Long Beach property joins the list of most-searched-for U.S. homes online
Los Angelas Times

A five-bedroom Long Beach house listed at $249,900 joined the list of most-searched-for homes nationwide at Realtor.com last week among homes priced within 20% of the median list price of $219,000.

Here are the top 5 in the order they ranked:

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By J.W. Elphinstone, Associated Press / Statesman.com

NEW YORK — Home prices across most of the country have started to rise from the depths of the housing slump, a crucial trend that might help stabilize the broader U.S. economy, according to figures released Tuesday.

Nationally, prices in the second quarter posted their first quarterly increase in three years, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index of 20 major cities.

Home prices are still 30 percent below their mid-2006 peak and 15 percent lower than in the second quarter of 2008, but their new direction could bring relief to lenders and homeowners.

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By Geoffrey Warren-Boulton, Forbes Traveler / WREX.com

For nostalgic Americans, boardwalks are the stuff of summer dreams, mixing memories of salt water taffy at sunset, white-knuckled wooden rollercoaster rides, and kids with dogs racing along weathered walkways.  James Lilliefors, author of America’s Boardwalks, From Coney Island to California, says boardwalks have always been “bright, alluring, loud, lucrative and very American.”

Still, as Park World magazine reported in 2007, “In the 1920s there were more than 1,500 authentic seaside amusement parks in the United States, today there are less than two dozen.” Despite these dwindling numbers, those that remain are flourishing: Where once boardwalks were merely the venue for the world’s greatest oddities, now they have a civic purpose, acting as a nexus for local business and a spur to nostalgia-based urban renewal.

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By Ronald D. White / Los Angeles Times
August 23, 2009

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are so busy that they move more cargo than the next five largest U.S. ports combined. They’re so efficient that they process more international trade in one month than most North American harbors handle in an entire year.

Now the friendly rivals are leading the way into unexpected waters: attracting, testing and funding cutting-edge technology to reduce emissions and fuel consumption at the ports.

Even as their revenues declined and their budgets shrank in the worst global recession in more than 60 years, the twin ports have become accidental venture capitalists of sorts in the world of green technology.

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By Ronald D. White / Los Angelas Times
July 2, 2009

The huge car carrier ship called the M/V Auriga Leader idled at the Port of Long Beach, burning through enough electricity to power 100 homes as workers loaded and unloaded a fleet of Toyotas.

But unlike any of the diesel-spewing, power-draining vessels that travel here, the Auriga Leader sports 328 solar panels on its top deck — a small array that provides 10% of the energy used by the giant ship while she is docked.

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By Harry Saltzgaver / Gazettes.com
July 2, 2009

Another $3 million in federal economic stimulus money will come to Long Beach, this time in the form of support for the Water Department’s seawater desalination testing facility.

This money comes through the Department of Interior as part of a $134.3 million allocation from the Bureau of Reclamation for water projects in the west. Ultimately, the money came from the $1 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for economic stimulus.

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By Kurt Helin / Gazettes.com
July 1, 2009
When local engineers finish the ongoing Reconnaissance Study of the Long Beach Breakwater later this summer, the Army Corps of Engineers may actually read it.

That’s because last week Congress took steps to allocate $100,000 to review the study, as part of the newest House Appropriations Subcommittee Energy and Water Report.

That’s a big step forward for those promoting changes to the breakwater. But it is one step in a staircase of things that have to happen before any physical change is made to the structure.

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Press-Telegram
June 30, 2009

Artesia

Fun and fireworks: The city will have an over-the-line tournament at 7 a.m., family games at 6:30 p.m. and fireworks at 9 p.m. All events are at Artesia Park at 18750 Clarkdale Ave.

Bellflower

Friday fireworks: Hollywood Sports Park will offer free paintball for Bellflower residents and the Rotary Club will provide a “safe and sane” fireworks show on Friday, July 3. Hollywood Sports Park, 9030 Somerset Blvd., Bellflower. 562-867-9600

Get rid of illegal foreworks: People can anonymously dispose of illegal fireworks without question at:

L.A. County Fire Station 23, 9548 Flower St. (call 562.867.2112) or at L.A. County Fire Station 98, 9814 Maplewood St., (call 562.867.2112).

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By Darcy Leigh Richardson / Gazettes.com
July 1, 2009

A grant recently awarded to the Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewards will bolster the group’s effort to raise awareness of the wetlands’ importance and will mark the start of community involvement with restoration efforts on a larger scale.

The Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project’s Community Wetlands Restoration Grants Program awarded $28,500 to the Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewards last month. The money will be used to launch the Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewardship Program.

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By Paul Eakins, Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - Every time that Long Beach city officials plug a leak to keep the budget afloat, it seems to spring a new one.

Those leaks have grown from a trickle to a stream as sales tax and other revenues have dropped, leading to a projected general fund budget deficit of $43.3 million in the 2010 fiscal year.

Now, the state’s budget meltdown has become a looming tidal wave threatening to inundate Long Beach’s budget, along with those of many other cities and counties. California faces a $23.8 billion budget shortfall.

In all, Long Beach could face close to $30 million in further revenue losses, though only about a third from the general fund, city officials reported to the City Council’s Budget Oversight Committee Tuesday afternoon. The general fund includes services such as police, firefighters, libraries, city management, and parks and recreation.

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