Sunday Safety Update: 05/24/2015 to 05/30/3015

There was less crime in MacArthur Park this week. It was also less serious. That said, the car theft trend does continue and trends north west, along with a lot of unreported neighborhood tagging. The blue stars represent that tagging. Most of the thefts from cars took place along Anaheim in the business district. Most of these car thefts took place in places where car thefts have happened in the past.

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Car Theft Prevention Tip: Do not leave valuables in your car even for on short trips

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Also notice there was a string of breaking and entering just north of our neighborhood. Be vigilant just in case that trends south west. Here are some suggestions on how to prevent breaking and entering. You can get outlet plugs on timers to keep your lights turning on and off at certain times, to keep appliances on and off as if someone is home while you're away. Below are some other cheap things you can buy at almost any home improvement store to keep your home secure. If I personally had the window locks, the only breaking and enterting that affected me would probably have never occurred. Considering you can get them for about $5 each, they are an excellent investment.

Window Lock/ Cheap Effective

Outlet Timer: On & Off Timer

Sliding Door Lock

Gaviota Cleaning PCH to Anaheim Finished

The cleaning of Gaviota took two days, this was mostly because of two locations. The majority of the street was cleaner than the first time I cleaned it. By the U-Haul Station and the Church Parking lot south of 14th it was much worse. The second picture filled up 1/2 of a 32 gallon trash bag.

Next week, we will be cleaning 15th heading East to Junipero. We';ll stop when I get tired as that will be the first time we've cleaned that side of the MacArthur Park Neighborhood.

Anybody who wants to join in, meet at 15th and Cherry just south of the doughnut shop.

Clean Up: Gaviota PCH to Anaheim: Thus Saturday 05/30/2015: 10am.

I will be starting at 1744 Gaviota 10am to noon. I will be providing snacks and bottled water water for anyone who wants to volunteer; nothing fancy just yet. Rolling cans, iron claws, brooms, rakes, gloves and trash bags provided. The MacArthur Park clean up schedule is here: http://macarthurparklbc.blogspot.com/p/events.html

People's State of the Long Beach City 2014

The People's State of the City was held tonight at Stephens Middle School Auditorium. In all, about 500 people attended. The forum was created by about fifteen community organizations that united four years ago under the banner Long Beach Rising. The forum itself was created to give the people of Long Beach an opportunity to respond to the Mayor's State of the City address which occurred earlier in January.

The theme of the night was "Halfway there and a long way to go." Much of the focus of the meeting was income inequality and how it tends to center itself in certain City Council districts over others. While the seven official topics of the night were: jobs, housing, poverty, immigration, education, the environment and community safety most of the meeting focused on poverty, jobs and housing disparities. Much of that disparity was shown through statistical maps to fall disproportionately on the west side of Cherry Avenue.

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Long Beach is a tale of two cities: One east of Cherry; one to the west.

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According to the slides presented about 130,000 Long Beach residents cannot afford their rent. About 20,000 Long Beach residents live in overcrowded homes. And of 63% of renters who reported issues to housing authorities, less than one third saw any corrective action. The grass roots organization that created Long Beach Rising is fighting to end some of the disparities by working to create an escrow account that will be enacted when disagreements between renters and property owners occur. In addition to that, they are fighting for a higher minimum wage, against the widening of the 710 and to protect the rights of women working in the hospitality industry.

Also highlighted was the concept of wage theft. In one example a Port Trucker who earned $975 in salary was showing also receiving $962 in deductions. The result was $12 in take home pay, which is clearly not enough to live off. However, to be absolutely fair, it would have been more helpful if the slide clearly showed what all the deductions were. Another practice they highlighted in the hospitality industry was making workers often work 14 hour days and clock in more than an hour after arriving at work.

The personal sense from the event was it was mixed. It clearly had the participation of the Long Beach residents. But virtually nobody who was being criticized, except for LBUSD, was in attendance. This means, everyone who was being characterized as the biggest issue including the hospitality industry, property owners or the low paying businesses were not there to answer, listen to the concerns or offer solutions. 

And I think in the end, if we want a better community we will have to bring everyone in that community to the table to talk.

Making A Better Neighborhhood Starts Here

Alley Way Beautification Continues

Today continued the alley way beautification project next to the carnercia on 15th and Gaviota. Above you can can see some before and after pictures that show a huge difference. This project will continue until we have cleaned this alley all the way to 14th street. This will not be an easy project to finish, from here the weeds get really bad.

The Fireworks Have Began: A Reminder

Business Review: Pinches Pizza

Pinches Pizza is located on 1711 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90813. That is next to the La Gaviota Market just east of Gaviota and Anaheim. The venue can boast very good pizza and clean, comfortable dining area. It has about five tables, two video games and a very simple and classic New York style decor. 

