3:45pm | Many many moons ago, AIP Records put out a great series of compilation records (yes, vinyl) called Highs In The Mid-Sixties. Each of the records featured virtually unknown garage bands from, duh, the mid-1960s. The 23 album HMS series, as opposed to the more well known Nuggets and Pebbles series of 1960s compilations, featured obscure regional tracks from original garage groups like The Grim Reepers, The Starfires, Limey & the Yanks, and the Dovers to name but a few.
I’ve always had a soft spot for these great garage band compilation records–something about these amazing distilled-down 2:30 gems that at the same time are the very definition of the 1960s rawness that would boil over years later in the punk rock three-chord era.
I thought, after some recent comments about how my columns had seemingly turned into obscenely long 1970s supergroup rock opuses, that I might take the column back to basics with a few short tracks, so to speak, on various topics.
So here–with ample imagery of a pair of Vox AC30 amps, a couple of Rickenbacker guitars, and an old Ludwig drum kit–is this week’s CityBeat.
Shoes on a Wire
A while back, Councilmember Dee Andrews’ office let it slip that he was developing a motion to address one of the city’s major problems: namely, shoes hanging from overhead utility lines. You see the city, according to Councilmember Andrews’ office, doesn’t have an efficient system in place to deal with this “blight on the community.” The Councilmember’s office went on to explain the “broken window” theory which purports that small quality of life issues, like shoes on a wire, lead to larger societal ills, like robbery and murder.
Criminologist and social scientists have effectively debunked the “broken window” theory, which first gained prominence in the early 1980s. Recent studies have shown no correlation between these “petty crime” abatement programs and a reduction in more serious crime. These studies have also failed to show that perpetrators of “petty crimes” graduate to more serious crimes. (Who would have thought that “tossing shoes” would be a gateway crime?) In fact, several studies have found that some petty crime abatement programs in certain parts of the country have been used as cover to mask the targeting of ethnic or social-economic groups by some law enforcement groups.
Is this the steeled-eyes of City Hall zeroing in on the real problems that face the city? How about some after school programs to keep kids off the streets, you know, where they might be reduced to playing a game of “toss the shoes?” Oh, wait, didn’t City Hall slash those programs because of the budget fiasco? Hmm, the budget fiasco. Now, there is a problem City Hall might want to spend some time on.
Want it Out? Shout it Out
You want to know why business owners in this city talk about City Hall being “unfriendly” to business? It’s because of situations like this:
K.C. Branaghan’s Irish Pub & Restaurant at 5734 E. 2nd St. in Naples is seeking to modify its current wine and beer license to include serving liquor. The pub has already purchased the requisite license through a Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control lottery for $6,000.
Now, while serving wine and beer, the pub has had no problems. The Long Beach Police Department reported that there had been no calls to the business between Dec. 1, 2008 and Dec. 1, 2009. The ABC has inspected the pub six times in three years and found no violations. Councilmember DeLong, whose 3rd District covers the Naples area, said that he doesn’t think the bar is a problem.
Even a group of Naples residents who live near the pub and showed up at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, could not point to a single problem emanating from the pub. But, and here’s the big but, the residents think the pub MIGHT become a problem if the pub starts serving liquor. This group of nearly two dozen residents asked the City Council to deny approving the license.
So the City Council, typically a rubber stamp for such requests, voted unanimously to send a notice to the state ABC asking that the state deny a license to the pub. Keep in mind that this motion came right after the Council approved three similar ABC license related motions with virtually no discussion.
Councilmember DeLong went one better, committing police resources to figuring out at what establishment the problems in the neighborhood originate.
So a small business that no one can identify as a community problem is being stymied in an effort to increase their customer offerings. And now it will cost the taxpayers additional funds to find out that the business is not a problem, as the council already knows.
Well, I guess it shows one thing. If you live in Naples and make noise, City Hall listens.
Pining For A Solution
In case you have wondered why so many shops along Pine Ave. in downtown are empty, City Hall thinks it has identified the culprits: narrow sidewalks and poorly paved roads.
Yup. According to a recent message sent out by Councilmember Robert Garcia “the City of Long Beach and our Redevelopment Agency have embarked on an ambitious new plan to renovate and reimagine Pine Ave. We have begun the planning process to widen the sidewalks, repave the streets, and install new lighting, landscaping and street furniture.”
Now, I used to walk Pine Ave. every single day when I worked at the old Press-Telegram building at Sixth and Pine. There were viable Pine Ave. businesses all the way from Ocean Blvd. to Fifth Street. Given, that was nearly 10 years ago, but the one thing that really seems to be missing from Pine Ave. since then is… businesses. And your intrepid writer did not even have to convene a committee to figure this out. The empty storefronts kind of speak for themselves.
While City Hall may think that the above-mentioned improvements “will greatly enhance Pine Avenue and our whole Downtown,” let’s use some logic here. In the financial straights that our city finds itself, should we even be worrying about how wide the sidewalks are? Are businesses shying away from Long Beach because of our infamously narrow walkways? Should we be worried about the aesthetics of the street lighting when there is nothing to light?
Instead of re-imagining Pine Ave., we need to demand that City Hall re-imagine it own sense of priorities.
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