Aug. 28
The 6th District Budget Summit, will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. Aug. 28, at McBride Park in Long Beach.
Details:(562) 570-6816
Venue: McBride Park
Location: 1550 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., Long Beach
6th District Budget Summit
C.A.R.E. to DINE
Aug. 25
Attend the C.A.R.E. to Dine kick-off party, from 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 25, at the Long Beach Museum of Art.
The idea behind the single-day event is simple and effective: dine out; fight AIDS. Participating restaurants will donate 20 percent or more of food, beverage, and alcohol sales on Sept. 26 to benefit clients of the Comprehensive AIDS Resource & Education Program.
Details: (562) 624-4987; http://careprogram.org/events/dine
Venue: Long Beach Museum of Art
Location: 2300 E. Ocean Blvd, Long Beach
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NSA Puts Pressure on Secure Communication Websites
DALLAS — Lavabit, an email encryption website believed to be used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, shut down and posted a message on the web page explaining the reasoning behind it:
Founded in 2004 by Ladar Levison, the site provided secure communication between its users
“I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit,” Levison wrote on the web page. “After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations.”
Brown Signs Parking Citations Bill
SACRAMENTO — On Aug. 14, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law, Assembly Bill 443.
The bill, authored by Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal and sponsored by the City of Long Beach, aims to help to level the playing field for collecting parking citations.
It allows the California Department of Motor Vehicles to deny a vehicle transfer between family members if there are unpaid parking citations associated with the vehicle. AB 443 becomes effective Jan. 1, 2014.
Currently, registered owners of vehicles with unpaid parking citations can transfer their vehicle to a family member to evade paying the citations prior to renewing the vehicle’s registration. The vehicle transfer fee is $15 — much less than an overdue parking citation. AB 443 gives the state explicit authority to require payment for parking citations before transferring the vehicle in cases when the intended transfer is between family members.
Parking citation revenues are distributed to cities and counties, as well as state trial courts. Presently, the state receives $12.50 from each parking citation. Parking ticket citation collections becomes difficult after a delinquent registered owner transfers the vehicle to a new registered owner. This problem occurs in cities throughout California.
Long Beach has increased collections by modifying the collections billing process to allow additional time for citations to be paid before penalties are assessed. In addition, a final notice is generated as a reminder to the registered owner that the parking citation has not been paid and additional penalties and collection actions will be pursed. Delinquent parking citations are referred to the collection firm about 80 days from the citation issue date.
As a result, collection activity is now performed earlier by the collection firm to improve city revenues. The city has also engaged the use credit reporting. Parking citations that remain unpaid after numerous attempts to seek payment through notices and phone contact are now subjected to adverse credit reporting. Long Beach is also enrolled in the State Franchise Tax Board Tax Intercept Program. Customers that fail to respond to the warnings are eligible to have their income tax refunds intercepted by the City to be applied to outstanding fines and penalties.
Annual Fifth District Community Meeting
Aug. 14
Attend the annual Fifth District Community Meeting to discuss the fiscal year 2014 budget, from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 14, at the Long Beach Water Treatment Plant.
Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske will discuss Mayor Bob Foster’s proposed budget for 2014. Participants also will get to hear from various departments present their portion of the proposed budget.
Details: (562)570-6932; www.longbeach.gov/finance/budget/documents/default.asp
Venue: Long Beach Water Treatment Plant
Location: 2950 Redondo Ave., Long Beach
Chris Arnold Speaks on Documentary Film: Trans
By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
Despite the advances of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality movement, I’ve found that the valuation of transgendered lives still has a long way to go.
A transgender activist in the documentary film, Trans, noted that in many cases transgender people aren’t just murdered, they are mutilated, stabbed a 1,000 times, and set on fire, not necessarily in that order.
The World Stage Fights for Survival
By Melina Paris, Music Columnist
Two days after a peaceful community rally against George Zimmerman’s acquittal turned violent by a dozen youth, organizers for the World Stage Rent Festival worried that continual heavy police presence may deter fans from attending the fundraiser.