It also had friendly and fast service. The pizza itself was very good for the price. The place also delivers and has daily specials.

Those specials ranged from 50 cent wings to 99 cent garlic bread to a sandwich and sub for $3.99. The bottom line, you will get your money's worth here. If you are getting a special deal, you may well get more than your money's worth.

To be fair, Pinches Pizza isn't much different than a small mom and pop Pizza Hut. But the pizza is well made, served quickly and the toppings are generous for the price. I ordered the vegetarian and there were enough vegetables on it that I lost count. The venue is about twenty by forty feet in size. 

There is a single TV.  When I was there they were playing the Spanish Version of Die Hard. But then again, "Yippie Ki Yeah," is the same in any language so I could easily follow along. 

Where Pinches Pizza could improve was the venue is a little dark inside. It's painted a dark red, so without a light on, the place is a little dim. Also, they do not have any wifi connection. Where they shine was the food itself and the fact that they were encouraging their customers to review them on Yelp.

Overall, their reviews on both Yelp and Google+ are impressive.

Sunday Safety Update: 5/17/2015 - 05/24/2015

Crime is clearly up more than 100%, and that should not be a surprise. Most of that crime is car theft. Virtually all of it is property crime. 

I mentioned the increase in car thefts as soon as I saw them. What I want you to pay attention to now is the blue stars. This was all East Side Longo vandalism that remained unreported to the police. You will notice it trends down and points towards where most of the crimes are being committed. The main passage way is the alley from behind the U-Haul where the robbery occurred. Other passages include Walnut, Gaviota and Rose, all of which connect PCH to Anaheim.

These crimes are almost always on a street that connects two major roads like Anaheim and PCH or Orange and Cherry.

This means bad people are doing bad things. That said, they are marking their territory and that should give you a clue as to the direction they are headed.Now, while all tagging in MacArthur Park has been reported and is scheduled for clean up via the Go Long Beach Also, keep in mind those who do it cannot be prosecuted unless a police report is filed.

How to deal with graffiti

1. Remove it and remove ASAP
2. Use www.golbcity.com/
3. Call (562) 570-2773
4. Read more suggestions here.

The Go Long Beach App is this simple, snap a picture on your phone, send it over the app and that graffiti will be down in a day or two.

Until crime decreases again, there will be an additional report on Wednesday. Also please follow this link one more time to keep your car safe. While the contents of the article are common sense, I find myself doing the things it tells me not to almost daily, like leaving my phone or digital camera in the car while I step outside to get something to eats. In the mean time, please keep eyes peeled in all places. 

Remember, this is your neighborhood. You have the right to feel safe and know your personal property belongs to you.

Also, while this is bad news, remember we were also crime free for nearly a month. So this can be a very safe place to live, if we decide that is what we want it to be.

The Neighborhood Safety Page has been revamped to classify the links in order that they will be a little more useful. 

17th Street Clean Up Orange to Gardenia Done

There was an announced clean up of 17th street starting at Orange and ending at Gardenia today. The clean up started at 10am, and because 17th was cleaner than any street touched to this point, all work was done by 12pm. I couldn't take any before and after pictures because there was nowhere the before picture would have looked all that back.

Off to the side you can see three of the worst neighborhood littering candidates. One is La Gaviota, the LA Pizza Loca on 1470 PCH and Auto Adviiso Magazine.Com.

Next week we will be cleaning Gaviota, starting at PCH and ending at Anaheim. In addition to bottled water, food will be provided. Meet at 1744 Gaviota, a white building with green trim, at 10am to volunteer. Rolling cans, iron claws, trash bags, gloves, rakes and sodas will also provided this time around.

In the mean time, we are continuing with the MacArthur Park Next Door drive. Please follow this link to join next door and keep in touch with your neighbors as well as keep your community safe.

State of the City: Stephens Middle School 05/27/2015

Majpr Safety Alert: Vehicle Thefts Just North of 14th

Major Safety Alert: There was a concentration of three vehicle thefts along 14th street, very close to each other and on the same day. Almost every theft is reported as occurring or reported in the early morning. And almost every theft is was just north of 14th street. A fourth took place on Gardenia, just south of 17th on the right side of the street, just one day earlier; there was also a theft from a vehicle on Grundy and 16th on about the same day. Please keep eyes open on 14th/ 15th and on Walnut. Any street that traverses the neighborhood. Please take the time to reread keeping your car protected from vehicle theft.

What One Phone Call Can Do

In early April I mistakenly sent a compliment to Go Long Beach. I meant it to be an observation about tree trimming. 

At the time, I was just trying to see how long it would take the city to respond to a simple tree trimming request.  

 The concern was the trees were so overgrown on Grundy, virtually no street light was doing a thing to light the path a night.

I expected no response.

