March 4-17, 2014 Section A

March 4-17, 2014 lbbusinessjournal.com

HealthWiseDeveloping

Early HealthyEating Habits ADefense AgainstPediatric ObesitySee Section B, Page 10

The College

Of Business

Administration

At CSULBThe Saturd

ay

MBA Program

See Page 4

FINAL IN A SERIES

MayoralCandidatesRespond ToQuestions

(Publisher’s note: To mark April’s 40thToyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, theBusiness Journal has teamed up with theGrand Prix Association of Long Beach topresent a series of articles highlightingAmerica’s #1 street race.)

� By GORDON MORRIS, Staff Writer, Grand PrixAssociation of Long Beach

W hile Al Unser Jr. waswinning the 1994

Toyota Grand Prix of Long

Beach – enroute to his secondChampionship Auto RacingTeams (CART) championship –events in far-off Indianapoliswere destined to have far-reach-ing effects.There, Tony George, president

of the Indianapolis MotorSpeedway, resigned from theCART Board of Directors andannounced the formation of a new

(Please Continue To Page 27)

State, Local Support For The CreativeSector Could Give Business A Boost

Damon Dunn

Robert Garcia

Doug Otto

Gerrie Schipske

QuestionThere havebeen manycomplaintsthat theMayor and CityCouncil do not doenough tosupport the arts in

Long Beach.What do you think,and howwould yousupport the arts?

QuestionWhy should voters support you to be the nextMayor of LongBeach?

Turn To Pages 16-17To Read Their Responses

The Business Journal presentsthe last in a four-part series ask-ing the top mayoral candidatesto respond to questions.

Long Beach Business Journal2599 E. 28th Street, Suite 212Signal Hill, CA 90755-2139562/988-1222 • www.lbbusinessjournal.com

PRSRT STD

U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDLong Beach, CA

PERMIT NO. 254

Bonnie Lowenthal

Peter Nily, general manager of Flight Safety International in Long Beach, sits in the cockpit of a Gulfstream GIV flight sim-ulator, which is used to train corporate pilots. See stories about Flight Safety, Boeing employment, flight schools and pos-sible customs service at Long Beach Airport on Pages 10-15. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Read About Digital Eye Strain In Health Care Quarterly

Section B

No IntentionTo File SuitAgainst

L.B. Transit,BYD VP Says

� By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER

Staff Writer

C hinese-based bus manu-facturer Build Your

Dreams (BYD) does not intend tosue Long Beach Transit (LBT),contrary to reports claiming oth-erwise, Micheal Austin, vice pres-ident of BYD America told theBusiness Journal.

� By TIFFANY L. RIDEREditor

S upport for the creative sec-tor, a multi-billion-dollar

segment of California’s economy,is growing at both local and statelevels. This comes at a time whencompetition from other states forjobs in this sector is ramping up. Termed the creative economy,

this sector is broader than “tradi-tional” arts. It includes commer-cial application of design, art,education and entertainment, aswell as nonprofit work and inde-pendent creative professions. ForSouthern California, the mostapparent example is the soundrecording and motion pictureindustry, according to RobertKleinhenz, chief economist forthe Los Angeles EconomicDevelopment Corporation(LAEDC).

“These creative industrieshave long been a part of thestate’s economy, are a significantsource of jobs and incomes, andhave a ripple effect in other partsof the state economy,” Kleinhenztold the Business Journal in ane-mail.Since 2007, the LAEDC has

produced an economic report onthe creative sector in LosAngeles and Orange counties inpartnership with Otis College ofthe Arts. The 2013 Otis Report,

released last month, included ananalysis of the creative econ-omy’s impact statewide. This is the first time the report

has spanned the entire state,thanks to a grant from theCalifornia Arts Council. “In thisera of information technologywhere ideas play such an keyrole, creative industries, occupa-tions and activities typicallybring those ideas to life and areessential to developing thoseideas into commercial applica-tions,” Kleinhenz said, notingthat support for education and

PART V IN A SIX-PART SERIES

1994-2007: Turmoil, Then Transition

BUSINESS JOURNAL ENDORSEMENT

Charles Parkin For City AttorneyJames Johnson Does NotHave The Experience ToServe In This Critical Post

� By GEORGE ECONOMIDES

Publisher

M any in the communityacknowledge that the

most important decision faced bylocal voters in this election cycleis who shall serve as the cityattorney for Long Beach.Providing the correct legal adviceto elected officials and staff isabsolutely essential for a smoothcity operation. The wrong advicecould prove costly.

(Please Continue To Page 18)(Please Continue To Page 6)

Business Journal Weighs In On Possible

New Civic CenterSee Section B, Page 11


1_LBBJ_Mar4_SectionA_LBBJ MASTER LAYOUT 3/2/14 4:37 PM Page 1

INSIDE THIS ISSUE2 Long Beach Business Journal March 4-17, 2014

3 Newswatch• Audit Of Port Travel• Long Beach City Hall News In Brief• Oxy’s California Spinoff To Retain Long Beach Workforce

10 Aviation/Aerospace Focus• Local Flight Schools Report Post-Recession Shift• New Airport App Provides Plenty Of Information• U.S. Customs May Be In Long Beach Airport’s Future• Boeing’s California Presence More Than Halved Since 2001• Flight Safety Trains Pilots, Technicians And Attendants

16 PoliticalWire• Long Beach Mayoral Candidates Answer Questions• The Race For Long Beach City Attorney• PoliticalWire News/Events And Upcoming Forums

26 Encore – People In The News27 Grand Prix Highlights

• Part V In A Six-Part Series Leading Up To April’s Race

Section BHealth Care Quarterly• ‘DigitEYEzed’: Frequent Computer Use Causes Eyestrain • Physician Groups Educating Doctors For Influx Of Patients• AB 241 Creates Concerns Among Home Care Employers• How Eating Right (Or Wrong) Impacts Daily Life, Health• Health Care Reform Law Not Likely To Reduce Jobs• State’s Online Enrollment Portal For Businesses Suspended

10 PerspectiveRealty Views Affordable Housing Being Squeezed By Terry RossEffective Leadership Desire Is The Fire Within(Measuring Your Desire Meter) By Mick UklejaHealthWise Developing Early Healthy Eating Habits IsBest Defense Against Pediatric Obesity By Dr. Emily BurrittA Better Way To Fly LGB And Destination Long BeachBy Mario RodriguezEditor’s Perspective Long Beach Needs A New CivicCenter By Tiffany L. Rider

DIGITALedition

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NEWSWATCHMarch 4-17, 2014 Long Beach Business Journal 3

Port TravelAudit To BeAddressed By

SpecialCommittee


Staff Writer

Port of Long Beach (POLB) HarborCommission President Doug Drummondplans to form a committee to develop aproposal addressing concerns raised byCity Auditor Laura Doud’s audit of harborcommission travel expenses, Drummondtold the Business Journal.“We want to look at every aspect of the

audit so the policy is complete,”Drummond said of the intention behindsuch a proposal. “We will have it come tothe board for a decision,” he said. “I’msure it will be within the next six weeksor two months.”Doud’s audit of commission travel

expenses incurred from October 2011 toJune 2013 cited several issues she wouldlike to see addressed, including the harborsubsidizing the cost of spouses accompa-nying harbor representatives on trips, cur-sory reviews of travel reimbursementrequirements and invoices, reimbursementof costs for non-business trips, and hightravel and hotel costs remaining unques-tioned or unjustified.“For an entity the size of [the] harbor

[department] that engages in a great dealof travel, we would expect to see anorganized and streamlined approach tooverseeing and documenting travelarrangements and reimbursements,” theaudit said. “However, our audit found that[the] harbor [department] relies on adecentralized process that does not pro-mote coordinated planning or effectivereview. Efforts to contain costs were notdocumented nor does it seem to be a pri-ority,” the audit continued.“These factors contributed to ineligible

expenses being reimbursed, inconsistent

costs between travelers, and limited docu-mentation detailing the business con-ducted,” the audit’s findings revealed. Inone case, former Harbor CommissionerNick Sramek and former POLBExecutive Director Richard Steinke werereimbursed for costs unrelated to busi-ness, including museum admissions, atour guide and meals.Doud also took issue with inconsis-

tency in the costs of hotel rooms andtravel for port staff and harbor commis-sion members during the same trips.The auditor’s suggestions for address-

ing these problems included centralizingtravel coordination and file keeping,requiring all travel arrangements to behandled by a single administrative unit

and developing training for harbor staffrelated to travel guidelines and cost con-tainment.POLB Acting Executive Director Al

Moro’s response to the audit was includedin the document, and it attempted toaddress why some of the issues Doud out-lined had occurred. For example, inresponse to the auditor’s examination ofsome port representatives who hadincurred more costs for arriving to tripsearlier or later than others, he wrote: “It isvery important that our trade mission del-egates are well-rested for the gruelingday-long meetings that sometimes go intothe evening.”Concerns over whether port travel

expenses were excessive were f irst

addressed by the Long Beach CityCouncil during fiscal year 2014 budgetmeetings in late summer last year. ThirdDistrict Councilmember Gary DeLongled a motion at a meeting in Septemberto cap travel costs at $40,000 per yearper harbor commissioner. That motionpassed.DeLong told the Business Journal that

he found nothing particularly surprisingabout the audit. “I think the city auditordid a very thorough job,” he said. “Thereport addressed all of my concerns.” Headded, “There’s no further action requiredby the city council. I’m confident that AlMoro and Doug Drummond will partnerwith the city auditor’s office to resolvethese issues.” �

Space Tech Conference2014 Coming To

Long Beach April 1-3Billed as the West Coast’s premier space

event, Space Tech Conference 2014 takesplace April 1-3 at the Long BeachConvention Center. The event bringstogether military personnel, governmentofficials and private industry executives todiscuss the key issues facing the spaceindustry. To see the programs and speakersscheduled for each day, visit the group’swebsite: www.spacetechexpo.com. Theexhibition features 150 companies andorganizations showcasing their latest prod-ucts, technologies and innovations. Theevent is free to attend, but to do so youmust register in advance at the websitelisted above. �


NEWSWATCH4 Long Beach Business Journal March 4-17, 2014

Long Beach City HallNews In Brief


Staff Writer

Water Restrictions – On February28, the Long Beach Board of WaterCommissioners declared an imminentwater supply shortage for the City ofLong Beach. They also declared vari-ous prohibited water uses includingthe following: irrigating landscapingwith potable water any day other thanMonday, Thursday or Saturday; serv-ing drinking water at any establish-ment where food is sold unlessrequested by the customer; and irrigat-ing landscaping with potable water formore than 10 minutes per authorizedday if the sprinklers emit one gallon ormore per minute or for more than 20minutes if the sprinklers emit less thanone gallon per minute. For a completelist of water use prohibitions, go to:http://lbwater.org/water-use-prohibi-tions.Manufacturing Designation For

City – The Long Beach City Councilapproved a request to have the city man-ager work with the Los Angeles CountyEconomic Development Corporation tosubmit comments for Long Beach to bepart of a federally designated manufac-turing community. If selected for theprogram, the Los Angeles region wouldbe one of 12 other communities pro-vided federal funding from a $1.3 tril-

lion pool as well as given assistancefrom federal agencies.E-Cigarette Ordinance – After an

ordinance restricting the use of electroniccigarettes was laid over at the February18 meeting, it is being voted on tonight,March 4. The ordinance would prohibitusing e-cigarettes in public places andrequire businesses that sell the devices topay an operational permit and limitadvertising in the same way that tobaccoproduct advertising is restricted. Online City Expenditures – The city

council voted on February 18 to requestthat the city manager provide informationto the council on the cost and feasibilityof using a website called OpenGov forposting the city’s expenditures online forpublic access. The platform allows accessto revenue and expenditure data by cityfund, department or type of account. FifthDistrict Councilmember Gerrie Schipskeproposed the item.Pedestrian Beach Path – At the last

city council meeting, councilmembersmade a substitute motion rather thanauthorizing the city manager to proceedwith the design and bidding phase for aproposed pedestrian path project thatwould involve building a pedestrian pathbeside the bike path along 3.1 miles ofthe beach. The council requested thatcity staff ask the California CoastalCommission (CCC) if full CCCapproval is needed for design changesthat would retain parking spaces – thecurrent proposal eliminates 20 parkingspaces adjacent to the Belmont VeteransMemorial Pier. If approval is needed, thecouncil asked that city staff return to the

