Fred Pickel will be the guest speaker at the Harbor Area Neighborhood Councils meeting on 6:30 p.m. July 3, at the Kaiser Permanente Conference Center, in Long Beach. Kaiser Permanente Conference Center
Details: http://tinyurl.com/DWPRatepayers
Location: 25965 Normandie Ave. Long Beach
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July 3
If you’ve ever wondered how the budget process works, Chat with Pat will feature Long Beach City Director of Financial Management John Gross, starting at 4:30 p.m. July 3, at the Los Altos Library in Long Beach.
Gross works closely with the Long Beach City Council, especially during the annual city budget process.
Details: (562) 570-6918
Venue: Los Altos Library
Location: 5614 E. Britton, Long Beach
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LONG BEACH — A woman, who was found unresponsive in her cell at about 5:15 a.m. June 28, 2013, was pronounced dead by a responding doctor.
The woman was arrested at about 2:35 p.m. June 27, at Long Beach Police Headquarters. She had arrived to the police facility yelling and screaming, and when officers contacted her to see if something was wrong, she indicated she wanted to come inside, officials said.
During a warrant check, officers discovered she had outstanding misdemeanor warrants and was taken into custody. She was booked without incident and placed in a cell within the Women’s Jail. During jail rounds throughout the night, nothing unusual relating to the woman’s condition was noted.
Demonstrators marched from the Long Beach Convention Center to the local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, Long Beach City Hall and the office of Rep. Alan Lowenthal calling for immigration justice, family unity and the full inclusion and protection of workers.
At the office of Immigration Customs and Enforcement Rev. Mari Castellano of the UCC Washington, D.C. Advocacy Office sprinkled holy water calling for the cleansing and transformation of ICE. At City Hall Distinguished national clergy leaders washed the feet of immigrants.
Finally, at Rep. Lowenthal’s Office, Rev. Linda Jaramillo the Executive Minister of Justice and Witness broke bread and shared it to symbolize the full inclusion of all immigrants at the table.
Clergy, community leaders and impacted individuals joined in symbolic ritual, prayer and singing to voice opposition to what they believe are harsh immigration enforcement policies that have left 1.4 million people deported within the past four years, causing thousands of family separations.
“It is powerful to see so many organizations working together to reform the policies that are currently broken,” Rev. Noel Andersen, a UCC pastor, said. “Today organizers, pastors, lay leaders, DREAMers and local activists are demanding to stop the deportations, keep families together, and pass a compassionate immigration reform in the House of Representatives now.”
Church World Service, the Long Beach Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice network including CLUE-LA, CLUE-OC, CLUE-CA and CLUE Northern California all helped organize the event.
This year more than 5,000 delegates of the one-million-member United Church of Christ gathered in Long Beach for their 2013 annual General Synod.
LONG BEACH — West Nile Virus has been detected in two American Crows in East Long Beach, near El Dorado Park.
The birds were tested by the State Department of Public Health’s West Nile Virus Surveillance System, which monitors the disease in humans, horses, chickens, mosquitoes and dead birds.
This year, West Nile Virus activity has been detected in 20 counties in California, including West Nile Virus positive birds and mosquitoes in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
Marriage equality was the focus of progressive Christians June 28 in Long Beach.
On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and Proposition 8 cannot be enforced, the United Church of Christ, a mainline protestant denomination of more than 1 million members, will lead a pro-marriage equality rally during its biennial General Synod on the promenade outside of the south doors of the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center.
The UCC’s General Synod affirmed full marriage equality for all couples in 2005, and many of the denomination’s leaders have been integral in the fight for equality that has so far been achieved in 12 states and Washington, D.C. The UCC stands with thousands of same-sex couples across the life the church, affirming their freedom to marry the person they love.
LONG BEACH — More homeless people, especially veterans, are off the street and in shelters in Long Beach, according to a biennial survey conducted by the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, from 2007 to 2013.
The number of homeless people in emergency shelters and transitional housing increased 25 percent, from 1,319 to 1,654.
The number of homeless people without shelter decreased 13 percent, from 2,150 to 1,879.
The Hollywood Fringe Festival continues through June 30 and there are still plenty of plays left to satisfy most appetites.
We dropped in on three, and while not all of the plays were great, everything was fun and interesting.
Best by far wasLost Moon Radio Presents Roger Wodehouse’s Androgymnasium,a long title for a delicious look at what might have been the BBC equivalent ofSesame Street, if that show had a drug-crazed androgynous rock star as it’s host. Imagine David Bowie doing Mr. Rogers, with a low-rent Stones playing in the background.
Ryan Harrison is delicious (and surprisingly sincere) as Roger Wodehouse, who is both an international rock star and a fashion icon (as he tells you several times). This show is billed as the only surviving copy of the TV series, which ran four episodes (and a little more) and then was canceled, with all the tapes, save this beta-max copy found at an oriental swap meet, burned. Roger’s band included the befuddled but loveable Terence, Roger’s oldest mate (Will Maier) and the comedy is partMonty Python, partSaturday Night Live and all original. The sold-out house loved it. One performance remains June 29 at 6:30 p.m.
The Real Housekeepers of Studio Cityis a world-premier musical being given its first showing at the Fringe. It features not only a real housewife (who wants to star in the show of that name), but a host of housekeepers. After all, you can’t be on reality TV if you do your own housework. The songs, with music by Joe Greene (no, not Giuseppe Verdi) and book and lyrics by Heidi Powers and Tom Moore, needs a bit of work, but it has its heart in the right place: squarely in the middle of the satire bulls-eye, and stars Lani Shipman as Ashley, who was deserted by her husband after five years in suburbia. Ryan O’Connor is Scot, her gay best friend. Together they bring a little believability to a show that is part fantasy, part reality. Its last performance was June 28 at 7 p.m.
Neko, Barbara Ishida’s new play about a cat, a grandmother and two grand-daughters dealing with that grandmother, that vicious cat and the early death of their mother, got an earnest performance despite technical difficulties (their projection system wasn’t working Thursday evening). The performers were interesting, the play slightly less so, but with the projection system intact it might have been better. One performance, June 30 at 10 p.m., remains.
Only two days remain for this year’s Fringe, but more than 60 plays are scheduled, so you can still go and see some interesting theater for little money, served up with a lot of love.
Tickets are all around $12.
Details:(323) 455-4585;www.hollywoodfringe.org
Venue: Fourth Annual Hollywood Fringe Festival
Location: 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles
By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
Despite the brightly lit marquee on the Warner Grand Theatre that read, “Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti, Getting L.A. Back to Basics,” local resident Donald Galaz of Project Street Legal believed that few outside those that got the email would have known anything was going on in the almost 90-year-old building.
“You would think that they didn’t want anybody to really know about this event,” Galaz said.
Real people. Real news. Random Lengths is the Los Angeles harbor area's remaining independently owned progressive news magazine. We cover news in Carson, Wilmington, Long Beach, Lomita, Torrance, Rancho Palos Verdes and San Pedro.
Contact us: letters@randomlengthsnews.com
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