South Coast Plaza, last time I checked, wasn't surrounded by HUD housing, Section 8 renter's, or a train that pulled right in from Compton, a Wal Mart anchor store, and all those factor's bring to the downtown shopping experience.
Try finding someone who overcame those obstacles, and went on to produce a middle to upscale retail environment. That would make much more sense than bringing in someone with a lot of abstracts that conflict with reality, as is usually done by our big brains in Long Beach.

You know what? I NEVER have any problem parking within a block or two of where I want to go downtown. EVER. But then I am also willing to WALK a bit.

People need to realize that walking a block or two or three is actually good for them, and takes practically no time at all! And, if you spend time frequenting downtown, learning how and where to park cheaply becomes second nature pretty quickly. The parking garages are always half empty and most businesses downtown validate for up to two hours free parking.
Also, any city dweller should know to keep a handful of quarters handy to take advantage of the meters.

excuses, excuses, excuses.

So many ideas to make Pine work…so little true commitment to any of them…

Some, like Councilmember Suja Lowenthal for example, would assure us (as she did during a “Beer & Politics” event earlier this year) that they and they alone know best how to revitalize Pine.

Suja assured us, then, that we don’t need paid professional consultants or City Staff to help guide us along in this critical area of public policy and city-building because we enjoy the benefit of her considerable expertise.

I sort of like Suja. She’s intelligent, well-spoken and classy but the many empty storefronts along Pine, within City Place and throughout the Pike would seem to beg to differ with her assertion.

Smooth’s owner John Morris seems to have a huge dog in this hunt and has invested a lot of his personal time and capital in the Pine-that’s-yet-to-be”. Like Morris or not; one MUST always admire a person who demonstrates a willingness to put his money where his mouth is. Morris’ point is very well taken that many of the “dots” for a thriving downtown are already in place. "Dots" such as: Upper Pine, City Place, The Pike, Lower Pine, the Convention Center, the Arena, the Aquarium, Shoreline Village and the Queen Mary and that what’s now needed most is effective and attractive transportation “lines” to connect these existing "dots".

The little red and purple (and free) Passport Busses are nice (and hardy kudos to Long Beach Transit for putting them out there for us) but they don’t seem to be getting the job done. They connect all the dots, of course, but they’re purely functional and, for good or ill, the fickle public seems to demand form as well as function. In short, they want to be entertained while being moved about the various “dots” cleanly and efficiently.

Silly public.

There are as many possible approaches to revitalization as there are vacant storefronts and some would say that “unique identity” of Long Beach that Brian speaks of is slowly and inexorably eroding with every RDA-brokered property purchase.

So here are my 2-cents:

Cent #1: I’d like to see Pine entirely (and permanently) closed to personal vehicle traffic between 1st and 6th and lighted much, much better at night. I believe this would promote pedestrian safety and openness. I believe this would invite more to stroll along that entire length, especially after dark, without the concerns attendant in competing with all of the cars. More space for pedestrians means more space for street entertainers and public events. More events and entertainment generate more interest. More interest means more people. More people mean more money to spend and that means more businesses.

Cent #2: Add a real SF-style cable car that would run from 6th all the way down to the circle at the foot of Pine (visually attractive, entertaining and effective transportation to all “dots”). The underground cabling might be a little tricky at 1st what with the light rail already in place but I’m sure we could come up with a transportation alternative that has just as much pizzazz. Maybe a monorail? Sorry, Jimmy, I love your Greek food and most excellent service very, very much but that trolly-bus of yours is just goofy.

Anyway, that’s how I’d start.

Promoting pedestrian safety and openness and providing entertaining and effective transportation should be the priorities and, I believe, would encourage more people to come. With more people would come more business and soon they would build upon one upon the other.

John,
I don't agree on closing Pine permanently, but I do like when the city has closed it on Friday/Saturday nights and had performers, etc. That is a lot of fun. As a person who works one block off Pine, I use that stretch of Pine several times a day. With all the one way streets and Tranist Mall in the mix, closing Pine would be a nightmare for traffic flow.

