S IGNA L T R I BU N E Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
VOL. XXXIX NO. 19
Now that it’s legal...
Long Beach police discuss crime prevention in Cal Heights
Long Beach’s leadership weighs aftermath of new campaign-finance rules.
At neighborhood meeting, police emphasize citizen communication after recent shooting on Wardlow Road.
CJ Dablo Staff Writer
Money has always been the unspoken phantom in any room. Now that the new ordinance that changes the Long Beach rules governing campaign finance has been passed by the city council and signed by Mayor Robert Garcia, there is an uncomfortable question now before every city leader who sits on the council dais: What will they do with the money they’ve raised and will continue to raise? Last month, the Long Beach City Council voted 5-3 to approve the ordinance that changed the campaign-finance rules that formerly did not allow money from a city councilmember’s officeholder account to be transferred to the account of another candidate running for a local, state or federal office. This particular outdated rule dates back to about 1999 and had been amended in 2014, according to the city attorney’s office. The new ordinance now allows key city officials to take money from their own officeholder accounts and transfer or donate that money to another candidate’s campaign. Citing the municipal code, City Attorney Charles Parkin confirmed in a statement to the Signal Tribune that there are still rules that apply to donations in a calendar year, including contribution limits of $750 toward councilmember officeholder expense funds as well as limits of $1,000 toward officeholder expense funds for the offices of the city attorney, city auditor, city prosecutor and the mayor. Councilmembers Daryl Supernaw, Suzie Price and Stacy Mungo voted against the law when the time came for a final reading of the ordinance on April 18. Vice Mayor Rex Richardson was not present for the vote due to the birth of his daughter, Richardson’s office confirmed this week. The remaining councilmembers voted to approve the ordinance. Price, who represents the 3rd District, released a message to her constituents the night the council took the vote. She indicated that the funds raised for her district will stay local and not be used to contribute to another candidate for office. Price stressed, both in her statement to her constituents and in a phone interview with the Signal Tribune, that see ORDINANCE page 11
May 5, 2017
Anita W. Harris Staff Writer
File photo
Ernie Kell (left) recounted various experiences of his journey to the Long Beach mayor’s office in an interview with former councilmember Evan Braude (right) in July 2009, as part of the Historical Society of Long Beach’s Mayors Oral History Series.
‘He left his mark on Long Beach and the world’ Ernie Kell, Long Beach’s first directly elected mayor, dies at 88. Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
Former Long Beach mayor Ernie Kell succumbed to cancer on Saturday, April 29 at 88. Part of Kell’s legacy is the fact that he was the city’s first directly elected mayor. According to the City of Long Beach’s website, in 1986, a charter measure under Proposition R passed to create a full-time, citywide elected mayor. Theretofore, city councilmembers decided who would serve as mayor from amongst themselves. In 1988, the first citywide mayoral election took place, and Kell won in a run-off against fellow Councilmember Jan Hall. Kell’s first term was an interim one of two years, and the next election was in 1990. (From that point on, the term has been four years.) In 1990, Kell ran against Councilmember Tom Clark for mayor and again won. In the 1994 election for mayor, however, Kell lost to Beverly O’Neill. Kell was first elected to the city council in 1975, representing the 5th District, and was chosen by his fellow councilmembers as mayor in 1984. This week, current Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia’s office released a statement heralding Kell’s achievements during his decade-long tenure, including convening the
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City’s first Homeless Task Force in 1987, the expansion of the Long Convention Center and the start of a Seamless Education Partnership, which grew into the Long Beach College Promise. “Mayor Kell and his love for Long Beach will be greatly missed,” Garcia said. “He leaves a great legacy of leadership and progress for our city. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Jackie, and the Kell Family.” In July 2009, Kell was the focus of the Historical Society of Long Beach’s third installment of the Mayors Oral History Series, on which the Signal Tribune reported. During the interview, which former councilmember Evan Braude moderated, Kell recounted the death threat he received on his second day in office. He said someone had called his secretary and asked who the mayor was because they wanted to shoot him. When Kell was asked how to respond to the caller, he said, “Tell them Tom Clark is still mayor.” Hailing from North Dakota, where he claimed he attended the smallest school (only four kids), Kell assumed various roles, including sailor, soldier, real-estate agent, politician and aviator, managing a couple of coastto-coast flights. After moving to California with his family in the early 1940s, Kell worked a variety of jobs. During the week, he worked part-time in a grocery store by day and in a bowling alley, setting pins, at night. During the weekends, he said, he would work see KELL page 11
At a California Heights Neighborhood Association meeting on May 2, Long Beach Police Department Commander Rudy Komisza, along with Sergeant Tim Olson, discussed the April 8 drive-by shooting near a bar on Wardlow Road, as well as crime-prevention strategies that residents might consider. Bar problems Komisza began with an overview of North Division police procedures regarding area bars, explaining that there are three on Wardlow Road supported by the City as part of revitalization and economic development, but he acknowledged potential problems related to their proximity to the 405 Freeway and traffic from neighboring areas. “The bottom line is, how do we allow businesses to [flourish] while respecting the local community,” he said. “It’s a constant work-in-progress.” Komisza explained that police work with bars to minimize potential problems. “The main thing [is] making sure the owners and managers of each bar open lines of communication with one another so that if one person goes to
a bar and if they’re refused entry for some particular reason, that person doesn’t have an opportunity to […] gain entry at another location,” he said. Robert Molina, the owner of Roxanne’s Cocktail Lounge on Wardlow near where the April 8 shooting took place, also attended the meeting and affirmed that communication was key. “We have a strict dress code [and] 32 cameras in place,” he said. “The key point [is] to come together and make sure the ‘wrong’ people stay out of the area.” Though Molina acknowledged that it was sometimes difficult to enforce such policies among the local businesses, he affirmed his commitment. “It affects us as well as you,” he said. “We’ve invested a lot.” Komisza also acknowledged that mitigating such problems is a workin-progress. “I have reached out to my partners in Signal Hill,” he said. “We are focusing on some stepped-up enforcement on Wardlow, in particular during closing times.” Police also work with bar owners and managers if any issues continue, Komisza said. “There’s an administrative process in the city to pay attention to a bar when needed,” he said. Residents at the meeting also expressed concerns about motorcycle noise and speeding around bar closing times. Komisza acknowledged the frustration of such noise. “That has been see CRIME page 10
Anita W. Harris | Signal Tribune
Long Beach Police Department Commander Rudy Komisza (top right) addresses Cal. Heights residents at a neighborhood meeting on May 2 regarding crime-prevention strategies after recent gun violence on Wardlow Road.