MEETING MINUTES

Belmont Shore Residents Association

MINUTES

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

October 10, 2013

The meeting was called to order by President Terence Endersen at 6:04pm. The other members of the Executive Board present were: Vice President Frank Elizondo, Sanne Berrig, Marvin Jones, Max Alavi and Julie Dean. Secretary Jeff Miller, Treasurer Robert O’Connor were absent. 21 additional BSRA members and visitors were present.

The agenda was approved, as were the minutes of the September 12, 2013 meeting.

Debi Gurley-Vilander gave the Bay Shore Library minute. She advised that the library now has Security Gates for the library books, which are tagged. When someone checks out a book, the tag is deactivated. If someone leaves without checking out, an alarm goes off.

A new Self Check-Out Machine is onsite and will be hooked up within the next few weeks.

Two new laptop chairs have been added to the library, for people who want to use their own laptops and the library’s Wi-Fi.

Lt. Douglas Davidson of the East Division gave the LBPD report:

· Top 5 crimes:

o Battery: A boyfriend, his girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend had an altercation where alcohol was involved. The already intoxicated girl met her ex-boyfriend at Dogz Bar where they continued to drink. He later walked her home where her current boyfriend was. An altercation occurred, which was deemed battery misdemeanor. The girl went to jail because she was more than three times over the legal alcohol limit.

o Assault with deadly weapon, not a firearm (car): The girl from the battery situation above was driving her car. Her boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend followed her and bumped her car two times. They pulled over and called the police department. There was no damage.

o Battery: At 2^nd and Park two 20 year old females had an altercation. They were roommates who do not talk or get along. There was an accusation of cyberbullying and one pushed the other into a pole on the street.

o Assault with deadly weapon, not a firearm: At Acapulco Inn an already intoxicated victim was knocked out by someone. He woke up being helped with an ice pack from the bar. The manager gave him cab fare to his girlfriend’s house in Long Beach. He filed a report, as he lost a tooth in the fight, but is unable to ID who hit him. He arrived at Acapulco Inn between 10pm and midnight.

o Robbery: A transient robbed another transient while he was asleep under the pier at 39^th Street. The man was arrested for robbery but they were not able to locate the victim.

· Bank Robbery on October 7^th at Citi Bank at 5354 2^nd St in Belmont Shore. The suspect is a white male who wears a cowboy hat and a bandit kerchief on his face (around his nose and mouth area). He has a cellular phone in hand (police believe he is looking at the time) and is in and out in less than two minutes. The same suspect robbed the F&M Bank on Bellflower just north of Stearns near the 405, the week prior. There was no armed security guard at either bank.

· Resident Bill noted that most of the issues on the report occurred on or near 2^nd Street, Ocean or Granada. The Lt. advised that they are thoroughfares and are the likely place for incidents to occur.

· The Lt. advised that the LBPD is still the first in the state for response time: less than five minutes.

· The Lt. asked that if an issue comes up at a bar, like someone who is three times the legal alcohol limit, please forward this information to the vice department. Vice will take the issue from there. If there are a high number of complaints, Vice will send in plainclothes officers/detectives as follow-up.

Long Beach City Traffic Engineer, Dave Roseman, was invited to discuss Belmont Shore traffic and speeding-related issues, including a resident-requested stop sign at La Verne and Ocean. Dave’s contact information is: his assistant, Teresa at 562-570-6331. Dave discussed the following:

· The traffic modification project at Livingston and 2^nd Street was approved by the City Council. We will probably see work begin in about four months. The project primarily includes a scramble, which is an all direction crosswalk. On a very wide intersection, like this one, it is difficult for pedestrians to cross some of the portions and there is a lot of wasted time, waiting for lights to change. The project will re-orient crosswalks, making them shorter and provide better control for traffic. Both vehicles and pedestrians will benefit with this improved traffic flow.

· There is a project being conducted to resurface Redondo south of Broadway up to Anaheim. They will modernize the traffic signal at Broadway and Redondo, including realigning the lanes.

· The overall 2^nd Street and PCH construction is finished, however the Long Beach Traffic Department has made a request to Cal Trans to install a striped pocket with a turn lane, including an arrow, southbound on PCH.

· The speed on Ocean Blvd was brought up as an issue. Dave advised that Ocean Blvd was built a long time ago as a thoroughfare, which used to go all the way to Seal Beach. The landscape then changed, the Peninsula was created, as was Alamitos Bay. Now that Ocean Blvd is no longer a main road, the four lanes are not needed and lead to accelerated traffic (as people bypass 2^nd Street). It causes driver behavior that we do not want.

o Electronic Sign: The city has placed an electronic MPH sign on Ocean to show speed and deter drivers from speeding. Generally these signs slow traffic down. 15% of the drivers do not care about the rules, but the signs appeal to people’s conscience and cause them to adjust behavior. These signs are usually very effective but the city needs to check to see if it this one is working. Dave advised he will work with the Traffic team and ask LBPD to monitor and give citations.

o Crosswalk: A few years ago the city put in a crosswalk at La Verne to indicate to drivers that there are pedestrians who need to cross. Many studies have been done across the nation regarding crosswalks, stop signs, etc. They have shown that, even with the flashing lights in the street, drivers violate crosswalks 40% of the time. Flashing lights damage easily from cars driving over them and cost almost half as much as a traffic signal.

o Traffic Signal: Long Beach does not believe a traffic signal will work on Ocean because it will be seen as an enforcement hammer, rather than a sound decision.

o Stop Sign: Sometimes stop signs are not good; if drivers race through them, it causes a safety hazard for other cars and pedestrians. The traffic team needs to consider if the drivers will think the stop signs are punitive or reasonable.

o Speed Bumps: The city does not want speed bumps, as they slow down response times for the Fire and Police departments.

o Residents made the following comments:

§ Resident walks a lot and try to cross Ocean at La Verne, but people don’t care; they drive very fast and she feels there are no police there so the drivers don’t worry. They continue driving even when she is halfway across the street.

