LBREPORT.com Publisher Pearl Is Vax'd, NO Thanks to City of LB or "VaxLB"; We Explain How We Got It (65+) From LA County Dept. of Public Health

Paid advocacy ad

Did you know that the City of Long Beach plans to build a giant aquatics center on the beach in Belmont Shore?

The Belmont Beach Aquatics Center, with 2 Olympic-size pools and a platform diving pool, will cost $82 million and was approved in January 2020 by Long Beach City Council. The project must now get permits from the California Coastal Commission because the project site is in the coastal zone.

The Coastal Commission is concerned that Long Beach residents from under-served communities
were not adequately consulted and considered during the planning and approval of this pool project.

THEY WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

HOW: We urge you, and your friends and neighbors, to send your email comments to the California Coastal Commission by 02/04/21. Send it to:dani.ziff@coastal.ca.gov

Subject Line: Public Comment on 02/04/21 - Agenda Item Th14a - Application No. 5-18-0788

WHEN: Write to them by 2/4/21! The public hearing date is Thursday, February 11th (9am to 7pm) and will be conducted electronically via ZOOM.

WHAT: Please ask them to stop this project on the beach, and to consult Long Beach residents all over the city to build it in a neighborhood that needs a community, public pool.

We’re a group of residents opposed to the project because of future sea-level rise (the beach site is expected to flood in 30-50 years), the cost ($82 million, from Tidelands Funds) and the fact that there’s already an existing outdoor pool at this site – installed 5 years ago when the old Belmont Pool was demolished in 2015.

But only you can tell the Coastal Commission that there are places in Long Beach with a greater need for recreation and sports facilities! The entire City of Long Beach has only 3 public pools Long Beach needs more community pools and this pool should be built in a neighborhood where more Long Beach residents can easily reach it to enjoy the benefits of swimming and recreation.

Please send your comments by 02/4/21 to the Coastal Commission at: dani.ziff@coastal.ca.gov
Subject Line: Public Comment on 2/4/21-Agenda Item Th14a - Application No. 5-18-0788
Paid for by Long Beach residents who believe there’s a better place in Long Beach for this public pool.
Contact us: ABetterPlaceForAPool@gmail.com

LBReport.com

First Person

LBREPORT.com Publisher Pearl Is Vax'd, NO Thanks to City of LB or "VaxLB"; We Explain How We Got It (65+) From LA County Dept. of Public Health

If LBREPORT.com didn't tell you,
who would?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. Support 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.

"...[I]t doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world..." In character: Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca (1942)

(Jan. 31, 2021, 7:40 p.m.) -- At 2:08 p.m. Jan. 30, LBREPORT.com publisher Bill Pearl (a 65+ Long Beach resident) received his first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine -- NO thanks to the City of Long Beach or "VaxLB" -- at a mass vaccination site operated by the Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health in Downey.

Yes, as the photo shows I wore a face shield ($18 for five via Amazon in October) in addition to a mask. No, I don't wear a face shield everywhere but as a reporter if I have to attend a mass event or other location with higher than everyday risks, I do so. This was a mass attended event and many people working the event also wore face shields.
I wouldn't be vaccinated today were it not for a comment on Facebook by former LB Councilmam/former LBCC Trustee Jeff Kellogg On Jan 23, Mr. Kellogg commented on his page: "Am I the only person in Long Beach that is finding the process to just get an appointment for the vaccine difficult? I am part of the category to receive a shot but have been very frustrated. I don't want more information as the City's website is offering. I just want to make an appointment. that he'd tried multiple times without success to get a vaccination appointment " His comment generated several dozen comments. Mayor Garcia replied: "Jeff, sign up on VaxLB. When there’s openings the system will notify you. "

No, the system never did. Although city management and others echoed City Hall's narrative, many members of the public said they'd repeatedly tried and been stymied in getting vaccination appointments. Without seeing documents and numbers (requested by us and sought in pending Public Records Act requests) it's hard to know the exact results at this point.

But what the public described sounded like my experience. After registering with the city early in the process, I received a robo-digital email telling me I was on a waiting list and to keep waiting, I then heard nothing further for over a week while others (some but not all with City Hall ties or friends who had them) received appointments and vaccinations. My wife, age 65+, was likewise stymied by LB's system..

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In a Jan. 29 emailing (from "covid19vaccine@longbeach.gov") the City said as of Jan. 29 "more than 40,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Long Beach" and "this past week, more than 10,500 people were vaccinated in Long Beach." The email said the City will continue to "use VaxLB and employers in the eligible sectors to notify" residents "as appointments become available to receive their first vaccination " It added: