March 3-16, 2015

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An Evening With Genius

FOCUS ON BUSINESS AND EDUCATION “I am pathologically focused on student success.

Role Of Map-making And Geographic Information Systems In Charting A Course To A Better Future

Students first, students last, students everything.”

Timothy P. White, Chancellor California State University

■ By JACK HUMPHREY Contributing Writer

Timothy P. White has served as chancellor of California State University (CSU) since 2013, overseeing the 23-school system. CSU, which employes 45,000 faculty and staff, has been headquartered in Downtown Long Beach since 1976.

(Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White Discusses Meeting California’s Needs On A Tight Budget ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer

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ometimes called “the people’s university,” the California S State University (CSU) system graduates between 110,000 to 115,000 students per year – most of whom, according to CSU

ENDORSEMENT – APRIL 14 SPECIAL ELECTION

Chancellor Timothy P. White, stay in California and contribute to the state’s economy.

In an early February interview with the Business Journal in his Downtown Long Beach office, White did not waste a minute before highlighting the two driving forces behind his actions as chancellor: serving the needs of his state and addressing an impending shortage of university degrees among Californians.

Supernaw For The 4th District City Council Seat ■ By GEORGE ECONOMIDES Publisher he Long Beach Business Journal is endorsing Daryl Supernaw in the April 14 special election for the Long Beach City Council 4th District seat. Supernaw’s credentials far exceed those of the other candidates. In fact, there is simply no comparison as to who is the best qualified person to serve the district.

For starters, Supernaw, whose father was a Long Beach firefighter, has lived in the district his entire life. He attended Buffum Elementary School, Stanford Middle School and Wilson High School. He received his bachelors and masters degrees

T

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Proposed Legislation Puts Spotlight On Right-To-Die Debate In California ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer lizabeth Martin thought she E had kicked colon cancer – and so had her doctors – when she

t is rare that one is privileged Ievening enough to spend an entire in the company of a brilliant mind; rarer still is the chance to spend it in the presence of TWO such minds.

On February 25, more than 120 people shared exactly that experience when the Aquarium of the Pacific hosted a discussion between two leaders from the world of intelligent mapping, data and design: Jack Dangermond, president and founder of the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), and Richard Saul Wurman, an archi-

SPECIAL REPORT – HEALTH CARE

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fell in the shower at her sister’s Long Beach home last year. But for months, the pain from that fall wouldn’t go away, and when a doctor was finally able to tell her why, the diagnosis was grim.

The cancer was back, and it was everywhere – her spine, her liver, her lungs. The disease worsened quickly, and her sister and caretaker, Anita Freeman, was haunted by a promise she had made Elizabeth the last time she’d faced cancer.

“At the time she made me promise that if the cancer came back I would help her to go to sleep peacefully,” Freeman recalled. It wasn’t long before Elizabeth made the request again.

With eight weeks left to live, Elizabeth went home with her sister to receive hospice (end-oflife) home care. “She was having so much pain. I mean we tried oxycodone; we tried every known painkiller. They finally put her on morphine,” Freeman

Airport Customs Study Could Take Three Years, Or . . .

Customs Representative Details Many Of The Steps Necessary For A Facility ■ By DAVE WIELENGA Staff Writer hy would it take “a minW imum of three years” to get a United States Customs facility up and running at the Long Beach Airport?

Airport Director Bryant L. Francis, who included that estimate in a February 23 letter informing the mayor, city council and city manager of Jet Blue’s request for the City of Long Beach to apply for a U.S. Customs facil-

Long Beach Business Journal 2599 E. 28th Street, Suite 212 Signal Hill, CA 90755-2139 562/988-1222 • www.lbbusinessjournal.com

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE

ity that would allow international flights, declined through a spokesperson to detail how that timetable was calculated.

The Long Beach Business Journal contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) for an assessment of Francis’ three-year forecast, but spokesperson Jaime Ruiz said it was impossible to do off the top of his head. He wouldn’t venture his own guess.

“Every application is different,” Ruiz, chief of CPB’s Northern/Coastal Branch, said during

a telephone interview, “because every airport is different. Some have facilities ready to be adapted to the very strict DHS [Department of Homeland Security] standards for becoming an international airport. Some might have to build an entire customs facility.”

Ruiz made passing reference to many of those requirements during a pleasantly meandering conversation. The rough to-do list was extensive and daunting, not that (Please Continue To Page 20)

said, explaining that not only did it take an hour for the morphine to kick in but when it did, it didn’t help much.

“She would just cry and beg me, ‘Please just help me go to sleep. I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to endure this kind of pain,’” Freeman said.

“She’d take my hand and she would say, ‘You promised to help me.’ And I couldn’t help her. I was too afraid I’d end up in jail.”

Freeman now advocates for right-to-die legislation in California through the national organization Compassion & Choices, not only because her sister was unable to end her life on her own terms, (Please Continue To Page 14)

Small Staff, Small Office, But Big Results Arthritis National Research Foundation, Based In Long Beach, Has Strong Record Of Accomplishment ■ By DAVE WIELENGA Staff Writer he roots of the Arthritis T National Research Foundation (ANRF) reach more than 60 years into Long Beach history, a timeline that’s a testament to how long the debilitating joint condition has evaded a cure. But over that time the organization has been refining its search, and applying new ideas, increasingly rigorous science and ever-moreexcellent fiscal management practices to blossom into one of America’s best not-for-profits.

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Formula E April 4

PAID Los Angeles, CA PERMIT NO. 447

Formula E racing is coming to the streets of Long Beach on Saturday, April 4. And admission is free! Long Beach joins Beijing, Monte Carlo, London, Berlin and Buenos Aires as one of only 10 cities in the world hosting the race. See story on Page 24.

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Inside This Issue 3

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March 3-16, 2015

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Focus On Business & Education

• Interview: CSU Chancellor Timothy White, Continued From Pg 1 • City College’s Eloy Oakley Accepts Challenges Ahead • Entrepreneurial Institute At CSU Dominguez Hills

Special Report: Health Care

• Addressing Health Care Needs Of Older Population • Arthritis Foundation, Continued From Pg 1 • Right-To-Die Legislation, Continued From Pg 1

28

Newswatch

• City Council Passes Small Business Incentive Package • Tentative Longshore Contract Agreement Reached • Boeing Opens Career Development Center In L.B. • Customs Service At Airport, Continued From Pg 1 • Railway Lawsuit: Briefs Being Prepared For Judge • Evening With A Genius, Continued From Pg 1 • Formula E – The Quiet Racing Revolution • Supernaw Endorsement, Continued From Pg 1

30 31

In The News

• Sprucing Up North Long Beach • Initiative Targets Residents Who Need Eye Glasses • Rotary Raises Money For Early Literacy Programs • New Employees At Moffatt & Nichol • Port Of Long Beach Adds To Executives To Staff • Jodi Hein New Chief Nursing Officer At St. Mary • Groups Announce New Officers, Boardmembers

Perspective

Realty Views By Terry Ross Small Business Dollars & Sense By Ben Alvarado HealthWise By Iman Shbeeb, M.D. Trade And Transportation By Tom O’Brien Effective Leadership By Mick Ukleja

Art Matters

Presented By The Arts Council For Long Beach

The Nonprofit Page

Presented By The Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership

Free: Long Beach Business Journal Digital Edition, Monday Morning Coffee, NewsFlash Sign up at: www.lbbusinessjournal.com • Follow us on Twitter: @LBBizJourn

March

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BUSINESS & EDUCATION

Long Beach Business Journal 3

City College’s Eloy Oakley Accepts The Challenges Ahead As Institution Reconfigures Its Culture, Curriculum And Purpose ■ By DAVE WEILENGA Staff Writer If there is one place on Long Beach City College’s (LBCC) two metamorphosing campuses that epitomizes all the change making that Eloy Ortiz Oakley has overseen during the last decade, it may be the southwest corner of Clark Avenue and Carson Street.

“That’s the building we are working on right now,” Oakley noted during a recent interview in his brand-new office, itself part of the ongoing 15-year, $616-million modernization program he began managing two years before he became the college’s superintendent and president in 2007. “That’s the Math and Culinary Arts Building.”

Math. Culinary arts. Interesting combination.

“It’s not the combination we began with,” Oakley acknowledged. “But, over time, because of changes we wanted to make across Carson, along with new technology being developed for math instruction, we realized we needed to move math.

“The next question was where to move it. We knew we still needed to build a home for culinary arts. So those started to come together – but it was a concept that wasn’t originally thought about when we developed the master plan.”

There are master plans and masterminds, (Please Continue To Page 5)

Long Beach Community College District Superintendent-President Eloy Ortiz Oakley (seated, center) is pictured with several president’s ambassadors and college executives at the liberal arts campus. Back row from left are students Vanessa Sanchez, Ginelle Arkoh, Richard Chum, Ryan Shepard and Anthony Rasca. Seated from left are: Executive Vice President Lou Anne Bynum; Vice President of Academic Affairs Terri Long; Vice President of Administrative Services Ann-Marie Gabel; and Vice President of Human Services Rose DelGaudio. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

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LBCC’s Eloy Oakley (Continued From Page 3)

but Oakley realizes that real leadership lives in the real world, and he has occasionally re-mastered details that were supposedly etched in stone.

But the transformation of LBCC goes beyond the blueprints of its physical makeover. The biggest changes are coming with the reconfiguration of its culture, curriculum and purpose. Unlike the construction sites, which will be cleaned up five years from now, evolution of its state of mind will be ongoing.

Some people don’t want to think about that. Oakley is almost never not thinking about it.

“It’s my job to look down the road and focus on the future,” he said. “That’s always the challenge of leadership, no matter what industry or sector you’re in.”

Oakley believes LBCC is well suited to meet the challenges that await.

“The beauty of our community college system is that it is designed to change with society and the economy,” he said. “It’s our job to change to meet the needs of the community. We’ve been changing through this recession, but we need to pick up the pace.”

One of the most popular strategies for changing the way LBCC prepares students for a self-sufficient future are collaborations among educational systems, government institutions and business, which are adapting their organizations to better meet the needs of students.

The College Promise initiative offers Long Beach students who prepare for college a free first semester of tuition at LBCC and guaranteed admission to California State University, Long Beach.

Career Pathways has a similar approach, but takes its program a step further to employment. The idea is to parlay cooperation among institutions so that students can exercise some options without losing others.

According to Oakley, LBCC is coordinating efforts among educational institutions in Long Beach and throughout Southern California to create career paths toward sectors of job growth – health care, manufacturing and electrical technology.

“We’re developing pathways toward a job that a student can begin in high school and continue on with in community college, but still have a path to a four-year degree if that’s what they choose. If they choose to go to work between or after one of those certificates, they can always come back and continue their studies.”

The next incarnation of the model is to anticipate new employment opportunities and train students to fill them.

“That’s our focus right now, trying to pinpoint those areas of the economy that are going to see growth, then prepare pathways for students to follow as well as prepare pathways for displaced workers to follow,” Oakley said. “The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are an example. Over time, there is going to be a shift in the skills needed to work [at the ports] so we’re exploring how to deal with those changes so that we not only educate our students but give them the tools they need to succeed.”

Virgin Galactic’s opening of a plant in Douglas Park to build its small satellite launcher, LauncherOne, is the most publicized in a string of modern manufacturing companies to locate there. Other new tenants

BUSINESS & EDUCATION that present new employment opportunities include Rubbercraft (elastomeric parts for aviation and other uses), Shimadzu (flight control systems, air management systems and cockpit display systems), Mercedes Benz (vehicle preparation and performance center), United Pacific (classic automobile products) and Turbo Air (refrigeration equipment).

“We’re doing our best to identify the kinds of skills these companies will need their workers to have, then to train a workforce that has those skills,” Oakley said. “In many cases we won’t be training students for specific jobs but for skills they will need in advanced manufacturing.”

The influx of these manufacturers is a promising update to Long Beach’s employment backstory, which had been dominated by the slow death of Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster production.

“Look, every community, every region has its ups and downs,” Oakley said.

“Those that survive and thrive are those that continue to invest in education. Ultimately, employers are looking for a great workforce and a friendly business environment. We’re focused on providing the workforce and on helping small businesses flourish in our region.”

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, who has encouraged the city’s collaboration with LBCC and other local educational institutions, recently suggested that technology is changing the world so fast that schools are challenged to prepare students for jobs that don’t exist yet.

“That is a challenge,” Oakley agreed.

“But there will always be work for people who are multifaceted, who can think on

their feet, who have the ability to adjust and adapt to specific work environments.

“Face it, everybody these days needs some sort of technological literacy.

Everybody needs a firm foundation in communications, reading and writing skills and the ability to work in teams. We want to ensure that those things are part of our educational experience.”

Furthermore, Oakley wants to make sure that LBCC’s educational experience is the proper-sized part of a student’s life. During his recent State of Long Beach City College speech, Oakley pointed out that completing what has traditionally been considered a two-year degree is taking most LBCC students much, much longer – 42 percent of them take six years, 27 percent do it in four years but only 5 percent zip through in two years.

There are many reasons for that, said Oakley, who began by citing the increased attention paid to the progress rate because a degree, certificate or transfer is more important to getting a good job.

“Students don’t want to take longer,” Oakley said. “But our colleges are still designed to serve students who come to us after graduating from high school, attend full time and usually during the day. Those aren’t our students, anymore.

“Our students work, they raise families, they come with different experiences and different languages. So we’ve got to adjust the way we deliver our education.”

Because Oakley had brought up these sobering statistics after exulting in a parade of positives – 53 newly hired faculty members, two new buildings with state-of-the-

Long Beach Business Journal 5 art classrooms, the highest number of courses in five years, smaller waiting lists, a progressive student placement system and collaborative teamwork among local education systems and city government – some people reacted as though he had turned a pat on the back into a kick in the pants.

“The point of my speech was to get people to focus on the fact that, although we consider LBCC among the top community colleges in the nation, we still have a long way to go in terms of getting students to complete a certificate or transfer in a timely way,” Oakley said. “Over the next couple months we’re going to present information to the board of trustees that will highlight how we’re going to tackle this problem.”

That’s going to mean more change, and that means it may not be easy.

“We’re like any other large institution that’s been around for a long time – we have cultures and ways that we do things, and changing culture is a huge challenge,” Oakley said. “But the future is change. We try to hire the best and brightest people to help us. We participate in organizations that are charged with looking at the future. We pay attention to the data. We try to be as informed as possible.”

Oakley paused.

“You can look at the data all day long,” he continued, “but at some point you have to make a decision.”

That’s the bottom line, Oakley seemed to be saying – until he seemed to be saying that it isn’t, not always.

“You have to have the confidence that, if a decision doesn’t pan out, then you’re going to adjust.” ■

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Entrepreneurial Institute At Cal State Dominguez Hills Provides Free Resources To Start-Ups, Rallies Students To Entrepreneurship ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer When Mike Grimshaw began working with California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) as a business advisory boardmember about six years ago, he recognized a “strong entrepreneurial DNA” among the university students, faculty and staff, as well as within the local community.

As he continued to work with the school, eventually becoming a professor teaching courses in business and related subjects, he realized there was a need for a universitybased business resource center and incubator. Last fall, the Entrepreneurial Institute @ CSUDH was launched, with Grimshaw as its executive director. Since then, it has assisted more than a dozen businesses and start-ups.

Grimshaw was no stranger to the concept of business incubation – the process of fostering and supporting start-ups by providing tools and resources – before opening the Entrepreneurial Institute @ CSUDH. “I started 20 different companies over a period of about 30 years,” he told the Business Journal. Over the years he has worked for tech companies including IBM, Cisco, Nortel and Unisys in senior sales and management. In 2000, he moved to Southern California, where he has spent the past 15 years involved in group angel investing – pooling funds and resources to back start-ups and entrepreneurs.

In 2011, Grimshaw started two business incubators through the San Pedro-based Marymount California University – one located on campus, and one off campus in Torrance. The incubators grew out of a course he was teaching, and his students ran the programs with his assistance. Both have become successful, although the offcampus incubator in Torrance, now known as the South Bay Entrepreneurial Center, has emerged as a standout example of a regional business incubator, servicing 18 regional cities as an all-volunteer nonprofit

Mike Grimshaw is the executive director of the Entrepreneurial Institute @ CSUDH. The institute provides mentoring, free classes and other resources to local entrepreneurs. (Photograph provided by California State University, Dominguez Hills)

organization. “We have probably created several hundred jobs,” Grimshaw said.

It was perhaps this success that led CSUDH administration to ask Grimshaw about a year ago to assist in revitalizing the university’s somewhat dormant entrepreneurial program. “The dean asked me to see if I could put some energy into it,” Grimshaw recalled.

CSUDH’s Entrepreneurial Institute was launched in the fall semester of 2014 in one of Grimshaw’s business courses. “I built a small incubator using one of my classes as the mentors, and we ran it in our class two times a week,” Grimshaw said.

