For the first time in two years, COVID-19 was not at the top of the list of the biggest news this year—however, the effects of the pandemic are still being felt, and will likely reverberate for years to come.
Homelessness, crime, city finances and more were among the 10 most important stories of 2022 in Long Beach.
Homelessness
The city’s homelessness numbers rose a staggering 62% in the 2022 point-in-time count, with businesses—particularly those Downtown—and community activists calling for the city to take action. Since 2020, the city has received a record amount of money, nearly $100 million, in federal, state and county funds to combat the problem. City officials, meanwhile, say many factors contributing to homelessness have remained out of their control, such as the inability of homeless individuals to use vouchers for housing, the COVID pandemic and high rental costs. In his inaugural address after being elected mayor, Rex Richardson said he will push to declare a state of emergency on homelessness, which would give the city manager some additional power to act more quickly to address the issue.
New city leaders
This year’s election was a historic one, with voters electing the city’s first Black mayor in Councilmember Rex Richardson, who defeated Councilmember Suzie Price in a runoff vote in November. It was also a turbulent one. Leaked audio of Los Angeles City Council members and the head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor making racist comments led to Long Beach candidates backed by the labor organization issuing statements explaining their ties to the group. The Fed backed three winners of Long Beach council races, which will be part of a new majority. Progressive activists, meanwhile, hope that the new council will take action on issues like rent control, universal basic income and other policies that are more attainable than they were before the 2022 election. Voter turnout in the election was 43%, a high figure that could become the norm after voters also approved Measure LBC, which will permanently align city elections with the state.
COVID-19
Health care workers began 2022 dealing with the single-greatest surge of new coronavirus cases to date. In January, 44,316 new daily cases were reported by health officials, accounting for over 28% of the city’s total reported cases of COVID-19 through mid-December. The virus continued to strain on medical staff, especially overworked nurses. The surge, however, was short-lived, and by late February the city relaxed its indoor mask mandate. In late September, the city removed the final remnants of its mask mandate, allowing travelers on public transit and at the airport to forego face coverings. After falling off in early fall, cases began to rise in mid-November as hospital staff were also dealing with the worst flu season in 10 years. Through Dec. 23, city officials have reported 271 coronavirus-related deaths this year for a total of 1,346. The number of reported cases of the virus more than doubled from 75,455 on Jan. 1 to 157,763 on Dec. 22, according to city data.
Community Hospital
At the end of 2021, the company hired to run Community Hospital closed the facility after just 11 months, leaving Long Beach on the hook to repay millions of dollars for the operator’s losses. As a result of an unusual lease agreement, the city “sold” the facility for $0 to the leaseholder, MWN Community Hospital LLC, losing ownership of the hospital for the first time in its nearly 100-year history. MWN says it is committed to reopening the hospital as a wellness campus for outpatient care, with construction expected to begin late next year to bring the facility up to modern accessibility and safety standards.
Downtown
Downtown has been transformed by booming development over the past decade, but this year, the growing pains became apparent. The highest office vacancy rates in two decades, struggles with store break-ins and other property crime, and the highly visible homelessness crisis all were top-of-mind for business owners in Long Beach’s bustling urban core. Downtown organizations and city officials have moved to treat some of the symptoms by trying to better lighting and cleaning Downtown areas, but whether the city can solve the larger structural issues, such as the housing affordability crisis and how the pandemic changed the way we work, remains to be seen.
Organized labor
The past 12 months have been highly active for unions new and old in Long Beach—from baristas and grocery workers to teachers and dockworkers. The year began with unresolved contract negotiations between Long Beach Unified and the union representing 3,000 of its classified workers, with a tentative agreement reached in April. Over 60,000 Southern California grocery workers, including 1,000 in Long Beach rallied for increased pay and staffing during contentious contract negotiations earlier this year. Two local Starbucks stores became the first in Southern California to unionize. Contract negotiations between the International Longshore & Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association began in May. The Long Beach City Council in August approved a $25 minimum wage for employees of private health care facilities, but after a referendum was submitted by a coalition of hospitals, the city was forced to pause the wage increase until voters have their say in the 2024 election. In December, after months of contentious negotiations, a contract for rail workers was forced through Congress. With talks going nowhere, the Biden administration stepped in and managed to negotiate a tentative agreement that was approved by nine of 12 rail unions.
