Community News

Take-Out Tuesday

Join the members of St. Bartholomew’s Church for Take Out Tuesday at Naples Rib Company on the first Tuesday of the month – Sept. 1, Oct. 6, Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, 2020. Proceeds go to local charities supported by the Women’s Council of St. Bartholomew. Take-Out available from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 5800 E. 2^nd St. in Naples. Call in orders to (562) 439 7427 and mention that you support St. Bartholomew.

QFilm Festival

The 2020 Long Beach QFilm Festival, a celebration of the diversity and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) communities, is going worldwide for the first time. This Sept. 10-13, queer cinema lovers can use a streaming device or TV to view more than 40 new narrative, documentary and short films not seen in theatres or on major streaming platforms. Tickets are on sale at www.QFilmsLongBeach.com.

Public Movie Nights

The mainstream movie theaters may be closed, but movie night with family and friends is here to stay. Long Beach institutions are offering public movie nights through the summer in the form of outdoor drive-in and poolside entertainment.

The Port of Long Beach is hosting its Twilight Cinema event at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center parking lot and at Granada Beach. The screenings will be a drive-in format and will require advanced registration. One reservation is needed per vehicle. Food trucks and restroom facilities will be available and patrons may bring their own food and beverages; no alcohol is permitted. Movies begin at dusk (around 8:15 p.m.). Visit www.polb.com/community/twilight-cinema/ for a full movie schedule and information.

2nd & PCH is hosting its Movies & Moonlight event through Sept. 25 at sunset. Each week, organizers will display a different movie at the top deck of its Whole Foods Market parking garage. The drive-in experience requires a vehicle and holds up to 90 reservations. Wrist bands will be provided to each attendee to identify guests who may leave their vehicles to access on-site retail and dining establishments. A full movie schedule with movie times can be found at www.2ndandpch.com/events/.

Early Literacy Program

The Long Beach Public Library (LBPL) is launching a virtual version of its early literacy program, Dive into Reading, which will kick off live on LBPL’s Facebook page at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29.

Dive into Reading, the library’s literacy initiative for families with children ages 5 and younger, will encourage families to read 1,000 books together before their child enters kindergarten. The families will be able to track their progress through Beanstack, the library’s digital reading platform.

Dive Into Reading is a self-paced challenge where families can earn prizes and participate in educational events while meeting their 1,000-book goal. Since launching in April 2018, with funding from the LBPL Foundation, 736 families have participated and 56 families have completed the challenge.

Saturday’s Dive Into Reading Virtual Launch Party will include a craft demonstration and a concert by bilingual children’s singer/songwriter, Nathalia. Children can follow along with the craft demonstration by picking up a free craft kit from Billie Jean King Main Library (200 W. Broadway) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Saturday, Aug. 29 while supplies last. Craft pick-up will take place outside the library’s main entrance with physical distancing protocols in place. Face coverings are required of library patrons who wish to pick up the kits.

Families can visit longbeach.beanstack.org to enroll in the program. Those who are currently enrolled in Dive Into Reading should also visit the website to enroll in the online version. For more information on this or other library programs and services, residents may visit www.lbpl.org or call (562) 570-7500 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, LBPL has continued to serve Long Beach residents online by providing e-books and audiobooks, job development resources, homework assistance, virtual story times and makerspace instruction videos.

Vote by Mail

The Office of the City Clerk has partnered with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC) to place 16 Vote By Mail drop box locations in Long Beach for the Presidential General Election.

All registered voters will be mailed a Vote by Mail ballot to ensure they have a safe and accessible voting option during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this election, the RR/CC also will expand the number of drop-off locations throughout the county, so voters have additional methods to return their completed ballots.

Sixteen drop box locations, all available 24 hours per day, seven days per week, will be distributed throughout Long Beach for the safe and convenient submission of completed ballots. Completed ballots also can be returned by mail (no postage required) or in-person at any Vote Center.

Drop box locations in East Long Beach include:

• El Dorado Park West Community Center (2800 N. Studebaker Rd.)
• Freeman Community Center (1205 Freeman Ave.)
• Heartwell Park Community Center (5801 Parkcrest St.)
• Marina Vista Park (5355 E. Eliot St.)

Vote by Mail drop box locations will be available beginning Oct. 5 and will close at 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Drop boxes are available to voters 24 hours a day during the voting period. All voters may track their ballots at https://california.ballottrax.net/voter/.

For a current list of Los Angeles County 24-Hour Vote by Mail drop boxes, to check your registration information or request a ballot in a different language, please visit lavote.net.

Licensing Fee Relief

The City of Long Beach is extending the waiver of penalties related to payment of any business license bill issued from March 16 through Oct. 31, 2020. Any bills issued during that time should still be paid, but no penalty will accrue until after Oct. 31. Penalties also will be waived through Oct. 31 for health fees that were billed after March 16, 2020.

