Neighborhood Voice
Volume XVII, Issue III	"Celebrating 0ver 35 years of service"	May 2008
	From the desk of Ron Beeler

Coming up May 22nd at 9 AM, Keller School is having the official ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the Keller Fantasy Reading Garden. Volunteers are needed and it would be worth joining them on that date to see if this might be something you would like to get involved with?

• Our Readers are Ready
• Our Garden is Green
• It needs Your Attention
• To Continue Our Dreams

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend, we will be on vacation, but I encourage anyone in the area to drop by and show your support for this schools activity.

This just in from the Department of Parks and recreation: The new On-Line Reservation System has been so successful that they are dropping the Phone Reservation System, effective May 1, 2008. The new on-line website, which began in January 2008, allows advance on-line tee time reservations up to eight days in advance from the convenience of home or work on a secure web server. El Dorado Park Golf Course, Skylinks at Long Beach, Recreation Park 18 Golf Course, Recreation Park 9 Golf Course, and Heartwell Park Golf Course also have convenient reservation terminals for those golfers who want to book tee times at the golf course.

Tee time reservations can be booked on-line, 24 hours a day, seven days a week at either www.longbeach.americangolf.com or lbcgolf.com.

Long Beach Resident card holders can book tee times starting at 6 a.m., Long Beach non-resident card holders can book tee times starting at 6:30 a.m. and public golfers who do not have a card can book tee times starting at 10 a.m. Golfers can also call the pro shop directly and book tee times up top five days in advance startin at 12 p.m.

For further information on other Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine programs, call (562) 570-4890 or visit www.lbparks.org, sign up for e-notify and they will e-mail you the latest information!

During the last 30 days, six new properties come on the market in our neighborhood, six went into escrow, joining five others already in escrow and six properties successfully closed escrow. Prices of the latest sales were of no great surprise, lower than in the past but not any lower than expected, based on the trends I showed in February. This could be good sign that prices are leveling off and we can look forward to growth in the near future. Now is an excellent time to be buying property and since our neighborhood appears to be holding, this is a good time to plan a move up. If you are on the other side of the clock and maybe looking to scale down or move to a retirement community, the timing couldn’t be much better. Loan rates are very good and don’t forget we seniors can still transfer our existing County Tax Base to a new home, throughout the state, as long as you move straight across or down in price of the new home. If you have thought of moving to the south Orange County area, I have been looking throughout the area and have found many excellent buys available. Call me and let’s talk about the future!

Here at the office, I have had a couple of calls about happenings in the neighborhood. The first was from a gentleman with a home on Studebaker, calling to warn neighbors of a bad deal he just experienced. He had been having sewer drainage problems and called a plumber for assistance. The plumber, not someone I was familiar with, came out and gave him an estimate of $1800 to install a clean-out at the house and professionally rooter out the drain line from the house to the main at the street. The problem being, tree roots growing into the drain line from the large Sycamore tree in the parking strip. He thought the estimate high, but proceeded to authorize the work. Mid way through the job the plumber pointed out that unless the piping was treated with an epoxy coating, the tree roots would grow back over a short term. Thinking this was a good idea and never considering how expensive this service could be, the homeowner approved the treatment. All things said and done when the homeowner received the final bill on completion of the work, the cost had risen to $5000. He was understandably shocked but there was nothing he could do but complain to the plumber and pay the bill. He had heard that the City had, in the past, compensated homeowners for this type of repair when proved the result of the roots from the parking strip tree. He did the right thing, he called the Water Department and they referred him to the City Clerk to submit a claim form for compensation. Unfortunately he then received a letter from the City stating that the claim had been denied by “Operation of law”. In checking back with the Water Department it seems they used to compensate for this type work, but as of February they officially set a policy to not compensate in the future. This was confirmed by the city Councilman’s office and there doesn’t appear to be any chance of appeal. So, I guess the lesson is be wary, get complete estimates before work is started, try to get referrals to competent contractors and don’t count on help from the City when their tree damages your property. I talked to the plumber I most often recommend, Rich Lockridge, at RL Plumbing, and he found two problems with the work that was done, first the cleanout should have been around $1200 and secondly the better process would have been to replace the drain entirely, which would have cost less and provided a full diameter drain as opposed to the resulting decrease in diameter with an epoxy coating.

