Several members of the public urged the Seal Beach City Council to keep bus service from Long Beach at the Seal Beach agency’s Monday, Aug. 13 meeting.
However, City Manager Jill Ingram told the Sun that the Aug. 26 cancellation date was fixed and that the earliest date Long Beach Transit bus service could be restored was Feb. 10, 2013.
A recent letter from Long Beach Transit asking Seal Beach to pay more than $120,000 for one bus line connecting the two cities also said that Feb. 10, 2013 was the earliest date that route 171 could be restored.
Ingram said she was not ready to make a recommendation to the council. Ingram told the Sun she wanted to look at all the options.
During the oral communications or public comment segment of the meeting, several members of the public came to the podium and urged the council to prevent the cancellation of bus routes from Long Beach to Seal Beach.
“This bus situation is going to affect the economy,” said resident Jo Peterson. She had spent part of that Monday morning distributing leaflets asking the public to speak out against the bus route cancellations at the Aug. 13 Seal Beach council meeting and the Tuesday, Aug. 14, Long Beach City Council meeting.
“I really hope everybody works a little harder to get together with Long Beach Transit,” Peterson said.
Former Councilman Charles Antos suggested that the city look into whether the California Coastal Commission would look favorably on halting bus service to the beach community.
Antos said that many of the visitors to the Seal Beach Red Car Museum come from Long Beach and use the bus.
Cal State Long Beach student David King, a Seal Beach resident, said he found bus route 171 convenient.
Resident Lou Belenka said both Seal Beach and Long Beach could be sued under the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act because the disabled bus passengers would be hurt the most by the cancellation of the bus routes.
Ingram told the council that staff shares the public’s concern over the canceled bus routes.
She said all communications from Long Beach Transit, both spoken and written, have said the Aug. 26 date was a definitive date. Bus service for route 171 could not be restored until February 2013.
However, Councilwoman Ellery Deaton urged staff to try to get the transit agency to delay the cancellation of the bus routes while the two cities negotiate.
In a Monday morning, Aug. 13, interview with the Sun, Ingram confirmed that Long Beach Transit has asked Seal Beach to subsidize the Route 171 service into Seal Beach.
A July 9 letter from Long Beach Transit asked for $123,462. Long Beach Transit also offered to start a Dial-a-Lift service to Long Beach effective Aug. 26, at $25 for each one-way trip.
Ingram said it was hard to swallow the idea that Seal Beach now has to pay for a service that has been provided free for many years.
She said that she wanted to be confident that whatever alternative Seal Beach chooses will be in place for a long time.
As for saving the current bus routes, Ingram said it was time to move on. Ingram said Long Beach Transit only changes its routes three times a year.
“I think we need to be looking long-term,” Ingram said.
Background to controversy
The decision to cancel the Long Beach-Seal Beach bus routes was apparently made by Long Beach Transit officials in May during a two-day period.
In May, following an emotional meeting at the Marina Drive center, Long Beach Transit CEO Larry Jackson decided to cancel the two Long Beach bus routes into Seal Beach, 131 and 171.
At the May 8 meeting on the Marina Drive, some residents of the Marina Drive area objected to plans to replace Route 131’s small buses with larger buses—a plan that would have required the Long Beach buses to take a new route through residential areas.
On May 10, Jackson sent a letter to Ingram that said: “Although it is best if I don’t go into the details of specific comments, Seal Beach City staff present can give you a sense of the “colorful” comments from residents and the Seal Beach Council member.
A prolonged dialogue putting one group of Seal Beach residents against transit users would not serve any useful purpose, but merely inflame deep-seated ugly feelings that were expressed during the meeting.”
Jackson said it was not in Long Beach Transit’s best interests to continue service to Seal Beach. He said Long Beach would cancel both routes 131 and 171, which goes on PCH, Main Street and Electric Avenue.
Later, Long Beach Transit board members public accused Seal Beach of being a racist community even as Ingram and Seal Beach council members lobbied to restore the bus routes.
Seal Beach residents who attended the May 8 meeting insist nothing racist was said. Long Beach Transit officials who were not at the meeting insist that the comments made at the meeting were overtly racist. The actual meeting was not recorded.
