So here is what I think. I think that the reason any childcare employer has trouble keeping staff is that the pay is not high enough for the amount of hard work or stress the job entails. OR the employer has really high standards as far as background checks or wanting employee candidates to have degrees in early childhood education or at least be studying towards that degree.

This makes me wonder about the 3rd party vendors. Are they keeping staffed by lowering standards? Are they keeping staff by having a higher children-per-adult ratio?

The second set of slides says the City of Long Beach is going to collateralize buildings to borrow $50million from Wells Fargo without a distinct written out plan for where that money will go. It is implied that the intention is for it to go to infrastructure projects. I wonder if this is fixing potholes, putting solar panels on all city owned buildings to lower costs in the long run or doing infrastructure projects to make Long Beach look good during the Olympics?

Be sure to thank Kate Raphael for her excellent reporting on child care. Here is the whole article link: https://lbpost.com/news/education/lbusd-is-changing-many-of-its-before-and-after-school-programs-heres-what-we-know

https://www.instagram.com/kateraphaelreports?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Be sure to thank Jon Donegan for his excellent reporting on borrowing the 50 million

https://lbpost.com/news/city/long-beach-borrows-loan-city-buildings-50-million

https://www.instagram.com/shootsoftly?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Read the review it's entirety here:

A review of the Long Beach F&M Bank Amphitheater

https://www.latimes.com/0000019f-ce17-df98-a3ff-cfbff6690000-123

Sacramento, CA USPS Smart Locker Locations

​North Natomas

4401 Gateway Park Blvd Ste 130, Sacramento, CA 95834

​Land Park

5930 S Land Park Dr, Sacramento, CA 95822

​Long Beach USPS Smart Locker Locations

​Downtown Long Beach

300 Long Beach Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90802

​Belmont Shore Postal Store

5050 E 2nd St, Long Beach, CA 90803

​East Long Beach

2727 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90804

​North Long Beach

101 E Market St, Long Beach, CA 90805

​Pacific

1920 Pacific Ave, Long Beach, CA 90806

​Bixby

4470 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807

​Viking

5405 E Village Rd, Long Beach, CA 90808

​Bryant

2234 N Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90815

Long Beach City College will soon begin construction on a 431-bed student housing facility, part of a larger effort to make affordable housing widely available to city residents and students.

The facility will be built on the Liberal Arts Campus adjacent to Veterans Memorial Stadium (also set for major upgrades) and will include studio, single- and double-bed units, lounge and study spaces, and shared kitchen and laundry rooms. Preparation on the site has already begun, and construction is expected to finish in fall 2028. The $127 million project is funded by measures LB and AC, voter-approved bond issues that support campus revitalization.

The project represents “the first time in Long Beach City College’s nearly 100-year history [that] students will have the opportunity to live and learn on campus,” Uduak-Joe Ntuk, president of the LBCC board of trustees, said in a press release.

Housing — and the lack of it — has become a central issue at LBCC, where nearly 12% of students who responded to a recent survey reported experiencing homelessness in the last year. Close to 800 students said they were housing insecure; 80 said they slept in their vehicles.

Many students are balancing studies with work and family obligations, and housing adds yet another potential barrier to education, the college said in a statement.

“Community colleges have traditionally been thought of as commuter campuses, but the students we serve today face very different circumstances,” Mike Muñoz, LBCC superintendent-president, said in a press release.

In response, LBCC is taking a multi-pronged approach to provide stability and address evolving student needs. Affordable, on-campus housing is one of the first steps.

In addition to the several hundred beds slated for the Liberal Arts Campus, the college is also building a few dozen affordable housing units in North Long Beach, expected to be completed in fall 2029, a year after the first housing complex opens.

Details on eligibility requirements, rental rates and placement criteria are still in development for each project (which may have different cost structures), said LBCC spokesperson Stacey Toda. The college has not yet decided whether units will be offered at no cost or through a specific subsidy program, she added. Yet affordability is a priority, she said.

The college has already made attempts to address housing instability, particularly through its safe parking program, which began in 2021 and allows students to sleep in their cars on campus with the protection of security and access to amenities including showers, electricity and Wi-Fi.

Read the article in its entirety on LBPOST

CLEARLY looking for a second home at which to get treats and pets. Just walked in like he owned the place after I pet him on the street. And I am HERE for it. I'm in love with how adorable his little socks are! https://photos.app.goo.gl/9SPvtU11UxSndZPX6

https://www.reddit.com/user/AdreanaInLB/comments/1vjvb23/the\_grift\_economy\_a\_report\_on\_the\_manosphere\_that/

If you are interested in doing a group read of the research report "The Grift Economy" please visit the original reddit post and leave a comment indicating your book club interest.

The original reddit post also contains a comment giving an overview of exactly who the Equimundo organization is and exactly who the Reset Tech organization is.

https://www.reddit.com/user/AdreanaInLB/comments/1vjvb23/the\_grift\_economy\_a\_report\_on\_the\_manosphere\_that/

If you are interested in doing a group read of the research report "The Grift Economy" please visit the original reddit post and leave a comment indicating your book club interest.

