Dear Friend --

2019 was a great year for Long Beach, with lots of growth and many accomplishments for the city, from more than $3.5 billion in private and public development and hundreds of new residential homes to new playgrounds, park improvements, and beach amenities. We kept our promise to continue the largest investment in our city’s infrastructure in more than 40 years.

As 2020 approaches, I’m reflecting on our achievements and challenges and looking forward to the opportunities presented in the decade ahead.

This past year, the city once again ends the year with a stellar AA- credit rating, we have balanced our budget responsibly, restored fire engine 17, signed contracts with our police and firefighters, got a huge upgrade to the Blue Line—now the A Line, and built our new sustainable LEED certified civic plaza, including City Hall, the Billie Jean King Main Library and Port Headquarters.

Overall crime continues to sharply drop from decades ago, unemployment remains low, and we have adopted additional protections and support for people facing housing insecurity.

We were also named one of the top cities in the nation for LGBTQ inclusion in municipal law and policy for the eighth year in a row, received four regional urban planning awards, and were named one of the nation’s top ten digital cities in America for the ninth year in a row.

In 2019, we began building our first municipal year-round homeless shelter, which will open in June 2020, expanded the Mayor’s Fund to End Homelessness, and opened or broke ground on numerous affordable projects.

We also celebrated two big anniversaries: 50 years for the El Dorado Nature Center and 20 years for our Multi-Service Center.

You can read our 2019 Year in Review here.

Some of the highlights from 2019 are:

• 22 miles of sidewalk replaced, 85 miles of streets resurfaced, 35,000 potholes filled
• 630 ADA access ramps constructed
• 1,716 outreach visits to people experiencing homelessness
• 860,000 patrons served in libraries, with 1.1 million items checked out
• 59,000 customers served at the Development Services Permit Center
• 1.2 million square feet of graffiti removed
• 22,055 trees trimmed
• Three new playgrounds and more than 15 major parks and recreation improvement projects
• 45,000 bicycle trips made through the City’s Bikeshare Program, traveling a total of more than 127,000 miles

2020 promises more progress and growth for Long Beach. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Go Long Beach,

Mayor Robert Garcia