Belmont Shore Residents Association
MINUTES
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
and ELECTION
September 8, 2016
The meeting was called to order by President Terence Endersen at 6:00 pm. Executive Board Members Ray Bradford, Aileen Colon and Julie Dean as well as Treasurer Robert O'Connor were present. 36 additional BSRA members and visitors were present. Vice President Max Alavi was absent.
The Executive Board voted for and approved the agenda for this meeting and the minutes of the August 11 meeting.
Bay Shore Librarian Debi Vilander gave the Library Moment announcing:
September is Library Sign-up Month, so please send family and friends to the library to become members.
Keep an eye on the library’s schedule online at: http://www.lbpl.org/events/special_events_calendar.asp, as they have many programs, including discussions with local authors.
Also, a reminder that the first Saturday of each month is Craft & Movie day at 3pm at the library, free of charge AND they are now open on Sundays from 12:00-4:00pm.
LBPD East Division Commander Liz Griffin provided the following update:
Ruth Anne Salau, LBPD East Division Neighborhood Services Specialist, discussed:
Jack Cunningham from Third District Councilwoman Price’s office provided these updates:
Alexis Rabenn (Quinn’s Pub & Grill) provided Belmont Shore Business Association update:
Eric Forsbert from the Parking Commission gave these updates:
Treasurer’s Report:
President’s Report:
New Business: Rebecca (Becky) Caudillo from Naples and Linda Pemberton from Belmont Heights presented a Traffic Petition:
BSRA Executive Board Member Election:
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm
Submitted by:
Julie Dean, Executive Board
MINUTES
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
and ELECTION
September 8, 2016
The meeting was called to order by President Terence Endersen at 6:00 pm. Executive Board Members Ray Bradford, Aileen Colon and Julie Dean as well as Treasurer Robert O'Connor were present. 36 additional BSRA members and visitors were present. Vice President Max Alavi was absent.
The Executive Board voted for and approved the agenda for this meeting and the minutes of the August 11 meeting.
Bay Shore Librarian Debi Vilander gave the Library Moment announcing:
September is Library Sign-up Month, so please send family and friends to the library to become members.
Keep an eye on the library’s schedule online at: http://www.lbpl.org/events/special_events_calendar.asp, as they have many programs, including discussions with local authors.
Also, a reminder that the first Saturday of each month is Craft & Movie day at 3pm at the library, free of charge AND they are now open on Sundays from 12:00-4:00pm.
LBPD East Division Commander Liz Griffin provided the following update:
- This past month there were several assaults, including:
- On Ocean Blvd, 16 year old daughter of a resident. The suspect was her boyfriend and the incident was domestic in nature.
- At Dogz, assault with a deadly weapon, a glass bottle, was used in a bar brawl inside where some women attacked a man.
- Near Dogz a stabbing occurred where the victim was kicked out of the bar into the back parking lot. A stabbing ensued and arrests were made.
- Resident burglaries / B&E:
- Up 1.5% in East Division.
- Up 7.5% overall in Long Beach.
- Up in East Division on garage burglaries.
- Bike thefts are down 41%. Stings have been effective. Sting team almost lost a bike last time with 6 police officers watching because the perpe.trators steal the bikes so quickly and stealthily. Police have tried putting trackers on the bikes but the perpetrators quickly find the trackers and dispose of them.
- Grand Theft Auto is up 28% in East Division and up 6% in city; most of these are for joy riding and the cars are found later. There are not as many chopped cars as we used to see in the city.
- There was a Cat Burglary (when a person is home) where the victim heard noise and went to investigate. The victim had left the window open; they found the screen was damaged and their laptop was gone. DO NOT leave windows, doors, patio doors, garage side doors, garage main doors, car doors (even those inside of garage) open or unlocked. Also, DO NOT valuable items visible through doors or windows (all mentioned above) because thieves are breaking into homes and cars when they see purses, wallets, laptops and other valuable items. Take away the opportunity.
- Robberies:
- Up 30% in East Division.
- Up 18% in city.
- Again, expensive items in the window. Take away the temptation.
- On Bay Shore Ave, a property was set up as a VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner). The renters left and items were missing: computers, DVD player, DVDs. The renters are the suspects.
- A strong arm robbery (using force or threats, no weapon) occurred where the suspect grabbed the victim (who works at Legends) and took her apron filled with tips. She chased the suspect and others helped. They wrestled him to the ground but he was able to escape. She was able to get most things back during the tussle.