This policy follows direction from the City Council earlier this month, when council requested the city manager to evaluate the feasibility of implementing a temporary suspension of certain business licensing renewal fees for businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The city continues to look into and develop additional steps to help businesses, including restaurants.

For additional information and resources, business owners may call the Long Beach Business Hotline at (562) 570-4BIZ (4249), weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Avoid Grant Scams

The City of Long Beach offers grant programs to support Long Beach businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the civil unrest that took place on May 31. It has been brought to the city’s attention that entities not affiliated with the city have made attempts to scam Long Beach small businesses seeking such grants.

Please note the following regarding the city’s grant application and award process:

Information about the city’s small business programs is always free.

There is no charge to apply for grants through the City of Long Beach.

City employees will never ask you for your credit card or bank account number, nor is this information required to apply for a grant.

Official city email correspondence will come from email addresses ending in longbeach.gov.

The city offers the following tips:

• If you receive an email, phone call or text message that seems suspicious, do not reply. Call (562) 570-4BIZ (4249) for assistance.
• Do not send money or give out personal information in response to an unexpected request.
• If you receive a robocall claiming to be affiliated with Long Beach small business grant programs, hang up immediately and do not respond to any prompts.

Long Beach business owners can call the Long Beach Business Hotline, (562) 570-4BIZ (4249), from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays for information about small business grants and the application process for each grant. Additionally, Long Beach business owners can email 4BIZ@longbeach.gov with questions.

Unemployment Declines

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Los Angeles County declined over the month to 17.5 percent in July 2020, from a revised 19.4 percent in June 2020 and was above the rate of 4.4 percent one year ago. Civilian employment increased by 74,000 to 4,064,000 in July 2020, while unemployment decreased by 95,000 to 863,000. The civilian labor force decreased by 22,000 over the month to 4,926,000 in July 2020. (All of the above figures are seasonally adjusted.) The unadjusted unemployment rate for the county was 18.2 percent in July 2020.

The California seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 13.3 percent in July 2020, 14.9 percent in June 2020 and 4.0 percent a year ago in July 2019. The comparable estimates for the nation were 10.2 percent in July 2020, 11.1 percent in June 2020 and 3.7 percent a year ago.

Tentative Labor Agreement

The City of Long Beach announced tentative labor agreements with five of the city’s bargaining units. Each labor group voted overwhelmingly to ratify the tentative agreements.

Labor groups with which the City of Long Beach has reached tentative agreements include the Lifeguard Association (LGA), with 200 employees; the Long Beach Management Association (LBMA) with 350 employees; the Association of Confidential Employees (ACE), with 40 employees; the City Prosecutors’ Association (CPA), with 20 employees; and the City Attorneys’ Association (CAA), with 30 employees.

In recognition of the emerging financial conditions and uncertain times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the associations have agreed to include various labor cost-savings measures:

Miscellaneous employees will be furloughed for 26 days during FY 21 with an alternative option for critical positions on an exception basis. The furloughs represent a one-time 10% pay reduction.

Lifeguard, police and fire management sworn employees will have a vacation accrual reduction equivalent to 40 hours for employees on 40-hour work week schedules (48 hours for employees on a platoon schedule).

A new pension cost-sharing structure requires Classic Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) members who are sworn employees to contribute an additional 3% of their salary to help offset the employer portion of pension costs.

All agreements have a labor costing savings reopener clause in the event that the mayor and City Council declare an economic emergency. This allows the city to re-open the MOU if the city faces further fiscal hardship.

The five tentative agreements include a phased-in approach for structural wage increases, tailored to each bargaining unit, which helps the city remain competitive with other public sector agencies. Each agreement also contains additional skill pays, non-pension-based compensation or equity salary adjustments.

Tentative Agreement Terms

Miscellaneous employees: up to 8% general wage increase over four years. Four-year contract term from Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2023.

Sworn Managers: 8.5% general wage increase over three years in alignment with previously approved police and fire contracts.

Lifeguards: 8.5% general wage increase over three years. Three-year contract term from Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2022.

The tentative agreements also contain key benefits to enhance employees’ work-life balance during the pandemic and beyond. Enhanced benefits include:

• New paid parental leave.
• An additional city holiday.
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance.
• Vacation, holiday in-lieu and personal holiday accrual maximums adjusted to accommodate the city’s LB Coast HR system requirements.
• And other benefit adjustments.

Negotiations with the remaining groups continue, with agreements expected to be reached and presented to the City Council shortly. In addition, the council will consider a resolution applying the same proposed salary and benefit terms including the cost-savings measure to the unrepresented management employees. The unrepresented management employees account for approximately 47 employees.

The Association of Long Beach Employees (ALBE) is the only miscellaneous group with a closed contract currently in place. To help generate cost savings and avoid additional layoffs, they agreed to renegotiate their closed contract to participate in cost savings through furloughs and by forfeiting their upcoming $1,500 ad-hoc lump sum payment and taking six days (48 hours) of furlough time in FY 21.

