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Members of the community were upset in March 2019 when the original nameplate disappeared. Beyond commemorating the civil rights leader, the plaque also listed the names of individuals and organizations who helped fund the statue at MLK Jr. Park.
“There’s so many layers to the significance of this plaque,” said newly elected 6th District Councilwoman Suely Saro, whose district includes the park. “It’s our history, our Long Beach history.”
But replacing the plaque wasn’t an easy task said Isabel Arvea, chief of staff of former 6th District Councilman Dee Andrews. “We didn’t, in the beginning, have a clear picture of all the names that were on the plaque,” Arvea said.
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The project will merge nine lots on Pacific Coast Highway from Cedar to Pacific avenues into two separate lots that would comprise about 1.6 acres. The two market-rate apartment buildings, both five stories, would together house 138 units, and would be connected by a pedestrian foot bridge over an existing alley. The project will also include roughly 25,000 square feet for commercial uses, which may include a grocery store.
The property currently houses a small market, a parking lot, a commercial building and was the former site of a motel. The project is located in an area “that can be described as an area in transition,” and the property itself has been marred by “graffiti, illegal dumping, and other crime,” according to a city staff report.
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The health pandemic, along with the protests and unrest over police brutality that erupted last summer, also managed to eclipse some significant news stories that would have made an end-of-year Top 10 list in any year but 2020.
Remember JetBlue leaving the city? Or when key members of the Queen Mary operating team were arrested in Singapore? We also had a couple elections this year that were pretty significant.
Here’s a short list of the huge news events that may seem a bit blurry in the backdrop of this obscenely busy news year.
JetBlue departs for its final flight out of Long Beach Airport on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. Photo courtesy of Erik Skindrud / @Erik Bookman.
Cathy Hirolawa, pharmacy director, shows off the box containing 195 vials of coronavirus vaccine delivered Thursday, Dec. 17, to Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center before putting it into a super freezer at -79 degrees. Facilities director Lani Kono, left, and facilities manager Joe Garibai assist.
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Among other high-profile state and local positions, opponent Tonia Reyes Uranga served for eight years on the Long Beach City Council. Her husband, Roberto Uranga, is now in his second council term in that same seat.
“I had multiple people saying that I was wasting my time and wasting my efforts,” Miller recalled in a recent interview with the Post. “It really only drove me even further and made me work harder.”
That approach to adversity and opportunity seems to be a defining theme in Miller’s life. He has tackled one challenge after another on his way to becoming, at age 36, the youngest member on the Long Beach school board, narrowly defeating Uranga, the early favorite.