Long Beach Fire Department

News & Events

Congratulations Recruit Academy 2023A

Congratulations to our newest Long Beach Fire Department Recruits! Recruit Academy 2023A will celebrate their graduation ceremony tomorrow, December 16th. Our Fire Department provides emergency services throughout the community 24/7, and our Fire personnel are distributed across 23 fire stations throughout the city. We are excited to welcome a new group of hardworking individuals to support the constant staffing demands and ensure appropriate staffing to protect the community. Again, congratulations to Recruit Academy 2023A, and thank you for choosing to serve Long Beach!

Long Beach Police Department

News & Reminders

Reporting a Traffic Complaint

Did you know you can report traffic complaints online? For non-emergency and/or habitual concerns, you can fill out and submit an online Traffic Complaint Form on the LBPD website. Common issues that can be reported online include speeding vehicles at a regular location, habitual parking issues and/or violations, abandoned vehicles, sign or signal damage or obstructions. Click here to learn more, or email PDTrafficComplaints@longbeach.gov with any traffic-related questions.

If the incident you are reporting is an emergency, please dial 911. Do not report emergency incidents online. Online reporting should only be used to report incidents that do not require immediate attention. 

Long Beach Recycles

News & Reminders

Recycle Right This Holiday Season

Ribbons, bows, and ties help add that finishing touch to any gift wrap. But, Long Beach Recycles puts them on the Naughty List when it comes to recycling because they are NOT recyclable! To reduce waste, try keeping them to reuse for future gift wrapping. For more recycling tips, check out these general Recycling Guidelines or follow @LBRecycles on Instagram.

Public Works

News & Events

El Dorado Park - Duck Pond Project Update



Though it is no longer a part of CD5, we are excited to share this update about Long Beach’s beloved El Dorado Park! The El Dorado Park Duck Pond, located in El Dorado Park West, has been the subject of an improvement project since September 2022. The project aims to enhance the recreational amenities and improve visitor experience through such actions as improving the water quality, enhancing ecological function by restoring the pond liner, enlarging the wetlands and forebay, removing invasive species, and planting of native California landscaping.

Per the latest update, the City’s contractor has recently completed dewatering the pond, repairing damages from unexpected the rain event caused by Tropical Storm Hilary, and installing the pond liner. As work continues, be aware that the contractor is scheduled to work Monday – Friday from 7am to 4pm. Efforts will be made to minimize inconveniences and minimize construction activities during scheduled park sports activities. Click here to learn more about this project. For any questions or concern, please call the El Dorado Park Duck Pond hotline at (562) 570 6591 or email contactlbpw@longbeach.gov.

Long Beach Parking Services

News & Reminders

Preferential Parking Permit Renewals

To those of you who are holders of preferential parking permits, it may be time to renew! The purple colored permits expire on 12/31/23. You may have already received your permit renewal notice in the mail. If you have not, or if you would like to renew your permit online, visit the Parking Permits webpage and click "Parking Permits Portal" to access your account. You will need your username and password for this online portal. If you do not remember your username and/or password, please call (562) 570 6822 or email FM-Parkingcitation@longbeach.gov  for assistance.

As a reminder, Preferential Parking Permits are issued to residents of designated Long Beach parking impacted areas. Each household is allowed up to three residential and one guest preferential permit per year. The annual fee for each residential preferential or guest permit is $34. Click here to learn more.

Long Beach Airport

News & Updates

General Aviation at LGB: Presentation Discussion and Next Steps

At Tuesday’s Council meeting, we received a presentation from city staff regarding general aviation activity at Long Beach Airport (LGB). To learn more, you can watch the meeting's video, view the presentation, or review the minutes. Below I share my takeaways from it.

The implementation and enforcement of regulations around LGB and air traffic are controlled by the federal government and the FAA. LGB accepts federal funding (as does every airport with commercial operations) which subjects it to compliance with certain criteria, commitments, or constraints. Any policies or actions taken by LGB that the FAA could deem as “restricting operations,” especially in such a way that would target or discriminate against specific groups, would be considered illegal and would put LGB in violation of its grant assurances. This includes such actions as banning or up-charging fuel or prohibiting certain types of otherwise licensed businesses from operating. 

We learned that the FAA also controls regulations related to aircraft noise. In 1990, the Airport Noise and Capacity Act (ANCA) gave the FAA this control to mitigate confusion over piecemeal regional rulings all over the country. The FAA has the power to approve or deny future noise ordinances, but since Long Beach already had one before ANCA passed, it was “grandfathered in” and allowed to remain intact. The process to amend Long Beach’s current ordinance would essentially mean applying for a new one, a process that would jeopardize that grandfathered status, and in turn jeopardize the ordinance altogether. Applying for a new ordinance could take several years and millions of dollars, and the likelihood for success is slim. In the more than 30 years since ANCA passed, the FAA has denied almost every attempt in the nation to create new airport noise ordinances. 

All of that said, my colleagues and I are determined to find solutions to address the community concerns around general aviation. 

Last week, I traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with members of the FAA and EPA. In each meeting, each organization fielded at least 10 representatives, all of whom listened intently and in good faith about the issues we are facing locally. We established the need to be partners on these issues moving forward. We aim to enlist the backing of the FAA and EPA when it comes to the actions we can take. For example, we hope to work with the FAA and Air Traffic Control to not just approve but to actively endorse our "Fly Friendly" program and facilitate coordination to set these as standards for best practice. We are aware that much of this is new ground to cover when it comes to federal regulations, but we informed them that Long Beach is willing to help set the example on standard practices for the rest of the country. I was also able to meet with representatives from Senator Butler’s Office, Senator Padilla’s Office, Representative Garcia’s Office, and plan to meet with Representative Barragan’s Office in the coming weeks. 

