Art

An old supervisor, well, she was not old, 25 or 27 perhaps at the time, said about Long Beach "artsy fartsy town". I always liked art and music. And Long Beach has a lot of art and music all over the place. I miss those old working and homed days when the future was ahead of me.
You're not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

Several years ago new bike racks were installed around downtown. Will have to take a photo someday. The are not ordinary bike rakes but works of art, sculpture like designs. Object de art, is that what they call it. Our city budget is in as bad shape as the state and federal ones. I wonder if this addition to downtown was a feasible purchase. The painted metal barrier that surrounds the plants is artsy. Tried to capture the palm tree cut-outs and flowers inside the enclosure. What bothers me about this is I used to sit on the retaining wall. Lots of people did likewise. Too narrow a space to do so now. This one is outside the 7/11. I would purchase a hot dog then sit on the retaining wall to eat it.

The issue, I think, is the other homeless who sat there also. Often encounter homeless standing next to the entrance panhandling. Do not recall any homeless sitting there asking every passerby for spare change. But some probably did.

As mentioned in previous posts the City steadily removes benches. Where ever there is a bench, homeless sit. Some sit for hours. Some lay down to nap during the day, but mostly they only use the benches for overnight sleeping. So many benches where I would stop to rest in 2004/2005 are now gone. It is sad that seniors and others with walking issues do not have a place to sit, because citizens do not want homeless to sit.

What is the harm if a homeless person sits? Even for hours? As long as they are not drinking, drugging, making a mess, or bothering other people.

Do not know how much the enclosures cost the city. I like nature too. always enjoyed seeing the pretty flowers as I walked past these what ever you call them. Now I had to stand on tiptoe to look over the top of the enclosure to see the roses. Seems a waste of money except to the person who earned it to create and install the new enclosures.