Lakewood’s Efforts to Fight Proposed Mall at Naval Station

The Times’ recent story (Dec. 16) on Lakewood’s efforts to educate federal officials about the Long Beach Naval Hospital needs clarifying. It is a shame that Lakewood must spend even one penny to get a fair hearing by federal bureaucrats of our objections to Long Beach’s proposed mega shopping center on the Naval Hospital property.

The cost, however, is only a tiny fraction of the multimillion-dollar cost to state taxpayers if the Navy approves Long Beach’s plans for the property. Based on a study prepared for Lakewood by the accounting firm of Diehl, Evans & Company, I believe that Long Beach’s proposal could involve at least $24 million in state taxpayer subsidies, since the property is in a state-authorized “revitalization zone.”

And, it is entirely false for Long Beach to claim that reuse of the hospital concerns only Long Beach. The Navy’s pullout of 17,000 jobs and $1 billion in purchasing power affects the entire region. It defies common sense for Long Beach to say that other cities do not have a stake in planning for the Navy’s departure.

It is also false for Long Beach to claim that reuse of the hospital is a conflict just between Lakewood and Long Beach. Six cities have joined in questioning Long Beach’s flawed reuse decisions--Artesia, Buena Park, Cypress, Garden Grove, Hawaiian Gardens and Lakewood.

Long Beach officials have said that their shopping center proposal is patterned after the Tustin Marketplace. What Long Beach leaders don’t say is that Dr. Alfred Gobar prepared the economic plan for the Tustin center. Dr. Gobar concludes in his new study of the Long Beach proposal that a mega-shopping center on the hospital property will be a “job and business killer” for existing retail businesses in a 12-city region around the hospital.

No matter how it’s packaged, Long Beach’s proposal is bad news for retail workers and small business owners. That’s why Lakewood has shouldered the burden of educating federal and state officials about Long Beach’s deeply flawed reuse planning process.

LARRY VAN NOSTRAN

Mayor, city of Lakewood