CCC quickly to approve any designchanges. The council also asked that citystaff prepare a recommendation for thecouncil about how beach art may beincorporated in the project. Schipskevoted against the item.Exploring Free Preschool – Tonight,

the city council votes on whether todirect the city manager to return to thecity council in 120 days with sugges-tions for how to fund free preschool forcity residents. After examining howsimilarly sized cities have accomplishedthis, the manager would also report onconcrete policy goals and eligibilityrequirements for such a program as wellas how to work with the local schooldistrict. The item authored by ViceMayor and 1st District CouncilmemberRobert Garcia and 2nd DistrictCouncilmember Suja Lowenthal reportsthat free preschool programs have beenimplemented in San Diego and SanFrancisco, as well as in other citiesacross the country.Downtown Rooftop Patio

Entertainment – The council votestonight on an amendment to theDowntown Dining and EntertainmentDistrict ordinance which would allowrooftop patio entertainment within thedistrict on Sundays until 10 p.m.,Mondays through Wednesdays until mid-night, and Thursdays through Saturdaysuntil 1 a.m. A memorandum fromLowenthal, who is proposing the amend-ment, indicates that the change isintended to allow Bo Beau, a new restau-rant on Pine Avenue, to have entertain-ment on its rooftop patio, which was built

Sustainability And TheBusiness Organization –Saturday MBA ProgramMBA programs around the world are revis-

ing curricula so their graduates can remainrelevant and adjust to the changes in theglobal economy. At California State

University, Long Beach,the Saturday MBA(SMBA) program inau-gurated an innovativeset of courses, whichintegrate sustainabilityas the organizing theme.The structure of the newprogram evolved whenDean Michael Solt initi-ated program redesignefforts by challengingfaculty to develop ideas

for new courses and new teaching formats.The advanced portion of our SMBA pro-

gram is designed in an integrative manner tobetter address business opportunities in a sus-tainability context. Courses and facultyemphasize the triple bottom line (economy,environment, and society), critical for allorganizations doing business in today’s regu-latory climate and easy access to informationby the public. We integrate the sustainabilitycontext as an analytic device in three ways. First, we integrate the teaching format by

having faculty representing multiple disci-plines in the classroom based on the topicbeing investigated. For example, measuringand mitigating an organization’s carbon foot-print needs to be understood from the perspec-tive of accounting, regulatory economics, mar-keting, human resources, and strategy. Theteaching configuration in the classroom isbased on the specific business challenge in aparticular class session. We may have two,three or four faculty in the classroom concur-rently depending on the particular issue.Second, student teams complete a project for

a business, university, or community organiza-tion. Each team addresses a client projectfocused on a business opportunity with a sus-tainability focus. The SMBA students workhand-in-hand with clients such as the Aquariumof the Pacific, Villages at Cabrillo, Catalina SeaRanch, and CSULB. Finally, industry speakers and site visits

provide students with more hands-on experi-ence in how organizations integrate sustain-ability throughout their organization. We hostspeakers from the Port of Long Beach,Mattel, Disney, Sony Pictures, Union Bank,entrepreneurs such as Tom Bowman, PhilCruver and Miles Baker, and video confer-encing with EnergyPoints in Boston. The ulti-mate goal is for our students to graduateunderstanding how sustainability should beintegrated throughout an organization to suc-ceed in today’s competitive global economy.

(The College of Business Administration atCal State Long Beach is an AACSB accred-ited business school that provides under-graduates and MBAs with the knowledge andskills necessary to be successful in theircareers and to propel the economic develop-ment of our region.) �

By Dr. Ingrid Martin,Faculty, Department of

Marketing

Council To Vote On E-Cigarette, Vaping Regulations TonightThe Long Beach City Council votes tonight (March 4) to finalize an ordinance that would regulate e-cigarettes and vaping devices as tobacco products.One element of this ordinance prohibits e-cigarette and vaping businesses from allowing customers to sample products in store, as seen above withAlexander Rufener, left, store manager for Vapin USA in Downtown Long Beach. “In one fell swoop, the current vaping culture in Long Beach wouldbe seriously jeopardized by the passage of this ordinance,” Alan Schroeder, owner of Vapin USA, told the Business Journal in an e-mail. “Criminalizinge-cigarettes and vaping in light of empirical scientific evidence that it is a far safer alternative to tobacco, is exactly what is not needed in Long Beach.It is a shame, because many other states are taking the necessary time to consider a more enlightened approach and creating ordinances in a positiveand objectively manner by looking for intelligent solutions.” (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)



for that purpose. The memo indicates thatshe told the backers of Bo Beau that shewould return to the council with thisamendment after receiving feedback fromneighbors who might be impacted by noise.Gas Rate Increase – The council voted

on February 18 to allow a gas utility rateincrease of about 86 cents per month inorder to fund costs associated with federalregulations compliance. These regulationspertain to replacing aging gas deliveryinfrastructure and ensuring the safety ofthat infrastructure.$7.8 Million Contract For Belmont

Plaza Pool – The council votes tonight ona contract with Harley Ellis DevereauxCorporation for architectural and engineer-

ing services for the Belmont Plaza Pooltotaling about $7.8 million. $3.58 Million For City’s Homeland

Security – The City of Long Beach isreceiving about $3.58 million from the U.S.Department of Homeland Security’s 2013Urban Security Initiatives Grant, to be usedfor homeland security purposes. The coun-cil votes tonight to execute a contract withthe City of Los Angeles, which administersthe funds, to receive the money. Funds areto be used for ongoing public safety andtraining exercises, equipment for facilitysecurity, mass care sheltering supplies forcitizens and their animals, an emergencydispensing truck and emergency operationscenter enhancements.

Eighth District Event – Eighth DistrictCouncilmember Al Austin hosts“Celebrate the Eighth” this Thursday,March 6, from 6-8 p.m. at the Expo ArtsCenter, 4321 Atlantic Ave. The event high-lights 8th District projects and accom-plishments that took place in the past year.Austin is recognizing local residents whohave made significant contributions to thecommunity. “I am excited about this greatopportunity to recognize some of the starsof the 8th District and to share some of theimportant work going on in our district,”Austin said in a statement.Second District Event March 29 –

From Councilmember Suja Lowenthal:“The Department of Parks, Recreation and

Marine invite you to re-imagine BixbyPark, its community center and play-ground. Over the course of three work-shops, attendees will work with architectsand Parks staff to update the existing parkmaster plan, redesign the playground andprioritize one-time funding set aside by the2nd Council District and city manager forhigh priority park and playground proj-ects. 9-11 a.m., 130 Cherry Ave.Register To Vote – The last day to reg-

ister to vote in the Long Beach April 8 pri-mary election is Monday, March 24. Thevote by mail request period beginsMonday, March 10. For more information,visit the Long Beach City Clerk’s websiteat: www.longbeach.gov/cityclerk. �



research is needed. “More fundamentallythan that, we need to recognize that artseducation is an important part of an indi-vidual’s overall background and educa-tion, and in particular, it often comple-ments the so-called STEM (science, tech-nology, engineering, and mathematics)disciplines.”The Otis Report concluded that one in

seven jobs in the southland and one in 10in the state are part of the creative sector.That translates to about 1.4 million jobsin California, 44 percent of which work inthe L.A. region.Looking at these numbers as a reflec-

tion of how the creative sector supportsthe overall economy, individuals withinfluence are now collaborating tostrengthen support of that sector at a time

when other states and places outside thecountry like Vancouver and BritishColombia are luring businesses and jobsaway from California. Sen. Ted Lieu, who represents the

South Bay and parts of Long Beach,recently announced plans to introducelegislation to increase funding for theCalifornia Arts Council, which providesgrant funding and programming to cre-ative organizations up and down the state,to $25 million annually. The council’s

budget for this year is about $5 million,he said.Lieu, chair of the joint committee on

the arts, acknowledged that the stateranks 48th in the country for per capitaspending on state art programs. “We wantto restore council funding to about whatthey had when Governor Brown was firstelected,” Lieu told the Business Journal.Taking what Lieu called a “multi-prongedapproach,” the senator is also the princi-pal co-author of legislation that wouldcreate a film and television tax credit. “People understand we are an innova-

tive, creative place,” Lieu said. “This ishow we are branded. We want to continueincentivizing the creative sector.” Brian Ulaszewski, executive director of

nonprofit creative agency City Fabrick inLong Beach, was invited to speak at ahearing held by Lieu last month aboutsupport for the creative economy. “It’s asmart thing to do,” Ulaszewski told theBusiness Journal. “With just a little bit ofinvestment, I think we will be more com-petitive against places like Michigan andVancouver,” both of which have beenoffering incentives to creative sectorcompanies to do business outside ofCalifornia.Ulaszewski’s organization is involved

in case and policy research on how tobuild “critical mass around the arts.” Oneway to do that is create a state designationfor place-based arts districts, as manyother states have done, Ulaszewski said.Jurisdictions would apply for a specificarea to be designated as an arts district,such as the East Village Arts District inDowntown Long Beach, which wouldthen qualify for various resources. “Someoffer tax incentives and code incentives,while others offer marketing benefits,Ulaszewski said.The East Village Arts District is one of

12 identif ied in the state so far inUlaszewski’s research. “We are investi-gating and seeing what the opportunitiesare, but also what the challenges are, andlooking at metrics that have been devel-oped,” he said. “Some states have beendoing analysis of their programs. Somehaven’t. We’re definitely scratching thesurface as far as these sorts of programs.I could see us getting involved as it con-tinues to formulate.”Kleinhenz agreed that jurisdictions

should benefit from establishing a districtfor the arts since such districts also bene-fit dining establishments, retailers andother commercial activity. “Our research has documented the con-

tribution the creative industries make tothe state economy, but much moreresearch can be done in this area,”Kleinhenz said. “It’s a fairly new area ofresearch, and a lot of work lies ahead aswe try to connect the dots that go fromarts to other parts of the economy andultimately contribute to the state’s long-term economic fortunes.” �

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Sculpture on Aqua Tower at OceanBoulevard and Elm Avenue

East Village Arts Park on ElmAvenue and East Broadway

Tom Barter’s mosaic tileinstallation “Toy Car Pileup”at 1st Street and Elm

Museum of Latin American Art at6th Street and Alamitos Avenue

ArtExchange at 3rdStreet and Elm Avenue

Supporting The Creative Sector

According to a new report from the OtisCollege of Art and Design, 1 in 10 jobs inCalifornia and 1 in 7 in the Southland arerelated to arts and entertainment. CityFabrick Executive Director BrianUlaszewski supports an effort to create anofficial state designation of arts districts inCalifornia, including the East Village ArtsDistrict in Downtown Long Beach. The thickblue line represents a walking trail of 2.6milles that allows you to experience theDistrict’s cultural focus with public art instal-lations, galleries, studios and art museum.

(Continued From Page 1)

Photographs by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville




Last week, reports surfaced in themedia that a lawyer for the bus companyissued a letter to Long Beach Transitclaiming BYD was considering suing thetransit agency. “Lawyers sending letterstaking legal positions do not represent anintention to file a suit,” Austin told theBusiness Journal via e-mail. BYD is manufacturing 10 zero emis-

sion buses for LBT, a process which hashit several road bumps, including testingdelays and manufacturing issues, since itwas approved by the LBT board in May.The latest hurdle is that the FederalTransit Administration (FTA) “informedLong Beach Transit that BYD is out ofcompliance with certain DisadvantagedBusiness Enterprise requirements,”according to Kevin Lee, spokesperson forLBT. The transit agency is giving BYD achance to correct this issue, Lee said. While a new issue has arisen, another

has been resolved now that Altoona test-ing on a BYD-built bus representing themake and model of those being deliveredto LBT may resume. A letter obtained bythe Business Journal from the FTA toBYD’s attorneys dated February 19 saidthat the FTA determined testing mayresume on the original testing bus. “BusA represents a single model, meets allapplicable Federal Motor Vehicle SafetyStandards, and is substantially fabricatedand assembled using techniques, tooling

and materials that will be used in pro-duction of subsequent buses of thatmodel,” the letter read. KennethMcDonald, president and CEO of LBT,was copied on the letter.Last November 6, the FTA halted

Altoona testing to determine if the busgoing through testing was of the samemake and model of the buses that wouldeventually be delivered to LBT. Altoonatesting is required by the FTA for all busmodels traveling on U.S. roadways. At the February 24 LBT board of

directors meeting, Rolando Cruz, execu-tive director and vice president of main-tenance and facilities at LBT, told theboard that Altoona testing should becomplete within 12 to 15 weeks. Austintold the Business Journal, “We are confi-dent that this testing will be successfullycompleted.” Over the next two weeks, LBT staff is

going to meet with BYD to discuss otheraspects of the bus project, including inte-grating the Wireless Advanced VehicleElectrification (WAVE) charging systemfor the bus batteries.An LBT staff report from January said

that the FTA was considering requiringthe WAVE system to be included on thebus going through testing. Cruz indicatedat the board meeting that this is likely nolonger an issue, but that he is awaitingconfirmation. Lee told the BusinessJournal that LBT does not believe theWAVE system needs to be included onthe bus in Altoona testing. �

www.longbeach.gov/purchasing

www.longbeach.gov/pw/towing/auction.asp

HUD Section 3 ProgramThe City of Long Beach Section 3 Program provides economic and employment

opportunities to low-income residents and businesses. More information is located on the City’s Purchasing website.