He coached and trained his students in how to mentor businesses, and before long, 10 local businesses sought their help. The free incubator program ran throughout the semester. “The feedback was: ‘When are we doing it again?’” he said.

Grimshaw heeded the request, starting another incubator through the institute in

one of his current spring semester courses.

So far, “it has taken off like gangbusters,” he said. “I have got people coming from the community who have businesses, I have people coming from the university staff and from every college within the university. It is very cool.”

In addition to the classroom-based incubator program, the institute holds free events, some in conjunction with other institutions. “Right now my focus is on the events coming up over the next couple of months that are community based,” Grimshaw said. The first is an open workshop on March 6, held in cooperation with the City of Carson and Small Business Development Center. “We are going to be covering the most critical element in your business, and that is your customer,” Grimshaw said. A couple of weeks later, on March 20, the institute is hosting a workshop on leadership and management, which “is one of the areas people suffer with in business,” he said. A workshop on business finances is scheduled for April 3.

The institute also runs a competition called Toro Tank, modeled on the hit reality television series Shark Tank in which entrepreneurs pitch successful investors about their business models, with the winner getting financial backing. Last semester, Toro Tank drew seven teams of competitors who pitched a panel of judges made up of business professionals, entrepreneurs, investors and even a politician.

An audience of several hundred people also participated in voting online.

The winning prize included $500 and $3,500 worth of business resources in the form of a year-long consulting and mentorship relationship with the institute. Eduardo Mora, chief operating officer of Signal Hill-based South Bay Cabinets and a CSUDH student, took the prize with his team of two fellow classmates. At the time, his company, owned by his father,

was running on outdated technology with little marketing resources apart from word-of-mouth referrals. “We do kitchen cabinets, entertainment centers, dressers, closets, desks – you name it. It is custom based for anybody who wants something to their liking,” he said. He joined the competition in the hopes of winning and learning how to address the business’s modernization and marketing issues.

“I had to pitch a business plan to real investors and entrepreneurs. Out of seven competitors, we were the ones who were chosen for executing the business plan accurately, working as a team and pretty much representing ourselves in the best professional way,” Mora said. “I learned so much. To begin with, presentation is key. I learned that when pitching a business plan to entrepreneurs and investors, you have to know what you’re talking about for sure – you have to know it like the back of your hand,” he explained. “Secondly, you have to have that passion for the business that you’re pitching ideas about. You need to want it. You need to have that drive.”

Connecting with the institute following the competition has “been an eye opener,” Mora, who is now a graduate of CSUDH, said. The institute assigned him a mentor, whom he consults with once or twice a month. “As soon as I became involved, they started offering me so many options.

They opened so many doors,” he reflected. “Now they are not only pointing me in the right direction, but they are guiding me along and making sure I am making the correct decisions,” he said, explaining that eventually he is going to take over South Bay Cabinets from his father. One of the projects he is working on is developing a website for the company.

As the Entrepreneurial Institute grows, Grimshaw hopes it will continue to help businesses become stronger and inspire even more students to become entrepreneurs. ■

Through the Toro Tank competition held by California State University, Dominguez Hill’s Entrepreneurial Institute, South Bay Kitchen Cabinets Chief Operating Officer Eduardo Mora not only earned cash for his family business, but also a year’s worth of mentorship through the institute. Pictured at South Bay Kitchen Cabinets in Signal Hill, from left, are: Robert Gomez, Mora’s partner in the Toro Tank competition; Jose Mora, Eduardo’s father and owner of South Bay Kitchen Cabinets; and Eduardo Mora. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

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s hip

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Chancellor White (Continued From Page 1)

Serving California Amid Funding Challenges When asked whether the $119.5 million allotted for the CSU system in Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget would be enough to meet CSU’s needs, White was quick to correct the phrasing of the question. “It’s actually not CSU’s needs that drive us here. It is really about California’s needs,” he said.

His emphasis on the state’s needs was evident in a word cloud illustration – a graphic depicting a cluster of words he most commonly uses in public speaking engagements – hanging above his desk, in which his two most-used phrases were revealed as “students” and “State of California.”

“When we look at the future of California, we see this enormous, looming deficit in [the number of] residents of California who have a college degree,” White said.

“There are different think tanks that have focused on this, and the number that gets used all the time is [California will be] about one million degrees short 10 years from now, in 2025.”

He continued, “California has a water drought, there is no doubt. But it also has a degree drought. And that is what’s focusing us on how we build our budget requests and how we go about our business.” White’s response as to whether or not Brown’s proposed state contribution to CSU’s budget would be sufficient was, in short, no.

For the past few years, California State University has grown the number of admissions by 5 percent annually, White said.

Without the additional $97 million the university is requesting on top of what’s being proposed by Brown, CSU would have to cut growth down to 1 percent per year. “If we are unsuccessful there, we are going to turn away 20,000 to 30,000 fully qualified students. And that is not in California’s shortterm, medium-term or long-term interests.

That’s the position I’m taking,” he said.

There are currently just under 450,000 students enrolled at California State University’s 23 schools, 96 percent of whom are Californians. Every incoming CSU class is made up of almost-even numbers of high school graduates and city college transfers. Accepted students are among the top one-third of California’s best-performing high school and city college students, and certain requirements must also be met in terms of coursework and standardized tests. Due to a 1996 general election ballot measure denying public institutions the

Timothy P. White, Chancellor of the California State University (CSU) system, visits a class at CSU Long Beach. White told the Business Journal that students are his top priority. (Photograph provided by CSU)

ability to discriminate based on race, gender or ethnicity, affirmative action is not a factor in CSU admissions, White noted.

Impacted universities, such as CSU Long Beach, have stricter entry requirements. “It is in our DNA to admit everyone who is qualified. But if there isn’t physical room because of budgetary issues, we have to make the tough decision to say, ‘Okay, we are going to admit this many people and take care of them as best we can,’” White said.

“If we admit everyone who is interested and qualified, it is going to dilute our ability to deliver education . . . That isn’t in anybody’s best interest,” he said. The thought of turning away qualified students is something White personally agonizes over.

“The number of applications for CSU has gone up for the sixth year in a row, and I think it’s about 30,000 more applications for this upcoming fall than we had last fall,” White said. In order to accommodate growing demand and address the degree drought, “we are trying to make the case that we have to build capacity, which means more faculty,” he noted. More academic advisors are also needed in order to build capacity, as is more technology for use in the learning environment, he said.

A glaring budgetary issue is nearly $2 billion – “that’s billion with a ‘b’,” White emphasized – in deferred maintenance across CSU’s 23-campus system. “That amount is growing at about $100 million per year,” he said. The necessary maintenance is akin to “the stuff that any old home needs maintenance on,” rather than beautification, he noted.

In order to build capacity and meet current needs, more funding is necessary. But the state has been steadily decreasing its contribution to the CSU’s budget over the past few decades. Currently, about half of the CSU’s funds come from the state government, and the rest from students, White

“We interact with business leaders as to where they see trends of need in their businesses, and advice they might have for us on how we can do a better job in delivering graduates that meet their needs.” said. “Now, if you go back in time to the last 15 or 20 years and look at what percentage of the operations [funding] of the California State University came from the State of California, it used to be up in the 70s and 80s. When I was a student it was like 90 something [percent]. So, over time, California has, as a political choice, decided to spend less and less of the overall revenues necessary to run the university.”

The public’s perception is often that universities are increasing costs and putting more of the burden on students with rising tuition, White noted. “When we read in the newspapers that the cost of education has gone up, we really have to stop and parse that because it is the cost to the student and their families, but not the overall cost of the enterprise. In fact for us, the cost per degree . . . has gone down,” he said. The CSU spends about $8,000 less per degree

awarded than it did 10 years ago,” he noted.

The cost of a CSU education has increased for students due to the decreased funding received from the state.

“We have lowered the overall dollars-perdegree ratio, but the cost to students and their families during the last recession really skyrocketed – it doubled here [in the CSU system] and doubled in the University of California,” White said. Since the recession ended, the CSU system has managed not to raise student tuition, he emphasized.

But, if the state decreases its contribution to the university system, tuition would likely have to be raised in lieu of reducing quality or admitting fewer students, he said.

“That’s why we continue to make the argument that we’re not trying to feather our nests and buy more plants that die,” he said, gesturing to a potted plant in his office that was actively losing leaves during the course of the interview. “Rather, we’re trying to serve California’s future.”

Statistics from California State University illustrate that the health of California’s economy is in part tied to the vitality of the CSU system. Ten percent of all employees in California hold a degree from a CSU campus, as does 5 percent of the U.S. workforce. The CSU supports about 150,000 jobs statewide and its activities generate about $17 billion in economy activity. “We are very much a big wheelhouse for California’s economy,” White said.

Although the state government has steadily decreased the amount of funding it provides to the CSU over the years, evidence suggests the university system is a sound investment – the CSU estimates that, for every $1 spent on the CSU by the state, there is a $5.43 return on investment.

Having more college-educated Californians translates both to better employment rates and a cost savings for the state, White argued. “There is very clear evidence that people with college degrees are, at any given rate of unemployment, about half the average number,” he said. “There is also very strong evidence that they use fewer social services . . . and they participate much less in the criminal justice system.” College-degreed individuals also typically earn more than those without degrees, meaning they contribute more to the tax base, he added.

Educating For The Future One of the university’s greatest areas of impact is in education – about 60 to 65 percent of California’s public and private school teachers have CSU degrees, White said. For this reason, the university system recently (Please Continue To Top Of Next Page)

CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White: Leading The University System That Launched Him ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer Timothy P. White, chancellor of California State University (CSU), oversees 23 campuses, about 45,000 faculty and staff and close to 450,000 students. As a former CSU student himself – he attended both CSU Fresno and CSU East Bay – White takes pride in his devotion to those students and to the university system.

White’s story is like that of many Californians. Argentinian by birth, he moved to California with his working class family when he was nine years old. “The goal in my family was just to get me through high school – and that was a work in progress, let me just put it that way,” he said in an interview at his office in Downtown Long Beach.

“The only reason I actually went to college was because friends were going,” he recalled.

With little knowledge of how the public higher education system in California functioned, White’s father directed him to enroll in the cheapest option among Diablo Valley Community College, CSU Fresno and University of California (UC), Berkeley, all of which he had been accepted to. “Back in those days, in rough numbers, community college was five bucks a semester, Fresno was $50 and Berkeley was $500. And my dad goes, ‘the $5 one.’ We had no notion that there were distinctions between them,” he said.

From Diablo Valley, White went on to study in the CSU system and then to earn his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. “Every time I went [to a new school], they’d open my eyes that there was this whole other world out there that I had no knowledge about,” he reflected. “The facts are different, but the journey is the same for hundreds of thousands of CSU students. And that’s why it’s such an honor for me to be in this role, to give back to this system that lifted and launched me.”

More than one-third of CSU’s student body are first-generation college students, and more than half of CSU students pay no tuition at all due to a combination of federal and state financial aid, CSU grants and private scholarships. “One of our biggest communication opportunities is to make sure families know, no matter where they are on the socioeconomic spectrum, that if the kid has the brains and is willing to do the work, CSU is the place that will take them,” White said.

White took the reins of the state university system as its seventh chancellor in 2012, leaving his previous post as chancellor of the University of California, Riverside, a position he had held for four years. Prior to that, he served as president of the University of Idaho from 2004 to 2008.

From 1996 to 2004 he held various positions at Oregon State University, including dean, provost, executive vice president and interim president. ■

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March 3-16, 2015 launched a new initiative called Preparing a New Generation of Educators for California, which is aimed at readying educators to teach Common Core State Standards from kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12).

The initiative, which is funded with a $3 million grant from the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, creates programs at eight CSU schools including CSU Long Beach, Channel Islands, Fullerton, Fresno, Northridge and Stanislaus, as well as Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the elementary school based credential program, CalStateTEACHER. Each of these is developing their own pilot programs for educating K-12 teachers in Common Core instruction. Program outcome data will be shared within the CSU system.

Another new eight-campus initiative, funded by a $4.6 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, creates programs to foster and retain CSU students studying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. “Those are the careers the knowledge-based economy will be built on,” White said, emphasizing that these fields are likely to account for the bulk of future U.S. economic growth.

Campuses participating in the STEM initiative include CSU Channel Islands, Dominguez Hills, East Bay, Fresno, Fullerton, Humboldt, Los Angeles and Cal Poly Pomona. The initiative supports summer bridge programs for new CSU students, as well as seminars and redesigned classes geared toward generating interest in STEM fields.

One of the key ways CSU leadership iden-

Long Beach Business Journal 9 tifies areas of focus for new initiatives and programs is with the assistance of business advisory councils. “Every campus has innumerable advisory councils,” White said. “I have several system-wide advisory groups in the big sectors of California’s economy: agriculture, hospitality and tourism, [the] entertainment industry . . . health care, energy [and] transportation,” he added.

“We interact with business leaders as to where they see trends of need in their businesses, and advice they might have for us on how we can do a better job in delivering graduates that meet their needs,” White explained. He noted that, while CSU seeks the advice of business leaders, the goal is not to become a training ground for specific jobs.

“Training is important, but education is beyond training,” he said, listing off skills developed in higher education that are relevant to the workplace, including group work, communication and familiarity with technology. “I think the use of iPads and tablets in the learning experience is very much the way of the future,” he noted.

As the California State University system moves forward while contending with funding challenges and rising demand, White remains focused on student success and meeting the needs of Californians. “My personal goal is, in a one-story elevator speech: more students to degree – quality degree – sooner. The way I am getting there is by telling our story in business sectors and to elected officials, and so forth,” he said.

“I am pathologically focused on student success,” White said, describing his short list of priorities as: “Students first, students last, students everything.” ■

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SPECIAL REPORT – HEALTH CARE

March 3-16, 2015

Addressing The Health Care Needs Of An Increasingly Older Population ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer Beginning with the baby boomer generation, the senior and elderly population of the United States is expected to grow exponentially over the next few decades. A January report from The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit providing policy analysis and journalism programs on U.S. health issues, stated that the population of people aged 65 and older is expected to double by 2050. In the same time period, the number of Americans aged 80 and older is expected to nearly triple, and the number of those aged 90 and older to quadruple.

The report, entitled “The Rising Cost Of Living Longer,” notes that the U.S. government expects the aging population to account for an increasingly bigger chunk of health care spending as it grows, due to the prevalence of chronic diseases in people aged 60 and older. “The statistics say that those people probably have at least three chronic diseases and take about five medications,” Dr. Susan Melvin, chief medical officer of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, told the Business Journal.

In interviews with the Business Journal, several local health care professionals identified heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis and dementia as the most commonly experienced chronic diseases among the older population. According to Melvin, chronic health conditions are often sparked or exacerbated by being overweight. “We have seen an increase in obesity over the last year. That increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis,” she said.

Weight is not the only risk factor in chronic disease, however. Other lifestyle habits are also at play, as are genetics.

Arthritis, for example, is also quite common in people who are fit. “It is also very common in people who have been active, with the overuse and wear and tear on the joints,” Melvin said. Dr. Chester Choi, academic chief of medicine at Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center, noted that, to lessen the impacts of arthritis, it is important not to avoid activity. “Physical therapy may be of significant help to them,” he said.

Diet and exercise are perhaps the simplest ways to prevent and lessen the impacts of these diseases. “The best thing people can do is remain active with exercise,” Melvin said. She recommended thirty minutes of exercise five times per week. “Not only does that help the brain in regards to dementia, but we also know it really helps blood pressure, heart disease, stroke prevention and . . . arthritis.” Maintaining a healthy diet and getting adequate sleep also helps in preventing chronic diseases, she said.

While these practices help common chronic diseases, they can only do so much to put off dementia and Alzheimer’s, conditions which have no cure and limited treatment options. Researchers have yet to discover what even causes the diseases. As people age, the incidences of dementia and Alzheimer’s increase, according to Melvin.

“For example, in people who are older than 65, [the likelihood of having dementia] is about 10 percent. For people between the

Rita Carroll, a Long Beach resident, prepares food with the assistance of her home care worker, Machelle Thompson, who is president and geriatric care manager for Keen Home Care. Thompson said most elderly people eventually need some form of home care. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Dr. Carlos Martinez of Eye Physicians of Long Beach performs an examination on patient Frank Braunlich, Jr. Various conditions that impact eyesight are common among the older population, so beginning at age 55 it is important to visit an eye care professional once a year, Martinez said. He is president of the Los Angeles County Medical Association’s Long Beach District. (Photographs by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

in antioxidants, you can slow down the rate of visual loss by about 19 percent,” he said.

The condition is the leading cause of permanent vision loss in the elderly, he noted.

A new invention holds some promise for those afflicted with macular degeneration.

“It is a new procedure called an implantable miniature telescope,” which is placed inside of the eye, Martinez said.

