Monthly Meeting Minutes – October, 2018

Meeting called to order at 7:08 PM by DPNA President Dan Pressburg
Flag salute at 7:09 PM by Keith Oddie
7:09PM
North Station Report:
7:09 PM – The Beat Goes On
Long Beach Police Department 9th District provided by Officers E. Saldana and M. Romo and Erica Moreno (Neighborhood Specialist)
Officer Saldana will b leaving bike detail here in Deforest and moving to Detective
Welcome Officer Romo as a bike detail
Stolen vehicle 2007 Lexus at 400 block of Poppy
400 E. 63rd street recovered vehicle from LA
61st and Linden recovered vehicle from Lakewood
Petty theft – tried to stab someone for Apple watch – Meet at North Station for buying and selling items
2 arrest – 6500 Atlantic and 5600 Jaymills for outstanding warrants
Q & A – (Q) A lot of people stealing older cars? – (A) Yes, more of a trend recently. Keep valuables out of way. For some, batteries or converters are valuable. Be watchful in neighborhood. Do not hesitate to call if you see something. Can call non-emergency.
(Q) What do you do if someone is drunk and sleeping in a parkway all day? What if no one calls to check it out? (A) Can take them to jail if they can walk. If so bad, then police needs to call Fire Department to take them to the hospital. A lot of legislation coming restricting what citations can be issued to someone who is out on street sleeping and potentially homeless. Can send Erica e-mail for follow-up later or call Dispatch to follow-up more immediately.
(Q) With legalization of legal marijuana, are there restrictions with regard to where it can be smoked? (A) Not in public. Can be cited but it is just a ticket.
(Q) Any ordinance on parking on lawn? (A) You can do it on street sweeping days during the street sweeping hours.
(Q) Why is the response so slow? (A0 When things occur that are high priority, the police have to respond to it. In addition, there are staffing issue. Many officers are retiring and others do not pass the priority matter.
Comment – consider doing a Police Ride-A-Long to learn about Police Patrol process
7:37 PM
Announcements
Call for Volunteers for Saturday, October 27th from 9:00AM-Noon to plant drought tolerant plants at Deforest Park as part of a grant obtained through city
Camp Fire USA is contracting with city of Long Beach and will start running after school program in 1/2019
7:39PM – Guest Speaker – City Budget Officer, John Gross
Provided copies of Proposed Budge Pamphlet for 2019 – believes it is a good budget, with small increases and no proposed tax increases; structurally balanced budget and reasonable financial reserves (about 25% of general fund expenditures)
3 billion budget – bulk is for public safety and public works (70%) that serve citizens in indirect matter; 60% comes from taxes (Q) Is it better to have more reserves? (A) Always good to have more savings.
3.5 million in private construction
Port is doing 4 million in construction
Construction brings in revenue and jobs
Considered top in parks
City had double A excellent financial rating (rated on corporate rating and in depth persona financial management and stewardship)
Have independent city audits; Elected City Auditor – KPMG auditing firm conducts a lot of the audits and are hired by City Auditor
Most taxes do not go to the city – only 20% including Measure A that doubled sales tax)
(Q) What percentage of sales tax does city get? (A) 1% (1 cent) of sales tax is city tax; 2% (2 cents) of 10.25 is city Tax plus measure A.
(Q) What percent of property tax goes to city (A) 21% of property tax goes to city.
Expenses are rising faster than revenues; expenses go up faster than inflation; we are spending more than inflation with biggest problem being pensions (government is different than corporate as corporate world does not use the same process; 401K are different; 50% of every $1.oo will go to pension in 35 years which is very expensive)
(Q) What about the number of public safety individuals retiring in near future? (A) Without Measure A we would be in trouble. We do know that rate of retirement is increasing so are focused on increased rate of recruitment and on the amount of academies.
Measure A, Measure M (merger of gas and water), and increase in ambulance fees all helped with balancing the budget. Measure A is about 58 million a year, with half for structural issues and other half is for infrastructure.
(Q) How much does Measure H help? (A) It is a good thing and contributes at lot toward homeless issues. (Q) Also what about Measure B? (A) Sets aside money for rainy day funds.
(Q) Does that mean no more tax increases? (A) City Council has aversion to taxes because citizens have aversion to taxes. Possibly might need a tax increase in near future as balancing budget this year has been particularly difficult.
(Q) What about new marijuana businesses and associated taxes? (A) A lot of legal dispensaries are not opening up as more costly than expected due to zoning and regulation requirements. Not producing a lot of revenue yet.
(Q) What is the projected deficit for 2019? (A) Projecting 9.3 million assuming no one in city gets a raise but it is a bargaining year. Can change by millions of dollars. Not clear yet.
(Q) You said you are responsible for licensing? (A0 Yes. (Q) What about all these food trucks? (A) City is exploring street vendors, including food trucks, with many not being licensed now. In city of Long Beach, the business tax is a flat fee.
(Q) What about oil revenue? Is city making more money with gas going up? (A) Oil revenue is based on oil prices. Currently at $80 a barrel. Revenue helps or hurts general fund, with it helping now due to rising prices. Bad thing is production going down and prices are historically volatile.
(Q) Is old library being converted into a homeless shelter? (A) The North library was a one-time deal and may be considered once again but it will not be permanent.
Additional Comments or Questions?
Deforest Park will be participating in hashtag Giving Tuesday – look for details so we can keep doing events
December 2nd at 3:00PM is Holiday Park
January 2019 Deforest Park meeting will likely be Meet the Press
What about a Paranormal Walk? Will trying to coordinate and will provide update on all social media once confirmed.
Call for motion to adjourn
Meeting adjourned 8:29PM
Reminders and Dates to Remember:
7:00AM Good Neighbors Spires Del Amo and Cherry 2nd Tuesday of the month
7:00PM Starr King 1st Wednesday of the month
7:00PM Grant Meeting, American legion Post 560 59th & Orange 2nd Thursday of the month
7:00PM Coolidge Triangle Neighborhood Association 3rd Wednesday of the month
7:00PM Deforest Neighborhood Association 3rd Thursday of the month
DPNA Executive Board Meeting on Wed. 10/24th at 7:00PM at Old Dairy and Creamery House 167 E. South
Pop Up Uptown Event at Michelle Obama Library – 4th Thursday 5:30PM-8:30PM