Drayage Brokersin Long Beach, CA

Developers seeking approval for large housing projects throughout the city may soon have to contribute to the city’s stock of affordable housing, either by incorporating it into their projects or paying into a fund that is used to help house low-income residents.

Currently, the city’s “inclusionary housing” policy — adopted three years ago – only applies to Downtown projects and those along the Long Beach Boulevard corridor north to the 405 Freeway, near public transit centers.

On Tuesday, Mayor Rex Richardson will ask the city manager to investigate applying the policy to projects citywide — something Long Beach had already promised the state it would do to meet aggressive housing goals by 2029.

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During contentious public hearings over the initial policy, developers and others contended that assessing these fees would halt housing construction at a time when the city desperately needed more.

But Richardson, in a memo to the City Council this week, said that “after near record years for housing submittals and entitlements, it is clear that inclusionary zoning in Long Beach does not depress production.”

It was not immediately clear how effective the policy has been at generating new affordable units, nor how much it has generated in fees from developers over the past three years.

The mayor, however, said that overall, a record 878 affordable units were approved in 2023 and a record 975 additional units were submitted for approvals.

A state report released Wednesday estimated 631 new units of total housing were actually built in the city last year, a slower-than-average pace compared to the state as a whole.

Under the current inclusionary housing policy, developers with projects over 10 units can either designate 11% of rental units or 10% of owned units as affordable, or pay a fee per unit based on the market price (in 2021, this was $390,400 for rentals and $430,000 for owned units).

Expanding this policy is one of a long list of recommendations the mayor will pitch to the full City Council on Tuesday, requesting that staff report back with a timeline for policies and potential implementation.

The goal, the mayor said, is to meet benchmarks contained in its Housing Element, which California requires to ensure cities are doing their part in adding to the statewide housing stock. According to that plan, Long Beach must add 26,502 units of housing before 2030, and 11,500 of those must be affordable.

“While 2023 was a record year for affordable housing submittals and entitlements, it will be challenging for the City to stay on track towards these state production targets without new policy tools to enable more and better affordable developments across the city,” Richardson said.

Other ideas the mayor wants to explore:

The programme helps fund and incentivise the changeover to cleaner trucks serving the San Pedro Bay port complex, and is part of the ports’ broader efforts to achieve zero-emissions drayage trucking by 2035.

Created to help accelerate the development of zero-emission (ZE) technology, the CTF collects a rate of $10 per TEU on loaded import and export cargo containers hauled by drayage trucks as they enter or leave container terminals. Rate collection began in April 2022.

Through its first 24 months at the two ports, the CTF collected a total of $153.7 million, funds which are being allocated to support incentives for the purchase of ZE drayage trucks and related charging infrastructure.

The CTF programme builds on the ports’ original Clean Truck Program approved in 2008, which mandated the phase-out of older, more polluting trucks serving the San Pedro Bay port complex. Since that time, air pollution from trucks at the complex is down more than 90 per cent.

“The communities of Southern California deserve the cleanest fleet of drayage trucks in the world, and the San Pedro Bay ports are committed to that goal,” said Long Beach Harbor Commission President Bobby Olvera Jr.

“We thank the Southern California Association of Governments for recogniSing the ports’ noteworthy efforts to transition to zero-emissions trucks.”

READ: Port of Long Beach receives $283 million grant for new green gateway

“The Clean Truck Fund allows the ports to move forward aggressively to decarbonise goods movement, by financially supporting the purchase of cleaner trucks and creation of the supporting infrastructure,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero.

“As we bring clean air benefits throughout the region, we’re grateful for this honor from SCAG.”

Moreover, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director, Gene Seroka, said: “We appreciate the recognition of our efforts to incentivize zero-emission truck manufacturing, as well as support trucking companies’ transition from diesel to cleaner technologies.

“Together with private industry, we are working to help make these future trucks commercially available and affordable.”

Just recently, the Port of Los Angeles and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced it will begin construction on a $130 million transportation project.

Join us at the second edition of Greentech at World Trade Center Barcelona on 7-8 May! Greentech 2024 will focus on key topics such as electrification, sustainable infrastructure, green shipping, technology, digitalisation and decarbonisation.

The562’s coverage of Long Beach State Volleyball is sponsored by Naples Island Car Wash. Visit NaplesIslandCarWash.com to learn more.

It only happens in movies. Long Beach State was trailing 2-0 in the match, and 11-8 in the third set, on the verge of their season ending in the NCAA Final Four against Grand Canyon. But the Beach battled back with a big run, and after a massive solo block from Nathan Harlan, the crowd of nearly 4,000 fans in the Walter Pyramid went absolutely insane, giving the Beach a boost. They rode that momentum into a changed script, coming back to win an instant classic 24-26, 26-28, 25-18, 25-23, 15-10.

