Grand Opening MacArthur Park Playground

From NextDoor: There will be a grand opening ceremony at MacArthur Park this Saturday, March 26, at 10 am to celebrate our new playground equipment and our newly renovated facility. The morning's activities will include entertainment by the Afrikan dancers and Street Dance Crew from Homeland Cultural Center, and the reading of a poem especially written for the occasion. The public is invited to attend the ceremony, and to tour the facilities afterwards.

Jim Ruggirello
Supervisor, Homeland Cultural Center at MacArthur Park

Business Review: El Paisa Restaraunt

The El Paisa Colombian Food restaurant is located at the intersection of 17th Street and Alamitos. It does have a private parking lot that I believe it shares with a small laundry mat; that's important because street parking in the area is limited. Overall, this is one of the best restaurants I've visited in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood though I did find it a little over priced.

I think I ordered the Bandeja Paisa, upon the recommendation of the waiter. First for the good news: The food is rather good and tastes very authentic. The steak, chicharrón, which I can only describe as deep fried fat from a pork chop and side dishes were all excellent. The beans and biscuit were a little bland. But clearly they have an serious eye on the quality of the food as even the hot sauce and water stood out. Additionally the variety of food you get on one plate is rather impressive.

The venue itself is very clean and tastefully decorated with Colombian memorabilia. There is more than enough seating and the seating itself is spread out. Even at maximum capacity which is 48, it wouldn't feel crowded. The service was very good. The food arrived quickly, and was still thoroughly cooked. The only place I wasn't happy was the price. Credit cards require a minimum of a $10 purchase, which is a little expensive for lunch. My lunch came to about $16.

So overall, the El Paisa is a little overpriced, costing it about a half a star. Regardless, it's one of the better restaurants I've eaten at in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood, and I would definitely recommend it as a dinner destination.
  
El Paisa
1640 Orange Ave
(562) 333-811

Suggestion To The City: Green Cans for Organic Waste

Since the city of Long Beach wants to get people recycling and save on refuse, I recommend we add the green trash cans to refuse. This would free up some room in everyone's can for the rest of the trash. That would be very helpful in zip codes like 90813 where there are twice as many people and still around the same amount of litter containers as other zip codes. Green cans are generally used for tree clippings, grass and other organic material that can be reused for fertilization purposes. It would also give the city an endless supply of mulch while encouraging those who want to garden and make the city a look a little nicer always had room in their cans to do so. 

Meeting to Address Increased Violence and Accompanying Social Media Threats

The Long Beach Ministers Alliance and local Neighborhood Community Group, “Anaheim, Orange, Cherry, 7th” (AOC7) will host a meeting with the Long Beach Police Departments Gang Division to receive updates on the recent threats of violence on social media.

Over the last two weeks, there has been an increase in social media threats supposedly originating from the East Side Longo’s.

The Long Beach Ministers Alliance, AOC7, other leadership groups and the community have taken these potential threats seriously.

As a result, the Long Beach Ministers Alliance has requested the Long Beach Police Department provide a “real time” update to the concerned community.

Alliance President Gregory Sanders stated, “I recently sat down with Commander Robert Luman to discuss the anxieties our community is experiencing as a result of these escalating rumors. The meeting was extremely productive. And although the statistics reveal a recent wave of shootings, it didn’t appear they were directly connected to the surge of threats being volleyed by social media instigators. After my conversation with Commander Luman, we agreed, the best course of action would be to address our apprehensive citizens directly”, Sanders concluded. [Related Press-Telegram article]

The ‘update” meeting will be held Tuesday night, July 7, 2015 at 6:00 PM. The location of the meeting is: Temple Baptist Church, 2825 E. 10th Street, Long Beach, California 90804.

The entire community is invited to attend.

According to Sanders, “the design of this meeting will be different than our previous “town hall” meetings. What I mean by that is, this meeting is not a forum to address Police and community tensions such as hiring practices, officer involved shootings and other issues. We would like to maximize this connection by specifically addressing these latest gang rumors and threats. We would like people to leave with an increased sense of awareness and confidence.”

Brief Safety Update: There was limited unreported tagging on 07/3/15 early morning, after midnight. There was reported theft/ property crime on Cherry, between 10th and PCH. There have also been a lot of vehicle or thefts from cars close to PCH and Sherman this month.Meeting to Address Increased Violence and Accompanying Social Media Threats

Cambodia Town Night Market & Community Garden

A lot of people are pushing for some improvements along the Anaheim Corridor. It looks like the community garden and a version of a farmers market to increase pedestrian activity in the area are probably going to happen. The night market, which runs from 4pm to 9pm, looks like it needs volunteers and venders. Here's the Facebook Page to keep up on these two things: 

You are also highly encouraged to attend a community meeting to be hosted by Councilman Dee Andrews on Thursday July 9, 2015 6:00-7:00 pm, at Mark Twain Library. The Councilman will make a public announcement about a new community garden and a night market in the heart of Cambodia Town. Please see the enclosed flyer for details.

MacArthur Park Neighborhood Events Calendar

So this is a test, I added a few upcoming events to a Google calendar. One of the problems in MacArthur Park is there is no central place to find out what is happening in the neighborhood. This is an attempt to remedy that.

To get an event added email it to me @ shaynem@hotmail.com. To be added to the calendar it will either have to occur in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood or directly impact it. This is a rough draft.

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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

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

14 Street Clean Up Cherry to Orange Is Done

It took a little longer than I wanted, but 14th street is litter free. At least for now. I still have enough supplies for more neighbors to get involved. Every clean up participants will be provided with gloves, rolling cans, iron claws, bottled water and soda if you request request it. Next week I will be getting Peterson and Warren. The starting location will be Peterson and 15th at 10am on Saturday 04/18/2015. 

