12:55pm | For the second consecutive year, Coca-Cola is holding its “vote-for-your-favorite-park” competition as part of its Live Positively campaign, and the city of Long Beach is urging residents to vote for Admiral Kidd Park.
Across the nation, web surfers are clicking away to vote for their favorite parks. Voting has already begun and is set to end Sept. 6. To vote, visit LivePositively.com/#/americasparks. At the end of the competition, the three parks with the most number of votes will receive grant awards totaling $175,000.
Four Long Beach parks are among those being voted upon. As of 1:05pm on MOnday, Admiral Kidd Park was in 114th place with 1,053 votes; El Dorado Regional Park was in 672nd place with 34 votes; MacArthur Park/Homeland Cultural Center was in 897th place with 20 votes; and Seaside Park was in 2,448th place with three votes.
The 3.6-acre Admiral Kidd Park is located at 2125 Santa Fe Avenue between 21st and Willard streets in West Long Beach. A grand reopening celebration was held in late March at the park after a years-long expansion and renovation project was completed thanks to assistance from the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, which purchased the abandoned property adjacent to the park that was used for the expansion.
The park offers playground equipment, outdoor fitness stations, lighted soccer fields, picnic areas and improved parking.
Previously, Admiral Kidd Park had been a crime magnet. According to the Long Beach Police Department, there were 435 crime-related incidents at the park between 2004 and 2006.