Last week, residents told city officials that they’d like to see investments in homeless services, public safety and health and wellness prioritized in next year’s budget.
Over the course of one virtual and four in-person meetings at Recreation Park’s community center, residents voted on various issues in an interactive survey. Homelessness — both preventing it and responding to encampments — were popular topics that residents placed colored stickers next to.
Fixing city streets, improving access to libraries, affordable high-speed internet, affordable recreation and fitness programs and improving public transit options were also popular issues.
The meetings are part of a new approach the city says it’s taking to incorporate the community’s voice into the actual proposed budget that will be released this summer.
Manuel Valenzuela, the executive director of Long Beach Heritage, a group that advocates for the preservation of the city’s historic buildings and businesses, said preserving old buildings and having them be adaptively reused instead of torn down to make way for new ones could help the city’s climate goals. The greenest building is “the one that’s already built,” he said.