SIGNAL T
Vol. 36 No. 3
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“All My Blessings” Pen and ink by Melanie Gottlieb
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SERVING BIXBY KNOLLS, CALIFORNIA HEIGHTS, LOS CERRITOS, WRIGLEY AND THE CITY OF SIGNAL HILL
June 20, 2014
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
Signal Hill City Council passes balanced budget for FY 2014-15 with slight surplus
Club for adults with disabilities finds new home on Spring Street
Ashley Fowler/Signal Tribune
Lotus House members’ new clubhouse, located at 3290 E. Spring St, is a newer, cleaner office building with more a more versatile design, Lotus House manager Jeannette Humphries said. Sean Belk/Signal Tribune
The Signal Hill City Council, during its meeting on Tuesday, June 17, approved a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2014-15 that includes allocating $50,000 to repaint City Hall. Other upgrades to City Hall include resurfacing the front porch and steps. Sean Belk Staff Writer
The Signal Hill City Council passed a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2014-15 during its meeting on Tuesday, June 17, allocating the majority of a $151,506 surplus toward various city projects, including refurbished artwork at Hilltop Park and a fresh coat of paint for City Hall. But City Manager Ken Farfsing said the economic windfall will be smaller than those during previous years, when, except during the Great Recession, surpluses have ranged anywhere from $500,000 to $1.5 million. He said auto sales have been a “bright spot” for the city, but staff is forecasting a “general slowing” of auto sales in the next two years. Farfsing also said that the
surplus could have been larger if it weren’t for the City having to spend more than $100,000 on attorney fees associated with Measure U, which failed to pass in the June 3 citywide election. “I guess my advice is ‘steady as you go’ for the next two years,” Farfsing said. “The budget’s balanced, but it’s not a huge surplus, so we really need to work on increasing our surpluses.” City staff prepared a two-year budget for the first time at the recommendation of a Los Angeles County Civil Grand Jury report in 2010 on municipal efficiencies. However, the Council decided to determine at a later date if and when to “tentatively” approve the Fiscal Year 2015-16 budget, as see COUNCIL page 6
Ashley Fowler Staff Writer
After two years of searching, management of Lotus House, a club for adults with disabilities, has finally found a new location across the street from Long Beach Airport. They are currently located at the busy intersection of Willow Street and California Avenue. “Our building is old, and it’s not in the greatest condition,” Lotus House assistant manager Dave DeMello said. “This building has been here since 1905. It’s just done. We’ve been here for five years now, and it’s time to upgrade.” Lotus House and Integrity
House in Orange County are run by Alliance of Abilities, a nonprofit founded by DeMello’s mother Cathy DeMello in 1997. Lotus House’s new clubhouse is located in a newer office building at 3290 E. Spring St. “We just were looking for something new– new amenities, air conditioning,” DeMello said. “There is no air conditioning here, and the summers feel like they are getting worse in Long Beach. We also want to expand.” The new space is roughly the same size but configured differently, with office space for staff see LOTUS HOUSE page 12
New LB ordinance to allow for electronic billboards CJ Dablo Staff Writer
CJ Dablo/Signal Tribune
Some static billboards may soon be replaced by electronic signs. A new municipal ordinance in Long Beach will now allow electronic billboards to be constructed, but companies that want to install those lucrative advertising spaces must comply with specific regulations that aim to limit the number of static billboards that don’t conform to newer city standards.
Electronic billboards may soon light up Long Beach. In a second-reading vote, the Long Beach City Council passed a new ordinance this week that will effectively allow electronic billboards to be constructed in the city and that creates specific guidelines for companies to pursue these lucrative advertising venues. At the same time, the new ordinance aims to limit the number of static billboards that do not conform to the city’s standards. As the Signal Tribune reported earlier this year, a number of “legal/non-compliant” billboards were con-
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structed throughout Long Beach before the City began to regulate them. The new ordinance will require advertising companies that wish to install new electronic billboards or convert a static billboard to an electronic billboard to remove a set number of non-conforming static billboards from its existing inventory. It will require a conditional-use permit. (The figure on page 13 outlines the removal ratios. The removal requirements are determined by the type of the proposed project.) A few outdoor-advertising companies interested in installing the lucrative signs
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voiced sincere opposition to key aspects of the regulations when a draft of the ordinance was presented in January. Director of Development Services for the City of Long Beach Amy Bodek said in her new staff report that the ordinance was changed to reflect some of the concerns. One key aspect in her report notes that the ordinance now allows development agreements for billboard companies with “freeway-only inventory that may not otherwise be incentivized to participate in the cap-and-replace program.” When Bodek presented the see BILLBOARDS page 13