Tonight we attended the West Division Leadership Forum. The topic was auto theft. LBPD is giving away the club for the wheel. Both the MacArthur Park Community Association & the Wrigley Community Neighborhood Group​ will be giving away one of the two you see in the picture soon. Not sure how yet, but I am leaning to giving it to someone willing to take the pledge to keep the neighborhood safe and clean. 

Follow this link for details:  
http://macarthurparklbc.blogspot.com/2015/04/macarthur-park-neighborhood-pledge.html

West Division Leadership Forum: Car Theft/ Mobile Apps/ Crime Analysis/ Success Stories

WE Labs: Pitch a Solution for Homelessness

On Tuesday. Josephine Villaseñor and I attended WE Lab's event Pitch A Solution for Homelessness. What stood out about the meeting, was it wasn't a group of residents complaining about the problem, it was concerned citizens actually attempting to pitch solutions to it. 

Homelessness is a growing problem in Long Beach. The Police Department has two Quality of Life Officers that work in tandem with Health and Human Services and are dedicated to helping the homeless get back on their feet and find shelter. However, for the growing homeless population a better solution is needed. 

Here were some of the pitches that were made. 

The ideas pitched included the need for a central tree of information, that would branch out from a single number such as 211. 211 LA County, a 501(c)3 organization, is one of the largest and most effective resource lines in the nation providing access to comprehensive social services and disaster support for L.A. County residents.

A second idea was the use of port containers in the creation of housing campuses for the homeless. Shipping container homes were okayed for the Wrigley area in 2011. You can also find one at the intersection of Ocean and Temple. Each shelter would be called a campus. Each campus would serve a specific need. For instance, one campus may be devoted to drug recovery. One campus might be reserved for families getting back on their feet. 

The containers are strong enough to resist weathering. They could also be easily stacked. Each campus could be built for around $30 a square foot, before factoring in landscaping, health services and security. There would be some challenges in finding suitable land that was hooked up to the sewer system. There are currently a lot of these crates at the port going to waste. In many cases  they are just given away.

Additional ideas included an app that would allow residents to donate their recycle goods as a source of funding for homeless related issues. The idea pitched through the organization Ashla and Monday Night Mission would create a map of those residents who agreed to donate their recyclables which would then be picked up by the homeless as a $15 an hour minimum wage job. The obvious issue is thatvtaking those recycle goods, if the idea were to take money out of the city's budget, which will already experience a deficit next year.

The final idea was the creation of a database of shelters that would remove those shelters temporarily from the listing when beds are not available. The website would also allow homeless users to make reservations through the website and screen out those shelters that could not meet their needs. The link above would require shelter buy in before it could be of anyuse. There was an issue with making too much of the shelter's information public, but in the end most in attendance agreed the app would be very beneficial to social workers, police and community service workers trying to find a path off the street

What a prefabricated container house looks like, from the Mojave Desert.

Improvements to the MacArthur Park Play Ground

There have been some major alterations to the MacArthur Park Neighborhood Playground. The three new blue and purple structures are larger than the old ones and made of sturdier metal. The old ones were a weak type of plastic. 

There is a newer, larger slide. Much nicer swings. And the "monkey bars," have a little less of a kindergarten feel to them. I was able to check the restrooms, and I did notice they were significantly cleaner, with no tagging. There are also concrete islands within the new play ground to help keep it clean.

The following comes from sources inside the park that any reasonable person would expect to be accurate. Because the office of Dee Andrews is disputing it, I am asking for all official documents to show exactly where all the funding from the park renovation came from. Send that info to shaynem@hotmail.com: From a critical stand point, we were told by sources close to the park this renovation came from a $500,000 grant from the state. The community was also told the City and District Six pledged no money, so please hold off on giving credit to our City Council with accomplishing this, it happened in spite of a lack of City support, and was used as an excuse for the cancellation of the Cambodia Town Night Market.

MacArthur Park: Go Long Beach Tracker 02/21/2016

There was a Go Long Beach Run through all of the MacArthur Park Neighborhood this morning.It found ten incidence of tagging/ nine were gang related. It found 14 incidents of of illegal dumping.There was also one street sign that should be replaced as well as a recommendation for an additional stop sign at Gardenia and 15th Street.

Two businesses were coded for failure to remove gang tagging.

