Beverly O Neill

Long Beach police recorded only five homicides in the first quarter of this year after registering 34 over the same period a year ago, according to crime statistics released Monday. Mayor Beverly O'Neill attributed the 85% drop, as well as reductions in other types of crime across the city, to Long Beach's expanding community policing efforts.

Five Long Beach mayoral candidates had raised more than $100,000 each for their campaigns by late last month, and a sixth contender was nearing that figure, according to campaign disclosure documents. Challenger Frank Colonna led the pack in fund-raising and spending. He had raised $199,907 and spent $121,984 through Feb. 26, the end of the last reporting period. Other candidates who had raised more than $100,000 were Mayor Ernie Kell, Jeffrey Kellogg, Beverly O'Neill and Don Westerland.

Long Beach City College President Beverly O'Neill, who has headed the college since 1988, has announced plans to retire. O'Neill will continue to work at the two-campus community college through Jan. 30, or until a replacement is hired, she said. College trustees will discuss later this month how to hire a new chief administrator, officials said. "It will be difficult for me to leave, but the time is right," O'Neill, 62, said this week.

The Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which has narrowly survived two rounds of federal base closures in three years, contributes about $757 million a year to the Southern California economy, according to a city-commissioned study released Friday. The study states that about 10,100 jobs would be lost if the shipyard closes.

Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill met with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres Tuesday as part of a delegation of a dozen U.S. mayors visiting Jerusalem for a week-long conference on urban issues with mayors from around the world. O'Neill, along with the mayors of such cities as South Bend, Ind.

Federal officials said Tuesday that they have finished the required environmental review of the proposed Alameda Corridor project, giving the green light to the $1.8-billion rail system from the harbor to downtown Los Angeles. The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together handle one-fourth of all U.S. international shipping trade, "are important to U.S.

Instead of laying off city employees, Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill has come up with a better way to help trim the city budget: send them home to relax awhile. Unveiling a new voluntary furlough program Thursday, O'Neill estimated that Long Beach can save $150,000 a year if at least 700 of its 5,000 employees stay home one day a year without pay or give up saved vacation time.

A group of residents and business leaders last week signed legal papers to form a nonprofit corporation that they say will work with the Long Beach City Council to guide the city into a more prosperous future. The Long Beach Holding Co. will be led by volunteers and funded by private businesses, said its chairman, businessman George Murchison. The company has received a total of $550,000 from GTE, Southern California Edison and Arco, Murchison said.

The Long Beach City College Associated Student Body, in conjunction with the college's Alumni Assn., is seeking nominations of former students who attended 10 or more years ago and gained local, statewide or national recognition in any area of endeavor as a student or alumnus. The Hall of Fame was established in 1972 to honor alumni of Long Beach City College who have made outstanding contributions in their chosen fields.

Sixteen Long Beach City College faculty and staff members who retired during the past year were honored recently at an end-of-the-year luncheon. The retirees were treated to lunch by the Faculty-Staff Assn. and received framed certificates from the college Board of Trustees. Retiring were nine faculty members and seven other staffers. They represent a total of more than 300 years of service to the college, said Dr. Beverly O'Neill, superintendent-president.