North Long Beach crash
Jose Palacios, 42, and his 3-year-old daughter Samantha died after the driver of a pickup truck crashed into their studio apartment in North Long Beach on March 1. The driver, identified by police as 24-year-old Octavio Montano Islas, fled the scene, although it was soon discovered that he had been drinking at Bottoms Up Tavern, a bar a few hundred feet from the apartment, prior to the crash. The events shocked community members, some to the point where they couldn’t sleep for days as a result of hearing Samantha’s mom, Esnelia, scream for help as her daughter and husband were pinned under the truck. Protests and rallies were held against the bar, which was labeled by the community leaders as a “menace” to the area. The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control launched an investigation to see if Islas had been overserved before leaving. The bar was eventually cleared of that accusation, but the ABC nevertheless forced Bottoms Up to close in July because of a long list of violations, including drug sales inside and lap dances in the parking lot.
Queen Mary
The historic Queen Mary sat vacant in Downtown Long Beach for over two and a half years due to the pandemic and ongoing critical repairs. All but two of the ship’s 22 dilapidated lifeboats were removed in May, with 14 being demolished. Evolution Hospitality in June was awarded a five-year contract by the city to oversee the reopening and management of the ship. The ocean liner was slated for a partial reopening in October but was delayed. Finally, in mid-December, officials began welcoming small groups aboard for guided tours of limited areas. None of the ship’s restaurants, bars, shops or other amenities are serving visitors, however, as work continues to install new boilers and heat exchangers that will generate hot water on the vessel. The city expects most of those and other critical repairs to be completed early next year, which will allow for the hotel and other amenities to reopen. But this first round of urgent repairs is only the first step as the ship requires hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs in the coming years.
City finances
Long Beach heads into 2023 with some economic uncertainty as city officials are projecting a $40 million deficit, which could require tough decisions in 2023. A big contributor to this deficit is the loss of Measure M revenue that was being transferred to the general fund, which a court said was illegal. That resulted in the city having to pay back its Water Department $30.8 million and forfeit about $7 million annually. New agreements with the city’s firefighters and police unions that gave those employees raises added to that growing deficit, and so could a new state law regarding the placement of new oil wells and how far they need to be from homes, hospitals and other sensitive areas. Measure A sales tax revenue, which the city has bonded against to fix streets and used to supplement police and fire positions, will also be tailored over the next five years as the city pays into a countywide homelessness tax. The city estimates it could receive as little as $32 million in Measure A funds this year, down from about $60 million. The city will have to reconcile that deficit without the aid of COVID-19 relief money, which is expected to be gone by the end of 2023.
Port of Long Beach
Despite having one of its busiest years on record, the Port of Long Beach lost its ranking as the second-busiest U.S. container port to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has regularly been ranked third busiest. Six of the first nine months of the year were record-setting for Long Beach, with the other three just missing the mark. In September, however, container volumes began to slip at both the San Pedro Bay ports, with the East Coast operation moving more cargo than both Long Beach and Los Angeles. The trend continued in October and November, with New York-New Jersey’s year-to-date container volume surpassing Long Beach. The shift in market share to East and Gulf coast ports is the direct result of unprecedented congestion in the San Pedro Bay, which reached a peak in January of this year, and uncertainty around labor negotiations. A backlog of container ships persisted until late November. Negotiations over dockworker labor contracts began in May but were unresolved by the July 1 deadline. Work at West Coast ports, however, has continued, and port officials maintain that they are confident an agreement will be reached without the need for strikes or slowdowns.