To some locals, it's paradise lost in Belmont Shore

Residents, businesses want Long Beach to crack down on crime, drunkenness, noise

- ANDREW J. CAMPA

BELMONT SHORE, a lively restaurant district by Long Beach's waterfront, is grappling with crime and other urban problems.

Relocating to her hometown was a goal accomplished for Long Beach native Kelly Dingwell.

She opened her boutique law firm 100 feet south of 2nd Street, the beating heart of lively and trendy restaurant district Belmont Shore. A year later she moved into the area with her husband and two children, their home sitting directly behind late-night fixture Panama Joe's, a Mexican restaurant and bar.

The home coming brought Dingwell back to her old haunts from her days as a teenager attending Millikan High School in the early 2000s.

"It used to be a fun place that had a kind of college-crowd, beach-bum vibe to it that was a lot of fun," Dingwell said. "But that's all changed now. It's just not as safe as it was then."

Dingwell's comments mirrored those made days earlier at a Long Beach City Council meeting. On Nov. 11 dozens of residents, business owners and community activists called on the city to crack down on what they deemed to be increases in crime, shootings, drunkenness, unregulated vending and loud noise emanating from Belmont Shore.

City Council member Kristina Duggan, who lives in and represents Belmont Shore, said she had been working with local entities, including law enforcement, to develop and implement reforms, some of which she pitched to the City Council that evening. She said four 2nd Street bars allowed to operate until 2 a.m. agreed to shift their hours to midnight for 30 days while the city searched for solutions.

Three homicides

A pair of orange slimline cones bookend a memorial along La Verne Avenue, just south of 2nd Street, where candles have been placed to form the initials "JAS."