What happened was the city hired an arborist and the arborist agreed. As much as I like trees, when they keep the entire street darkness every night, it is a safety issue. 

A month ago, I noticed signs that the trees were interferring with the side walks and had been marked for removal. Two weeks ago the dumpsters show up and the trees started coming down

The point here is, when you ask for something for your neighborhood, the worst you will hear is no, so you might as well ask.

Congratulations to the MacArthur Park Neighborhood

Congratulations to the MacArthur Park Neighborhood for reaching the goal of 75 members on Next Door. We shoot for an even 100 in June.

Long Beach Job Fair - June 24th 2015

A job fair will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center on 06/24/2015 from 9:00am to 1:00pm. The fair is being sponsored by District 1 Representative Lena Gonzalez, but all of Long Beach is invited. The fair will focus on job opportunities and internships [for recent graduates] within the Long Beach area. Job seekers are encouraged to bring the resume and a cover letter.

Job Fair Sponsored By & District 1: Lena Gonzalez

Public transpiration does pass right by the Convention Center. Otherwise, expect parking to run you about $10. The Convention Center is located at 300 E. Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90802. Enter on Seaside Way. Businesses looking for employers are encourage to go to http://www.pacific-gateway.org/JOBFAIR and register if they would like  to attend and gain access to hundreds of skilled job seekers. There is also a registration page for community resource groups.

Sunday Safety Update: MacArthur Park Neighborhood

This week, within the MacArthur Park neighborhood it was pretty quiet. On the outskirts, there were some incidents. The longer arrow follows a trend of Vandalism along PCH that continues south of PCH and to Ohio Street in the Zaferia neighborhood on the 16th. This vandalism began with 3 incidents on May 11th. The one on Ohio, involved four. It's reasonable to assume there is a strong likelihood the same taggers were heading south east.

Remember you can use the Go Long Beach App to get rid of any unwanted tagging within about a day.

The shorter line is a trend of vehicle thefts and burglaries following PCH. There is less of a pattern for these crimes except that they are clustering around PCH. There is also a cluster of property crimes along Ohio street outside of our neighborhood. That is interesting since there is also tagging on an area of Ohio street that is not connected to that cluster.

Keep an eye on major streets like PCH and Ohio, despite the fact it isn't in our neighborhood.

Walnut Ave Clean From PCH to Anaheim

Okay, this clean up took a little longer than I had hoped, but Walnut Ave is clean again from PCH to Anaheim Street. The picture above shows how much trash was taken off the street this morning. The center shows how much trash can be left behind by a single vendor. Every flyer you see above is from the LA Gaviota Market on Anaheim and Gaviota. And that doesn't even include their flyers that came from south of 14th street.

When you multiply that by how many streets are in our neighborhood, you can clearly see how one market can make a huge difference, positive or negative. So far I have asked every business with an email address to take the city's anti litter pledge.

I am again asking every business in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood to follow this link, and agree to keep Long Beach and their neighborhood clean.

There were some pleasant surprises in today's clean up. Several street signs reported as damaged or tagged were fixed. The most important was the school sign next to Whittier Elementary that had the residue of gang tagging and looked like it was from a Mad Max film. Both that sign and a crooked and tagged one way sign were fixed almost as soon as they were reported.

One of the reasons Walnut takes so long is the street is well taken care of north of 14th street. Then after 14th street, specifically next to some of the larger apartments, it starts to look like the above before and after section. That little stretch of land, takes more than an hour to clean that thoroughly.

Next week, we will be cleaning 17th street from Orange to Gardenia on 05/23/2015. The meeting spot will be 17th and Orange at 10am. The clean up schedule is listed here.

The AOC7's Annual Literacy Fair

Parents lined up with kids to get their book bags.

Today at MacArthur Park, the AOC7, which represents the neighborhood from Orange to Cherry and 7th to Anaheim, held its annual literacy fair. Neighborhood kids walked away with free books, food and some with prizes. 

Set up for the fair actually began at 7am. The fair itself began at 10am and ended at 1pm.

This year, the AOC7 secured donations of more than 8,000 new and used books. Those donations went to students of Lincoln Elementary, Whittier Elementary as well as a few neighboring school children who happened to be passing by during the fair.

Prize give raffles during the AOC7's annual Literacy Fair.

Parents and kids getting their free books and reading them.

The MacArthur Park Neighborhood would like to thank the AOC7 and all the volunteers who brought such a great event to our all the adjoining neighborhoods. Assuming the literacy fair grows, next year they will need more volunteers, more schools and kid's organizations to participate.

The food and prizes were provided courtesy of various organizations like the Long Beach Rescue Mission and the Port of Long Beach, just to name a few.

Anybody who would like to see a full album of pictures of the event, can look on the MacArthur Park Neighborhood Group.