- At Pussy & Pooch a 34 year old suspect entered, took a dog carrier, pointed a knife at the clerk and fled. Suspect was caught and identified by the clerk.
- A commercial burglary occurred where the front door was kicked in, money was taken and bottles were broken. This is possibly a repeat suspect.
- At 2pm on Saturday, 17 September there will be a meeting on Homeless Issues at Fire Station 14 help by Suzie Price.
- Some homeless are parking their bikes with all of their possessions on 2nd St which is unsightly but it’s not criminal unless they are impeding traffic.
- Gangs are very mafia-like now (drugs, selling prescriptions), but are not big in East Division.
Ruth Anne Salau, LBPD East Division Neighborhood Services Specialist, discussed:
- Creating Community Watch Groups block-by-block is the most effective method. This allows neighbors to easily get to know one another’s families, cars, behaviors, etc.
- Remember that each neighborhood is different and each street can be different.
- Ocean Blvd is currently working on creating several Community Watch Groups, breaking the street up by logical sections.
- Ruth Anne and Commander Griffin will come out to assist any street in forming a Community Watch Group. They will attend the first one hour meeting and provide a two page cheatsheet on how to start a Community Watch Group. They will teach group what to be prepared to say to the Communication Center/Dispatch, when to call them, why to call them. They will explain call priorities, the swiftness of officer response and help residents to make their street more crime resistant.
- Community Watch Groups are easy to create, as there is not much work involved; in fact, it couldn’t be easier. And the small amount of effort is worth the benefit. Simply walk the neighborhood, ask for meeting time preferences, contact Ruth Anne and work together to choose a meeting date and time. Residents should bring chairs to the house meeting point and that’s it. Residents don’t need to do anything else. The meeting will be run by the Commander or a Lieutenant. Sometimes meetings are started because of a special issue; in that case a particular specialized officer might lead. Residents should follow-up 1 to 2 times a year with their neighbors because the purpose is to keep in contact with their neighbors.
- Even if you don’t start a Community Watch Group, it’s really important to meet all of your neighbors. Know their kids, frequent friends, cars, patterns.
- Recently, a brand new Community Watch Group was already successful in reporting suspicious behavior. The night after their first meeting, a neighbor noticed an unknown car idling in the middle of the street. The resident called LBPD, the officers found 2 of the suspects who were in a stolen car with stolen items, 2 more suspects who were in the process of stealing plus 3 of the 4 suspects had warrants.
- This program is Low Effort, but High Impact.
- If you see someone sitting in a car for a long time and get a funny feeling, your instinct is probably right. Just be sure to consider any biases or stereotypes you might have. Watch the person’s actions: are they looking in car/house windows or checking car/house doors, do they have a stuffed backpack while sneaking around, are they walking back and forth, are they looking for something? If you call the police, the dispatcher will need to know these things, as well as a description of the person, including their clothing.
- One of the most effective groups is in Belmont Shore at Prospect & 1st. One of the members has set up an email chain, which is a good means of communication. The group meets in her front yard, dispels gossip, gets updated info from residents and they have successfully impacted crime and quality of life in their immediate area. Other groups can really model this group for success.
Jack Cunningham from Third District Councilwoman Price’s office provided these updates:
- On Saturday, Sep. 17 there will be a homelessness meeting, which will include Public Works, Parks & Rec and the City Prosecutor.
- There is a City Council agenda item on panhandling. Homelessness resource teams encourage people to give to a homelessness organization because it is more effective than giving the homeless money directly. If people give to the homeless directly, it allows them to continue as they are, making them comfortable and making them less likely to seek the incredible variety of resources within Long Beach.
- There is a City Council agenda item to reduce the number of RVs on side streets and to create a city wide ban that would require permits for RVs with a home address attached to it.
- There are frequently reports that people are being bussed into Long Beach. The Councilwoman’s office has not found any evidence that these claims are true. If this happens to be true, how can we address it? An Agenda Items would need to be brought up at a City Council meeting, it would need to be researched and that would lead to a possible new ordinance.
- Long Beach has good long-term homelessness solutions. Resident Question (RQ): what are numbers, how many people are using resources, how do we rate compared to other cities? Answer (A): Jack will follow-up.
- RQ: Are homeless allowed to sleep or live on brick near businesses? A: Believes this is city property that businesses have a permit to use, but Jack will follow-up.
- Businesses had a special meeting this week regarding homelessness and how they can help curb it. BSBA has created a poster with the councilwoman’s logo on it, to educate customers. “Say No to Panhandling. Don’t give them money; give them help”.
