As the seats began to fill, voices bounced and echoed throughout the room. There was no event emcee. There was no introduction. Everyone who attended got down to business instantaneously. The topic of conversation: homelessness in Long Beach. During a community event Dec. 4, Marcelle Epley, president and CEO of the nonprofit Long Beach Community Foundation (LBCF), stood by the door of the Petroleum Club’s dining hall and encouraged residents to find a seat at any of the multiple round-shaped tables located around the room. Homelessness and housing are two social and economic issues that some at the second Around the Table: Activating the Community Around Homelessness event said were the biggest challenges citizens and municipalities face today. Epley told the Signal Tribune during the event that last year’s Around the Table conversation was a huge success. During September last year, the first rounds of Around the Table events hosted over 3,000 residents at areas scattered throughout the city, from police stations and restaurants to people’s homes and boats out on marinas. The conversation then focused on what residents liked about Long Beach and what the City could do better. What LBCF discovered was that residents were mostly concerned with the city’s transient population. “One of the most pressing issues that was raised, across the board, was homelessness and housing,” Epley said. “So much so, that the [LBCF] took it upon themselves to focus on homelessness and housing. That’s where we’ll put our major resources.” This year, the LBCF decided to specifically host Around the Table events to educate and inform residents what they can do to help. Epley said that nonprofit groups that specialize in homelessness concluded that there are three main ways residents can help: Donate money to the LBCF Homeless Fund in person or through AroundTheTableLB.com Volunteer with agencies that feed and shelter homeless individuals Donate items via LBCF’s Amazon Smile link or the Multi-Service Center for the Homeless in Long Beach “Knowing that most people are on Amazon these days, we set up an Amazon Smile list where people can easily go online and purchase a pair of socks or toothbrushes,” Epley said. “And they go directly to the City’s Multi-Service Center where they will be distributed to people impacted by homelessness.” During the event, nonprofit executives facilitated each table’s conversation. A list with talking points, including veterans, mental health and trauma, was provided to the groups, but attendees were encouraged to have their conversations flow in various directions. At one table, residents spoke with Julie Lie, exeucitve director of the Urban Community LB nonprofit group. They talked about housing issues the homeless faced. A member seated at Lie’s table asked for incentives that would encourage landlords to accept renting to homeless. The concern is that they don’t have the resources to pay rent. At a different roundtable, a group of men spoke with the Century Villages at Cabrillo nonprofit president Brian D’Andrea. They discussed trauma and its effect on homeless individuals. A resident seated at the table was concerned that the applications transients had to fill out in order to receive help from an agency could oftentimes be too confusing and scare them away. D’Andrea shared the Villages at Cabrillo Social Impact Report that states income growth and housing stability are two main ways the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development measured a program’s success. In the document, it states that $22 million were spent on local residential housing and services throughout Fiscal Year 2017. The topic of counting the homeless population was discussed at a third table– facilitated with the help of Dixie Dohrmann, who represented the Christian Outreach in Action organization (COA). The COA will participate in a homeless count in January next year, and Around the Table event attendees were invited to volunteer for the count. While the Around the Table event was taking place at the Petroleum Club, 3rd District Councilmember Suzie Price also motioned to bring an agenda item to the Long Beach City Council at its Dec. 4 meeting that requested an audit of Long Beach beds for homeless and services that provide rehab, medical detox and sobriety. In addition, Price is requesting a feasibility report of the City establishing incentives for operators to establish new beds in Long Beach. Price’s Chief of Staff Jack Cunningham wrote in a Nov. 30 press release that the councilmember is requesting the City to research exactly how many beds are in Long Beach, since addiction continues to be a major issue for those suffering from homelessness. “It’s going to take members of the community– the business community– to rise up and find ways that they can help people who are impacted by homelessness,” Epley told the Signal Tribune during the event. “Additionally, the mayor’s task force has been working in the past year to come up with policies to make change that will make our situation better.” The third iteration of the Around the Table event is slated to take place Dec. 9 at the Assistance League. Epley said that shortly after the Dec. 9 event is conducted, the LBCF will be looking at the surveys residents filled out. The group plans to conduct a broad campaign to communicate how the public can help. The organization will also work with the City and the Health and Human Services Department during the campaign. “One thing we’ve heard from the residents so far is that this event has helped them tremendously understand why people are homeless,” Epley said. “The most powerful resource in a community is its people. As we gather at [Around the Table events] this week, the power of community is taking place and will have a large impact on forming solutions to make the issue of homelessness better.” For more information, residents can visit AroundtheTableLB.com.

