By Nick Diamantides
Staff Writer
The mood was mostly positive at the Wrigley Association’s first monthly meeting of 2008 on Monday evening at the Veterans Park community center. David Carlton, the neighborhood association’s president, avoided any mention of the controversies that embroiled the organization last year and seemed eager to just move forward with the programs and events the group has planned for 2008.
“We’ve got a lot of exciting opportunities for this new year and we need more people who are willing to volunteer their time to make positive things happen,” he said. “The more volunteers we have, the less each of us has to do on a particular project.”
Board member PG Herman agreed with Carlton. She noted that the Wrigley Association will conduct at least four special events in 2008 and would like to do more. “These things are fun for the whole community and really get the Wrigley area noticed,” she said. “But as David said, we have the same people volunteering over and over again, and we would like to see more of our members participating in the association’s programs and events.”
About 45 people attended the meeting, which began with Steve Gerhardt, community planner for the City of Long Beach, giving an update on building projects planned in the area.
Later, Long Beach Police Department West Division Commander Robert Luman, Jr. and Lieutenant Robert Smith gave updated crime statistics to the audience. They noted that the city’s first homicide of 2008 took place in the early morning of Jan. 1 in the 1900 block of Pine Avenue. In spite of that incident, they said shootings in the Wrigley area had decreased in 2007 compared to the previous year, and burglaries in the area–while still on the rise–had slowed their rate of increase compared to 2006.
While the audience members were very interested in building plans and crime reports, most of the Monday night meeting was devoted to discussing plans to improve streets, sidewalks and building facades along Pacific Avenue. City officials, representatives of a consulting firm and a small group of Wrigley residents known as the Neighborhood Advisory Group have been hammering out concepts for proposed renovations to that corridor for several months. The city is now beginning the process of bringing those concepts to the larger Wrigley community.
“For a long time on Pacific Avenue, there’s been a lot of concern by residents in terms of the overall aesthetic quality and some of the tenants on Pacific Avenue,” said David White, central redevelopment project manager for the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA).
He explained that the City of Long Beach is trying to recruit the types of businesses that Wrigley residents want on Pacific Avenue, but before that can happen the overall appearance of the street must be greatly improved.
“The first thing a business owner will do before deciding to come here is take a look at the street,” he said. He noted that the RDA has the legal means and ability to get the financial resources necessary to make physical changes along that corridor. White noted that while the city plans to eventually renovate Pacific Avenue from Pacific Coast Highway to Willow Street, the plan now being formed encompasses only about two blocks of that stretch.
Melinda Wood, architect for Katherine Spitz Associates, a landscape architectural firm based in Marina Del Rey, said, “We are concentrating on what we consider to be the downtown of Wrigley Village– Pacific Avenue from 19th to 21st streets.” She noted that lots of ideas were discussed at the NAG meetings but finally everyone seemed to agree that sustainability and green (environmentally friendly) practices should be integral parts of the streetscape design.
Wood outlined some of the concepts being considered for that design, including gateway features at 19th Street to identify it as the entrance to Wrigley Village, and solar lighting, colored paving stones and new trees and shrubs along the median and sidewalks.
A lively discussion ensued with audience members disagreeing with each other on what kinds of trees should be planted and other aspects of the plan. White, however, assured the audience that the plan was still conceptual in nature and nothing had been decided.
“We will take all of your comments into account before coming up with the final design,” he said. “Keep in mind this is not a project that is going to blow out all at once.” He explained that final decisions would gradually be implemented over time, and he could not predict how long the renovations would take.
After that discussion, Carlton noted that 2007 was a good year for the Wrigley Association. He described several events including the Wrigley Summer Fest, the Halloween Carnival, the 55th Assembly District Candidates Forum, the tree planting project, the Veterans Park Skate Event, and the association’s annual Christmas party, which were all very well attended by residents in the area.
Carlton added that the association is currently in the early planning stages for a 10-K/5-K Run and a possible permanent skate park in Veterans Park. Other possible association sponsored events for 2008 include an art show, a cook-off to raise funds for charities, a car show and a yard sale event encompassing the entire Wrigley area.
“This is your neighborhood and your association,” Carlton said. “Only your involvement and participation can make these things happen.”
Herman closed the evening by inviting Wrigley residents to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace March scheduled for 5 p.m. in Long Beach’s 6th Council District. For information on the march and the city-sponsored “Peace Week,” phone (562) 570-6816.
