Long Beach breakwater proponents still hopeful

get real wrote:

<quoted text>
"LONG BEACH - Violent crime kept police busy over the weekend, during which the city logged five shootings"
Look I would like to see the beach be more vital, BUT when a city is 'living paycheck to paycheck'and choices have to be made where our energy and monies are needed most. We must control the crime and violence before anything else, then stop the trash flow from the flood control channels, then we can think about building a beach. It is all about priorities and reality.

Oh...so now it is a monetary issue? You wanted to know the benefits and i listed a few for you, but apparently now you are changing your angle.

The federal government should be involved in funding because it was the Army Corp of Engineers who constructed the breakwaters to begin with. If that doesn't work, the Port of L.A. has to set aside funding for mitigation purposes everytime they destroy marine environments by expanding their facilities (these mitigation funds amount to millions of dollars).

The discussion about parking, gangs, lack of police/lifeguards, and local residents being affected is nonsense. There are parking lots near Belmont Plaza and the pier as well as metered parking along the bluffs that equals the amount of parking provided in Huntington Beach and Seal Beach. I highly doubt that once the local waters become cleaner the gangs will all of a sudden begin flocking in droves to enjoy the beach. Lifeguards can be provided by the county (as that is how other beaches in Long Beach are staffed). The added revenues from parking fees can be put toward additional police officer salaries. Local residents (especially those along Ocean Blvd.) will see increases in home values once the waters become healthy. Cleaner waters can also help promote the commercial fishing industry by providing the necessary nutrients for spawning and development. The benefits and revenues far outweigh the costs.

I don't like excuses. The City of Long Beach's glass is half full....not half empty.

Out weigh the costs??? You have no idea what this would cost but you just spout these kinds of satements again and again.
You are so intoxicated by your pipe dream that it really does not matter what the reality is.

Speaking of avoiding questions, What about traffic ?
To fill those parking lots would mean bringing alot more cars to an already congested area, and don't insult our intelligence by saying people would use shuttles.
So you really believe "the desirable people" would come to LB where we have a terrible reputation for being dangerous and gang infested (the reason more people don't come here, not because of the water quality) instead of HB (SURF CITY)or SB (safe for young boys to use the bathrooms) and have to ride a shuttle to boot, yeah right! I'm sure when both sides are heard the public will catch on, right now your support comes from people who are asked if they would like to have surf and blue water in Long Beach again, of course they say yes without thinking about the afore mentioned problems. Then the surfrider foundation starts saying there is overwhelming support to sink the BW. The same type of propaganda hoodwinked us with the Queen Mary, Disney, downtown mall, the pike and the aquarium. When LB builds it people don't always come. But all this really is a moot point because the breakwater will stay because no politico will ever be the last one to sign off on this fantasy, cause if the opponents are right and the penninsula floods that polititians career is over.

To those of you defending the breakwater: Have you heard of Stockholm Syndrome, where an abducted hostage after a certain time takes on the values of and becomes loyal to his abductor? These fools defend the breakwater as if it were a creation of God. From an ecological standpoint,*it was never supposed to be there*.

Your arguments about "desirable people" smacks of racism or at least class stereotyping. The beaches are public parks. Their use is open to all people. Per your argument, the final solution for keeping out the "undesirables" is to further degrade the beaches, making them *even more* repulsive to citizens. How about spreading a few thousand tons of broken glass across the sand? That should keep them away. Or, hey, we can remove the existing waste filters on sewer runoff and let *all* the filth deposit in the waters! I don't know a gangbanger anywhere who'd want to visit a place like that.

Another argument made shows an inability to focus on a subject. Just because there is a pressing (and unrelated) problem with fighting gangs and crime, it does not mean we suddenly have to drop all of our other pursuits and devote everything to the gang/crime problem. Geez, with such poor multi-tasking abilities, I'd hate to see your job performance review!

The fact is that the breakwater is not your friend. Just like that big ugly wart on your forehead, you might have gotten used to it in the last 70 years (you might even fondle it when daydreaming), but it's not normal. And if it can be removed, it should be.

no astronomical (abnormal) high tides. no storms causing consistent huge west-swell waves along our beach. take a look at either side of the peninsula. the sand is almost gone between 57th and 65th place on the ocean side. dozers bermed the bay side friday and saturday mornings at low tide to protect from high tide flooding. what exactly is the breakwater doing to protect the residents of the peninsula and naples? NOTHING.

I can't wait to see the breakwater removed. I always travel to other cities to go to the beach and I live in Long Beach.

I feel confident it would revitalize the whole area. I just got done reading the article in District magazine and when you look at how much better, in all areas, beach cities do that have waves and and clean water it just seems obvious to me.

really wrote:

Out weigh the costs??? You have no idea what this would cost but you just spout these kinds of satements again and again.
You are so intoxicated by your pipe dream that it really does not matter what the reality is.
Speaking of avoiding questions, What about traffic ?
To fill those parking lots would mean bringing alot more cars to an already congested area, and don't insult our intelligence by saying people would use shuttles.
So you really believe "the desirable people" would come to LB where we have a terrible reputation for being dangerous and gang infested (the reason more people don't come here, not because of the water quality) instead of HB (SURF CITY)or SB (safe for young boys to use the bathrooms) and have to ride a shuttle to boot, yeah right! I'm sure when both sides are heard the public will catch on, right now your support comes from people who are asked if they would like to have surf and blue water in Long Beach again, of course they say yes without thinking about the afore mentioned problems. Then the surfrider foundation starts saying there is overwhelming support to sink the BW. The same type of propaganda hoodwinked us with the Queen Mary, Disney, downtown mall, the pike and the aquarium. When LB builds it people don't always come. But all this really is a moot point because the breakwater will stay because no politico will ever be the last one to sign off on this fantasy, cause if the opponents are right and the penninsula floods that polititians career is over.

I like your style. Complain, complain, complain, and...wait....complain some more. I guess "desirables" are allergic to solutions. Keep complaining...it becomes amusing after a while. You seem to consider yourself fairly knowledgable on beach/ocean quality. How many beaches are there in Garden Grove? I would love to visit a beach with nothing but "desirables".