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“Morning Dew” by Cecilia Rahban For more on this photographer, see page 5
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Serving BixBy KnollS, California HeigHtS, loS CerritoS, Wrigley and tHe City of Signal Hill
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
Vol. 33 No. 51
When life gives you lemons...
May 25, 2012
Long Beach breaks ground for its first park named after an LGBT public figure
Signal Hill councilmembers among those honored during ceremony
Neena Strichart/Signal Tribune
The lemonade stand staffed last Sunday by 6-year-old leukemia patient Cooper Evans (pictured) turned out to be “a huge success,” according to his father Brandon Evans. The stand, set up for the day at Trani’s Restaurant in Bixby Knolls, was part of Cooper’s efforts to raise money to donate to the Jonathan Jacques Children’s Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital. Cooper raised $5,610 at the event, but Price Transfer Inc. and Anco Maritime Activities Ltd. matched those funds, bringing the grand total to $16,830.
Long-running legal battle surrounding plan for underground water-storage continues CJ Dablo Staff Writer
A legal dispute over an underground water storage plan continues. The battle has pitted plaintiffs that include Signal Hill, Downey and Cerritos against the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD). The WRD, an agency that manages the groundwater supply for more than 40 Southern California cities, may not be well known to Signal Hill residents and businesses who receive their water bills directly from the City of Signal Hill. However, the agency plays a key role in supplying water to the area. According to City Manager Ken Farfsing, Signal Hill owns more than 2,000 acre-feet of ground water that needs to be replenished by the WRD, and if the City needs more than its allotment, Signal Hill can lease or purchase water from several sources, including the WRD, another agency called the Central Basin Municipal Water District, or other entities that own water. Signal Hill joined the two other cities in the lawsuit to fight the WRD on the underground storage
issue, and earlier this month, the California Supreme Court determined that a trial court has the jurisdiction over water storage issues. The cities have also filed another lawsuit that challenges the replenishment assessments imposed by the WRD. The cities insist that Proposition 218 applies to these assessments. Since 2001, water entities had tried to develop a plan for underground-water storage. A court rejected one storage-proposal plan. Later, another plan was discussed in mediation between the WRD and pumpers in the water regional districts called the Central Basin and West Coast Basin, according to Ed Casey, an attorney for the WRD. After this plan was ultimately rejected, another plan was proposed about three years ago, but Signal Hill, Cerritos and Downey objected to that plan for a number of reasons. The plan changes the rules for water-extraction rights and names a new group to serve as the “watermaster.” Casey explained that the watermaster is an oversight entity that enforces see WRD page 14
Cory Bilicko/Signal Tribune
Stuart Milk, nephew of Harvey Milk and chair of the Harvey Milk Foundation, and First District Long Beach Councilmember Robert Garcia at Tuesday’s groundbreaking for the Harvey Milk Promenade Park, which will be located in downtown Long Beach Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
Thirty-five years after Harvey Milk became the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the City of Long Beach has broken ground for a park in his honor– the first in the country to be named after him and the first park in the city to recognize a member of the LGBT community. Last Tuesday morning, which was Milk’s birthday, First District Councilmember Robert Garcia, who spearheaded the project, hosted the groundbreaking ceremony that included various other city officials and leaders from the local LGBT community. The Harvey Milk Promenade Park will be located at 3rd Street and The Promenade, an area of the city that has rapidly
evolved in the last few years with new retail establishments, condominiums and park space. On Nov. 27, 1978, Milk and then-Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned. “Harvey was someone that, not just represented the best of us as a community, as an LGBT community, but represented, really, the best of what being an American is all about,” said Garcia in his opening remarks. “Because being an American, to me and, I think, to most of us, is about fighting for those without a voice. It’s about fighting for the underrepresented. It’s about building coalitions and partnerships and collaboratives. It’s about working with everyone regardless of their race, gender or sexual orientation. That’s what Long Beach is
Weekly Weather Forecast May 25 through 29, 2012
(562) 427-9900 3756 Long Beach Blvd. Bixby Knolls www.longbeachcyclery.com
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Mostly Cloudy
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Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
66° Lo 55°
71° Lo 56°
74° Lo 58°
76° Lo 59°
74° Lo 58°
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about. That’s what we believe in, and that’s what Harvey fought for.” Garcia pointed out that, to him, Milk was not “an LGBT leader,” but rather an American leader. “He is someone that we should celebrate as a community, and we should be proud that his namesake will bear the area that we’re standing on today,” he said. The councilmember also discussed Milk’s emphasis on giving people hope and how he had influenced other significant social movements. Garcia then introduced Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, who called the new park “a beautiful way to honor a civil-rights leader and a person who’s done so much to change life in California and indeed probably around the world.” Foster see paRk page 9