Downtown Development

Mayor Garcia’s proposal for development in downtown Long Beach does not address the (wet) elephant in the room: Where will the water for any additional residents come from? We have a shortage of water in California. Adding more businesses and residents will not magically create more rain and snow in the Sierras. It will also not decrease our water rates, or eliminate restrictions and penalties for residential users. It will simply tighten already diminishing supplies.

Garcia’s forward-thinking plans need to look to the future. By future, I don’t mean the next fundraising campaign cycle or quarterly returns. I mean the future: 10, 20, 30 years from now when many Long Beach residents will still be in Long Beach.

I’m not opposed to growth, but it has to be done realistically, with an eye toward where all resources will come from. You can’t have a successful business community without a successful community.

Jim Medina

Re: “You can’t have a successful business community without a successful community.” That sounds so familiar. We tried to get the mayor and city to understand that same point when it came to parking.

The downtown plan’s parking section decreased the parking for residences and left out employees. Our parking group didn’t ask for oodles of free parking, just stop making it worse. Our city council members and mayor still refuse to look at the harm they are doing.

TAPS [LB Transportation & Parking Solutions]