Part of LB Airport plus CSULB now in 4th District

Los Altos scores

TOUCH DOWN

in Long Beach Redistricting

 photo courtesy of Skyline Simulations 

On Thursday, November 18, the Long Beach Independent Redistricting Commission approved a historic redistricting map that included part of the Long Beach Airport again being in the 4^th District and moving CSULB into the 4^th District. 

The new maps are effective immediately but are subject to a 30 day opening for legal challenges.

The new map provides that Fourth District residents through their council representative will once again have a voice regarding the Airport.

New 4th District boundries

Los Altos neighborhood leaders joined neighborhood leaders from the 5^th, 7^th, and 8^th Districts in January of this year to work on “sharing” the airport. The idea was to have airport impacted neighborhoods have a voice in the airport by having the airport be in more than one council district.  For years the airport has been exclusively in the 5^th District which does not include any of the landing and take-off pattern neighborhoods affected by the noise of jets on the main runway.

The neighborhood leaders working on the change created a redistricting “community of interest” called the Airport Adjacent Neighborhoods Group.  That group worked since January to have the airport impacted neighborhoods’ council districts have a section of the airport.

Under the approved map,  District 4 with its Los Altos impacted airport neighborhood will have a section of the Airport that includes the touchdown area of the main runway.   The take-off neighborhoods of California Heights and Bixby Knolls will become a major part of the newly re-configured 5^th District making the 5^th District Councilperson directly accountable to the area of  Long Beach that accounts for the most noise complaints.

District 2 Councilwomen Cindy Allen and 5th District Councilwomen Stacy Mungo-Flannigan homes are now in new districts.  They will remain, councilpersons and will serve out their terms with the option of moving within the new district or running in their new districts when there is a scheduled election.

CSULB and Puvungna site now in the 4^th District and other changes

In addition to the Airport section, Los Altos neighborhood leaders worked with members of the Puvungna community to move CSULB (that includes the historic Puvungna site)  into the 4^th District from the 3^rd District.

Los Altos leaders used evidence of the overwhelming parking impacts from the campus on adjacent neighborhoods.  Members of the Puvungna community noted the Los Altos community's long-standing and vocal support to keep the sacred Puvungna site undeveloped by the University.

Other border changes in the 4^th District were necessitated by changes elsewhere in the city.  The Zaferia District,  the 4^th District section of Cambodia Town, the Byrant Neighborhood, and the Community Hospital Campus were all placed in other council districts. 

Communities added to the 4^th District because of shifts in other parts of the city include: Park Estates;  La Marina; Bixby Hill, South El Dorado, College Estates Park; El Dorado Estates; The Plaza; the Ranchos, and Rancho Estates.

The 4^th District’s infamous and much-maligned example of gerrymandering of the El Dorado Park known as the “whale tail”  was an easy target of the Redistricting Commission.  That area took the Nature Center out of the 5th District's  El Dorado Park and placed it in the 4th by contorted boundary lines.

The irony however is that the area was reunited with El Dorado Park by placing the entire park into the 4^th District.

Welcome to the 4th !

Los Altos' trick-or-treaters beware: FAIRBROOK MANOR is back!

 Fairbrook Manor returns to haunt Los Altos' trick-or-treaters

For the second year, Fairbrook Manor Haunted House returns to haunt  Los Altos' trick-or-treaters with an expanded front-yard-themed Halloween experience at 5426 E Fairbrook.

This year’s Fairbrook Manor includes actors from local high school drama classes providing the creepy characters for the 1932 haunting theme.

Entry to the neighborhood haunt is free, but food and personal care item donations for the Long Beach Rescue Mission are being accepted. For more information on the types of donated items sought, please see the details in this week's Fourth District Councilman Daryl Supernaw’s newsletter:  COUNCILMAN SUPERNAW'S NEWSLETTER.

Fairbrool Manor is open 7 pm – 10 pm on the weekends:  Friday- Sunday October 22nd, 23rd and 24^th; then October 29^th, 30^th and 31^st. 

Two new eateries and one store closing in Los Altos area

 Two new eateries and one store closing in ELB

Hot Dogs, Hot Chicken, and Hot deals

Two new specialty foodie locations will be opening in the 4^th District while the Traffic Circle’s PetCo Unleashed will be closing.

