Long Beach Downtown Plannning Commission Approves Plan

By Karen Robes Meeks, Staff Writer, Press-Telegram

But Susanne Browne, attorney for Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, a leading critic of the downtown plan, said she was disappointed with the commission’s decision. She said she and several people at Thursday’s meeting don’t support the proposed citywide community benefit ordinance. "This is an environmental land use case specific to downtown," Browne said, adding that the ordinance "distracts and confuses the debate."

Browne said her group will appeal the commission’s decision to the City Council.

LONG BEACH, December 2, 2011— Despite concerns from housing advocates, a controversial development plan for downtown moved forward this week.

The Planning Commission on Thursday night endorsed the Downtown Plan, a development blueprint for 725 acres of property in Long Beach’s core.

The commission voted 5-1 to certify the plan’s environmental impact report and voted unanimously to recommend to the City Council that it adopt the plan, which it is expected to consider in January.

To address concerns by housing advocates that the plan will displace thousands of low-income families, the commission also voted 4-2 to recommend that the council explore the creation of a citywide community benefit ordinance.

 The ordinance could include: Language that would give priority preference to displaced low- to moderate-income residents for new affordable housing units;

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Lawyers, Doctors Team Up to Reduce Health Disparities

By Bernice Yeung, Reporter, California Watch

November 10, 2011—On Kate Marr’s first day practicing law at The Children’s Clinic in Long Beach last week, she met with the mother of an asthmatic 7-year-old. Health clinic workers sent the woman, a Mexican immigrant, to Marr’s office because they suspected there was a connection between the boy’s asthma and the family’s apartment - where paint peels from the walls, cockroaches inhabit the floorboards and only one electrical outlet functions.

An attorney who has practiced with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles for more than a decade, Marr is now seeing clients at the clinic two days a week as part of a new medical-legal program that seeks to address the issues underlying patient treatment.

"We can treat a child with asthma and give them the right medications, but if they live in a rental house that has mold growing on the ceiling, we won’t be able to control the asthma until we address the housing issue," says Dr. Elisa Nicholas, CEO of The Children’s Clinic. "So many issues that impact health are legal issues."

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