News / Extended Coverage
With PerspectiveDecayed Properties Demolished, Expanded Skate Park Plan Unveiled As City & Neighborhood Advocates Push For Improvements Amid Challenges At 14th St. Park
Introduction / Perspective
(Sept. 28, 2008) -- In fall 2004, Better Balance for LB (business and neighborhood activists from across the city) began holding monthly neighborhood picnics offering food and all the fixings to residents of a neighborhood barely a mile north of downtown. In that area, gunfire was often heard, adults said they avoided going outside and children walking to nearby Washington Middle School saw drug use, crazed strangers, open sex and worse on a city-owned street median.
The median between Chestnut and Locust Aves. was identified on City Hall's website as a playground but it was called "14th St. Park" by neighborhood residents.
Better Balance members spent their own money to hold the picnics, saying they wanted to show solidarity with residents against a City Hall out-of-balance (hence their name "Better Balance") in funneling resources to favored areas while shortchanging those lacking political influence. The group vowed to continue holding the picnics on the street median which (like neighborhood residents) they also called "14th St. Park."
LBReport.com wrote the story without pulling punches. We described what we saw and what residents told us. Officials were dismayed and mortified. They cited long-standing plans already in place to create Seaside Park (at the west end of the 14th St. playground) with a planned link to an enormous gateway park connecting to the L.A. river and beyond (all true)...and they insisted they don't tolerate nuisance or unlawful behavior (which neighbors disbelieved).
LBReport.com reported what followed. Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal's office and multiple city offices launched a concerted effort to address acute and chronic problems. Visible changes began appearing, starting at the western end of the street median (which officials began calling "14th St. Park").
Park improvements were made. New equipment was installed. Coordinated nuisance abatement actions took place.
And when a new Mayor took office and First Lady Nancy Foster learned BBLB might not have money for Christmas gifts for 14th St. Park area kids, she mobilized her formidable email list. That brought personal and corporate generosity, plus the in-person Christmas-event presence of the new Mayor, his wife, and establishment figures reported by LBReport.com.
Councilwoman Lowenthal says plans are advancing for Seaside Park (at the west end of 14th St. Park). That newly created urban greenspace will eventually link to an enormous city gateway park that will stretch from along the L.A. river into Central LB (previously reported by LBReport.com).
Better Balance for LB won national honors from Neighborhoods USA for what it did (likewise reported by LBReport.com).
And LBReport.com reported that Jose Cano, 13, was stabbed to death in 14th St. Park in June 2007. And we reported the shooting death of Florentino Rivera, 16, about a block north of 14th St. Park in January 2008.
On Sept. 27, 2008, the next chapter in the neighborhood's history was written, highlighting the block between Pacific and Pine Aves...the block immediately east of areas that have been previously improved. LBReport.com. was there. Again, we report below what we saw and heard.
On Saturday Sept. 27, Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal, current and former city officials, reps of LB's Housing Development Co. and several dozen neighborhood residents/advocates gathered in 14th St. Park between Pacific and Pine Aves. to witness demolition of two park-adjacent properties between Pacific and Pine Aves...
...and to view unveiled plans for an expanded Skate Park -- to be built on the land they were standing on -- that will stretch the entire block from Pacific to Pine.
1st district Councilwoman [and 54th district Dem Assembly candidate] Bonnie Lowenthal told the gathering that she felt "extremely proud to be here and participate in a project that has been a number of years in the making," thanked multiple people and entities for their participation and said:
Councilwoman Lowenthal: Today is really critical for a part of Long Beach that before I took office was very neglected...This has been over seven years in the making to improve this area, and I'm very grateful to the leaders of this community and city staff and to the skateboard experts and supporters for making this happen.
To hear Councilwoman Lowenthal's remarks in extended form, click here. [MP3, "whoosh" sound indicates edit for pause/non-substantive digression].
Former 7th district Councilman Mike Donelon (left in photo below), a professional contractor who's advocated skateboard parks in various parts of LB, is very enthusiastic about the block long Skate Park expansion. BBLB/NLB CAG member Dan Pressburg looks on.
These plans were unveiled:
The current small Skate Park appeared to be heavily used. It will be replaced by the entirely new, block long Skate Park.
Among those present at the event (not in photo): former 1st district Councilman Evan Braude (preceded Jenny Oropeza who preceded Bonnie Lowenthal). Visible in photo below: Long Beach Housing Development Co. board chair Patrick Brown (flowered shirt), Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance leader Joan Greenwood, and former 7th dist. Councilman Ray Grabinski. 
A haunting scene on the site: in foreground a grassroots neighborhood memorial to Jose Cano, 13, stabbed to death on the site in June, 2007. No word yet on what will become of the memorial when the Skate Park is finished.
Among those observing, Washington Middle School Neighborhood Ass'n leader Linda Palacios (foreground in photo below) alongside Housing Development Co. boardmember Jack Smith. We asked Ms. Palacios for her thoughts on what was taking place. "It's good. I'm optimistic. I think this is another step in the right direction." Are things better than they were? "Yes, I'd say about 30% better."
At 14th/Pine Ave. (the eastern end of the block for the soon-to-be-built Skate Park), these homeless persons gathered.
Graffiti was visible on the back of this 14th St. parking sign...and shoes were visible from an electrical wire along 14th St. between Pacific and Pine.
We saw shoes hanging from this alley (photo below, branching off 14th St. between Pacific and Pine).
We also saw shoes hanging from a wire on Pine between 14th and Anaheim St...and there was a pair on a wire suspended nearly directly above the event crowd (pointed out to us by Dan Pressburg).
What do the shoes mean? Several residents said: "drugs for sale." Another: "Sometimes it's like a drive-through here." Still another: "We still have gangs."
We asked BBLB co-founder Jane Kelleher how she assesses what's happened over the past four years. "We've come a long way. Things are happening now that the neighborhood thought were unimaginable. The fact is, the City stepped up to the plate and got things done."
Ms. Kelleher says the Parks & Rec Chief Phil Hester told her that the next step in the Park improvement is the last, easternmost section where the City will build a soccer field and basketball court.
But what about the homeless/the shoes/the drugs/the gangs? "We know about that," she said with a smile. "That's why we're here. That's what this is about."
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