“I have to thank that amazing LB nation crowd,” said LBSU coach Alan Knipe. “You could feel the crowd, not just hear them. That helped push them through when maybe other teams would have heard the bus running. We’ll appreciate what just happened and then try to get ready for a national championship with UCLA.”

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The Beach will face the Bruins back in the Pyramid Saturday at 2pm in a meeting of the nation’s two top teams all season long. The duo met earlier this year and split a pair of matches, with the Beach winning at home and UCLA winning in their gym.

None of that was on anyone’s mind on Thursday evening, though, as players, coaches and fans tried to process a truly unbelievable comeback on the floor of the Pyramid.

The Beach trailed 2-0 after two sets despite slightly outhitting the Lopes, thanks in part to service errors in the first set, but also to late-game execution. The Beach fought off four set points in the first set to come back from down 24-20, but lost it on a kill by a GCU middle and an error. The second set saw the Beach trail 24-22, deuce it, fight of another couple of set points, and ultimately fall 28-26.

Setter Aidan Knipe said there was no panic in his team’s huddle.

“This team has been through this before, there wasn’t much said just guys carrying themselves with confidence,” he said. “It was more just finding our stride.”

Coach Knipe felt the same.

“I know how this game works, as hard as it is to be down 0-2, it is still 0-0,” he said. “If you can focus in on that and take it point for point, the pressure really is on them to close. We were playing pretty well. There’s not a lot to it, there’s no magic in those situations. If there is such a thing, the magic happens in the Gold Mine in the Fall.”

Still, the Beach trailed 11-8 in the third set and the season was in danger of slipping away. Knipe subbed in Nathan Harlan for Clarke Godbold—making what could be considered a risky move in benching an All-American.

“He came in and made plays instantly,” said Knipe. “We were doing good when Clarke was out there…but Nathan came in scored points right away, scored from the end line and gave us that little bit of energy.”

The Beach ended up on a 5-0 run that changed the whole course of the night, as Sotiris Siapanis ripped an ace, Knipe and middle Simon Torwie had a block, Harlan had a kill, and then Harlan had his massive solo block of Jackson Hickman to cap a long rally and bring the noise level to a place it’s rarely been in the Pyramid.

“When I got the block I couldn’t hear anything, I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts,” said Harlan. “I looked around to see why and I saw thousands of fans screaming. I tried to turn and I got goosebumps and I kind of couldn’t move for a minute, I was just soaking in the environment.”

Harlan raised a hand to his ear, which Hickman took exception to and barked back. The refs saw that interaction and gave Hickman a yellow card, bringing the fever pitch crowd in the Pyramid to deafening levels.

“It’s so loud that you heard nothing,” said Aidan Knipe. “You can’t hear the crowd, you can’t really think either. It’s just being in the moment for those seconds.” Knipe said that a GCU player told him later that the point and the crowd’s reaction was “unbelievable.”

GCU coach Matt Werle had no problem with the interaction between Harlan and Hickman.

“Usually a yellow card helps us actually,” he said. “I’m an ice hockey fan. The retaliation is always the guy who gets thrown in the box. Unfortunate for us that Jackson Hickman has to wear that card. It’s part of the game, emotions got the best of us. It was nothing out of character, just an emotional part of the game. That’s just boys being boys.”

From that moment on it almost felt predetermined that the Beach would come back. Torwie ripped a pair of aces and the Beach easily went on to win the third, 25-18. Both coaches admitted after that they felt the fourth set was for all the marbles. The Beach took a 23-20 lead and looked set to cruise, but a service error and a net call imperiled the lead. They ended up winning 25-23 on a service error. The fifth set was all Long Beach as they jumped out to a 10-6 lead, saw that dwindle to a point, then closed on a 4-0 run, with kill by Siapanis ending it, bringing the Beach onto the court and sending the crowd into a frenzy.

“You have to feed off the crowd’s energy sometimes,” said Siapanis. “Our fans are amazing, without them we wouldn’t have made it this far.”

The Beach hit .326 to GCU’s .267, as Knipe piled up 52 assists. Skyler Varga had 20 kills, eight digs, five blocks and an ace; Siapanis had 16 kills and five digs; Mason Briggs had 10 digs; and Torwie had three aces, five kills, and nine blocks.

ARCADIA –Long Beach Poly right-hander Joshue Sayre and Arcadia lefty Gabriel Lopez were on a roll Thursday afternoon.

The dueling pitchers looked unbothered through three innings and gave up a combined two hits and struck out a combined nine batters.

Sayre flinched first, however, and gave up two fourth-inning runs on five consecutive one-out singles, ceding Arcadia the slight advantage it needed in a 3-0 victory in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 baseball playoffs.

The Jackrabbits suffered a loss in the first round of the playoffs for a fourth straight season.

Lopez was brilliant throughout, throwing 6 1/3 shutout innings before giving way to Fernando Palencia to get the final two outs.

