In the Wrigley neighborhood of West Long Beach, an equestrian community is struggling to survive.
Founded on historic land known for its preservation of horses and ranchos tracing back to the 1700s, residents in the strip of 18 homes between Spring Street and 31st Street in Wrigley Heights are fighting to preserve the land crucial to maintaining their rancho lifestyle alive.
Walking down San Francisco Avenue along the Los Angeles River, you might spot a horse trotting by or a horseowner training a young steed at a private stable. However, after several city development projects have threatened to eliminate the few remaining pathways for these horses to live and thrive, this little pocket of paradise – as one resident described it – is in danger of losing its home.
“The trails are life blood; that’s like the lifeline that connects these equestrian communities from Point A to Point B,” said Renee Lawler, a Wrigley resident, horseowner and board vice president of Riverpark Coalition.
The nonprofit works to preserve green spaces, equestrian trails and other natural environments in West Long Beach, and has filed lawsuits against the City for past development projects.
“If you continue to develop properties densely up to the river … It’s like extinction,” Lawler said.
The dangers LA River communities face are a man-made issue — a direct result of decades of urban development and city planning that has left Long Beach residents frustrated and disappointed with the City’s empty promises of equitable green spaces.
Protected equestrian zones have been ignored, critical environments have been built upon and many Long Beach residents feel their voice is not being heard.
About 10 miles east of Wrigley, Elizabeth Lambe from the Los Cerritos Wetlands Trust is facing a similar battle, with a prospective solar panel project posing a threat to the native wetlands.
The Los Cerritos Wetlands, a natural habitat host to several endangered animal and plant species, has lost almost 2,000 acres that used to run through parts of Los Angeles, the San Gabriel River and Orange County. Now, with just 500 acres left, members of the wetlands trust continue to fight for habitat preservation and restoration amid looming development projects and environmental dangers.
For decades, environmental organizations like the Los Cerritos Wetlands Trust, the Riverpark Coalition and LA Waterkeeper have fought to retain green space in a city threatened by air pollution, flooding risks and city councils apathetic to their cause.
It’s as much an environmental issue as it is a health issue. The Los Angeles-Long Beach area is one of the top five U.S. cities with the poorest air quality according to several reports, and ranked No. 1 for ozone pollution on the American Lung Association list years in a row.
The Los Cerritos Wetlands, a natural habitat host to several endangered animal and plant species, has already lost large portions of land over the years. Now, with these looming development projects, it continues to face environmental dangers amid a fight for habit preservation and restoration.
West Long Beach is also drastically low in green space compared to more affluent areas of the city, with 1.5 acres of green space per 1,000 people compared to 5.1 to 16.3 acres in East Long Beach. Due to former racist housing policies, residents in West Long Beach are mostly Black, Latino and Asian.
West Long Beach’s proximity to the port and the intersection of various freeways has also contributed heavily to traffic pollution that has worsened the city’s air quality.
Residents are rightly concerned about public safety, air quality and the lack of these green spaces in West Long Beach. In City planning documents and initiatives, including the RiverLink Plan, Long Beach has announced goals to bridge this gap. However, the non-stop developments and go-aheads from City officials have demonstrated a failure to deliver on these promises.
In addition to the equestrian community under threat, residents in Los Cerritos, Bixby Knolls and other neighborhoods suffer from urban expansion and the loss of environmental habitats.
This series, Broken Promises, will explore the loss of these spaces in Long Beach, the impact on the surrounding communities, broken promises from the City and what local residents are doing to preserve what little is left.
The first chapter is out now. Read it here:
Angela Osorio
Reporter
Angela is a multimedia journalist and a third-year journalism student at Cal State Long Beach. She has won awards for her coverage of campus government and crime, as well as entertainment stories and print design. Angela is passionate about the role of local journalism in servicing underrepresented communities, and hopes to continue her work reporting on local policy, environmental justice, community solutions and more.
