City Reviews Successes in 2016

In just one year, the City of Long Beach filled 32,369 potholes, rehabilitated 57.5 lane miles of streets, completed 60,000 building inspections, trimmed 20,529 trees, responded to 209,000 calls for service to the police department and 71,000 calls for service to the fire department and broke ground on a new Civic Center complex. That’s just a small snapshot of the incredible progress and service that the city delivered in 2016.

“2016 was a great year for Long Beach. We hired more police and firefighters, made the city more business friendly, and increased funding for streets and local parks,” said Mayor Robert Garcia.

The city’s accomplishments and accolades are featured in the 2016 Year in Review.

“With an improved economy, we had increased resources and a renewed sense of optimism, which enhanced our ability to provide services and complete projects,” said City Manager Patrick H. West. “These major actions and achievements of 2016 resulted from the mayor and city council’s policy direction, as well as the unflagging efforts of our dedicated and talented city staff.”

Here’s a snapshot of some of the City’s accomplishments and awards in 2016:

• Unemployment rate in Long Beach reached a nine-year low in March 2016.
• Launched BizPort, the city’s first online business portal for entrepreneurs to plan, launch and grow their business in Long Beach.
• 93 percent of the city’s beaches received “A” and “B” grades for water quality from the Heal the Bay Summer Report Card.
• Preserved and enhanced public safety, and improved the city’s infrastructure with new funding resulting from passage of Measure A.
• Initiated the Street Sweeping Optimization Study and changed routes in parking impacted neighborhoods in order to reduce sweeping time frames from four hours to two hours.
• Reinstated the south division of the police department.
• Restored Fire Engine 8 into service in the fire department.
• Average response time to police priority calls is 4.8 minutes, one of the fastest for any large city in the country.
• 9,581 inspections of multi-family properties conducted through the city’s Proactive Rental Housing Inspection Program (PRHIP) ensuring livability standards for residents.
• Issued building permits valued over $421 million with 30 percent residential construction and 70 percent nonresidential construction.
• Construction completed for 476 residential units with another 10 residential/commercial projects under construction and 11 residential/commercial projects with approvals.
• Spent $88 million with Long Beach-based businesses for goods and services.
• Completed construction and opened the Michelle Obama Library in North Long Beach, a state-of-the-art facility.
• Completed at least 17 parks projects around the city with another 10 projects under construction or in development.
• Awarded Top 25 “Best Park Systems” in the USA by the Trust for Public Lands 2016 ParkScore Index.
• 30 new Long Beach businesses received grants to help defray start-up costs.
• Provided more than $59 million in rental assistance to over 6,400 low-income families.
• Received more than $183 million in grant revenues from federal, state, regional and non-governmental resources.
• 32,369 potholes filled.
• 57.5 lane miles of streets rehabilitated.
• 20,529 trees trimmed.
• 14.2 miles of sidewalk replaced.
• 1,220,000 square feet of graffiti abated.
• 186,500 tons of trash collected.
• 104,000 service orders completed by the gas & oil department.
• 59,400 customers served at the Development Services Permit Center.
• 60,000 building inspections completed.
• 209,000 calls for service responded to by the police department.
• 71,000 calls for service responded to by the fire department.
• Top 10 “Digital City” for the sixth consecutive year, for the city’s outstanding efforts in using technology to serve its residents.
• Achieved a perfect score plus 8 bonus points, on the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index (MEI) for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) inclusion in municipal law and policy.
• Received funding for 705 vouchers to house homeless veterans in the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) Program, over 500 families received assistance through this program.
• Served 72,000 meals at 32 sites through the 10-week Summer Food Program for children.
• 10,900 patient visits in clinics provided by the Health and Human Services Department.
• Secured $7.5 million in HUD funding and another $3.4 million from other sources to support homeless services, including outreach, transitional housing, permanent housing and supportive services.
• Approximately 80,000 people participated in the city’s open streets events, Beach Streets Downtown and Midtown, which promote the pursuit of innovative strategies to achieve environmental, social, economic, and public health goals.