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The Headlines • Airport-Area Assessment District To Fund Traffic Improvements At 14 Intersections • City’s New Noise Ordinance To Impact Douglas MD-11 Program; Council Ignores Firm’s Request
1990
• Despite Very Poor Sales Tax Revenues, City Manager Hankla Remains Optimistic About Long Beach’s Retail Future • HarborPlace Tower Tops Out; Project Two Months Ahead Of Schedule • Local Tax Measure For Additional Police Officers Considered • Long Beach International Auto Show Rolls Into Town With ‘Hottest’ ’91s • Mayor Kell Issues Statement About City’s Contract With L.A. County Sheriffs • Signal Hill Auto Center Site Preparation Underway; Six Dealerships Confirmed • The City Budget And Taxpayer Dollars: City Employee Fringe Benefits A Major Expenditures And Referred To As The ‘Cadillac’ Of Retirement Systems • The Walt Disney Company Releases Its Preliminary Master Plan On Port Disney
The Quotes “I can believe that they (the auto dealers) never understood the rules. They heard only what they wanted to hear. The one basic rule that has never changed is that the city’s general fund could not, and would not, guarantee the financing for an auto mall project.” – City Manager James C. Hankla about dropping the concept of an auto mall in favor of a retail power center “Everyone is pointing to gloom and doom. But, customers realize it’s the holiday season. Our customers who see Buffums as their source will buy here, and we hope they will continue to shop with us. Second, trends are changing in fashion and we’re moving into ladies ready-to-wear, which will attract new career women. We will retain our other lines, however. Third, we’re getting new point-of-sale equipment, cash registers that are faster and more efficient. That, and our employees’ good attitude, should be worth experiencing.”– John Duncan, president/CEO, Buffums, a Long Beach-based department store with 16 stores in Southern California. A few months later, the 87-year-old chain closed its doors “Growth through the harbor will not come without challenges. All landfill proposals must be accompanied by projects designed to mitigate, or compensate for, any environmental disruption. In return for the 147-acre Pier J expansion, the port created a 116-acre wetlands enhancement project at the Seal Beach National Wildlife Reserve. The $7 million project will provide fish hatcheries and nesting areas for several endangered species of birds to compensate for the natural marine habitat lost to Pier J.” – C. Robert Langslet, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners “I am concerned about the no-growth attitude that seems to be gaining strength in the city. Growth is going to happen. The issue is whether or not we can control it and make it work to everyone’s benefit.” – Jean Bixby Smith, president, Bixby Land Co., during an interview with the Business Journal “Disney’s goal is to listen and to work toward building the kind of consensus that will make the vision of Port Disney a reality in Long Beach. The chamber’s goal is to facilitate the development of this process. Clearly, our city is in a state of transition . . . some call it a ‘renaissance’ period or the beginning of a ‘new city’ – a time for new prosperity, exciting challenges and careful planning. Along with these plans will come the development of important standards for quality of life and economic vitality that surely will be exceptional by any measure.” – Jane Netherton, president/CEO of International City Bank and chair of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce “The city must negotiate the best possible deal for the citizens of Long Beach. I have told Disney officials that as soon as negotiations can show that the city is adequately compensated, traffic problems are mitigated, the environmental impact has been mitigated, and it has been determined who is paying for what and how much revenue will be deposited into the general fund, I will be in a position to evaluate the proposal and determine my position to support or not support the project.” – Part of a statement read August 7 by Mayor Ernie Kell following the passage of a Long Beach City Council resolution complimenting The Walt Disney Co. for its preliminary master plan for Port Disney
etcetera . . . Construction is under way on the city’s newest luxury high-rise, The Pacific, one of the few residential developments on the coast to have its own private beach. Located at 850 E. Ocean Blvd., site of the former Pacific Coast Club. Completion is targeted for May 1992. The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency has given preliminary approval for a 250-unit condominium tower on Ocean Boulevard at Pine Avenue at the site of the former Jergins Trust building. A new law goes into effect February 25 that bans smoking on all flights in the continental United States.
Business Journal Perspective: The brief, two-paragraph story appearing in the August 2 edition of USA Today about The Disney Company’s “Port Disney” proposal concluded with the following statement by Long Beach Mayor Ernie Kell: “The deal has got to do more than give (Disney chief executive officer) Michael Eisner a bonus.” That statement, which we verified with the USA Today reporter, was in poor taste, especially from the top elected official of our city. The Gutenberg Festival – the biggest trade show west of the Mississippi – is coming to Long Beach March 22 to 25, bringing with it 45,000 vendors, exhibitors and other attendees. The only complaint from organizers is that along with the show’s growing success is the shrinking availability of space at the Long Beach Convention Center.
Interview with Bob Autrey, owner of Long Beach BMW and C. Bob Autrey Mazda dealerships, the first to move from Long Beach into the new Signal Hill Auto Center: “The Long Beach auto mall negotiations actually began when John Dever was city manager (1977-86). At the time, a group of Long Beach auto dealers – myself included – proposed that the city develop an auto mall on the site that is now the Kilroy Airport Center. With its proximity and visibility from the 405 Freeway, we all thought the site would have been the perfect location for an auto mall. Unfortunately, Dever rejected that idea. A couple of years later, we entered into negotiations again with the city for a site near Redondo and Willow. This time, following a lengthy and involved negotiation process, the city sold to an outside developer at the last minute because he was offering a dollar more per square foot. When that happened, I realized that I could not rely on the city to help me find a location.”