Councilmember Tonia Reyes-Uranga should be commended for her idea to designate Long Beach a Tree City USA.  Under her proposal, the city would look at putting together a comprehensive tree planting program.  The issue will be discussed tonight at the City Council meeting.
 
To become a Tree City USA, Long Beach would have to meet four standards established by The National Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters.  For more information about these standards, click here.
 
The list of Tree Cities is rather long and a bit surprising.  Here are some of the California cities that have the designation- Anaheim, Burbank, Cerritos, Covina, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Lakewood, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Westminster.
 
Ok….if LA and Anaheim can do this- Long Beach certainly can.
 
The city’s budget will cover 200 tree plantings next year…that’s not even enough to replace the dying trees in the city.  We need to get serious about this issue and realize that a healthy tree planting program is important for true metropolitan city.
 
Michael Ellis DUI Charge
 
…and of course the big political story of the week is the unfortunate situation that Long Beach Unified School Board Member Michael Ellis finds himself in.  It’s tragic actually. I feel sorry for his family in what must be a difficult time.
 
The Press-Telegram has called for his resignation, and it will be interesting to hear the reaction of the Teachers Association (TALB) and school officials.
 
Here’s the full text of the PT editorial in case you missed it yesterday:
 
Ellis should resign
LBUSD trustee ought to address his personal problems.
 
We would never argue that brushes with the law should automatically disqualify a politician from serving in public office. Experience with good people who have done bad things has taught us to look at candidates more holistically.
 
That is why we have, on rare occasions, endorsed politicians who have been arrested for drunken driving, drug possession and soliciting a prostitute. And, in each of those cases, the men admitted and learned from their mistakes, and had put many years between the transgressions and their runs for office.
 
But we believe that when an elected official is in the throes of legal troubles, as Long Beach Unified School District trustee Michael Shane Ellis is now as he faces drunken driving, he should step aside and get his house in order.
 
Constituents do not benefit from a distracted public servant. And when those constituents are school children, the stakes are too high to wait until the noise subsides.
 
That is why we are asking Ellis, who is been accused of drunken driving in Seal Beach and has a few misdemeanor convictions for driving-related offenses, to resign from the board of education.
 
Though we disagreed with Ellis and his allies in the Teachers Associated of Long Beach (TALB) in the past over political issues, that has nothing to do with our recommendation today.
 
We truly believe it would be better for pupils, teachers, administrators, as well as Ellis, to take some time off from political life and slay his personal dragons. The demands of serving on the board of education are just too much to combine with the challenges of quiting drinking and an upcoming court date on two misdemeanor counts.
 
Ellis was arrested Feb. 18 on suspicion of drunken driving in Seal Beach. Orange County Superior Court records state that his blood alcohol level was .15, nearly twice the legal limit of .08.
 
In addition to the DUI arrest, Ellis has been convicted of multiple vehicle-related misdemeanors.
 
Ellis was clearly contrite in a candid phone interview with a member of the editorial board Friday, and we want to make it clear that we have great empathy for his struggles with the bottle.
 
“I went through a divorce a couple of years ago,” he said. “It had a more significant effect than I thought. I developed a drinking problem and came to grips with that after the arrest.”
Ellis said he enrolled in an outpatient program and is attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
 
The trustee made it clear that his drinking took place off-hours, never during his jobs as a school teacher or a school trustee.
 
“I’ve been a very good board member,” he said.
 
Ellis has had his successes. He was instrumental in getting board of education meetings televised and putting public documents online.
 
But is he a good role model? Long Beach Unified has programs warning students of the dangers of drunken driving. The school board is responsible for those problems.
 
“That’s one of the things I regret the most,” he said, adding that he feels like he let teachers and students down. “It could potentially set a bad example.”
 
Ellis, however, said that role models own up to their errors.
 
“At the end of the day, that’s someone I intend to be: someone who made a mistake took care of the problem and moved on to do positive things.”
 
We hope – and believe – he can do those things. But until that day, Long Beach Unified students would be better served by someone else.