And I love the George's Trolley, but I rarely ever see any passengers on it. Man oh Man , goes George's ever make some awesome falafel!

I suspect one of the main problems on Pine is that the rents are too high for the kinds of shops that would be successful there.

Hi LB City Girl! Thanks for the response.

I would opine (get it? "o-PINE"...ar ar ar....sigh, sometimes I crack myself up) that the sort of intermittent closure that you describe would play even greater havoc on traffic flow. Many of those we are trying to attract are not locals and, thus, will be relying upon their maps and GPS contraptions. Their confusion upon arrival will be considerable and that will manifest itself in all manner of traffic ugliness while they try to reconcile what they’re seeing with what their reference sources are insisting is the proper route.

GPS: “Proceed straight then turn right”
Driver: “I can’t proceed straight, Pine’s closed”
GPS: “Proceed straight then turn right”
Driver: “I would but there’s a bunch of big concrete planters in the way”
GPS: “Proceed straight then turn right”
Driver: “I really need a different route”
GPS: “Proceed straight then turn right”
Driver (holding GPS out the window): ”Look…see?…I can’t”
GPS: “Proceed straight then turn right”
Driver: “Where’s a cop when you need one?”
GPS (while in straight flight over the big concrete planters): “Turn right”

If we closed Pine permanently, some of this would happen at first until the maps and GPS programming were updated but then all would be well again. The traffic patterns would necessarily be permanently altered but they would also necessarily adjust with proper engineering.

If we closed and opened Pine intermittently, visitors (and many locals) would never be able to get it right and I feel certain most visitors would just avoid Pine out of sheer frustration from then on out.

Not exactly the response from our guests that we are hoping to achieve.

As for the rents along Pine, I can’t say. Usually with a single landlord (such as in a mall) rents increase and decrease according to the number of tenants that are present. More total tenants = lower rent for each.

Pine is not a mall, fortunately, and individual building owners and property managers are no doubt charging what they feel the market will bear. It seems to me that the smart owner would offer some serious incentives to get tenants into their building and I don’t doubt that many (if not all) of the owners along Pine are doing so.

But any retail or entertainment tenant on Pine (and elsewhere) has to apply for and receive a CLB business license and this means that the City ultimately controls who gets to move in. An owner and a tenant may have an agreement but without a license to operate, that agreement means exactly nothing.

If I’m recalling correctly (and as I rapidly approach 50 that’s a big “if”) Suja made it clear to us during the Beer & Politics session I mentioned that there have been many business and entertainment license applicants for spaces along Pine that have been refused because they didn’t meet the City’s vision of what Pine should look like. The 7-11 at 152 Pine, for example, barely passed muster, apparently, and many, Suja included, did not agree with the decision to approve its tenancy.

I think a successful retail/entertainment district has to be able to offer something to everyone (except the transients and the gang members, of course) so there is a place for a 7-11 (obviously) but there should also be a place for a Saks and a Z-Gallerie and a Tiffany.

Before we can enjoy the right “mix” of tenants on and around Pine, however, I think we need to create an environment that will attract those tenants in the first place. I submit that Pine, as currently configured, is just not achieving that goal for us.

You'll get no argument that "o-Pine" is hilarious. And so is the GPS scenario you describe.

Perhaps the suggestion that the city isn't allowing the street to define itself is the most poignant one I've seen among these comments. Your example of 7-11 is perfect. 7-11 is one of the places I frequent, because it is practical-- it's a place I can walk to quick for a cheap coffee or fast snack, a nail file for a broken nail. The city may not like the aura 7-11 gives off, but this is a good store because it is what people NEED.

John,
I think your ideas to close pine to traffic and add cable cars are perfect. We just need to involve major retailers in the planning process before spinning our wheels any further. If only we had a time machine and could go back and vote NO on that Walmart downtown. Businesses like this only repel the vision of what could be.

LBdreamer: Thanks for the comments.

