SIGNAL T
Vol. 36 No. 24
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“Spring Awakening,” mixed media by Marka Burns See page 10
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November 14, 2014
SERVING BIXBY KNOLLS, CALIFORNIA HEIGHTS, LOS CERRITOS, WRIGLEY AND THE CITY OF SIGNAL HILL
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
Luna to become Long Beach’s new police chief as McDonnell takes LA County sheriff job Sean Belk Staff Writer
Long Beach city officials looked no farther than their own police department to find a new police chief. A 29-year veteran of the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD), Deputy Chief Robert Luna will officially take the reins as Long Beach’s new police chief next week, marking the City’s most recent change in top-level city management. Luna will become the City of Long Beach’s first Latino police chief, replacing outgoing Police Chief Jim McDonnell, who, after serving the City for more than four years, won a bid in the Nov. 4 election to become the new Los Angeles County sheriff. Luna will officially take office as the City’s 26th police chief on Friday, Nov. 21 during a swearing-in ceremony, according to city officials. McDonnell is scheduled to take an oath of office as the new County sheriff on Dec. 1. Long Beach city officials named Luna as the City’s top lawenforcement official during a press conference at the LBPD’s headquarters in downtown Long Beach on Tuesday, Nov. 11 while City Hall was closed in observance of Veterans Day. Sean Belk/Signal Tribune Luna, who will earn an annual salary of $238,000, will take Members of the press interview Deputy Chief Robert Luna after city officials announced on Tuesday that he would assume the office charge of a police department that has an annual operating budget of police chief on Nov. 21, replacing Chief Jim McDonnell, who was elected the new Los Angeles County sheriff. of more than $211 million and more than 1,200 personnel, includLuna currently oversees the City’s patrol bureau and serves as ing over 800 sworn police officers, serving the 7th largest city in community is our greatest asset,” Luna said. “I think you’ve seen that all along, and that will not change. It will intensify.” second-in-command to McDonnell, who had served under former California. City Manager Pat West selected Luna out of four top candidates Los Angeles Police Chief Jim Bratton prior to becoming Long During the press conference, Luna said he would continue community-policing efforts and immediately start engaging the public within the police department after launching an expedited internal Beach’s police chief in 2010. During his service to the LBPD, Luna has taken on a variety of when he takes office, adding that he plans to step up accessibility, recruitment process in the days leading up to the election that was forecast to result in McDonnell’s favor. roles, including serving the department’s executive-management transparency and responsiveness within the police department. Other candidates who qualified for the job included Deputy team for 13 years. He has also led community-policing strategies “We will be carrying a great tradition of professional lawenforcement service that’s going to be visible, accessible, respon- Chief Laura Farinelli, Deputy Chief David Hendricks and Cmdr. and assisted in managing staffing reductions during the recession, sive and transparent, never losing focus on the fact that the Robert Luman, city officials said. see POLICE CHIEF page 12
Filing period begins for two open Signal Hill Council seats and city clerk, treasurer positions in 2015 election Sean Belk Staff Writer
Candidates running for city clerk, city treasurer and two open Signal Hill City Council seats in the City’s general municipal election on March 3, 2015 have until 4:30pm on Dec. 5 to file nomination papers. The filing period began on Monday, Nov. 10. So far, as of press time on Thursday, Nov. 13, four potential candidates have pulled papers to run for the two open Council seats: incumbent and Vice Mayor Larry Forester; incumbent Tina Hansen; Tom Benson, a local business owner and chair of the Signal Hill Planning Commission; and Triphina Moore, a 13-year resident of Signal Hill and a high school educator for the Long Beach Unified School District. Hansen, who was first elected to the Council in 1994 and whose fifth Council term expires next year, confirmed with the Signal Tribune that she plans to run for a sixth term. “I feel like I still have more things to accomplish, including the new library,”
she said in a phone interview. “So I’m going to run for re-election.” Forester, who has served on the Council since 1998, confirmed by phone that he plans to run for a fifth term in next year’s election. “There are many things that still need to be done,” Forester said. “I think I’ve done a good job for the city, and I want to see the city move forward as we move out of this recessionary climate.” He said a recent “debacle” over racial remarks he made to a Signal Hill resident regarding a charter school proposed by the Conservation Corps of Long Beach, of which he is a board member, “almost” forced him not to run. The resident, Andrea Webster, who is against the charter school and said she was offended by comments Forester made to her at a local restaurant, brought up the issue last month with Mayor Ed Wilson, who then requested a code of conduct and civility for elected and appointed officials. Sean Belk/Signal Tribune However, Forester said, “I believe so Voting booths at the Signal Hill Community Center are set up for registered voters during the Nov. 4 statewide election. During the March 3, 2015 general municipal election in Signal Hill, voters will choose two new City Council see ELECTION page 13 members, a city clerk and a city treasurer.
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72°
Saturday
70°
Sunday
74°
Low clouds, then some sun
Low clouds, then some sun
Low clouds, then some sun
Lo 56°
Lo 55°
Lo 51°
November 14 through November 18, 2014
Monday
76° Mostly sunny Lo 53°
Tuesday
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75° Partly sunny Lo 55°
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