Long Beach Courthouse

Here is an excerpt of a news release from the Office of City Manager that got my attention. First because of an apparent land exchange between the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency and the State of California. Wow, pretty cool! I guess it must be nice to have friends in high places.

From what the executive director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency has to say about it I feel that this must be good news for all of us who reside in Long Beach. Keep in mind however that I know nothing about the land swap, costs, or anything. This is the first time that I have become aware of this, but it does sound good upfront.

"This approval is a major milestone not only toward breaking ground on the new courthouse, but also for the continued revitalization of our Downtown," said Craig Beck, Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. "The courthouse will be a new civic landmark that will be designed to reflect the unique characteristics of the surrounding Long Beach community, and we're thrilled to see it moving forward." (emphasis mine)

I wanted to get an image of our current courthouse and instead found an article by the Press-Telegram that one, has an photo and two, the write up is the background of the story so I will just post the link to that article at the bottom.

What I did especially like, is this little section of the article:

The proposed courthouse, which is expected to house 800 workers and attract 3,500 to 4,500 visitors daily, would consist of a 545,000-square-foot building with 31 civil and criminal courtrooms, 63,000 square feet of county office space, 9,200 square feet of retail space and a basement that will include a sally port or controlled-entry space and an in-custody holding facility. This courthouse will replace the aging, crowded 1960s facility on Ocean.

Sounds to me like a tall order numbers wise, although I do not know what the numbers of the current courthouse are, but, combined with the statements of the executive director that the new courthouse "will be a new civic landmark that will be designed to reflect the unique characteristics of the surrounding Long Beach community" the whole plan sounds grand.

I really am looking forward to keeping up with this project because I'm sure there is way more than meets the eye. The deals of the arrangement, as of the 09/01/09 publishing date of the Press-Telegram article seem peculiar to me. Especially when it comes to the part about the RDA paying the state 5mil. over some amount of years to cover some land cost differences but the state is getting land that is valued at 24.2mil, while the RDA is getting is valued at 18.9mil. So the RDA is buying the land from the state and giving them (the state) the land that the current courthouse resides (valued at 5.3mil more than what the RDA is getting) plus needing to pay 5mil. to complete the deal.

If it works out this way maybe the deal isn't so bad if it works out that we, the citizens of Long Beach get: a court house that will reflect our community, the continued redevelopment of our downtown and support the numbers proposed then let's see it to fruition.

Official Release:

From the Office of the City Manager
News Release

The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA) announced today that the State Public Works Board has approved the land exchange agreement between the RDA and the State of California, for the development of the new Long Beach Courthouse. The state's Public Works Board met on October 12, 2009 in the State Capitol and approved the acquisition.

"This approval is a major milestone not only toward breaking ground on the new courthouse, but also for the continued revitalization of our Downtown," said Craig Beck, Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. "The courthouse will be a new civic landmark that will be designed to reflect the unique characteristics of the surrounding Long Beach community, and we're thrilled to see it moving forward."

The new Long Beach courthouse is the first for which the state's Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is using an innovative public-private arrangement called "performance based infrastructure." The State anticipates reviewing three competing developer teams and finalizing their selection process in early 2010. The land exchange with the RDA will then be closed, and execution of the developer agreement will take place in April 2010. Construction is expected to commence within four months from the closing date, and construction of the new courthouse is expected to be complete in fall 2012.

The new facility will be located in Downtown's West Gateway area, between Broadway and 3rd Street, West of Magnolia Avenue, and will replace the outdated facility located at 415 Ocean Blvd.

For more than 45 years, the mission of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency has been to enhance the quality of life by improving blighted areas of Long Beach, revitalizing neighborhoods, promoting economic development, creating jobs, providing affordable housing and encouraging citizen participation. Visit the RDA online at www.LongBeachRDA.org


For this and other Press Releases, please visit:
http://www.longbeach.gov/news/default.asp

News article from the Press-Telegram regarding the land swap for the new courthouse:

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_13250106

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People sure did think differently back then.

Apparently the government is the solution as evidenced by the passing of the so-called stimulus package that grows the government even more, increases entitlements (and thereby dependence  upon the government) and extends the government into the private sector. All hail Barrack!

