What should the city do when confronted with homeless individuals who refuse to go into a shelter or temporary housing?
I know there are misbehaving people who must be dealt with, I am all for that. But when the cops walk into communities they are unfamiliar with, they constantly screw up. In fact, every council district should elect their own cops. It is apparent that cops are prejudiced against the people they are dealing with, as if they caused their own social problems. They did not.
Long Beach trashes poor people, while relying upon them. The reason they live in these “problem” neighborhoods is that their social problems are unaddressed. Let us address them here and now. Lay them on the table. Let us list them.
How would you address crime in the city?
The cops have misperceptions, prejudice, and violent tools to solve problems of poor people in “problem” neighborhoods. These “problems” were created by a misbehaving legal system, and a system of unfair economic rewards. I am a CPA by trade, but my academic love is economics. I considered the ethics of the system of economic reward in Long Beach.
The police union is not a respectable union. I do not understand why people in City Hall play games with the police union. Then, as a result, Long Beach poor people end up in Superior Court tagged with fraudulent documents by the cops. By the way, public defenders are not miracle workers. They are burned out by the legal system, as are the other attorneys who work in it. Attorneys are sometimes unfairly blamed for a legal system they are the victims of.
Long story, bottom to top, the Citizen Police Complaint Commission is a disgrace. That is the opinion of myself and my recently deceased husband, CPCC whistleblower Tomas Gonzales. Learning what I did about CPCC ripped my head off as a White person thinking about the legal system.
I was hoping that the legal system is one of fair punishment. A system to solve problems. It is not. In fact, the legal system is a threat to democracy, starting with the judges, and the city attorney. I have no reason to be impressed with the city prosecutor. I tend, for good reason, to assume the worst out of Long Beach City Hall.
The city needs to make room for 26,502 new housing units by 2029. How should the 9th District be a part of that plan?
First, be more reasonable as to housing fees. I need to build a garage apartment for my elderly mom who might end up living with me. My mom cannot stand the thought of living with my stepdaughter because my stepdaughter is noisy. My stepdaughter suffers from severe mental illness. She screams for cigarettes at 3 a.m.
I checked into permitting a garage apartment. The application permit was more than $5,000. I am a single mom who is dependent on SSI. This entire situation is outrageous.
What would you do about the high cost of housing in Long Beach?
My girlfriends are stable people. Not only do we provide housing for ourselves, we provide housing for friends of our kids when their parents are doing drugs, and not paying attention. When people are dumped on the street, they come to our house before they get a new place.
We are pillars of stability for the community, but we are financially unrewarded in our property taxes. If you can substantiate that you care for someone on SSI, or someone who has been abandoned by a mom on drugs, or you need assistance with getting a disabled person, you should get a property tax break.
In addition, you ought to be able to call up the district office and get it. I once turned down my friend’s friend, who was a guy who had been run over by a tractor when as a child. He was turned out of his home after a dispute with relatives, when his mom went to the nursing home. Because I could not get him up my steps, he ended up on the street. I called and emailed the district council office for assistance for this guy. Nobody from the council office responded to my pleas for help.
You can also tie Long Beach wages mathematically to rent. Call it what you want. I call it fair. And apply the laws of taxation to financially benefit and penalize certain behavior, such as real estate speculation, which hurts the community of ordinary people trying to enjoy life here, without constant commercial intrusion and harassment.
The Queen Mary? Junk. Dump it as quickly and cheaply as possible, then put that money in well-planned housing, not just housing that makes real estate developers happy.
There’s been a historical lack of investment in open space and recreational opportunities in your district. How would you secure more resources for open space?
Recreational opportunities are a great topic, having sat at home for three solid years doing nothing but staring at paint. Please give recreation time and places for old stoners who drink coffee and who do not drink liquor or smoke cigarettes. We like healthy munchies.
And get rid of these heart attacks known as burger joints. Give us healthy food with friendly city rules for our restaurants. The bureaucracy in this place is stifling creativity.
Do you believe the city is doing enough to alleviate climate change and the effect it’s having on the city? If not, what additional actions should be taken?
The city is in denial about climate change—aka, the Belmont pool. Hey, the beach is going underground with all that public money you want to dump in it.
We must talk about the fact that the beach is receding. And stop investing in an area going underground.
Every building roof top must go solar. Slap the solar roofs on first, ask questions later. Get going—the forests are burning. My mom is sitting in her bathtub in Natchez, Mississippi covered by pillows sitting out tornados that keep buzzing by while we fool around getting solar roofs.
Drag out some socially minded economists and accountants, like myself. I am not the only one. Google us. There is some pollution going on here. Before the polluters can split without paying the bill, we need to monetize the damage, and get them to pay it. Stop waiting for these corporations to be nice. It is only money and PR to them.