The Long Beach city hall has not been transported to the Mojave desert, and no, it's not the setting for a futuristic movie where global warming has overtaken our seaside city - it's a view of 333 Ocean from what used to be a lush green park on the roof of the main branch of the Long Beach Public Library. Besides leaking, the library is seismically unfit due to the weight on the roof. The city plans to remove 10 million pounds of dirt in the closed park in the hopes that it will relieve some stress on the top of the structure.
See more photos>>
PHOTOS: 10 million pounds of dirt weighing down Main Library
2 Comments
About
This blog is a journal of Southern California, through the lens of Jeff Gritchen. It's updated frequently with pictures, photo tips and musings from the various assignments he covers as a staff photographer for the Press-Telegram and Torrance Daily Breeze.
Gritchen has been documenting the diverse city of Long Beach since 1998. He covers everything from the Cambodian community to prep sports to gang ridden neighborhoods to the annual running of the Long Beach Grand Prix. He covered destruction Hurricane Katrina brought to Long Beach, Mississippi and traveled to Southeast Asia to document a rural Cambodian girl's as she traveled to the U.S. for life-altering heart surgery. He has won numerous state and national awards, including an international NPPA Best of Photojournalism award in 2003 and Best News Photo from the Los Angeles Press Club in 2010. In 2011, the photo staffs of the Long Beach Press-Telegram and Torrance Daily Breeze merged. Now he covers all of Southern Los Angeles County. He can be contacted at
jeff.gritchen@presstelegram.com
Gritchen has been documenting the diverse city of Long Beach since 1998. He covers everything from the Cambodian community to prep sports to gang ridden neighborhoods to the annual running of the Long Beach Grand Prix. He covered destruction Hurricane Katrina brought to Long Beach, Mississippi and traveled to Southeast Asia to document a rural Cambodian girl's as she traveled to the U.S. for life-altering heart surgery. He has won numerous state and national awards, including an international NPPA Best of Photojournalism award in 2003 and Best News Photo from the Los Angeles Press Club in 2010. In 2011, the photo staffs of the Long Beach Press-Telegram and Torrance Daily Breeze merged. Now he covers all of Southern Los Angeles County. He can be contacted at
jeff.gritchen@presstelegram.com
Links
Hello,
After reading this, I was wondering who is going to remove the dirt. Has been contracted out or is the public works department going to remove the dirt.
Thank you,
Seaneen
I work with a group known as Urban Paradise. Our goal is to transform this park, which is publicly owned, into a art center. This park has been "closed" for 15 years, although people have accessed it everyday since. We pay for the maintenence of the park, despite it being closed. The land was bequeathed to the public and yet we have not been invited to participate in the decision making process. We plan on addressing this issues very soon, until we speak, ask your Councilperson what's going on, who's in charge of the roof and what the City will do to mitigate the loss of a multi-million dollar park at the center of the city?
http://oururbanparadise.blospost.com