SIGNAL The Cramps
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Nirvana
Vol. 35 No. 50
The Cadillac Tramps
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Saint Vitus
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See page 14
Photographs by Kirk Dominguez
SERVING BIXBY KNOLLS, CALIFORNIA HEIGHTS, LOS CERRITOS, WRIGLEY AND THE CITY OF SIGNAL HILL
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
Long Beach mayoral candidates defend reputations, gear up for June 3 election CJ Dablo Staff Writer
As the June 3 election draws near for the two candidates vying for the top city job of Long Beach, both campaigns have taken the time to fire back against their critics. Mayoral candidates Robert Garcia and Damon Dunn have each taken hits in the past couple of weeks. Garcia’s campaign has had to face scrutiny brought to light by Dunn, who noted particular issues with the two corporations behind the Long Beach Post, a local news organization that Garcia helped to establish. Dunn’s campaign said that these corporations that listed Garcia as an officer had six tax liens totaling $9,487. Dunn has had to defend his own record as well. Media reports have noted that he was in default on a home loan during a divorce, and in addition Dunn faced a steep fine by the California Fair Political
Practices Commission (FPPC) when he ran for the office of California’s secretary of state. Garcia’s campaign doesn’t deny that the Long Beach Post did have the tax liens, and Dunn acknowledges that the home loan was in default and that there were problems with his campaign-finance reports. In 2009, Dunn was $82,834.55 in arrears on a $1.32-million mortgage for a home in Trabuco Canyon, according to several media reports. Dunn acknowledged that FPPC penalized him when his campaign did not properly report the subvendors in his finance reports. According to several media reports, Dunn was levied a $2,250 fine. The tax liens against the Long Beach Post have been resolved, according to a former investor with that news organizasee CANDIDATES page 19
May 16, 2014
Court orders owners of vacant Hill Street homes to meet strict work timeline or face demolition
File photos
With the June 3 election just weeks away, Long Beach mayoral run-off candidates Damon Dunn and Robert Garcia (pictured here, respectively, at a March 20 candidate forum) have had to defend their reputations.
Sean Belk/Signal Tribune
Two homes at 2910 and 2914 Hill St. on the border of Long Beach and Signal Hill have been vacant for nearly a decade because they have no utilities or driveways. A court judge recently set a timeline for the property owner to obtain permits and finish construction or give the City of Long Beach the right to demolish the homes. Sean Belk Staff Writer
Photo by David J. Nelson/CSULB
Cal State Long Beach Marine Biology Professor Steven Manley inspects a sample gathered off the waters of Long Beach during the first collection of his Kelp Watch 2014 project.
Scientists: Fukushima radioactivity has yet to reach West Coast
Ashley Fowler Staff Writer
When friends and family started asking Steven Manley, a marine biologist and professor at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), if their local coastlines were safe from Fukushima radiation, he decided to find out.
In 2011, the 9.0 earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan triggered a tsunami that caused three meltdowns at Fukushima I nuclear plant. Radioactive material spilled into the ocean, and many feared the worst. Manley and Kai Vetter, Berkeley Lab’s head of Applied Nuclear Physics,
have undertaken “Kelp Watch 2014,” a yearlong research effort to measure Fukushima-related contamination. The researchers will continue to analyze kelp samples shipped in from all along the coast– from Baja, California to Kodiak Island, Alaska. Manley said there was very little
A court judge recently ordered that the owners of two vacant houses on Hill Street just west of Obispo Avenue have to meet a strict timeline for permit approvals and construction or the homes will get the wrecking ball. The two-story, upscale homes, which have remained unoccupied for more than a decade, are located at 2910 and 2914 Hill St. on the border of Long Beach and Signal Hill at the top of the steep street, formerly known as Shell Hill. While the homes are within Long Beach city limits, the street right-ofway in front of the houses is in Signal Hill, creating complications for the current property owner, Tarzana-based 6 Angels, LLC, which purchased the homes in 2008. The main issue is that the original developer, Wayne Ballinger, never received necessary easements for utilities and never built driveways to link the properties to city streets before constructing the homes in 2003. The City of Signal Hill has rejected any plans to build driveways leading out to Hill Street. Given the poor visibility and sloping nature of the street at that location, Signal Hill determined that such driveways would be too dangerous and may cause a car accident. Without utilities or driveways, however, the City of Long Beach has refused to grant occupancy permits. One solution would be to construct driveways in back of the homes, crossing over adjacent properties and creating an extension onto Orizaba Avenue, but the adjacent lots were owned by a number of shareholders, said Kendra Carney, Long Beach deputy city attorney. It wasn’t until late last year that 6 Angels, LLC was able to force a sale of the last remaining parcel and purchase the adjacent lots, Carney said. While the issue over vehicular access to the property may be solved, the property owners took years to accomplish the task, she said. “They purchased the [adjacent] lots themselves and have solved the access problem at least, but, unfortunately though, it still has taken them a long time to make even that amount of progress,” Carney said. The City of Long Beach filed a lawsuit against the property owners in 2011, seeking an injunction and threatening to have the houses, deemed a public nuisance, demolished. Carney said the property owners stepped up efforts to meet requirements, but by the time a court hearing was scheduled this year, they still hadn’t received access to utilities. “I think they made more of an effort since the City filed [the lawsuit], but, due to all the complications, … they weren’t able to complete the necessary projects in a timely manner,” Carney said. She said part of the problem with the utilities is that the property owners have to work with four separate entities. The goal is for the City of Signal
see HOMES page 19
see KELP page 18
Weekly Weather Forecast Friday
Saturday
Sunny and very warm
89°
Mostly sunny and cooler
Low clouds, then sunshine
Low clouds, then sunshine
Lo 62°
Lo 60°
Lo 59°
Lo 58°
75°
Sunday
69°
Monday
May 16 through May 20, 2014
70°
Tuesday
69° Partly sunny Lo 56°
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