Bidder RegistrationRegister with the City of Long Beach at www.longbeach.gov/purchasing to receive noti�cations of bid opportunities. Additional details on upcoming

bids and how to register can be found on the website.Small Business Enterprise Program

Take advantage of the City of Long Beach Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program. To learn more about becoming a part of the SBE Program and

certi�cation process, visit the City’s Purchasing website.

Window Glass ITB PW-14-064 3/04/14Yamaha Personal Watercraft ITB FS-14-058 3/04/14Law Enforcement Searchlight System ITB PD-14-060 3/06/14Patrol Vessel for Police Department ITB FS-14-061 3/06/14RFQ for Solar Power Purchase RFQ PW-14-036 3/07/14Gas Main and Service Lines ITB GO-14-059 3/13/14

UPCOMING BID OPPORTUNITIESHistorical Preservation Services Custodial Services Psychological Evaluation Services Disposal ServicesPhysician Support Services Chemical ToiletsUnderwriting Services Polygraph Services

No Suit Against Transit(Continued From Page 1)



Oxy’s CaliforniaSpinoff To Retain

Long BeachWorkforce,Operations


Staff Writer

Long Beach employees of OccidentalPetroleum may rest easy following theannouncement that the corporation isdividing its California assets to create anindependent, separately traded companyby the end of the year or by early 2015.Susie Geiger, director of external rela-tions for the company, told the BusinessJournal that these employees’ jobs arelikely to remain secure.“Current Long Beach area employees

can safely assume that they will become apart of the new California company,” shesaid via e-mail. Occidental, commonlycalled “Oxy,” currently has more than8,000 employees and contractors inCalifornia and “a significant presence inthe Long Beach area,” Geiger said. Thecompany’s subsidiary, Oxy Long Beach,Inc., operates wells on behalf of both theCity of Long Beach and the state in theTidelands trust area, which includes partsof the Wilmington Oil Field and theTHUMS oil islands.

“We are still early in the planningprocess for the new California company,but at this time the impacts on our exist-ing Long Beach operations are expectedto be minimal,” Geiger explained. “Oxyhas been a part of the Long Beach com-munity for well over 10 years and wedon’t anticipate changes to our commu-nity initiatives.” The California company’s location is

still up in the air, according to Geiger,who could not confirm if a list of loca-tions under consideration currently exists.Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s cur-rent headquarters are in Los Angeles,although they will be relocated toHouston following the corporate divi-sion. The management team for theCalifornia company should beannounced in the third quarter of thisyear, according to a statement from Oxy.Geiger said that the new company’s namehas not yet been selected.The California company’s assets will

include 2.3 million net acres of land withmajor operations in Los Angeles, SanJoaquin, Ventura and Sacramento. Lastyear, Oxy’s California assets garnered $1.5billion before taxes, according to a state-ment from the company.Oxy’s board of directors authorized the

split in February. President and CEOStephen I. Chazen said in a statement,“Creating two separate energy companieswill result in more focused businesses thatwill be competitive industry leaders.”Chazen is remaining in his positionthrough 2016. �

18 Unit Apartment BuildingLos Angeles - No Rent Control3 Floors - 1984 Construction

Steve Warshauer(562) 397-9520George Bustamante(714) 856-7017

11 Unit Apartment BuildingAll 1BR & 2BR Units in Long BeachBelow Market Rents withGreat Upside Potential


AVIATION/AEROSPACE INDUSTRY FOCUS10 Long Beach Business Journal March 4-17, 2014


Staff Writer

The Great Recession seems to havecaused a shift in the clientele of local flightschools, with more older, financially stableindividuals seeking to fly for leisure ratherthan younger students looking to becomecareer pilots, according to representativesof Long Beach flight schools.Miguel Puente, co-owner of Pacific Air

Flight School, said that since startingPacific Air about five years ago, “What Ihave noticed is there are more people doing

it for fun.” Erick Bryant, director of opera-tions for Angel City Flyers, Inc., made asimilar observation. “They are flying forbusiness or for pleasure,” he said. AngelCity Flyers, Inc. has been in business forabout nine years. It is a structured organi-zation that is certified to fly DiamondAircraft products.Since Pacific Air got its own fleet of air-

craft at the start of 2014, Puente said he hasnoticed an uptick in business from clientslooking to take just one demo flight. “Theydon’t even want to get their license, theyjust want to do a demo flight,” he said.That’s okay with him, Puente noted – so farthis year the business is turning a profit.Both Puente and Bryant categorize

flight school students into two groups:those looking to become career pilots andthose looking to have a private license forpersonal use. The shift towards more busi-ness coming from leisure clients coincidedwith airlines not doing as well, Bryantobserved. “When the economy tankedabout five years ago, flight training andeverything fell out of the bottom of avia-tion,” he said. Partially as a result of that,“For the past six or seven years nobody hasbeen coming to us for professionalcourses, like the kids who want to join theairlines or the people who want to becomecorporate pilots,” he explained.The flight school market also took a hit

after 9/11. “The market was destroyed,”Bryant recalled. “There were maybe fourtimes as many flight schools pre-9/11 ver-sus post-9/11.” Now, however, Puentereports that competition is steep, withabout eight or nine flight schools at theLong Beach Airport.Statistics from the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) show that enrollmentin flight training has improved since therecession. In 2008, there were 75,382 flightstudents nationwide. In 2012, there were109,091 – a healthy 45 percent increase.Lately it seems that the people looking

to get their private pilot license for generalaviation tend to be older and retired orfinancially stable, both aviation profes-sionals told the Business Journal. “One ofmy clients was 65 when he got his privatepilot [license],” Bryant said. A 2012 FAAreport on pilot certificates by category andage group illustrates this trend. The 55 to59 year old demographic held the most pri-vate pilot certificates with 28,074 total,while no age groups below the 40 to 44year old demographic held even half thatnumber of the same certificate.Even though the majority of his busi-

ness seems to be based on leisure at themoment, Puente noted an increase ininternational interest from Europe andAsia. “They’re usually licensed and comein just because they need hours to qualifythem for their airline over there,” Puentesaid. Because Pacific Air does not offerstudent visas like other local flyingschools, Puente said the company is usu-ally not able to accommodate those stu-dents. Most students enrolling in LongBeach flight schools are local, Bryant andPuente reported. �

Angel City Flyers, Inc. Director of Operations Erick Bryant helps a student get familiarized with the controls of a Diamond Aircraft DA42NG, whichis a twin-engine plane, and talks to the student about pre-flight checks. The firm is located at the Long Beach Airport’s Daugherty Sky Harbor complexat 2901 E. Spring St., Hangar F. Angel City Flyers office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. To reachthe company, call 562/366-4806, or visit its website at: www.angelcityflyers.com. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Local Flight Schools Report Post-Recession Shift In Clientele

Free Long Beach Airport App Provides Plenty Of InformationKerry Gerot, public affairs officer for the Long Beach Airport, demonstrates the new Long Beach Airport (LGB) mobile application, which is availablefor free on iTunes and Google Play. The application provides information about flights, airport parking and concessions, ground transportation optionsand the airport terminal’s layout. Users may check-in to social media sites including Facebook and Twitter on the application to let people know thatthey are traveling. “Travelers can now book a flight or rent a car straight from the LGB Airport app,” Mayor Bob Foster said in a statement. He added,

“It is also a direct link to list-ings of special events, confer-ences, dining and entertain-ment options via the LongBeach Are Convention &Visitors Bureau.” The City ofLong Beach has been nameda Top-10 Digital City for threeyears in a row for its mobileapplications for various serv-ices, including the library,police department and animalcare services. (Photograph bythe Business Journal’s ThomasMcConville)



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AVIATION/AEROSPACE INDUSTRY FOCUSMarch 4-17, 2014 Long Beach Business Journal 13


Staff Writer

After the possibility of adding U.S.Customs and Border Protection to theLong Beach Airport was shelved a fewyears ago, the subject may be revived afterJetBlue recently expressed interest in foot-ing some of the costs, according to RolandScott, chair of the Long Beach AirportAdvisory Commission. JetBlue General Manager Thomas Berg

told the Business Journal in January thatthe company was interested in investing inU.S. Customs at the airport, although atthis time he said he could not provide moreinformation.Bringing U.S. Customs services to the

Long Beach Airport was last looked atabout three or four years ago, when the air-port approached the Department ofHomeland Security to discuss the cost ofadding agents to the facility, Scott said.“The cost was prohibitive,” he said of whythe concept was dropped. The idea at the time was to have U.S.

Customs agents working at the airport onan on-call basis, perhaps borrowed asneeded from the Port of Long Beach. “Wehad looked at it. I contacted somebody atcustoms and they were less than enthusi-astic about sharing some of the portcustoms people to be on call,” Scottrecalled. Now, the idea is to have agents

at the airport on a permanent basis, he said.A couple of months ago, JetBlue con-

tacted airport administration about the pos-sibility of footing part of the bill for addingcustoms services to the airport, and theadministration in turn discussed it with theadvisory commission, Scott explained.“JetBlue has demonstrated some interest inflying out of Long Beach to Mexico,” hesaid. “I think they said if they are awardedso many flights they would be willing topay for the majority of it.” But, he stressed,“This is all very preliminary. Nothing hasbeen decided yet.”JetBlue currently offers international

flights to Cancun, Mexico, out of Florida, aswell as destinations in the Caribbean, CentralAmerica and Northern South America.Many questions remain about adding

customs to the airport, including whetheror not JetBlue would foot the whole bill,and if not, who would pay for the remain-der. After all, “You don’t want to dump iton the taxpayer,” Scott pointed out.Another question is whether or not a

facility would have to be built for cus-toms services or whether they would beintegrated with existing facilities. “Oneof the questions is, where are you goingto put it and where is the square footageavailable?” Scott said. “Obviously thebest idea is to have it right there in the ter-minal so you could have people disem-bark an airplane, walk straight into cus-

toms and right out to the baggage claim,”he explained. An alternative would bebuilding a remote facility separate fromthe concourse, but that would necessitatebusing people from international flightsto that building, which is less than ideal,Scott noted.Adding customs and international

flights would benefit the airport, its ten-ants and the city, Scott said. “It would betremendous because it would allow LongBeach to be an international destination,”he said. General aviation pilots would beable to fly to nearby locations where theymay have summer homes, he pointed out,while fixed-base operators with interna-tional ties would not have to fly theirexecutives through other regional air-ports, thereby saving them money. Thecity could benefit from increased rev-enues and travellers, he mused. “This is anice convention city, so it would benefitthe hotel and convention business. Whoknows, you might have an internationalconference here,” he added.Another benefit would be increasing

the airport’s attractiveness to other air-lines. If JetBlue, which holds the majorityof the airport’s flight slots, decided tomerge with another airline and ceaseoperations at Long Beach Airport, havingcustoms could help attract other airlines,Scott said. “So if all your eggs are in one

U.S. Customs May Be In Long Beach Airport’s Future



AVIATION/AEROSPACE INDUSTRY FOCUS14 Long Beach Business Journal March 4-17, 2014

basket with JetBlue, it would offer up theability to get another airline in here ifthey bailed out.”Other nearby medium hub airports with

U.S. Customs services include John WayneAirport and Palm Springs InternationalAirport.Scott said that the Airport Advisory

Commission has not heard from JetBlue orthe airport administration in a couple ofmonths about adding U.S. Customs serv-ices to the airport. Whether or not the ideaprogresses depends on JetBlue’s invest-ment decision, and as Scott summarized,“The ball is in their court.” �

Local Operations Shift Focus


Staff Writer

Since 2001, the number of peopleemployed by The Boeing Company inCalifornia has decreased by more than halffrom 42,800 to 17,929. With the announce-ment in 2013 that the aerospace companywould cease manufacturing theGlobemaster III C-17 at its Long Beachplant, nearly 3,000 more local jobs arebeing phased out by 2015. Still, the com-pany maintains a local and statewide pres-

ence, although not as large as it once was.Boeing’s physical presence in Long

Beach exists in its Douglas Center campusoff of Carson Street and LakewoodBoulevard and at its C-17 plant locatedbehind Douglas Park, according to BrittanyKuhn, a spokesperson for Boeing. In addi-tion to manufacturing C-17s, Long Beachprograms also contribute to the BoeingDefense, Space & Security and BoeingCommercial Airplanes (BCA) divisions. Boeing’s focus in Long Beach appears to

be shifting toward its commercial division.In May, the company announced it wouldadd about 300 engineering jobs in LongBeach and Seal Beach to be part of a

