crime reduction update and summer review<\/a> noted significant year-to-date decreases in shootings, homicides and property crimes citywide, many businesses continue experiencing conditions that do not reflect these broader trends.<\/p>\n\u201cA lot of people just stopped reporting for a lot of reasons \u2013 they\u2019re frustrated, long response times, and it\u2019s happened so often,\u201d Councilmember Cindy Allen, who authored the item, said during the Tuesday, Dec. 2, meeting. \u201cThese problems are not just isolated to downtown, we see these issues happening all over the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reports from business improvement districts illustrate what other commercial and entertainment corridors are also facing, such as visible impacts of vandalism, theft and quality of life issues, Allen said. These experiences show that while citywide enforcement and prevention efforts are producing measurable results, additional localized strategies are needed to ensure that improvements in public safety are fully realized across all business districts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you one thing (about) these businesses, they want to keep their patrons safe,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThey want to retain customers, and then they also want to make sure that they can bring new customers in, and I know this continues to be a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the public comment period of the council meeting, several business owners, property owners and even residents \u2013 the majority from the downtown area \u2013 shared several of these public safety concerns and told stories about the issues they face on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m about to say is not just me experiencing this, other businesses have experienced as well, but since I\u2019ve been here for three years in downtown, I\u2019ve been assaulted more than seven times,\u201d said Chris Sweeney, owner of Right Mealz. \u201cI have a scar on my hand to prove it. I\u2019ve disarmed people, I\u2019ve had staff assaulted, I\u2019ve had staff quit on me because they\u2019ve been assaulted. It\u2019s very hard to run a business when I\u2019m dealing with these issues on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re fed up with it,\u201d Sweeney added. \u201cWe need change; we need action today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Rex Richardson and the council thanked all of the people who spoke up about their issues. Several councilmembers emphasised that these support efforts are needed not just in downtown, but also across the entire city.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Suely Saro, for example, suggested that the city also work with nonprofits and faith-based groups to see how these quality-of-life issues can be addressed differently with police and other partners.<\/p>\n
Councilmembers also said they want an update on the Health and Human Services Department and CARE Court coordination that provides an overview of mental health response efforts and service referrals, and how CARE Court petitions are integrated into enforcement efforts for chronically ill individuals who are homeless and refusing services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis item is not an item that criminalizes our neighbors experiencing homelessness, that\u2019s not what it is, but we also have to be realistic,\u201d said Councilmember Mary Zendejas, \u201cto know that this is about being compassionate to those that refuse services, that are experiencing homelessness, that cannot acknowledge what it is that they are refusing, whether because they are not mentally stable or because they\u2019re on drugs. Whatever it may be, we need to help them because if not, this is going to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richardson and City Manager Tom Modica, meanwhile, also highlighted different efforts the city is trying to do to address homelessness, such as getting Proposition 1 funds to be able to have a dedicated treatment facility for drug overdoses at the Multi-Serive Center and provide more beds for people with mental health needs.<\/p>\n
City leaders said they want to establish metrics and regularly publish progress reports detailing enforcement activity and safety improvements in each identified corridor to improve public accountability. City staffers will also provide an update on actions taken<\/a> following the Grants Pass v. Johnson decision, which centers around local laws against camping on public property.<\/p>\nStaffers will also provide a feasibility study on allocating additional funds to increase the number of quality of life officers, expanding the deployment of bike and patrol units, and enhancing after-hours police presence in areas identified by businesses to help stabilize conditions for local businesses and reinforce public confidence.<\/p>\n
Strengthening coordination between the Police Department, business associations and other organizations, the staff report said, would allow the city to better identify and respond to recurring hot spots, improve accountability, and sustain progress toward creating a safer and more welcoming environment across Long Beach\u2019s business and entertainment corridors.<\/p>\n
\u201cLong Beach is an amazing city and a great place to live,\u201d Allen said, \u201cand we owe it to all of you to do everything in our power to restore your confidence in these local (business) corridors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach will explore different strategies to support local businesses affected by crime and quality of life issues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,1610,23,131,133,132,137,4823],"class_list":{"0":"post-84177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-city-council","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-long-beach","12":"tag-long-beach-headlines","13":"tag-long-beach-news","14":"tag-los-angeles-county","15":"tag-small-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}