People in Long Beach are pushing back against Metro’s new proposal on what happens to homeless people after they get off the train at the end of the Blue line. Darsha Philips reports for the NBC4 News on Mar. 6, 2023.
Long Beach’s downtown business district has complained for weeks that Metro's “End of the Line” policy of clearing their trains in Long Beach each night was contributing to the city’s homeless problem.
Now, Metro wants to move the “End of the Line” away from downtown. The line is currently cleared each night off First Street and Long Beach Boulevard.
The plan is to move it three miles north to create what Metro called a “Hub of Hope.”
It’s five stops before downtown Long Beach, from the Willow stop to the Wardlow stop to the north. Both stops are being considered as new “End of the Line” locations that would also house a “homeless services hub” that provides showers, phone charging and temporary housing for unhoused people riding the A Line.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
“l do understand how they are trying to help. I just do not know how well the citizens who live around the area they are going to react,” said Sandra Aceves, a resident of the area.
Donna Casiano, a resident who has lived in the Wrigley neighborhood all her life thinks the hub is a good start to addressing the problem that already exists there.
"It has to start somewhere, the more locations for those services the better," said Jewels Long Beach, a Wrigley neighborhood resident.
That's why the city council and Metro organized a community meeting Monday at Veteran’s Park to update people on Metro's effort to mitigate their current “End of the Line” policy that places mostly unhoused riders near 1st street in downtown Long Beach each night.
The city of Long Beach and Metro held a meeting Monday night where they expected a lot of questions from the community.