Southern California Design Center focusedon maintenance and design of out-of-pro-duction commercial aircraft. Boeing contin-ues to hire for the design center, Kuhn said. “These employees are providing cus-

tomer support to the BCA out-of-produc-tion airplane models – 707,727,737Classic and 757,” Kuhn said of SouthernCalifornia Design Center employees.“The Southern California team alreadysupports all of the out-of-productionMcDonnell Douglas airplane models,”she said. “The number of out-of-produc-tion Boeing airplanes still in operation isapproximately 4,500,” she estimated.Production of the C-17 continues until

the fourth quarter of 2015, when the lastairplane is scheduled for completion, Kuhnsaid. Boeing is building five more C-17sfor the Indian Air Force and another 14 toother customers outside of the UnitedStates, she said. Incremental plant shut-down is set to begin in mid-2014. Kuhnsaid that the company is closing the assem-bly facility in Long Beach following com-pletion of the last aircraft. She stated, “Atthis time, no decisions have been madeabout the disposition of the buildings.However, there are no plans for continuedproduction in the facility.” �

Flight SafetyInternational TrainsPilots, TechniciansAnd Attendants In

Long Beach� By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER

Staff Writer

Long Beach-based Flight SafetyInternational is part of what GeneralManager Peter Nily said is “probably themost regulated and training intensiveindustry in the world.” “Brain surgeons don’t have to do this,”

Nily said. The training company, which has 40

learning centers in 10 countries, has rootsin Long Beach dating back to the 1960s. Atthe company’s 48,000-square-foot facilityat the Long Beach Airport, 2,500 people ayear receive corporate pilot, maintenancetechnician and cabin safety training,according to Nily, who has been with thecompany for about 15 years.At the Long Beach Airport, Flight Safety

International trains corporate pilots andmaintenance technicians for Gulfstreamaircraft. “We have flight simulators thatrepresent Gulfstream aircraft – those arethe aircraft that are completed and servicednext door at the Gulfstream facility,” Nilyexplained as he gave the Business Journal atour of his company’s property.Gulfstream’s facilities are a short walkfrom Flight Safety International.“In this building we currently have the

G550, G450, GV, GIV and GIII simula-tors,” Nily said. The simulators look likesomething a student might want to climb

Customs Service(Continued From Page 13)

Boeing’s California Job Presence More Than Halved Since 2001

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AVIATION/AEROSPACE INDUSTRY FOCUSMarch 4-17, 2014 Long Beach Business Journal 15

into on a field trip for a science class.Spaced evenly along the interior of thebuilding, the massive equipment shifts aspilots inside run through flight scenariosusing technology manufactured for theactual aircraft they are being trained to fly. “We build our own flight simulators in

Oklahoma,” Nily said. To build a simulator,software engineers ride in an airplane tocollect real flight data. The data they col-lect is then used to recreate actual flightscenarios for the simulation equipment,Nily explained. All pilots training at Flight Safety

International are career pilots, Nily said.“They’re all professional pilots who arevery accomplished in one or several air-craft types – they’re just adding this partic-ular type of training,” he said. “I’d say 95percent of the pilots who train here are air-line transport pilot certificate holders, andthat’s the highest level of pilot certificationyou can hold,” he added.Flight Safety International provides initial

pilot training, which takes about three-and-a-half weeks, and recurrent pilot training,which is refresher training that takes about aweek and is required for pilots at least once ayear by the Federal Aviation Administration. Before pilots train in the simulators,

they receive classroom training on com-puters and then move to graphical flightsimulator training in which they interactwith a series of monitors placed around acockpit chair to help them get a feel foran aircraft’s equipment.The company also trains maintenance

technicians for Gulfstream aircraft at itsLong Beach facility through a programcalled Total Technical Training. Nily saidthat instructors from Gulfstream and FlightSafety International work together to“accomplish initial and recurrent trainingfor maintenance technicians on theGulfstream models.” He explained, “Withthat partnership we’re allowed to go over tothat facility and get on those aircraft and

put our hands on the airplane. It’s not justtheoretical, but practical training.” All of Gulfstream’s local maintenance

technicians go to Flight Safety for train-ing, Nily said. “These folks go through asignificant period of studying and testingbefore they get issued an airframe powerplant certificate from the FAA. Then theycome here for specific make and modeltraining,” he explained.

Flight Safety’s cabinsafety program is essentiallyairline flight attendant train-ing that combines the cour-tesy and emergency aspectsof the job, Nily said. Pilotsand maintenance techni-cians may also take part inthe emergency training.“They will run through ascenario where an aircraftwill have a fire somewhere .. . and the cabin will fillwith smoke and they willhave to fight the fire,” Nilysaid. Training also includeswater landings. Althoughthe facility does not have apool, trainees take a trip tothe local YMCA to learnhow to deploy a raft. Thefacility has two actual air-craft fuselages for emer-gency training.Flight Safety

International employs about100 people in Long Beach,most of whom are fulltime,

according to Nily. The company, which isowned by Berkshire Hathaway, has no cur-rent plans to expand its Long Beach oper-ations simply because there is no room togrow. “We’re limited by the leasehold size.There is nowhere to go on this property,”Nily said. If a neighboring facility were tobecome available, the company might con-sider expanding, he said. �

Flight Safety International General Manager Peter Nily stands beside one of the company’s several Gulfstream flightsimulators at the company’s Long Beach facility. All of the company’s training programs are U.S. Federal AviationAdministration approved. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)


POLITICALWIRE – LONG BEACH MAYORAL RACE16 Long Beach Business Journal March 4-17, 2014

DAMON DUNN

The singlem o s t

important jobof the nextMayor is togrow our econ-omy and create

jobs . . . and then use those newresources to improve our qualityof life in Long Beach. My firstgoal will be to lead a neighbor-hood-by-neighborhood plan tomake sure Long Beach is deliver-ing what people here want andneed for a quality life . . . includ-ing the arts, neighborhood revital-ization and public safety.We should look at the arts in

two ways . . . an important ele-ment of our quality of life andworthy of investment on thatalone, but also as an economiccatalyst. Other communities inCalifornia and throughout thenation have turned to their localdiversity and their local artisansinto an economic asset and cre-ated real economic value. Long Beach is rich in these

same resources, but we have yetto bring them together as an eco-nomic driver. We are a diversifiedcommunity, but the focus often iswithin our neighborhoods ratherthan across the city as a whole.We have a strong arts presenceand many important events suchas First Fridays, 2nd Saturday ArtWalk, our museums, and our cul-tural organizations, but we do notyet have a coordinated strategythat considers the Arts as a corelocal industry. This approach is also key to

sustained support. The arts shouldnot be dependent on the vagariesof the City Budget and temporaryinfusions when times are good.Instead, we need sustained sup-port that other communities haveachieved by approaching arts as asource of jobs and a tool forbroader economic growth. We need to work with our local

arts groups in seeking privatefunding to expand our coreresources, and create the destina-tion venues that can draw on theincomparable resources withinour broader region. We need towork with our business commu-nity in expanding local businessessuch as restaurants that go alongwith a thriving arts economy. And to accomplish this, we

need a catalyst who brings theseparties and resources together in afocused economic developmentcampaign. As Mayor, this is a roleI pledge to undertake. �

ROBERT GARCIA

Every greatAmerican

city has a thriv-ing arts and cul-tural economy.We need to con-tinue support-

ing our arts community by mak-ing festival, music and events per-mitting easier and more afford-able, and ensuring full fundingand full support of the mission ofour Arts Council. California StateUniversity, Long Beach graduatesmore artists than any other schoolwest of the Mississippi, yet we doprecious little to persuade them tostay and live and create in ourcity. We should look at further taxcuts for live-work artist spacesand support of studio space. Wealso need to increase support forour entertainment districts, whichnot only improve our quality oflife and attract new visitors, butalso contribute immensely to ourtax base. Tourism has long been avital part of our economy.Promoting Long Beach as anartistic cultural destination wouldsupport our artistic communityand our city budget.As our large neighbor to the

north, Los Angeles, struggleswith runaway film production, weshould partner with them to con-sider a variety of incentives forfilming projects. We must alsoencourage our state governmentto look at how we keep these proj-ects in California. I have alreadybegun this process by authoring aproposal, which passed Councilearlier this year, to have city man-agement investigate the state offilming in Long Beach and rec-ommend incentives to stimulatemore production in our city.The city also needs to finan-

cially support our local art andcultural institutions like the LongBeach Museum of Art, MusicalTheatre West, Museum of LatinAmerican Art, University ArtMuseum, International CityTheatre, Long Beach Symphony,Long Beach Opera, Long BeachPlayhouse, the Ranchos, and CalRep at Cal State Long Beach. Inaddition, we need to support oursmaller and independent venuesand art galleries like the FoundTheatre, the Garage Theatre, andnumerous local dance troops,artists, and musicians. �

BONNIE LOWENTHAL

When pub-lic budg-

ets are tight,support for thearts is oftenviewed as frost-ing on the oper-

ational cake. Public safety, streetrepair, and dozens of other finan-cial demands compete for a finitenumber of dollars, and the artslose out. We now know this is fis-cally unsound: the “creativeeconomies” make a substantialfinancial contribution to the econ-omy. The Los Angeles EconomicDevelopment Corporation(LAEDC) and Otis Art Institutedetermined that the creative sec-tors supported 1 in 7 jobs in theLos Angeles-Orange Countyregion, with a net economic out-put contribution of 10.4% of thegross regional total. Simply put,investing in the arts pays us back!We have an amazing opportu-

nity in Long Beach to capitalizeon this: our diverse cultures canbe linked with the economic sec-tors of new media, the performingarts, design and creative servicesto create jobs and make the arts asustainable economic driver. Ourlocal tourism industry andCSULB will make it evenstronger. As mayor, part of my jobwill be to forge those connec-tions, elevate the Arts Council,and hire an arts advocate in theMayor’s office. Each individual can support the

arts! The people of Long Beachhelped save the summer park con-certs; we can participate in andsupport the many other arts-related activities in the City. Didyou know you can attend a Bondance, watch a silent movie, hangout in art galleries, hear a world-class orchestra and meet a formerPhantom of the Opera – all withinLong Beach? Even better: manyopportunities are free or low cost.Unfortunately, many arts-relatedorganizations lack the funding toadequately publicize their activi-ties. We need a go-to informationspot – a virtual “bulletin board” –where people could find outwhat’s happening next Saturday,say. Whether we use a socialmedia site or the Mayor’s website,work with our newspapers, orshare information through ourlibraries and schools, I think thissmall investment by the City willresult in more dollars being spentin Long Beach by both residentsand visitors. �

DOUG OTTO

It’s fascinat-ing how so

many currentelected offi-cials say theylove the arts –except when it

comes time to providing actualsupport. This has to change. The reason

is simple: Arts and culture createeconomic prosperity. The cre-ative economy totals over636,000 jobs in L.A. County.Supporting the arts is a win-win-win: it creates jobs, attracts thehigh-skilled workforce that tech-nology and information-drivenbusinesses require and improvesour neighborhoods and commer-cial corridors. Think FirstFridays in Bixby Knolls onAtlantic, Retro Row on 4thStreet and Art Walks in the EastVillage on Linden Avenue.Here are the steps I would

take:(1) Creat a Cultural Arts

Advisory Council with directaccess to the Mayor which meetsfour times a year. (2) Make Cultural Affairs to

address the creative economy akey component of the newEconomic DevelopmentDepartment I propose in myJobs Plan.(3) Establish a cultural trust

fund to better aggregate arts andculture funding into one pool tomaximize impact.(4) Establish a one percent art

development fee on new devel-opments to support the arts, sim-ilar to efforts in Seattle,Portland, Santa Monica,Sacramento, Pasadena, LosAngeles, San Jose, and LosAngeles County. �

GERRIE SCHIPSKE

Long Beachis fortunate

to have everyform of art rep-resented in ourc omm u n i t y.This City is

rich with a diverse arts commu-nity that has developed on itsown, largely free from govern-ment support or direction.I was very happy to sponsor

TEDxSOCAL for two yearswhich brought hundreds of cre-ative people to our ConventionCenter and resulted in the book-ing of additional convention busi-ness. This successful event high-lights the connection of arts andculture with economic develop-ment and points out why LongBeach needs to increase its sup-port for making the city an artisticand cultural destination.Urban planners talk about the

importance of “place making” inshaping a community’s social andeconomic future and the connec-tion of arts and culture in strate-gies for making a communityeconomically vibrant.A source of funding local arts

and culture could be accom-plished by utilizing a portion ofthe Transient Occupancy Taxwhich is collected on visitors toour hotels, motels and other lodg-ing. Cities such as San Diego des-ignate a portion of its TOTtowards nurturing and maintain-ing art and culture. Last year,Long Beach collected $19 millionin TOT.Long Beach needs to become

involved with ART PLACEAMERICA, which is a collabora-tion of organizations and fundersthat provide financial assistanceto accelerate creative place mak-ing in cities and has done so forLos Angeles, San Jose, and SanFrancisco.On a very practical level, the

City of Long Beach should add anOffice of Arts and Culture to theportfolio of the Library ServicesDepartment as has been done inso many cities across the U.S. Formany, the library is the onlyaccess to arts and culture and thiswould provide a focal point forthese efforts in the City.Finally, Long Beach needs an

aviation museum which wouldcelebrate the city’s long aviationhistory and bring a large amountof tourists. By partnering with theSmithsonian Air and SpaceMuseum, Long Beach couldserve as a Smithsonian West. �

Question: There have been many complaints that the Mayor and City Councilmembers do not do enough to support the arts in Long Beach. What do you think, and how would you support the arts?