This Saturday's cleanup will be on Sunday, not interfere with the Literacy Fair at MacArthur Park

MacArthur Park clean ups are normally Saturday at 10am. This week, it;s being moved one day to allow everyone to support the AOC7's Literacy Fair at MacArthur Park.

 Sunday's clean up will be: Walnut and PCH heading south, starting promptly at 10am. Check out the AOC7's flyer for details on the literacy fair this Saturday.

Quick Safety Update: Tagging on Gaviota by Chittick Field

Three incidents of vandalism were reported yesterday at 7:24am on Gaviota just north of PCH. Please keep an eye open around Chittick Field, as well as the other three neighborhood parks: MacArthur and Rosa Parks, for tagging and or destruction of property. Other than the continued tagging at 1732 15th street, this week has been quiet so far.

Update: 05/13/2015: Additional tagging on 15th and Walnut last night, buildings and alleys. Note most of the tagging is taking place on streets like Walnut or 15th, and that is a very predictable and reliable prevention pattern to be on the look out for.

A Nice Neighborhood Logo

Alleyway Beautification: Phase One

Sundays will begin the Alleyway Beautification Project. Today, we removed a lot of weeds from this alley nearest the carnceria on 1732 15th street. Each Sunday we will remove a little more. After that, we'll do something really impressive.

Volunteers Needed For The AOC7 Literacy Fair

This literacy fair will take place at MacAthur Park next Saturday. The AOC7 [the neighborhood just south of the MacArthur Park Neighborhood] is looking for volunteers. They may also still be able to use book donations. They are currently around 600 books away from 7000 donations. You can find the Facebook Events Page Here.

Sunday Safety Update 10 and 11

Last Week's Break Down (04/26 - 05/02): Two car thefts took place in our neighborhood. So the only pattern for the week of 04/26 is two vehicle thefts. Both of which take place on 17th street or close to 17th street. The first on 16th street is at 8pm and the second is at 10pm on 15th. This is why most articles that tell you how to stop car theft will tell you report it ASAP. 

While you are debating what to do, the car thief may be heading east to steal another car.

Sorry, last Sunday's Safety Update is late. I was playing a Church in Arizona last Sunday and did not have computer access to post. Since next week information repeats this pattern, here's the article on keeping your car safe once more. 

This Week's Break Down (05/03 - 05/09): This week was not as light. There were two auto thefts and two residential burglaries. This map also doesn't show the vandalism that has been taking place all week at 1732 15th street either. When the graffiti appears it's a reliable sign crime is about to increase. 

* Another pattern to be on the look out for is this. The first night tagging appears, will probably be followed by another night when someone crosses that tagging out and puts their own in its place. And those two events will probably happen within 48 hours of each other.

Notice there is still a pattern of car thefts. I will say, past car thefts have taken place in both of these areas before. Keep a close eye on anything parked on 17th street, Walnut, Rose and when parking by MacArthur Park. 

In addition to the two car thefts, there were two residential burglaries. Time wise, there was no pattern to the burglaries that took place on Warren or Gaviota. The Long Beach PD, has posted numerous articles on crime prevention. Since half the issues in the neighborhood were burglary, here's the Long Beach PD's advice on preventing burglary.

* Also, while neither of these maps is ideal, I will say compared to some of what is going on around it, they are still very encouraging.

Second 15th Street Clean Up

15th street was again cleaned from Cherry to Orange. This time trash was picked up/ weeding and leaves were only picked up in the alley way closest to the Carneceria at 1732 15th Street. 

This is the second time we have cleaned 15th. The first was on 03/14/2015, about a month and a half ago. Since that time, every street in the neighborhood has been cleared of litter at least once.

Below is an indication of what the alley will look like in the coming days. The alley was weeded and cleared of trash up until the end of the blue market. Getting any more than that will require some additional space in my trash cans.

It was nice to meet new neighbors along 15th street as well as reconnect with those that I met the very first time there was a neighborhood clean up. I will say that the street was significantly cleaner than the first time I picked up trash along it. It still took longer than I wanted it to, however, I was out of practice.

Next week, there will be a clean up on Walnut from PCH to Anaheim. However, it will take place on Sunday so I can help the AOC7 with the literacy fair taking place at MacAthur Park.

New LBPD Academy Recruiting Through November

The Long Beach Police Department has started its third academy class in two years, and is currently recruiting its next academy. In case any MacAthur Park/ AOC7/ Long Beach Poly residents are interested. The City Council included the funding of the current academy – Class No. 88 – in the FY 2015 budget.

Academy Class No. 88 will graduate in November 2015, and then continue their development as officers in the Field Training Program, which consists of working one year with a Field Training Officer. The Field Training Officers rigorously observe and report on the progress of each new officer, ensuring they are ready to deploy and function as responsible peace officers on their own.