If anybody from the Press-Telegram was actually inside the Grand Salon of the Queen Mary for Tuesday’s meeting of the Long Beach Rotary Club — where downtown restaurateur John Morris gave his practical-yet-visionary State of the City address — I sure didn’t see them. Nothing showed up in the P-T the next day, either. But that didn’t stop the paper’s editorial board from checking in with a condescending evaluation of Morris and his well-researched — and very well received — 35-minute, multi-media presentation. The editorial gets off on the completely wrong track by reporting that the Rotarians “got caught by surprise,” when everybody in attendance knew — it said so on the announcement — that Morris was planning a no-holds-barred assessment of the city. Then, it takes on an eye-rolling, that’s-crazy-John tone –”John was being John,” the editorial said in the tone-setting sentence that ended its opening paragraph–before generously stooping to allow that “his ideas may have been outlandish, but that doesn’t make them wrong.” No, it’s the P-T that’s been wrong about the city for the past 20 years, supporting most of the misguided development that Morris opposed all along. Anyway, I could rail on and on, but Bill Pearl of LBreport.com has done the real work, transcribing Morris’s entire address and also taking the P-T to task for missing the event — and the point, again.

Tags: badgers, John Morris, lbreport.com, Long Beach Rotary Club, State of the City

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RKJacobs 1 year ago 1 point
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BRILLIANCE from JOHN MORRIS - As a recent resident to LB (after 21 yrs in San Diego) I am amazed at how screwed up this city is. SD like LB has miles of oceanfront, as well as a downtown shoreline. Like SD, LB was a Navy town. Like SD, LB has had a defense industry that is all but gone. However, take a look at the tremendous assets that SD has never had: Oil at $90bbl, a major shipping port, close proximity to all of LA and OC and their several million consumers. 5 airports within 30-45 minutes of each other, 100's of major corporate office headquarters within 30 minutes drive, numerous architecturally and historically significant neighborhoods, ... I could go on and on. No I'm not trying to state how great of a job SD has done moving their city along. No I'm not saying I regret moving here. I could go back to SD tomorrow. For some CRAZY reason I love LB. I just am amazed at how much potential LB has and just hasn't been able to get it right. But it goes without saying, if you cater to the poor, you will have all the poor you want. LB has 26% of it's citizens living below the poverty level. Well, we can brag on our success at that I guess. STOP managing the city to the lowest denominator. Shame, shame, shame on LB's former caretakers for letting all of our greatest assets become our greatest liabilities.

--redrati

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