Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill with 30,000 issues every Friday
VOL. XLII NO. 18
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
www.signaltribune.com
In this issue
Coronavirus cases in Long Beach nearing 500, testing capacity continues to increase
NEWS
There are more coronavirus infections than originally thought, death rate lower Page 2
Mayor says science will dictate when economy fully reopens. Sebastian Echeverry Courtesy Long Beach Economic Development
The City of Long Beach calculated that it will suffer a total revenue loss of between $38 million and $44 million by the end of 2020, according to an April 13 memo from the Director of Financial Management John Gross. Projections show the City’s general operating-fund budget will fall short by $14 million to $22 million this year, especially due to reduced oil sales and hotel taxes. Gross further projects the Long Beach Airport to lose $10 million in revenue this year due to low passenger volume.
Long Beach projects revenue loss of about $40 million this year due to pandemic
City Council approves economic-relief plan to help workers and businesses. Anita W. Harris Staff Writer
‘In This Together’ program supports vulnerable communities during the pandemic Page 4
Opinion
Besides its devastating health impact, the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting the local economy hard as well. The City of Long Beach will suffer a total revenue loss of between $38 million and $44 million by the end of 2020, according to an April 13 memo
from the Director of Financial Management John Gross. Gross projects the City’s general operating-fund budget to fall short by $14 million to $22 million this year, especially due to reduced oil sales and hotel taxes. Gross further projects the Long Beach Airport to lose $10 million in revenue this year due to low passenger volume.
The City’s costs related to COVID-19– including setting up an incident-management team and emergency-operation center– amounted to about $5.5 million by the end of March, Gross said. He added that some of those costs may not be reimbursable by state or federal funds and do not include desee REVENUE page 7
Long Beach City Council votes to resume street-sweeping enforcement in May Street-sweeping will begin in May, but residents will not receive tickets until later in the month.
Daniel Green Production Manager
How oil speculation pauperized thousands Page 3
April 24, 2020
At its April 21 meeting, the Long Beach City Council discussed ending the freeze on street-parking enforcement, the yearly budget and a proposal for a new Shoemaker Bridge. The meeting was held through teleconference due to the safer-athome mandate issued by Gover-
nor Gavin Newsom. Parking Tickets During the meeting, the City Council voted to end the freeze on street-sweeping tickets and slowly begin enforcement again. Ticketing will not begin immediately but will coincide to the end of the City’s public health order, which ends on Friday, May
15. Street-sweeping services will begin on May 4, but parking enforcement will begin on May 18– the Monday after the health order ends. The council also decided to move forward with warnings after sweeping begins on May 4, see LB COUNCILpage 5
Managing Editor
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia updated residents on the increasing capacity of coronavirus testing, street sweeping citations and the local economy. During a live-streamed press conference Wednesday, April 22, Garcia stated that up to 489 individuals have tested positive for the coronavirus and there are now 27 deaths. “Our thoughts are always with the families […] of those we have lost,” he said. The mayor announced that about 4,700 tests had been conducted in the last week and that 5,000 tests are expected to take place by the end of this week. The City has tripled its testing capacity, which could also result in a large spike of COVID-19 cases since more tests are being done. Garcia urged residents to make an appointment to take a test through the City’s website. “If you feel like you need a test, and have symptoms, go take a test,” he said. Also, almost 300 recoveries have been recorded. As hospitals continue to work on routine emergency calls, they also have to treat corosee COVID-19 page 5