The Peninsula Beach Preservation Group (PBPG) was formed to prevent a wall, but not the wall you may think, and not one that many people have thought of in over four decades.
In 1960, it wasn’t the breakwater that that a group of Peninsula residents were concerned about, but rather a city-proposed sea wall on the opposite side of the Peninsula, Bayside Beach, that would have created moorings for boats like in nearby Naples Island, effectively eliminating the sandy beaches that exist there today.
Ironically, today the group is known by many outside of the area as one of the staunchest proponents of the breakwater at a time when it is politically unpopular to be doing so. When local news outlets (including this one) write about the breakwater, it’s with the sense of virtual unanimity that tearing down the breakwater is the right idea. But for the PBPG, whose homes, lives, and beaches (their mission statement starts off with “To protect and preserve the beaches…”) are at stake—they’re standing up for themselves, the shore community, and the entire city.
The group does many other things though, and it is their commitment to the preservation of their area that they mostly want to be known by.
“We don’t take stands on issues that affect other areas,” says Jeanne Muench, PBPG President and Peninsula resident for almost 30 years. “Maintaining the quality of life here is the same thing we did 25 years ago.”
The group is not a homeowner’s association, but rather a neighborhood organization that includes both renters and homeowners of the area that extends Ocean Blvd to the beach, and lies across the bay from Naples. The area itself has been home to various civic and political heavy-hitters over the years—both former Mayor Beverly O’Neill and former Vice-Mayor Frank Colonna call the peninsula area home.
For just $20 a year Peninsula residents can join, and to the sentiments of the people most actively involved, become a part of an organization that makes effective strides in their community.
They’re most proud of the community events and other activities that they put on and support, which aid not only their neighborhood but the entire city. Every year they support the 18 floating “Trees on the Bay”, seven summer concerts, CERT programs, and a Santa by the Bay event for children. Each of these projects is primarily funded by the area residents and not by the city, they are proud to point out.
One recent project that has garnered over $200,000 in community support is an ongoing project to renovate the median that lines the street on Ocean Avenue—the inner core of the Peninsula. It’s this area—not the beaches—that has actually been at the heart of a project that members have been by consumed for the last several years.
Working to underground their utilities, taking cable and phone lines away from poles and putting them underneath the streets, is something that other shore areas have done and that the PBPG is coming closer to as well. Unlike the community projects, the financial commitment of this project requires that its residents be asked for money in a different way.
A special assessment district needs to be created to levy a property tax for the project, requiring 2/3 vote of the neighborhood residents. Despite the recent tax increases voted in by Long Beach and L.A. County voters, board members are confident that their work of the past two years will pay off because the project has a direct benefit to peninsula residents.
What about the breakwater though?
The PBPG is officially opposed to any reconstruction or demolition of the breakwater, because in the words of the President Jeanne Muench, “it will endanger our homes and our beaches. They have no models that show otherwise.”
When asked about the arguments of Breakwater opponents who point out the negative environmental impact they say it has on the ocean and therefore the beaches, the response is just as confidently defiant.
“The pollution comes down the river,” responds board member Linda McCullough, “and they aren’t addressing that issue at all.”
“{Tearing down the breakwater} is a very extreme solution,” she adds.
The board and its members aren’t naïve about the way they are viewed by maintaining such a rock-solid position throughout the years, when much of the city establishment has swayed or jumped on the “sink the breakwater” bandwagon.
“We’re often attacked as being Peninsula snobs. That all were concerned about is our big houses”, says Vice-President Rick Turrentine, “but it’s just not us…it’s the whole city we’re concerned about.”
In another ironic vein, many of the people who have jumped on the bandwagon for sinking the breakwater are also people who got into leadership positions, whether they are in the community or in the City Council, by riding a tide of neighborhood protection.
Whether they have the support of “neighborhood protectionists” or not, the Peninsula Beach Preservation Group will still be showing its support for the beaches in the same way it has done for the past 48 years.
“Our position is what the majority of our people say,” says Turrentine. “The city looks to us…they want to know what we think.”
Next Month: Long Beach Neighborhoods First