9:35am | Long Beach City Councilman Patrick O’Donnell will host his monthly “Chat with Pat” community meeting today, Wednesday, at 4:30 p.m. at the Los Altos Library, 5614 N. Britton Dr.
This month’s meeting will feature representatives from the Office of Special Events and Filming, a bureau within the City Manager’s Department responsible for permitting all special events and film productions within the city of Long Beach.
The office oversees the permitting of special event activities, such as festivals, runs / walks and citywide holiday celebrations. In addition, they are responsible for all street closures pertaining to block parties, parades, filming and other events taking place in parks or on public property. The office also manages the city’s Street Banner Program.
Recently, at least one downtown business owner has complained to the city regarding the rules guiding the permitting of movies and television shows to be filmed downtown, which typically involves street closures can very easily drive away potential customers.
Dr. Bob Benaderet, whose widely known as “Bob the Chiropractor,” recently forwarded an e-mail to the Long Beach Post in which he discusses with city staffers his reasons, as a downtown business owner, for being unhappy with the city’s film permitting process.
“Being a business owner and a residential property owner, I have no control in how my city uses the streets for filming,” he wrote in the March 23 e-mail. “Filming affects my business three to six times a year. I lose business, and it costs me more to deal with the crews.
“This makes it harder to run a local business in downtown than other cities,” Benaderet said.