‘Civil Unrest’ in Long Beach

Mayor Ernie Kell still just doesn’t get it. He says, “If you drive through the city you would never know we had civil unrest. You just couldn’t tell.” (Times, April 29). Maybe from behind the tinted glass in his city-financed gas guzzler you can’t, but those of us who live in the real world can tell, and we’re reminded of it every day.

Try using the Department of Motor Vehicles at Willow and Pacific. You can’t. It was burned to the ground. It’s now a big, unused parking lot. Try shopping in the Wrigley supermarket that was turned to rubble and never came back.

Thanks to the low esteem our mayor is held in, and due to his impotence as a vital leader, Long Beach got zero dollars from Rebuild L.A. And because Ernie Kell believes everything is just fine, he didn’t bother to organize a Rebuild Long Beach.

If you travel outside the city limits, you discover what a joke people think Long Beach is. There isn’t a single shoreline community anywhere in Southern California with a worse reputation or that is considered a less desirable place to visit. Look at the man and think about it.

You want more proof? Disney passed on us, the Navy is giving up on Long Beach, and after all these years the downtown waterfront development is still just lines on paper. But at least we have the biggest parking lot with an ocean view anywhere on the coast.

The time has come for a new generation of leadership in Long Beach if this great city is going to wake up, get in shape, and use the vigor and energy needed to take us into the next century. We have the natural resources, and we have the citizens with the talent, heart, and smarts to fulfill our untapped potential. What we don’t have is a mayor or City Council who have proved they’re up to the challenge.

One last thing, Mr. Mayor, it wasn’t “civil unrest” we suffered through a year ago in Long Beach. It was a riot with murder, arson, beatings, looting and uncontrolled mayhem in the public streets. The fact that you don’t understand that shows just how out of touch you are and just how badly your vision has deteriorated.

JOE GALLIANI

Long Beach