See PoliticalWire News On Page 25

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POLITICALWIRE – LONG BEACH MAYORAL RACEMarch 4-17, 2014 Long Beach Business Journal 17

DAMON DUNN

My reasonfor mov-

ing to LongBeach wasdeeply per-sonal. I wantedto be closer to

my daughter so I could continueto be a big part of her life.In moving here, I sought to

become a contributing part ofwhat makes Long Beach so spe-cial. I joined Rotary Club,Chamber of Commerce, andUkleja Center for EthicalLeadership at CSULB as aFaculty Fellow. At Long BeachEducation Foundation, I helpedraise money to save middleschool sports and start the LongBeach College Prep Academy.I became active in our com-

munity because I truly believe ingiving back for what I haveachieved. I was born intopoverty, but was taught theimportance of education as thegateway to opportunities and thevalue of personal ethics in pur-suing them. With the supportand guidance of many, I was ableto achieve success, in businessand in life.I worked with different cities

here and in other states. I knowwhere they work well. I alsoknow where their policies andactions work against creatingjobs and sustainable economicgrowth.Before deciding to run for

Mayor, I walked 12,000 homesand talked with thousands of youabout what matters most, whatthe next Mayor can do to makeLong Beach better and stronger.We need to create jobs and sus-

tainable economic growth whichwill generate revenue to balancethe budget without new taxes ordebt, fully restore public safety,and revitalize our neighborhoodswith tree trimming, repairingsidewalks and streets, and mak-ing investments in the arts.We need to work with our

schools and colleges to makeeducation a priority and makesure the opportunities I had areavailable to all our young peopletoday.We need a new Code of Ethics

to ensure our local officials con-tinue working for the best inter-ests of our community and not –as we have seen at the Statelevel – for themselves.These are the issues I’ve heard

that matter most to our commu-nity. I will champion theseissues if I am honored to beelected your next Mayor. �

ROBERT GARCIA

The nextMayor of

Long Beachneeds to pro-vide visionaryeconomic lead-ership for our

city. Long Beach experiencedsome tough times recently, asprevious irresponsible fiscalmanagement made it difficult forour local government to respondto the post-2008 economic col-lapse. But thanks to hard work, awillingness to make toughchoices, and the creativity of ourdiverse and invigorated resi-dents, we have made incredibleprogress in the last few years.We have gone from budget

deficits to a budget surplus andfrom pension spiking to pensionreform. In addition, we haveincreased our reserves and havebegun to pay down our unfundedliabilities. We are turning the cor-ner to better economic times.Still, we all know Long Beach haseven greater potential. Our sharedgoal of fostering a city where eco-nomic opportunity is available forall is still incomplete.As Chair of the City’s Public

Safety Committee, I have pro-vided strong, consistent leader-ship and oversight for our LongBeach Police and FireDepartments. I successfullyfought to fully fund public safetyservices and supported toughgang injunctions to take backour neighborhoods. Crime inLong Beach is at historic lows,with violent crime continuing todecrease citywide, and LongBeach is safer today than it hasbeen in more than 40 years. Ialso worked to expand after-school programs for youth toprovide them with healthy andsafe activities and alternatives tothe street. I am determined to make this

city a fantastic place to live forall. I’ve always believed LongBeach is the greatest city in theworld and I am confident thatour best days are ahead of us. �

BONNIE LOWENTHAL

Because Ihave spent

my entire careerpreparing forthis job. I have amore compre-hensive grasp

of the issues facing our city, amore significant set of accom-plishments, and better set of rela-tionships to get things done thanany other candidate.I am not running for any other

position after this, not beholdento any special interests, and notusing this office as a steppingstone. Moving Long Beach for-ward, continuing our great run,and ensuring we can thrive dur-ing the inevitable challengesahead is my sole focus. I will focus on the basic needs

of our city: jobs, public safety,and investment in and revitaliza-tion of our infrastructure.I started as a teacher and

activist in the community, organ-izing for better, safer neighbor-hoods. I had the honor of beingelected to the school board whereI helped institute reforms that ledto Long Beach being named oneof the top urban school districtsin our nation. On the CityCouncil I fought for more policeon the streets, helping reducecrime to historic lows. Now Irepresent Long Beach in theState Assembly, where I workedto return tens of millions of ourtax dollars to Long Beach, allow-ing our city to balance its budget,invest in public safety, andensure our children have a qual-ity education. My work on behalf of our

great city has afforded me theopportunity to create relation-ships at the local, state and fed-eral level, giving me not only theability to marshal significantresources for Long Beach fromacross the region, but also toidentify and take advantage ofopportunities to help our city andexpand our economic reach. I am running for Mayor

because I want to make our citybetter, continue our revitaliza-tion, and prepare us for whateverthe future may bring. I havespent my career preparing myselffor this job. I am proud to be supported by

Governor Jerry Brown, localelected officials, business own-ers and community leaders. I’mnot afraid to make the toughdecisions to keep our city mov-ing forward and humbly ask foryou support. �

DOUG OTTO

Change iscoming to

Long Beach.By July we willhave a newmayor and atleast five new

councilmembers. The questionis: Who has the vision and lead-ership to make this change apositive one?No other candidate offers my

unique combination of experi-ence, knowledge, vision andleadership. I grew up in LongBeach; Long Beach has alwaysbeen my home. I have anunmatched record of communityand civic service. I’ve offered avision of a more prosperousLong Beach – and a detailedplan to achieve it. I understandthe issues, such as public safety,because I was a prosecutor anddefense attorney.Safe streets, great schools,

vibrant neighbors, a prosperouseconomy: those are goals we canachieve with experienced leader-ship. Achieving those goals willtake a mayor who can build con-sensus and collaboration, who isexperienced and principled, andwhose objective is a better city,not another elected office. I willbe that mayor. �

GERRIE SCHIPSKE

First electedto the City

Council duringone of LongBeach’s mostdifficult eco-nomic times,

I've worked hard the past eightyears to help bring Long Beachback from large deficits, highcrime rates, broken infrastructureand unsustainable pensions andget us back on track. We passedpension reforms which will saveour City over $234 million thatwe can now begin investing intoour neighborhoods. I pushed forputting some of our surplus oilmoney towards our unfundedliabilities and for opening ourcollective bargaining process sothat the public is informedbefore the contracts are final-ized. I succeeded in getting CityManagement to finally agree topurchase an automated time-keeping system that will stop thepractice of over 4,000 Cityemployees filling out time cardsby hand at the end of a workweek.Most importantly, I have been

passionate about reforming ourCity government so that it isopen, transparent and accountableand was honored at The WhiteHouse last summer as one ofseven “Champions of Change forOpen Government.” I was thefirst councilmember to post mycalendar on line and the only oneto write a blog to keep residentsupdated on City issues. I take res-idents behind the scenes at Citydepartments through my Open UpLong Beach. I authored legisla-tion so that lobbyists can nolonger give gifts and outgoingelected officials cannot destroytheir public records. I involve myconstituents in taskforces onissues ranging from small busi-ness to lakes, ponds, wetlands andsustainability. My Solar GrandPrix is the highlight of many ofour middle and high schools.Working with all members of

the City Council, we passed mylegislation to get the Cityinvolved in pursuing federalfunds and designation as a manu-facturing center and to exploredeveloping a “Clean TechnologyEnterprise Zone” to attract highpaying jobs.As a native of Long Beach, my

roots are deep in this City. I amoffering voters the strength of myrecord on City Council and thepromise that I will get LongBeach back to working again foreveryone. �

Question: Why should voters support you to be the next Mayor of Long Beach?

Coming Up . . .In the March 18

Business Journal –Responses fromthe city council candidates to 21 questionswe asked them


POLITICALWIRE – CITY ATTORNEY’S RACE18 Long Beach Business Journal March 4-17, 2014

Charles ParkinCharles Parkin was born in Long

Beach, graduating from St. AnthonyHigh School. He received a degreein management from CaliforniaState University, Long Beach in1980. After graduation, he spentseveral years working in oil fieldsin California and in 1984 he washired by the City of Long Beach asa petroleum engineer field techni-cian. He attended school at night toearn a law degree, graduating fromthe Pacific Coast University Schoolof Law in 1991 with his JurisDoctor. He was admitted to theState Bar of California in June1992. In 1995, he joined the Long Beach City Attorney’s office as a deputy cityattorney. In October of 2006 he was promoted to principal deputy city attorney, andin January of 2012 was promoted to assistant city attorney. In June 2013, the citycouncil appointed Parkin acting city attorney (to fill the unexpired term of the pre-vious city attorney, Bob Shannon), and in August he was appointed city attorney. Heand his wife, Terese, have three adult children.

That’s why three Business Journal staffers spent an hour-plus with Charles Parkin, thecurrent city attorney appointed last year to fill the unexpired term of former City AttorneyBob Shannon, and with James Johnson, current 7th District councilman, who wants the job.Being city attorney is not like running for city council. Experience does matter. The abil-

ity to manage other attorneys and related staff does matter. Being knowledgeable about,and having hands-on involvement in, a wide range of city department functions – such astidelands, the port, the water department – does matter. Being independent does matter.Every day, legal issues flood the office of the city attorney. It’s an all-encompassing job thatrequires a professional’s professional. On-the-job training is simply not acceptable. That’s a large part of why Charles Parkin should be elected Long Beach City

Attorney. He has 15 years of experience in the city attorney’s office, with specificknowledge and personal involvement in every aspect of the operation. Johnson hasbeen teaching law at Long Beach State for the past year or so, with very little time onhis resume of working for a law firm. In fact, Johnson has so little legal experiencethat any of the other 19 attorneys working in the city attorney’s office is more qualifiedthan Johnson to run the office. (As an aside, all 19 attorneys have endorsed Parkin – avery powerful statement of who they trust to do the job.)For the interviews, the Business Journal staff came prepared with two pages of ques-

tions, gleaned from conversations with several attorneys – retired and currently prac-ticing. We read the City Charter Section 600 (Department of Law). We read Article 16of the California Constitution (Public Finance). We read about the difference betweena Charter City and a General Law City. We reexamined the city’s organizational chart,which includes a port, an airport, the tidelands area, gas/oil, water and health depart-ments, etc., all requiring legal advice. Few cities have such diversity within their inter-nal operation, making the selection of city attorney that much more critical. We asked Parkin and Johnson questions – some simple ones, to determine if they

understood the responsibilities of the position – and some tough ones, to learn abouttheir knowledge and experience in dealing with various issues that arise regularly dur-ing the course of a workday or during a city council meeting. Johnson is well educated, smart and has done an decent job as councilmember. He would

have easily won a second term. But he’s simply not prepared to step into the city attorney’sshoes. He would be wise to get a job with a law firm – preferably one that practices munic-ipal law – or join the staff of a city attorney’s office before seeking the top position.During the interview, Johnson often referred to his education instead of answering

the question asked. Harvard and UC Berkeley Law School are very impressive on aresume, but they are not a substitute for experience.

