Friday Newsletter 10-22-10

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Median Masterpieces

Friday Newsletter Friday

October 22, 2010



City of Long Beach Working Together to Serve

Memorandum

Date: October 22, 2010

To: Mayor and Members of the City Council

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

Subject: Friday Newsletter

Outdoor Art Museum

This is a reminder that, in a few short weeks, you will be seeing a significantdisplay of public art installed throughout the City. This is something the RDA has

been working on for many years with guidance from the Art Council. While onesignificant piece will be installed downtown, the real goal is to begin installing artin other areas of our City. Public art truly can lift the spirits of a neglectedneighborhood…..You will see a large “seagrass” piece on the median on OceanBlvd. in front of the Courthouse, a piece will be installed on a street median onArtesia Blvd. at Long Beach Blvd., several pieces will be installed on the newMLK median north of PCH, and another piece will be installed a little bit later atthe corner of the Long Beach refinery at the intersection of Paramount Blvd. andArtesia Blvd. We are also installing two pretty cool and artistic Poly High Schoolsigns on PCH soon as well. More pieces are in the pipeline.

More on Arts in Long Beach

As Craig Watson pointed out at Tuesday’s Council meeting, October marks theirproduction, GLOBAL, which is a month long guide to Arts and Culture in LongBeach. They are planning over 100 activities this weekend ranging from a kidsart exhibition at Miller Children’s Hospital to an evening with Leonard Nimoy atthe Carpenter Performing Arts Center.

Water and Oil Don’t Mix

I can’t tell you how much time and energy was spent Wednesday afternoon andall day yesterday and this morning getting our water system back in line to serveour South Waterfront area across the bay, which includes the Queen Mary, theMaya, the Reef, the Residence Inn and Carnival Cruises. We all felt pretty upagainst the wall given the fact that Women’s Conference attendees will beginarriving tomorrow. While we don’t know exactly what caused the problem,everyone truly put in a 100% effort to get everything back on line.



October 22, 2010Page 2

McBride Skate Park Donation

We received news from the Tony Hawk Foundation that they raised over $40,000that will be donated to the construction of the McBride Park Skate Park. Thiswas raised at a special event at the Ron Burkles Green Acres Estate in BeverlyHills. We had lots of kids from Long Beach (escorted by Mike Donelon of course)who got to mingle with the likes of Mark Walberg, David Beckham, Tony Hawkand Chris Tucker. Even with the rain, we are extremely pleased to have raisedthis much money.

Ruth Bach Library Staff Meet the Bach Family

Jenny Vaughn, Branch Librarian at the Ruth Bach Library (named after LongBeach’s’ first Councilwoman), 4055 Bellflower Boulevard, was recently visited atthe library by Ms. Vaughn’s grandson Jonathan. Jonathan was the inspiration forthe book Jonathan Livingston Seagull , written by his father Richard Bach.Jonathan asked if we had any photos of his grandmother in the library, which wedid, in the back, along with some newspaper clippings and scrapbooks. Jennysays it was a real treat to meet a Bach family member. See the attached photosand email from Mr. Jonathan Bach.

LB Makes Another Top Ten List!

The Reuters News Corporation has compiled a list of the top ten places tocelebrate Halloween on the planet. Our own Queen Mary made the top ten with

their “Ship of Terror” for their Dark Harbor event. If you have not visited theQueen during Dark Harbor, there is also a Purgatory Park and dancing at theDome of Doom!…..Other top ten areas included Salem, Massachusetts, toexperience the witch trials; New Orleans for tours through their hauntedcemeteries; Tombstone, Arizona, to relive some of the violent gun fighting belowBoot Hill; and even Bran, Romania, where Dracula is said to have lived.Attached are some articles.

Goodbye Phil

Tonight is a retirement dinner for Phil Hester at the Grand. This should be areally fun event, everyone is really looking forward to “roasting” Phil at this eventwhich we are officially calling, “Hesterfest.” More than 400 people are expectedto attend.



To: <[email protected]>

From: Jonathan Bach

Date: 10/03/2010 10:31PM

Subject: My grandmother: Ruth Bach

Hi, Jenny!

Nice meeting you the other day!

The pictures above show my daughter Charlotte Bach -- the great grand-daughter of the woman for

whom this library was named. Ruth Bach was my father's mother, who died in 1956 -- 12 years before I

was born. I thought I could never know grandma Ruth, but I stopped by to see if there was anything on

file about her. I happened to meet Jenny Vaughn, who took me into a back room where there were

three scrapbooks of material. While I poured over the information about Ruth's life in service in educa-

tion, the PTA, and in the city council, Jenny found a copy of my book "Above the Clouds" which I signed

for the library. She already knew about my Dad's books ("Jonathan Livingston Seagull", "Illusions", etc),

but I did make sure to tell her that my great uncle Marcus also was an author (his books are in the li-

brary's circulation). I also told her about my brother James and his new book "Secrets of a Buccaneer-

Scholar" about self-education -- the kind of thing for which libraries are built. I had fun talking with Jenny while Charlotte played in the grass outside as my wife Michelle looked on. Like me, Michelle was

in awe at how a memorial like this can come to life -- how a spirit of service lives on and affects so many

others without anyone realizing for whom or why the building was named. But it is not the building

honoree, nor the authors, nor the books that make it live -- it is the people who service the library and

attend to all of the residents and volunteers. I think if Grandma Ruth were alive to see these pictures,

she would have been pleased at the legacy she inspired for her great-granddaughter to see.

Jonathan Bach

Seattle, WA

Jenny Vaughn, Jonathan Bach, Charlotte Bach







Documents

Friday Newsletter 10-22-10