3:45pm | The ongoing effort to build a massive Kroc Center community facility could get a boost from City Councilmembers Dee Andrews and Rae Gabelich, who are asking the Council to approve a recommendation to create a Red Team that will help direct the process of opening the center.
The City Council will consider the motion tomorrow.
The Kroc Foundation and Salvation Army have been working for years to bring a Kroc Center to a neighborhood of central Long Beach that is badly in need of a place for children to learn and grow in a safe environment. The area falls within Andrews’ 6th District and does not benefit from much park space.
The proposed $120 million project would include state-of-the-art athletic and educational facilities, in what many hope will offer new opportunities to youth that otherwise may turn down the wrong road.
The proposed site is currently Chittick Field (formerly Hamilton Bowl), a graffiti-infested park at Walnut & Pacific Coast Highway that was supposed to create space for sports but had deteriorated into a dirt wasteland.
Last year, leaders in the educational community publicly came out in strong support of the project and asked residents to get behind the idea. CSULB President F. King Alexander called the matter “a quality of life issue” and he – along with LBCC President Eloy Oakley and LBUSD Superintendent Chris Steinhauser – said the project would be a victory for local education.
Councilmember Andrews has been a vocal supporter since the beginning and brought former NFL star Willie McGinest and rapper Snoop Dogg, both of whom were raised in the surrounding area, out to raise awareness of the opportunity that the Kroc Center will provide to kids in need.
“Snoop and I are a couple of those kids that grew up in the 6th District, and to see something like this presented is a dream come true,” McGinest said at the time. “This is not really about us. We’re just a platform to create awareness about what’s going on in the community.”
Almost one year later, the project still lacks about $15 million in necessary funding and needs to complete a land transfer and developer agreement. The center was originally slated to break ground last fall but fundraising was significantly hampered by the recession.
The creation of a Red Team could provide new hope, however. A similar idea was implemented with a C-17 Red Team that aimed to keep the Boeing aircraft manufacturing program – and its 5,000+ jobs – in Long Beach.
Click here to watch video renderings of the future Kroc Center, and visit longbeachkroc.org to learn more about the project.
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