When the new decade hits in two years, and Los Angeles County voters are submitting their two cents on national issues and who holds the position of President, residents will be casting their ballots on modern technology and electronic devices instead of with paper and ink. Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (LA Clerk) representatives hosted a public-input meeting at Long Beach Polytechnic High School Dec. 5 that informed about the changes for Los Angeles County elections beginning in 2020. Officials are hosting meetings throughout the county with the intention of educating the public about changes as they pertain to their specific communities. Wednesday’s meeting focused on Long Beach and Signal Hill, among other cities. “We really wanted to make voting accessible, easier and better for people,” said Laura Herrera, a project assistant for Voting Solutions For All People (VSAP). “ [...] It’s to give voters more options.” The LA Clerk developed VSAP in 2009 in an effort to address “an aging voting and an increasing large and complex electorate,” according to the VSAP website at vsap.lavote.net. On-site officials explained that VSAP intends to modernize the entire process in 2020 by upgrades to the voter experience. Locals will be able to cast a ballot at any vote center in the county– eliminating the need for a designated poll place– and would have access to an extended voting time of 11 days, as opposed to consolidating the process into one day, officials said. Potential vote-center locations for Long Beach and Signal Hill include El Dorado Park, Aquarium of the Pacific, Grace Community Church, Los Altos Branch Library, Signal Hill Dog Park, Petroleum Club and various other restaurants, businesses and public institutions. As it pertains to poll workers, officials said they will likely introduce a “hybrid system” that will utilize both county and community poll workers who will perform specific roles in the new system. Other advancements include e-pollbooks to verify voter and registration information, electronic ballot-marking devices, interactive sample ballots, a new tallying system and a redesigned vote-by-mail ballot that can be dropped off at any voting center. “These are the changes that will happen, thanks to the California Voter’s Choice Act,” said Darlene Moreno, a community organizer who spoke at the event. Approved in 2016, the California Voter’s Choice Act expands voter options for how, when and where ballots are casted, according to the Voter’s Choice California website at voterschoice.org. Maria Lourdes Garcia, a supervisor with SPA 8 who spoke at the event, said the County conducted research on potential locations for voting centers in the area, considering the factors of demographics, voter behaviors and patterns and accessibility. Variables include, but are not limited to: ethnicity; population as it pertains to income, language minority and density; voting from home or work; voting on weekdays versus evenings or weekends; eligible voters who are not registered to vote; communities with historically-low vote-by-mail usage; ADA accessibility; areas with low-vehicle ownership; and public-transit access. Garcia said that potential vote centers, as a result of the aforementioned factors, yielded results that include public libraries, shopping malls, local parks, public schools and chain restaurants and eateries, such as Starbucks. “Many of these locations were selected because they are considered safe and well-known in the community,” she said. “Essentially, people want to vote where they feel comfortable and have some sort of connection.” Cities also have a set of requirements in accordance with the number of registered voters that inhabit it, Garcia said. For instance, for every 30,000 registered voters, there must be a vote center open on Election Day and 10 days prior. Similar rules apply for votes by mail: For every 15,000 permanent vote-by-mail voters, there must be one ballot-drop-off location open 29 days before Election Day. “These requirements are to ensure that potential barriers– geographic and demographic constraints– to particular voting locations can be accounted for,” Garcia said. During the event, organizers invited residents to different tables, or stations, as part of an open-house session, where pamphlets detailing the upcoming changes were also distributed. One station also sought public input about other potential voting centers– which required participants to place a green or red sticker on an LA County map that would signify a recommended location or a discouraged one, respectively. One resident also inquired if the voting centers would also allow neighboring people outside of the county to participate. “I know we have that situation now that, essentially, any LA County voter can go to any vote center, regardless of where they live,” Herrera said. “We cannot turn any voter away, so, if there’s a voter who comes from outside of LA County, they will be able to vote through a provisional ballot, and we will adjudicate that with a different county.” For more information, visit vsap.lavote.net or email [email protected] with any questions.

