Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill with 30,000 issues every Friday
VOL. XLII NO. 15
In this issue
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
www.signaltribune.com
Final March election results show Measure A passes by 16 votes, continuing extra 1% sales tax Three city-council races and one school-board seat will be decided in November run-off elections.
NEWS Staff Writer
Page 2
COMMUNITY
Need a drink? These places deliver hard liquor, beer in Signal Hill and Long Beach Page 5
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan released final certified results of the March 3 elections on Friday, March 27 for local, county and state measures and officials. Here is a recap of results affecting Long Beach: Measures Both tax measures on the Long Beach ballot passed, one by a very narrow margin. Measure A– extending Long Beach’s extra 1% sales-and-use tax beyond its end date of 2027– passed by a slim margin of 16 votes, with 49,676 voting in favor and 49,660 against. Mike Sanchez, spokesperson for the LA County Registrar, told the Signal Tribune in an email that although it only passed by 16 votes, canvassing and counting votes for Measure A followed the California Elections Code. “The legally required 1% post-election manual tally, which included all contests and ballot measures, validated the accuracy of the count of those ballots– which included Measure A– with no variances,” he said. The elections code’s requirement of a “1% manual tally” to
Working through the pandemic
As grocery store employees continue to work through the stay-at-home order, their union continues to fight for safer working conditions.
Anita W. Harris
Long Beach activist group raising funds for Measure A ballot recount
April 3, 2020
Daniel Green Production Manager
Long Beach City Council district map
verify accuracy of the automated count refers to officials counting votes by hand in a random selection of 1% of voting precincts, plus in one precinct not included in that 1%. Officials then compare the manual tally with the machine tally to verify that both are the same. Any voter can request a full or partial recount within five days of the vote certification by contact-
Courtesy City of LB
ing the Long Beach City Clerk’s office. However, the voter must pay the full amount of expenses for the recount. Long Beach voters had first approved the 1% sales-tax increase in 2016. Measure A’s passing now allows the City to extend the tax indefinitely past its original sunset date of January 2027.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the order to stay at home by Governor Gavin Newsom has affected many industries and workers. While some find themselves unemployed or working from home, “essential workers” are now trying to continue what has been deemed essential services, such as food or package delivery, while trying to protect their health. One of the first industries to be impacted by coronavirus was the grocery markets, which saw a rush for toilet paper, sanitizers and other non-perishable food items before the order to stay at home became official. Now, as residents stay in see WORKERS page 7
see ELECTIONS page 4
Concerns over Long Beach hospital capacity rise with coronavirus cases Kristen Farrah Naeem Staff Writer
Long Beach launches program to help find jobs for unemployed childcare workers Page 5
As Long Beach prepares to deal with the ongoing spread of coronavirus, concerns mount over how many patients the city’s hospitals would be able to handle as the pandemic worsens. “The City is actively engaged with our healthcare providers, and we are preparing for any needs that the community may have moving forward,” Chelsey Finegan, of the City’s Joint Information Center’s All Hazards
Incident Management Team, said. There are 1,800 patient beds currently in Long Beach, a city of over 467,000, according to 2018 census data. For every 260 Long Beach residents, there is one hospital bed, and for every 1,000 residents there are approximately 3.84 patient beds available. All Long Beach hospitals have medical surge plans which provide contingencies if capacity is reached, Finegan told the Signal see CAPACITY page 5
Pexels
Concerns mount over how many patients Long Beach hospitals would be able to handle as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. There are 1,800 patient beds currently in Long Beach, a city of over 467,000, according to 2018 census data.
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, L.A. County has shut down all bars & restaurants, with the exception of pick-up and delivery. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer take-out at this time. So, we will be temporarily closing our doors until the crisis is over. Stay safe and healthy! We look forward to seeing you all very soon!