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VOL. XLIV NO. 2 LAWSUIT
see page 3
Friday, January 14, 2022
Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill
LB BUDGET
CULTURE
After a dark year, this artist is creating “little happy places” in searingly bright technicolor m E ma DiMaggio
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Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune
Managing d E itor
Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune
Oscar Rodriguez and another family member of Mona Rodriguez speaks to protestors outside LBUSD headquarters during a Board of Education meeting on Oct. 6, 2021. The family of Mona Rodriguez was asking for the board to fire the safety officer involved in the shooting and reform their safety protocols. The officer has since been fired.
Lawsuit filed on behalf of infant son whose mother was killed by LBUSD safety officer rK isten Farrah aN eem Staff rW iter
A lawsuit has been filed against the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) and former school safety officer Eddie Gonzalez on behalf of 9-month-old Isael Rodriguez Chowdhury, whose mother Manuela Rodriguez was fatally shot by Gonzalez near Millikan High School in September 2021. “This coldblooded shooting was absolutely unjustified,” the legal complaint said. According to the Long Beach Police Department, Gonzalez was patrolling the area around Millikan High School in Long Beach on Sept. 27 when he saw Rodriguez and a 15-year-old female student of the school fighting in the street. According to an investigation by the Long Beach Police Department, once Gonzalez arrived, Rodriguez attempted to flee the scene in a vehicle that was also occupied by Md. Rafeul Haider Chowdhury and his 16-year-old brother Shahriear Chowdhury. see LAWSUIT page 7
n the midst of a chaotic year, Marisa Avila Sayler created “little happy places”—fantastical scenes in searingly bright rainbow clay—to bring moments of joy to her followers, and herself. “It is very much about crafting a world for yourself that feels safe, that feels comfortable, that provides you with all the things you need in terms of visual stimulation and happiness,” Sayler said. Her artist studio, much like her Instagram page, reveals the landscape of Sayler’s self-created environment. The room is like an acid trip, maxed out in saturation: tiny gardens burst with three-eyed smiley face flowers, a collection of palm-sized neon slugs look like the result of a radioactive leak, a four-eyed fish head spotted in blue and green reveals a garden in its gaping pink mouth. “One of the many reasons I make art is because it’s how I process the big, deep, scary things in life,” Sayler writes in one Instagram caption. “The resulting rainbow escapism is the mending that is necessary for my processing of the world.” In one piece, a madcap diorama lays host to toothy flowers and a large sun towering above, childlike in its embrace of color and
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Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune
Artist Marisa Avila Sayler holds up one in-progress sculpture inside her studio on Jan. 11, 2022. Sayler’s art pieces include eyes and mushroom elements for a psychedelic effect.
see BUDGET SURVEY page 5
Anita W. Harris Senior rW iter
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File Photo: Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune
Sales-tax revenue ceeds expectations
ex-
City Manager Hannah Shin-Heydorn said that with the added surplus, the City’s reserve funds now represent 110% of its operating budget, far exceeding
Managing d E itor
see SH BUDGET SURPLUS page 7
Signal Hill to save most of $5.8 million budget surplus, spending 5% on COVID-19 relief and police
Police Department (SHPD) operations.
m E ma DiMaggio
its 50% target. The City had to budget for its last fiscal year amid COVID-19 health mandates and guidelines that put it in “uncharted territory” regarding fiscal prudence and conservative budgeting, Shin-Heydorn said.
see LITTLE HAPPY PLACES page 4
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For the first time, Long Beach residents will have the opportunity to give feedback on the City budget before it’s drafted The City of Long Beach will hold virtual community meetings on Tuesday, Jan. 25 and Thursday, Jan. 27 to gather public input on the City’s 2023 fiscal year budget. During a presentation to the city council in December 2021, Budget Manager Grace Yoon announced that, “for the first time” the City would engage with the community “early in the budget process, prior to the proposed budget being developed rather than starting the engagement in August.” She said that community members would have the 2022 budget book and budgeting materials “that describe every department service area and potential levels of service” to help guide their discussions. The City initially planned to hold four in-person budget feedback meetings, but switched to virtual meetings due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. During the last budget cycle, some residents complained that they were only able to give input on the budget after the draft was released, rather than before. Some also complained that the 2022 fiscal year budget process was rushed. The decision to hold budget meetings early was made in response to a request by the mayor and city council during budget deliberations last year, Yoon said.
SH BUDGET
uring its Tuesday, Jan. 11 meeting, the Signal Hill City Council agreed to save most of the City’s $5.8 million budget surplus from its July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 fiscal year. The council received an audited financial report showing that the City earned more than it expected and spent less than budgeted during a fiscal year shadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The council voted to allocate $5.5 million of the surplus to shore up the City’s reserve funds and spend the remaining $300,000 on small-business grants, a COVID-19 food distribution program and Signal Hill
During the July 6, 2021, Long Beach City Council meeting, a man speaks during the public comment section. This was the first meeting to have an in-person public comment since March of 2020.