I also encourage all my neighbors to partner with the AOC7 for their cleanup on 11th street which is happening the same day at 8:30am. There are no before and after pictures because 14th street was clean enough, even by MacArthur Park there was no place to get a great shot. In other words, the neighborhood is starting to clean itself up a little.

Spring Cleaning Begins On Grundy

There was an unannounced street cleaning on Grundy from PCH to Anaheim this morning. Ester was also covered from Grundy to Orange. As per the recommendation of a previous neighborhood clean up volunteer, before and after pictures were taken, just so that it's clear this is making a difference.

Tomorrow, 04/04/2015 at 10am, there is an announced cleaning of Rose Street from Anaheim to PCH. Meet at Anaheim and Rose if you want to participate in building a nicer neighborhood. All cleaning supplies including gloves will be provided. Since I am off for Spring Break this week there will probably be a few additional unannounced neighborhood cleanups. I won't post about the unannounced cleanings again until next Saturday.

Check for announced Saturday upcoming neighborhood clean ups here.

To the right, is the amount of trash removed from Grundy and Ester. That's about 64 gallons, or the amount that was taken from 17th street last week.

There will also be a big clean up on 14th street in two weeks, 14th street is arguably the street that needs this the most. Hopefully, there will be a few volunteers, or it may take me all day.

Central Long Beach Neighborhood Resource Map

This is a map of all the neighborhood resources in central Long Beach. It includes neighborhood associations in the 2nd and 6th District. Also included is neighborhood resources as well as homeless, medical, cultural and charity services. They are color coded by district. and service type.

The map also contains areas that match up with Next Door's neighborhood divisions. Each rectangle contains a little more about that neighborhood and the best links that support it. I will be adding more neighborhood associations and services as I find them.

Join The New MacArthur Parlk Neighborhood Mailing List

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In Response To The Press Telegram About The Deadly 90813 Zip Code

The Press Telegram recently ran an article about the 90813 zip code being Long Beach's deadliest zip code. The problem is they are using statistics from ten years ago. In order to be useful to residents of the area, you need to see how things are changing, be it for the better or the worse.

Breakdown of what the numbers say

1. The amount of homicides in Long Beach has declined 76% over 15 years. 
2. The number of homicides in 90813 has decreased over the last three years
3. A map of those homicides shows a heavier cluster south of Anaheim Street.
4. The percentage that represents of Long Beach homicides has fluctuated as the number of homicides in Long Beach has went up and  down since 2011.
5. The number of homicides so far in 2015 in the 90813 zip code was zero as of February 28th, 2015.

The article for the Press Telegram states there have been 110 homicides in the 90813 zip [Central Long Beach], second only to the 90805 zip code, which serves long beach. 

The 90813 gets a worse rap because  because 56 - 58% remain unsolved. In Long Beach overall, about 38% of all homicides go unsolved. A twenty two percent higher unsolved murder rate for the 90813 zip code does look exceptionally bad.

An objective look at three years of numbers:

Long Beach Police have detailed statistics going back around three years. They have less detailed statistics for the last 15. 

Over the last 15 years the murder rate in Long Beach is down by 76%. Violent crime is down by 51% and property crime is down 51%. That said, if homicides are down 76% over 15 years, it's reasonable to infer they are down for every zip code in Long Beach. So overall, that's positive news for Long Beach and inconclusive news/ but probably positive news for the 90813 zip code.

Now, over the last three years, I can break it down crime stats by zip code. And if you look at 90813 over the last three years, there are some bright spots and there are also some patterns. 

Understanding The Homicide Map Above

The above map tracks homicides in from 2012 until 2014. If you see a green dot there was a homicide in 2014. If you see a blue dot, a homicide took place there in 2013. If you see a red dot, a homicide took place in 2012. 

No homicides were mapped above PCH or below 7th street, as that would be out of the 90813 zip code. 

In 2014, there were a total of 23 homicides in Long Beach; The 90813 experienced about 26% of those homicides as there are 6 blue dots. While the city as a whole did experience less murders, 90813 did not. That's neutral news as the city itself saw an overall decrease, but 90813 didn't do any better than last year.

In 2013. the city experienced 33 homicides.  The 90813 zip code experienced 6. That was approximately 18% of all the homicides in Long Beach. While Long Beach's homicide rate was up, the homicide rate in the 90813 murder rate was 25% less than the previous year. That is positive news for the 90813 zip code overall.

In 2012, there were a total of 30 homicides. The 90813 zip code experienced 8. That was about 26% of all homicides in Long Beach that year. That's seems negative because 2012 saw 20% more homicides than the previous year. This doesn't tell you anything about 2012 except it experienced more homicides in the 90813 zip code than the year that followed. Stats for the previous year are not available to compare to 2012.

What Do These Numbers Really Say

Overall, that's an inconclusive analysis of the last three years at best. You really can't even tell from the map if the problem is clustering in certain blocks because there are almost as many single dots as there are clusters. All you can say for certain is the numbers are going down and the occurrences seem to be evenly spread. There is one place where there is some very good news. If you're wondering about the homicide rate in 2015. So far it's two as of February 28th and neither took place in the 90813 zip code.

Update. As of 04/01/2015, the numbers are not yet published for March. However, this morning I saw this bad news in the Long Beach Website feed.  I believe this will fall in the 292 reporting grid. Since this is three years in a row for that grid, you fight this by starting neighborhood watches in that area and taking your neighborhood back.

2nd Update: Based on conversations with police, this was not a shooting, it appears it was a homeless man who died from alcohol poisoning.