Letters to the Editor

City Budget Cuts

Closing Engine 14 is another symptom of our poorly mismanaged City of Long Beach. We, the residents within Fire Station 14’s district, once again have our feet to the fire as city officials rant about lack of funding to maintain the operation of this single engine company located at the edge of the Marine Stadium adjacent to the Colorado Lagoon.

Our councilwoman was present at the rally held next door to Fire Station 14 and spoke about the cost of not having Engine 14 available and using resources from other nearby fire stations, such as 4, 8, 17 or 22. Ironically Fire Station 14 is located within a financially upscale neighborhood inclusive of Park Estates, Del Lago and Stoneybrook Villas, which seldom require fire protection since homeowners prevent fire hazards from occurring.

However, these neighborhoods pay substantially more in fire insurance premiums, which could be argued that they deserve equal if not more fire protection suppression resources than other lower income neighborhoods. It would be fairer and more equitable if our highly paid decision makers at City Hall were to make cuts in areas that have lower property values and pay lower fire insurance premiums.

Replacing Engine 14 with a paramedic ambulance such as was done with Engine 18 at Palo Verde Avenue and Wardlow Road may sound like a trade-off. However, currently there are paramedic ambulances at Fire Station 4 (Loma Ave & 4th Street), Fire Station 22 (Atherton Street and Palo Verde) and Fire Station 19 (Clark Avenue and Conant Street).

Fire protection suppression was implemented due to the increased residential development, which continues to expand and must accommodate the increasing population in the district.

Ward G. Johnson

City Hall says, “Difficult choices and shared sacrifices,” when discussing the $58.2 million budget deficit that would eliminate 483 job positions – and this despite Long Beach routinely tying for 2nd or 3rd highest sales tax in the nation among major cities.

I just bet there are some “difficult choices” for the mayor, councilors and department heads in deciding how to spend their increases in salary while people working in their departments are being laid off!

And as for “shared sacrifices,” guess who gets to “share” the greatest burden of those? We the People as services get cut, including, unbelievably, fire engine 14, which will reduce response time in emergency situations. And all the while Mayor Richardson gets to keep his extraneous band of vice mayor minions!

Vibe City? Nah, more like Vile City.

Merry Colvin

Facebook: ‘Vibe City’

This slogan is another great example of how the city focuses on catering to tourists over catering to their citizens.

Vera Leigh

I sincerely believe that rebranding is not going to bring visitors here and encourage them to spend money [otherwise]. I think people would want to visit Long Beach if the residents were happy here. If we took care of those who can’t take care of themselves. If we stopped raising rents. If we had places to sit. How about more trees and how about any toilets at all?

How about if we stopped pretending like there’s no such thing as cause and effect as it pertains to environmental regulation and enforcement of laws that already exist. If we did not have such disparity between east and west, I think more people would come here. There are so many other ways to entice people to come here.

How about art, culture, community, and comfort?

Art: music, sculpture, painting and drawing, dance, drama, and other creative expressions.

Culture: Take positive advantage of The International City and invite our people to contribute to The Vibe.

Community: Keep all libraries open, restore hours to pre-2012 cuts, offer real opportunities for the people to tell City Council what we want our city to be like, offer real interactive events, such as dancing together, making art together, listening together, etc.

Comfort: There are almost zero places to sit down, anywhere, especially in the heat that’s only going to get worse and especially with our absolute refusal to enforce laws that protect earth? Where am I supposed to pee once outside of my dwelling?

The fact that we are doing so much harm at the same time as “Vibe City” is humiliating.

I used to be proud of my city. And I’m not right now. But who is the city? This is a real question and not rhetorical. Who is the city? City Council or the people?

I would have no interest in visiting a city just because it ignored its original moniker, “The International City” in 1967 and started unofficially calling itself “Vibe City” without running it by the people.

And since a vibe can be anything, whether it is hostile or welcoming, it leaves too much for interpretation.

Eleanor Simone

They need to repair the roads and the sidewalks and focus on public safety and traffic enforcement and infrastructure. Not tourism. We need to have the foundation of a decent place to live. We have this mayor who is trying to apply a new paint job and decorate a house that’s falling apart from the inside. We need a solid foundation first.

On top of that, tourists don’t want to go to some city that isn’t safe, has roads that look like they are out of a Third World country, riddled with chain restaurants.

Michael Black

I am not defending library cuts, but tourism is extremely important to the city and local businesses.

Visitors to Long Beach generate $1.97 billion in annual economic impact. This visitor spending supports over 14,000 local jobs and contributes roughly $171 million in state and local tax revenues, including over $38 million from hotel transient occupancy taxes.

These figures come from an economic impact report authored by economists Dr. Robert Kleinhenz and Megan Anaya of Kleinhenz Economics. Visit Long Beach commissioned the study, which analyzed the city’s tourism and business visitor spending.

Ana Brasil

The money is going toward the rebranded Visitors & Conventions Bureau. Not a government bureau, by the way, just named that way to create the illusion of legitimacy. The VCB rebranded themselves as Vibe City after it was revealed that they were operating the parking garages at the Convention Center as a big slush fund with no accountability.

[They] use the money for outlandish purchases of strange and unusual furniture from one shop in Orange County. The furniture would end up disappearing because the VCB wasn’t keeping track of the pieces they purchased.

Mark Waters

Long Beach will now be understaffed for the Olympics with both police and fire. City mismanagement and their inability to prioritize spending is at fault. They would rather pander to voter groups and look good on the surface than supply a safe environment for residents of the city.

With a budget deficit in the millions, they are spending 3-plus million to decorate a street and create a “Pride Square” so people can feel good about themselves. This is stuff you do with a surplus not a deficit where jobs and services are being cut.

Marc Cobb

Yes, tourism is a big part of our city’s economy. However, the campaign feels bland and unauthentic and is another example of how the city will capitalize off the culture, ideas, slang and likeness from the people they least support.

Plus, it makes Long Beach seem like a fictional city in Grand Theft Auto.

Jermaine Reed