Imagining a better Long Beach

A redeveloped bayfront with shops and recreational activities. Bike lanes throughout the city. A rooftop beer garden. A surfing park.

These are just some of the ideas being discussed by the creators of Imagine Long Beach, a website aimed at improving the city by developing underused space and bringing in new types of venues and businesses.

Since Hurricane Sandy, residents have embraced “crowdsourcing” ideas for the city. From the boardwalk design forums to the committee that is currently deciding how to spend New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program grant money, residents are democratizing many of the city’s important decisions. That process continues with this new grass-roots project.

“I think if you talk to anybody in Long Beach, they have about 10 ideas, at least, of what we can do better as a city,” said Kelly Sullivan, one of the website’s creators. “This is the place for them to go put them.”

The site, which launched Nov. 6, was started by a group of residents who “care about the city and its revitalization efforts,” Sullivan said. They created the website as a way to work from the ground up, by sharing ideas, voting on their favorites and then bringing them to city government or developers to try to make them a reality. Sullivan said they reasoned that if they persuaded the community to band together behind new ideas, those ideas would be more likely to get serious attention.

“We believe a lot can get done.” Sullivan said. “It’s giving us an opportunity to let our voices be heard.”

At this stage, the website serves as a way to gauge interest in various revitalization ideas for the city, focusing on the “where” and the “what.” Suggested areas for changes or new development include the central bayfront district, the vacant Superblock property on Shore Road and the West End library branch, and the ideas range from a dog park to a bowling alley to a rooftop beer garden to a surfing park.

“This is a way for us to organize and get behind ideas,” Sullivan said. “Whether it’s a big idea, like the surf park, or revitalizing the bayfront area, or it’s something as simple as allowing dogs on the beach, people need to stick together and organize and show power in numbers in order to get things done in this town.”