“We can take people with basically nonfunctional vision and reestablish functionality where they can take care of themselves, they can see the people they love, they can read, all that kind of stuff. It’s pretty amazing.”

Glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy are also ranked among some of the more serious eye conditions common in the elderly.

“Glaucoma is a disease that affects the optic nerve. The optic nerve is the part of the eye that sends all the images from the eye to the brain,” Martinez said. Glaucoma occurs when pressure is put on the optic nerve – often due to high blood pressure – which causes its function to falter.

“Diabetic retinopathy is a consequence of systemic diabetes. Basically what happens [with] diabetes is a little bit like running dirty water through pipes,” Martinez said. “It does damage to the endothelium, the lining of the blood vessels, and then those blood vessels start to either leak or get clogged and they don’t deliver blood to some areas of the eye. So the retina suffers and starts to decay as a consequence of that.”

Cataracts are the most common eye ailment among older people. In fact, the National Eye Institute estimates that more than half of Americans either have a cataract or have undergone cataract surgery by age 80. Cataracts cause the eye’s lens to cloud, causing blurry and obscured vision.

The condition is treatable with a 10-minute laser procedure, Martinez said.

Martinez recommended that people aged 55 and older visit an eye care professional once a year.

Health Care Industry Impacts ages of 70 to 79, [it is] about 15 percent. In ages 80 to 89 it jumps up to 34 percent, and over the age of 90 about 47 percent of the population will have dementia.”

With the aging population growing rapidly, dementia and Alzheimer’s are expected to become more prevalent. “The most recent statistics say there are about 5.5 million [people] with dementia this year and by the end of 2050 they expect another 13 million people,” Melvin said. “If you look at the largest growing population in this country, it is people over the age of 90.

I really do feel that Alzheimer’s is probably the greatest challenge that we are going to face in geriatric care.”

More funding is needed to identify what causes the ailments and to learn how to treat them, Terri Furlow, administrator for the Health Care Center at Leisure World, which is affiliated with Los Alamitos Medical Center, told the Business Journal. Furlow is the former executive director of the John Douglas French Center For Alzheimer’s Disease, based in Los Alamitos. “Alzheimer’s is really going to be an issue if we don’t garner enough funds to figure out what causes it . . . It’s hard to come up with a cure when you don’t know what the cause is,” Furlow said. “Dementia

is one of those things that is going to become a huge financial and social burden if we don’t so something about it,” she noted.

Vision Issues Apart from chronic diseases, some of the most common health problems among seniors and the elderly affect eyesight, according to Dr. Carlos Martinez of Long Beach-based Eye Physicians of Long Beach. Martinez is also the president of the Los Angeles County Medical Association’s Long Beach District.

“The leading cause of blindness in that [older] population is macular degeneration, followed by glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and dry eyes. Those are probably the five most common diseases in the elderly,” Martinez said. Of these, macular degeneration is the most threatening to sight in that once the condition appears, it isn’t reversible – it can only be slowed.

“Macular degeneration is a multi-factorial disease, which means there are genetic influences to it. There are environmental influences like diet and smoking. It causes a progressive loss of central vision,” Martinez explained. “Up until recently, there were really no options in the treatment of macular degeneration. Now we know that if you use vitamins and you have a diet rich

As people age and need to seek health care services more frequently, a key aspect in managing health is finding a primary care physician, Dr. Romilla Batra, medical director of Long Beach-based Senior Care Action Network Health Plan, told the Business Journal. But, as the aging population in the U.S. grows, finding a primary care physician may not be so easy. A 2013 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated a shortage of 20,400 primary care physicians by 2020.

Batra suggested that team-based care – in which a variety of health care professionals, such as specialists, in-home care workers and social workers – may be one way to ensure elderly patients are properly taken care of, especially considering their likelihood to have multiple chronic illnesses. Melvin noted that allowing nurse practitioners to perform more primary care duties is also a solution to the primary care shortage.

Machelle Thompson, president and geriatric care manager of Keen Home Care in Long Beach, has observed that, even among available primary care physicians, some aren’t as well versed in geriatric care as is needed. Thompson’s company cares (Please Continue To Top Of Page 12)

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The Older Population (Continued From Page 10)

for seniors with varying degrees of needs within their own homes. “One of the biggest problems I see occurring with some of my senior clients is that they are aligned with a physician who is not knowledgeable about their particular issues,” she said.

“They either don’t get the care that they need, or there is ageism going on, like ‘well, because you are elderly we expect these things to happen.’ So aligning with a good physician is really important.”

As the elderly population expands and more physicians take them on as patients, California has a regulation in place to ensure doctors are better informed about caring for them. Eliana Campbell, continuing medical education coordinator at St. Mary

March 3-16, 2015

SPECIAL REPORT – HEALTH CARE Medical Center, said a state law requires physicians whose patient base consists of at least 25 percent people over the age of 65, to complete at least 20 percent of their mandatory continued medical education (CME) in geriatric medicine. St. Mary’s CME program offers about four free classes in geriatric medicine per year, she said.

Another issue the health care industry is facing in accommodating growing demand from geriatric patients is physical space, according to Terri Newton, chief nursing officer at Lakewood Regional Medical Center. “Hospitals are inundated with patients that they don’t have room for,” she said. To address this issue, some health care organizations, such as MemorialCare Health System, are expanding their presence into neighborhood communities with

ambulatory care centers. MemorialCare plans to add six ambulatory care centers in Los Angeles and Orange counties this year, CEO Barry Arbuckle told the Business Journal in a recent interview.

Thompson expects the demand for home care to increase as the baby boomer populations begins entering old age. About 8,000 people are turning 65 years old every day in the U.S., she noted. “I have not seen an extraordinary increase recently; however, I anticipate that there is going to be a significant increase in coming years,” she said. “I’d say about 90 to 95 percent of people will need some type of home care.”

While home care is often associated with end-of-life care, there are other options for people who simply need some assistance getting through their days, Thompson said.

“I think anyone who is 60 or over should

be evaluating and educating themselves about what is available for care,” she said.

Limited health plan coverage for longterm home care coupled with regulatory changes have hurt home care’s affordability, she noted. Increases in the minimum wage and a change in legislation requiring domestic workers to be paid for time spent asleep while on the job (as they often work 12 to 24 hour shifts) have led to higher costs for home care companies, which have been passed on to their clients.

“Everybody is concerned about the aging population. Do we have enough resources?” Batra said. “I think it’s not only [addressing] resources, but also the right resources. Do we have enough teams of people, enough community resources and enough people who can help navigate the health care system?” she asked. “There has to be a good team-based approach and collaboration so we can provide that care.” ■

Arthritis Foundation (Continued From Page 1)

The evidence was everywhere in the foundation’s recent annual review, conducted by Charity Navigator, probably the country’s most respected assessor of notfor-profit groups. The result was a four-star rating, the highest possible, although the very same ranking the ANRF has received for the last seven years in a row. It’s a consistency of excellence that’s been accomplished by only two percent of all charitable outfits in the United States.

The star-spangled report cards are good for fundraising, assuring donors that ANRF adheres to what Charity Navigator calls “good governance and other best practices that minimize the chance of unethical activities . . .” Especially comforting are the perfect 100 score ANRF received for transparency and accountability and its program expense score of 91.8 – the percentage of each dollar spent on the reason ANRF exists.

That’s arthritis research, of course, and it has been refined and improved, too, although the ANRF has clung to at least one central orientation.

“Basically, since 1970 we have been giving arthritis research grants to young scientists,” said Helene Belisle, the executive director of the Arthritis National Research Foundation since 1996.

Yes, Belisle said “young scientists.” But her definition doesn’t only refer to the date of their birth; it’s even more about their position within the hierarchy of research science.

“I said ‘young,’ meaning M.D. or Ph.D. scientists who have a great idea, are working in a great laboratory but don’t have the gap funding – the venture capital, if you will – to get to the next level, to take their idea and pursue it,” Belisle explained.

Derek Belisle, her son, who’s been AMRF’s marketing director since 2009, put it in another context.

“These young scientists, they’re like young businessmen,” he said. “If they don’t get that seed funding, they can’t get their lab started, they can’t get out from underneath the scientists they’re working for, they can’t work on their own projects and their own ideas.”

Young scientists with good enough ideas and projects can receive one-year grants (Please Continue To Top Of Next Page)

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March 3-16, 2015 from the Arthritis National Research Foundation for as much as $100,000.

“With the money the foundation provides we’re able to give young scientists that freedom – essentially to go out and push their ideas in the field,” Derek Belisle continued.

“Otherwise, they’d always be stuck working on someone else’s project.”

“That’s the niche we’ve always had,” Helene Belisle said. “The young scientist.”

Not quite always. When the Arthritis National Research Foundation was created in 1952, it was just a cluster of Long Beach doctors and chiropractors who incorporated in order to fund research into arthritis for their own benefit.

A reorganization in 1970 gave the ANRF more or less its present form as a public foundation with a board of directors, which, by the way, included some of Long Beach’s most prominent movers and shakers of the day: then-State Sen. George Deukmejian, automobile dealer Jim Willingham and the late attorney Fred Riedman.

The group’s mission tightened its focus, too – maybe a little too tightly – not only zeroing in on young scientists, but ignoring the “national” in its name and awarding research grants only to young scientists based in California.

ANRF grants no longer take geography into account, but youth is still being served, although Helene Belisle insisted it is an orientation that best serves the cause of arthritis research.

“Young scientists see things with fresh eyes,” she said, “and may be more likely to make a significant discovery.”

But a reduction in the total pool of research funding has put younger scientists in competition with their established elders, and the results were quantified just last month by a story in the Wall Street Journal titled, “The Disappearing Young Scientists.” The newspaper cited a 2013 Brookings Institution study that revealed that scientists under age 36 received only 3 percent of grants awarded in 2010, a startling decline from 1983, when 18 percent of grant recipients were under 36.

The original and enduring example of the ANRF model is Dr. Gale “Morrie” Granger, who recently retired as professor of immunology at UC Irvine after 40 years of significant research – most of which is traceable to the ANRF grant he received at the outset of his career.

“I was a young faculty member . . . and my research findings did not agree with the current thinking,” Granger said. “After ANRF directors visited my lab and reviewed the results, they decided to support our then-controversial studies.”

With that support, Granger formed a team that soon discovered tissue-destroying molecules – now known as TNFs, or tumor necrosis factors – that were sometimes released by white blood cells.

“The TNF molecule is very much involved in the inflammatory process of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, all the autoimmune forms of arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis,” Helen Belisle said.

The discovery of the molecule ignited the development of drugs that could block it, drugs now known as anti-TNFs or biologics, such as Enbrel®, Humira® and Remicade®. Without Granger’s ANRFsupported research, none of these therapies would exist.

SPECIAL REPORT – HEALTH CARE

Long Beach Business Journal 13

Arthritis National Research Foundation Executive Director Helene Belisle and Marketing Director Derek Belisle stand by Dr. Gale “Morrie” Granger, the original “young scientist” who parlayed a research grant from the foundation into discoveries that revolutionized the treatment of arthritis and other autoimmune conditions. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Granger has remained centrally involved in the Arthritis National Research Foundation, helping to develop its Scientific Advisory Board, which reviews the grant applications of today’s young scientists.

“They are where I was 40 years ago,” Granger said. “They are the ones with the best chance of making the next breakthrough discovery.”

Belisle’s arrival at ANRF was not as immediately dramatic. She left a position at the Boys & Girls Club, moved into ANRF headquarters – then, as now, a single room that its three full-time staffers share with an attorney on the eighth floor of the Molina Center (formerly ARCO towers) in Downtown Long Beach – and stayed. But a look at the progress of the organization over those19 years is impressive.

“When I started in 1996 we were giving one or two grants a year of between $50,000 and $75,000 each,” Belisle recounted. “Last year we gave 12 grants of up to $100,000 each for a total of almost $1.2 million.”

Over the past 10 years, ANRF has issued grants of nearly $9 million and in the past four years it has dispersed approximately $1 million a year.

“As we have grown, the organization has consciously tried to grow our endowment and we have been the beneficiary of several large bequests,” Belisle said. “The board has been able to direct more funds to research, increasing our impact.”

For example, ANRF-funded scientists at UCLA are working with stem cells, looking at using stem cells from fat tissues to regrow cartilage.

“It’s going so well that they’ve already put a time frame on it,” Belisle reported.

“In five years the need for joint replacement surgery will be obsolete.”

ANRF provided this recap of ongoing research by some of the other young scientists they are funding: • At Yale, a researcher identified two organisms in the human digestive tract that

may trigger the inappropriate immune response at the root of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

• At Tufts University Medical School, a scientist developed a harmless fluorescent probe that may make it easier to diagnose and track osteoarthritis. The fluorescent molecule detects activity that leads to cartilage loss in joints.

• At the Mayo Clinic, a scientist developed a test that will help doctors provide rheumatoid arthritis patients with treatments that are more individual and precise, thus avoiding wasting the time and risking the side effects of a medication trial-and-error approach.

The test measures markers in the blood that rule out a certain medication, determining in advance that it will not be effective.

• At St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, an ANRF grant recipient discovered that a protein already widely known for suppressing the formation of tumors also helps prevent autoimmune diseases by keeping the immune system in check.

Along the way, a grant from ANRF has become a symbol of achievement that other, much larger funding agencies take into account when a former ANRF grantee applies for much bigger grants.

All of this chronicles Belisle’s impact on the Arthritis National Research Foundation, but she said her happiness derives from the impact they have on the research of young scientists – and in turn the impact of that research on people with arthritis.

“My heart is here because my little cousin, who is eight years younger than I am, lost her childhood when she was struck down with juvenile arthritis at the age of seven,” Belisle said. “I watched a little child who had climbed trees like a monkey be bedridden. Most people don’t know children can get arthritis.”

Turns out that’s only the beginning of what most people don’t know about arthritis, which is an umbrella term covering approximately 100 joint disorders with a diverse range of symptoms and

consequences. Of course, “most people” is everybody, including the most modern of medical experts. That’s why scientific research continues for treatments that save lives, reduce symptoms and ultimately bring cures. ■

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SPECIAL REPORT – HEALTH CARE

Right-To-Die Legislation (Continued From Page 1)

but also because that denial made her last days, as Freeman put it, horrendous.

Almost overnight, Elizabeth became violent and not herself, leading Freeman no choice but to bring her back to the hospital. “She broke out of there a couple of times and ran barefoot down the sidewalk in her pajamas, and the police came. It was just the most undignified, horrible situation,” she recalled.

Freeman might not have to wait long to see right-to-die legislation passed in her home state. In January, state Senators Lois Wolk and Bill Monning introduced a bill dubbed the End of Life Option Act to the California Senate to address situations like Elizabeth’s. The bill closely mirrors that of Oregon’s legislation, with some additional safeguards against abuse, according to Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman, a coauthor of the legislation.

If passed, the End of Life Option Act would allow terminally ill adult Californians with only six months left to live to procure end-of-life medication from an attending physician. In order to obtain the medication, the patient must submit two oral requests at a minimum of 15 days apart, in addition to a witnessed written request to his or her attending physician.

These guidelines go beyond Oregon’s law, which requires only a written request. To obtain the medication, a patient would also have to be deemed competent, meaning able to make informed decisions, by the attending physician. Only the patient would be allowed to administer the medication.

There are currently five states where terminally ill patients are legally able to obtain end-of-life medication, including Oregon, Washington and Vermont, which passed legislation to achieve that end. In

Anita Freeman, left, and her sister, Elizabeth Martin, were best friends. Freeman took care of Martin as she was dying from cancer and, due to California law, was unable to grant her wish to die on her own terms. (Photograph provided by Freeman)

New Mexico, a judge’s ruling created legality, and in Montana, a court case ruling allows doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients. The drugs typically administered are lethal doses of the sleeping drugs secobarbital or pentobarbital, which cause the patient to fall asleep and pass away.

As a former hospice worker, mental health care provider and medical social worker, Assemblywoman Eggman is familiar with the wishes and needs of terminally ill patients.

“In my time sitting with a lot of patients and their families as they died, many people had expressed a curiosity about why there weren’t more options for people at end of life,” she told the Business Journal.

“And in my own personal life, I have cared personally at the bedside for five family members as they have died,” she noted.

“I am a firm believer in self-determina-

tion and that people should have as many options as we have available to us in the final days of their lives,” Eggman said.

“These are people who, given other options, would live. They have a terminal illness. They are going to die. So, if that last week the pain is too much or that last week they don’t want to wear diapers, they are deciding when and where they’ll go.”

There have been attempts to pass rightto-die legislation in California in the past.

In 1992, a proposition very similar to the bill currently proposed failed when put before state voters. Attempts to pass laws in 1997 and 2006 also proved unsuccessful.