L.A.’s Dirt Dogs featuring bacon-wrapped hot dogs will be opening its seventh location in the Circle Center. With three locations in Las Vegas,  the CSULB accessible Long Beach location will be the fourth in L.A. County where the chain originates. Other L.A. County locations are in Downey, Pasadena, and Downtown L.A.

Dirt Dog’s origin story is rooted in the Los Angeles street vendor scene.  The menu is heavy on bacon-wrapped hot dogs, but it does feature a vegetation Dirt Dog option, flaming corn, special versions of esquite cups (ie. Mexican corn meets flaming Cheetos)  tacos, and fries.   Two kids' meals are served, one with mini corn dogs and one with chicken nuggets. Desert is deep-fried based including Oreos, Twinkies, and Churros.  

Dirt Dogs' House Dog        photo courtesy of Dirt Dogs 

The menu already features a nod to one of Long Beach's favorite sons with the Snoop’s Dogg that the menu describes as: 100% Premium All Beef Nathan's 5/1 Dog, Wrapped In Center Cut Bacon, Grandma's Slaw, Doggy-Style BBQ, Billionaire Bacon, Gin & Juice Ketchup.

And yes, it is just a block away from The Circle cannabis store.

 

Chix, Nashville Hot Chicken

In the former Subway space at Palo Verde and Stearns,  Chix, Nashville Hot Chicken is preparing to open.   An independent entry into the chicken sandwich wars. The new restaurant will feature the niche  "Nashville style” chicken sandwich. 

In Nashville, Nashville-style chicken is king. The “Nashville style” features fried chicken that gets its “hot” from cayenne and hot sauce in the coating and more spicy sauce drizzled over the cooked chicken.  Add white bread and pickles and that is “Nashville-style”.  Of course, like BBQ,  each restaurant has its recipe (yes and many are “family recipes)  of coating, sauce and fixings making Nashville style like BBQ in Texas- very competitive.

Of course, with every great food named after a local, you have to have an origin story. Local lore has the Nashville-style chicken sandwich attributed to Thornton Prince in the 1930s. The gist of the story features a girlfriend, some womanizing, and revenge food that Prince ended up liking.

PetCo Unleashed closing 

While Dirty Dog sets to open in the former Dickey’s BBQ spot, a  few doors down in the Circle Center the PetCo Unleashed location will be closing.  They are having an inventory “everything must go” sale now.

New Los Altos restaurant: Love Full Native Kitchen

 Love Full Native Kitchen opens in Los Altos Village

 Love Full Native Kitchen has opened in the Los Altos North shopping center.  It is the third location for the popular California Caribbean inspired restaurant that features a menu with many vegan options as well as dessert and breakfast.  

The Los Altos Village store located in the former Wok a Roll next to Trader Joe’s had a soft opening on Tuesday, July 13, 2021.

The Los Angeles locations opened under the name Grilled Fraiche boast 4.7 stars on yelp. Fraiche is French for fresh. The Hyde Park and South Central locations will be rebranding to the new name Love Full Native Kitchen. The new website for the new name is currently being developed.

The current Long Beach soft opening menu features Vegan Veggie Tacos along with salmon, shrimp, and chicken.  The Believe Stew (which the restaurant was offering samples) is a jerk-flavored black and kidney bean-based stew in a coconut milk base.  The menu includes a Build-a-bowl option and burritos and quesadilla’s build options that include vegan sauces.

Breakfast offerings include a “Shrimp and Grits” as well as a Cajun-seasoned omelet, an egg and cheese wonton wrap and a breakfast bowl. 

Desserts include bread pudding, baked or ala mode, and anytime plantains.  The current menu has two juice offerings: Unsopable- pineapple, sour sop, lemon, honey and ginger; and Mango Manifesto-mango,  passion fruit, lemon, honey and ginger.

Then menu boasts “organic ingredients, range free proteins and eco-friendly containers”. 

For more information see

WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Grilled Fraiche Instagram account

Supernaw requests Long Beach ordinance to target street takeovers

Supernaw requests Long Beach ordinance to target street takeovers 

July 9, 2021, East Long Beach street take-over at Bellflower and Stearns

Long Beach Fourth District Councilman Daryl Supernaw has agenized a council item for July 20, 2021 meeting to “prepare an ordinance to enhance penalties for participating in or being a spectator at a street takeover”.      

The request to the City Manager and City Attorney came just days after a street takeover at the corner of  Bellflower and  Stearns on the night of Friday, July 9^th.  That takeover saw cars doing donuts in the middle of the intersection and racing up and down Bellflower, including on the wrong side of the road.   The takeover included dozens of people standing in the street videotaping the takeover.