Re: Wheel Spinning: I would encourage an official brainstorming session that includes but is by no means limited to: Concerned members of the *voting* public (but especially area residents), elected and appointed CLB officials (City Hall, Police, Fire, Public Works {especially Traffic Engineering} and Public Health) and spokespersons from DLBA, CVB, The Chamber and LB Transit.

Call it the "Downtown Summit"; hire a stenographer; order up some pizza and get to work!

Okay, here's my "Million Dollar Idea" and I don't care who runs with it as long as someone does (by the way, I voted for Brian U. Sorry Suja, though we love you too. ;-).

Okay, how about we turn Pine Avenue into a "Fun Transportation Only" zone, or at least fun transportation occasionally. If we really wanted to make it a big event, it could be a year long "competition" to find the signature fun transpo idea for Pine Avenue. I'm sure other people will have some better ideas on this, but didn't the Pike & Pine use to be "fun?"

So, one month, for some period of time. Weekends? Nights? We have horse drawn carts to carry people from Ocean to 6th. If it's interesting enough, maybe people will just ride them for fun? If it's a hit and you want to limit the thug element, then make it something like "children ride for free."

The next month, its free Segway rides for anyone willing to show up. How about you can ride for free if you show a receipt from a Pine Avenue restaurant or store (what store? I know).

The next month it's imported Cambodian tuk-tuks up and down the street. Make it part of a Cambodian craft fair or something.

The next month, you install a zip line from the highest safe building on the street and people ride down the zip line to the street. It would be even better if it went for several streets. Aren't there a couple of buildings that are at least ten stories high?

The month after that you install some sort of rope bridge that goes from tall building to tall building. Or maybe a street level "fun bouncy" bridge thing like Disneyland.

The month after that, how about a portable roller coaster for the weekends. I'm not sure if it's possible, but if it's low tech enough you could have it go down the middle of the street with a "stop" at 6th and another one at Ocean. Like a glorified kiddie ride.

Is there some sort of "skateboard for beginers" or for families? I'm thinking of some sort of human propelled big board? Or even those things that you see in the movies that "hobos" rode on the train tracks?

How about a big blow up slide? or even a slip and slide in the summer? Could you build a big long lap pool? And if you can do that, then how about a "river" that you float down? I mean we are near the ocean after all right?

Okay, these are crazy ideas off the top of my head. I'm sure other people could think of FAR better things. I mean, isn't the city supposed to be doing stuff like this? And isn't "retail" supposed to rise organically from the old laws of supply and demand?

Dave: Keep thinking out of the box, brother!

That's precisely the sort of Imagineering we need!

If that's precisely the sort of out-of-the-box "Imagineering" downtown-waterfront Long Beach needed, then Disney's early-1990s water amusement park proposal would've been a reality by now.

But the-then city council had to go and screw it up.

DWR: If I'm not mistaken, the various roadblocks erected before the old Disney Sea concept, part of a larger Port Disney project, were actually set up by the Coastal Commission and the Port of Long Beach, not by the Council.

Disney was fully prepared to spend some $2 billion in 1990 dollars to develop Queensway bay but, sadly, the concept never got past the drafting table and the Mouse's temporary operation of the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose.

According to one source, the Coastal Commission didn't like the thought of Disney dredging and then re-filling some 250 acres of the bay to build it's idea of the happiest place in Long Beach and the Port wasn't much interested in seeing its operations disrupted or otherwise encroached upon.

But, as they say, that's polluted Queensway Bay water well under the bridge.

I feel strongly that some of the best answers for Pine are going to come from regular folks in the community…from residents that love Long Beach and don't necessarily have a dime to be made from what eventually happens downtown.

I most certainly could be wrong.

Thank you for the correction Mr. B. I regret my error.

The poor people who live downtown were here before all you fancy pants people with your big plans that never seem to amount to anything. I've been here for more than 30 years and I'm not going to be leaving anytime soon. And if you don't like Walmart then don't shop there, but please stop whining and bitching about it because it's not going anywhere either.