The Debate Although Freeman pointed out that much opposition originates from religious institutions, there are many secular and medical organizations that argue against legislation like the End of Life Option Act,

Death With Dignity Act Prescription Recipients And Deaths* By Year, Oregon, 1998-2014

Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act (DWDA), enacted in late 1997, allows terminally-ill adult Oregonians to obtain and use prescriptions from their physicians for self-administered, lethal doses of medications. The Oregon Public Health Division is required by the DWDA to collect compliance information and to issue an annual report. As of February 2, 2015, prescriptions for lethal medications were written for 155 people during 2014 under the provision of the DWDA, compared to 121 during 2013. At the time of the report, 105 people had died from ingesting the medications prescribed during 2014 under DWDA. (Source: Oregon Public Health Division)

March 3-16, 2015 which allows what they refer to as physician-assisted suicide. The American Medical Association (AMA), for example, opposes the practice, as do the American College of Physicians/American Society of Internal Medicine, the American College of Pediatricians, the American Nursing Association, and many others. The AMA’s ethics guide states: “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”

Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, chairman of the medical ethics committee of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Medical Center, told the Business Journal, “From the point of view of medical ethics, this is a really important issue, because opening the door up to physician-assisted suicide in a very central and direct way undermines the basic principles of medical ethics that have guided the profession since Hippocratic times,” Kheriaty is also the director of residency training and medical education in the school of psychiatry and human behavior at UCI, and is a psychiatrist.

The Hippocratic Oath, the guiding ethical standards of physicians for more than a millennium, does not mince words on the subject of physician-assisted death. “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect,” the classic version of the text reads. Some would consider the oath out of date, however, in terms of its application to the laws of modern America – it also clearly opposes abortion.

“What this bill [the End of Life Option Act] essentially does is give an enormous amount of power to physicians. It in fact gives them the power to use lethal force, which in Western society is generally reserved for the state alone,” Kheriaty said, referring to capital punishment. “The aim here is to knowingly and willingly do something to take another life. And placing that power in the hands of physicians is a big mistake.”

Of great concern to Kheriaty is that the proposed California bill doesn’t require a psychiatrist to determine the competency of a patient requesting an end-of-life drug.

Rather, it leaves that determination to the attending physician. The same standard applies in Oregon. “Fewer than 6 percent of the individuals reported cases in Oregon were referred for psychiatric consultation before ingesting the poison, so to speak. To me that constitutes gross medical negligence,” he said.

“Even if you are in favor of assisted suicide, don’t you want to make sure that the person’s supposedly autonomous request isn’t being colored by a treatable mood disorder, by something that’s reversible?” he continued. “Not all physicians are equipped to do a really comprehensive mental health evaluation. That’s why psychiatry is its own specialty. That is an immediate abuse I see happening right away once this law is implemented.”

When asked why the End of Life Option Act doesn’t require the evaluation of a psychiatrist, Eggman responded: “It is the same criteria as hospice,” in which a physician determines a patient’s ability to make decisions. “If that physician feels like you need a referral to a social worker or psychiatrist, that can certainly be made as well. We don’t (Please Continue To Top Of Page 15)

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March 3-16, 2015

California Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman, who represents Assembly District 13 in the Stockton area, is a coauthor of Senate Bill 128, the End of Life Option Act, which would grant terminally ill Californians the right to procure life-ending medication.

want to make the bill so complicated that people aren’t able to use it,” she said.

The proposed law protects physicians from “civil or criminal liability or professional disciplinary action for participating in good faith compliance with the act.” According to Kheriaty, this language sets a risky precedent for medical liability. “Assisted suicide becomes the lowest liability option a physician can perform, because in legal language, all the physician has to do is say, ‘I was acting in good faith,’ which is a very low legal standard . . . And then they are protected from any liability. That standard exists nowhere else in medicine,” he said. “Everywhere else in medicine a physician could be

SPECIAL REPORT – HEALTH CARE liable for malpractice for any sort of breach and any sort of action contrary to the standard of care that does harm to the patient.”

Kheriaty is also worried that, if the bill passes, future court challenges to aspects of the law could pave the way for expanded access to physician-assisted death. “Once you introduce the notion of that [physicianassisted death] being a basic human right, then the fences they try to erect around it . . . will be unmasked as arbitrary, because they are,” he argued.

The arguments Kheriaty fears the bill will inspire, he said, go something like this: “If people have a right to assisted suicide, then why should it be restricted to only those who have six months left to live?

What about those who have a year to live?

What about those who have a chronic illness that will eventually kill them, but it will take a long time? Why do you have to be suffering from a terminal illness to make use of this basic human right? Why do you have to be over the age of 18?”

Eggman rejects that argument.

“I am a practicing Catholic,” she said, “and I brought my bishop and some of his folks in here, and they also kind of used the slippery slope argument . . . And my response to them was, ‘you know, I am also an out lesbian and that was the same argument that was used during Prop 8. Right? You’re going to let two adults make a decision to marry each other – but what if they want to marry five people, or a child, or a goat?’” she said.

Kheriaty doesn’t deny that his argument entails a slippery slope. In fact, that’s his point. “I think there is a relentlessly logical slippery slope that will take us in the direc-

tion we see happening in Belgium and the Netherlands, where prisoners suffering anguish because they are in prison are being euthanized,” he said. Last September, a Belgian court granted convicted murderer and rapist Frank Van Den Bleeken, who had been in prison for almost 30 years, the right to euthanasia due to psychological suffering under the country’s assisted suicide laws.

Rather than pushing physician-assisted death as an end-of-life option, care for terminally ill patients should be focused on ensuring their quality of life is as good as possible, Kheriaty emphasized, arguing that with modern medicine, treatments for pain and the depression associated with a terminal diagnosis are better than ever.

That philosophy holds no water with

Long Beach Business Journal 15 Freeman. “People with cancer and ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease] die with insufferable pain levels. So it’s a myth. I get angry because we tried so hard to get it to work.

These doctors are so gallant and say we can control pain. I’m not a believer,” she said.

Even if the bill doesn’t pass the state legislature, a court may soon grant terminally ill Californians the right to die. A lawsuit filed in February in the San Francisco County Superior Court argues that laws against physician-assisted suicide don’t apply to terminally ill patients. A ruling to that end would allow terminally ill Californians to seek out life-ending medication – but without all the restrictions put in place by the proposed legislation. ■

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NEWSWATCH

City Council Passes Incentive Package For Small Businesses ■ By DAVE WIELENGA Staff Writer The Long Beach City Council is moving forward with an ordinance intended to encourage small businesses to start, expand or relocate in the city by temporarily rebating various combinations of business license fees.

“This is a first step in the right direction,” said 5th District Councilmember Stacy Mungo, who chairs the council’s economic development and finance committee, which proposed the ordinance. “It’s a pilot program that we can adjust and expand, a demonstration that the members of this council are determined to be business friendly.”

The proposal, passed by a 7-0 vote at the February 17 city council meeting, hopes to incentivize four aspects of small business:  Businesses adding a new location to an existing Long Beach business or relocating a business from outside the city will receive a rebate equal to their first year’s business license tax (approximately $350 to $520).  Manufacturing businesses that start or relocate to Long Beach will receive a rebate equal to their first and second years’ business license taxes (approximately $700 to $860).  Businesses adding employees will receive a one-time rebate of four times the amount normally added to the business license tax for those employees (approximately $36 to $70 per added employee).

Beginning in the second year, those businesses will pay the normal per-employee cost. If the number of employees is reduced during the first four years, those businesses must reimburse the city on a pro-rated basis.  Businesses undertaking renovation or construction with costs exceeding $2,000 will receive a rebate equal to one year’s business license tax; if the costs exceed $4,000, the businesses will receive a rebate worth two years of business license taxes (approximately $700 to $1,035).

No one pretends to know whether these incentives will generate the desired outcomes. The staff report by John Gross, the city’s director of financial management, “roughly estimated” that the program will cost less than $200,000 a year, and substantially less this year because it won’t be rolled out for months. But during discussion at the city council’s February 17 meeting, even Gross described the true fiscal impact as “a scientific guess.”

Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal voiced logistical concerns when she spoke during the meeting.

“The challenge always becomes, how long does it take for someone to go through the process,” said the 2nd District representative, the longest-serving member on a council with five first-term members. “We had great incentive programs that a lot of our corridors took advantage of years ago through the Neighborhood Resource Center, but staffing issues made it a real challenge to process the number of applications. It became a resource issue.”

17

Such uncertainty explains why the small business incentives proposal was constructed with special features, said Mungo, beginning with the fact that it is an ordinance.

“If these incentives were approved as a program rather than an ordinance, its implementation by city staff could be different – if something unexpected came up, staff could make adjustments without necessarily coming back to council for approval,” she said. “As an ordinance, however, it is the law. Changes require two readings and two council approvals. Establishing this as an ordinance provides assurances that it will be front and center.”

On the other hand, this ordinance is written to expire after one year and to renew at the outset of the fiscal year to allow city officials to get feedback and make adjustments.

There’s also the question of whether the incentives – most amounting to rebates from a few hundred to a thousand dollars – are sufficient to convince businesses to open in Long Beach rather than in surrounding cities where business licenses cost significantly less.

“When you are dealing with small businesses, a thousand dollars here or there is significant,” Mungo contended. “We started with fee rebates because we wanted to get started soon, and changing permit and fee structures is an entirely different process. We also were guarding against people gaming the system by doing things like changing the names of their businesses to qualify for the incentives.”

How will small business owners know of the incentives available to them?

“We made a recommendation to the [Long Beach] Economic Development Commission to come up with advertising initiatives,” Mungo said. “Meanwhile, Suzie [Price, 3rd District Councilmember] and Roberto [Uranga, 7th District representative, Mungo’s fellow members of the economic development and finance committee] and I are going to get out the word in a newsletter, on our Twitter feeds, Facebook pages and all of that. We intend to use the city’s digital billboards, brochures and other options.”

When this came up at the council meeting, Lowenthal’s experience again made her the voice of caution and concern.

“If we are asking council members and others to let people know about this opportunity,” Lowenthal said, “I think we want to be able to manage expectations.” ■

U.S. Naval Academy Gospel Choir To Hold Free Concert March 15 In Long Beach The U.S. Naval Academy Gospel Choir, composed of more than 50 Naval Academy midshipmen, is performing a free concert on March 15 at 4 p.m. at Long Beach’s Covenant Presbyterian Church, 607 E. 3rd St. Following the event, a $15 all-you-caneat spaghetti dinner is hosted by Rising TIDE, an after-school program through the Marguerite Kiefer Education Center. Proceeds from the dinner go towards the center’s academic, cultural and nutritional services for more than 400 local youth. For more information, contact Reverend Adele Langworthy at 562/437-0958 ext. 25, or at cloves@msn.com. ■

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PERSPECTIVES NEWSWATCH

At a February 23 press event at the Port of Los Angeles, Mayors Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, left, and Robert Garcia of Long Beach expressed their gratitude that months-long contract negotiations for West Coast longshore workers had come to a conclusion. On the docks behind them, International Longshore & Warehouse Union workers resumed full-force operations after months of work slowdowns and heated discussions with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents employers. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Tentative Longshore Contract Agreement Is Reached, Workers Return To Docks ■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer After months of negotiations over the contract for West Coast longshore workers, not even the presence of a federal mediator was able to bring the two

negotiating parties to agreement, leaving many to wonder what would. In the end, it was a visit – and then a threat – from U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez that brought the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), which represents the workers, and the Pacific Mar-

itime Association (PMA), which represents their employers, to agreement.

Shortly after arriving on the West Coast, Perez gave the parties a same-day ultimatum: either they would come to an agreement by the end of the day on Friday, February 20, or he would haul them

to Washington, D.C., to negotiate there.

The pressure of the U.S. government proved to be the tipping point – by the end of the day, the parties came to a tentative agreement.

Details of the agreement have not been (Please Continue To Top Of Next Page)

Honing The Edge: Boeing Opens Engineering Career Development Center In Long Beach ■ By MICHAEL GOUGIS Contributing Writer Boeing has established an Engineering Career Development Center at its Douglas Park Center in Long Beach, the first of a nationwide series of training centers for the organization’s engineering and technical staff members, the company said.

“Technology moves quickly. We wanted to be sure our employees can keep up, and we wanted to give them the best training they can possibly get,” Cassaundra Bantly, communications specialist, engineering, mission assurance & product support with Boeing Defense, Space & Security, told the Business Journal.

The goal of the centers is to ensure that the company’s technical staff remains at the forefront of knowledge in their areas of expertise. The company views this as a long-term investment in its principal resource – engineering and technical know-how that is ahead of its competitors.

The establishment of the centers is part of the company’s strategy to provide development and training for its tech-

nical and engineering employees, an initiative known as “Engineering Central,” the company said in a statement.

“As our people continue to develop their capabilities and knowledge, Boeing will become an even stronger and more competitive company in our second century,” said John Tracy, Boeing chief technology officer and senior vice president of engineering, operations & technology, who oversees engineering within the company.

“We have always been a company that values the career growth and development of our people. With Engineering Central, Boeing is intensifying its pursuit of engineering excellence,” Tracy said in a news release.

The center will be based around classroom instruction at Douglas Park, and will be open to any employee performing engineering and technical tasks for the company, Bantly said. New engineers and technical personnel joining the company straight from college also will have access to the training and development programs, depending on their assignments and the demand for more specialized knowledge. The size of the classes and training sessions will be dictated by demand and the training offered, Bantly said.

Economists and others describing the need for continuing training for engineers use the phrase “half-life of knowledge.” This is the period of time it takes for half of the knowledge in a particular field to be replaced with new knowledge. Depending on the field of engineering study, estimates of the “half-life” of an engineer’s knowledge base range is from seven years down to less than three. The need for constant continuing education is critical, especially so for a company that engineers solutions in broad, challenging areas like aerospace and spacecraft.

Engineering Central also emphasizes existing employee development resources, including the company’s corporate education and tuition assistance program. Employees pursuing most engineering-related programs at approved schools can get tuition and other education expenses paid by the company.

The company plans to open centers in Seal Beach and Huntington Beach, St. Louis, Ridley Park in Pennsylvania, Charleston in South Carolina, Salt Lake City, the Puget Sound region of Washington state and Huntsville, Alabama. ■

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March 3-16, 2015 released, but information is available about the previous contract, which expired in June.

In a February 4 online press conference, PMA President and CEO James McKenna explained that full-time longshore workers made an average of $147,000 per year, with fully paid health care at a cost to employers of about $35,000 per worker. The base rate of payment was $35.68 per hour. The maximum yearly pension was $79,920.

McKenna made an “all-in” offer to the ILWU: a 14 percent increase of base rate of payment to $40.68 over five years, an 11.1 percent increase to $88,800 of the maximum yearly pension rate and continued fully paid health care. Whether or not the ILWU accepted these terms on February 20 was still unknown as of the time the Business Journal went to press on February 27. Between the time the offer and the final agreement were made, however, it was widely reported that only one issue was stalling negotiations; the ILWU wanted the right to fire arbitrators who ruled against them.

At a press conference in San Pedro on February 23, Mayor Robert Garcia of Long Beach and Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles both attributed the contract resolution in great part to Perez. “The level of engagement that we saw from the White House and the labor secretary was very impressive,” Garcia said.

Both mayors emphasized the importance of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the national economy, and expressed gratitude that workers had resumed a normal pace. “With this tentative labor agreement, we can move forward to clear the docks. You can see the activity behind us today,” Garcetti said, as cranes lifted containers behind him.

Following the mayors’ remarks, representatives from the ILWU and PMA emphasized their focus on the future.

“The rhetoric and the negotiations aside, it’s time for the longshoremen, the clerks and the walking bosses in Southern California to show why we are the greatest workforce in the world,” Robert “Bobby” Olvera, Jr., president of ILWU Local 13, stated. Garcia recently appointed Olvera to Long Beach’s Economic Development Commission.

“We are committed not only now, but long term, to make sure these cans [containers] move, to make sure our communities move, and to make sure the economy moves nationally. Because the mayors put it very clearly: these two twin ports, they move the economy here,” Olvera said.

PMA Vice President Chad Lindsay said the PMA’s next step is to pass along the tentative contract agreement to its members for review. “Our focus now is getting cargo moving, working through the backlog and getting containers unloaded and on the way to customers, as well as getting exports on the ships and off to international markets,” Lindsay said. “We know there is a lot of work to do. There have been significant impacts for many, and we haven’t lost sight of that.”

Congestion issues caused by changes in the supply chain had already backed up the ports before the holidays and, when fewer and fewer longshore workers began being deployed for work back in October,

PERSPECTIVES NEWSWATCH matters only grew worse. At the height of the congestion last month, more than 30 ships were at anchor in the San Pedro Bay. On average, there are typically only about a handful.

