presstelegram • 31st March 2023

This is how you can celebrate, advocate during International Trans Day of Visibility

The transgender community, as well as allies, will once again gather on Friday, March 31, to celebrate — and advocate for their rights.

Dozens of events are planned throughout the Southland on Friday in honor of International Trans Day of Visibility, an annual occurrence that both celebrates trans and gender-expansive people, and raises awareness about the increasing political, social and physical violence targeted toward their communities.

President Joe Biden issued a proclamation on Thursday

presstelegram • 30th March 2023

Long Beach mayor seeks input from faith leaders on response to homelessness

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson closed out a two-week series of community meeting sessions to discuss the city’s homelessness response efforts — and how the city can better partner with existing community resources — with a roundtable featuring several interfaith leaders from all around town on Wednesday, March 29.

The roundtable sessions were initially announced by the Mayor’s office on March 20, and kicked off with a conversation of stakeholders from downtown Long Beach. They continued throug

presstelegram • 29th March 2023

Long Beach launches text alert system for unhoused folks

People without permanent shelter in Long Beach can now sign up for text alerts from the city to find out about critical housing and social service resources near them, officials announced this week.

Though unhoused folks lack many basic necessities, research has shown that a bulk of folks without shelter often have access to cell phones. A 2017 study published in the Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, for example, found that 94% of unhoused people surveyed reported having a cell phone

presstelegram • 28th March 2023

Hundreds gather at Lincoln Park to ‘Celebrate Downtown’

More than 900 people gathered at Lincoln Park recently for a Downtown Long Beach Alliance event that spotlighted local businesses and offered residents insight into the area’s future.

Celebrate Downtown, which took place late last week, drew its highest attendance since the inaugural event in 2012, the DLBA said.

Attendees enjoyed yoga, dance and a variety of other activities during the celebration — and enjoyed eats from local establishments such as Padre, Buono’s Pizzeria, MealsDotKom, The C

presstelegram • 28th March 2023

$9.5 million of electrical upgrades planned for Long Beach Airport’s runways

The Long Beach Airport’s primary runway — along with a couple others — are due for major electrical upgrades, officials announced earlier this week, which will prompt some temporary runway closures from late-March to mid-July.

The $9.5 million rehabilitation project for Runway 12-30, the airport’s primary runway, will bring the airstrip into compliance with Federal Aviation Administration’s standards and improve its sustainability efforts, the announcement said.

More than 500 new LED lights —

presstelegram • 28th March 2023

15th annual Cambodia Town Parade and Culture Festival returns this weekend

The annual Cambodia Town Parade and Culture Festival — a celebration of the Southeast Asian country’s new year, which traditionally takes place from April 14 to 16 — will return to Long Beach this weekend for its 15th iteration.

The free cerebration will kick off at 10 a.m. Sunday, April 2, with a parade that starts between Cherry Avenue and Anaheim Street — and will travel about a half mile to MacArthur Park. The parade will begin after an interfaith program that will include a traditional ble

presstelegram • 27th March 2023

Queen Mary to reopen for public tours on April 1, hotel stays to follow in May

The Queen Mary will reopen for public tours on April 1 for the first time in about three years, the legendary ship’s operators have announced.

“It is so exciting to finally welcome visitors back onboard this historic landmark,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in the Monday, March 27, announcement. “We have worked tirelessly to protect the ship’s safety, preserve its rich history and bring it back to life.

“These tours are just the beginning of a larger phased reopening plan,” Richardson a

presstelegram • 27th March 2023

Jewish Long Beach CEO to resign in June, search underway for replacement

The current CEO of Jewish Long Beach and the Alpert Jewish Community Center, Zach Benjamin, has announced that he will resign in June once his current contract expires.

Benjamin was appointed to head up Jewish Long Beach in January 2022, a few years after it had been created as a result of a merger between the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Long Beach and West Orange County.

Benjamin, who announced his pending resignation in an emailed newsletter earlier this

presstelegram • 25th March 2023

Sowing Seeds of Change to host cooking competition for charity in Long Beach

Local nonprofit Sowing Seeds of Change will host on Saturday, March 25, a first-of-its-kind cooking competition to fundraise for its work to strengthen sustainable local food systems.

Sowing Seeds of Change works to provide foster youth and young adults with disabilities with agricultural education and skills to engage with the local food system through vocational training, youth entrepreneurship, and leadership opportunities, according to its website.

Five local chefs — alongside their studen

presstelegram • 24th March 2023

Lana Del Rey pop-up has fans of pop icon lining up in Long Beach

Day One of a weekend-long event to celebrate the music of Lana Del Rey, the world-renowned signer known for such songs as “Video Games” and “Born to Die,” kicked off at the Shoreline Aquatic Park in Long Beach on Friday, March 24 — in tandem with the release of her ninth studio album.

