Friday Newsletter 01-14-11a

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Better Than We Thought

Friday Newsletter Friday

January 14, 2011





City of Long Beach Working Together to Serve

Memorandum

Date: January 14, 2011

To: Mayor and Members of the City Council

From: Patrick H. West, City ManagerSuzanne Frick, Assistant City Manager

Subject: Friday Newsletter

2010 in the Rearview Mirror

Earlier this week we released our “2010: Year in Review” newsletter. We aremaking sure to distribute this among all members of our City family. Given thefinancial constraints of this year, you, as a legislative body, accomplished a greatdeal!

Martin Luther King Parade

Tomorrow marks Long Beach’s own 23rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Peaceand Unity Parade and Celebration. This is a very significant event, attractingthousands of spectators, followed by a carnival and community festival at MartinLuther King Park. The parade begins at 10:30 a.m. This caps off a variety ofevents sponsored through Councilmember Andrews for Peace Week.

State Budget

As you can imagine, there has been a lot of drama among all municipalities inCalifornia regarding the state’s budget. We are drilling down as much aspossible to see where else the city could be impacted beyond Enterprise Zonesand the Redevelopment Agency. Just as a side note, we are being contacted bymany area cities to get the “Long Beach take” on the state budget. This isprimarily because we have a “Tom Modica” and most cities don’t! I can’t praiseTom and his team enough on keeping abreast of what’s going on in Sacramento.

Website Launch: Understanding City User Fee and Charges

We are proud to announce the launch of the City’s User Fee and Charges Website

on January 18, 2011. The City of Long Beach will be one of only two majorCalifornia cities to offer an interactive website for fees and charges to its residents.Visitors to the City’s website will be able to search for building permits, recreationalprograms, and a host of other services provided by the City…..This new website isthe result of efforts by 15 departments to provide this information to Long Beachresidents in a simple and easy to access manner. In conjunction with the FeeHotline, 570-FEES, the website is intended to enhance local governmenttransparency and better serve the needs of Long Beach residents.



January 14, 2011Page 2

Carnegie Cornerstone

The old granite cornerstone of the original 1908 Carnegie Library located onPacific (now Lincoln) Park has been returned to the Main Library. It has been

placed in the "Memorial Garden" area off the Lower Level Auditorium Lobby.Plans for a reception are in the works, and efforts to redesign the garden areunderway by the Long Beach Public Library Foundation.

A Carnegie Library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-Americanbusinessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. More than 2,500 Carnegielibraries were built in nine countries between 1883 and 1929. When the lastgrant was awarded in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States,nearly half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie.

Our Carnegie Library was built using $30,000 awarded by the Carnegie

Corporation of New York in 1907. This cornerstone was laid on September 4,1908; the library we have today was already being planned in 1972 when theCarnegie library was damaged by an arson fire and ultimately demolished. Thiswas when the cornerstone was probably moved to the Public Service yard forsafekeeping, and was rediscovered after the recent property exchange.

Memos to the Mayor and City Council

We sent up the following memos to the Mayor and City Council this week:

• Study Sessions: Long-Range Financial Outlook and Planning• Worthington Ford• Analysis of Eliminating Bicycle Registration Requirement• Department of Long Beach Gas and Oil 2011 Calendar• City User Fee and Charges Website Launch• Transient Occupancy Tax – Online Travel Companies – Update• Information – Proposed Medical Marijuana Tax• November 2010 Monthly Investment Portfolio Report• Changes in City Communication Services

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Friday Newsletter 01-14-11a