S IGNA L T R I BU N E Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill VOL. XXXIX NO. 23
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
June 2, 2017
Despite sharp homeless increase in county, Long Beach sees reduction Funding from Measures H, HHH expected to address countywide problem.
Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority released results of the 2017 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count on Wednesday, and, while the number of homeless individuals in the county has risen sharply in the last year, there was some good news for Long Beach. The count determined that 57,794 people in LA County experience homelessness on a given night– a 23-percent increase from the 2016 total of 46,874. However, the findings also reveal a 21-percent reduction in the total number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Long Beach and a 26-percent reduction in chronically homeless persons in the city. Compared to 2,345 homeless people in Long Beach in 2015, the total number this year has dropped to 1,863. The total number of chronically homeless individuals has decreased from 927 to 686.
The 2017 operation marks the fourth consecutive point-in-time count that indicates a reduction in homelessness in Long Beach. In addition to determining the number of homeless people, the count, which is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, also aims to determine their demographics, distribution across the county and location. The count is conducted annually during the last 10 days of January. It accounts for both unsheltered and sheltered homeless people. “Unsheltered” is defined as “an individual/family whose primary nighttime residence is a public/private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.” “Sheltered” refers to “an individual/family living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide a temporary living arrangement.” The City of Long Beach issued a press release Wednesday attributing
Save now, thrive later Signal Hill 2017-2018 fiscal year budget plan in balanced condition. Sebastian Echeverry Staff Writer
It seems as though councilmembers have been frugal enough with budgeting funds to ensure that Signal Hill’s economic infrastructure will stay afloat despite future increases in spending. The Signal Hill City Council and department directors gathered Wednesday in the city chamber to review the City’s second-year term of the 2017-2018 fiscal year budget plan. The first term of the budget was discussed last year. The event allowed the public to get involved in the City’s budget by asking questions and making suggestions. According to Signal Hill City Manager Charlie Honeycutt, the budget is well balanced– something he considers to be rare amongst most city governments. Slowly creeping along the horizon is a major spending increase concerning retirement coverage from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS),
Honeycutt said. During the workshop, the idea of a spending increase concerned members of the city council. However, Honeycutt told the Signal Tribune, shortly after the meeting, that this inflation in expenses was foreseen and dealt with in time. “[The council] anticipated that this was coming,” Honeycutt said. “They started setting money aside years ago, which helps us address that issue.” Honeycutt stated that the City is doing well in terms of budgeting, despite the increase in CalPERS’ cost. In June of last year, the amount of money put on reserve in the General Fund account for CalPERS coverage was $1,487,225. For this year’s reserve, that number has increased to $1,987,225. According to the report, the usual amount of revenue collected covers the normal amount of expenditures the City has. Honeycutt mentioned that global trends in the economy may influence how much money the City can collect. Acting Signal Hill Finance Director Scott Williams, who led the presentation of the budget plan, said that hotel see BUDGET page 3
the municipal decrease in homelessness to the expansion of permanent housing, innovative models of outreach and a well coordinated system of care. “In the last two years, permanent housing resources have nearly doubled,” the press release states. “This increase is due to the following factors: new housing programs for chronic homeless and veteran populations, expansion of Rapid Rehousing, more homeless housing units, increased Continuum of Care-funded veteran housing, increased Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, increased set-aside Section 8 vouchers and the implementation of a $6-million surge grant of Supportive Services for Veteran’s Families. This increased housing availability has allowed for effective and timely transitions from homelessness to permanent housing.” Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said he is “incredibly proud” of staff and community partners who are working every day to house
Courtesy LAHSA
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority this week released the results of the 2017 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which determined that 57,794 people in LA County experience homelessness on a given night– a 23-percent increase from the 2016 total of 46,874.
families and individuals experiencing homelessness. “Our local efforts are producing real results,” Garcia said. “We have a lot more work to do, but the data shows we are making progress.” City officials have noted that, de-
spite the overall decrease in Long Beach, the count’s findings reveal a dispersion of homelessness across the city since 2013. Officials attribute the move of homeless persons from higher densities in specific see HOMELESS page 9
Two SH commissions continue to be underrepresented Confusion from by mayor’s commission appointment method creates uncertainty for council members and commissioners alike. Anita W. Harris Staff Writer
The dust has not yet settled from the confusion caused at last week’s Signal Hill City Council meeting, during which appointments were made to three city commissions. Two commissioners who had verbally resigned from their positions during the meeting have since retracted and will continue to serve. However, Mayor Edward Wilson’s decision to follow the letter-of-the-law on the appointment procedure outlined in the city charter has caused lingering discord among council members. Commission statuses Three of the four city commissions gained new appointments during the May 23 Signal Hill City Council meeting, replacing commissioners whose terms were expiring May 31. These commissions were: Planning, Parks and Recreation and Civil Service. Five commissioners serve on
each commission. In a departure from previous council practice, Wilson chose to make appointments following the city charter, which authorizes him to not only nominate candidates for subsequent council approval but also, if he chooses, allow no other nominations. However, since Wilson did not recommend available candidates for all open positions, and foreclosed additional nominations by council members, four commission seats remain unfilled. “In any application process, there are people that get voted on the commission, and there are people that don’t,” Wilson had said during the meeting. “We cannot appoint everybody that applies.” As a result, full commission representation and functioning now depend on filling one open seat that has since been noticed, plus the continued service of three commissioners– Gary Dudley, Paul Patterson and Steve Strichart– whose terms have expired and who had applied for reappointment but were not nominated by Wilson. [Editor’s note: Strichart is the associate publisher of the Signal Tribune.] Of the three commissions, the Planning Commission is the only one with
complete representation. It gained three new commissioners during the meeting– Carmen Brooks, Victor Parker and Christopher Wilson– adding to two continuing commissioners, Jane Fallon and Rose Richárd. The Parks and Recreation Commission gained two new commissioners, Terry Rogers and Debra Russell, who will join continuing commissioners Caroline Kiss-Lee and Nancy Lauer. However, since Wilson did not make an additional recommendation for the Parks and Recreation Commission for the council to approve, the fifth seat on this commission must continue to be occupied by Gary Dudley, whose term has expired but whose reappointment was not recommended by the mayor. City Attorney Dave Aleshire had made clear at the council meeting that Dudley’s continued service was expected according to the city charter. “Your term ends by a date if there’s somebody selected to replace you,” Aleshire had said. “Otherwise, your term continues to run.” Though Dudley verbally resigned during the meeting in protest to the appointment protocol, according to the city charter such a resignation is see COMMISSIONS page 14
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