At a community meeting Tuesday, several local residents voiced concerns about the potential for increased traffic, noise and “transient” renters resulting from Signal Hill Petroleum’s (SHP) planned Heritage Square mixed-use development in Signal Hill. The two-hour meeting, hosted jointly by SHP and the City of Signal Hill at the Signal Hill Council Chambers on Dec. 4 and attended by about 50 local residents, featured speakers sharing details of the plan and the process for realizing them. Debra Russell, vice president of community relations and real-estate operations for SHP, shared a 3D video available on YouTube of the plan for the seven-acre site on Cherry Avenue between Crescent Heights and Burnett streets. “This project is going to revitalize an underutilized area,” Russell said. “So many of our residents say, ‘We’ll finally have something that we can shop in and eat and spend time in instead of taking our dollars outside of Signal Hill.’” The plan includes 29,000 square feet of restaurant-and-retail space, 9,000 square feet of community space, four single-family homes and a four-level, 199-unit residential structure with a five-level parking garage. Marice DePasquale, a planner for SHP, said that the project would include a two-story view restaurant and craft foods and beverages. “We are not looking to attract national tenants,” she said. “We are looking to attract local, small-based retail.” Scott Charney, Signal Hill community-development manager, stressed that the plan is still in its conceptual stages. “The City has not approved the project,” he said, adding that the city council has, thus far, only approved conducting an environmental-impact report (EIR) and entering into an exclusive right-to-negotiate agreement with SHP for possible sale of City-owned property that constitutes about half the site. Colleen Doan, Signal Hill planning manager, said that the process for realizing the plan starts with developer outreach. The process will entail a zoning-ordinance amendment and view-impact and oil-well assessments prior to a planning-commission workshop and public hearing. It will then be followed by city-council public hearings, before a final decision. Charney said a second community meeting will be held at a later date yet to be determined, by which time some initial assessment data will be available. Randy Nichols, senior project manager with Michael Baker International, the engineering firm contracted by the City to write the EIR (a report required by State law), said that scoping has been initiated for studies that will assess impacts to noise, illumination, visual obstruction, traffic, air quality, geology and water, as well as construction-phase impacts on the surrounding community. “Our job is to prepare this independent, objective, transparent analysis based on facts and data collection […] and to provide […] an understanding of what the consequences to the environment would be,” Nichols said. “We are not an advocate on one side or the other.” Nichols added that a draft EIR would be available for public review by April or May 2019, with planning-commission and city-council public hearings on the report in late summer or fall of 2019. John Morland, a KTGY architect involved in the project’s design, said that it fits with a mixed-use central business district that the City had envisioned in its 2001 general plan and reflects the historic nature of the area, including its oil legacy, through building design and artwork. DePasquale said that the site was designed as mixed-use retail and residential because that’s what the City’s general plan had envisioned, adding that Mother’s Market, the site’s existing anchor tenant, had agreed to build there partly due to that expectation. “Both Mother’s Market and these future tenants here are going to need these residents to help them be successful,” she said. Resident concerns Some of the residents in attendance expressed appreciation for a central commercial hub for the city, and other expressed concerns. “I will appreciate having the higher-end foods [and] a wine-bar,” resident Paul Martin said during the event. “I’m happy to see that the parking has been expanded.” Another resident appreciated the additional housing. “For-rent housing is very much necessary,” she said. “We, as a community, a society, really need to find ways to create places to live so we all can have shelter.” However, the majority of attending residents voiced dismay about the 199-unit apartment and accompanying garage. “This parking structure is six stories,” resident Doug Lewis said. “Is that going to be towering over everyone? We have a view toward the hill, which we appreciate and would love to keep.” Paula Williams, a resident of the historic Crescent Heights adjacent to the planned project, said she feared added noise, traffic and parking constraints as a result of the increased population density. “I moved away from an area that had a lot of apartments [and] people who really didn’t have a concern for community,” she said. “I did not spend seven figures to come over here and live down the street from an apartment complex.” Another Crescent Heights resident said she supported the commercial aspect of the project but objected to the apartments, preferring single-family residents or condos that would encourage pride of ownership. “I have a great concern with the apartment buildings,” she said. “Because […] individual tenants who will be residing in them, they don’t really provide a whole lot of tax base or interest for the other people in the area.” On a list of grievances distributed prior to the meeting, the Crescent Square Homeowner’s Association questioned why SHP favored apartments rather than condos for the site, insinuating that apartments would allow for lower construction standards. “This is an underhanded practice being done all over California because developers can build with lesser apartment-construction standards and then convert them after the five-year statute of limitations on suing condo developers has lapsed,” the grievance reads. Joe Holiday, a resident and former officer of the Crescent Heights historical society, said that financial interests behind the project seemed to trump community concerns, estimating that SHP could earn $500,000 per month in rent and wondered why the City would sell park land for that profit and why it had given SHP the exclusive right to negotiate. Shannon Paulson, a resident and law-enforcement professional, said she anticipates a negative impact on local schools, a lowering of property values and additional stress on emergency services as a result of the population increase. “I specifically shopped for a residence that was not near apartments,” she said. “If the commercial property is only going to be viable with dual use by putting that kind of a transient population density into this area, then I say ‘no’ on the commercial property.” For more information, visit the SHP website at shpi.net.

As kids took turns climbing the new state-of-the-art equipment that was at their disposal Nov. 28 at the new Whaley Park playground, even city officials admitted that it had been quite some time since they heard so much (playful) ruckus. “This is an amazing amount of noise here; it really reminds me of the council meetings,” joked 4th District Councilmember Daryl Supernaw. “It’s a great sound.” That Wednesday afternoon, city officials hosted the grand opening of Whaley Park’s new playground, located behind the park’s community center at 5620 E. Atherton St. According to event organizers, the installation is the fourth recent upgrade to local parks in the city via Measure A– which includes Jackson Park, Los Cerritos Park and Veterans Park. Through Measure A, the City also opened David Molina Park in north Long Beach earlier this year and will have renovations for Drake Park in December. “Believe it or not, there is no other park that I’ve been to the most [more] than Whaley Park,” Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said. “[...] This is a place that has a lot of memories for me not only as a student, but as mayor. [...] This playground behind us is one of the best playgrounds anywhere in the city of Long Beach.” Supernaw said the park was designed to have art, science and physical activity in mind. The project included the installation of two new playground structures, one for ages 2 to 5 and another for ages 5 to 12. The equipment meets the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to city officials. “This is just a way of continuing to inspire young people,” said Gerardo Mouet, City director of Parks, Recreation and Marine, as he began to gesture to the kids playing behind him. “As you can see, it’s very, very popular.”

Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) Public Information Officer Jacob Heflin confirmed with the Signal Tribune that the Woolsey Fire, which burned in the Thousand Oaks area, has been 100 percent contained as of Nov. 22. Since early November, Californians have had to survive some of the deadliest wildfires in the state’s modern history. Camp Fire, one of the fires located in northern California, raged throughout the city of Paradise, killing hundreds and almost wiping out the city, as reported by media outlets. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Sheila Kuehl announced in a press release Nov. 22 an “unwavering” support for those affected by the fires. “Our hearts have been broken by this historic disaster, but our spirits have not,” Kuehl states in the press release. “We are immensely grateful to our first responders, because without their life-saving actions, the toll would have been far worse. The County stands ready to assist, in every way possible, those who have been affected. On behalf of the County of Los Angeles, we thank you for your patience, for your courage and for your resilience.” During a phone interview Nov. 23 with the Signal Tribune, Heflin said that the Woolsey Fire burned 96,949 acres. Heflin was sent to Malibu, following a request for more regional public-information officers by other emergency agencies, to assist with the aftermath of the fires. With the fire contained, he said emergency units are now assisting displaced residents, who may have had their homes damaged or completely destroyed in the fire, return to their neighborhoods. Heflin provided the Signal Tribune with a Woolsey Fire fact sheet that had the following information: The fire nearly burned 97,000 acres 100 percent of the fire is contained Three civilians were killed Three firefighters were injured 1,643 structures destroyed 364 structures damaged Heflin said that all focus has been shifted from combating the flames to getting residents back to their homes. “As the fire in other cities resided, and we got more containment, we started to repopulate the areas that had been evacuated from the incident,” Heflin said. “Part of my responsibility was working with all the various stakeholders that had a role in that– whether that was utility companies, law enforcement or fire.” According to the fact sheet, crews will be providing assistance to approximately 1,100 residents. The Conrad L. Hilton Foundation, located in Agoura Hills, and the Malibu Courthouse are the two help centers where officials are helping residents. “Those places are like a one-stop shop for people who have to go and get those support services that, really, you don’t think about,” Heflin said. “If you lost your home, you lost your driver’s license, your social security card and all these different things you might take for granted– restore your utilities. All these different things still need to be addressed.” As re-population campaigns proceed through the coming months, a safety hazard residents are still exposed to is mudslides, according to Heflin. “We look at this as a risk moving forward,” he said. “That’s certainly something that is being addressed here at base camp at Malibu bluffs.” On Nov. 23, light rain fell upon Malibu and where the Woolsey Fire burned. Heflin said that there were some falling rocks because of the rain, but he said that it wasn’t a worrying concern. “That was a relatively minor light storm going through the area,” he said. “The concern is for something much more significant, to where we really would have some potential issues here.” The fact sheet also states that a burn assessment of the impacted area has been completed, and unified command personnel have prepared a contingency plan for the mudslides and debris flows. The cause of the fires is still under investigation, according to the fact sheet. “We know it’s been a really emotional time for a lot of people, and we really appreciate the patience that everyone has had,” Heflin said. “I know everyone wants to get back either, A: to their homes, or, B: to start sifting through rubble and their belongings.”

