Wrigley Association

Candidates Forum - Remember to vote 4/8

Check out the coverage:

LBReport.com / LongBeachReport.com
Called "the city's most complete and accurate daily news outlet"
by The District Weekly (Best of Long Beach: News & Community)
March 3, 2008
Coverage coming: At Monday night candidate forum, Wrigley heard 6th dist. Councilman Dee Andrews v. Challenger Ahmed Saafir. Both said they support proposed Port-site LNG project if it's "shown to be safe." [In Dec. 06, Mayor Foster said he opposes proposed project to put 80+ million gallon LNG terminal in Port. Company's position is that completing EIR will show it's safe; court will decide March 17 if Port-halted EIR must be completed.]

WLB/Central School Boardmember Felton Williams and Challenger Rosa Diaz spar. SE LB Challenger Karen Hilburn asks where her two opponents are (Boardmember Jon Meyer, Challenger Paul Crost declined invitation). Wrigley neighborhood leader Alan Tolkoff moderated. Coverage coming on LBReport.com

http://www.presstelegram.com/search/ci_8444292 Wrigley Assn. hosts candidate double feature POLITICS: LBUSD hopefuls debate; 6th District Council seat contenders spar over jobs, pollution. By Kevin Butler and Paul Eakins, Staff Writers Article Launched: 03/03/2008 10:24:57 PM PST

LONG BEACH - The dropout rate, vocational education, and budget cuts were the focus of a forum among three of the Long Beach Unified School District board candidates on Monday night.
Felton Wiliams, a member of the Long Beach Board of Education, is competing against a sole opponent, Long Beach teacher Rosa Diaz, for the 2nd District seat in West Long Beach, which includes Cabrillo and Poly High Schools.
The election for the school board - as well as the 6th City Council District - is April 8. The City Council candidates also took questions from about 200 people in attendance at the same forum Monday night, which was at the Veterans Park community center and sponsored by the Wrigley Association.
Also participating
in the panel discussion was Karen Hilburn, a retired LBUSD administrator, who is challenging incumbent board member Jon Meyer in the race for the 4th District in East Long Beach, which includes Wilson High.
Neither Meyer nor Paul Crost, the other 4th District candidate, attended the forum.
Candidates were asked how they would approach cutting the district budget in response to anticipated reductions in funding from the state.
Williams said he would focus on preserving the core programs in reading, writing and math.
"The focus for any school district has to be ... reading, writing and math," Williams said.
Diaz said that she would keep cuts away from the classroom and suggested that selling the
district's headquarters building at 1515 Hughes Way and moving central office functions elsewhere would save money.
"As a teacher, we are barely making ends meet now with the support that we have and the tools that are given to us by the district," she said.
Hilburn said that by cutting a health center and after-school activities, district officials "are violating the number one law in making budget cuts: It's keep budget cuts as far away from the youngsters in the classroom as you can."
The issue of increasing vocational opportunities in this school district was also discussed.
Diaz said the district should provide alternative programs for students who don't plan to go to college.
Williams said the district has made vocational opportunities available to students, such as nursing and auto mechanic programs.
He also said that vocational education is "alive and well" in the district.
"But do we need to expand those? Yes, we do," he said.
Hilburn questioned why the school district had not done more to create such programs.
The candidates were asked how they would lower truancy and dropout rates.
Williams said there has been a "tremendous decline" in dropout rates on the Westside. He said one answer is to increase parental involvement.
Diaz said that the district needs to focus on working with kids early on to address academic and disciplinary problems.
Hilburn said the district should make sure it has adequate numbers of counselors, psychologists and specialists to help kids with truancy and discipline problems, especially those kids returning from juvenile camps.
Diaz accused Williams of attacking teachers in his fundraising literature, an allegation Williams denied.
City council candidates
Job creation and pollution caused by the Port of Long Beach topped audience concerns Monday night in a forum between the two 6th District candidates.
Incumbent Councilman Dee Andrews and challenger Ahmed Carl Saafir are seeking the 6th District seat.
Andrews and Saafir had their largest disagreement over whether job creation is the single most effective way to reduce gang violence in the district.
Andrews said taking employment opportunities to the area is key. He cited his efforts to create jobs, such as a job fair he organized last year, since he won the office in a special election in May.
"I've already started creating jobs in the 6th District," Andrews said, noting that more than 20 people came away from the fair with employment.
But Saafir, a businessman, said other steps are needed to improve residents' financial situation.
"A job alone won't do it," Saafir said.
He said the city needs job training programs, parental training programs, and a partnership between the Long Beach Unified School District, parents and the community.
Young people need financial training as well as jobs, he said.
"It's not how much money you have, it's what you do with it," Saafir said.
Andrews countered that knowing how to manage money may be important, but that the first priority for a 6th District councilman should be to help residents get work.
"I would love to be able to manage my money if I had money or had a job in order to make money," Andrews said.
Saafir also said the city needs to encourage small-business development and that the district's traffic corridors such as Pacific Coast Highway should be developed with "first-class" businesses to bring money to the area.
The candidates also fielded several questions about port issues, most notably pollution.
Andrews said he supports Sen. Alan Lowenthal's "no net increase" bill, which would create container fees at the port to fund measures preventing increases in pollution from freight trucks, and that he is satisfied with Lowenthal's efforts to get the bill passed.
Saafir didn't give a definitive answer to whether he supports the bill. He said Lowenthal's approach is "appropriate," but that he would like to see more community forums about the bill and that area legislators should be brought together to discuss it.
Andrews and Saafir have faced off before, when they were among seven candidates that vied last May for the 6th District seat that had been vacated by now-Congresswoman Laura Richardson.
http://us.f516.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=kevin.butler@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1308, http://us.f516.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=paul.eakins@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1278