§ Resident simply waits until there is a break in traffic, as he does not trust the drivers.

§ Dave asked that pedestrians and drivers respect one another and follow the rules.

o Next Steps: The follow-up process will be that Dave will take tonight’s residents’ request to the traffic team and an engineer will be assigned. They will study the following: accidents rates, operation of intersection, number of pedestrians crossing, volume of cars. The engineer will review computations, conflicts, and criteria, looking at everything (what makes sense, the bus stop, the lighting and all other factors. The engineer will recommend the best actions to take via a report. Dave will review and make a determination. Dave is taking this seriously and does not want to make the wrong decision, but also does not want to make no decision at all.

· Residents’ questions/comments:

o Speed bumps on the Peninsula: Working with the Peninsula residents on a solution of half a speed bump in one lane. They need petition support from peninsula residents. A concentration of speed bumps usually means people slow down.

o In Long Beach the length of yellow lights are based on the speed limit: the faster the speed limit, the longer the yellow light is. The minimum yellow light is 3 min (25 mph speed limit). Long Beach also has an ‘all red interval’, which means after a yellow light, the opposing traffic does not immediately get a green light. Everyone has red for a very short period of time. This ‘all red interval’ decreases accidents.

o Marvin Jones: The new one way signs with the international arrow around it have been installed on La Verne and Glendora. Dave advised the project to complete the Shore has been approved but he will need to check and advise of the project status.

o Dave said that he takes a lot of pride in trying to do the right thing for the community. He is open to feedback and will move forward and not keep things in a holding pattern. He will also commit to come back with and engineer and will contact Terry for follow-up.

There were no BSBA members on hand to speak, but Terry talked to Dede who explained that, along with the parking committee, the BSBA is looking at installing a water fountain outside of Rite Aid on the wall as a Tori Busch Memorial Drinking Fountain. There have been delays in getting water to the location, but it is still in the plans to occur.

They are looking to install Smart Meters on 2^nd Street which will allow drivers to use credit cards.

The new owner of Brix at the Shore (Rick Reich) introduced himself. Their location is Claremont and 2^nd St and he says they have the number one pastrami sandwich. He is happy to be a part of our community. He’s been in Sunset Beach for eight years and hopes the community will like their New York experience.

Julie Maleki from Third District Councilman Gary Delong's office had her baby and is out for maternity leave.

Eric Forsberg, the resident’s Parking Commission representative, was unable to attend tonight.

It was discussed that there is concern about the parking for Baja Fish Taco at Corona on 2^nd Street. There might be a possible discrepancy.

The Parking Commission is changing sidewalk cleaners. They use a portion of the meter revenue to hire people to clean the sidewalks.

There will be two free parking weekends in December around holiday shopping time.

The Parking Commission meetings have changed times; they are now 9a to 11a on the third Thursday of each month in the Library conference room.

Terry Endersen gave the President Report, which started with a thank you for supporting the Belmont Shore Residents Association. He explained that we have a new board and will reinstate the monthly newsletter via email, advising that anyone wanting to contribute is welcome (historical information, fun facts, new businesses, etc.)

Terry also gave the Secretary’s report, advising that 137 letters were mailed and we signed up three new members on election night. We currently have 101 members paid and 39 members unpaid with a total of 140 total members.

No balance reported as Treasurer Robert O’Connor was absent.

No committee reports.

The Membership Boundary committee was discussed. A motion was made at the September meeting to pull together an ad hoc committee to investigate the BSRA boundaries. The motion was: 3 members including 1 executive board member would research and define specific proposed changes, the impacts, the number of residents, the issues/concerns of new residents and benefits/disadvantages to the BSRA of making a change to the boundaries/adding these new members. Additionally, if we propose to expand the boundaries, what will be the plan to get new members from that area / solicit their membership, the expected costs (flyers, letters), etc. The committee will report their findings back to board by Jan 2014.

Background: The boundaries are defined in the BSRA bylaws, which stop at The Toledo. The proposal is to increase the boundaries beyond The Toledo, up to Broadway. The Belmont Heights association ends at Livingston and goes up to Nieto. Residences from The Toledo/Broadway to Appian Way are considered Belmont Park, but there is no Residence Association for this section of Long Beach. One note was made that those lots are sized quite differently from Belmont Shore.

In the past, changes have been made to the bylaws, to include the buildings near the pier. We are not against increasing the boundaries, but we must follow the bylaws and processes.

A motion was made and passed to proceed with starting a committee. We will send a request out via email to create a structured committee.

No old business.

New business:

Bill asked about getting the Press Telegram Billboards out of the residential areas. A follow-up question will go to Julie Malecki’s replacement.

We are a few months out from the 3^rd district primary. A request was made that the Belmont Shore Residents Association sponsor a candidate.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:01 pm.

Submitted by:

Julie Dean