Long Beach
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9/11 heroes remembered
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Vol. 31 No. 37
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City: faulty jetties causing beach erosion “We are losing beaches.” Gillespie said he was unhappy with the work the Army Corp did, and The winner of Long Beach’s suggested it was time for it to never-ending battle against return to Long Beach and see nature seems all too obvious, at what might be done. least at the southern end of “How can you leave the beach Washington Boulevard: It’s the the way it is?” Gillespie said. ocean. “We are losing a treThe sand is disapmendous amount of pearing rapidly on land.” He reminded some areas of the the council that if beach, not only at the weather stays Washington, but war m during the also at Neptune Boufall, a lot of people levard, farther east. would continue to There sunbathers sit crowd the sand. further back, toward “The people in Long the boardwalk. Paul GillESPiE Beach love their At Washington beach,” he said. b e a ch t h e re a re Chief of lifeguards “The city did not huge gaps where accept the jetties as there once was sand. is,” City Council President John The situation is causing con- Bendo said. “The Army Corps of cern among some city officials, Engineers is to come back and who are raising red flags with inspect them at certain intervals the U.S. Army Corps of Engi- over the next five years.” Bendo neers, which in 2018 completed said the jetties were “settling,” work on replenishing sand on which was causing the loss of the beach and rehabilitating 18 sand. jetties, or groins, from Point “We are not satisfied with the Lookout to the West End of Long work,” Bendo said. “The Army Beach. Corps of Engineers is still on the The first warnings came at hook.” the Sept. 1 City Council meeting, John Mirando, the city’s pubwhen Chief of Lifeguards Paul lic works commissioner, said in Gillespie told council members an interview that plans to shore that at Washington and Neptune, Continued on page 3
By JaMES BERNSTEiN jbernstein@liherald.com
Christina Daly/Herald
Honoring a guardian of the beach The Long Beach Lifeguards Alumni Association recently raffled off a surfboard in memory of city lifeguard Richard Delury as a fundraiser. Among those at the event was Delury’s brother, Mike, top row, fourth from right. Richard Delury died of natural causes in May. Story, Page 8.
City manager says Long Beach is moving toward stability By JaMES BERNSTEiN jbernstein@liherald.com
When Donna Gayden arrived from the Midwest in late February to take over as interim city manager, she was prepared to deal with Long Beach’s nagging — and worsening — financial crises. Gayden has now held the post for over six months, was just awarded a new, one-year contract with a 6 percent raise, to $190,000, and “interim” is gone from her title. She has been trying to restore fiscal stability to
the city, while facing another challenge no one expected: the coronavirus pandemic. “We had to adapt” quickly, Gayden said in an interview earlier this week. “There were no protocols and no procedures” for the challenges she faced. About 140 city workers were laid off, in departments including recreation, because the Recreation Center had to close. City Hall was shut down, and administrative employees had to work from home. Even the boardwalk, one of Long Beach’s most popular attractions, had to close.
Gayden, a municipal finance expert, rolled up her sleeves, because there was a budget to prepare for the next fiscal year. The spending plan for 2020-21 has a tax increase of 1.81 percent — the lowest in years — achieved with layoffs and spending cuts, but it also contains a hallmark of the new city manager’s administration: a five-year plan to restore Long Beach to fiscal stability. The task will not be easy. Long Beach’s long-term debt is about $80 million — down about Continued on page 3
H
ow can you leave the beach the way it is?