The impacts of the protracted negotiations were reflected in the amount of cargo that moved through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in January. Respectively, they experienced total cargo volume decreases of 18.8 and 22.7 percent.

In an interview with the Business Journal, Port of Long Beach Chief Executive Jon Slangerup said the business losses, caused by diversion of cargo to other ports, were likely short term. “We believe that we remain the most direct route from Asia to the interior of the U.S. That model is one that is tried and true, and it is the most efficient. So we will get our cargo back,” he said.

Once the agreement was reached, the number of longshore workers sent to work on the Port of Long Beach’s docks returned to normal levels, Slangerup said. Still, it’s going to take awhile for normal operations to resume. “We are thinking it is going to be somewhere in the range of four weeks, maybe five weeks, to clear the backlog of ships at anchor,” he estimated. He estimated it would take two to three months to clear the backlog of containers within the port complex.

On Thursday, February 26, the Port of Los Angeles announced that the Federal Maritime Commission had approved an amendment to a cooperative agreement between the ports. The amendment allows the ports to work together to address congestion issues and improve supply chain efficiencies.

Long Beach Business Journal 19 Other efforts to improve supply chain efficiencies are already underway. An interoperable gray pool of chassis, the equipment truckers use to haul containers, has been operating in beta mode, and officially goes live March 1.

“That is going to be a tremendous improvement in efficiency,” Slangerup said, “particularly from a trucking perspective, because the truckers will no longer have to pick up a chassis from one location and return it back to that location. They’ll be able to return it anywhere within both port complexes. It is going to be an incredible improvement in their efficiency and their movement of goods.”

The Port of Long Beach is also moving ahead with plans to manage its own fleet of chassis for peak relief. “We have a request for proposals going out on the street in the next two weeks,” Slangerup said. ■

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JetBlue Request For Customs Service

ume of passenger traffic. But the hardware needed to create a hard line of security takes up significant square footage, too. “Before we talk about that, we must emphasize that the route through Customs must be completely secure – no exits,� Ruiz said. “Passengers are not officially in the United States until they pass through Customs. They’re not in their own country, either. They’re in limbo. Technically, they have no rights.�

Beyond that, some of the spatial needs are obvious. “Of course, we need the basic space to encounter passengers, examine passports and inspect luggage,� Ruiz said. “But also necessary are facilities to conduct more thorough inspections – pat-downs and the

(Continued From Page 1)

Ruiz was apologizing for any of it. “Once you open the window to become an international airport – a place where the rest of the world enters your country – you have an enormous responsibility,� he said. “You have to create the infrastructure that anticipates and deals with all possible threats to people, property and the whole existence of the United States. That’s the reality since 9/11. We don’t want another 9/11. For us, it’s 9/11 every day.�

Ruiz said the size of a customs facility largely depends upon the anticipated vol-

“The government will determine space needs, security regulations.

There will be planning, site visits and probably redoing the planning before the government approves a blueprint. It might require significant investments. The process could be a painful one.�

Jaime Ruiz, United States Customs and Border Protection

like. If passengers are deemed inadmissible, there must a place for them to be detained, maybe overnight, before being sent back to their countries of origin.� “We need places to install the highly technical systems that allow CPB to work with any law enforcement agency any-

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where in the world to stop any threat, here or there,� Ruiz said. For example, if Interpol issues an arrest warrant for someone, Long Beach now becomes part of the network that must find that needle in the haystack.�

All passengers on every flight are prescanned, usually before they arrive at the airport, beginning the moment a ticket is purchased. “The advance passenger information system must be installed,� Ruiz said. “There must also be a counterterrorism room to do this work, to match each passenger with his or her correct identity and biometrics – fingerprints and photos – and to deal with any mismatches.�

All of this takes time and costs money. “The government will determine space needs, security regulations,� Ruiz said. “There will be planning, site visits and probably redoing the planning before the government approves a blueprint. It might require significant investments. The process could be a painful one.�

Actually, that message isn’t too different from the to-do list Francis had laid out in his letter to Long Beach city officials, which had included “determinations of construction costs, identifying funding source(s), facility size and layout, a fee structure for users.� Francis had also added a pledge “to protect and actively enforce the Noise Ordinance.�

Without mentioning Long Beach, Ruiz said it is not uncommon for enthusiasm to overcome analysis when a city entertains the prospect of upgrading its municipal airport to international status. “It’s a marketing deal for the airport and the airlines,� he said. “It’s supposed to be a win-win situation. The airline gets more flights, the airport makes more money and the city is proud to be on an international level. People get all excited. But we have seen it go both ways. Some have been very successful, but we have seen others end up losing millions of dollars.�

Ruiz let that sink in before he concluded, gravely, “Proceed with caution on these applications.�

To that effect, 8th District City Councilmember Al Austin has introduced an item on tonight’s (March 3) agenda that would delay any action related to Long Beach’s possible application for a U.S. Customs facility until the 4th District is represented.

The 4th District seat has been vacant since former Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell was elected to the state Assembly last November. A replacement will be selected in an April 14 special election that has three candidates on the ballot – Daryl Supernaw, Herlinda Chico and John Lindemann. The winner will take office on May 5.

If Long Beach were to apply for a U.S. Customs facility, it would likely be as a socalled “User Fee Airport.�

The following information, provided by (Please Continue To Top Of Next Page)

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March 3-16, 2015 U.S. Customs and Border Protection, describes the basic requirements that must be met by an applicant seeking designation as a User Fee Airport (UFA): A UFA is a small airport, which has been approved by the commissioner of CBP to receive, for a fee, the services of a CBP officer for the processing of aircraft entering the United States and their passengers and cargo. The applicant must meet the following criteria for UFA consideration: • The volume or value of business at the airport is insufficient to justify the availability of inspectional services at such airport on a non-reimbursable basis.

• The current governor of the state in which such airport is located supports such designation in writing to the commissioner of CBP. • The requestor (e.g. airport authority) agrees to reimburse CBP for all costs associated with the services, including all expenses of staffing a minimum of one full-time inspector.

• The requestor completes an Agriculture Compliance Agreement (ACA) with fixed base operators and garbage haulers for handling the international garbage.

The basic steps required in considering an application for designation as an UFA include: • Receipt of a letter from the current governor of the state supporting the user fee airport designation addressed to the commissioner.

• An initial site visit in which CBP officials discuss workload and services.

• A final site visit in which CBP officials

PERSPECTIVES NEWSWATCH verify that facilities are 85 percent complete and adequate for inspectional services to be provided.

• A successful site visit in which CBP officials discuss workload and services and verify that facilities are adequate for inspectional services to be provided.

• Completing a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with CBP, which states the responsibilities, fees and hours of service.

• Completing an ACA with CBP for handling international garbage.

An approved UFA receiving CBP services is responsible for payment of the following fees: • Per Inspector – $140,874 for the first year and $123,438 for succeeding years.

• ADP costs per inspector – $17,042 to $21,062 (1st year) and $13,620 to $17,640 for succeeding years depending, on the location.

Long Beach Business Journal 21 • Other associated costs such as overtime.

In all cases regarding requests for new service, it must be understood that, before CBP approves requests to establish new Ports of Entry or User Fee Airports, CBP must have the available staffing or the authorization and appropriations to hire additional staffing. This is, and will continue to be, one of the most important considerations. ■

Proposed BNSF Railway Project Briefs Being Prepared For Judge ■ By DAVE WIELENGA Staff Writer The window of opportunity for settling the lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles over the proposed massive rail yard on land that abuts West Long Beach neighborhoods may not be officially closed, but nobody seems to be looking through it anymore.

“We’re currently preparing our brief for the court,” reported Deputy City Attorney Mike Mais, the point person for the City of Long Beach, which is one of seven petitioners in the suit.

“The judge has asked for them to be expedited, and we will file ours around the beginning of March.”

The lawsuit’s start in a Contra Costa County courtroom – a neutral site accepted by all parties – isn’t until November 15. Mais acknowledged that 8½ months of lead time is a bit more than normal. He attributed it to the judge’s desire to be well prepared for a very complicated case.

But it underscores how long it’s been since last winter’s holiday season, when there was lots of cheerful talk about the possibility that mediation might avoid costly, complicated and potentially yearslong litigation in a suit that claims that the 153-acre Southern California International Gateway rail yard project would negatively impact the health and well-being of people in the neighborhoods of West Long Beach and Wilmington.

All the parties – including the Long Beach Unified School District, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Attorney General, and neighborhood groups and businesses threatened with relocation – met in Santa Monica for three days of mediation, with retired Sonoma County Judge William L. Bettinelli shuttling among the parties to search for common ground.

But nothing was resolved, and no new sessions were scheduled before everyone adjourned.

Mais is prohibited by a confidentiality agreement from talking about what hap-

pened in the mediation sessions or much of anything else.

“All I can say is the mediation process is done – there are no more sessions,” he said, and then qualified even that. “Well, none scheduled.”

The Long Beach City Council has twice met with the city attorney’s office in closed sessions regarding the lawsuit, but of course Mais can’t talk about those either.

“There really is nothing to report,” he said. “We will file our brief – a joint brief among all the litigants, except the attorney general is filing separately. The City of Los Angeles will do an opposition brief, and we will prepare a reply.”

Then it’s up to the judge.

“Cases like these are tried on the basis of the briefs, along with oral arguments,” Mais said. “Typically, there’s never any live testimony. It’s kind of a law and motion matter.

“The court has to base its decision on the record – the environmental impact report, studies, e-mails, comment letters and the briefs. I think it’s like 20,000 pages.” ■

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NEWSWATCH

An Evening With Genius (Continued From Page 1)

tectural designer, innovator and creator of TED and TEDMED. The program featured a wide-ranging conversation between the two men regarding the future role of maps, geographic information systems (GIS) and data in understanding and shaping a more viable urban future. Such knowledge, they maintained, is essential since the world population is currently projected to increase from today’s 7.2 billion people to 9 billion by 2050.

Virtually all of this growth will occur in the developing world and 70 percent of the world’s population will likely then live

in rapidly expanding urban centers. This will almost certainly become a cause for great concern given the fact that today many of the world’s urban centers are already overcrowded and only marginally functional. Unfortunately, officials and planners have consistently demonstrated an inability to fully comprehend issues related to rapid urban growth or as Wurman put it, “They fail to understand how little they understand!”

So how can this failure to better understand these problems be remediated?

Both speakers believe that only by having better, more widely-shared data and an effective means of fully utilizing this data can there be any hope of avoiding the creation of disastrously dysfunctional urban places. The realization of this very ambitious goal must therefore rely on the au-

thorities successfully learning to “Worship the God of Understanding” and continue to develop and use the “intelligent mapping” capabilities of still more powerful GIS technologies.

The Role Of GIS In A Rapidly Evolving World Sharing information is a basic human trait and maps are one of the most valuable and useful formats for that sharing process.

Maps have long represented “power” because of the valuable information they contained and, historically speaking, the fact that they were generally shared on a limited basis.

While most of us are familiar with maps – whether they are the old-fashioned paper ones or the new digital maps found in global positioning systems (GPS) – few realize they are an important method for storing, transmitting and analyzing data.

SPECIAL LONG BEACh BUSINESS JOURNAL

Building A Better Long Beach Publishes March 17, 2015 Long Beach is seeing an increasing number of businesses relocating to the city and creating good-paying jobs. The city is also experiencing an increasing number of young professionals who are making Long Beach their home.

It’s time to brag about what a great place Long Beach is to open a business, live, work and play.

Our Special Edition Features The Following: Welcome Letter From Mayor Robert Garcia Why Long Beach Is A Great Place To Do Business Business Incentives & Assistance A Look At Local Industries Future Plans & Projects Shopping & Dining Livability: Recreation & Culture Education & Training Presented in cooperation with the City of Long Beach

Please Call Today To Place Your Advertisement 562/988-1222 (Ad space deadline: March 11) Copies will be given to the city’s economic and development services departments, as well as business associations, commercial real estate brokers and others who market Long Beach

March 3-16, 2015 The recent development of so-called “intelligent map technologies” has exponentially increased their value. For example, while a paper road map can guide us from one place to another, today’s digital GPS can also provide information on refueling stops, restaurants, points of interest, traffic conditions and alternate routes, estimated arrival times, speed limits, and other useful data. Thus, the new map technology allows us to use stored data to better analyze, plan and enjoy our car trips.

While a GPS is certainly a useful addition to modern life, that technology pales in comparison to the powerful GIS technology now spreading rapidly around the globe. A GIS sewer map, for example, can show not only the location of the pipes, but their age, depth underground, dimensions, composition, content, previous repairs and even when aging pipes should be replaced to avoid costly disruptions in service.

Similarly, a GIS can not only spatially locate cases of infectious disease, it can also allow the inclusion of other relevant data that facilitates the “modelling” of those incidents to reveal possible underlying relationships and disease vectors.

In short, this new ability to accurately overlay multiple layers of information provides users with an unprecedented ability to gain additional insights into the underlying spatial patterns. This urgent search for enhanced insights into our increasingly complex world – what Dangermond referred to as “a lust for understanding” – caused Wurman to partner with ESRI in designing a presentation called the “Urban Observatory” (www.urbanobservatory.org). This new interactive exhibit allows even novice users the ability to contrast and compare cities located around the world. The potential power of this interactive system was demonstrated following the conclusion of the lecture. The website, based on Wurman’s principle that “Understanding Precedes Action,” gives everyone the ability to make a cornucopia of world data both understandable and useful.

A Commitment To Improving Understanding Through Mapping Technology Given Dangermond’s certainty that everyone, not just specialists, should be able to understand and use information technology to better understand their environment, ESRI has made the company’s GIS programs increasingly powerful, yet easier to learn and apply.

In addition, and in keeping with his vision, ESRI has contributed to America’s K-12 and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) programs for more than 25 years. More importantly, perhaps, is that following a meeting with President Obama in 2014 to discuss ways the company could help strengthen that program, Dangermond announced that the firm intends to make its innovative mapping software available at no cost to (Please Continue To Top Of Next Page)

March

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every K-12 school in America via Cloudbased technology. This $1 billion pledge will provide every American student with the opportunity to become directly involved in what Dangermond calls “creative problem-solving” though hands-on mapping projects.

Finally, in addition to this occasion providing an informal setting for an interesting discussion between two leading experts in

a cutting-edge technology, the Aquarium’s event also succeeded in helping the audience gain new and exciting insights into likely future developments and the technologies that will be used to investigate and address those future challenges that will inevitably arise.

It was, all said and done, an intellectually stimulating conversation and an evening very well-spent! ■

Business Journal Endorses Supernaw

merous unions supporting her want, including forcing minimum wage hikes on small business and supporting placing an increase to the utility users tax on the ballot. She’s on the record with that despite her recent attempts to back away from her comments.

She also claims to have worked to help small businesses, but, again, we cannot find even one example of her working with Long Beach businesses prior to running for office.

Chico graduated high school in Bell Gardens and received a bachelor’s in mass communications from Cal State San Bernardino. She currently works as a “media specialist” for the City of Commerce. She is a former staffmember for the 7th City Council District, worked at the Central City East Association in Los Angeles and is a past vice president of the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club.

Her candidate statement is printed in English and Spanish but, unlike Supernaw, she failed to print it in Khmer, the official language of Cambodia. The westside of the 4th District includes part of Cambodia Town, where businesses need support to grow and prosper.

With no track record of involvement in 4th District events, issues or needs, and a sure-fire fifth vote on the city council on union issues, this city will be heading down the wrong track for years to come if Chico wins and control of the city falls into union hands. The people and groups who have endorsed her certainly didn’t care about her lack of district involvement.

Before district residents cast their ballot, we hope they pay attention to the differences among the candidates and who has rolled up his sleeves to help them time and again over the years. Supernaw has invested his entire life to making the 4th District a better place to live and raise a family.

We strongly urge 4th District residents to vote for Supernaw, and residents and businesses throughout the city should support him financially to help counter the tens of thousands of dollars to be spent by unions to get Chico elected. ■

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from California State University, Long Beach. He is a proven neighborhood leader for the district and the city, and has years and years of private sector experience.

Supernaw was previously involved with the adopt-a-school program, and coached soccer and Little League teams. He literally went to bat for the district with the Atherton corridor freeway offramp project in 1986 (resulting in the city receiving $1.5 million in traffic mitigation funds from Caltrans/Orange County Transportation Authority) and the Atherton ditch project (a 20-year campaign with the end result being a $3 million infrastructure and beautification project built without using local funds).

He’s been involved with neighborhood clean ups, went door-to-door with petitions helping establish preferential parking districts in areas around the university, founded the Atherton Corridor Neighborhood Association in 2007 and served on the 4th District’s Budget Advisory Committee plus numerous other area committees and task forces. He was a charter member of the Long Beach Sustainable City Commission and is its current chair.

That’s quite a resumé, but just a partial list. To say his 4th District roots are deep is an understatement.

