By Doug Miller
The council voted 4-1 on Nov. 8 to approve a $5.575 million bond issue that would get the ball rolling on all the work included in the original project, but would force the city manager to return to the council for additional funding once the projects were under way.
"Though not as broad-reaching a bond initiative as I had hoped, everyone on the council agreed that work must be done in the city," Democratic council President Leonard Remo said in a statement. "This is the first step in accomplishing all the projects proposed in the original bond."
The piece-at-a-time condition was put in place by the council's coalition Republican minority of Jim Hennessy and Tom Sofield, who claimed they didn't trust the Democrats to spend the money properly if they were given the lump sum. All bond issues require the approval of at least four of the five council members to pass, and Sofield and Hennessy were able to force the compromise by withholding their support.
"Through hard work and cooperation, we have been able to reach a compromise bond proposal that achieves what I was looking for," said Hennessy. "A fiscally responsible pay-as-you-go approach to borrowing that gets all of the projects started and which provides us with an adequate level of accountability, more control over future borrowing and a check on how and where the money might be spent."
The Democrats were split on the issue, with Denise Tangney voting against the measure. Tangney said Long Beach needed more infrastructure funding, not less, and the idea of negotiating the number down was a disservice to the city. "Five million is not a compromise," she said before the meeting. "I want something more than that. We need $60 million, not $5 million."
But Tangney's fellow Democrat, council Vice President Robert Tepper, said the city's dire situation called for immediate action. "It wasn't perfect, but I'll take it," Tepper said. "I was supportive of $15 million. I was supportive of $10 million. I was not supportive of zero, and $5.5 million is better than nothing."
The final bond wound up including almost everything in the original bond, with two streets thrown in (see box). It includes $550,000 to redo the city's swimming pool, and $250,000 for the West End firehouse. Since most of these projects will take months of planning, the bond only covers the engineering work, and the understanding is that City Manager Edwin Eaton will ask the council to approve a second bond of similar size after the fiscal year ends next June.
Improvements to the pool are well past due, Eaton said. "The swimming pool has its original filtration system from when it was put in in 1961," he said. "The second aspect is putting liners in the swimming pool and the diving pool. Every August we shut down the Rec for five weeks, drain the pool and replace tile that has popped up. By putting a liner in there, we'll never have to do that."
The revised bond initiative is expected to be completed over two to three years, with the majority of the projects having a period of probable usefulness of 15 to 30 years. The plan is designed to resolve the most urgent capital improvement issues, to accommodate the city's growth and to support intelligent spending, according to a statement released by the city.
"The residents of the city need to know that someone is closely watching how their tax dollars are being spent, and this compromise measure gives us the opportunity to do just that," said Sofield. "This is an encouraging first step towards building trust and cooperation between all members of the City Council."
Information and updates about the bond initiative will be posted on the city's Web site, www.longbeachny.org.
Comments about this story? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
Where the money will go:
Street reconstruction:
700 block, West Penn Street: $625,000
700 block, West Chester Street: $675,000
600 block, East Penn Street: $675,000
Barnes Street (north): $675,000*
Armour Street (north): $625,000
Subtotal: $3.275 million
Street reconstruction, engineering only:
Connecticut Avenue, (Beech Street to beach)
Harmon Street (north)
Subtotal: $100,000
Other repairs:
Indiana Street firehouse, engineering: $250,000
Three sewer lift stations, engineering: $400,000
Bulkhead replacement, engineering: $250,000
Recreation Center pool repairs: $550,000
Vehicle replacement: $750,000
Total: $5,575,000
*All engineering work for Barnes Street rehab will be performed by outside engineering firm.