Candidates for City Council, school board face off at forum

March 6th, 2008

By Nick Diamantides
Staff Writer

While an atmosphere of civility and respect prevailed, nothing could mask the strongly held differences of opinion and, in some cases, the animosity the candidates had for each other. The Wrigley Neighborhood Association Candidates' Forum gave two Long Beach City Council and three Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) hopefuls the opportunity to tell the voters why they felt they were the best person for the job.

More than a hundred people were in the audience during the event, which took place at the Veterans Park Community Center. Moderated by Alan Tolkoff, the forum included incumbent 6th District City Councilman Dee Andrews and his challenger Ahmed Saafir. Incumbent LBUSD President Felton Williams and his challenger for the 2nd District school board Rosa Diaz as well as school board hopeful Karen Hilburn also participated. Hilburn is hoping to unseat LBUSD Vice President Jon Meyer for 4th District school board. Neither Meyer nor his other challenger Paul Crost attended the forum.
Rather than debating each other, the candidates answered questions submitted to Tolkoff by audience members. Each candidate also gave a three-minute statement.

The first part of the evening presented Andrews and Saafir with the chance to explain their stands on a variety of issues. Early in that session, audience members asked about dangerous conditions and air pollution generated by activities at the Port of Long Beach. Both Andrews and Saafir said they would support the construction of an 80-million gallon liquefied natural gas terminal in the port if an environmental impact report (EIR) showed such a facility was safe. Sound Energy Solutions (SES) submitted the proposal to the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners about a year-and-a-half ago, but the board rejected the plan before its EIR was done. SES responded by filing a lawsuit against the city. On March 17, a court will decide whether the company can proceed with the EIR.
Andrews and Saafir also seemed to agree that steps needed to be taken to reduce port-generated air pollution while not impairing the movement of imported goods which are a vital component of the local economy. They both said they would support state legislation that would mandate a "no net increase" in port-generated air pollution, but they offered slightly different ideas on how it could be implemented.

Their sharpest disagreement came when they were asked how they would curtail gang violence in the city. Andrews said the most effective way to reduce crime was to provide jobs to unemployed and underemployed youth. "I don't know too many people who are talking about robbing and killing somebody when they have money in their pockets," he said, noting that during his eight months in office, he had already helped young people in the 6th District get job training and employment.
Saafir said jobs were not enough. "You have to prepare a person to be employed," he said, noting that without the proper preparation, many young people just bring their bad behavior to the job site and end up terminated. He explained that the city needs to invest money in parental training and in the social training of young people.