Rich can be reached at (562)688-3273, he also reminded me of the importance in getting more than one estimate before starting jobs of this magnitude.

The second caller asked me to put something in the newsletter that might help neighbors recognize how some people feel when they perceive a neighbor to be disrespectful. The concern is one I have experienced myself, I had a home some years back where the neighbor across the street always seemed to park in front of my house, even when no one was parked on his side of the street, or in his driveway. I didn’t especially need the parking space, but often when friends or clients would come by they would have to park down the street or turn around and park on the other side of the street. No big deal Ron, “get a life”! But it did irk me and so one day I approached my neighbor in his front yard and merely suggested that I would appreciate it greatly if he would consider parking in front of his property and leaving my space free for my visitors and the occasional time I brought my boat home for a day or two. Well, I surely didn’t know this fellow very well, he went into an instant rage and told me in no uncertain terms that the street was public property and he would park any place he wanted to. Furthermore if I didn’t get off his property immediately he would punch my lights out. Suffice it to say, we never spoke again on this or any other subject. What a shame, life is just too short for this type aggravation.

I would hope that by mentioning this in the newsletter, we could all try to be a little more considerate of our neighbor’s feelings. I know, if someone parks illegally, i.e.; too far out in the street, over 72-hours without moving, in the wrong direction, overlapping a driveway, etc., we can call Parking Enforcement at (562) 435-6711, but what a shame, it would be far better if we would just try to be better neighbors

ADDITIONAL UP COMING EVENTS

Saturday, May 3rd Solar Energy Conference

This is an all-day event where you can explore the ever-changing landscape of solar legislation, trends, technologies and economics with local and government experts and find out why solar energy is important to the future of Long Beach. This event is Free! To give residents a first hand look at what solar energy can do, there will be a tour of solar powered homes and facilities in the 5th District. The tour will visit solar friendly homes and businesses to see solar panels, solar water heaters, electric vehicles and other energy saving features. Space is limited on the bus tour, so people are encouraged to call the 5th Council District Office to reserve a space. Maps will be available for those that wish to take the tour via bicycle.

For more information, please contact the Office of Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske at 570-6932 or e-mail at: District5@longbeach.gov.

Long Beach Rosie the Riveter Park Celebration

Saturday, May 10th, is the second annual event at the Long Beach Rosie the riveter Park located at the corner of Clark & Conant. The celebration will be a day dedicated to honoring working mothers and the women who served on the home front during World War II at the Long Beach Douglas Aircraft Plant.

Come meet some of these ladies.

Listen to the sounds of “The Swinging Dolls” as they perform the song that launched “Rosie the Riveter” in 1942.

See an historic exhibit of photographs and memorabilia that captures this important part of American history that took place right in our backyard.

Honor the Long Beach Nursery for providing child care for working mothers since November 4, 1912.

It will be a day full of activities, fun and photo opportunities.

May 10, 2008 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Councilwoman Gerrie SchipskeBoy, our Councilwoman is always very busy, here is another event you might find interesting.

Several years ago Gerrie, a Registered Nurse Practitioner, started the “Community Baby Shower” to provide a “basic going-home newborn kit” for low income mothers to use after they gave birth in our local hospitals. The “newborn kits” were used by the Public Health Nurses as incentives to give expectant mothers who completed a pre-natal care and educational program. This ensures a healthier outcome for their pregnancy.

Councilwoman Schipske is “re-starting” the Community Baby Shower and invites you to help in the following ways:

DONATE:

Items for the “newborn kit” that include: diapers, diaper bags, baby wipes, bibs, booties, socks, pj’s or gowns, blankets, shirts, infant hat. (Sorry no baby bottles as the nurses encourage breast feeding.)

Bring your donated items to Councilwoman Schipske’s Neighborhood Office, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., 2760 Studebaker Rd, before May 5th.

Make a contribution of money for purchase of these items to Long Beach Cares, 2525 Grand Avenue, Long Beach 90815 and note “Community Baby Shower.”

PRESENT THE KITS:

Join Councilwoman Schipske on Tuesday, May 13th at 5 p.m. at the City Council Chambers, 333 W. Ocean, to present the kits to the City’s Public Safety Nurses.