Park Advocates/Taxpayers To Urge Leaving Belmont Plaza Park As Open Space/Park And Rebuilding Pool Downtown Or Near Queen Mary At <nobr>May 2</nobr> Community Meeting

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Park Advocates/Taxpayers To Urge Leaving Belmont Plaza Park As Open Space/Park And Rebuilding Pool Downtown Or Near Queen Mary At May 2 Community Meeting

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(April 29, 2015) -- Although City Hall staff has scheduled a public meeting on Sat. May 2 -- 9 a.m., Seaport Marina Hotel, 6400 E. PCH, Empire Room -- to discuss a current plan (City Council approved despite concerns over draining LB's Tidelands funds) to rebuild the Belmont Pool where stood (until seismic deficiencies led to its demolition), a number of park/open space advocates and concerned taxpayers plan to attend the meeting to urge that city officials take a second look at the current plan and consider alternatives...including rebuilding the pool near the Queen Mary.

Area resident Susan Miller -- who has lived/owned property across from the Belmont Olympic Pool since 1993 and was a member of the City Hall designated Belmont Pool Advisory Committee -- has sent mass emails and used social network dispatches to urge the public to attend the May 2 meeting to urge that keeping the now-restored open-space ocean view and mature trees in Belmont Plaza so the area can become a [Miller flier text] "permanent open space natural park for the people and the birds."

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In a circulating flier, Ms. Miller writes: "If you like the ocean view at Belmont Plaza Park and want an open space natural park at Belmont Plaza, you need to attend this upcoming meeting on the pool and make your opinion known...An alternative location for the pool at a less costly location can be discussed. The Harry Bridges Memorial Park near the Queen Mary can be mitigated for the Belmont location. That land is covered by the Tidelands Funds and can be mitigated for the Belmont location. The Belmont location has not had an Environmental Impact Report."

Photo by Susan Miller

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In a separate emailing, Ms. Miller asked neighborhoods to support relocating the proposed pool to the [area of the] Queen Mary "where it makes sense."

[Miller email text] The proposed Aquatic Facility a.k.a Belmont Pool location should relocate to the Harry Bridges Memorial Park by the Queen Mary. Then Belmont Plaza Park (where the old Belmont Olympic Pool was located) would be mitigated for the Harry Bridges Memorial Park. Using another site location for the pool that is more geologically suitable/would save $40 -$50 million dollars of Tideland funds. Harry Bridges Memorial Park has the space, infrastructure and is the logical location in basic City Planning 101 for an aquatic facility. This facility should be in downtown as an anchor with the Queen Mary, Aquarium, hotels, restaurants, public transportation, freeways etc. None of those attributes are available with the Belmont Shore residential location.
...None of us objected to the old complex, as we all moved in to the area knowing and accepting its existence. However, the new pool complex differs from the old in a number of ways:
New Sea Level Rising requirements at Belmont Shore in conjunction with the Liquefaction soil make the Belmont Shore location geologically impractical and those two problems add $40 - $50 million dollars to the construction cost. Dollars that could be more wisely spent if the pool was located elsewhere.
Outdoor pools are negative noise impacts for the residents and the protected nesting habitat of the Snowy Egrets, Black Crowned Night Herons and Great Blues.
Also because of the size of the proposed aquatic facility, the entire natural, open space of Belmont Plaza Park is destroyed

A downtown pool is a great solution and has been supported by many local residents...The Harry Bridges Memorial Park is under Tidelands Funds and could be mitigated for Belmont Shore.
The Aquatic facility for the City of Long Beach was downtown for decades: the Plunge ((KCET article here)The City felt downtown Long Beach was the perfect spot for the 2004 Olympic Swim trials ((LA Times 2001 news story) when a temporary outdoor aquatic pool with seating for 10,000 was erected in the parking lot by the Convention Center.
The budget economies to build the pool elsewhere are substantial. Tidelands Funds have plummeted from oil price declines. The limited budget the City has needs to be spent more wisely.

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At the same time although independently, anticipated Second Council district candidate (2016) Eric Gray, an outspoken downtown booster, recently indicated on Facebook that he's open to considering whether it makes more sense on the merits to rebuild the pool downtown. "Why not build the Olympic-size pool in downtown Long Beach on one-third of the parking lot off Shoreline Drive(in the lost southeast of the Long Beach Arena at the foot of Linden and Atlantic avenues)? The area is more accessible to public transportation, is near our aquarium and hotels and can accommodate tourists. It would also generate more economic activity for the City of Long Beach." Mr. Gray wrote.

In October 2014, the City Council voted to approve rebuilding the pool for roughly $103 million using mainly Tidelands funds, saying the pool will be a citywide asset...but the drop in the price of oil has thrown the financing for that plan into some question.

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An emailed event advisory from City Hall says, "Please plan to attend this meeting to hear and comment on the most current information regarding the conceptual design of the project," where the following will be presented [City Hall staff email]: "Review of City Council approved programmatic requirements; Updated site and facility layout plans; Overview of the design philosophy, guiding principles and project constraints and opportunities; Review of architecture of similar facilities; Public Input on design strategies; and anticipated schedule for the draft environmental impact report, and future public meetings."

Ms. Miller tells LBREPORT.com that she plans to attend the May 2 community meeting -- and urge the merits of her alternative location -- and has also launched a preemptive strike on a manipulative technique (used during the SEADIP process) in which officials or consultants present their views to the entire audience, then split the audience into "breakout groups" that effectively prevent members of the public from presenting their views to the full group and prevent the audience from hearing what their neighbors have to say.

In an email to 3rd dist. Councilwoman Suzie Price, Ms. Miller objected to the "breakout" technique and wrote:

...People are attending to hear "all" comments made and hear "all" constructive ideas voiced from the attendees. I thought that is what "Community" means. Not fragmented groups cattle crowded off to sections and at the gong of the bell rotate to the next group. The group rotation adds considerable wasted time to move the groups. Group break outs are not the right environment for Community involvement. It is most disrespectful to the Community that take valuable weekend time to attend meetings to be treated in this fashion. Please have multiple microphones positioned through out the audience so persons from the audience can respectfully line up at microphones to voice ideas, feedback and constructive criticism...

Councilwoman Price politely responded: "Susan: we will see if we can reformat a bit to address your concerns. Perhaps a mix of the two formats would work. I'll explore [with city staff]...

Developing.