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- Gunther
- martin conley
- michelle strong
- Gloria
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Gunther
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1 month ago
in COURTYARD LOFTS REUSE WINS A NATIONAL AWARD on The District Weekly
Take notice long beach planners and anyone else involved in the design and building of Long Beach. You won't see projects like City Place and the horrible Aqua Towers coming up on any architectural radars. Stop having the design of the city be influenced by people that still think art deco is really neat and should be replicated today. Maintain and preserve our history, but push us forward. When given a chance reuse what was once there instead of tearing it down, but don't replicate what was once there. Intention should not be to create museum pieces, but to be inspired by the history and have a focus on the future.
1 reply
Theo Douglas
Downtown, thanks for writing; you make some interesting points. I think it's worth noting that recreating the past as it was once done--pouring massive streamlined concrete fronts a la Acres of Books or the KFOX building--is increasingly impossible today given the way we build buildings now, and how costs have risen. So we are indeed faced with the choices of A) not tearing down what remains; B) creatively reusing what we have, as in the case of Courtyard Lofts; or C) trying to recreate the past using the technologies and perspectives we now have, as in the case of some of the newer pharmacies on Long Beach Boulevard.
7 months ago
in THE CRIME WAVE THAT WASN’T on The District Weekly
Mike, i don't think the commander was saying there is no crime in the DT or that there is just the perception. I understand his point quite well, you're just spinning it.
Heck, fights happen everywhere. There are fights happening all the time in Belmont Shore, that place is just as scary at night sometimes if not worse.
Heck, fights happen everywhere. There are fights happening all the time in Belmont Shore, that place is just as scary at night sometimes if not worse.
1 reply
Mike Ruehle
Hi Gloria,
I attended the November meeting in City Council chambers regarding the update on the Pine Avenue Entertainment District pilot plan. I listened to several residents talk about crime and how they had personally made calls to the police for assistance. I heard the police officer respond that they had no record of any police calls in that person's area. The discussion then centered on how the frustrated residents could substantiate in the future how they had actually made the calls for police service. Soon afterwards, one of the residents asked the police about crime in the entertainment district and how it compared. Commander Johnson responded, "how about we talk about retail?" He then explained that "violent crime has been coming down over the past 2 years." While he may be correct about that portion of the overall crime picture, he did not answer the question. The real answer is crime surrounding the entertainment district is one of the biggest problems in Long Beach. That is not perception. That is bore out by the police statistics.
So why leave the residents with the impression that everything is OK and that there are no worries? The city doesn't want to talk about it because it may cause businessees to go away and property values to diminish, all resulting in less City tax revenue. Why should residents have to learn first hand by getting mugged before they are made aware of the truth, that Pine Avenue is a dangerous place with multiple crimes reported nightly. That's just the reported crimes. How many go unreported? Personally, I'd rather not sit in a circle holding hands wishing for all the bad people to go away. I'd rather the cold facts be out in the open so that we can talk about dealing with the problem. However, that will never occur if you only want to talk about "perceptions."
Yeah, I live in Belmont Shore. And, the city is also trying to turn my neightborhood into an entertainment district like Pine Avenue. Though nowhere near the crime of Pine Avenue, Belmont Shore is seeing an increase in the same kind of late night violence common to Pine Avenue. Moreover, we still have retail in Belmont Shore. I'd prefer to not wait until the City has driven off all of our retail like Pine Avenue before acting on the real problems.
I attended the November meeting in City Council chambers regarding the update on the Pine Avenue Entertainment District pilot plan. I listened to several residents talk about crime and how they had personally made calls to the police for assistance. I heard the police officer respond that they had no record of any police calls in that person's area. The discussion then centered on how the frustrated residents could substantiate in the future how they had actually made the calls for police service. Soon afterwards, one of the residents asked the police about crime in the entertainment district and how it compared. Commander Johnson responded, "how about we talk about retail?" He then explained that "violent crime has been coming down over the past 2 years." While he may be correct about that portion of the overall crime picture, he did not answer the question. The real answer is crime surrounding the entertainment district is one of the biggest problems in Long Beach. That is not perception. That is bore out by the police statistics.
So why leave the residents with the impression that everything is OK and that there are no worries? The city doesn't want to talk about it because it may cause businessees to go away and property values to diminish, all resulting in less City tax revenue. Why should residents have to learn first hand by getting mugged before they are made aware of the truth, that Pine Avenue is a dangerous place with multiple crimes reported nightly. That's just the reported crimes. How many go unreported? Personally, I'd rather not sit in a circle holding hands wishing for all the bad people to go away. I'd rather the cold facts be out in the open so that we can talk about dealing with the problem. However, that will never occur if you only want to talk about "perceptions."
Yeah, I live in Belmont Shore. And, the city is also trying to turn my neightborhood into an entertainment district like Pine Avenue. Though nowhere near the crime of Pine Avenue, Belmont Shore is seeing an increase in the same kind of late night violence common to Pine Avenue. Moreover, we still have retail in Belmont Shore. I'd prefer to not wait until the City has driven off all of our retail like Pine Avenue before acting on the real problems.