When it comes to the policies we can implement in the meantime, we may not be able to upcharge on leaded fuel, but we can subsidize and reduce financial barriers to incentivize the use of unleaded fuel. We have already begun some of these incentivization processes and are exploring more ways to encourage and support the transition to lead-free skies ahead of the 2030 EAGLE goal. Again, we are among few airports in the country who are making these kinds of moves, and again, we are happy to lead by example. 

Further, while we might not be able to implement rules that would violate grant assurances, we can continue to push for Congressional legislation to set those laws for us. 

Lastly, we will continue to work on establishing voluntary agreements with general aviation operators. This does not mean we will give up on pushing for regulations, but in the meantime, if an understanding can be reached among all affected parties, and voluntary agreements are honored, we will be that much closer to reaching our goals on a sooner timeline. 

We know that there is still more to talk about; and we know how deeply this has been impacting our community. In the new year, I will continue to engage with our legislators and regulatory agencies, work through the appropriate committees to bring reports back, and keep the community informed of any updates via our community newsletters and emails. Thank you all for your continued engagement on these matters, and I look forward to working together to reach viable solutions. 

Long Beach Chamber of Commerce News & Events

Shop Long Beach This Holiday Season!

The Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce reminds us to shop local this holiday season. But don’t stop there; there is an ongoing need to support small enterprises throughout the year. The Chamber of Commerce invites you to join in championing their cause and promoting the culture of shopping small and investing in our local Long Beach communities. Use hashtags #ShopSmallEveryDay and #ShopLongBeach to show your support!

To further encourage year-round small business shopping, the City of Long Beach launched the Shop Long Beach program, an initiative funded by the Long Beach Recovery Act focused on supporting small businesses and rewarding customers for shopping in Long Beach. ShopLB allows customers to earn valuable rewards as they support their favorite small businesses and provides incentives to discover new places with an accumulation of reward points to be spent like cash at a wide range of establishments throughout the City. To participate, small businesses and shoppers can sign up at shoplb.org.

Homelessness Emergency Declaration

Long Beach Launches ‘Season of Giving’ Donation Series to Support People Experiencing Homelessness During the Fall and Winter Seasons

Long Beach is launching its “Season of Giving” donation series to encourage the local community to make someone’s holiday season bright by volunteering their time or contributing physical or monetary donations to support people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. Donations received during “Season of Giving” will help support the City’s ongoing efforts in providing critical, everyday essentials for people experiencing homelessness. Items will be distributed throughout the holiday and winter seasons.

This holiday season and beyond, community members are invited to participate in a variety of volunteer opportunities taking place throughout Long Beach. Those interested in contributing physical donations are encouraged to participate in one of the upcoming donation drive thru events, where people can drop off a variety of essential items that will be distributed to people experiencing homelessness.

The next drive thru will take place on Saturday, Dec. 16, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department) Main Facilities Center, located at 2525 Grand Ave.

The City kindly requests donations of cold weather items like men’s and women’s sweatshirts, pants, coats, socks, blankets, umbrellas and shoes. Read here for more information.

Long Beach Winter Shelter Program Update

The Long Beach Winter Shelter is open early this year! Beds were made available as of Tuesday, November 14th. This is the first time in 10 years that the program has opened this early in November. We have been a host city for LAHSA’s Winter Shelter program for years, and every year we have had challenges finding a suitable location that could support 50-120 Winter Shelter beds. Now that we have acquired a permanent location, 702 E Anaheim, our Winter Shelter crisis is over. Open now through March 31st, we are able to support over 120 beds this winter. Inclement weather dictating, the shelter may remain open later into spring as well. 

Long Beach Tiny Home Shelter Program Update

In 2022, the City of Long Beach was awarded a grant towards the purchase, construction, and operation of 33 modular shelter units at the Long Beach Multi-Service Center, to support the City’s goals of ending our homelessness crisis. However, due to unforeseen challenges over the course of development, it was determined that the Multi-Service Center was not a viable location for this project. Since then, City Staff have been working tirelessly to identify a suitable replacement location. As of the City Manager’s update on November 9, the City Team has identified the vacant commercial lot on the southeast corner of E Spring St and California Ave as the final proposed location for the Long Beach Tiny Homes.

This location has been identified as the best available location for several reasons, including its current underutilized state, its proximity to public transportation and other affordable resources, and its minimal impact on the existing surrounding community. We are proud that District 5 is able to host this proposed program in our city’s continued efforts to address the homelessness crisis.

City Increases Homeless Service Outreach with Mobile Access Centers 

The MAC significantly lowers barriers to providing case management services and other resources for people experiencing homelessness. The schedule below reflects the current schedule, inclusive of both MAC vehicles.

South Coast Air Quality

Management District (AQMD)

Check Before You Burn: A Message from South Coast AQMD

November marks the start of the South Coast AQMD’s annual Check Before You Burn season. From November through the end of February, residents are asked to check whether a No-Burn Day has been declared before burning wood fireplaces to limit emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

A No-Burn Day is a 24-hour ban on wood-burning in residential fireplaces, stoves, or outdoor fire pits in the South Coast Air Basin. South Coast AQMD forecasters call for residential No-Burn Days when PM2.5 is expected to reach Unhealthy levels due to air emissions and stagnant weather conditions.

Click here to learn more and to access public resources for daily forecast information.