Johnson also said, “I’m the only one with elected experience. And that’s importantbecause I had four years of saying no to very powerful groups.” The city attorney’soffice should not be about politics, but Johnson has made it very political, calling onhis friends in the Democratic Party to endorse him. We wonder if those who haveendorsed him understand how inexperienced he is for the position? They are support-ing a fellow Democrat – party loyalty – not who the best candidate for the job is. It’sclear from reading Johnson’s “Closing Argument” response on Page 25 that he con-fuses the role of city attorney with a city councilmember. For example, he states: “Ithink part of my role is to go to communities and solve problems . . .” No it isn’t. That’swhat a mayor, councilmembers and city staff do, not the city attorney. Parkin’s backers span the political spectrum and include individuals with very strong

credentials: the former speaker of the California Assembly, Willie Brown, probably themost powerful state Democrat of the past 50 years; former Long Beach mayors BeverlyO’Neill and Ernie Kell; L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and the former DA,

Long Beach City Attorney’s Race(Continued From Page 1)


POLITICALWIRE – CITY ATTORNEY’S RACEMarch 4-17, 2014 Long Beach Business Journal 19

Steve Cooley; former Gov. George Deukmejian, who also served as attorney general forthe state; five retired judges of the Superior Court; and three former Long Beach city attor-neys. Parkin earned these endorsements because of his experience, not due to politics.While most of Johnson’s “name” endorsements are outside the city, Parkin’s are within,including former councilmembers Rae Gabelich, Jackie Kell, Tonia Reyes Uranga, DougDrummond, Frank Colonna, Doris Topsy-Elvord and Val Lerch – an interesting mix of sup-porters which indicates they recognize that this complex job requires an experienced hand.We know Parkin is a well respected professional. However, we question Johnson’s

conduct and maturity. For example, the Business Journal challenged Johnson torespond to a rumor that, during a recent Democratic Party gathering, he publiclyreferred to Parkin as a “good old white boy.” Johnson’s response: “Sometimes you make jokes. I may have said something along

those lines. I did not call him a good old white boy. What I said was I think the people

have the right to choose here. And I think it’s an old boys’ network where basically theold city attorney passes down the new city attorney. And I oppose that. I may have saidsomething along the lines of there’s nothing wrong with white guys, I am one myself,but I do think the people have the right to choose. I think that’s the big issue here. Oneissue in the race is do people have the right to choose whoever they want, or shouldthe last city attorney pick the new city attorney? That’s the question.”We’re not sure where Johnson is coming from. Voters always have a right to choose.

It’s called an election, and promoting from within is admirable.Lastly, serving as city attorney requires an individual to be independent and not

beholding to any group. Yet, when asked, Johnson admitted to signing a pledge state-ment from a local union (Parkin said he did not sign the pledge). Here’s our exchangewith Johnson, which, again, is further evidence of his misunderstanding of the office:LBBJ: Have you signed a pledge from the Southern California District Council of the

ILWU [International Longshore and Warehouse Union]?Johnson: I did sign the ILWU pledge.LBBJ: Why would you sign it if you are trying to be independent?Johnson: Well, I looked at it and a lot of it, frankly, was not relevant to the city attor-

ney’s race. LBBJ: So why sign? It reads: “I will unflinchingly support organized labor, collective

bargaining and workers’ rights.” That’s a pretty strong statement to agree to.Johnson: I support their legal right to organize. That’s the law. What am I going to say,

that I will not support that right?LBBJ: How about, “I will not support the subcontracting of public services?”Johnson: Let’s talk about that. As the city attorney, you are not a policy maker. Of

course I’m not going to support it because I’m not going to advocate for it either way.So the way I saw that was, a lot of that was frankly written for people running for citycouncil and mayor. It was not addressed to city attorney because most people under-stand what the city attorney does. And so it was pretty easy to sign it because, in asense, I know it’s not going to constrain me as an elected official. I’m going to be thecity attorney who does not take these policy positions. I’m going to advise the citycouncil, so of course I’m not going to support various things. I generally have notsigned pledges, but in this case I felt that it would not constrain me as an elected offi-cial because they weren’t really relevant to the aspects of the city attorney. So while Ididn’t sign pledges when I ran for city council, in this case, since it’s irrelevant to myduties, I didn’t see any harm to the people of Long Beach. The question is, will it affectyour independence as a city attorney. I felt like it would not. That was my decision.”

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James JohnsonJames Johnson was born in Long

Beach, graduating from Poly HighSchool. He received an economicsdegree from Harvard in 2000 and hisJuris Doctor in 2004 from BerkeleyLaw School (“I got Order of the Coif,meaning I was in the top 10 percentof the class”). He was admitted to theState Bar of California in December2004. He was a litigation associatewith Morrison & Foerster from 2004to 2006, then joined the Long BeachCity Clerk’s Department (2006) as asenior policy advisor (“We did revisethe city charter structurally for thefirst time in 20 years”). From 2008-2010 he was assistant city auditor in the Long Beach City Auditor’s Department (“Ihelped review contracts, interpret CalPERS regulations for our pension system, makesure that people are compliant with our tax ordinances, etc.”). In 2010 he was elected torepresent the 7th City Council District. He initially announced he was seeking a secondterm on the city council, then changed his mind and decided to run for city attorney. Heand his wife, Nicole, have two children.



POLITICALWIRE – CITY ATTORNEY’S RACE20 Long Beach Business Journal March 4-17, 2014

Mayoral Candidates Weigh InThe February 18 edition of the Business Journal asked the top mayoral candidates to tell

our readers what experience they felt was needed for the city attorney to do a good job.Robert Garcia said: “I believe that a qualified candidate for city attorney will have experi-ence in municipal law, understand the charter, and have litigation and management experi-ence.” Bonnie Lowenthal wrote: “Of course, our city attorney must have an extensive liti-gation background and experience practicing municipal law.” Doug Otto, an attorney,wrote: “The job of the Long Beach City Attorney is one of the most complex jobs anyattorney could undertake. This is because the breadth of responsibilities that the LongBeach City Attorney’s Office has exceeds similar jobs in almost all other cities. To be trulysuccessful, the elected city attorney should have a diverse background in many of the areasfor which the City Attorney’s Office is responsible.” Lastly, Gerrie Schipske said: “LongBeach has been fortunate to have stability in the Office of City Attorney. More importantly,the voters have elected those attorneys who have worked their way up through the office,bringing with them a wealth of experience and knowledge that has served the city well.”On the following several pages are responses to some of the questions we asked Parkin

and Johnson regarding the city attorney’s position. The Business Journal is devoting aconsiderable amount of space to this race, but, as stated in the opening paragraph, this isthe most important decision voters have to make this election season.

Who’s The City Attorney’s Client?The City Charter is very clear about the role of the city attorney: “To be the sole and

exclusive legal advisor of the City, the City Council and all City commissions, commit-tees, officers and employees with reference to all of their functions, powers and dutiesunder this Charter . . .”When asked, “Who do you consider to be the city attorney’s clients?” Johnson’s

reponse was: “There’s no clear answer. . . . I see my client, basically, as the people ofLong Beach as represented by the Long Beach City Council. . . . I see myself as, basically,advising the city council. They are the policy makers and they represent the people ofLong Beach at large. I always say the ultimate client is the people of Long Beach, butbecause the people of Long Beach are kind of an amorphous group that I can’t knowexactly what they think on any given issue, I think my duty on a typical day-to-day basisis to accept the fact that nine councilmembers represent them.”Here’s Parkin’s response to the same question: Under the charter, the city attorney is

the sole and exclusive legal advisor to the city, and the city is the city council acting as a

body, it’s boards and commissions, it’s employees and it’s officials. The way I woulddescribe it is, the city attorney’s office is a small law firm. We have one client. And ourduty of loyalty is to the city and the city sets policy through its city council. We have acity manager-city council form of government, so that is our client. We constantly getcalls from the public saying, ‘You’re the city attorney. I want you to sue this guy for meor I want you to represent me.’ And we have to explain to them, we’re not the attorney forthe citizens of Long Beach. We have a municipal corporation as our client and we repre-sent them. We can’t give legal advice to the citizens.”

Charter Versus General Law Cities?In very basic terms, a Charter city, such as Long Beach, has authority over its own

affairs, while a General Law city must abide by the state’s general law.We asked the candidates: “Tell us the difference between a Charter city and a

General Law city.”Johnson’s response: “Cities, unlike states and the federal government, are not sovereign

entities. Sovereign entities control their own destinies. Cities can be eliminated because weare controlled by a higher power, which is the State of California. So if the State ofCalifornia tomorrow said, “There is no City of Long Beach,” they could pass a bill and itwould be eliminated as a city. . . . In the early part of the 1900s, the legislature would haveto pass bills to create every city. As California grew, that became unwieldy. So they decidedto create a default law called the General Law. Basically the state legislature said we’regoing to have a general law in the government code where, if you choose, you can just fol-low these general rules. Five councilmembers, a rotating mayor, etc. A lot of cities inCalifornia follow that code, so they are General Law cities. They also said that, if you wantto have more power, more control over your own destiny, you could write your own rules,which is a City Charter. A City Charter would basically govern your city. That’s how youcan govern yourself. Now, it’s not technically a constitution because, once again, you arenot a sovereign entity, but in many ways it acts as a constitution because it is your highestlaw. Most big cities are Charter cities, but a lot of smaller cities follow the default rules.”Parkin’s response: There are two types of cities in the State of California: General

Law and a Charter city. The Charter city has a document that is adopted by its voters andthat acts as the city’s constitution. If you are in a charter city you have some additionalauthorities or limitations of power, depending on what the charter says, that General Lawcities don’t. General Law cities are controlled by the state legislature and enactments bythe state legislature, so their roles, responsibilities and duties are all determined by leg-islation. An example would be in elections. The City of Long Beach holds our electionsat our own dates and times. And we have adopted a municipal code that deals with elec-tions. And those sections that are not covered by our elections code, we refer back to thestate elections code. So we can adopt an ordinance, and we have adopted an ordinance,that says we want to do our elections in April and June, not June and November. GeneralLaw cities’ elections would be June and November. So it allows the cities additional flex-ibility and additional powers. That’s the main difference between those two cities.

The Charter: A Grant Of Power, Or A Limitation Of Power?Question: How do you view the City Charter? Is it a grant of power or a limitation of

power? Please explain.Johnson’s Response: The federal constitution is a law of enumerated power. So, for

example, the Affordable Care Act debate was all about if Congress had the authority to passlegislation that required people to have health insurance. They ended up saying yes, but thatwas debatable. So the question you’re asking is what is a City Charter? Is it that kind ofdocument? I say, look, the City Charter basically lays out how the city is going to be gov-erned, what powers people have and you have no powers that are given. That’s why I say itis a limiting document. For example, if the City Charter says that the mayor can veto a law,the mayor has the power to do that and it lays out exactly how the city council can overridethat veto. I see the City Charter as laying out the rules of the road for how the city is gov-erned and how all of the departments – the highest rule of the departments, basically.Question: So it’s both?Johnson: I think essentially it is enumerated powers. You can’t do things that are more than

what the charter allows you to. For example, limited. I see it more as a limiting document. Parkin’s Response: It is best described as a document of limitation of power. It clearly

says what the city can do and sets the limits. But it gives parameters on what we can door it clearly calls out what’s required to be done. Certain sections would say if the city isgoing to adopt a resolution or an ordinance, it clearly says you have to have five votes ofthe council. So it is a limitation on powers in that if you only have six people like we hadat council [recently], we had an ordinance that was coming up, it might have passed fourto two, but it wouldn’t have passed because the charter says you have to have five votes.So I would describe it as a limitation.

Litigation ExperienceThe Business Journal asked the candiates about their litigation experience, such as how

many trials they’ve had and whether or not they were municipal cases. Johnson’s response: I did work as a litigator for several years, which meant I was involved

in dozens of cases. When at the highest levels of the law, you don’t have a lot of trials. So Idid have some involvement in some trials, but not very many because a good attorney, num-ber one, settles cases and, number two, in very large cases, very often they don’t go to trial.For example, if you have a $70 million litigation case that might go for six or seven years oflegal work, it almost always settles the day before trial because of the expense of trial, etc.But I got very good outcomes for my clients. I actually worked on an international slaveryand trafficking case. This is a case that spanned countries. It was in Indonesia. It was inCalifornia. She was abused sexually and physically. It was such a difficult case that prosecu-tors didn’t even bring it. She came to us for justice, and I represented her at no charge to thefirm. It was a pro bono case. After years of litigation – I spent over a year of my time – we

Long Beach Business Journal

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got her what I think is a very fair settlement. That’s an example of all of the things we workon, all of the motions, all of the practice leading to a great outcome for the client. So I havequite a bit of litigation experience. I think that is going to be a benefit to Long Beach. Parkin’s response: My entire career is municipal. So yes, I have six actual jury trials

to conclusion. They ranged from trip and fall on a sidewalk to an auto accident to a civilrights police case. So those are kind of the areas. I had a lawsuit involved with the QueenMary bankruptcy, which was a four-year case in federal bankruptcy court. Then I had alawsuit that went up to the Court of Appeal in the California 2nd District. We sued theState of California on oil well abandonment funds – setting aside money for oil well aban-donments – and we got a decision out of the Court of Appeal to set aside up to $200 mil-lion for the abandonment of the oil wells in Southern California in the Long Beach unit,which then went to the legislature. In addition to the jury trials, I have probably had 20 or30 bench trials, which means in front of a judge, no jury. And then arbitrations and medi-ations, probably in excess of 50 or so, and depositions and all discovery stuff that’s relatedto that. I did litigation from 1995 to almost the end of 1999 for the city.

