Of cops and the homeless at Lincoln Park

A great conversation emerging in the comments section of Daniel de Boom’s piece on the Star Trek filming at Lincoln Park. “The city has rented out and fenced off over half of Lincoln Park for Paramount Studios’ filming of the latest Star Trek movie—displacing homeless people who squat there in this happiest time of the year,” writes de Boom.

But some interesting talk has erupted around the question of policing: who’s paying for the cops to guard the Lincoln Park compound?

Reader Jeanine Birong says it’s Paramount Studios. “The city charges the production companies for the police and fire marshal assigned to the set,” she writes.

Birong should know: she works for John Robinson of Long Beach Locations, the company that markets Long Beach to the film industry.

Robinson says “filming is a win-win-win” where cops are concerned. “The city collects one fee from the studios, pays off-duty police another [it’s time and a half] and keeps the difference for itself,” he said. Does it add up to much? I asked. Yes, Johnson said, but he referred me to City Hall for an exact accounting.

The police who “sign up for this duty . . . are not pulled from the officers that are assigned to active duty,” Birong wrote in the comments section of de Boom’s story. “It is an opportunity for these public servants to earn some overtime without it coming from the city’s budget. Film revenue generated from the issuance of permits is a considerable contribution to our community and the local economy.

But the real point of de Boom’s story is the homeless: where do they go when Lincoln Park becomes the base camp for Star Trek?

“I for one don’t think that the homeless people should even have been allowed to set up permanent residence in the park to begin with,” says Birong. “It is a shame that the beautiful water feature in the Friendship Garden must be left drained because of the fact that the homeless were using it for their restroom, while others were using it to bathe in.”

“It is time to offer some real solutions to their blight rather than just letting them live in the park,” she concludes. “It is not Star Trek’s fault that the homeless have nowhere to go–they didn’t have anywhere to go to begin with.”

Tags: Corporate Headquarters, Film, homeless, Long Beach, movie, Paramount Studios, pointy ears, Sex Pistols, Star Trek, Vulcan, writer's strike