The original reddit post also contains a comment giving an overview of exactly who the Equimundo organization is and exactly who the Reset Tech organization is.

https://www.reddit.com/user/AdreanaInLB/comments/1vjvb23/the\_grift\_economy\_a\_report\_on\_the\_manosphere\_that/

If you are interested in doing a group read of the research report "The Grift Economy" please visit the original reddit post and leave a comment indicating your book club interest.

The original reddit post also contains a comment giving an overview of exactly who the Equimundo organization is and exactly who the Reset Tech organization is.

The sushi is on point too. They ran out of teriyaki chicken while we were in line.

How long can you run a high-quality steak restaurant out of someone’s living room and backyard? Chef Brad Thomas and local ceramicist Clay Wood recently decided to find out.

In a time when many businesses struggle to stay afloat, and in a city where people are always craving a new adventure, they launched Steak Freaks as a creative experiment but quickly realized its limits. 

Taking advantage of Long Beach’s new Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO) law, the two wanted to combine artistic expression and high-level cooking to give locals a taste of the law’s potential. 

Before the MEHKO framework, which the City Council passed this spring to allow home-based food businesses, Steak Freaks was a transient pop-up. When Wood met Chef Thomas, he was intrigued and offered up his home as a more permanent location.

“I love the pop-up food scene because it reduces so many barriers to entry, and there’s a lot of great chefs and cooks popping up that don’t own restaurants yet,” said Wood. 

Soon, Thomas was planning out “my perfect experience,” a whimsical playground of a restaurant.

They began shuffling furniture, turning couches into seating for customers, and extending Wood’s kitchen into the backyard. “Today, in this economy where we’re at right now, a lot of creatives are just being stuffed out … we gotta survive,” Thomas explained. “So I’m trying to create a little oasis for creatives to come relax and play and actually make stuff that’s fulfilling.”

Starting in May, Steak Freaks sold out the house with over 20 people per night, multiple nights a week, with curious locals and foodies who found the experience on Instagram or through word of mouth. The price, just $69 per person, was also a huge draw. To keep up, Thomas hired staff, and the in-home restaurant operated with the hustle of a full-service kitchen: a server, bartender, cooks on the frites and grill, a dishwasher, and Wood greeting guests while Thomas ran the backyard. 

The lucky visitors who snagged a reservation got a drink of choice between alcoholic and the house cola cocktail, followed by the first course: Thomas’ pimento Basque cheesecake. Starting with dessert was intentional. “The whole concept of Steak Freaks is selfish. It’s literally my favorite meal,” he said. “It’s a bite that’s meant to disarm you and confuse you, … but it’s going to be a unique experience.”

Next was the signature “Cheesy Garlic Brad” bread, a salad that changed daily, then the main event: steak frites, grilled and locally sourced, served with what Thomas called an “entre-faux sauce,” since “the French would murder me” for adopting the name. The sauce is rich and buttery, with a hint of bone marrow and herbs. 

Four dessert courses follow, from dark cherry tiramisu to a crème fraîche ice cream with wagyu tallow caramel and crispy fries on top. The night would close with homemade limoncello from lemons grown in Thomas’ yard, optionally paired with a smokable cigarette, joint, or candy cigarette.

“I don’t know how long we’re going to be able to do that,” Thomas said last month in the midst of his experiment, “but for now, we’re going to have as much fun as we can.”

He was right. The limitations of MEHKO soon arrived, as the Long Beach law caps them at selling 90 meals a week and $100,000 in annual sales. While the revenue cap seems sizable on paper, it is tighter once food, staff, and utilities are factored in. Kitchen and sanitation inspections are now required, and alcohol is prohibited — a rule Wood and Thomas said was incompatible with the culture they built. 

Their experiment has turned out to be shorter than either of them expected. Steak Freaks served its last dinner on July 26. But they teased something new would come soon.

Now, Wood is moving out of the house that hosted the dinners, and ownership of Steak Freaks has shifted as Wood turns toward other passion projects of his own. For Thomas, the idea was never meant to be permanent. “This was always supposed to be sort of just like a launch project for me,” he said, “a way for me to kind of find myself as a chef again.” According to him, it worked. “We broke every single rule,” he admitted, and the demand simply outgrew what a backyard could hold. 

So Thomas is rebranding, same energy and a new name, and is touring restaurant spaces for the next phase, hoping to create an upscale diner by day, serving the best pancakes and burgers around alongside his steak frites — then turning into an avant-garde tasting menu by night, cooked with chef friends making whatever excites them rather than what they think will sell. 

Whatever form it takes, Thomas says the spirit isn’t going anywhere. “Steak Freaks is coming with me wherever I go. I am Steak Freak,” he said. “This whole project was for me to find myself again and get some spark and get going again. So I think it did its job.”