- If a person’s impression is that the panhandling is aggressive, then it is a crime.
- BS Parking Study findings will be discussed on Oct 24 at the Councilwoman’s Nieto office.
- As of Sep 2, the new city zoning plan was released. The process began in 2007 but the financial crisis occurred and it was put on hold. The process has restarted and deals with zoning and function elements and applies citywide. Comments are due 60 days from Sep 2 (the day the EIR was released). Terry Endersen would like someone to talk about this at the BSRA Oct 13 meeting. RQ: Does this zoning match or conflict with SEASP?
- Jack is working on an agenda item to ask the city manager to evaluate parking in coastal communities. There are other seaside communities in California who have implemented parking permits, etc. How are these other cities doing this with the Coastal Commission? (Naples and Seal Beach are both grandfathered prior to Coastal Commission). The Councilwoman’s office is trying to get some other councilmembers to sign on.
Alexis Rabenn (Quinn’s Pub & Grill) provided Belmont Shore Business Association update:
- 27th Annual Car Show Sunday 11 October from 9a -3p. 2nd Street will be closed from Livingston to Bay Shore from 5a to 5p (or sooner if street is cleared). There will be parking at Ocean Ave and Marine Stadium lots at Appian Way.
- Long Beach Fire Department, Police Department and Mayor Garcia will hold a Memorial Ceremony commemorating 9/11 in front of Fire Station 8 in Belmont Shore at 9a.
- Sanchez Tacos will replace Le Donut & Croissant.
- The Public House will be leaving soon and will be replaced by a pizza place in early Oct.
Eric Forsbert from the Parking Commission gave these updates:
- Just picked up 53 used Big Belly Garbage & Solar Recycle Cans and now have total of 76 Big Bellys on 2nd St. These will hopefully continue to discourage homeless from pulling things from trash cans.
- Considering retrofitting and attaching cigarette receptacles to Big Bellys because there currently aren’t many cigarette receptacles and many smokers throw their cigarette butts on the sidewalk. Commission does not want to put more stuff on the sidewalk.
- Trash removal services will be redirected to picking up litter, watering trees, removing lower tree branches.
- Some irrigation systems are broken and some trees are dying in the 2nd Street median divider. The city will do an assessment but on Sep 24, an outreach community public meeting will be held at Councilwoman Price’s Nieto office from 10-1130a. They hope to develop the scope and discuss the signage. They are considering removing concrete and putting in bricks, installing flags on the bridge announcing entrance to Belmont Shore and generally make the area more inviting: landscaping with annuals every 3-4 months, stamped concrete in intersections, lighting up the trees.
- The Parking Commission paid for the 2nd Street Security Cameras to be installed and the Cameras work but the bandwidth is too small. The city is still working on this; it is a technology issue.
- Next meeting is next Thursday.
Treasurer’s Report:
- Balance: $1758
- Insurance Renewal – $1150
- Constant Contact – $423/year
- PO Box – $95/6 months
- Our original papers said we were a charity; we thought we convinced them we are not a charity. $25 filing fee to department of Justice is due as an annual fee.
- Payments due were voted on and approved by Executive Board.
President’s Report:
- None
New Business: Rebecca (Becky) Caudillo from Naples and Linda Pemberton from Belmont Heights presented a Traffic Petition:
- SEASP is in the hands of the planning Commission at the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) level. We residents travel though the SEASP area daily. The current version of SEASP will double dwellings in a very compact area, specifically at 2nd & PCH. We are already swamped and this increase cannot be mitigated; it is already rated at an F level.
- The Team has drafted a petition to ensure Commissioners and Councilmembers know how the residents feel. We want to preserve the quality of living for our communities: Naples, Peninsula, Belmont Shore, Marina Pacifica, Belmont Heights, Belmont Park.
- If you are interested, please sign the petition.
- We are also looking for volunteers to gather petition signatures.
- PLEASE send in your DEIR comments and PLEASE go to Planning Commission meetings and voice your opinion.
BSRA Executive Board Member Election:
- The BSRA Executive Board Member Election occurred this evening and the new Board will be as follows:
- President: Terry Endersen
- Vice President: Aileen Colon
- Treasurer: Robert O’Conner
- Secretary: Genny Hulbrock
- Executive Board Members-at-Large: Julie Dean, Christina Jones, Susan Miller
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm
Submitted by:
Julie Dean, Executive Board