The dozens of local university students who will be displaying their drawings during an art show in Signal Hill Friday night are likely to be better at performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation than elaborating on the aesthetic theories of Kandinsky. And the students who will be reciting their original poems during that same event may be better able to show you where your lateral epicondyle is than to list off Yeats’ most significant works. That’s because these students are not art majors; they’re nursing students. The American University of Health Sciences, 1600 E. Hill St., will present “Panacea: A Night of Art and Poetry” Nov. 30 from 5pm to 7pm to highlight the work of individuals enrolled in its Art 300: Medical Illustration II course. The class enables students to “articulate a unique mix of skills in project management, understanding of science and breaking medical technologies, as well as the fundamentals of art, animation, design and web development,” according to the university’s website. In an interview at the university Nov. 26, its founder, Pastor Gregory Johnson, said that art and science go “hand in hand.” “My wife and I started this university 25 years ago in April, and, for us, as a minority-serving university, with these Christian values, especially as it focuses on health sciences, we’ve always believed that art is critical,” Johnson said, “in terms of developing individuals, in terms of developing programs, in developing opportunities.” It’s a holistic approach, he explained. “From an educational standpoint, we look at the whole being,” Johnson said. “If you look at the Renaissance period, if you look at the top scientists, if you look at the top people in those sciences, most of them were artists who happened to be scientists.” Johnson said he believes that utilizing an artist’s way of thinking enabled those in science centuries ago to imagine more. “It’s impossible, to me, for someone to imagine themselves as healing someone– or healing themselves– if they don’t touch art,” he said, “because it is therapeutic.” Maria Maloles, director of marketing and publications for AUHS, said she is astonished at the quality of the work produced by students who had not previously studied art. “You will be amazed at how good these art works are,” said Maloles, who had just received the drawings the day before. “It was so amazing, [I thought,] ‘Oh, my God. These are the art works that have been done by students who haven’t done art their entire life?’” The person behind the students’ progress is Ja’Rie Gray, who teaches art to the students, AUHS staff said. Gray has a master’s of fine art from Cal State Long Beach and a bachelor’s of fine art from Laguna College of Art and Design. Johnson explained that the art classes, exhibit and poetry reading are all aligned with the university’s goal of bringing art– not only to its students– but to the community, as well. That outreach is supported by the AUHS Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, data-driven community-based research organization the university created “to relieve the suffering of the poor, distressed and underprivileged through research and education in health sciences,” according to the school’s website. Lieu Dang Suss, program director for the AUHS Foundation, said it is important that those served by the university receive a diverse education. “A person that is a healer and a caretaker in the healthcare industry that is well rounded and knows about the arts and is in touch and in tune with their own emotions and needs and desires can relate to the people that they’re going to be helping,” Suss said. Johnson added that this artistic intervention needs to begin early though. “?We look at blight as the absence of light, in the eyes of children,” Johnson said. “And if you take away light, if you take away hope, you create blight. By getting them involved in the arts, by getting them involved in creating things, while they’re pursuing their science, while they’re starting to believe that they can do anything, while they’re finding themselves, while they’re finding God, it just creates a whole being.” More information about the event is available by calling (562) 988-2278.

The Long Beach Shakespeare Company (LBSC)– now in its newly inaugurated Helen Borgers Theatre– offers an annual holiday show, often different from the usual sugary fare. This year, it’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a one-hour Arthurian romance with bonus joking and caroling. Four players with good timing and excellent singing voices entertain while conveying Sir Gawain’s epic quest to overcome, not only monsters, but also his own moral weaknesses. The energetic players are aided by creative video projection of various locations, including a castle with a moving drawbridge and a green chapel, where Gawain’s (Joey Flint) quest culminates. Initiating his journey is the mysterious and imposing Green Knight (Tim Bob), who finds Gawain playing games with King Arthur (Wyatt Najarian) and Queen Guinevere (Annie Quigley) and tasks Gawain to sever his head, which he then holds in his hand while, not only talking, but also singing a carol. (It’s that kind of play.) Gawain and his steed face various challenges on the way to meet the Green Knight at the green chapel, including fighting a formidable dragon and a terrible ogre. But Gawain’s greatest trial will be to resist the very forward advances of the comely lady of the castle (Quigley), where he stays for three nights while her lord (Bob) goes hunting. Each morning, Gawain must account for his behavior by exchanging whatever he “received” with what the lord has killed. But Gawain’s even higher sense of honor is questioned later at the green chapel, in a test of whether he is indeed worthy of being a knight of Arthur’s round table. While adults will more likely grasp the deeper nature of Gawain’s trials (and appreciate how he evades the lady’s seductions)– and certainly chuckle at the jokes– children will be thrilled by the ghastly beheading with a gigantic axe, the heroic battling against dragon and ogre and the magic of green belts. All will enjoy the lovely Christmas carols interspersed throughout the tale, accompanied simply by ukulele (Quigley) and flute (Flint). Quigley’s voice is richly angelic, though all hold their own in these mostly familiar tunes, one of which (“Little Drummer Boy”) is an audience sing-along. Humor is also pronounced and often tongue-in-cheek, with lots of winks and silly props. In his director’s notes, Brandon Cutts credits the late Helen Borgers, the theatre’s former artistic director, with rewriting the medieval poem in an accessible way, complete with slapstick and satire. The four actors rise to the challenge spiritedly, seemingly enjoying their roles and frequent costumes changes. Flint shines as Gawain– delivering jokes, baring his chest and breaking the fourth wall. Quigley excels as the coy but wily lady. Najarian exudes unflagging energy, whether as Arthur or hunted forest animals, and Bob embodies his larger-than-life role well, though it was sometimes difficult to get his lines out on opening weekend. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is thus a different sort of holiday classic, but one you will ultimately enjoy, rather like green eggs and ham. It’s a reminder that there is a deeper dimension to the holidays, amid its dragons and delights. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight continues at the Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Ave., through Dec. 16, with shows Fridays at 8pm (except Dec. 7), Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $22.50 ($12.50 for students). For tickets and information, call (562) 997-1494 or visit LBShakespeare.org.