His chief opponent, Herlinda Chico, purchased a home in the district in 2011, then a year later announced she would run in the 2012 city council race, only to back out. Her campaign material claims she is a “community leader,” but after living in the district for four years, we cannot find a single example of community service to the 4th District.

Think about that.

What she has been involved with in Long Beach, though, are union-related issues, which concerns many people in the city, including us. We wrote recently that if she wins, she is an automatic vote for whatever the nu-

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For the first season, which began September 13, 2014, in Beijing, all 20 cars are identical, creating what organizers say is an “exciting competition showcasing individual driver skills.” At high speeds, the sound produced is approximately 80 decibels, or 10 decibels more than an average petrol car. The cars go 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 3 seconds. Ten teams from eight different countries are competing for the first year’s championship title. The Long Beach race on April 4 uses a modified configuration of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach street circuit. The Virgin Group, which recently announced it is leasing a facility in Long Beach for Virgin Galactic and its satellite launch vehicle, LauncherOne, is a team sponsor through its Virgin Racing. (Photograph provided by FIA Formula E Championship)

Formula E – The Quiet Racing Revolution Hits Long Beach City Is One Of 10 In The World Selected To Host The New Series; Admission Free To April 4 Event ■ By MICHAEL GOUGIS Contributing Writer Early in April, some of the most advanced, high-tech, cutting-edge, single-seat formula cars ever devised by human beings will hit the streets of Long Beach. And they will be backed by some of the biggest names in the motorsports industry: Audi, Renault, McLaren, Dallara, Williams. The cars will reach speeds of 140 miles an hour at the hands of drivers with internationallevel racing resumes, including Formula One competition.

And you won't hear a thing.

Round 6 of the FIA Formula E championship – a racing series of electric-powered single-seater formula cars – is set for April 4 in Long Beach, along Shoreline Drive, the home of the traditional Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

This is no support race for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the weekend festival of racing headlined by the IndyCar series of turbocharged, petrol-powered single-seaters that is scheduled to take place April 17-19.

Formula E is a stand-alone event with completely free admission to the grandstands and exhibits, aimed at a slightly different audience, offering a different racing experience for the fans and a place for the automotive industry to show off the absolute cutting edge of technology, the future of drivetrain systems development.

“This represents at least some component of where automobile propulsion systems are going,” said Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, which has been selected by the Formula E Championship to stage the Long Beach event.

Formula E took off in 2013, when the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, the governing body of major international auto racing, sanctioned the idea of an allelectric formula racing series. The series was designed to give major automakers and subsidiary companies a high-profile platform to show off new technology.

And the format of the event was designed to mesh with the vehicles to make the races suitable for city street circuits.

The vehicles are quiet, about 80 decibels at top speed, or just a tick louder than a passenger car passing at 65 mph 25 feet away.

The events take place on one day – prac-

tice, qualifying and race all run within about nine hours – minimizing the impact on street closures and nearby businesses.

And in the first season, all 20 cars (10 teams of two drivers each) are identical, thus showcasing driver skills.

At the Long Beach round, the cars will run a modified version of the traditional grand prix circuit. Because of that, and the lack of noise, all of the businesses on the western edge of the Grand Prix footprint will be open for business on race day, Michaelian pointed out.

Formula E wanted two races in the U.S. – one in the East, which has been scheduled for Miami, and one on the West Coast. Because of the GPALB’s experience and skill in conducting street races – honestly, Long Beach has perfected the art of staging street motorsporting events in the U.S. – Formula E came calling and asking for help setting up a race.

Initially, Formula E wanted an event in or near Downtown Los Angeles, Michaelian said. The gleaming urban streetscape and towering skylines of urban centers was what Formula E wanted as a backdrop for its races. In this inaugural season, races have been held in – or scheduled for – the hearts of some of the world’s largest cities. Beijing, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Monte Carlo and London have held, or are scheduled to hold, Formula E racing directly in their city centers on temporary race circuits.

Punta del Este, Uruguay, and Putrajaya, Malaysia, complete the 10-city circuit.

The plans for holding a race in Downtown Los Angeles got as far as actually designing a circuit near the Coliseum, but

then things stalled, Michaelian said. Staging a street race sounds simple, but the reality is that scheduling conflicts, infrastructure updates like re-paving beaten-up street surfaces, the logistics of parking, setting up, etc., makes the project quite complicated.

After butting heads against the obstacles that Los Angeles threw at it, Formula E’s organizers were impressed by the work the GPALB had done.

“They said, ‘Look, Long Beach is very attractive to us,’” Michaelian said. “And as we were looking at the options, Long Beach became more and more attractive.”

Staging the race offered benefits to Long Beach. Obviously, there is the positive impact on the hospitality industry. It also showcases the city to an international audience as high-tech friendly – these cars are very, very technologically advanced. And it gives the city an opportunity to link its environmentally friendly sustainability efforts to the totally cool sport of motor racing.

Long Beach knows how to stage a street race. All that was needed was a date. With the minimal disruption (compared to the Grand Prix) that the Formula E race would create, and with the circuit for the Grand Prix already completed, the event was scheduled for April 4. To make sure it would not compete with the Grand Prix, organizers agreed to provide free admission.

Paddock access is extra, but grandstand seating is without charge.

The whole idea is to create “an entirely different event, totally different than what we’re doing with the Grand Prix,” Michaelian said.

Spark-Renault SRT_01E The Spark-Renault SRT_01E is the first car to be homologated by the FIA. Using the very latest technology, the zero emission SRT_01E aims to stretch the boundaries of what is currently achievable in electric motorsport, whilst ensuring a balance between cost-effectiveness and sustainability, in addition to coping with the demands of racing on city-centre circuits.

It has been built by French company Spark Racing Technology, led by Frédéric Vasseur, together with a consortium of some of the leading companies in motorsport. Italian firm Dallara, who boast more than 40 years' motorsport experience, have constructed the monocoque chassis. Made from carbon fibre and aluminum, the chassis is both super lightweight and incredibly strong and fully complies with the latest FIA crash tests - the same used to regulate Formula One. Providing the electric powertrain and electronics is McLaren Electronics Systems, the world leader in highperformance technology for motorsport. Meanwhile, Williams Advanced Engineering, part of the Williams group of companies that includes the world famous Williams F1 Team, will supply the batteries producing 200kw, the equivalent of 270bhp. This will be linked to a five-speed paddle shift sequential gearbox, supplied

by Hewland, with fixed ratios to help reduce costs further.

Overseeing all the systems integration will be the championship's Technical Partner Renault, a leader of electric vehicles and an expert in motorsport thanks to its Renault Sport Technologies and Renault Sport F1 programmes. Specially designed 18" treaded tyres will be supplied by Official Tyre Partner Michelin, capable of providing optimum performance in both wet and dry conditions. (Provided by FIA Formula E Championship)

And it will be different. There will be no internal-combustion vehicles competing on the track during the event. The target audience is younger, more tech-savvy and more environmentally minded families and people who like motorsport but don’t like the noise or the idea of combustion emissionsbased entertainment. So far, Formula E races seem to have struck a chord with its fan base: More than 67.3 million TV viewers in the first four races around the world, and an average of 49,000 fans at the event, according to series organizers.

Which begs an interesting question.

What is the appeal of a race series with what could be dismissed as big batterypowered slot cars without the slot?

Firstly, these are dead-serious racing cars. The Spark-Renault features components by big Formula One manufacturers and top-level motorsport companies.

Secondly, major auto manufacturers like Audi, Renault and Mahindra (a huge India-based vehicle manufacturer) see the series as a showcase for their technological prowess in front of a younger audience receptive to the idea of electric vehicles. While this inaugural season features spec cars, next season will see a variety of vehicles, increasing the competition between manufacturers and the interest from auto companies that want to show off the performance of their all-electric powerplant technology.

And lastly, the drivers. Names like Andretti, Piquet Jr., Senna, Prost and Brabham are on the driver list. Several of the regulars have raced Formula One, and others have international level race wins and championships.

They race like if they don’t win, they don’t eat. The first-ever Formula E race ended with a massive last-lap, last corner collision between Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld as the two desperately fought for the lead, with Heidfeld’s car flying upside-down through the air and into a barrier. No NASCAR race, no Formula One race, ever was more hardfought than that last lap in Beijing.

Regardless of the powerplant, the racing on the track so far has been fantastic, and that has captured the fans and kept them, Michaelian said.

“The racing is great. The drivers are good, top-line drivers. And they’re running these things hard and bringing ’em back wet,” Michaelian said. ■

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Sprucing Up North Long Beach With Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalk Rehabilitation Ninth District Councilmember Rex Richardson, left, and Mayor Robert Garcia celebrate the street improvements on Atlantic Avenue between 53rd Street and the city’s northern border in North Long Beach. During a February 24 press conference, the men indicated the rehabilitation also included constructing cement concrete curbs, gutters and sidewalks; replacing and overlaying asphalt concrete pavement; and furnishing and installing pavement markers, markings, and traffic striping.

Existing medians were repaired, and new medians, landscaping, irrigation and stamped concrete crosswalks were installed. The $3.2 million project was funded by Proposition C, and from bond proceeds from the former Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. “Atlantic Avenue has undergone an amazing transformation, and this major corridor clearly highlights how our Uptown Renaissance is continuing to exceed expectations,” Councilmember Richardson said. “This Complete Streets project has transformed the business environment and is having positive ripple effects throughout the area, including Houghton Park, Jordan High School, and residents.” Mayor Garcia added, “This project not only greatly enhances an important business corridor, it was completed on time and on budget. This is just one example of the great things happening in North Long Beach, and we can all be very proud of that work.” (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Port Of Long Beach Adds Two Execs To Staff

Jeffrey Shelden

Gillian Miller

New Employees At Moffatt & Nichol Long Beach-based Moffatt & Nichol, a global infrastructure advisor in the planning and designing of facilities such as coastlines, harbors and rivers, has promoted Senior Coastal Engineer Jeffrey G. Shelden, PE, to serve as leader of the firm’s Coasts, Water and the Environment Practice. A 30-year employee of the company, Shelden has worked on hundreds of projects for Moffatt & Nichol, and is currently the project manager in the Changing Course Lower Mississippi River Delta Design Competition. According to Moffant & Nichol President Eric Nichol, the company also announced the creation of three new

Johnny Martin

Jerry McCrain

leadership roles in support of all of its practices in order “to ensure consistent quality and technical advancements [that] will only enhance the level of expertise and client focused service we’ve always been known for.” Senior Coastal Engineer Gillian Miller, CEng, who has more than 15 years of coastal and ports project management and design experience, serves as the coastal discipline lead. Senior Water Resources Engineer Johnny Martin, PE, is serving as the water resources discipline lead. He has more than 20 years of experience in water resources planning and engineering. Senior Environmental Scientist Jerry McCrain, PhD, is the environmental lead. He has 40 years of experience in the environmental field.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has confirmed the appointments of Michael Christensen Michael Christensen to serve as senior executive for supply chain optimization, and Glenn Farren to serve as director of tenant services and operations.

These are newly created management posiGlenn Farren tions. Christensen most recently served as deputy executive director at the Port of Los Angeles. He has more than 40 years of experience in both publicand private-sector planning, goods movement, operations, governmental affairs, and environmental, design, construction and project management. According to a statement from the port, he is responsible for

Long Beach Rotary Raises Record Amount For Early Literacy Programs Long Beach Rotary’s Reading By 9 literacy program raised a record $45,000 this year for books and other support to local preschool and K-3 students, schools and libraries. During the past 16 years since Rotary launched the program – which aims to increase the percentage of students reading at grade level by age nine – it has raised more than $470,000. By the end of this school year, Rotary will have donated more than 215,000 books to local children, school libraries and nonprofit literacy programs in the Long Beach area. Included in the funds raised is money for Teacher Literacy Grants to be awarded to “creative and innovative classroom literacy projects initiated by K-3 teachers.” According to Rotarian Frank Newell, pictured above left at the North Child Development Center in North Long Beach, “The Teacher Literacy Grants were a big success last year, and we are increasing the total funding from $5,000 to at least $6,500 this year.”

Newell is a local attorney and Poly High School alum who has supported Reading by 9 for many years. At right is fellow Rotarian Kay Cofield joined Newell in reading to students. Cofield is the immediate past president of Long Beach Rotary and owner of California Media Productions.

(Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

“working collaboratively with industry stakeholders to find new ways to increase communication and cooperation among the links of the supply chain.” Christensen reports to Chief Executive Jon Slangerup.

Farren has served as general manager for Hapag-Lloyd America, overseeing the firm’s Southern California operations, and has more than 20 years of managing marine terminals. Previously, Farren has worked for shipping companies Maersk, Sea-Land and APL. He reports to Dr. Noel Hacegaba, managing director of commercial operations/chief commercial officer.

L.A. Customs Brokers And Freight Forwarders Elects New Officers Mark Hirzel, customs consultancy manager for DHL Global Forwarding, has been elected president of the Los Angeles Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association. Incorporated in 1949, the association represents licensed U.S. customs brokers, freight forwarders, NVOCCs (non-vessel operating common carriers) and firms which facilitate international

Michae

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March 3-16, 2015 trade. The group represents more than 320 members, employing over 6,000 individuals, who file more than 95 percent of all commercial import shipments, according to a statement from the association. Other officers are: Vice President – Wayne Wagner, senior manager, U.S. Brokerage Services of FedEx Trade Networks; Secretary – Barbara Clarke, vice president of Williams Clarke Co, Inc.; Treasurer – Karen Quintana, director, national sales, customs brokerage, Yusen Logistics (Americas), Inc.; and Chair – Vincent Iacopella, managing director of The Janel Group of Los Angeles, Inc. Other Board members include, Maurine Cecil, Western Overseas Corp.; Sandra Coty, Barthco International, Inc., dba OHL-International; Norman Harris, Panalpina, Inc., Daniel Meylor; Robin Grove, Cars Shipping USA/Loa, Inc.; Carmichael International Service; and Don Monnier, NDO America, Inc.

Alan Anderson Elected President Of Community Hospital Long Beach Foundation Board Alan Anderson has been elected president of the 19-member Community Hospital Long Beach Foundation Board of Directors for 2015.

Anderson is the president and CEO of Michael Christensen South Coast Health Care Management, Inc. Anderson previously served on the board and member of the foundation’s executive committee from 2006 to 2013. Other executive committee members are: Vice Chair – Ross Riddle, South Coast Shingle Company; Treasurer – Linda Wallace of Financial & Insurance Solutions; Secretary – Kit Katz of St. Mary Medical Center; Members – Andrea Caballero of Catalyst For Payment Reform and Suzanne Nosworthy, a community activist. Other boardmembers are: Andrew Barber of Crissell & Associates; Beverly Cook of the foundation’s Las Damas de la Plaza group; MJ Dornford of Zim Lines; Mary Lockington of Lockington Law Group; Dennis McConkey, Jalate Inc.; Brad Miles, INCO Commercial; Jan Miller, Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau; Mark Taylor, Office of Mayor Robert Garcia; Machelle Thompson, Keen Home Care; Rick Trice, community leader; and Ray Burton, professor emeritus (retired), Long Beach City College.

Long Beach Community Foundation Adds New Boardmembers Four new members have joined the Long Beach Community Foundation (LBCF) Board of Directors: Michele Dobson, Annette Kashiwabara, Walter Larkins and Judy Ross. Dobson is a Long Beach attorney practicing employment law, estate planning, civil litigation, nonprofit eepresentation, probate law, family law and criminal law. Annette Kashiwabara is the director of development at the Assistance League of Long Beach. Walter Larkins is the president of CDR Benefits & Insurance LLC & CDR Financial Services LLC and serves as the executive Director of E=O2 Foundation. Judy Ross is the former exec-

PERSPECTIVES IN THE NEWS utive director of the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership. “We are so pleased to welcome these new boardmembers, who are philanthropic-minded leaders and truly understand the unique needs of our diverse community,” Board Chair Jane Netherton said in a statement. Boardmembers serve up to three, three-year terms. The foundation is a “nonprofit, public organization with over $25 million in assets and 96 charitable funds, whose mission is to initiate positive change for Long Beach through charitable giving, stewardship, and strategic grantmaking with a vision of being the preeminent steward of endowments serving the needs of Long Beach in perpetuity.”

Bohn Named To AIA’s Board Of Directors Studio One Eleven Principal Michael Bohn was recently elected to serve a two-year term on the board of directors for the American Institute of Architects Long Beach/South Bay chapter. According to a statement released by the organization, Bohn was chosen because of his ideas to expand the organization’s exposure. “My goal is to provide outreach to the community on the importance of design,” Bohn said in a statement. “I’m excited to provide a bridge with the City of Long Beach and other cities as a resource for our expertise.”

