Cory Bilicko
Managing Editor
After receiving a 60-day notice late last month to vacate, scores of senior citizens residing at The Breakers in downtown Long Beach have been scrambling to find a new place to live— and yet others are hoping to stay put.
Dianne and David Cowdrey chat in the lounge area of The Breakers in downtown Long Beach on April 14 as movers in their unit upstairs pack their belongings into a truck to be relocated to another senior residential facility in Simi Valley. The couple had lived in the building four months before receving the 60-day notice to leave.
At press time, it is still unclear if The Breakers building will indeed be a new site for Solid Landings. Residents who spoke to the Signal Tribune are indicating that the City’s zoning restrictions will forbid a rehabilitation facility from moving in. (The office of Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, who represents the district where The Breakers is located, had not replied to the Signal Tribune by press time.)
Dr. Laverne Joseph, president and chief executive officer of the Retirement Housing Foundation (RHF), said his organization has recently seen an increase in the number of applications for Bixby Knolls Towers, one of its facilities.
Joseph explained that there is an ongoing turnover that frees up units, because the health status of residents changes.
“People get well and go to independent [living facilities], or they have more severe problems and they go to skilled nursing,” he said.
Although the Signal Tribune had been informed of an April 14 residents meeting at The Breakers and attended, the newspaper’s representative was asked to leave, as were other media, because “if the State knows there’s media here, they can’t speak freely,” according to Maggie Macklin, president of the complex’s residents association.
Before being asked to leave, the Signal Tribune spoke to several residents of the facility to find out what their plans are after receiving notice to vacate.
Hoping to stay
Andy Malerba, who has lived at the Breakers for more than three years, was one of the residents at last week’s meeting. He said he was hoping to continue living at the facility and was at the meeting to acquire more information.
“I wouldn’t want to [move],” Malerba said. “I’m trying all I can to stay here… so, I’m waiting. If they tell me I’ve got to leave, that’s all there is to it.”
Malerba said he has made a lot of friends, with whom he plays cards, at the residence facility. “But now, everyone’s leaving,” he said. “So I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Expected news
Howard Beckwith has lived at the Breakers for only a year.
“Apparently, there have been a series of complaints and lawsuits, and so they lost their license,” Beckwith said before the meeting. “I guess they agreed to the revocation of their license with the Department of Social Services.”
Beckwith said he was planning to move to Bixby Knolls Towers on Tuesday, April 21.
He said he has enjoyed living in The Breakers. “They really do a very good job here,” he said. “It’s something I was expecting, so I wasn’t too surprised.”
He said that a few months prior to the letter being disbursed to those living at The Breakers, there had been talk among residents that the facility may be losing its license.
A new home nearby
Association president Macklin, in a phone interview with the Signal Tribune, said she is thankful and relieved to have found another senior facility in Long Beach— but it hasn’t been easy.
Macklin said that one of the topics of the meeting was whether residents can get a moving fee from The Breakers. She said that staff could not answer residents’ questions and informed them that they would have to contact the president, Bernard Rosenson.
“And Mr. Rosenson will not take any calls,” Macklin said. “So that’s a dead end.” (Attempts to reach Rosenson for this story were also unsuccessful.)
Macklin said there is a class-action lawsuit against the facility and she believes their attorney will pursue the moving fee for residents who must relocate.
“There were people from Mental Health— County,” Macklin said. “There was an ombudsman, which is the advocate for the residents, and one from licensing. But they could not give any answers because no one knows what’s going on with Solid Landings.”
Macklin said that Broc Coward, chief of staff for Vice Mayor Lowenthal, was also at the meeting.
“And he got up and he said, just like we all know, they had a meeting, nothing was settled with Solid Landings— they still can’t get their ducks in a row,” Macklin said. “Then he said in the next couple of weeks there’s another meeting scheduled. Every single meeting— all three meetings— have been cancelled. They thought they could pull the wool over our eyes and get that drug rehab here, and, of course, they can’t because of zoning.”
She said that the April 14 residents meeting was an emotional one for her.
“First of all, I gave my little tearful goodbyes,” Macklin said. “Then I got angry. I got very angry at how horrible this is— to be putting people out at our age. And thank God I have a place to go to, only because I’m splitting the rent with my very dear friend. I would have been one of those people [struggling] because the cheapest ones start at $2,800. And then I have to come down with a big deposit and then moving fees.”
Short, but sweet
David and Dianne Cowdrey, a couple originally from Van Nuys who have been married for 40 years, had only been living at The Breakers for four months when they got the news.
Dianne is a retired middle-school teacher for 46 years, and David had been a third-generation pharmacist.
When they spoke to the Signal Tribune, they were sitting in the lounge area of The Breakers on April 14 as movers in their unit upstairs packed their belongings into a truck to be relocated to another senior residential facility in Simi Valley, where they will be closer to family members.
David said they were very lucky to have secured the place because there was only one spot available.
“But otherwise, we would have been devastated because we got evicted and wouldn’t have had any place to go,” he said. “We got lucky…Everybody is trying to find a place to go, because, all of a sudden, we’re evicted.”
Dianne said she is disappointed in how the situation was handled.
“If we didn’t know [about the license revocation], it’s because they didn’t want us to know,” Dianne said. “I feel as though we’ve been done something. We’re going to have a wonderful time up there (in Simi Valley), but I wanted to stay here for much longer. Let’s put it that way.”
David also said that the prospective new management had cancelled several meetings they had scheduled.
“The people that were supposedly taking over— they scheduled a meeting and canceled it, then scheduled another one and canceled it,” he said. “They were just totally disorganized.”
The Cowdreys said they are trying to find out if they will get some kind of compensation from The Breakers since they had not lived there very long.
“There’s a sliding scale,” he said. “There’s a certain amount that we put down originally that comes back to you as a rebate, depending on how long you’ve been there. So, theoretically, we’ll get almost all of it. Of course, somebody who’s been here
more than a year— I think it’s a year— they get very little.”
Despite their disappointments, the Cowdreys say they have enjoyed the food, lifestyle and treatment at The Breakers during their short residence there.
“The food is marvelous. It’s like restaurant food,” David said. “So, we’ve had no complaints here.”
