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SPECIAL SENIOR SECTION ON PAGE 8
“The Wait” and “The Journey,” acrylic on canvas by Paula Prager See page 15
Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and the City of Signal Hill
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
VOL. 37 NO. 9
July 31, 2015
Proposed 2016 Long Beach budget boasts $630K surplus, business-supporting efficiencies and changes to street sweeping Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
The City of Long Beach is on solid footing, and there is much to celebrate, including a surplus instead of an earlier projected deficit. However, there are difficult times ahead, including a growth in expenses and challenges in personnel costs. Those were the sentiments expressed by Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and City Manager Patrick West during a press conference Tuesday morning at the city’s groundwater treatment plant, where they met with media and city officials to announce the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2016 and during which time Garcia presented his recommendations. The $2.7-billion budget features a $630,000 surplus, maintains city services, continues to emphasize the public-safety continuum of services and provides investments in parks, beaches, streets and sidewalks, according to Garcia and West. “I’m pleased to be able to present a balanced budget with a surplus to the city council and to make recommendations that reflect our priorities and values as a city, including support for businesses, public safety and education,” Garcia said. “The city manager, department heads, city council and every staff person in the City should be applauded for prudently managing our funds to turn a projected deficit, when the fiscal year began, into a surplus.” West said the proposed budget maintains a strong focus on economic development and business attraction, reflects the City’s improved economy and prepares for the future. “This budget funds services in a proportionate manner across a wide range of services and gives top priority to public safety,” the city manager said. West announced that this budget marks the City’s third year of surpluses. “This budget reflects the City’s improved and improving economy, and it prepares for the future,” West said. “There’s been a lot of fiscal discipline by the city council in the past year.” The budget proposes: preservation of services; enhanced focus on critical infrastructure; funding the City’s prior-year commitments; funding the City’s see BUDGET page 13
Cory Bilicko/Signal Tribune
Long Beach City Manager Patrick West discusses components of the proposed city budget during a press conference at the groundwater treatment plant at 2950 Redondo Ave. Tuesday morning.
Photos courtesy Giniewicz Family
Officer Anthony Giniewicz, his wife Barbara Giniewicz, John Peters (bottom right) and his brother at Officer Giniewicz’s police-academy graduation
Following in a stepfather’s footsteps
Stepson of fallen SHPD officer carries on family legacy Rhiannon Williams Editorial Intern
W
hile responding to a robbery in progress in 1985, Signal Hill Police Officer Anthony Giniewicz was shot and paralyzed from the chest down. He succumbed to his injuries and related complications in 2011. Last month, 30 years after the shooting, John Peters, Officer Giniewicz’s stepson, was sworn in as chief of police in Grover Beach, Calif. As he became police chief, Peters was living the dream his late stepfather had always envisioned for himself but was unable to achieve. “[Tony] always wanted to be a police officer…The day he was born he wanted to be in law enforcement, and he enjoyed it up until he couldn’t do it any longer,” said Barbara Giniewicz, mother of Peters and wife of Giniewicz. “His wish was one day to eventually make chief, but of course life changes, and wishes don’t come true all the time.” On the night of Feb. 19, 1985 Officer Giniewicz and his partner had just gotten off duty and went to eat at a local restaurant on the border of Long Beach and Signal Hill. As Giniewicz’s partner left to go home for the evening, he was robbed of his weapon by three armed gang members who had intended to rob the restaurant. After his weapon was seized, he ran back into the restaurant to notify Giniewicz, who then went outside to confront the suspects. Officer Giniewicz was fired upon and parasee STEPSON page 13 City of Grover Beach Police Chief John Peters
Weekly Weather Forecast
KEEP CALM and
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Partly sunny
Partly sunny and humid
Low clouds then sun
Low clouds then sun
Mostly sunny and humid
Lo 70°
Lo 70°
Lo 70°
Lo 70°
85° Lo 70°
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July 31 through August 4, 2015
84°
85°
86°
86°
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