The agreement went before the City Council for consideration and public discussion on Aug. 25.

Remote Traffic Court

Effective Monday, Sept. 14, LACourtConnect (LACC), the court’s remote courtroom appearance solution, will be available to people with traffic and non-traffic infraction tickets for arraignment and other matters, except trials. Use LACC to appear remotely by audio from a convenient, safe location without having to come to the courthouse.

Before you get started, please take note of these important details:

• You can make your remote audio appearance either by using a telephone or using a voice-calling application on your computer.
• On or after Sept. 4, you may schedule your remote audio appearance that is within the next 30 days.
• Your last chance to schedule a remote audio appearance is two hours before the hearing’s start time. The registration process takes time so do not wait until the day of the hearing to start it.
• When you schedule a remote audio appearance, you will receive an important email confirmation. You need this email to connect to your hearing. You cannot connect to the hearing by going to the LACC website. Keep track of this confirmation email.
• If you schedule a remote audio appearance and then want to cancel, you must do so before 8 a.m. the day of the hearing or you will be charged the $15 audio appearance fee. There are no refunds – cancel if you change your mind.

DO NOT USE INTERNET EXPLORER. Use Google Chrome 65 or later, or Mozilla Firefox 52 or later, on both Windows and Apple devices.

Follow these three steps carefully:

1. Create Your Court ID – To use LACC and appear by audio, you must first create a Court ID on the Court’s website. Go to this page (https://www.lacourt.org/lacc/guides/lacccreateid) and follow the steps to create your Court ID. Your Court ID will consist of your email address (username) and a password that you create. You will need this username and password to sign in to LACC to schedule your remote audio appearance.

2. Schedule Your Remote Appearance – As of Sept. 4, LACC is available to litigants to schedule a remote audio appearance for arraignment on traffic and non-traffic infraction tickets or other non-trial court appearances. Video is not available. Go to https://lacourt.portalscloud.com/VCourt/, click the Schedule button and use your Court ID to sign in. You will be able to schedule your remote appearance for any hearing on calendar during the next 30 days.

3. Participate in Your Remote Hearing – If you will be using computer audio, please test your equipment as noted in the Quick Reference Guide to avoid causing delays during your hearing. https://www.lacourt.org/documents/LACCQuickReference.pdf

When you call in, at least 15 minutes before your hearing time, dial the number provided in the confirmation email you received when you scheduled your remote audio appearance. Enter the conference ID number and the PIN provided in the email. Your audio input will be on mute until the hearing begins.

If you need help, there is a Help Center on the bottom of this webpage: (https://www.lacourt.org/lacc/).

Grace Period Extension

LA County Presiding Judge Kevin C. Brazile announced all traffic and non-traffic infraction matters, scheduled for appearance in any clerk’s Office from Aug. 22 through Oct. 14, will be continued for 90 days.

People do not need to contact the clerk’s office to take advantage of this relief. Notification of new court dates will be mailed. Due to social distancing protocols, do not come to the courthouse for any in-person services without a prescheduled appointment.

Traffic infraction defendants who have suspended driver’s licenses due to unpaid tickets can now call the court to set a future hearing date and immediately have the court request a release of their driver’s license Hold from the DMV. Defendants should be aware that COVID-19 has affected the DMV’s ability to process these requests, so there may be some delays in lifting the holds.

For general traffic and non-traffic Infraction questions, or if you have questions or need help with accounts already in collections, please visit the court’s traffic webpage at (http://www.lacourt.org/division/traffic/traffic2.aspx) or call one of the traffic courthouses for more information and assistance. Telephone hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except court holidays.

Youth Chorus Season

With the hiring of Stevie J. Hirner as artistic director, the LB Youth Chorus jumps into the 2020-21 season with an innovative mix of programming, a goal to actually grow the chorus during the pandemic and to make further steps to realize the organization’s vision: to be a diverse multi-chorus organization that provides every child in the region the opportunity to perform in a choir and gives them the life-changing skills that choral singing can develop.

The 2020-21 season begins on Sunday, Sept. 13. Weekly rehearsals (4-5:30 p.m.) will begin virtually but will be mixed in with outdoor rehearsals when safe to do so, as early as October. The weekly gatherings will also include a slate of masterclasses and clinics for the singers, built around a wide music-education spectrum, including vocal training, music theory, sight-reading, ear training and composing/songwriting. The chorus will be working toward a series of small micro-performances (of the porch concert variety) and virtual cabaret (solo) performances and videos.

The Long Beach Youth Chorus is open to singers in grades 5-12. Placement hearings for new singers will be online, scheduled at various dates/times between now and Sept. 13. To register for the Long Beach Youth Chorus, visit https://www.longbeachyouthchorus.org/registration/.