Cook Serving Second Term As President Of Las Damas Beverly Cook is serving a second consecutive year as president of Las Damas de la Plaza, a support group of the Community Hospital Long Beach Foundation that has raised nearly $2 million since being formed in 1984. Other officers are: Dr. Vonda Lia, vice president; Jan Young, recording secretary; Sheila Cantrell, treasurer; Marilyn Lonsdale, parliamentarian; Phyllis Bowles, hospitality chair; Emily Chronister, membership chair; Nina Spradling, nominating chair; Fran Bylund, event coordinator; and Christy Roeber, in charge of press, photography and Las Damas history.

Two Businesses Celebrate 15-Year Anniversaries Alex’s Bar at 2913 E. Anaheim St. and Archibald’s Drive-thru restaurant on 2nd Street in Belmont each recently celebrated their 15 anniversary. Alex’s Bar, owned by Alex Hernandez, has evolved into a popular music venue featuring punk rock, reggaie, indie, rock, Latin and other genres. For more information, call 562/r434-8292 or visit: www.alexsbar.com. Archibald’s is a family owned business with five locations: Chino Hills, Lake Elsinore, Ontario, Victorville and Long Beach. Its menu ranges from Greek to South of The Border to All American, according to its website: www.archibaldsrestaurantdrivethru.com. The Long Beach location may be reached at 562/434-0444.

It’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Assemblyman O’Donnell Tapped For Several Committee Assignments California Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, who represents the 70th District, which includes Long Beach and Signal Hill, announced recently that he was appointed chair of the Assembly’s Select Committee on Ports and Aerospace. The 70th District includes the ports of Long Beach and Los

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Vision To Learn Launches Initiative To Give Free Glasses To Thousands Of Long Beach Residents Vision To Learn, a nonprofit organization providing free glasses and eye exams to low-income Californians, kicked off an initiative to serve more than 8,000 Long Beach children and their families in an event at Whittier Elementary School last week. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, Long Beach Unified School District staff and local sponsors of the foundation, including executives from the California Resources Corporation, joined Vision To Learn Founder Austin Beutner to launch the effort by distributing 60 free pairs of glasses to Whittier Elementary students. California Resources Corporation and the UniHealth Foundation, a grant-making organization, donated a combined $100,000 for the Long Beach initiative. The foundation operates from mobile clinics outfitted with eye exam equipment and an array of frames for beneficiaries to choose from. “I grew up wearing glasses and still wear them today,” Garcia said at the event. “We want to ensure that every kid has the same opportunity to learn and succeed in school.” (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Jodi Hein Appointed Vice President/ Chief Nursing Officer At St. Mary Medical Center Long Beach resident Jodi L. Hein was recently appointed as vice president and chief nursing officer of Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center.

Hein comes from Promise Hospital East Los Angeles, where, as the chief nursing officer and chief clinical officer, she oversaw nursing and administration for the hospital’s Paramount and Los Angeles campuses. She is not new to St. Mary; she worked at the hospital from 1980 to 2001 in various roles, including neonatal intensive care unit nurse, director of perinatal services, and manager of post-partum, ante-partum, gynecological surgery and newborn nursing. Hein holds several degrees, including: an associate’s degree in nursing from Long Beach City College; a bachelor’s degree in health and human services from California State University, Long Beach; a master’s in health administration from Chapman University, a master’s in nursing from the University of Phoenix and a doctorate in nursing practice from Samuel Merritt University. In a statement, St. Mary President and CEO Joel Yuhas said, “Her broad management and clinical experience, coupled with her understanding and support of St. Mary’s mission and tradition of caring, made Jodi an excellent choice for the chief nursing executive position.” (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Angeles. O’Donnell, a classroom teacher, has also been tabbed to chair the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education. He also serves on the Assembly's Budget, Judiciary, Transportation, and Public Employees Retirement & Social Security Committees. In late January, the freshman assemblyman introduced his first bill, Assembly Bill 204, which allows local governments to continue to control the dissolution and sale of long time properties obtained under the former redevelopment law. In a press release, O’Donnell said, “This bill helps local governments avoid costly delays in the conduct of property sales by ensuring local oversight control and is sponsored by the City of Long Beach.”

award is presented semiannually to a “graduate student in the Studio Arts Program at California State University, Long Beach . . . and is intended to actively encourage and support graduate art students and their work.” Nishigarwara earned her bachelors of fine art from the Kansas City Art Institute and is currently a masters of fine art student at CSULB. Her winning artwork is a silk organza and thread form titled “Ma #1.” It is on display in the firm’s office, at the Landmark Square office tower in Downtown Long Beach.

Windes Names Winner Of Its Semiannual Corporate Gallery Award

Saxophonist David Sanborn, a six-time Grammy winner, is performing March 15 at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center at 2 p.m. on March 15, with tickets starting at $40 (562/985-7000). Sanborn, a polio survivor, and the Center are donating proceeds from the concert to Rotary International’s End Polio Now Campaign.

The Long Beach-based accounting and consulting firm Windes announced that Lesley Kice Nishigawara is the most recent winner of the firm’s Corporate Gallery Award. The

David Sanborn Concert At Carpenter Center March 15; Proceeds Go To Fighting Polio

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PERSPECTIVES

HealthWise

Small Business Dollars & Sense

knowledge is The Best Weapon To Prevent colorectal cancer

Getting Approved For A Business loan

M

ost people don’t realize that colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and even fewer people realize that there are actually seven different types of colon cancer. Each type is different and presents itself in its own unique way so it is important to be aware of each one and know how to help prevent it.

Colorectal cancer starts in the inner lining of the colon and/or rectum, slowly growing through some or all of its layers. Colorectal cancer By iMAd ShBeeB, M.d. typically starts as a growth of tissue called a polyp and certain polyps can develop into cancer. Some of the different types it can develop into are: • Adenocarcinomas – Adenocarcinoma is the most common type of colorectal cancer and it represents more than 95 percent of all colon and rectal cancers. It typically starts within the intestinal gland cells that line the inside of the bowel wall.

• Gastrointestinal carcinoid tumors – These tumors account for just one percent of all colorectal cancers, but half of all of the cancers found in the small intestine.

• Primary colorectal lymphomas – This type usually occurs later in life, is more common in men than women and accounts for about one percent of all colorectal cancers.

• Gastrointestinal stromal tumors – The tumors start in a special cell found in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract. More than 50 percent of stromal tumors start in the stomach.

• Leiomyosarcomas – Leiomyosarcoma is an infectious tumor that arises from smooth muscle cells. This accounts for about 0.1 percent of all colorectal cases.

• Melanomas – Though most commonly associated with the skin, melanomas can occur anywhere, including the colon or rectum and accounts for about two percent of all colorectal cases.

• Squamous cell carcinomas – This type is most common for people in their 70s and it is twice as prevalent in men than women.

As important as it is to know all the types of colorectal cancer it is just as vital to know how they can be prevented.

If everyone 50 years or older had a regular screening test, as many as 60 percent of deaths could be prevented. This is why the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening for colorectal cancer beginning at the age 50 and continuing until the age of 75.

The most common type of screening for colorectal cancer is a colonoscopy. For this test, the doctor uses a longer, thin, flexible, lighted tube to check for polyps or cancer inside the rectum and the entire colon. Some cancer can be found and removed during this test which should be done every 10 years.

There is no single "best test" for any person. The importance of each test depends on your unique situation/condition. It is important to talk regularly with your doctor, gastroenterologist or surgeon to ask about these different types of colorectal cancers, the different screening tests available and when is the best time to begin screenings. Knowing this, and being proactive about your health, may just save your life.

(Imad Shbeeb, M.D., is the medical director, colorectal cancer program, MemorialCare Todd Cancer Institute, Long Beach Memorial.)

Effective Leadership 4 Ways To develop A Bug-Free Mind

W

e accumulate beliefs over time.

Mixed in with good beliefs are also some bad beliefs – ones we pick up along the way. Getting rid of those bugs equips us to live a healthy life.

Young toddlers do this without even thinking about it. Learning to walk is

By Mick UklejA one of the most difficult skills to acquire. If every adult in the world lost the ability to walk and had to learn all over again, we’d have a world overcrowded with wheelchairs.

Toddlers make it look easy. What we don’t notice is their mindset not to give up. They continue to push forward fall after fall. They keep going until they succeed.

The majority of adults in the world would opt for the wheelchair.

I recently heard two scientists talk about the Principle of Pull.

Every cell in a tree, caterpillar, and even human be-

A

s a banker, it’s my goal to bring clarity to the process of getting a loan, and explain what it takes for a business to get a loan. Following are some factors to consider.

Looking at personal and business credit history helps us determine if the borrower has successfully handled credit. On the personal side, a lender will look the history of credit management including the FICO score. A lender also will want to know whether the business applying

By Ben for credit has paid its business obligations in a timely manner.

AlvArAdo That’s why a deep tenured business and personal credit and deposit relationship with a bank can make a difference. When you pursue a loan at a bank that knows you, a banker can see your possible overdrafts, current balances relative to 12-month averages and annual sales to better determine whether your business has strong enough cash flow for new credit. This helps tell the lender whether the business is credit-ready.

When a lender sees the owner invest money in the business, it shows there is a commitment to succeeding. What’s more, a business owner with assets that can be converted into cash in case of a sudden downturn in revenue will be better able to operate his or her business and repay debt. A lender wants to see that the assets of the business sufficiently exceed its liabilities, and to understand how quickly and easily those assets can be turned into cash.

Economic factors, such as the strength of the housing market for businesses that are tied closely to this important sector, will factor into the bank’s confidence in lending to those segments. Business and personal factors come into play here as well. Is the owner someone who has extensive experience in the industry or is he relatively new? In some cases, business references and education are personal factors that can affect conditions.

These conditions can be important indicators of a business’ ability to survive and thrive, and therefore its ability to repay its credit obligations.

Collateral can include personal assets – like investments and CDs – and business assets – such as real estate, inventory, equipment and accounts receivable but doesn’t replace good payment history or showing your ability to handle the proposed debt level.

Before extending a loan, a banker wants to make sure a business has the ability to repay a loan given its other pre-existing loan or payment obligations. Typically lenders look for a business seeking credit to have a debt-to-income ratio of no more than 40 to 50 percent, depending on the credit score.

Profitability and cash flow are essential components of capacity. A business must have enough positive cash flow to meet both short-term and long-term commitments.

Understanding these factors will give you a pretty good idea what it takes to get a business loan. Small business approval rates are increasing, and the reason should come as no surprise. Healthier businesses, better balance sheets, and stronger revenues mean more businesses today qualify for credit.

Now, it’s up to all of us in banking to keep spreading the word about how more small businesses can get credit-ready before pursuing a loan.

(Ben Alvarado, a 23-year veteran of Wells Fargo, is the president of the bank’s Southern California Region, which stretches from Long Beach to Orange, Imperial and San Diego counties.)

ings, grows and develops, not based on its history, but by being pulled towards its possible future.

The pull is internal and it’s programmed. Our lives are enhanced, in large measure, by having a powerful vision of the future. The more compelling the vision the more powerful the pull.

Here is the problem.

As we age we begin to lose our natural ability to use our skills. Adults having to learn to walk again would result in wheelchair gridlock. We develop thinking viruses that impact our abilities. They lower our expectations.

• Walking is too difficult.

• I can’t do it.

• Where’s my wheelchair?

When I was in junior high I planted tomatoes in the backyard for a science project. I went out each afternoon and made the effort to get the bugs off the leaves. They kept showing up and were impeding the growth of a healthy tomato plant. So I made a daily habit of debugging them.

In the same way we have bugs in our brains that retard our success. So the first step in debugging is to be aware of the pesky things. What are my doubts, my worries, my fears? What makes me anxious? Be specific as you spot the bugs.

If babies doubted they could ever walk, most of them wouldn’t have. But they were doubt-free. Put them in a wheelchair and watch how quickly they get out!

You’ve proven it over and over again that you can be successful. So just check for the bugs.

Here are four ways to debug your mind: 1. Monitor your thoughts. They will either move you forward or backward. “Why am I thinking this way? Is it helping me? How is it hurting me? Much of your life’s journey is born out of your thoughts.

2. Change your thinking. Plant your thought-seeds today knowing they will impact your life tomorrow. If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you. Change breeds growth.

3. Observe your doubts. Your observations are more powerful than your doubts! Your awareness drains their power. You are observing them and saying, “this has no value for me.” Whether it was a bad experience in childhood, or a grudge you are holding, or just lazy thinking.

You can now choose to let them go.

4. Deploy your best self. As you observe your doubts, your positive beliefs – the best parts of yourself – will fuel your growth. You are being a parent of your future, and not just an offspring of your past.

Bugs naturally gravitate to healthy plants and people.

Make it a daily habit to knock them off.

(Mick Ukleja keynotes across the country on topics related to leadership. He is president of LeadershipTraq and author of several books, including co-author of Managing the Millennials. His clients have included Fortune 500 corporations and non-profit organizations. Check his weekly blog at www.leadershiptraq.com.)

March

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2015

March 3-16, 2015

PERSPECTIVES PERSPECTIVES

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ental properties usually do well in a slower housing market – especially here in California where the statistics indicate that, since the beginning of the recession, the number of rental units being built is not keeping up with the increase in demand.

As an example, the number of rental houseBy Terry holds nationally has surged by a record two milross lion households over the past four quarters – attributed mainly to the growth in job creation – while the number of new apartments being built each year by developers per year is only in the range of 300,000 to 350,000 per year.

It is easy to see why this supply and demand ratio is good for apartment owners and developers, and it is equally good for the securitized multi-family Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) segment of the stock market, which is booming and showing great numbers to start off this year.

Apartment REITs delivered a 6.96 percent return to investors in January alone, including a 2.88 percent return from dividends, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). That’s a very high return for just one month – for many real estate investments, about 7 percent would be an acceptable return for an entire year. In comparison, the S&P 500 fell 3.0 percent in January.

Investors in apartment REITs may be getting used to very strong returns after receiving an astounding 39.62 percent total return in 2014, including a dividend yield of 2.88 percent. That’s compared to a 14.22 percent for the S&P 500. Apartment REITs also did better than all-equity REITs overall in 2014, which earned a total return of just 28.03 percent.

“This is clearly a solid time for the whole multi-family REIT sector,” said Calvin Schnure, an economist and senior vice president of research and economic analysis for NAREIT. “This is the biggest increase in rental occupancy rates since the Census Bureau began tracking data in 1965.”

Schnure estimates there are three million or more “shadow households” in the form of people doubled-up with roommates or family members. These individuals are likely to search for their

own apartments as they get first jobs, better jobs or raises. REITs are in a strong position to capture these new renters.

Affordability is the biggest thing holding back apartment REITs – and the broader apartment market. “The number of renters paying 30 percent or more of their income on rent is high,” Schnure said. “That is putting a cap on rent growth, which puts a cap on earnings growth for apartment REITs.” The future outlook for REITs is very strong despite the latest trend in increased building of rental units and a slower pace of rental rate increases last year. “I am not at all worried about new supply,” Schnure added. “This growth in rental demand is likely to outpace the new supply of apartments in the pipeline, supporting the outlook for multi-family housing stocks.”

The markets across the U.S. that are attracting investments from REITs also appear to be changing. It now appears that secondary markets are attracting a larger share of the investment pie after major markets were favored just two years ago, and the theory is that the lower capitalization rates in the smaller markets make these properties more attractive, along with an improvement in the general economy in these secondary markets.

“There seems to have been a shift back into secondary markets after being very focused on major markets during 2013,” explained Ben Carlos Thypin, director of market analysis for Real Capital Analytics.

REITs made 35.91 percent of their purchases in secondary markets in 2014, up from 24.05 percent in 2013. With the exception of 2012, that’s the biggest concentration on secondary markets that the REITs have shown since 2009. Before the housing crash, REITs regularly made well over a third of their purchases in secondary markets.

In looking over the Top 10 markets for 2014 for multi-family REIT investment, the local Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area leads the way with 32 properties and 8,778 total rental units. This is far and away ahead of second-place Seattle-TacomaBellevue Washington with 21 properties and 4,672 units. Third is San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (10 properties, 3,922 units), followed by San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward (13 properties, 3,885 units), San Diego-Carlsbad (9 properties, 2,724 units), Oklahoma City (5 properties, 1,658 units), Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell (6 properties, 1,650 units), Louisville/Jefferson County KY-IN metro (5 properties, 1,549 units), Memphis metro (3 properties, 1,190 units) and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (3 properties, 1,088 units).

Given the numbers, it would appear that the apartment market will remain strong for either direct investment or through the REIT market for the foreseeable future.

(Terry Ross, the broker-owner of TR Properties, will answer any questions about today’s real estate market. E-mail questions to Realty Views at terryross1@cs.com or call 949/457-4922.)

Trade And Transportation now What?

