September Program

THE STATE OF OUR CITY

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson was our guest at the September General Meeting.  Mr. Richardson spoke about the projects currently underway in our city in preparation for the 2028 Olympics, and is proud that our city will host 11 events.  He highlighted his plans to increase revenues in the city as the Tidelands fund decreases due to State government policies.  The Mayor plans to bring a minor league baseball league to our town and renovate Blair Field, which will also benefit CSULB.  In addition he hopes to attract at least one women’s professional sports team to Long Beach and continue to revitalize the Queen Mary.  There is a plan to create an amphitheater near the Queen Mary which will open in 2026 and will be a venue for local arts organizations as well as touring concerts.  

Mr. Richardson took questions from the ladies present, and spoke at length about the difficulties finding funding for the seawall project as well as his strategies to create funds to repair them.  He stated that he wants to be the mayor that finally gets the sea walls fixed! Richardson does not support having Naples residents fund the entire project but asked for some level of community participation to help secure Council support. He made it clear that he would love to return on an annual basis to address NIGC.  The mayor donated his honorarium of $125 to our scholarship fund.  It was a lively and informative presentation!

We also welcomed new member, Cheryl Hill Oakes who is sponsored by Esther Duran and Val Rich. We are excited to have her part of our club.

Submitted by Tish Camp