The three-day pop up near the Aquarium of the Pacific, which runs until Sunday, March 26, was expected to draw thousands. RSVPs were fully booked shortly after the event was announced earlier this week — and by 6

presstelegram • 24th March 2023

Long Beach extends winter shelter operations through April as cold, wet weather continues

Long Beach will extend operation of its emergency Winter Shelter at the former Community Hospital property through the end of April, officials announced on Friday, March 24, as the region continues to suffer from extended cold and wet weather.

The main purpose of the shelter, which has been up and running since Dec. 19, is to protect unsheltered residents from the elements during California’s colder months. The Community Hospital location was initially expected to operate through March 31.

“Wi

presstelegram • 24th March 2023

Hawaiian Gardens exhibits traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial to mark war’s 50th anniversary

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

Hawaiian Gardens, to honor the somber occasion, will exhibit a three-quarter scale replica of Washington, D.C.’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, dubbed “The Wall That Heals,” at Fedde Middle School.

The traveling exhibit is put in on by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, a nonprofit group that works to preserve the war’s history. The replica memorial was originally debuted in 1996, and has been on display in more than 700 cities a

presstelegram • 24th March 2023

3-day Lana Del Rey pop-up in Long Beach celebrates new album

The music of Lana Del Rey — the world-renowned signer known for such songs as “Video Games” and “Born to Die” — will be the focus at a three-day pop-up event at the Shoreline Aquatic Park in Long Beach to celebrate the Friday, March 24 release of her ninth studio album.

The album, dubbed “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard,” is the latest in a series of homages the songstress has made to Long Beach in her music. Del Rey’s album references the now-closed Jergins Tunnel — wh

presstelegram • 23rd March 2023

Our mailbox

I feel the pain of Cal State Long Beach graduates over their Angel Stadium graduation. A large scale almost anonymous graduation at a huge site that has nothing to do with these graduates or the school for that matter! President Conoley and her staff should be ashamed of themselves for this fiasco!

With all the resources the University has at their disposal, she and her staff could not figure out a way to let these deserving graduates walk across the stage, hearing their name called and persona

presstelegram • 23rd March 2023

Long Beach hospital to host 1st large-scale disaster training for seniors

The Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center will host a mock disaster drill at a local retirement community on Friday, March 24 — the first large-scale event specifically targeted for senior citizens and folks with disabilities that the hospital has hosted, according to an announcement.

“St. Mary’s goal is to teach the residents, many who are functionally disabled and have special needs, how to evacuate safely during a fire, earthquake or other disaster,” the hospital said in a Wednesday, March

presstelegram • 23rd March 2023

Rocket 3D-printed in Long Beach lifts off but fails 3 minutes into debut launch

Relativity Space, a Long Beach-based aerospace company, made history with the successful launch of the worlds first-ever 3D printed rocket out of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, March 22 — despite the rocket’s failure to make it to orbit.

About 85% of the rocket, dubbed Terran 1, was built with 3D-printed metal parts that were fabricated at Relativity’s Long Beach headquarters.

The launch on Wednesday evening was the company’s first successful attempt at getting

presstelegram • 23rd March 2023

Amid environmentalists’ pushback, Long Beach OKs state-mandated oil drilling plans

The Long Beach City Council approved an oil drilling and production plan for the next year — as they’re required to by the state — during its Tuesday, March 21 session, despite pushback from the public and some of its own members.

The city is legally mandated to submit a “Unit Plan” to the California State Lands Commission, which outlines Long Beach’s predicted replacement oil well drilling, operating expenses for oil production and maintenance of existing facilities, and overall expected oil r

presstelegram • 22nd March 2023

Long Beach council rejects ban on protests with ‘targeted picketing’ near homes

The Long Beach City Council rejected a ban on “targeting residential picketing,” or protesting, within 300 feet of an individual’s home, during their Tuesday, March 21 meeting. The council had initially requested a look at such rules in 2021 after several instances of demonstrations at local elected officials’ homes.

The ordinance, which the City Council opted to receive and file on Tuesday, would have also enshrined legal enforcement of the ban into Long Beach’s municipal code. Violators of th

presstelegram • 22nd March 2023

Long Beach formally recognizes Cesar Chavez’s, Dolores Huerta’s birthdays

Long Beach is set to honor two of the most celebrated civil rights and labor leaders of the 20th century — Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta — by formally recognizing their birthdays every year.

The City Council this week directed the city attorney to draft a resolution to recognize Chavez’s and Huerta’s birthdays — March 31 and April 10, respectively. The resolution, though, doesn’t ask the city to recognize the pair’s birthdays as official city holidays. The council will eventually have to vote

presstelegram • 22nd March 2023

St. Anthony’s fundraiser brings in $100,000 in tuition help for Long Beach students

More than 900 people gathered in downtown Long Beach this weekend to celebrate St. Anthony High School’s 14th annual Saints Run 5K fundraiser.

The event is one of the campus’s major fundraisers — and boy, did it prove it.

The Saturday, March 18, event raised more than $100,000 for St. Anthony’s Sponsor-a-Saint program, the private Catholic school announced this week. That program provides more than $1 million in annual tuition assistance to help low-income families in the Long Beach area affor