T

he Southern California trade community breathed a sigh of relief with the recent news that a tentative agreement had been reached between dockworkers of the InterBy Tom o’Brien national Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) which represents ocean carriers and terminal operators. The PMA-ILWU contract is actually coast wide, covering ports up and down the West Coast. But there’s no doubt that the line-up of 30-plus ships waiting to get in to the San Pedro Bay ports was the big story coming out of the back-andforth between the two sides, a back-and forth that actually shut down the ports for a number of days.

Because of the size of our ports and the role they play as a gateway for products for the rest of the nation, L.A. and Long Beach serve as the proverbial canary in the coal mine for U.S. trade. When we suffer, it’s likely that the country suffers

as well. This was a point made by Mike Jacob, the vice president and general counsel of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) at the February 24 California Maritime Leadership Symposium in Sacramento. He argued that a decline in market share for Los Angeles and Long Beach is not necessarily good news for other US ports. Recent history has proven that the winners, at our expense, might just be Mexican and Canadian ports.

That’s why the sudden exhale should probably be brief. The labor problems at the ports were only one cause of the recent congestion woes. The others include a shortage of chassis driven by changing business models for ocean carriers, larger vessels creating peak demands for both labor and equipment, and bottlenecks at not only the docks but outside the gates as well.

What we have is not just a port problem, or a labor problem, but a supply chain problem. And solving that kind of problem is more difficult than even a contract negotiation because it involves a greater number of actors over a wider ge-

ographic area with many competing interests (even if they’re all presumably in the business of moving goods).

Discussions at the Symposium suggested a few places to start. For one thing, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach - while competitors – have a shared interest in eliminating the delays brought about by equipment shortages. And both, with the approval of the Federal Maritime Commission, are developing a cooperative working agreement to tackle chassis supply and storage along with other vexing problems like trucker turn time which are often related.

But you don’t want to just move the bottleneck and delay further down the supply chain. That’s why, I think, there was also a fair amount of discussion about the need for a robust National Freight (including ports) Policy that identifies a dedicated funding source for freight-related projects that removes cumbersome restrictions on financing infrastructure improvements across modes of transport. And one that, not surprisingly for a room full of Californians, makes the politically bold decision to prioritize projects where the need is greatest. That means not cutting things too thin in order to give every place a piece of the pie for political reasons. The argument may be a tough one to make, but if the health of the

Long Beach Business Journal 29

Vol. XXVIII No. 4 March 3-16, 2015

EDITOR & PUBLISHER George Economides SALES & MARKETING EXECUTIVE Heather Dann GRAPHIC DESIGNER Chris R. Weber OFFICE ASSISTANT Larry Duncan EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT SENIOR WRITER Samantha Mehlinger STAFF WRITER Dave Wielenga CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Michael Gougis, Jack Humphrey PHOTOJOURNALIST Thomas McConville COPY EDITOR Pat Flynn The Long Beach Business Journal is a publication of South Coast Publishing, Inc., incorporated in the State of California in July 1985. It is published every other Tuesday (except between Christmas and mid-January) – 25 copies annually. The Business Journal premiered March 1987 as the Long Beach Airport Business Journal. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited unless otherwise stated. Opinions expressed by perspective writers and guest columnists are their views and not necessarily those of the Business Journal. Press releases should be sent to the address shown below.

Office South Coast Publishing, Inc. 2599 E. 28th Street, Suite 212 Signal Hill, CA 90755 Ph: 562/988-1222 • Fx: 562/988-1239 www:LBBusinessJournal.com Advertising and Editorial Deadlines Wednesday prior to publication date. Note: Press releases should be faxed or mailed. No follow up calls, please. For a copy of the 2015 advertising and editorial calendar, please fax request to 562/988-1239. Include your name, company and address and a copy will be sent to you. Distribution: Minimum 22,000.

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U.S. economy really does depend on the strength of the California trade gateway, then the right investments can have positive downstream effects.

One other point that Jacob made had to do with the focus of freight planning. He argued that growth in the trade sector actually pays for the infrastructure development needed, and that a good freight plan – even one with a focus on sustainability – needs to make growth the key measure of success. In the absence of this, the Plan has limited ability to actually bring about its intended result.

For the audience in Sacramento, fresh from the recent battles played out in both the negotiating room and in the press, the argument seemed to resonate. But more battles lie ahead. What happens when, for example, the state tries to integrate the freight planning efforts of Caltrans and the Air Resources Board remains to be seen. Getting a new ILWU contract is a major step but we have more than enough reminders that the ports are just one link in a global supply chain and you what they say about only being as strong as your weakest link.

(Dr. Thomas O’Brien is the executive director of the Center for International Trade and Transportation at CSULB and an associate director for the METRANS Transportation Center, a partnership of USC and CSULB.)

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ART MATTERS

Long Beach Business Journal 30 March 3-16, 2015

Brought To You By The Arts Council For Long Beach

building served as Senior Health Center. MoLAA’s founder, Dr. Robert Gumbiner created the HMO Family Health Program (FHP) in Long Beach. He believed that art had therapeutic properties and created an art gallery within the senior health center. TRANSFORMATIONS supports Dr. Gumbiner’s beliefs and demonstrates how art provides meaning to our lives and helps overcome challenges.

TRANSFORMATIONS is on display at MoLAA through May 24. For more information visit MoLAA’s website at www.molaa.org. ■

Arts For Healing ■ By LAURA SARDISCO Arts Council for Long Beach Staffmember

A

rt has the power to move and transform us, to inspire and uplift us, but also the power to help heal.

So much of the work created in Long Beach builds on that understanding. Whether a symphony brings an audience near to tears or a theatre piece opens up laughter and joy in a patron’s life. The ability to use art as a mechanism of healing is the premise of the Museum of Latin American Art’s (MoLAA) current exhibit, TRANSFORMATIONS. This exhibit matches the healing power of art while documenting how five local individuals were transformed by important and challenging moments in their lives.

Carlos Ortega, Curator of Collections at MoLAA, sought to “create something relevant that affects all of us individually and as a community.” An open call for community members to share a life-changing event received 53 applications. Carlos and a curatorial team interviewed 10 finalists to arrive at the final five participants. Selected participants were given the opportunity to choose art from MoLAA’s collection of over 1,500 pieces purely on the artworks’ relationship to their transformation. Ultimately, art played a central role in each transformation, becoming a vehicle to help express certain feelings that otherwise would be hard to convey to illustrate their stories.

One participant, Rocio (pictured) was born a talented dancer in El Salvador. At age eight, she was awarded a scholarship to ballet school.

Before enrolling, she was shot by a Photography local gang. For

By Mick Victor/ COTU MEDIA years she put her life on hold, believing she would walk again. Rocio eventually moved to the United States to be with her mother. Soon after, she received treatment for Scoliosis at Rancho Los Amigos. Here she “discovered another way to dance- by being introduced to painting. [She] dance[s] with [her] brushes.” Rocio’s transformation is pictured here in the two images she chose.

After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Lorena waited to have the major meltdowns. They never came.

Due to her family, faith, and medical team, she made peace with cancer. During treatment, people around her assumed she was well again because she went on with the business of daily life. Only a few family members asked how she was. Those rare moments were appreciated most, because they acknowledged reality. Lorena

Why Serving On Nonprofit Art Organization Boards Makes A Difference ■ By SARAH BENNETT Arts Council for Long Beach Contributor

Tatiana Parcero: Re-Invento #25 (Rocio’s pre-transformation image)

hopes that her story can inspire others to get a breast exam and believes, “timing is everything with cancer, and you won't know until you see a doctor.”

Kendell Carter was commissioned to create a living room within the museum as a space for visitors to reflect upon and share their own transformations. Take some time to get to know your neighbors, share your story with others, and be inspired to continue on your own path in life.

For MoLAA this is not a new concept as the organization’s history is entrenched in the belief that art can play a healing role in our lives. Before becoming a museum, MoLAA’s

Jorge Martinze detail of Sueño con esa silla (Rocio’s post-transformation image)

Gallery Corner

Hillary Norcliffe’s Shower Wall Project at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Art exists in many environments, a statement that local artist, Hillary Norcliffe, knows remarkably well. Norcliffe removes the boundaries between art and life by working outside a traditional gallery to facilitate healing via art. From 2009-2010, Norcliffe spent her Saturday mornings drawing sketches of each guest waiting to use the services provided by the Shower Program at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The Shower Program provides hot showers, clean clothing, and a meal to homeless individuals four Saturday mornings a month. After the sessions, she photocopied the drawings and displayed the over 65 pieces of art on the hallway wall. This makeshift gallery transformed into a regular place for pause as weekly guests identified unnamed portraits and drew connections from one face to the next. In 2014, Norcliffe received funding from the micro-grants program at the Arts Council for Long Beach to revamp the wall. Norcliffe cleaned and updated the wall to give the space a permanent presence and keep these stories alive. The wall has become a place of reflection that honors the Shower Program’s guests and helps build community. To see more of Hilary Norcliffe’s work, please visit her website atwww.hilarynorcliffe.com. If you would like to volunteer to help the Shower Program, please contact Gail Mutke at gamutke@verizon.net or call the church office at (562) 436-4047.

T

he lively performances and whimsical exhibitions presented by Long Beach's many arts organizations might feel light years away from the pencil-pushing meetings of corporate boardrooms, but the two worlds remain indelibly connected through the formers' boards of directors.

Every nonprofit organization is required to have a board – a group of people passionate about the organization's cause who meet every so often to provide input and direction for its various goals, programs and needs. Especially in the arts realm, it's important to fill boards with people from a variety of backgrounds, from donors and private citizens to corporate employees with specialized skills.

“I've added value to the arts organization and in return, I've gotten a lot of satisfaction out of helping the arts organization,” says Kathy Fishkin, chief financial officer of Rich Development in San Pedro. Fishkin has been on the board of the Arts Council for Long Beach for nearly a decade, bringing her fiduciary experience to the nonprofit.

For companies with outreach and community engagement goals, having an employee on the board of an arts organization can help further that mission. Energy company Valero, though based in Wilmington, has long supported and enhanced community arts opportunities in Long Beach. Steve Faichney, its director of government affairs, sits on the boards of International City Theatre and the Long Beach Symphony, which brings performing arts into area schools.

“We don't do it for a lot of the hand waving,” Faichney says. “We do it because it's the right thing to do.

You're enhancing educational opportunities and you're enhancing the organization.”

Jim Preusch, chief financial officer for the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, is also on the International City Theatre's board. Beyond serving the outreach goals of his company, he says being a corporate representative on an arts organization's board allows him to lend support for the public benefits ICT provides.

“It's simply good to be able to give back and good to encourage your employer to give to the community,” Preusch says.

Most important for a corporation that is looking at lending an employee to be board member, however, is that the person has a big interest in the organization they are helping guide.

“I collect art. I love art. I have a personal connection,” Fishkin says. “Corporate people should select the type of organization that appeals to them a great deal. You have to be motivated and you've got to be inspired.”

If you are interested in learning more about serving on an arts organization board, contact your favorite local nonprofit. ■

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1_LBBJ_MARCh3_2015_PortAnniversary 2/28/15 2:57 PM Page 31

THE NONPROFIT PAGE

Long Beach Business Journal 31 March 3-16, 2015

Curated By The Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership

Nonprofits: The Return on Investment for Business Owners If you are in a professional serv- column.). While I was never a are engaged with that nonprofit. ices business, what are the two scout as a kid, I got involved as You will shine and others will see things a prospect wants to know an adult volunteer. I have fond it in you too. They will get a full about that professional? 1) Is the memories of watching those kids measure of who you are and will person competent in their field? grow including one young man, be able to make a well informed and, 2) Do I trust and like this Tony, who earned his merit badge decision on working with you person? In today’s web-based on Insect Study and is now an et- should they require your field of world, one’s professional creden- ymology major at the University professional services.

It’s a Win-Win-Win situation. tials, continuing education, etc. is of California. I also support the and feel strongly Think about it. The nonprofit gets out there for the Investing in a non- about the mission a terrific volunteer, a partner, a world to see and of the Long Beach patron. You have the opportunity compare. The latprofit is a great in- Day Nursery as it to fulfill a part of you that makes ter is sometimes provides a safe you truly whole. Your kids and the more difficult vestment for your place for working family members get to observe to discern. Howbusiness parents to place you modeling good community ever, a personal their pre-school leadership. And, from a purely recommendation based on experience is invaluable, child while they earn a living. Pro- professional standpoint, you get to whether it is word of mouth, a re- grams like those offered by the promote your professional busiferral, or a testimonial from a nonprofits I mentioned help de- ness services. What’s not to love?

So go ahead, look around this velop character, confidence and website.

For me and many of my school-readiness of the youth terrific community we call Long friends, the benefit of working they serve and can even support Beach and find a nonprofit that with a nonprofit far outweighs the economic development and shares your values. We all win.

And that ROI, the one that I menthe time and money donated to security of their families.

If you find a nonprofit where tioned at the beginning of this arthe charities. The key is truly believing in the mission and vision your heart soars in the service of ticle, will be as clear as the of the nonprofit. It should be others it is virtually assured that spreadsheet in the pupil of your and/or inspire your passion. I you will be at your best while you eye. Trust me! have clarity in that matter. I have a clear notion to work with our community’s youth. They are our future. It’s fun. More importantly, There are a myriad of opportunities to volunteer for local nonprofit is ‘Fun with a Purpose.’ its; from helping to staff a one-time charity event to serving on a So, it should not be surprised board of directors. Think about your passion. Think about what inthat my commitments of time and spires you. Think about the skills you offer. Think about your time money are dedicated to nonprofits constraints. Talk to your friends. Consider anyone else whom you that serve youth. I grew up in a might want to involve.

YMCA program. I loved it. I made Three great resources to consider when looking to give your time life-long friends and met my wife and skills: Anna while at Camp Oakes in the • VolunteerMatch summer of 1978. We’re still to• Volunteer Center of South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach gether, by the way. and she de• LinkedIn serves a medal. But that’s another VolunteerMatch offers service opportunities for nonprofits throughout the nation and provides an easy to use online database. There are currently 2,140 volunteer opportunities listed in Long Beach and another 5,226 virtual ones. Visit volunteermatch.org.

For service listings at the local Volunteer Center of South Bay-HarFrom the Nonprofit Partnership bor-Long Beach visit http://volcenter.org.

Human Resources: Employee Recruitment and Selection, March 5, 2-5 PM If you are interested in volunteering by serving on a local or naLearn practical recruitment and selection techniques, interview questions and tional board of directors or, if you would like to offer your skillsstrategies. based consulting services pro-bono to a nonprofit, be sure update your profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has an entire section in which you Human Resources Certificate, March 12-April 16, 2-5 PM can identify what skills /services that you would like to donate to a This six-day certificate program provides skill development and knowledge nonprofit. Visit LinkedIn.com.

What I am about to say may sound odd to some business owners - the return on investment of time or funds that they give Brian C. Russell to a nonprofit.

President, Rotary Club To me it makes of Long Beach perfect sense.

Vice President In fact, I think Coldwell Banker that it is a Commercial great return BLAIR WESTMAC on investment.

Please allow me to explain.

Simply stated, business owners are motivated by profit. No surprise there. So what’s the connection with return on investment, or ROI, with a local nonprofit? There are many. Some of the best advertising I have done for my business doesn’t involve a print ad or a targeted email or a stamped envelope in a direct mail campaign. Instead, it involves people getting to know me through our shared experience working with, or for, a nonprofit.

There are personal reasons as well. One is my current community leadership role is as President of the Rotary Club of Long Beach.

One of the many community tasks I do each month is a park cleanup at our Rotary Centennial Park. Fellow Rotarian Randy Gordon, put it well, “In the humble job of picking up trash with others, you get the chance to know one another on a different and meaningful level.”

Looking to Volunteer?

Capacity Corner: Upcoming Calendar of Events

for HR administration and management. It is hosted by the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and is held in San Pedro.

Fund Development Certificate, March 19, April 2 & 9, 9 AM–4 PM During this three-day certificate program you will create a fund development plan through interactive hands-on activities while receiving feedback on a previously written grant and/or fundraising proposal.

From our Partners Directors of Volunteers in Agencies-Los Angeles (DOVIA-LA) March 20, 9:30 am to 12 noon Successfully Implementing Volunteer Program Changes with presenter Jennifer Bennett, CVA Senior Manager, Education & Training at VolunteerMatch.

For more info visit: doviala.org.

Save the Date: CalNonprofits 2015 Policy Convention November 4, City of Oakland Focusing on the economic and political forecast for California’s nonprofit sector. For more info, visit: calnonprofits.org.

The area’s regional capacity builder, serving local organizations to strengthen and grow through leadership, education and collaboration. Offering: Professional Development & Training Networking & Collaboration Custom Training & Consulting Services Information Resources To learn more, visit us at www.lbnp.org.

4900 East Conant St., Building O-2, Suite 225, Long Beach, CA 90808 562.888-6530

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