17th Street Clean Up: Gardenia to Walnut

There was an announced clean up of 17th Street. This clean up was supposed to run from Gardenia to Orange. Unfortunately, it was a little hot out, so we pack up at Walnut. We will get the rest of 17th Street before the week is out. 

Thanks to Carmen for the water and Bryan for the extra trash bags.

Next Saturday, we will be tackling 15th Street from Cherry to Junipero. Also, we are going to try to get more of Junipero based on what is showing up on the Crime Report's Map. Our 50th clean up in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood is approaching soon.

Walnut Street Cleam Up: Recap

Sorry, no there are pictures this time. So north of 15th Street, I was able to clean Walnut with room to spare. I actually filled 75% of the bag with trash from the alley behind the U-Haul Station. Had I had a little room left over, I would have done an unscheduled clean up on the north side of Gaviota today. Unfortunately, south of 15th Walnut is pretty bad. South of 14th, next to the three large apartment complexes bordering the industrial businesses on Anaheim, on the east end of the street, I was able to fill a bag. Usually one bag can do half a street. One bag should have handled all of Walnut from 15th to Anaheim; it handled half of that. 

In other words, Walnut took four bags, and I still haven't finished the east end of 15th to 14th Street; I may finish that later in the week, but no promises. I did meet some neighbors who said they would like to be involved in future clean ups. Hopefully, they will follow through and we soon meet a lot more. Also, don't forget to take the pledge to keep your part of the MacArthur Park Neighborhood clean. It is your neighborhood after all. Next week, I have a clean up on Junipero scheduled. It may get rescheduled due to the Ready Long Beach Event, planned by CERT as I am on a list of potential volunteers.

Sunday Safety Update: 09/06/2015 to 09/12/2015

Disclaimer: Please note these maps are meant to show which direction crime is trending, areas to keep an extra eye on and places to remain vigilant in order for Central Long Beach residents to remain safe. That said, previous trends don't guarantee future trends will repeat in the same direction and patterns. Also, an absence of crime in one area, does not guarantee an absence in that same area later on. as well. 

09/02/2015 - 09/12/2015: This update shows a very scattered pattern. The only big pattern, which isn't clear above, is a lot was going on Wednesday 09/09/2015; this is the same day as the fatal shooting at 2100 Pasadena listed below. 

Starting with the map itself there is a robbery on the Whittier Elementary Campus, the next day there is a theft in the same area. This would have been at 17th and Walnut where kids and adults cross to the school. These incidents happened between 7:43am, when school starts and noon, likely when kindergarten lets out. Just remain very observant in the area. 

Beginning at Cherry and Anaheim there is a robbery leading up into assaults at either end of Cherry and the Spaulding alley as well as Cherry and 17th. The first is likely a dark alley at night, the second is where the smog check/ and a somewhat less than uninviting hotel is situated at the corner of PCH and Cherry. I would be very careful in either of those areas, at all times. That hotel does not screen their guests, and that alley is a little dark and claustrophobic for my tastes.

There is a single theft from a car by Rotary Centennial Park, I expected a lot more; maybe the How To Prevent Car Thefts post is helping. There also looks like there might be some more car thefts converging around MacArthur Park. I think they're probably trending from the AOC7 towards MacArthur Park, but there isn't quite enough information to predict a trend yet. 

There was an officer involved shooting on Thursday. Neither the officer nor the suspect was hurt. No additional information has been released since I first reported what happened. Oddly, that shooting does not even appear on the Crime Reports map. Everyone I know, is simply grateful that neither the suspect nor the officer were hurt. It would be nice to see a few more stories end that way.

There were two fatal shootings outside our neighborhood:

2100 Block of Pasadena Avenue. 09/09/2015: Officers responded to a shooting call around 12:41 a.m. in the 2100 block of Pasadena Avenue, police said. They found an adult man on a sidewalk suffering at least one gunshot wound to the upper body. An officer began life saving measures until Long Beach Fire Department personnel arrived. Paramedics transported him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.

400 Block of 5th Street: Officers were called around 9:51 p.m. to a shooting in the 400 block of West Fifth Street, according to information the Long Beach Police Department provided.
Officers found a male adult victim suffering gunshot wounds in the upper body, police said. Long Beach Fire Department paramedics responded and took the victim, in critical condition, to a hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.

There was also a nonfatal shooting in the Wrigley area on Friday. A fatal shooting in the St. Mary's area, has resulted in an arrest. 

I am going to create a solved/ unsolved homicide page very soon. The goal is to keep the victims as names instead of statistics, I think that will make us a little more likely to keep perusing justice in their names. 

Walnut Street Clean Up: 09/12/2015 10am

This cleanup will be starting from the south side of the intersection, moving south towards Anaheim this time. Volunteers are always welcome. All clean up materials will be provided. The clean up schedule is here: 

http://macarthurparklbc.blogspot.com/p/events.html

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.

Unscheduled Cleanup of Walnut Way. 16th and Balley

There was an unscheduled clean up of Walnut Way, 16th and Balley. Like Rose these were three of the cleanest streets in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood.  Also re-cleaned was a small stretch of 17th street between Gaviota and Walnut.

Because of this I also cleared the trash from half of the alley connecting 16th Street and the Balley. I will get the rest of that alley soon. 

Again, the next scheduled clean up is this Saturday on 14th Street. Meet at Cherry and 14th at 10am, all cleaning supplies will be provided.

Uanaounced Cleanup Gaviota Anaheim to 15th Street

There was an announced clean up of Gaviota from Anaheim to 15th Street. Next Sunday there will be an additional unannounced cleanup beginning around 8:00am. Attend the cleanup this coming Saturday on Rose Street starting at Anaheim to find out where. The clean up of Rose Street shouldn't be that bad; the residents actually attend to Rose Street pretty well. Beginning next week I will start posting pictures of before and after to show more clearly how this will make a difference. I will also begin highlighting some of the more creative things people have done with the space between the street and public sideway, to give residents ideas and encourage neighborhood beautification.

Walnut Clean Up from PCH to Anaheim

It's hard to see from the pic but this is how much trash one person can clear from their neighborhood in about two hours even without any help. Walnut is a little cleaner, next Saturday: 03/28/2015 from 10am to noon, I'll do the same for 17th starting at Altimos/ Orange..

This is the second clean up. The first was a week earlier on 15th street from Cherry to Orange. Between the two neighborhood clean ups, about 64 gallons of trash were removed from the MacArthur Park neighborhood.