I am often called an idealist by my friends. They say I expect too much from people and from our leaders. It’s not that I expect too much, it’s just that sometimes we all forget to think and dream big.
Last night at a networking mixer, Councilmember Suja Lowenthal encouraged an audience of young professionals to believe in themselves and in Long Beach. It was a refreshing and moving speech. After the event, I reflected on Councilmember Lowenthal’s remarks and our own self-created city perceptions.
It’s time for us as a city to believe in ourselves…
Long Beach often views itself as a mid-sized community who has to compete against Los Angeles for media coverage and attention. That needs to stop. We are better that Los Angeles could ever hope to be. L.A. should be looking to us for leadership and new ideas.
Long Beach is larger in population than Atlanta, Cleveland and Miami. Let me repeat that – Long Beach is larger in population than Atlanta, Cleveland and Miami – yet, we still cling on to this “Iowa By The Sea” mentality. We are the the 34th largest city in America and the 5th largest in California. Once the 2010 census is reported, we will be even larger.
Cal State Long Beach is the state’s second largest university, Long Beach City College is one of the largest and most respected community colleges statewide, and our local school district has been consistently named one of the best in the country by the Eli Broad Foundation. That’s an impressive educational record.
Yet, there is still much work to be done. We can become America’s greatest city, but we will need to focus on some key issues. Here’s three that I feel strongly about:
1) Public Safety: The good news is that overall crime has been dropping for many years in Long Beach. We are safer than we were 10 years ago. However, we need to do much more. First, we need more and better paid police officers. Both Mayor Foster and our Chief of Police recognize this. There are many neighborhoods in Long Beach that need more officers and more attention. Gangs still kill and torment our neighbors and friends. The city must find creative ways to not only pay for more officers, but to pay them better. This includes our firefighters as well. Our police and fire personnel are greatly underpaid. We shouldn’t settle for a median salary, our men and women should be paid the best salary in the region – that’s how we will retain and recruit the best.
2) Going Green: Long Beach is quickly becoming a sustainable leader. In the last few years alone, the city has adopted new green building practices, created a Sustainability Commission, adopted a new urban forest master-plan, led the state in water conservation, adopted a new Green Port policy, opened a environmentally friendly library and has been investing in new transit and open space. Here’s one more suggestion for putting Long Beach on the Environmental map – if and when we rebuild City Hall (and according to some people, we may have to), we need to make it the most sustainable City Hall in America. We can gain national prominence by committing to build a green City Hall that would serve as a new city icon and a strong statement about our priorities and values.
3) Investing In Our Waterfront: We often hear that our Port is our greatest asset – I strongly disagree. Our ocean is our greatest asset. I understand the important value of our Port to the regional economy and the I appreciate the efforts of the Port in implementing new green policies, however as a city, we have neglected our most important and valuable resource: our Ocean. Our beaches are dirty, wave-less and underused. We should invest as much energy and money as we have in building a world-class port into restoring our once majestic and beautiful beaches. I am no engineer, but John Morris’ suggestion of re-routing the LA River into the Port makes sense. Why are we dumping the region’s trash onto our beach? The Port should seriously investigate and look into the Morris proposal as a possible solution to our beach trash problem.
These are just three ideas….Long Beach is full of people with vision, passion and great ideas for the future.
What is your great idea for Long Beach? Leave your comments or thoughts below.