* * * * * D R A F T * * * * *
Belmont Shore Residents Association
MINUTES
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
December 8, 2016
The meeting was called to order by President Terence Endersen at 6:00 pm. Executive Board Members Julie Dean, Christina Jones and Susan Miller, as well as Vice President Aileen Colon, Treasurer Robert O'Connor and Secretary Genny Hulbrock were present. 15 additional BSRA members and visitors were present.
The Executive Board voted for and approved the agenda for this meeting and the minutes of the October 13 and November 10 meetings.
Bay Shore Librarian Debi Vilander gave the Library Moment announcing:
Jack Cunningham and Nina Moussavi from Third District Councilwoman Price’s office:
Jack Cunningham:
LBPD East Division Commander Liz Griffin provided the following update:
Dede from the Belmont Shore Business Association was unable to attend:
Eric Forsberg from the Parking Commission provided the BSRA with these updates:
Treasurer’s Report:
President’s Report:
New Business:
The meeting was adjourned at 8:05pm
Submitted by:
Julie Dean, Executive Board
MINUTES
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
December 8, 2016
The meeting was called to order by President Terence Endersen at 6:00 pm. Executive Board Members Julie Dean, Christina Jones and Susan Miller, as well as Vice President Aileen Colon, Treasurer Robert O'Connor and Secretary Genny Hulbrock were present. 15 additional BSRA members and visitors were present.
The Executive Board voted for and approved the agenda for this meeting and the minutes of the October 13 and November 10 meetings.
Bay Shore Librarian Debi Vilander gave the Library Moment announcing:
- Bay Shore Library’s Annual Book Sale is Saturday, December 10th at 10am through Saturday, December 17th. The books are donated to the library all year long; the Book Sale’s earnings go to “The Friends of the Library” who will then purchase needed items for Bay Shore Neighborhood Library.
- In addition to Bay Shore, the Michelle Obama, Burnett and El Dorado Libraries are all open on Sundays from 12:00-4:00pm.
- Check out our library’s special events online at: http://www.lbpl.org/events/special_events_calendar.asp, as they have many programs, including family fun, book club and discussions with local authors.
- Reminder: the 1st Saturday of each month is Craft & Movie day at 3pm, free of charge.
Jack Cunningham and Nina Moussavi from Third District Councilwoman Price’s office:
Jack Cunningham:
- Jack and his wife are expecting a baby on December 23rd.
- The vendor has confirmed the Road Diet timeframe will be completed by end of year. More cost effective paint is now being used, mainly because there have been many residents voicing their opinion who think the road diet won’t work.
- The road diet is to reduce speed of traffic from 39th place near Livingston to Bay Shore by bringing it down to one lane. The plan is for it to be an easier environment for people to navigate. Once the lane is removed, there will be a lot of extra space, where 156 new diagonal parking spots, as well as the bike lane. The crosswalks are being adjusted to “continental” which look like piano keys and are more visible for drivers as they approach.
- Residents voiced concerns on traffic and speed, so traffic engineering looked at the situation holistically and decided on a road diet.
- The parking will remain unmetered.
- Granada Parking Lot Project would add 200 new spots and electric vehicle charging stations (repainting would allow for the additional parking spaces). Public Works is trying to accomplish these changes before (bird) nesting season (otherwise it will be pushed to September). A resident explained the lot has a drainage problem that should be fixed before the resurfacing occurs and was advised that the drainage issue might delay the project. The city is trying to avoid landscaping because it would take up more of the lot, leaving less for parking. Per President Endersen, the city had to add landscaping in some other beach lots to prevent runoff and flooding (Bay Shore, Claremont and La Verne).
Note: Tidelands got folded into Public Works. - CD3 Walks the Walk: Council District 3 will walk an approximate 2 miles to a destination where the participants will perform a community service (beach cleanup, tree planting, parking lot cleanup, etc.) and partake of coffee and donuts and then walk 2 miles back to the original meeting point. The CD3 Walks the Walk program brings together community, exercise and service. President Endersen brought up that so far churchgoers haven’t been able to participate because the events have been on Sunday. He asked if the Councilwoman could consider some Saturdays in the future. The Councilwoman’s office is asking residents to send in suggestions of 4 mile roundtrip routes with a community service task at the halfway point and to please send in any community service ideas.
- Upcoming dates:
- 8a Sunday, December 11th - meet at Marine Stadium
- 8a Sunday, January 22nd - meet at Claremont parking lot (54th Place & Ocean Blvd)
- Long Beach took an active role coming up with a rapid response for homeless called HERT, made up of two 2-person crews of paramedics trained on homelessness issues. Calls are routed through 911 and teams work 20 hours a week on program. City hopes to increase the teams’ hours or set up a second team. Homelessness is a growing issue throughout the city and they try to utilize city resources as best as possible. If the HERT team is not already on a call, they will respond to a HERT call, get homeless person resources (mental health, drug, criminal). The HERT teams report under the fire department and have received additional training in homelessness issues and resource center options. They cannot ticket but they will call police, if necessary.
- City Council:
- Airport Customs Facility is being pushed by Jet Blue (will not change number of flights, just international allowances). Jet Blue is saying Long Beach cannot restrict where they want to fly. A feasibility study was done covering air quality, economic impacts, traffic and they tried to develop a proposal. City Council voted to have a study session on Dec 13 at City Council meeting. Resident Question: If the number of flights stays the same (51), we’d lose convenience of US destinations because Jet Blue would move their number of flights to most profitable flights, which would probably be international. Answer: Currently none of the carriers are using all of their flight slots. Resident Q: Who will pay for facility? A: Airlines will increase their baggage fees (FIS fee) and that will cover facility costs. Not sure who will initially pay; will follow-up. Q: If airlines leave, who will cover costs? A: Will follow-up. City is moving forward with a vote on Jan 24th, 2017. Original studies at hundreds of thousands of dollars paid by city.