Arcadia (20-7) will take on Ocean View in the second round on Tuesday. It will be the Apaches’ first second-round appearance since 2021.

“It feels good to get the win, but we didn’t play very well,” Arcadia coach Nick Lemus said. “We’re going to have to settle in and play better defense and hit the ball better with runners in scoring position better than we did (Thursday).”

Arcadia’s ace struck out seven and gave up four hits, two of which came in the top of the seventh inning before Lemus brought in Palencia. Lopez overcame four errors to earn his eighth victory of the season and kept Long Beach Poly at bay until the fourth inning.

Before Arcadia’s two-run fourth inning, the Jackrabbits (13-16) paired with Sayre’s immaculate opening three innings proved to be the more threatening of the two teams. Arcadia errors in the second, third and fourth innings allowed the Jackrabbits to move runners into scoring positions. Overall, Arcadia committed four total errors, but Long Beach Poly — who were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position — did not capitalize and wasted Sayre’s solid outing.

Sayre gave up two runs on eight hits and struck out seven in five innings of work.

“We leaned on (Sayre’s) shoulders and he’s been the guy all season,” Long Beach Poly head coach Eric Bryant said. “We just couldn’t produce runs. I think if we would’ve given him one or two (runs), we would’ve been okay.”

Sayre retired nine straight batters to open the game before Arcadia finally roughed up the Jackrabbits’ righty in the fourth inning.

Freshman Jordan Vogel began Arcadia’s methodical attack at the plate with a one-out single. Two batters later, Palencia – who finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and a double — drove in the first run with a single, scoring Vogel. Arcadia doubled the lead with an RBI single by Avery Truesdale — the fifth straight single Sayre gave up in the inning.

“It was the second time in the order we saw (Sayre) and I thought we made adjustments,” Lemus said of the two-run fourth inning. “We started hitting the ball up the middle, (and) to the opposite (field). Middle, middle, middle. All of our hits were up the middle and with a pitcher that’s what you have to do.”

Arcadia tacked on its third run in the sixth inning via a Truesdale sacrifice fly. Two Long Beach Poly base hits in the top of the seventh inning ended Lopez’s outing.

Palencia, who earned the save on Friday, ended any hopes of a comeback when a soft line drive allowed Arcadia to complete the double play and end the late rally attempt.

THURSDAY’S SCORES IN CIF-SS BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

FIRST ROUND

DIVISION 1

Villa Park 6, Bishop Amat 1

DIVISION 2

Arcadia 3, Long Beach Poly 0

Maranatha 4, Royal 0

Ayala 6, La Serna 1

Quartz Hill 13, Charter Oak 1

DIVISION 4

San Marino 5, Citrus Hill 0

St. Francis 8, Windward 3

DIVISION 5

Whittier Christian 4, Long Beach St. Anthony 3

DIVISION 6

West Covina 5, Los Amigos 3

Diamond Bar 10, Savanna 5

St. Paul 3, Lancaster 1

Alhambra 13, De Toledo 0

Schurr 8, Century 7

Salesian 6, Arroyo 0

Santa Fe 7, Garey 4

DIVISION 8

United Christian Academy 8, Mountain View 2

Edgewood 28, Palm Valley 5

Bosco Tech 13, Gorman Charter 3

Azusa 10, Santa Rosa Academy 0

The562’s coverage of Long Beach State Volleyball is sponsored by Naples Island Car Wash. Visit NaplesIslandCarWash.com to learn more.

Long Beach State will face Grand Canyon tonight at 630pm in the Walter Pyramid in the NCAA Final Four, with a trip to Saturday’s men’s volleyball national championship on the line. The Beach (25-2) have put in countless hours of work to get to this point, just one win away from playing for the sport’s ultimate prize.

“We’re excited to get into the Final Four stage and play a really good Grand Canyon team that’s had a great year,” said LBSU coach Alan Knipe at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference. “They’ve had a great year, we haven’t seen them during the course of the season but we have a ton of respect for them.”

The Beach boast a half dozen All-Americans and will have the home court advantage, with a large crowd expected.

“It feels nice to have the tournament in Long Beach here at home,” said outside hitter Nathan Harlan. “It’s awesome playing in now my third tournament, especially with the Long Beach crowd here. It’s exciting.”

The Beach face a Grand Canyon team trying to get to their first-ever national title match, fresh off a sweep of Ohio State. The two teams haven’t met this year but GCU is for real–with wins over UCLA but also losses to Big West opponents the Beach handled.

As with all matches among the nation’s elite, it will come down to serving and passing, and how teams execute late in sets. All the Beach players and coaches echoed that truism on Wednesday.

“It will just come down to who plays better volleyball,” said Clarke Godbold. “That’s it.”

The winner of tonight’s LBSU/GCU semifinal will face the winner of the 330pm UCLA vs UC Irvine match on Saturday at 2pm for the national title.

We’ll have live updates and full coverage from the match this evening.

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