As President of the Long Beach Commercial Real Estate Council, I want to welcome you to our web site. We are doing our best to make this site as relevant to the greater Long Beach commercial real estate industry as we possibly can.
Back in May 2008 at our annual luncheon, I pledged to our membership that, in my two year term, I will strive to elevate our council from an outstanding trade organization to an exceptional community partner.
One aspect of this goal is to bring apposite and informative speakers to our monthly breakfast meetings. This year, we have enjoyed the following speakers:
1. Mayor Bob Foster speaking on our upcoming $571 million municipal infrastructure bond issue coming on the ballot in November.
click here for more details;
2. City Manager Pat West speaking on the state of our city, along with his goals and vision as the recently hired City Manager;
3. James Hankla, President of the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission speaking on the environmentally aware Green Flag policy initiative of the Port. Mr. Hankla is a retired City Manager of Long Beach and past founding CEO of the Alameda Corridor project that moves freight from the Ports to the rail yards more efficiently;
4. Superintendent Chris Steinhauser of the Long Beach Unified School District discussing the nationally recognized LBUSD as one of the best large urban school districts in the nation and the upcoming $1.2 billion dollar school bond issue on the November ballot;
5. Craig Beck, Director of Development Services for the City of Long Beach speaking on the merger of the Building & Planning Department with the Redevelopment Agency;
6. Craig Johnson, Manager of the Long Beach Enterprise Zone, speaking on tax credits and incentives available to employers with businesses in the Enterprise Zone;
7. Greg Kight, AIA Architect, speaking on the LEED certified building practices for commercial properties to run more environmentally efficient and cost effectively.
We recently launched a poll for our members to express their opinions and thoughts on the various issues of the day. The first subject is the $571 million municipal infrastructure bond issue. Your responses will help the LBCREC Board of Directors make informed decisions in matters of policy in our discussions with local elected and appointed municipal officials. To take the survey, click here
This is a good start with much work left to be done. Our members face a very challenging economic climate in which to practice their commercial real estate business and in the ownership and management of commercial properties.
All things considered, Long Beach is a terrific place in which to invest, operate your business, raise a family, educate and entertain yourself. We will continue to celebrate these facts and work ever harder in reaching new goals to make Long Beach an even better City.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome two new board members: Mr. Matthew Kinley, attorney with Tredway, Lumsdaine & Doyle and immediate past chair of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Mike Soutar, architect with McDonald, Soutar & Paz, Inc.
Before closing out, I wish to recognize two members of our Board of Directors, Linda Martinez and Past President Chris Barbieri. They have invested countless hours into shaping and molding this online resource at www.lbcrec.com and expanding our public relations efforts on behalf of the Long Beach Commercial Real Estate Council.
On behalf of our entire Board of Directors, thank you to all those mentioned in this message for your contribution to our council. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. We welcome your comments.
Sincerely,
Long Beach Commercial Real Estate Council
Vice President – Blair Commercial Real Estate
100 W. Broadway, Suite 250
Long Beach, CA 90802
(562) 495-6070 Office
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