Contracting out our Public Safety?

This upcoming budget year, the City manager is proposing staffing levels for our Police Department that are the lowest in recent memory. In the past six years, crime went down while the police department was experiencing a rise in budgeted sworn police personnel. Is this just a lucky coincidence, I think not. The Rand Corp. released a study last year that simply states, having more police reduces crime. Long Beach is the perfect example that proves the Rand Study true.

This year, staff is proposing budgeted police staffing levels at 87 sworn officers below 2009 levels, add to that the fact that we have not been at "budgeted" levels in a while and we are looking at having an all time low of 893 officers, boots on the ground, by the end of 2010.

That is a whooping 127 sworn officers below the 2009 levels!

Crime may have gone down citywide, but if you live in Central, West or North Town you know that sexual assaults and shootings have gone up. Where is the Mayor's promise for 100 police officers? Where is the Mayor's pledge of a city where West Long Beach, Central and North Long Beach get to share in the promise of "One City"?

Eventually, other parts of town will suffer too. As crime creeps up, police will be taken off traffic duty, loud parties, parking complaints, accidents and nuisance calls to address more violent priority one calls that will take precedence, and soon the citizens will ask why we don’t have enough police to protect or serve.

The City Council of the City of Long Beach has been asking a question that has gone unanswered since the departure of Chief Tony Batts, "How many police officers do we need for a city this size to keep our city safe?" Our present police Chief refuses to answer this question but this was a question that Chief Batts did not shy away from.

I wonder why the Department head of the largest city department refuses to answer the question. Is he afraid that the mayor or city manager might think the new Chief in town is rocking the boat?
Or is he primed to accept yet another contracting out scenario that inevitably is the city's misguided answer to cutting costs? Either way, I prefer my Police Chief to be straight forward and protective of his men and women who put their lives on the line on a daily basis.

We better start planning now for the future and provide our young folks the opportunity at a job, a slot in the upcoming police academy, because I for one, do not want the sheriff's department doing the job we hired our Chief to do.

Be Careful What You Ask For

The battle for Vice Mayor has always been a contentious and interesting exercise especially if you are a new councilperson who has to vote on the selection with a little more than an hour of experience under your belt. But not to be fooled, new council members, including Johnson and Neal were lobbied far in advance of their swearing in.
Much has been said about the reasons why folks want to be vice mayor: the ability to run and control meetings when the mayor is gone, the power to sign documents in place of the mayor and most importantly,being the vice mayor is the ticket to allow you to go into another council members district and not get attacked for campaigning for a statewide office outside of your district while on city business. This was especially evident in the Suja, Patrick scenario.
But what has really been the benefits of being Vice Mayor? Other than Bonnie Lowenthal, who I would suggest has taken her hits in her personal life as all Lowenthals have; all other vice mayors have gone nowhere and in fact been hurt by the designation save Doris Topsy Elvord.
The City of Long Beach began electing an at large mayor less than 17 years ago. Doris was our transition vice mayor and served us well, then came Dan Baker who resigned under a cloud of accusations, then Frank Colonna who lost his bid for Mayor, and after him Jackie Kell who lost her bid for reelection and then Bonnie Lowenthal (who went on to the assembly), then Val Lerch who also lost his bid for reelection.
Suja's battle for Vice Mayor is a case of be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. Now, after hearing that she will be gone for the most important budget session in years, I think in the war of public opinion, she has already felt the curse of the office of Vice Mayor. The real question is, will this hurt her in her quest for higher office? Only time will tell.