Good morning, Long Beach. It’s Monday, Oct. 27. Here’s what you need to know to start your day. Get this in your inbox every week by signing up at LBPost.com/newsletters.
City meetings
The Long Beach City Council will not meet this Tuesday. But other meetings are happening, ones you should pay attention to:
The former First National Bank building, iconic for its 118-year-old clock tower, may soon be one step closer to becoming an apartment tower.
Developers interested in the building will go before the city Cultural Commission on Tuesday to seek clearance for converting the offices into 69 residential units — 21 two-bedroom apartments, 35 one-bedroom suites and 13 studio units. Rooms would range from 332 to 799 square feet. Fourteen of the units would be priced for low- to moderate-income.
The design also includes a 3,300-square-foot rooftop deck — complete with a community garden — as well as a lounge and mail room on the first floor. The spaces occupied by L’Opera and Alegria restaurants would remain untouched.
Plans to repurpose the six-story, 64,000-square-foot tower were submitted last September by Pinelux Associates, who purchased the building at auction for $10.9 million in 2014.
Given approval, the 119-year-old property must then go before the Planning Commission.
Elsewhere on the docket this week, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will hear a presentation on the loss of federal grant funding in the past few months.
And an update on the Grow Long Beach economic blueprint will come before the city’s Economic Development Commission on Wednesday.
Business events and information
- The Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and Courtyard Long Beach on Monday will celebrate the grand opening of Salt and Grove (500 E. First St.) from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The event is free, with a ribbon cutting, mixer and special surprises. For more information or to RSVP, visit here.
- Come and pay to find a way to leave; the Long Beach Young Professionals on Wednesday will have a Halloween Mixer at the Paniq Room (327 Pine Ave.) starting at 5:30 p.m. Exchange business cards and clues as members — and non-members — must work together to solve the puzzle that awards your life. Tickets start at $15. For more information, visit here.
- Check your mailbox. The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters has begun mailing ballots to registered voters in Long Beach ahead of the Nov. 4 Special Election. The voter referendum will decide the fate of Proposition 50, a redistricting plan that would suspend the state’s own congressional district maps and allow new ones through 2030. For our coverage on the ballot measure, visit here. Ballots can be mailed or returned to any ballot drop box or vote center. Drop boxes will remain open until 8 p.m. on Nov. 4. All voters may track their submitted ballots here. A list of in-person voting centers, same-day registration and accessible options can be found here.
ICYMI — California and national news
- Long Beach inks $60 million deal for private jet campus at airport (Long Beach Post)
- Survey says: Long Beach teachers believe they are underpaid, classes are too big (Long Beach Post)
- Orange County shoppers say goodbye to Westminster Mall (Los Angeles Times)