“Ironwork and Trees,” acrylic on archival lenticular print, by Barbara Strasen See page 15
Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and the City of Signal Hill
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
VOL. 37 NO. 30
December 25, 2015
Signal Hill City Council agrees to offer 55% tax rebate to potential new retailers Micayla Vermeeren Staff Writer
Tax-rebate program On the evening of Dec. 22, Signal Hill City Manager Charlie Honeycutt proposed a potential 55% tax-rebate program for Western Developers, LLC to bring in new sales clients to the city. Western Developers, LLC acts as a “headhunter,” said Honeycutt, and will be contracted to find retail companies looking to base their retail-sales call centers within Signal Hill city limits. If a retail-sales call center is brought into the city and can reach $300,000 of sales per year, the City will offer a 55% sales tax rebate as incentive for the center to keep its Signal Hill base. Rebates will be offered throughout 2030, but only if the annual $300,000 quota is met. A full share of taxes will be paid for any given year in which the new center reaches less than $75,000 in sales income per quarter. Honeycutt explained that the rebate program was born out of a desire to make Signal Hill’s financial future more secure in the face of growing online shopping purchases and the appeal of vendors outside city limits. As of now, 10 out of 25 top Signal Hill retailers are responsible for bringing in taxes that comprise 72% of the City’s annual general fund, said Honeycutt. However, the security of that funding is faltering in light of alternative shopping methods that draw residents away from local vendors. Incorporating a retail sales call center means that Signal Hill will become the technical point of sale for online and phone orders made through the vendor, allowing the City to collect sales taxes on such purchases. “So, we are in fact netting an additional $300,000 for whatever they bring us…” said Signal Hill Mayor Larry Forester. “…Which, in my mind, is two new policemen, two new services for community services…this is money over and above what we’re seeing right now. It’s, in see COUNCIL page 11
Photo by Amanda Del Cid
Taelor Elam, 4, tests out a toy before she chooses to add it to her bag. Elam was one of many kids who received toys during the Toy Giveaway event on Tuesday, Dec. 22, courtesy of Lakeshore Learning and the Long Beach Day Nursery, which hosted the event.
Needy families receive up to 3,500 toys in giveaway event Sebastian Echeverry Staff Writer
Rain didn’t seem to dampen the Christmas spirit at a toy drive hosted by the Long Beach Day Nursery on Tuesday, Dec. 22, as more than 900 families brought their children to pick out free toys that were donated by Lakeshore Learning. Lakeshore Learning, a company that provides educational materials for children, and the Long Beach Unified School District teamed up with the nursery to give out 3,500 toys to needy families. Whitney Leathers, executive director of the Long Beach Day Nursery, said this was the first drive that the nursery had hosted. The Toy Giveaway, as it was called, took place in the lunchroom of the Personnel Commission offices on 4400 Ladoga Ave. in Lakewood. The event lasted a total of
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three days– Thursday, Dec. 17, Friday, Dec. 18 and on Tuesday. Leathers said the planning of the Toy Giveaway event was orchestrated in a span of two weeks. “We got a notification from Lakeshore Learning that [it] had these toys to donate for us,” she said. Leathers also added that the company teams up with Long Beach Day Nursery for a lot of different events that they plan. Both company directors decided that the best way they could help the surrounding community was by donating toys to low-income families. Volunteers helped during the Toy Giveaway, as they handed out the toys to those that came with a valid ticket and helped with any questions the guests may have had. To receive the toys, families were given tickets at their local schools
Weekly Weather Forecast Friday
Plenty of sunshine
61°
Lo 40°
Saturday
Sunday
Mostly sunny
Plenty of sunshine
Lo 37°
Lo 41°
62°
63°
Monday
prior to the Toy Giveaway. The Long Beach Early Childhood Education Committee, a group composed of Long Beach schools and early childhood centers, made the decision as to what schools receive the tickets based off of location and necessity. On the days of the giveaway, families presented their tickets to the volunteers at the front entrance. The volunteers then checked a list to see if the ticket was valid and gave them a large plastic bag to carry the toys in. “The Long Beach Day Nursery reached out to all of our community partners, and the school district provided volunteers,” Leathers said. She added that teachers that were on vacation for the winter returned to help out during the event. Head Start, an early childhood-development program, also provided
volunteers. Families came from all over Long Beach and the surrounding area. Leathers mentioned that the line on the first day of the event extended outside the front door. Board members from the nursery, workers from the Port of Long Beach, members of the Public Health Department and Signal Hill Councilmember Edward Wilson all volunteered at the giveaway. Kelly King, who works in a special-needs pre-school in Long Beach, also volunteered during the giveaway. Her school was among those who received tickets for the toy drive. “[The pre-school] asked if anyone wanted to volunteer, so I signed up,” King said. “So I’m just giving away the required toys.” see TOYS page 10
December 25 through December 29, 2015
Tuesday
Get a free Kanger Evod 2 Starter Kit ($49.99 value!) when you spend $100.oo or more! While supplies last. Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
61°
64°
Lo 42°
Lo 42°
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