Hiring Attorneys And Contracting Out ServicesQuestion: If you were elected city attorney and current attorneys employed with the

department left, are you prepared to hire attorneys?Johnson: Absolutely. One thing I want to do is actually hire more attorneys than there

are today. For example, I think we can save tremendous monies by bringing some attorneysin-house. So even if nobody leaves, the city attorney’s department has over $4 million inoutside counsel fees that are essentially no-bid contracts. What I mean by that is there isno request for qualifications for these folks. What happens right now is these firms mightget paid $300,000 or $700,000 a year. We don’t go to market. We don’t say who can dothe best work at the lowest price. It’s just basically whoever the last city attorney thought,their friend or whatever [should be hired]. That’s not a good process. I think we’re payingtoo much and getting too little. So one thing I’m going to do is have a fair process so whenwe do have outside counsel anyone can participate and tell us how they are going to pro-vide a better service at a lower price. But also, I’ll tell you as someone who has been out-side counsel and charged $450 an hour, these folks are very expensive. I think we shouldbring more attorneys in house to do some of that work. Not all of it, but some of it. I thinkour attorneys probably provide the work at half the cost, even with all of their benefits.And you get better quality because, when those cases are over, that institutional memorystays in the office. So one thing I’m interested in doing is relooking at the balance. Question: As appointed city attorney, are you prepared to hire attorneys?Parkin: I have hired one attorney in the past eight months. We had an attorney in our

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litigation section retire. I have a group [within the office] that does the initial interviewand we get it to three or four [candidates]. Then we talk and try to reach a consensus.Since it is a small office, you’ve got to have people who fit personality-wise and experi-ence-wise. Sometimes we’re looking for a certain skill set since we don’t have a trainingopportunity because we don’t have a lot of attorneys. Question: We were a little bit unclear here about the city attorney’s budget used for

contracting services. Is it $1 million, is it $4 million? What’s the number?Parkin: For outside legal services it’s more than $4 million, and that varies from year

to year. The average might be $4 or $5 million a year for the last few years. I can tell you,I think the majority of that is being paid for on projects in the harbor.Question: So the harbor is actually picking up the tab.Parkin: The harbor is paying for it, yes. I’m sensitive to outside counsel, as everybody

else is. But we also look at it as we’re contracting labor and it’s expensive, but it’s cheaperthan bringing on a full-time person forever. So, for example, in the harbor departmentthey currently have maybe $4 billion in construction projects coming through thepipeline. That’s not always going to be the case.

Workers’ CompensationLBBJ:What is the extent of your knowledge and experience handling workers’ com-

pensation matters?Johnson: At the private firm I did do some workers’ compensation work in terms of

advising State Fund. That’s the largest insurer in California for workers’ compensation foremployers. I think about half of employers use the State Compensation Insurance Fund. .. . They are a government agency. But they operate like a for-profit business. They use notax dollars. So in many ways, they are like an enterprise department we have here. So Idid advise them quite a bit. They have a lot of the typical issues of a government agency,like how do you use the Brown Act, what are the public procurement regulations, howdoes civil service work. These are all things you don’t have to worry about as a privateemployer. You can just hire whoever you want. So I did a lot of advising for them. Also,as a workers’ compensation insurer, they of course ask us for our advice on a number ofmatters about how basically to most effectively pay claims, keep rates down, etc.Parkin’s Response: Twenty-two of our 64 employees are handling workers comp. It’s

a huge part of the city’s budget and a huge part of our office. It’s a balancing test – to bal-ance getting the medical attention and benefits that the employee needs because they havebeen injured on the job against the cost of those services and trying to minimize the cost

and comply with the law. It’s a heavily regulated area of the law. There are a lot of rulesthat probably don’t make sense to normal people, don’t make sense to me when I’m work-ing on those cases. It’s something that we’re looking at and we have talked about. We’re starting an audit of the workers comp section for the city attorney’s office. We’re

going to bring somebody in, they’re going to take 400 or 500 claims, they’re going to pickthem apart and they’re going to tell us are you guys using best practices. The state comesin and audits the workers comp I think every four or five years, and that’s going on. Butin addition to that, we’re bringing somebody from the outside in saying hey what’s theindustry doing out there? Are we doing it right? Are we doing everything we can be doingto minimize cost, deliver the services we need to deliver and minimize our exposure?

TidelandsQuestion:As you know, the city oversees the tidelands area for the State of California.

What is your knowledge regarding the legal aspects of the administration and operationsof the tidelands trust assets?Johnson: This is something I’ve been interested in for many years and have been

involved in since working for the city for the last eight years. The tidelands, as you prob-ably know, is a trust. The tidelands area is state property and the city manages it as atrustee on behalf of the people of California. So one thing I always keep in mind is what-ever we are doing, is it for the benefit of the people of California or is it for the sole ben-efit of the people of Long Beach? If it’s the latter, then it’s a trust violation. That’s thebasic doctrine of the tidelands. I’ll give you a simple example. The Aquarium of thePacific, that’s a tidelands asset. We paid for it with tidelands money. That’s okay becausethe people of California benefit by coming and visiting this beautiful aquarium, et cetera.What’s not okay is if they do something like, say, free admission day for residents of LongBeach or free admission day for 7th District residents. That’s not okay because now youare taking a state asset and having it benefit only Long Beach residents.Parkin: I’ve been working with the Tidelands probably since I started with the city in

1984. My initial introduction to it was working for the city in our oil operations depart-ment. Tidelands basically began in the City of Long Beach and the other cities around1911 when the state granted to the City of Long Beach all the rights interest and controlinto the Tidelands. That means basically the mean high tide line along the shore isTidelands, and then you have property that’s Tidelands-adjacent. And in the oil operations,they had subsidence in the 1950s and they have a subsidence control act which meant theyhad to unitize and start injecting water. And then they discovered oil offshore of LongBeach and decided they wanted to build four oil islands and produce oil over on Pier J bywhere the Queen Mary is. The state owns that property and we are the owner in trust for





POLITICALWIRE NEWSMarch 4-17, 2014 Long Beach Business Journal 25

that property. Just to back up a minute, in the 50s the city was producing all this oil. Wehad a lot of money. Then we started spending it a little more and more out of the Tidelandson municipal projects. The city went to the legislature, got approval, said we don’t needthis much money for the Tidelands, we want to build libraries and roads and etc. The Cityof Long Beach was sued and the court found that the money was restricted use Tidelandsmoney. That was known as the Mallon decision in 1955. After that case, there was legis-lation in 1964 that identified the boundary of the Tidelands basically along Seaside Wayand along the bluff, and it also took a lot of the money that the city had and transferred itto the State of California. They said you don’t need all this money for the trust, it’s comingto us. Oil money. . . . To the city’s credit, they are always trying to find a creative way tospend Tidelands money, and it has been my job to tell them no. . . . So our job has been,under legislation, to report what we spend Tidelands money on to make sure that it’s anappropriate Tidelands use, so that it’s for the benefit of the people of the state ofCalifornia, not just the citizens of Long Beach.

Closing ArugmentsQuestion: Is there anything else you would like to discuss?Johnson: I think this race offers the people a clear choice, and they have the right to

make that choice. The question is, do we want to continue as we have for 50 years and basi-cally have this be an inherited position passed on from one city attorney to another, or dothe people have the right to choose? I think it’s also what kind of city attorney do you want?If you think leadership is not important, then don’t choose me. I’m the leadership candi-date. My position as the city attorney is fundamentally a leader, someone who leads thatoffice and makes those tough calls like when it’s time to settle even when it’s not politicallypopular, or when it’s time to give pension reform advice even though it goes against majorspecial interest groups. Those are the skills that I believe the city attorney should have. Andmy opponent, he has been in the city attorney’s office, he is kind of the career guy. So Ithink the people are really going to decide, what do they want in the city attorney’s office?Do you want proactive leadership? One thing I’m finding in this race is that very few peo-ple, when I knock on doors, even know we have a city attorney, much less who the cityattorney is. And that’s the truth. Why is that? They’re on the same ballot as mayor. I thinkpart of my role is to go to communities and solve problems and make this a better place.That’s the leadership I’m going to provide. . . . I’m the only one with elected experience.And that’s important because I had four years of saying no to very powerful groups. I thinkif you ask the question, what are the main issues coming up for future councils, the bigissues are not going to be Social Security or child education. The big issues are going tobe pension reform, which is going to have to happen again; and fair negotiated contracts,where the city attorney is the advisor and where 90 percent of the money goes. . . . I thinkthe legitimate question is going to be, can my opponent, the handpicked successor of theprevious city attorney, stand up and go against his patrons and do the right thing? Parkin:The city attorney position shouldn’t be a political position. I have spent my entire

career here. I have no other political aspirations. This would be the culmination of my career.It’s a challenging job. It’s an extremely interesting job to do. One of the reasons I decided torun is because of the folks in the office. We have a great office. I’d like to keep that. We havea wealth of municipal law experience. We don’t do a good enough job of tooting our hornor advocating what our office does and all of the things that we are involved with in the city.But at the end of the day, that’s okay. If we do it right, somebody else can take the credit andget the headlines. The people who work in the city attorney’s office want to work there. Theycould probably go out and make more money in the private practice. I think that’s clear. Thisis a complicated city and has a lot of different aspects. So I agree one hundred percent thatexperience and knowledge are necessary to be able to do this job. Lastly, institutional knowl-edge is important. We’re going to have five new councilmembers. As city attorney, I amgoing to sit down with those five people and discuss items such as how you make a motion,how a public meeting is different from a private meeting, etc. They’ve got to be careful whothey talk to, when they talk to them, all those things. We want to answer their questions andhave them understand the services we provide. We want to make sure that they have whatthey need from us. If we do that, I think we’re doing a good job. �

PoliticalWire NewsBob Foster Endorses

Robert Garcia For MayorOn February 25, during a press con-

ference at the Colorado Lagoon,Mayor Bob Foster confirmed whatmany in the community had suspectedfor months: he endorsed Robert Garciato succeed him as mayor. Garcia waselected to represent the 1st District onthe Long Beach City Council, and cur-rently serves as vice mayor.Foster said, “When I made the deci-

sion not to run for reelection, I knewthat there was one person that I trustedto keep us on track and to bring newideas and energy to city hall. Today I

am endorsing Vice Mayor Robert Garcia for mayor of Long Beach. Vice Mayor Garcia hasbeen a strong partner and has led the efforts to grow the local economy, reform pensions andprovide a sustainable future in that regard, and support our public safety personnel. Andthere is no one better equipped or prepared to lead our city into the future than Robert.”“I want to start off by thanking Mayor Foster for an incredible eight years of leader-

ship,” Garcia said. “He has served Long Beach well and served Long Beach at a time thatwas very difficult for our local economy and for a lot of the challenges that we had.” The endorsement should help Garcia achieve his goal of making it to the June runoff.

More importantly for Garcia, Foster has proven he can raise a lot of money, which shouldhelp offset the money that is expected to be poured into the race by the state and countyDemocratic parties in support of Bonnie Lowenthal. Garcia is also a Democrat, as isFoster and mayoral candidates Doug Otto and Gerrie Schipske.Foster’s backing should also remove part of the sting for Garcia in not receiving the

support of Long Beach Firefighters Local 372, which, in a surprise, opted to backDamon Dunn.The Foster endorsement most likely impacts Lowenthal the most, possibly pulling votes

from her to Garcia. There should be little if any impact on Dunn, Otto and Schipske.

Upcoming Debates/Forums• March 6 – 1st District City Council Candidates Forum, 6:30 p.m. at Stevenson

Elementary School, 515 Lime Ave. Sponsored by the Long Beach Central Project AreaCouncil.• March 6 – 7th District City Council Candidtates Forum, along with candidates for

city attorney and city prosecutor. 6 p.m. at the Long Beach Petroleum Club, 3636 LindenAve. Presented by the Los Cerritos and California Heights neighborhood associations. • March 8 –This Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the 14th Annual Candidate Brunch

will be held at the Long Beach Dairy and Creamery Historic Landmark, 167 E. South St.The public is invited. All candidates running for mayor, city attorney, city prosecutor andcity council have been invited. The event is hosted by the North Long Beach CommunityAction Group, Long Beach Dairy and Creamery and the NAACP.• March 19 –A Long Beach mayoral debate, sponsored by the Press-Telegram and the

CSULB Journalism and Mass Communications Department, is scheduled in the BeachAuditorium of the Student Union at Cal State Long Beach. Time not announced.