By evening time, only two squad cars remained on Degnan Boulevard.
Lieu Asks Congress to Reconsider Vote to Halt NSA Surveillance
SACRAMENTO — On Aug. 12, Sen. Ted Lieu introduced a legislative resolution urging Congress to reconsider its recent vote to halt the U.S. National Security Agency’s massive data and phone records collection of Americans.
The resolution is in response to proposal in the House of Representatives to stop the NSA surveillance of Americans almost passed Congress.
“This resolution tells members of Congress who voted for the proposal, and especially the California delegation members, that we have your backs and we urge you to bring another proposal to the floor,” said Lieu, D-Torrance. “The resolution also signals to those Members who did not vote for the proposal that the constituents in California believe following the Constitution is the highest duty.”
Little Fish Opens a Doubleheader
By John Farrell, Curtain Call Writer
Shakespeare by the Sea’s season is running down and it is Little Fish Theatre’s turn to be a host, with two comedies that will fill its newly air-conditioned theater.
The Kitchen Witchesby Caroline Smith andRounding Thirdby Richard Dresser form a double-header through Aug. 31.
Opening night forThe Kitchen Witcheswas a bit of a dramatic trainwreck. The lead actors, Madeleine Drake as Dolly Biddle and Adriana Bate Isobel (Izzy) Lomax, had only three days to learn their parts when the originally cast actresses were unable to continue. Both carried scripts with them so they could be sure of their lines. They had generous help from the two others in the cast, Glen Alexander as Stephen Biddle (Dolly’s son and her show producer) and Rob the Camera Guy (Christopher Bunyl,) who had rehearsed many more hours. The show was pretty good, at least from the acting standpoint. Drake managed a convincing accent for the first part of the play.
But there were many other problems. The kitchen sink didn’t work in the first act. After an adjustment, the lights burned out a breaker that included the new air-conditioning and the second act was down to just the house lights.
Rounding Third had less technical problems: just two actors coaching a Little League team, with the audience acting as team members.
The first thing you notice in Rounding Third is the spot-on perfection of the casting choices. Director Bert Pigg chose Brantley Black for Don, the gung-ho coach. You couldn’t have found a better man for the part. He is very muscular, and proud of it. He wants his team to play to win. He is a drill instructor to that team, until he reveals his softer, hidden side.
Garret Replogle is almost his opposite. He appears first in business suit and is often summoned to his cell phone by a demanding boss. His hair is perfectly. The little piece of hair that extends just below his baseball cap says much about his job and his worries. This includes a son on the team who is arguably the worst player they have.
Don and Michael take most of the first act to warm up to each other. Together they almost win the championship, learning about each other in the process. But they never become friends, even at play’s end.
The Kitchen Witchesis a simple comedy about two women who are enemies but share more than a few secrets. The play itself is more sit-com than drama.
Rounding Thirdhas more pretensions, and is the better play, though it lacks a coherent ending and leaves the audience a little confused. Both, though, are amusing and worth seeing (if the air-conditioning is working).
Tickets are $27 for general admission, $24 for seniors and $20 for students for both plays.
TheKitchen Witchesplays at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, and at 2 p.m. Sundays, through Aug. 31.
Rounding Third plays at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, and at 2 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 21.
Details:(310) 512-6030;www.littlefishtheatre.org
Venue: Little Fish Theatre
Locations:777 Centre St., San Pedro
A CELEBRATION OF GEORGE DUKE, A GREAT MUSICIAN AND GOOD GUY
By Lionel Rolfe
The death of keyboardist George Duke at 67 last week brought back memories of the ‘70s when I smoked dope with him nearly every day.
I had hooked up with Nigey Lennon, to whom I would be married for about a quarter of a century, and I used to go with her to Frank Zappa’s rehearsal space on Sunset Boulevard near Bronson Avenue where Zappa’s Mothers of Invention worked on such albums as “Roxy and Elsewhere” and “Over-Nite Sensation.”