Long Beach Council oks work on MLK Center

The Long Beach City Council Tuesday night approved, 4 to 1, a measure to spend $1,150,000 for hazard mitigation at the city-owned Martin Luther King Center on Riverside Boulevard.

Councilmember Roy Lester said further evaluation of the building was needed before the money can be committed.

The city said the work is to include installation of flood doors, waterproofing of masonry walls, installation of new sump pumps, as well as additional electrical and structural work to protect the building from future storms.

The MLK Center was badly damaged by super storm Sandy in 2012. The project was described to the council by city public works commissioner Joe Febrizio.

The city received two bids for the project and selected Premier Building & Renovations Corp. of Farmingdale as the winner. The project was approved by FEMA’s Public Response Assistanc Program.

The center was closed for several months in 2020 after safety violations were found. It has since re-opened.