Endorsements/Candidate News• Damon Dunn –The mayoral candidate was endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers

Association and by Jon Meyer, a member of the Long Beach Board of Education.• Robert Garcia – The mayoral candidate was endorsed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom

and the Los Angeles County Young Democrats.• James Johnson – The Long Beach City Attorney candidate was endorsed by Los

Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.• Charles Parkin – The Long Beach City Attorney candidate was endorsed by former

3rd District councilmember, Frank Colonna.• Jim Lewis – The 3rd District City Council candidate was endorsed by former Long

Beach Police Chief Carl J. Calkins and by Mick Ukleja, president and CEO ofLeadershipTraQ and founder of the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership at Cal StateLong Beach. Jean M. Benson, a councilmember and former mayor of Palm Desert, hasendorsed Lewis, as has another former mayor and councilmember from the city, CindyFinerty. On March 10, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., Lewis is hosting a wine tasting at Gladstone’srestaurant at Rainbow Harbor.• Roberto Uranga – The 7th District City Council candidate opened his campaign

office at 482 W. Willow St. For more information and office hours, call 562/544-7163.• Rex Richardson –The 9th District City Council candidate was endorsed by the Long

Beach Register and the Sierra Club.• Sunny Zia – The 1st District Community College Board of Trustees candidate was

endorsed by the Los Angeles/Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council.• Stella Ursa – The 3rd District Community College Board of Trustees candidate was

endorsed by HONOR PAC, the Latino/a LGBT Political Action Committee, and by GreenTechnology industry members Clay Sandidge and Rose Tourje.• Megan Kerr –The 1st District Board of Education candidate was endorsed by former

Long Beach mayor, Beverly O’Neill.• Uduak-Joe Ntuk – The 3rd District Board of Education candidate was endorsed by

Compton Mayor Aja Brown, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the LosAngeles County Young Democrats.• Juan Benitez – The 3rd

District Board of Education candi-date was endorsed by UNITEHERE Local 11.• Harbor Trucking

Association – The group that rep-resents 60 percent of drayagetrucking companies serving thetwin ports, has endorsed Garcia formayor. It also announced the fol-lowing endorsements in the citycouncil races: Lena Gonzalez, 1stDistrict; Jack Rosenberg, 3rdDistrict; Stacy Mungo, 5thDistrict; Roberto Uranga, 7thDistrict; and Rex Richardson, 9thDistrict. �


DIGITALedition




editionALDIGITTAL


.LBBUSINESSJOURNAL.CWWW OM.LBBUSINESSJOURNAL.CPhotograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville


ENCORE – PEOPLE IN THE NEWS26 Long Beach Business Journal March 4-17, 2014

General Counsel Named At Moffatt &Nichol – David W. Huchel has been namedgeneral counsel for Long Beach-based

Moffatt & Nichol. Hehas more than 23 yearsin construction law,civil litigation, disputeresolution and media-tion. Huchel mostrecently served as vicepresident and chiefcounsel for AECOM.

He was admitted to the California Bar in1990 after earning his Juris Doctor degreefrom the University of Pacific, McGeorgeSchool of Law. Moffatt & Nichol, with 30offices nationally and internationally, isinvolved in a variety of areas includingcoastal, environmental and water resources,marine terminals, urban waterfronts andmarinas, energy, inspection and rehabilita-tion, and transportation, bridges and rail.Two New Staffers At P+R Architecture –

David Sheldon and Bee Rarewala havejoined Perkowitz +Ruth Architects, a full-service internationalarchitecture firmbased in Long Beach.Sheldon serves as thedirector of businessdevelopment andRarewala as director

of marketing. Sheldon oversaw businessdevelopment for nearly 12 years for theAmericas, Europe, the Middle East andNorth Africa for Jerde Partnership. He alsoserved as a designer with the environmen-

tal and design firm EDAW (now AECOM).Among his responsibilities is to serve as a“liaison between the clients and membersof the design team to ensure the client’sgoals and vision are being met.” Rarewalahas more than 14 years of experience in the

architecture, engineer-ing and constructionindustry, includingworking at YazdaniStudio of CannonDesign and withSmithGroupJJR. Sheprovides “strategicoversight for the

growth and brand management of P+R,while advising senior leadership on innova-tive approaches for cultivating marketsmart strategies and business practices.”The SimpleDeal App – Earlier this year,

entrepreneur James McKinney, founderand owner ofSimpleDeal, launcheda new mobile appaimed at helping smallbusinesses. TheSimpleDeal Appenables SouthernCalifornia residents topoint and shoot their

smart phones for immediate dining deals.The app is free for users(simpledealapp.com), while restaurantspay a monthly fee to be included. The appallows you to point and shoot your smartphone at a restaurant, prior to entering it, tolearn about current deals the establishmentis offering. If the restaurant is not a partic-

ipant, the app guides you to the nearestrestaurant that is. McKinney expects toeventually go nationwide.Former Local Art Executive Joins

Nonprofit – Joan Van Hooten, who hasbeen involved in leadership roles with sev-eral Long Beach arts organizations, hasbeen named interim executive director ofGrowingGreat in Manhattan Beach. Theannouncement was made by the ThirdSector Company, which places interimexecutives in nonprofit operations until apermanent replacement is hired.GrowingGreat is a nationwide community-based nonprofit nutrition education organi-zation “dedicated to inspiring children andadults to adopt healthy eating habits,decreasing the risk of obesity and disease.”Leadership Award To LBCC’s Ortiz – The

James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awardis being presented to Long BeachCommunity College DistrictSuperintendent/President Eloy OrtizOakley. The award, inits ninth year, recog-nizes and supports“individuals who areadvancing innovativeand effective solutionsto significant chal-lenges in California.”Oakley is being hon-ored for Promise Pathways – “a programthat is greatly increasing community col-lege students’ completion of transfer-levelcourses through better placement andenrollment strategies.” Oakley is one of sixindividuals being honored. Each receives$125,000 “in support and assistance insharing their promising approaches withpolicymakers and practitioners.” The JamesIrvine Foundation is a private, nonprofitgrantmaking foundation “dedicated toexpanding opportunity for the people ofCalifornia to participate in a vibrant,successful and inclusive society.”

2014 Members For Community HospitalFoundation Board – John Koenig of TheKoenig Companies is the new chair of the22-member Community Hospital LongBeach Foundation. Also on the seven-mem-ber executive committee are Vice ChairRoss Riddle of South Coast ShingleCompany; Treasurer Jeff Wimbish ofKensington Investment Counsel; SecretaryKit Katz of St. Mary Medical Center;Andrea Caballero of Catalyst For PaymentReform; Brendan Diette of NorthwestMutual; and Suzanne Nosworthy.Use Of Force Advisory Committee

Members Named – The Long Beach PoliceDepartment (LBPD) has announced themembers of the newly-formed LBPD Useof Force Advisory Committee. The groupwas formed to “provide a variety of commu-nity perspectives on the police department’suse of force policies and procedures.” Thecommittee does not serve as a review boardfor individual use of force incidents. Themembers are: Peter Bibring; Sandy Cajas,Wayne Chaney, Jr.; Marc Greenberg; GregMeyer; Alex Norman; Sara Pol-Lim; JessicaQuintana; and Mort Stuhlbarg.EPA Honors Boeing – The Boeing

Company received the ClimateLeadership Award from the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency for its“success in managing and reducing green-house gas emissions.” Through theClimate Leaders program, Boeing set agoal of reducing absolute emissions fromits U.S. operations by 1 percent from 2007to 2012 and surpassed it. Among its emis-sion reduction programs, Boeing useshydroelectric and renewable energysources for nearly half of its total domes-tic electricity consumption. �

Bradon Carrillo, left, and Trauger Ralston, both principals with Lee & Assocates’ Los Angeles-LongBeach office are the newest company shareholders for the broker-owned commercial real estate office.“Brandon and Trauger’s new shareholder positions are representative of the Lee business model, whereeach broker earns ownership in the firm through hard work, determination and excellent customer serv-ice,” said Gregory Gill, president of the Lee & Associates L.A.-Long Beach office. “Their impact in theirrespective areas thus far has been significant, and both continue to be outstanding brokers.” Carrillohas more than nine years of commercial real estate experience. He joined the firm in 2009 as a seniorassociate. Ralston join the firm as an associate in 2010. He has more than eight years of commercialreal estate experience. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)

Mark C. Doyle, a partner with TredwayLumsdaine & Doyle, LLP, helped establish hisclient’s right to inheritance under German lawto this painting, Max Liebermann’s ‘SummerEvening on the Alster’ (1910). The paintingwas confiscated by the Nazis in August 1941and “shuffled through private buyers and gal-leries for nearly half a century.” The paintingsold February 5 for more than $1.4 million.(Sotheby photograph)


GRAND PRIX HIGHLIGHTSMarch 4-17, 2014 Long Beach Business Journal 27

racing series, the Indy Racing League(IRL).The racing world took notice, but for

CART teams and drivers it was businessas usual. “Little Al” came back in 1995 to win

his sixth victory on the streets of LongBeach, beating Scott Pruett and Teo Fabito the checkered flag. The race featured ayoung Canadian driver, JacquesVilleneuve, the son of ex-Formula Onestar and winner of the 1979 Toyota GrandPrix of Long Beach, Gilles Villeneuve.The young Villeneuve would go on to

win four races, including the Indianapolis500, and capture CART’s 1995 serieschampionship.The fledgling IRL made its debut in

1996 with just three races, all ovals onU.S. soil and with mostly American driv-ers. But, the drama was building: IRLboss Tony George all but eliminatedCART drivers from the centerpieceIndianapolis 500 – and fostered years ofbad blood – by guaranteeing the top 25 of33 starting positions would go to IRLdrivers, known as the “25/8 rule.” Overall, however, CART, remained the

clearly dominant series. Jimmy Vasserwon the 1996 Toyota Grand Prix of LongBeach, edging out Parker Johnstone andAl Unser Jr. in a race in which foreign-born drivers filled out half the 28-carstarting field. Vasser went on to win theseries championship.The following year a young Italian,

Alex Zanardi, stood the CART world onits ear. He won at Long Beach in a racethat featured six lead changes, then wonfour more races to win the series title.Zanardi came back to repeat in 1998,

winning not only here but six more timesto capture his second straight CARTchampionship in a year that featured newdrivers, new chassis, new engines andfully two-thirds of the Long Beach start-ing field from outside the U.S. It was also the farewell appearance at

Long Beach for popular two-time seriesking Bobby Rahal. No CART drivers appeared in the IRL’s

Indianapolis 500 race . . . and would notrun at Indy again until 2000. Meanwhile,the IRL was slowly expanding, addingraces at such high-profile venues such asTexas Motor Speedway and CharlotteMotor Speedway. In 1999, another rookie – Juan Pablo

Montoya – burst on to the CART scenewith a convincing win at the 25th ToyotaGrand Prix of Long Beach in front ofmore than 102,000 fans. His win, in onlyhis third start, kicked off a championshipyear for the young Colombian, who wenton to win seven more races.(After a stint in Formula One and seven

years in NASCAR racing series, Montoyawill return to Long Beach April 11-13driving the #2 Team Penske entry.) Paul Tracy won his second Toyota

Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2000 andHelio Castroneves took the checkeredflag the following year. In 2002, MichaelAndretti took home his second LongBeach victory . . . but things had begun tounravel in the CART camp.One powerful team, headed by owner

Roger Penske, had already left the seriesto join the Indy Racing League, and twomore, Target Chip Ganassi and AndrettiGreen Racing, followed after the 2002season. More importantly, the series lostits major sponsor – FedEx – as well asengine manufacturers Toyota and Honda,to the IRL.As a result, CART filed for bankruptcy

after the 2003 season, with a trio of carowners – Kevin Kalkhoven, GeraldForsythe and Paul Gentilozzi – gainingthe series assets over a bid from Tony

George. The trio re-branded the seriesthe Champ Car Open Wheel RacingSeries, later changed to the BridgestonePresents the Champ Car World Seriespowered by Ford in 2004. On our city streets, Paul Tracy reeled

off two straight wins, in 2003 and 2004,amid even more defections . . . mostnotably Team Rahal and FernandezRacing, who jumped to the IRL just daysprior to the 2004 Long Beach race!From 2005 through 2007, a young

driver from LeMans, France – Sebastien

Bourdais – made Long Beach race fanstemporarily forget about the off-trackpolitical circus with three straight con-vincing victories. But, the series was onits last legs. As a result, 2008 would be another year

of transition in Long Beach, with one eraending and a new one beginning. �

Celebrating 40 Years(Continued From Page 1)

To download the circuit mapand the ticket brochure, visit:

www.gplb.com

Al Unser, Jr.,1995

MichaelAndretti,

center,2002(Scott

Grassophoto)

Paul Tracy crossing the finish line in 2004,and later on the podium at right

Al Unser, Jr., 1995(Tim Owens photo)



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