Photo of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final flight by Matt Sun See page 2
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SERVING BIXBY KNOLLS, CALIFORNIA HEIGHTS, LOS CERRITOS, WRIGLEY AND THE CITY OF SIGNAL HILL
Hill Street house that LB wants to demolish damaged by fire VOL. 34 NO. 17
Nick Diamantides Staff Writer
The two vacant houses on Hill Street that sit on the boundary line between Long Beach and Signal Hill are still in limbo, but last week, on Sept. 20, one of them mysteriously caught fire. The upscale homes, which Long Beach officials want demolished, were constructed by developer Wayne Ballinger in 2003 but have never been occupied because he and all subsequent owners have been unable to obtain easements for utilities and driveways. The houses are located at 2910 and 2914 Hill St. in Long Beach, in the 4th City Coun-
cil District. The house at 2910 Hill St. was the one damaged by the fire. The houses are owned by Tarzana-based Six Angels, Inc., which purchased the homes in 2008 for $800,000. Brian Angel, one of company principals, said the fire caused $100,000 to $150,000 in damage, but the houses are insured. “We do not know what caused the fire,” he said. “We have kicked homeless people off the property in the past, but the houses are very secure, and I do not know how someone could have gotten inside.” According to Will Nash, public
information officer for the Long Beach Fire Department, the fire was reported by a neighbor at 4:26pm. “The first units arrived at the scene five minutes later, and the fire was knocked down in six minutes,” he said. “It was a slowburning, smoldering fire, but the firefighters had to tear into the building to get to it.” Nash explained that the fire was probably slowly burning for quite some time before smoke became visible from outside the house. He added that no one was injured by the blaze, and the last of the firefighters left the scene at 5:39pm.
Stephen Strichart/Signal Tribune
On Sept. 20, the vacant house at 2910 Hill St. was damaged by fire.
Feud over auto-title loan firm moving into Wrigley area likely heading to LB City Council on appeal
LB City Council agrees to look into pay-cutting ballot measure and bargain for pension reform
see HILL STREET page 8
fer” process before proposing any changes to employee contracts and must not interfere with existing contracts. Only if negotiations reach an impasse would the City be allowed to propose such a ballot measure, he said. Consequently, City Manager Patrick West is scheduled to meet with IAM and other employee unions in closed session during a special meeting on Oct. 2. The ballot proposal, however, drew sharp criticism from union members and some city councilmembers, who said the initiative appears to single out non-public safety employees, such as street sweepers, trash haulers, clerks and librarians, for taking pay raises while the City has had to make deep cuts to services during the economic downturn. According to a staff report by Seventh District Coun-
Sean Belk Staff Writer
With few options left to avert continual budget cuts, the Long Beach City Council has agreed to look into an initiative that would ask voters whether to turn back wages for nonpublic safety workers to 2010 levels in the next two fiscal years. The action, approved in a 6-2 vote at the City Council’s Sept. 18 meeting, also directs city staff to immediately start a collective-bargaining process with miscellaneous employee unions, including the city’s largest union, the International Association of Machinists (IAM). But it could be a while before the so-called “compensation reform” proposal ever makes it to the ballot, according to City Attorney Robert Shannon, who said state law requires that public employers go through a “meet and con-
Sean Belk/Signal Tribune
Georgia-based Pennbrooke Financial Services, LLC has applied for a conditional-use permit to operate out of this empty commercial building on the northwest corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Pacific Avenue in the south Wrigley area. However, the proposal has stalled so far, after the Long Beach Planning Commission reached a deadlock vote on Sept. 20.
Sean Belk Staff Writer
To some Wrigley-area residents, allowing an auto-title loan firm to move into their neighborhood would create “financial blight” in an already fragile community. But representatives of the company see it
September 28, 2012
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
differently, contesting that stopping the firm’s move would crush any chance for the vacant lot to be developed, and that the City doesn’t have any legal grounds to make such a determination in the first place. The Long Beach Planning Commission came to a (3-3) tie vote on
Sept. 20 on whether to grant Georgia-based Pennbrooke Financial Services, LLC a conditional-use permit (CUP) to operate out of an empty commercial building on the northwest corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Pacific Avenue. The
Weekly Weather Forecast Friday
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This week’s Weekly Weather Forecast sponsored by:
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