After a frightening weekend encounter in Belmont Shore, a group of Long Beach parents is demanding a tougher response to what they say has been growing unchecked for months: middle-school riders on high-powered electric bikes tearing through neighborhood streets, often without helmets, and in at least one case shooting gel pellets at younger children. The incident has neighbors, teachers, and PTAs asking whether schools and the city actually have the tools to keep kids safe. City teams and school staff say education is underway, but parents are calling for clearer rules and faster enforcement.
On Sunday, Kimberley Pierce-Lynne says her nine-year-old was chased and struck by gel pellets fired by about 10 middle-schoolers on e-bikes, leaving welts on the children’s backs and faces, she told the Long Beach Post. Parents described riders on dirt bikes and e-motos without helmets “speeding around the neighborhood” and said their 911 call produced a police response they found insufficient. A Change.org petition started by a local parent has now topped 1,000 signatures, according to Change.org, urging officials to require driver’s licenses for all motorized bikes.
City staff confirm they have seen a spike in complaints about young riders and illegal high-power vehicles, and an interdepartmental team is scheduled to return to the City Council with a comprehensive plan before the end of May, according to a memo from the city manager posted by the City of Long Beach. The memo lays out the legal distinctions between Class 1–3 e-bikes and other high-powered device,s such as e-motos and mopeds, and calls for pairing enforcement with education and clearer municipal code language. Officials say the changes will focus on making it easier to identify illegal vehicles and to route outreach where it is needed most…