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Follow the leader

Following the lead of the government's policy of spending more to get out of debt and to spread the wealth around, I did the same thing.

I used money that I don't have, via a credit card, and then spread it [the money] around to the city's Public Works division that was holding my car hostage because of expired registration. How much money did I spread around today? Enough to pay a weeks salary to the clerk who was happy to take the money, all $409.00 worth of it.

The city imposes a lien on the fifth and sixth day that the vehicle is in impound in addition to the daily storage fee which is how the total got so high but I didn't leave it there that long by choice. Remember, as I mentioned in a previous post, the D.M.V. was closed this past Friday so I couldn't get it then which was the day I had intended to retrieve my car for allot less money redistribution.

In this new savior-based economy I just wish Barrack would of come to my hometown and allowed me to plead my case before him. I'm sure either him or another government official could of helped me in my plight of being irresponsible in registering my vehicle in a timely fashion with a bailout. Oh well!

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State agencies close, no money

The state of California is broke and the governor has declared a fiscal state of emergency, enabling him to require state workers to take off two Fridays per month.

Today was the first Friday that many state agencies took the day off without pay, including the Department of Motor Vehicles. Wouldn't you know it, the D.M.V. was just the state agency I needed to visit today so that I could get my car back.

It's bad enough that the elected state employees can't seem to balance a budget, run the economy to near bankruptcy, force thousands to loose a day of pay but also affect millions who need to use the state agencies. Like myself. Because the D.M.V. was closed today and will be closed Saturday I will have to wait till Monday to be able to pick up my car. That means an additional $64. storage fees and also a $50. lien placed on the vehicle bringing the total to about $357.00

This blunder by our government officials causes to wonder if we really want to increase the growth of the government and our dependence upon them. I mean come on, the more services they provide the more likely that we will have to put up with sub-par standards as compared to private enterprises. Case in point, the Postmaster General has requested to eliminate 6-day mail delivery and reduce it to five days. Why? Not enough money.

Can't wait for government run health care.

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Happy Birthday Ronald Wilson Reagan

"If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under." - Ronald Reagan

February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004

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City is hurting for money

Image by akseabird via Flickr

On Thursdays I have a mandated meeting to attend for persons with Bi-Polar disorder and this Thursday is no different except I planned on arriving on-time for a change. Because it's not by choice that I go to this meeting I tend to procrastinate getting ready and leaving so as a result I'm always late.

This Thursday, I knew I needed to trim my hair and take a shower, so I purposefully started thirty minutes earlier than usual. No problem in the shower but trimming my hair was a problem. Between the clippers not working so well and the plug constantly falling out of the receptacle doing my hair took longer than expected. By the time I left the house it was the usual time that I leave which means I would be late again.

It was pouring down rain as I'm leaving the house and jogging towards the street to get into the shelter of my car but my car was not where I left it. I was sure I parked it in front of the house but decided to look down the side street in both directions just in case. I'm getting drenched walking around looking for my car and after a few minutes I conclude that someone must have stolen it.

One thing for sure is that I got out of going to my meeting but this is a bad way of getting out of it for sure.

I called the police to report it stolen and they went take the information over the phone so they have to send an officer out to take the report, more standing out in the rain, well I guess I could invite him in but having the long arm of the law in your place isn't always the first thing on the to-do list. No worries though, after the person on the phone returned from running my plates she informed me that my car was towed because of expired tags.

Wow, the city couldn't just issue a citation, they had to tow the car. Unbelievable.

I called the impound yard for the cost to reclaim my car it was $199. for the tow and $32. for storage. But I wouldn't be able to pick up the car because it needed to be registered first. Here is my problem. The car was written off as a loss by the insurance company after a minor accident. I sent the money in for the registration but got a letter back stating that I would need to apply for a Salvage Certificate and to get one of those the car needs to be inspected to determine its road worthiness. I have not had the money to do that so the tags are outdated.

So the lady at the tow yard informs me that I need to go to the D.M.V. and request a moving permit, and then I could pick-up the car on Friday for $243.00.

How stupid is all this, the city towing cars for expired tags? I guess in a down economy they get creative. I suppose issuing a ticket only would just boost the cities coffers but by having it towed it keeps them guys earning a living as well.

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