TITLE
Recommendation to refer to the Planning Commission for recommendation of a zone change for the City-owned property on the southeast corner of 49th Street and Long Beach Boulevard (4800 - 4870 Long Beach Boulevard) to Park zone and conduct the appropriate outreach to the surrounding neighborhood to receive public input.
DISCUSSION
The Redevelopment Agency acquired the blighted and nuisance properties on the southeast corner of 49th Street and Long Beach Blvd. (4800-4870 Long Beach Blvd.) in 2007. The site is approximately
1.1 acres and had previously been the location of two motels and an auto repair shop that were responsible for more than 1,000 calls for service and 150 violent crimes during a four-year period. The buildings were demolished in December 2007.
The property became the site of the City’s first Mulch-a-Lot in April 2009. Five hundred tons of tree-trimming debris are used as ground cover on the vacant lot to provide beautification, weed control, stormwater retention and landfill diversion of green waste.
In the spring of 2010, the Redevelopment Agency commissioned artist Gregory Pickens to create a mural on the property. The artwork, titled “Ancient Diverse Similarities” is a 374-foot long mural on a 6-foot tall fence.
The mural theme presents Long Beach as the most diverse city in the nation and features ancient imagery from diverse cultures to create a tapestry of ancestries. Inspiration is drawn from Aztec and Mayan architecture, Angkor Wat, Egyptian, Central and South American pyramids, cathedrals and ancient myths about the sun’s creation.
The mural project involved 280 students from nearby Dooley Elementary and more than 100 community volunteers.
In the fall of 2010, the Redevelopment Agency and the Long Beach Housing Development Company entered into a six-month exclusive negotiating agreement with United Cerebral Palsy for the possible development of housing for people with disabilities. However, when another Redevelopment...
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