To memorialize and recognize the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Long Beach City Council unanimously voted to begin the process to create a COVID-19 memorial during its Tuesday meeting.
“I certainly am most interested in this as a device for healing, and sort of allowing people to cope with what we just went through,” Vice Mayor Rex Richardson said. “Because there will be trauma for years to come based on what we just experienced.”
As of Tuesday, May 11, 933 Long Beach residents had died of COVID-19, representing “the single largest loss of life [Long Beach has] ever experienced,” Mayor Robert Garcia said.
City Manager Tom Modica is tasked with creating an advisory board, who will decide what the memorial itself should be, as well as a formal process for its creation.
Though advisory board members have not yet been selected, Ron Arias, often referred to as the “modern-day founder of the Long Beach Health Department,” accepted a leadership role in the process.
Arias will be joined by COVID-19 victims and survivors, Garcia said, who will help steer the conversation and develop the memorial itself.
“It’s going to be more than a lifetime to process the impact of this pandemic,” Councilmember Suely Saro said, suggesting that “heroes at the front line” be included in the process. The suggestion was met with resounding support from the council.
The plan for the memorial is still in a fledgling state, lacking both an advisory board and funding. Modica will work to secure both in the coming weeks and months.
“Certainly there will have to be some serious fundraising efforts to get support, and even federal and state support could be looked at, as well, for a project of this magnitude,” Garcia said.
Garcia noted that not all cities will have COVID-19 memorials, giving greater weight to Long Beach’s undertaking.
The creation of a memorial that honors both Long Beach residents and victims nationwide, Garica said, is a “big charge” and is “certainly not going to be a fast process.”
“This event changed our city, changed our region,” Richardson said. “When we look back on this moment, we want to make sure that this sort of represents how we came together as a community to really overcome this challenge.”
The next Long Beach City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, May 18 at 5 p.m. via teleconference.
