response to a complaint in July 2017, the City has informed the owner of the property multiple times that the lot could not be used for outdoor storage. The City has observed storage containers and vehicles, including RVs, on the lot, as well as construction debris. The City has further asked the see COUNCIL page 14
Cory Bilicko | Signal Tribune
The United States Postal Service has announced that services offered at 2300 Redondo Ave. will be moved to 2371 Grand Ave. (pictured) beginning March 5. Although the existing building will be used, services will be consolidated and conducted from a different portion of it. Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
Beginning March 19, customers who have been using the Long Beach post office located at 2300 Redondo Ave. will be conducting business at the Signal Hill Station at 2371 Grand Ave., now that the United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced that services will be
moved to the new location. However, despite its name, the new post office is actually not in Signal Hill– like the current one, it will be located in Long Beach– and, technically, the new post office will not be in a new building– the existing facility will still be utilized, but services will be moved to another see USPS page 11
Southern California’s Premier Musical Theatre Company Pa u l G a r m a n, E x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r / Pr o d u c e r
FINAL WEEKEND! MARCH 1–4
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All performances through 3/3 Use Code STG
ALL PERFORMANCES ARE AT THE CARPENTER CENTER, LONG BEACH
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