The school board candidates started their discussion by answering a question on how they would reduce truancy and drop out rates in the city's schools. Williams said parental involvement and the support of local churches were two ways of accomplishing that goal. He noted that he has initiated discussions with local church leaders. Williams, however, stressed that too many parents seem apathetic to the educational needs of their children. "We see more parents coming to sporting events than to (parent-teacher) events," he said.

Diaz said if she were elected she would push for earlier intervention-including conflict resolution training and other programs for pupils with problems.

Hilburn offered another solution. "A good lesson is the best discipline plan," she said. "A school that truly meets the needs of the youngsters keeps the youngsters in school." She said inadequate educational opportunities were the main cause of kids skipping classes or dropping out of school.
Later in the evening, the school board candidates were asked how they would handle the LBUSD's looming budget cutbacks in light of reduced funding from the state, which is currently facing a $14-billion budget shortfall. "The focus for any school district has to be its core, which is reading, writing and math," Williams responded. "Everything else is on the table when you are in a financial crisis."
Diaz said she would focus first on reducing the amount of money spent on school district administration, beginning with the possible move of all administrative staff into a smaller more economical building.

Hilburn accused the present school board of violating the "number one law" in making budget cuts. "That is, keep the budget cuts as far away from the youngsters and the classrooms as you can." She noted that reducing administrative staff positions was her preferable option to balancing the LBUSD's budget.

Taking one of his 30-second rebuttal options, Williams countered that local, federal and state laws mandate many of the school district administrative positions. "A lot of these are unfunded mandates that we have to deal with,' he said. "We have to hire those people and we can't fire them or we lose federal monies."

In her closing comments, Hilburn said she has a passion for providing a quality education to youngsters in the public school system, and the constant bickering among the present school board members troubled her.

Diaz noted that she was still a teacher in the LBUSD and a mother of three school-aged children. "I am actively teaching and actively parenting," she said, noting that those two roles give her a clear perspective on what really needs to be done by the school board.
Williams insisted that despite perceptions to the contrary, schools in the LBUSD have steadily improved during the last decade. "There has been a noticeable increase in our advanced placement scores," he said.

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lbreport.com:

Perspective/In Depth/With Audio: Press-Telegram Gaffe Amplifies Incumbent Councilman's & Challenger's Gaffe @ Wrigley Forum

http://www.lbreport.com/news/mar08/ptnni.htm

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Wrigley Association to hold Candidate's Forum for

6th City Council District

2nd & 4th School Board Seats

Monday, March 3, 2007

7: 00 P.M.

Veterans Park Social Hall

101 East 28th Street

Long Beach

Agenda

The Wrigley Association will hold a debate with all the candidates for the 6th City Council and 2nd & 4th School Board Seats. All candidates for the upcoming election have been invited to attend. The moderator for the forum will be Alan Tolfkoff, long time leader at the Wrigley Association.

The election will be April 8, 2008

This forum is a long time tradition with the Wrigley Association. Over the years, the Wrigley Association held several very successful and well attended forums for the Mayoral, Sixth & Seventh District, State Assembly and the Auditor races.

Participants

School Board District 2*:

Felton Williams and Rosa Diaz

City Council District 6:

Dee Andrews and Ahmed Saafir

School Board District 4:

(Pending Candidates' Confirmation)

Date: Monday, March 3, 2008

Time: 7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M.

8:30 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.

Free coffee & dessert buffett with candidates

Location: Veterans Park Recreation Hall 101 East 28th Street Long Beach

Directions: One block east of Pacific Avenue. 28th St. is just north of Willow and just south of Spring.

Sponsor: The Wrigley Association.

Free Parking, child care and refreshments

Moderator: Alan Tolkoff

*Representing these schools:

Elementary Schools

Middle Schools

High Schools

About the Wrigley Association

The Wrigley Association, one of Long Beach's largest and most respected neighborhood organizations, will provide free child care, refreshments and parking.

Email us
lbwrigley@yahoo.com