- The FAA wants to improve safety, by changing from ground-based radar to satellite-based radar because it is more accurate. Satellite will allow planes to come in at a higher altitude for a longer period of time, so it’ll be less noisy over neighborhoods and would reduce amount of noise (customs, immigration, agriculture, fish & wildlife, public health).
- Nina is the new 3rd District Office Director; Jack is now Chief of Staff. She will be out in the field researching. Her email is [email protected].
- Working on Young Women’s Leadership Forum with help of Wilson High School and some Women Community Leaders who are strong, independent and influential. Try to break stereotypes and build on young women’s empowerment.
- Belmont Shore Parking Study: Nina has a copy of the study presentation for those unable to attend a presentation. Team made recommendations to alleviate parking issue and efficiently increase number of spots: 1) Looked at red zones and possibility of reducing them, 2) Demand-based pricing models for meters; charge more for 2nd St and incentivize people who park farther away, 3) Alternative forms of transportation (make bus route better, etc.), 4) Require residents not using their garages for cars to begin doing so. ResComment: Don’t believe study folks recognized that most old garages do not fit today’s cars. President Endersen: We need more than stats and we really need more out-of-the-box ideas. What will work HERE and what/when are the next steps. Nina: CD3 goal is to improve issue. RQ: Shuttle? A: Pros: alleviate parking, Cons: whose street will it go down, who pays for insurance?
- Some residents have an issue with ROE’s using up street parking for their valet.
- Residents can view Parking Study, as it is linked from Newsletter sent by email.
LBPD East Division Commander Liz Griffin provided the following update:
- Seeing crime going down, except Grand Theft Autos (GTAs) and Auto Burglaries are increasing. GTAs are going way up in Belmont Shore. Police believe people are forgetting where they parked their cars because cars are being recovered in the same area they parked it. This still counts against stolen car statistics.
- A deceased man was found on the beach, with a gunshot wound to the chest; it appears to be suicide. Officers conducted “knock and talks” in the neighborhood and during that time they came across a female in a car and realized she was dead. LBPD investigated and determined to the deaths are not related. The female was in poor health and died of natural causes. LBPD is still investigating the man’s homicide but believe it is a suicide, however a full autopsy still needs to be conducted. There was no weapon, he was found naked on the beach, close to the water. Officers checked the sand and divers checked the water for a gun but have not located it.
- Recently East Division has had a number of murder/suicides that were domestic in nature.
- Resident Question: Have been concerned in decline of neighborhood. Resident and neighbors would support and appreciate an additional source of security. Answer: Additional source of security would need to know laws and if residents hire someone, residents are liable for security. Security has no right to use force or make an arrest. Also, a security person driving around in a golf cart probably won’t change perpetrators’ behavior because the police being present is not changing their behavior.
- Parking Commission and BSBA are trying to work together to hire some type of armed security but Commander has advised she would not back it up and be liable. This was attempted on Lloynes where they were having transient issues. Residents hired 2 guys off of Craigslist; LBPD ended up arresting them because they were felons on probation who ended beating up the homeless.
- Downtown Long Beach Ambassadors walk around wearing uniforms and are the eyes and ears of the community. They are witnesses and Ambassadors and they have been effective.
- The real security solution is to start street-by-street Community Watch Groups. The Commander and LBPD East Division Ruth Anne will come to any group’s first meeting to teach the group how to start up, create phone trees, meet neighbors’ families, learn neighbors’ behaviors and create partnerships.
- Commander feels strongly that Glendora needs a Community Watch Group because LBPD gets a lot of calls regarding Glendora.
Dede from the Belmont Shore Business Association was unable to attend:
- No update provided
Eric Forsberg from the Parking Commission provided the BSRA with these updates:
- The Parking Commission collects funds from meters on 2nd Street; the funds are used to keep business parking lots clean, business alleys and 2nd Street.
- $5000 in funds will be used to replace dead trees.
- The requirement that the Belmont Shore resident Parking Commission Board Member also be a member of the BSRA, is no longer a requirement.
- The Belmont Shore Parking Study consultant began their presentation at the Nov 2016 Parking Commission meeting, ran long and will continue at the next meeting.
- Next meeting is Thursday, Dec 15th at 9am at Bay Shore Library.
Treasurer’s Report:
- Balance: $3490
President’s Report:
- None
New Business:
- Resident Jeff Miller: Planning Commission meets Thurs, Dec 15 at 5pm in Council Chambers at City Hall to review the Belmont Pool project and city ordinance requirement to put up story poles to show height and layout (perimeter) of building. This is required when there’s a variance (25 feet are allowed, while 78 feet are planned; the old building was 60 feet). The plan currently is to only put up one pole, however enough poles are supposed to be put up to accurately represent the full extent of the planned project. This would set a bad precedent. The project is planned to extend from the street to the bike path. Please go to meeting to stop them from placing just a single pole to represent the entire project.
- Executive Board Member Genny Hulbrock attended the 2nd & PCH/SEASP Open House. She explained that the new project will stay within the old SEADIP guidelines.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:05pm
Submitted by:
Julie Dean, Executive Board