After years of planning and debate, the Long Beach City Council last month made a momentous decision to move forward with a public-private partnership to rebuild the downtown civic center— a massive undertaking that will include a new City Hall, new main library, new Lincoln Park, new Port headquarters and private development.The rendering below shows the preliminary design for the civic center rebuild project.
“We are putting Long Beach on the national map, and I could not be more proud,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “We’ve accomplished so much in this past year, and these 10 stories highlight the exceptional work that has been done on behalf of the entire community.”
The City’s Facebook page is one of the most popular citywide government Facebook pages in California, according to the City, and it includes an array of Long Beach photos, short iClip videos, traffic and public safety alerts, and a variety of news and information about Long Beach programs and projects.
To highlight the 10 most significant news items for Long Beach in 2014, the City has been releasing one story per day on its Facebook page, beginning Dec. 21. The No. 1 story of 2014 was posted on Dec. 30.
Story No. 10
North Library groundbreaking
The community came out in October to help the City of Long Beach celebrate the groundbreaking for the new North Neighborhood Library, which is being built at 5870 Atlantic Ave.
The library will be a state-of-the-art 24,655-square-foot facility and will feature three separate community meeting rooms, a patio, a storytime theater space, displays for artwork, an expanded children’s library and separate areas for teens and adults.
The new building will feature artistic glass walls and green foliage to face residences on Lime Avenue and incorporate a reproduction of the former Atlantic Theatre’s iconic tower into a glass roof accenting the children’s section.
Story No. 9
Chittick Field sports complex opens
The Chittick Field sports complex opened to the public in April, capping a comprehensive effort to renovate the site, which is also used as a Los Angeles County stormwater retention basin. The 19-acre site near Pacific Coast Highway and Walnut Avenue has been revitalized with the construction of a football field, an all-weather track and other track and field facilities, three soccer fields, restrooms, bleacher areas, sports lighting, landscaping and parking.
Story No. 8
City rises to 6th place with fourth Consecutive Digital Cities Award
In November, Long Beach moved up into 6th place nationally with its fourth Digital Cities Award, based on a national survey that measures performance and innovation by cities using technology to enhance service to residents and businesses.
Story No. 7
City receives 86% ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades for water quality from Heal the Bay
The City of Long Beach received 86 percent “A” and “B” grades for water quality, a 10-percent improvement over the previous year and a 16-percent improvement over the five-year average, according to the Heal the Bay 2014 Annual Beach Report Card issued in May.
Story No. 6
City 3rd in U.S. for bike infrastructure
The City of Long Beach in May was ranked third in terms of having the most miles of bicycle infrastructure per square mile among the 52 largest cities in the United States, according to the Alliance for Biking and Walking. The City’s grant-funded investments in bicycling infrastructure have led to a doubling of bicycle riding since annual bike counts began in 2008.
Story No. 5
Unemployment rate at six-year low
The unemployment rate in Long Beach hit a six-year low, dropping to 8.4 percent in April. During the Great Recession, the unemployment rate reached a peak of 14.6 percent in July 2010, and the unemployment rate has dropped steadily since that time, currently at 8.7 percent. Long Beach has adopted a holistic approach to economic development, with the belief that every department and employee has a role in promoting economic development in the City, whether it is facilitating permits and inspections, enhancing customer service, solving problems, or improving our neighborhoods and business corridors, according to the City.
Story No. 4
Luna appointed police chief
City Manager Pat West appointed Robert G. Luna as chief of police in November. Luna has 29 years of experience with the Long Beach Police Department and previously served as deputy chief of police.
Story No. 3
City awarded Bloomberg Philanthropies Grant
Long Beach was one of only 12 U.S. cities selected in December to participate in the $45-million expansion of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Innovation Teams program, a project of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that aims to improve the capacity of city halls to effectively design and implement new approaches that improve the lives of residents— relying on data, open innovation, and strong project and performance management to help cities address pressing urban challenges.
Story No. 2
Lowest reported violent crimes in 41 years
The City of Long Beach achieved a 41-year low for violent crime in 2013, the City announced in January 2014. The overall total of citywide violent crimes decreased by 13.5 percent from the prior year, and the number of property crimes decreased by 8.5 percent. LBPD continues to reach out to the community and partner with law-enforcement agencies at local, county, state and federal levels to leverage available resources to impact crime, according to the City.
Story No. 1
The Long Beach Civic Center
The project moved forward in December, when the City Council selected a project team to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a new civic center.
The project will include a new main library, city hall, Port headquarters, a revitalized Lincoln Park and new housing, retail and a hotel.
The project is structured so the City will not pay more than the $12.6 million currently budgeted to operate City Hall and lease off-site space that would be consolidated into a new building, adjusted for inflation.
There will be an extensive public outreach campaign as part of the project.
The Civic Center, including City Hall and main library, have significant seismic deficiencies which could result in both facilities being permanently unusable or potentially collapsing during a significant seismic event. Retrofitting would be cost-prohibitive, with no identified source of funding.
For more on the Civic Center project, visit lbciviccenter.com .
