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LBReport.com

Opinion

Open Letter to Long Beach Council: I'm Leaving Long Beach Because You've Let Parts Of 1st Council District Descend Into Gunfire Ridden, Trash Filled, City Enabled Squalor

by Emily Mastren *

* The author, a young woman with an infant daughter, lives in the neighborhood just north of 7th St. west of Alamitos/MLK Ave. in the 1st Council district represented since December 2019 by Councilwoman Mary Zendejas. LBREPORT.com has eliminated specific addresses in the original text and included some explanatory terms in brackets.



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[LBREPORT.com editor's context note: From April 2009 to mid-June 2014, Council district 1 was represented by Councilman Robert Garcia. He was succeeded by his Council office's field rep, Lena Gonzalez. When she advanced to the state Senate in June 2019, Garcia, Gonzalez and the LB police officers union helped elect Zendejas to the vacated Council seat in a no-runoff Nov. 2019 election. They each gave $10,000 campaign contributions -- sums exceeding LB's voter-enacted limits on contributions to candidate-run campaigns -- to the LB firefighters union which ran an allowable "independent" (non-candidate run) campaign supporting Zendejas.]

(March 24, 2021, 6:30 a.m.) -- .Over this past weekend there were multiple shots fired outside my daughter's bedroom...This is not an unusual occurrence, unfortunately.

I am scared, worried, and disgusted about these actions. A stray bullet could have easily penetrated my house and hit any one of my family members. I am utterly disgusted with Long Beach city in allowing my neighborhood, and many other surrounding neighborhoods, to function this way. I put sole blame on the city. This neighborhood has functioned this way for decades and it's because the city allows it.

It starts with not caring. We are labeled the "hood" so a blind eye is turned in every single direction. People are constantly loitering around known problem buildings [alleges two specific locations]. These people are always blatantly drinking in public with open containers, selling drugs in broad daylight, and are given free public spaces to talk about future gang activities that are going to happen.

One of my neighbors who frequents [an identified retail location] mentioned that the shooting that happened on Saturday 3/20/21 was "supposed to happen yesterday." This was a preconceived event that could have possibly been avoided if the city did not let our neighborhood function the way it does. These business owners or property owners have no consequences held against them. The [business] owner...comes by in his [elegant vehicle], collects his money, chats with his patrons and leaves. He doesn't care what his business is doing to the neighborhood. There are shady deals left and right, but no one cares because we are the hood.

Fireworks shoot off in every direction year-round, people are allowed to blast music, have loud exhausts, and do donuts off 9th and Olive (and basically every intersection). From what I can recall, according to LBPD “Loud pipes get ticketed” but that’s a lie, at least in our neighborhood.

I have complained many times about needing a round-about /tree off 9th and Olive but no one listens. There are clear donut marks and it happens daily, but no one listens.

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There is trash EVERYWHERE in our overcrowded neighborhood, but the city will not put trashcans in like I requested. People are allowed to park in the red and the alley ways every single day with no consequence. This might seem minor and I know parking is impacted but it shows the lack of interest the city has in our neighborhood.

For example, there are 6 cars parked in 3 labeled parking spaces. They block the view of alley ways and stop signs. A person might come around to ticket once every 6 months. The loitering, the parking, the fireworks, the loud music, the donuts in intersections, the drinking in public, the trash, the public spaces used to talk about future gang throw downs are a snowball effect, all due to Long Beach turning a blind eye on their own people.

I grew up in a different partaa of Long- Beach, off Clark and Carson. One night I remember a homeless man walking down our street, the neighbors called the cops, and they were there within minutes to tell the man to leave. One time a car was parked in red near LBCC (in front of my house) for maybe 30 mins and was ticketed within that time frame. Fireworks were prevalent there last summer as well and they subsided when the residents called to complain and the police presence was doubled.

My point is, Long Beach City is the one who gets to choose what is the "hood" and what are the "nicer" parts of Long Beach. You allow high rises that cost way more than most people can afford to be built in my neighborhood, yet don't care about the residents already here. By allowing what is happening in my part of Long Beach to keep happening is just the way Long Beach likes to keep it- suppressed, dirty, and dangerous.

I will be putting my house up for sale and moving due to the shooting that hit too close to home, quite literally. You are losing valuable residents who truly care and want this neighborhood, district 1, to be a better place.

And to be clear I have presented all these problems to [Councilwoman] Mary Zendejas, LBPD, and the Mayor for the 4 years I have lived here and NOTHING has been done and its just getting worse.

Thanks for hearing me, I expect a prompt reply.


Follow-up: Ms. Mastren says she's repeatedly called Councilwoman Zendejas' office but as of March 24, the Councilwoman hasn't spoken with her. As LBREPORT.com has separately reported, Councilwoman Zendejas has filed paaperwork to seek re-election in 2022.


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Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.


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