Thousands attended the sixth annual Festival of Flight Nov. 17 at the Long Beach Airport (LGB). The festivities also celebrated a milestone for LGB– its 95th anniversary. Guests were able to tour stationed planes and sit inside the cockpits of helicopters with pilots. Aircrafts on display included a Gulfstream G650 jet, World War II warbirds and helicopters from the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD), California Coast Guard, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol. There was also an extensive display of antique cars from the 1930s. Attendees waited more than two hours to tour the biggest exhibition on display– a C-17, a military-transport aircraft used in the United States Air Force and first launched in 1991 from the McDonnell Douglas’s plant in Long Beach. Alan Partidge, a C-17 pilot, spoke with the Signal Tribune about the experience required to fly the 174-foot aircraft. “It’s continuous training with a lot of plateaus,” Partidge said. “It takes four months to learn how to fly, then another two years to be able to become a co-pilot, where you hit a plateau and stay there for a while to gain experience. Then you go back to the training base, which is in Oklahoma, where you can finally become an aircraft commander. After a couple of years and another plateau, you can become an instructor pilot.” Staff Sgt. Albert Lomeli, a mechanic on the C-17, also described his own learning experience. “I went to bootcamp first, and after I went to a two-part tech school, specifically for the C-17,” he said. “After around six months of training, you can become an apprentice. Two to three more years, you can become a journeyman and, after about five-and-a-half years, you can reach the top level, which is a craftsman.” Anthelion Helicopters provided 15-minute helicopter tours at a cost of $50 per person. The route featured a roundtrip to the Queen Mary from LGB. Festival attendee, Nate, who flew with his wife and two small children on the helicopter said, “It was awesome. It was our first time flying.” The Flores family, who also took a helicopter ride, joked that it was, “Terrifying. No, I’m just kidding. We weren’t nervous; we’ve been on a plane before. This one was screaming, but we had fun.” A popular plane amongst kids was “DJ,” a Cessna 182S Skylane, which, for $5, children were allowed to paint on as part of a fundraiser for SafeLaunch, an organization dedicated to preventing drug addiction. Live entertainment was provided by the Long Beach City College Jazz Combo, The Satin Dollz and Knight Ryder.

As evidenced by new breweries and the proliferation of unusually labeled bottles and cans, craft beers have become increasingly popular. Ten Mile Brewing Company in Signal Hill “hopped” into the industry last year, celebrating its first anniversary in September. “We’re really happy to be here and proud to say that we are the one-and-only [brewery] in the city right now,” Dan Sundstrom, Ten Mile’s owner and brewer, told the Signal Tribune. Located at 1136 E. Willow St., across the street from the Sunnyside Cemetery, Ten Mile Brewing resides in a cavernous space strung with warm bulbs and featuring a large roll-up front entrance, which remains open during business hours Wednesdays through Sundays. “The roll-up door gives [the brewery] a unique indoor-outdoor feel,” Sundstrom said. “You’re not really going through a doorway– it kind of just flows inside to outside, […] like a giant patio in a way. We do have our outside patio, too, which was just approved by the City a couple of months ago. […] We’re going to be putting some heaters out there and making it nice even in winter.” With 16 beers on tap, Ten Mile offers a variety of tastes, which Sundstrom believes is part of the its appeal, distinguishing it from other local breweries. “Most of the other breweries tend to have a focus,” Sundstrom said, noting some of the specialty types that other local breweries make, such as sour, barrel-aged and flavored beers. “We tend to stick to traditional styles from all over the world,” he said. “Right now, we have […] Forbidden Hollow Kentucky Common, which is a uniquely American historical beer– the most popular beer in America between about 1850 and 1890. Nobody [now] had heard of it. We’ve won multiple awards for that beer.” Sundstrom said the brewery also serves IPAs– which he said is the most popular beer for the current brewery crowd– as well as German lagers, Belgian and barrel-aged beers. “Our first-anniversary beer was a whiskey-barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout,” Sundstrom said. “We’ve bottled that [and] we have it on tap– it’s getting great reviews.” Brew mastery Never a big beer drinker before, Sundstrom’s journey to become Ten Mile’s master brewer started 13 years ago during a family camping trip to Oregon, where an old friend shared with him a “growler,” or jug, of beer he had brewed at home. “I don’t know if it was the mountains and the river and the color of the stars– or everything together– but it was like an ‘Oh, wow!’ kind of moment,” said Sundstrom, as he recalled tasting that beer. “It was like nothing I’d ever had before, and [the fact] that he made it was fascinating to me.” Sundstrom’s friend showed him his home-brew set-up, walked him through the brewing process and gave him the recipe, which Sundstrom replicated after returning home. “It actually came out pretty good!” he said. “People liked it, and that was very encouraging.” After that, Sundstrom expanded his equipment and he and one of his sons, Jesse, who also took an interest in brewing, were asked to make beer for events, such as golf-tournament fundraisers and weddings. At the same time, the father-son pair entered competitions, scoring highly and earning blue ribbons, Sundstrom said. A turning point came three years ago when the pair made five different kinds of beer for Dan’s daughter, Emma’s, wedding, during which he was asked by two restaurateurs to make beer for their establishments. “At that point, we decided to go ahead and make