As the police arrived, the participating cars raced south on Bellflower, some without headlights, as some turned into Los Altos Village neighborhood streets to avoid the police.

Close to the freeway, both the Los Altos Gateway Shopping Center north of the 405 and the Los Altos Shopping Center North have been taken over by social media-promoted car events.

The street takeovers promoted on social media have had deadly consequences for both drivers and bystanders. Many of the bystanders come with the cars to video the takeovers for social media. 

Regular street takeovers in the Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar  took an inevitable  dangerous turn last month when a car predicating in the street takeover almost hit a pedestrian before slamming into a nearby business and heavily damaging it.

This year the City of Anaheim passed an ordinance aimed at giving the police more power to deal with the takeovers, including charging spectators.  Both city’s responses were to incidents where people were injured in street takeovers in those cities.  Other California cities enacting similar ordinances.

The street takeover problem grew nationwide during the pandemic. In May, the state of Georgia passed a law to deal with the growing problem.  The new Georgia law creates a new crime category called reckless stunt driving, requires mandatory jail time, and increases fines and penalties on participating, organizing, or promoting the takeovers.

 For more information click on:

Supernaw’s July 20^th Agenda Item

East Long Beach  street take over with  video

East Long Beach street take over

East Long Beach  street take over

For approximately twenty minutes on Friday, July 9, 2021 dozens of cars took over the intersection of Stearns and Bellflower Blvd.

The squealing tires and smoke from the burning rubber along with the roar of souped-up  mufflers on the cars racing up and down Bellflower started just after 10:30 pm and lasted for over 20 minutes. During those 20 minutes before the Long Beach Police Department arrived,  some of the cars raced on the wrong side of the road down Bellflower Blvd.

When the police arrived driving south toward the crowd from the direction of the 405 freeway, the cars began racing south down Bellflower, many without their headlights on.  A few cut into the Los Altos Village residential streets in what appeared to be an attempt to evade any police. 

The LBPD did not pursuer the cars but instead stayed at the intersection of Steans and Bellflower to clear it out.  The dark rubber marks in the intersection are still visible.

The street takeovers promoted on social media have had deadly consequences for both drivers and bystanders. Many of the bystanders come with the cars to video the takeovers for social media. 

Regular street takeovers in the Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar took an inevitable  dangerous turn last month when a car predicating in the street takeover almost hit a pedestrian before slamming into a near-by business and heavily damaging it.

This year the City of Anaheim passed an ordinance aimed at giving the police more power to deal with the takeovers, including charging spectators.  Both city’s responses were to incidents where people were injured in street takeovers in those cities.  Other California cities enacting similar ordinances.

The street takeover problem grew nationwide during the pandemic. In May, the state of Georgia passed a law to deal with the growing problem.  The new Georgia law creates a new crime category called reckless stunt driving, requires mandatory jail time and increases fines and penalties on participating, organizing or promoting the takeovers.

UPDATE 7/14/21:  Councilman Supernaw has proposed Long Beach develop an ordinance to address street racing. For more information CLICK ON: 

Supernaw requests Long Beach ordinance to target street takeovers 

Long Beach Airport gets another Southwest flight to Hawaii

Long Beach Airport gets another Southwest flight to Hawaii

Southwest Airlines announced another flight to Hawaii from the Long Beach Airport today. The announcement on its expansion into the Hawaiian air market included expanding flights from airports that it already provides flights to the islands and new cities that will now offer flights to the state.  The new flight schedule will double Southwest's current flights to Hawaii from across the nation. 

The new flight from Long Beach will be the third for Southwest  with service beginning June 23, 2021. Hawaiian Airlines also has two flights from Long Beach. With five daily flight to Hawaii, the Long Beach Airport has become a major gateway for vacationers in just a year after JetBlue announced its departure from  the Long Beach Airport. 

Other cities that will get expanded service to Hawaii from Southwest include San Diego, San Jose and Oakland.

Southwest also announced inaugural service to Hawaii from Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Those flights will begin the new service to Hawaii on June 6, 2021.  Southwest is offering special fares as low as $129 one-way in those cities. 

Southwest currently has 34 of the 53 Long Beach flight slots. 

For more information

Southwest Airlines to more than double its Hawaii trans-­Pacific service