The most important clear trend is that gang tagging is way up. Report it as soon as you see it.

This included the east end of the neighborhood. Dumping still clusters on Gaviota north of 17th. There is also a trend of dumping along Stanton north of 15th. Tagging trends up Walnut/ and Gaviota. There is also a newer trend of tagging and dumping along 17th Street between Walnut and Rose.

Eyes should be kept on Walnut/ Gaviota/ Stanton/ 17th Street and Alamitos based on what is seen here.

Neighborhood Expansion Run: Through Wrigley/ Washington

Here's what we found: Heavy gang tagging between 14th and 15th on Cedar/ other side of Washington Middle. All reported for removal. Not much dumping in central Wrigley, but there was an alarming number of what looked like Blue Crosses or Cross Hairs at Chestnut and Hill. They were on a mailbox/ street sweeping sign and a tree. All reported for removal, as was a dumped fridge in Cedar Heights/ Wrigley.

MacArthur Park's 1st City Wide Breakfast: Updated

Thank you to We Love Long Beach for the kind donations, the neighbors who came out, Wrigley Community Neighborhood Groupp for the help organizing and Tania Morales for the additional support in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood's first City Wide Breakfast.

It's hard to read but hear were the suggestions: 

• A neighborhood grocery store
• Shuttles for seniors - People with no cars
• More neighborhood events
• Speed bumps for cars turning off PCH
• Neighborhood cleaning
• Neighborhood watch
• Game day 
• Board game pot lucks 
• Neighborhood Olympics.

Go Long Beach Run 02/08/2016

A Go Long Beach Run today found 14 separate incidents of tagging and 14 incidents of dumping. Of the 14 taggings, ten were gang related and four were probably not. The gang related tagging clusters north of Gaviota and 15th street. Look for the yellow circle on the map. The dumping in that same area is also very serve. There is also a trend of dumping/ minor tagging that begins at Gaviota and Anaheim and then travels North West to 17th and Orange. There is a similar trend following Alamitos and 17th Street South.

Keep an eye on Gaviota/ Rose/ Gardenia where most of the tagging starts. This time, keep your eyes peeled north of 15th Street. Also keep an eye on the encampment outside the CVS at Ester and Orange, it has grown ridiculously large. The furniture store there was reported to Go Long beach for pick up. You can view the Google Map that saves this information here:  

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en_US&app=mp&mid=z-3IaZ6r2iPM.k5__YcbLgrRE

The GO Long Beach app is designed to provide Long Beach, CA residents, businesses, and visitors the opportunity to access City Hall, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere. You will be able to quickly submit service requests for issues such as graffiti, potholes and sign damage. iPhone and Android device users can simply open the App, select an issue, take a picture, and tap submit - the App knows the exact location and sends the issue directly to city staff. You will also be able to track the status of your requests through your mobile device. So far our neighborhood has used this app, 876 times.

 We will get the East end of the MacArthur Park Neighborhood and make a run through AOC7 next. #SupportJosephine

West Division Leadership Forum: 02/24/2016: 6pm

Please join Commander Robert Smith and his staff for this informative meeting on Wednesday February 24, 2016 at 6:00pm. at 1129 Alamitos. We will be having an Auto Theft Detective give a presentation as well as Administrator Karen Owens will be giving a presentation on the Community Engagement Division. 

Human Trafficking Volunteer Task Force Comes To Long Beach

Today I participated in the Human Trafficking Volunteer Task Force. We went to three bars in District Two to see if they were in compliance with State Law that requires a poster with the trafficking hotline was prominently displayed by the front door where customers could see it. 

One out of three bars, Ferns on 4th Street, was already in compliance. The other two were willing to put up the posters pretty much on the spot.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control victims for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or labor services against his/her will.

Since the posters began going up, there have been a significant increase in calls to the Human Trafficking Hotline. The law requiring bars to display the poster was actually passed several years back. Fines for failing to display the poster are $500 for the first 30 days, and $1000 for each additional 30 days there after. 

The hotline which is: 1 (888) 373-7888 is staffed seven days a week. It is manned by volunteers who can field several different languages. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center coordinates the outreach efforts. Basically, outreach sends volunteers out to venues that are expected to comply with the law, speaks with the managers and owners of the venue about the law, provides the materials to be in compliance if needed and tracks their efforts for the District Attorney in case the venue refuses to comply.