the leap into the commercial world,” Sundstrom said. Brewery design Sundstrom had looked around for an area location, ranging from north Orange County to Long Beach and Paramount, when a family member noticed the Signal Hill building being refurbished. “It kind of fell into our laps,” Sundstrom said of the space. However, since Signal Hill had never had a brewer, Sundstrom had to jump some hurdles for the Planning Commission to secure City permits, including producing a report of how surrounding cities handle alcohol production. After that, Sundstrom and his family worked on the space to make it their own, building everything themselves, from flooring, drains, a bivalve system, a cold room, tables, bars and even the bathroom. “We have a very unique bathroom,” he said. “We made custom-cast concrete countertops, and we used exposed-copper piping that has industrial valves.” Sundstrom said all his past skills came together in creating the Ten Mile Brewing space, from being a food photographer for 22 years to working as a set builder in the film industry. He also worked for 15 years as a facilities manager for the Bethany Church in Long Beach, during which he oversaw the construction of a $3-million education building, including concrete, plumbing and electrical components. “I learned a lot of skills in doing that and had an artistic eye from photography, too,” Sundstrom said. “When I came into this [brewery] context, I could use a little bit of everything in making something visually appealing and having the skills to make it happen.” Family affair Operating the brewery continues to be a family affair, as Jesse is still brewing with Sundstrom and bonding over the process while still in high school. “[Jesse] took an interest in cooking and chemistry, and so he came alongside and got interested in what I was doing, and so we started brewing together,” Sundstrom said. “And now it’s really a whole family business.” Sundstrom’s wife, Joanne, keeps the brewery’s books, and his daughter, Emma, handles event planning and festivals and acts as City liaison. Older son, Aaron, has other employment but helps with human-resources policies and interviewing employees, whom the family realized were necessary to hire. “Typically one of us will always be behind the bar here,” Sundstrom said. “For the first seven months, we did virtually everything. […] We were just to the point of burnout. Now we’re up to eight employees.” “We all have a part in it, and all the kids are part owners in the business also, so they have something vested here,” he said. Sundstrom was sure to mention another presence at the brewery. “Another family member that’s become very well-known is Barley, which is our brewery dog,” he said. “He’s a 110-pound Akita. […] He’s just a big teddy bear and he lays right in the middle of everything and meets everybody.” Communal atmosphere Sundstrom credits his family’s involvement as part of the brewery’s appeal. “The family part of it is really huge,” he said. “Families are attracted to other families.” He said patrons appreciate being able to bring their kids and play shuffleboard and the board games stacked on a shelf. Meg Penny, who has been employed at Ten Mile since May, said that it is the most communal brewery she has worked in. “We’re very lucky in that we have this space, specifically,” she said. “It’s difficult for a lot of newer breweries to operate within certain spaces and also bring in a large of group of people and enjoy the atmosphere.” She note that many patrons have become regulars because of that communal atmosphere. “They hang out for hours, and not just drinking– they bring in their families, they play games, they watch football or hockey,” Penny said. “It’s like a decompressive space here. […] It’s like a community space.” On tap The brewery is already expanding through canning their beer, opening a satellite-taproom location and developing its lagers, Sundstrom said. “We did our first canning run about a month ago,” he said, adding that Ten Mile’s beers can be found in local stores, such as The Wine Country, Corked and Liquor Land. “We’re starting to get exposure outside of the brewery now,” he said. Ten Mile will also expand into a new SteelCraft location in Bellflower by early 2019, Sundstrom said. SteelCraft’s location at Long Beach Boulevard and Bixby Road uses repurposed shipping containers to house food-and-drink vendors. Sundstrom said SteelCraft has been selective about choosing vendors for its new Bellflower and Garden Grove locations, sending in secret shoppers to evaluate them. “We were thrilled that they chose us,” Sundstrom said, noting that the other breweries selected for SteelCraft locations are larger and more well known. “To have a second location within your first year is astounding to me. We feel very blessed that this opportunity has happened.” Another development Sundstrom is focusing on is the brewery’s lagers, which he says are the “new wave” in craft beers. “Lagers traditionally haven’t been real widely produced in the craft-beer world because of time,” he said. “The world ‘lager’ itself means ‘cold storage’ and so when you make a lager, you need to count on it sitting around for a long time, […] and you can’t use that [tank] space for something else.” The family had built a “lager wall” of tanks in the brewery dedicated to just that type of beer. “That’s where they sit and condition, and we don’t touch them for a month,” he said. “Those beers will continue to improve even in three and six months. No commercial breweries really let their beer sit around that long.” Sundstrom said he and Jesse formulate all their own recipes, many of which stem from their home-brewing years, adjusting them over time. “Beer is a living thing, really,” he said. “It’s in constant evolution. It’s going to be green, if you will, and then it’s going to mature and come into its prime, and then it’s going to go out the backside. So we taste it at different times […] and we’ll go out next time and change a few things and do it all over again.”

