Late on the night of Sunday, May 31, DLBA was on the phone with community partners, residents, and various officials to coordinate cleanup efforts in Downtown Long Beach (DTLB) for the following morning. After a day full of peaceful protesting, dozens of businesses were looted and vandalized Sunday night, and public spaces defaced. The damage was great. On June 1, Downtown was again overwhelmed with people; this time, the streets were flooded with more than 1,500 volunteers, city staff, DLBA staff, and Clean Team members who gathered in community spirit and solidarity to support DTLB. The show of support was so vast that broken glass, derogatory graffiti, and other damage was cleaned up in just a few hours. As volunteers continued to arrive, DLBA was able to partner with Long Beach Transit to shuttle them to other parts of the city that were also in need. Our heartfelt thanks to the Long Beach community, and the many caring individuals who came from outside the area, and who dropped everything to help their neighbors.
Photos by Jose Cordon and DLBA Staff.
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