MacArthur Park Neighborhood Pledge

Because we can't clean trash everywhere, I wanted to give the residents of MacArthur Park a chance to do something small. This pledge is simply an agreement to keep your home and the area immediately surrounding it litter free as well as keeping an eye out for your neighbor's safety.

It sounds like a small thing, but if every neighborhood resident did it, neighborhood cleaning would go much quicker, bussinesses would benefit and our safety would almost be ensured.

My Pledge For A Safe And Clean MacArthur Park Neighborhood

1. I promise to do my part to keep my home, the nearby sidewalks, yard and immediate alley ways litter free.
2. I promise to sweep/ rake fallen leaves, trim grass and clear weeds within a reasonable time frame.
3. I will keep my eye open for the safety of my neighbors and my community.
4. I will make an effort to support my local businesses, schools and neighborhood parks when I have the time and resources.
5. I will keep my home free of graffiti and larger dumped trash. Remember the Go Long Beach Ap, can be used if you need help with either, at no cost.

How do I submit the pledge?

Simply email me that you are taking the pledge.
Please include your name and address you are taking the neighborhood pledge for. A dot will be added to the map above in the general vicinity where the pledge was taken.

I am adding a few dots to represent the people who have not officially taken the pledge but I have seen, on much more than one occasion, make an active attempt to keep the neighborhood clean, especially when they go well beyond their own property line.

And our goal is to fill that map with green dots.

If anyone outside the boundaries of the MacAthur Park Neighborhood [PCH to Anaheim and Junipero to Orange] takes the pledge, we will give that Long Beach resident credit on a larger Google Map that covers all of Long Beach.

Sunday Safety Update: 04/19-2015 - 04/26/2015

Our crime free month has come to an end with a string of car thefts down walnut. There were also car thefts in Rose Park and virtually everywhere else on the crime reports map. Note: ours came on the same day when there was a string of tagging along 15th street from Walnut to the other side of Orange. There was also tagging that same day down Walnut from 15th. The tagging on that street was black in color and probably from the Crips Gang. There was also reported tagging on Altimos in red from the East Side Longs.

You will notice around the same time a pattern of car thefts following the V in the map. On the other side of Orange, since none of the streets are connecting the person responsible was more than likely coming from Altimos Blvd, the only street that closely connects all incidents. Please follow the link to keeping your car safe one more time. Be on the look out for any more tagging along major arteries like 14th or 15th street. And remember you can use the Go Long Beach App to make tagging vanish virtually over night.

There was also an officer involved shooting on the south side of Anaheim close to a storage facility. You can find the full details here. 

On Thursday, April 23, 2015, at approximately 2:45 P.M., officers responded to a residential multi-unit complex in the 1100 block of Hoffman Avenue regarding a report of several subjects unlawfully trespassing and vandalizing inside a vacant residence which resulted in an officer involved shooting. 

This is the second death in the area this year. While it is tragic, I think we should also give the police credit from bringing the numbers way down. Also the loitering at Orange and 17th, seems to have been brought to a halt. The first was the stabbing at Cabrillo on the west side of the 710. In this latest shooting, it was one of five suspects who were killed while engaging in criminal activity including vandalism, gang tagging and breaking and entering.

Gardenia Clean Up PCH to 14th Finished

Today there was an announced clean up of Gardenia Street from PCH to 14th. Because I had more volunteers we were able to get up a lot of the leaves lining 17th street. The Go Long Beach App was used to schedule pick ups for the bigger items that could not be fitted into the cans.

The Results: Litter that was removed from Gardenia today

Thank you to all the volunteers that came out. Also it was nice to meet the members of WESCA and the city workers involved with Litter Free Long Beach at the earlier clean up on Orizaba.

There will be no street cleaning next Saturday as I will be in Arizona for two days. We will resume at 10am on 05/08/2015 where this started about a month ago at 15th and Cherry. There is a chance there may be some city involvement in the future, which will hopefully give us a little more room than the four rolling trash cans.

I don't really have any before and after pictures because honestly Gardenia wasn't that bad.

Long Beach police involved in shooting after responding to report of trespassers

An officer-involved shooting took place today in the Cambodia Town neighborhood of Long Beach after police responded to a report of several trespassers tagging a vacant apartment.

