🌱Six Belmont Shore Parklets To Stay + Early Sept. Watering Restricted

Good morning, friends; today is National Thrift Shop Day! It's Wednesday in Long Beach, and I'm back in your inbox to get you caught up on the most important things happening locally. We’re looking at:

• 🌮 Six Belmont Shore restaurants that applied to make parklets permanent
• 💧 The request to quit watering and mowing your lawn for two weeks
• 🚓 A Shoreline Marina boat eviction

💗 Please help us grow! Send a friend or neighbor this link, so they can be in the know, like you!

☀️ First, today's weather:

Mostly sunny and warm. High: 89 Low: 70.

🌡️ FYI: Long Beach Cooling Centers are open daily from noon to 6 p.m. You find them at the Houghton, McBride, and Admiral Kidd community centers as well as the Senior Center and El Dorado Park West.

📢 I’m looking for business owners and marketers in Long Beach who want to build awareness, connect with customers and increase sales.

I have a limited number of sponsorships available to introduce our Long Beach Daily readers to local businesses they need to know about. If that’s you, then I invite you to learn more and secure your spot now.

⛽ Three Of The Cheapest Gas Stations In Long Beach

• Costco at 2200 E Willow St., $4.69
• Sinclair at 5588 Long Beach Blvd., $4.69
• Food 4 Less at 6700 Cherry Ave., $4.75

🤔 Homelessness Poll!
CNN reports that Los Angeles County has a homeless population of “more than 66,400 people.” The numbers are increasing. Do you think that city governments are doing enough? Are there better solutions? Please let me know your thoughts! So far, 29.9% favor more infrastructure investment, 19.7% want federal involvement, 1.7% say faith-based groups need to step up, 6% want the military to open its bases, and 40.2% ask for justice system involvement.

Here are the top five stories today in Long Beach:

1) A total of six Belmont Shore restaurants on 2nd Street announced that they applied to make their parklets permanent. These are Aroma Di Roma, Open Sesame, Rance’s Chicago Pizza, Sushi Ai, Taco Shore and Legends. As of Tuesday, none of the applications have been approved. Critics say that the presence of the parklets result in “loss of parking, dangers to drivers, (and) congestion on sidewalks.” Proponents have come to enjoy dining alfresco. (Press-Telegram)

2) The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California wants you to quit watering outdoors between September 6 and 20. A leaking pipeline requires repairs. You should also stop mowing your lawn during this time and, yes, the grass will turn yellow. However, officials state that “two weeks of no watering will not kill your lawn.” (LAist)

3) Evicting a boat from the Shoreline Marina is so rare that it makes news. That said, the Long Beach Marine Advisory Commission decided Thursday to cancel the permit for a 26-foot powerboat and advised the owner to move it by Sunday. What led to the eviction were “19 incidents when Marina Patrol and/or Long Beach Police personnel responded to issues” beginning in April 2019. The boat owner said she “was responsible for calling the police on her own son all 19 times.” When advised that the decision was made, the owner “said she will have the boat, which no longer runs, towed out of the marina and junked.” (Long Beach News)

4) The Long Beach Police Department is giving a shoutout to the “Explorers who just graduated from a challenging week-long journey at the Orange County Explorer Academy!” There is special mention of Explorers “Rivera-1st Place Physical Fitness (Female), Havana-1st Place Physical Fitness (Male), Aguilar-1st Place Notebook, and Morales-4th Place Physical Fitness.” Congratulations! (Long Beach PD)

5) Mark your calendars! The Freestyle Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary on August 20! The music kicks off at 1 p.m. and includes artists you know if you’re of a certain age. Examples include Lisa Lisa, Tiffany, Berlin, The Flirts, Lime, Tapps, Sugar Hill Gang / Melle Mel & Scorpio from Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. The location is the Harry Bridges Memorial Park at 1126 Queens Highway. (Freestyle Festival)

📆 Today in Long Beach:

• Developing An Actionable Business Plan Webinar by the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce (1 p.m.)
• Cool Crafts Roundup at the Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch and Gardens (1:30 p.m.)
• Weekly Crochet Club For Teens meets at the Billie Jean King Main Library (5 p.m.)
• Stroll & Savor in Belmont Shore (5:30 p.m.)
• ‘An Evening of Food & Wine: Italy Edition’ at the Bungalow Kitchen (7 p.m.)

📓From my notebook:

• Your Long Beach Firefighters Type-6 Fire Engine (CalOES) has safely arrived back in the City from the McKinney Fire. The crew did outstanding work in protecting the community of Siskiyou County (near the Oregon border). (Long Beach Fire Department via Facebook)
• 🚧CONSTRUCTION NOTICE🚧 Please be aware of construction happening on Spring Street at the Entrance to City of Long Beach, El Dorado Nature Center and Regional Park. Construction started Monday, August 15. (Long Beach City via Facebook)
• Summer Reading at the Public Library is officially over 😭 Thank you to everyone who participated! If you entered any of the grand prize drawings, stay tuned for updates on winners in the near future! (Long Beach Public Library via Facebook)
• There's a New Exclusive Commercial Franchise Waste Service for businesses, multi-families and single families with dumpster services in Long Beach. (Nextdoor)
• Our Rose Park neighbor is wondering if anyone else has a problem with skunks! (Nextdoor)

🛒 More from our sponsors — thanks for supporting local news!

For sale:

• Samick Upright Piano SU143F (Details)
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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Wednesday. See you all tomorrow morning for another update!

— Sylvia Cochran

About me: Sylvia Cochran works out of sunny Southern California and has been freelance writing full-time since 2005. She loves dogs, cats, books, plays Best Fiends (don't judge), embraces social justice, and tries to live out Micah 6:8.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Long Beach Daily? Contact me at LongBeach-CA@Patch.com