Project Approved on Old Red Car Right of Way : Development: The City Council’s decision to allow residential and light-industrial building marks an abrupt end to one of Long Beach’s angriest, most long-lived battles.
LONG BEACH — Ending a grueling debate that had some residents in tears, the City Council has approved an expansive development along the old Red Car line in a bid to clean up one of the city’s most blighted stretches of land.
A two-mile piece of the old right of way between Willow and Anaheim streets cuts through at least four neighborhoods, some of them infested with gangs and crime and others threatened by them. The project would provide 66 single-family homes, 80 units of senior housing, child-care facilities and some light industry and would expand Orizaba Park by 60,000 square feet.
Tuesday’s unanimous council endorsement of what appeared on the drawing board to be a model community plan marked an abrupt end to one of the angriest urban battles the city has ever seen.
On one side were residents opposed to more housing in neighborhoods they say are already crammed to capacity.
On another side were residents in favor of development to get rid of the “dirt, dust, trash and winos†they say have inhabited the neglected strip since the last track was pulled out years ago.
On yet another side were transportation advocates who wanted the right of way used for what it was intended: rapid transit to reduce traffic and smog.
It added up to a year of arguing over whether to allow developer Robert Kendrick to go forward with his plans or preserve the area in the hope that someday, someone would find the money to make it a transportation corridor linking Los Angeles and Orange counties.
“Initially, I felt this would be the kind of city I would want to make a life in. This is not the way I expected it to be,†a tearful Danielle Weinstock told council members, urging them to approve the development she said she had been assured would go forward when she bought her home near the right of way several months ago.
“The children have no place to play,†an equally tearful Winnie Richards told the council in a plea to block the project. “The traffic and the noise have increased due to the density, and the building continues.â€
“It’s just like the Red Car years ago,†Councilman Clarence Smith warned. “Somewhere down the line, we’ll†regret it.
In the end, though, even Smith reluctantly voted to overturn the city Planning Commission, which wanted to build only light industry that could be knocked down in case money came along to resurrect the old line.
Describing the odds of a windfall as slim to none, the council put the community of today before the transportation system of tomorrow.
The decision is technically preliminary and requires a second vote next week. But no further debate is expected, so the developer said the homes would start going up in three months.
Some warned that the city might in the end regret the decision, but to those who live near the neglected land today, future problems seemed a long way off. As resident Glen Stevens put it: “This is Kansas, Dorothy, not Oz.â€
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