| (December 14, 2020, 9:45 a.m.) -- No, Long Beach isn't Chicago, but it is a sad reflection on Long Beach officials safely ensconsed in their gleaming new Civic Center that -- within their window visible view -- the City's mainly working class 1st Council district has had more shootings and homicides per capita thus far in December than Chicago.
As of dawn December 14, Chicago (with a population of roughly 2.7 million persons) has had 20 persons shot and killed, and 93 persons shot and wounded for a total shot of 113. LB's 1st Council district, with a population of roughly 50,000 has had two people shot and killed, and three persons shot and wounded, for a total shot of five persons Chicago's 2.7 million population is roughly 54 times that of LB's 1st district (50,000 x 54 = 2,700,000.) That means Chicago would have to reach a level of 108 fatal shootings (2 x 54 = 108) to reach the per capita level of LB's CD 1 fatal shootings, and 162 non-fatal shootings (3 x 54 = 162) to reach CD 1's per capita non-fatal level. Chicago's actual levels of December 2020 fatal and non fatal shootings to date are both lower: 20 fatal, plus 93 non-fatal for a population of roughly 2.7 million. (Source: non-governmental HeyJackass.com). This isn't the first time this has happened in Central LB. From November 1,2019 through December 1, 2019 Long Beach's 1st plus adjacent 6th Council districts combined had nearly as many shootings (fatal + wounding) per capita as Chicago...and that figure wasn't an "outlier." The rate of fatal shootings per capita in these two Council districts combined met or exceeded Chicago's level during the seven month period spanning Jan 1-July 31, 2019. (Chicago's shootings are concentrated in two areas which doesn't undermine the basic inequity visible in LB's numbers. If LB's 1st and 6th districts combined were its own city, its rate of shootings for November would approach per capita Chicago's citywide rate.) LB's Central districts were represented until mid June 2019 by Councilwoman (now state Senator) Lena Gonzalez and until last week by Vice Mayor Dee Andrews (the latter voted out by CD6 voters in November 2020.) CD 1 has been represented since early December 2019 by Mary Zendejas. CD 6 is now represented by Suely Saro. (LBREPORT.com has separately learned that state Senator Gonzalez has moved out of LB's working class CD 1 and into LB's affluent ELB 5th Council district.) [Scroll down for further.] |
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