The shooting resulted in a 19-year-old man being hit by gunfire. He was taken to a hospital and was in critical condition as of about 7 tonight, according to Long Beach Police Sgt. Megan Zabel.

Read the whole story at the Press Telegram.

* The MacArthur Park Neighborhood extends our thanks to both those who reported the tagging and the Long Beach PD. As much as this is bad news, the lat two incidents of violence in our neighborhood resulted in the perpetrators being led away in handcuffs. That's what happens when neighbors keep their eye open and watch out for each other..

Recent Update/ With Suspect Names

Both the below LB resources will eliminate any tagging free of charge. And they work quickly.

You can quickly rid yourself of any graffiti by using the Go Long Beach App.

Or just call the Graffiti Abatement Hotline.

(562) 570-2773

Because What Helps Your Neighbors Helps You

The MacArthur Park Neighborhood will be sending a little help this way before their own clean up begins at PCH and Gardenia at 10am.

West Division Leadership Forum: In Review

Too many 4th of July calls to field

Tonight at 1900 Atlantic Ave around fifty concerned community members of West Division met to discuss crime and safety in their neighborhoods. The West Division recently merged with the South Division making it one of Long Beach's largest divisions. It currently encompasses a network of neighborhoods including: MacArthur Park, the AOC7, Altimos Beach,  East Village, Wrigley, Downtown, Roosevelt and the Washington Neighborhoods.

The meeting began with a presentation focused on communication and questions about the 911 dispatch center. The presentation began with facts about response times based on the severity of the report. According to the presenter calls are broken down into three levels of severity, with level one receiving the fastest response time: usually just a few minutes. 

Because the majority of concerns I see posted on Nextdoor were about response time, here was a direct answer to questions about how long it may take 911 to pick up a call.

According to the presenter normally calls are picked up on the second ring. However, if the call comes in late at night when less officers are manning the phones and a lot of citizens may be calling in about the same thing, it may take a little longer to sort through all the calls. In other words, if there are gun shots at 2am and twenty people call in about it, someone will have their call fielded last and may experience a longer wait time.

Much of the meeting centered on remaining a "hard target" for trending crimes. If you follow this blog you already know that trend is auto theft. Commander Smith did say that owners of older model Hondas and Toyotas should be on higher alert. Also it was stated most of these crimes are happening later at night, around midnight. Questions bout how to protect yourself from other trending crimes, like the theft of catalytic converters, were not greeted with answers.

You can find out how insurance companies have answered these questions, since the problem does affect their bottom line.

Questions that came from the community ranged from concerns about abandoned vehicles with expired registration and compliments to neighbors who had thwarted recent theft attempts. One comment that stood out was how a group of neighbors wanted to host a movie night of the lawn of the neighbor who helped stopped a neighborhood theft. The reason was two-fold: to say thank you and to get the neighbors out and talking to each other. The more people in your neighborhood that come together, the safer it will be. And ideas like this would bring out people who may not show up at volunteer opportunities like neighborhood clean ups. 

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Question: What can I do for my neighborhood to quiet things down on the 4th of July?

Answer: You got me. Probably nothing.

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My biggest disappointment with the meeting was Commander Smith's answer to how can we bring the noise down on the 4th of July, which was unacceptable in my neighborhood last year. To sum up the answer I got from Commander Smith [I am paraphrasing here]: 

You got me. There are too many calls. It's the fault of the neighboring cities that sell them. You can only put up so many signs. Get used to it being uncomfortably loud.

With my respect and admiration to the officers who have done wonderful things for my neighborhood most of us will never know about because we aren't the ones dealing with them, that's not an answer I am willing to accept.

* Update: City council representatives from district 4 and 5 attended the meeting. If there were any representatives from District Two or Six, they were never introduced. Both District Two and Six are served by West Division so they should be present at its meetings. This is important to know because part of the meeting is to report crime trends and measure community involvement. f your council member does not show up and does not send any representative, the consequences for your district are clear.

West Division Leadership Forum

Opportunities To Get Involved: This forum is an opportunity for community and business leaders to become engaged with the Long Beach PD.

West Division Leadership Forum: Keep MacArthur Park Involved