On July 31, 1968, readers of the popular Peanuts comic strip may have been surprised to open the newspaper and see the introduction of the first black character side-by-side with Charlie Brown and Snoopy. In the debut comic panel, Franklin Armstrong, a new and unannounced character, walks up to Charlie Brown and asks him if his beach ball had floated out into the sea. At first glance, this brief cartoon strip seems fairly standard and not out of the ordinary. However, it marked a milestone in the countless efforts to desegregate America in the 1960s. Officials at the American University of Health Sciences (AUHS) in Signal Hill hosted an event on Nov. 17 where Harriet Glickman, 92, a retired school teacher, spoke to attendees about how her concern for change during the height of the civil rights movement helped kickstart the idea of Franklin. The halls of the AUHS were adorned with Peanuts memorabilia. Attendees were treated to an assortment of foods and drinks, as they watched Glickman read Peanuts books to children who were invited to come in before the main presentation. AUHS officials hosted the event to celebrate individuals who have made a difference in society. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, activists began protesting during much of the civil rights movement for the inclusion of African-Americans and other minorities into segregated cities in the U.S., Glickman said. Despite attempts for peaceful protests, there were many instances of violence. Glickman grew up in a time where segregated communities were scattered throughout the nation. There were restaurants, barbershops, hotels and grocery stores that only catered to black people or white people separately. People’s skin color defined what public buses, water fountains or schools they could use and attend. “My sister and I were raised in a family where respect, love and caring for others– no matter who, no matter what color they are or religion they followed– was taught,” she said. Glickman said the racially triggered murder of Emmet Till in 1955, the lunch counter sit-in movements in 1960 and the Freedom Rider protests in 1961 inspired her to challenge perceptions of a segregated society. It wasn’t until the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April of 1968 that Glickman decided to act. “I didn’t just say one day, ‘Well, I’ll do something about it,’” Glickman said. “It was an accumulation of all of the things that I’ve learned through the years.” Glickman said she decided to reach out to someone who could influence others. She chose to reach out to cartoonists– one in particular: Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip. In her letter to Schulz, Glickman called for the inclusion of a black character into the comic. She wrote that having a black child run, play and interact with other white children in an innocent environment could have a positive impact on others. At first, Schulz was interested in the idea, but he worried that white cartoonists portraying a black character could be considered as “patronizing.” “The fact that he said, ‘I really like the idea,’ that’s what said to me, ‘OK, go a little further,’” Glickman told the Signal Tribune. She decided to send the letters between her and Schulz to her African-American friends, who all made suggestions as to what this new character should be and look like. After more exchanges of letters between Glickman and Schulz, the cartoonists who worked on the Peanuts finally added Franklin to Charlie Brown’s group of friends. Following Franklin’s debut, Glickman received letters from various readers of the comics thanking her for the idea to include a black character. “Not everybody liked this in the south,” Glickman said. “A lot of people didn’t like Charlie Brown sitting in a classroom with Franklin.” Glickman said that despite the new character’s criticism, Franklin made a positive impact on some readers. During the event, Glickman read a portion of a letter that Schulz received from a black U.S. Army sergeant who was deployed in Vietnam in the 1960s. The soldier, identified as Franklin Feeman, wrote to Schulz telling him that the integration of a black character in the Peanuts comic raised the morale of the troops fighting overseas. Since his debut in 1968, Franklin has appeared in various forms of Peanuts media, including books, television shows and movies. This year marked the 50th anniversary of the character’s creation. In the animated versions of his character, Franklin has been voiced by 19 actors. One of those voice actors, Marleik “Mar Mar” Walker, was present during the Nov. 17 event and joined Glickman as she spoke to the audience. He voiced Franklin’s character for the digitally animated “Peanuts” movie in 2015. Walker, 16, spoke to the Signal Tribune about his character’s impact. “I didn’t think it was that deep because I thought there were always African-American characters in the Peanuts,” Walker said. “I was born in 2002; that’s all I grew up on. But as I further did my research and found out more about Ms. Harriet Glickman and all the stuff she did, I was amazed.” Walker said the other cast members of the film began to realize the depth of Franklin’s origin after the film was released. “I felt like it was my responsibility to tell my friends and family,” he said. Walker added that playing a character like Franklin has helped him understand his roots. His mother commented that Walker was venturing into music production and had a new film coming out soon. Despite his progressing career, Walker said Franklin helps him take a step back and realize the struggles of the civil rights movement. “It’s changed me just to know where we come from,” he said. “Me being able to play Franklin was a huge opportunity, and I’m glad that I went through this.” During the event, AUHS Co-founder Gregory Johnson emceed Glickman’s presentation. He said that Franklin’s introduction into mainstream media is important for young audiences. “People need models,” he said. “You want inclusion? The best way to get inclusion, the best way to break down segregation is to actually have someone else that they can see that is making a difference, and then they start believing they can too.”