LA TIMES: Study offers 5 options to reshape Long Beach’s breakwater

City leaders hope to persuade the Army Corps of Engineers to reconfigure the World War II-era structure. The result, they hope, will be cleaner water, bigger waves and more tourists.

By Louis Sahagun, July 24, 2009

Just off downtown Long Beach, where freighters queue up to unload much of the nation’s imported goods, a long wall of rock rises from the waves, encrusted with mussels and crawling with crabs.

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Today, nearly two decades after the Navy and its ships pulled out of the area, critics contend that the stony barricade is the reason the city's now surf-less beaches are among the least popular and most polluted in the region.

Long Beach officials Thursday released the results of a study designed to attract congressional support for a controversial proposal to reconfigure the breakwater to create bigger waves, cleaner water and beaches, and more surf tourism.

The city could gain $52 million a year in local spending -- and $7 million annually in taxes and fees, the study found.

Officials said the project will be carried out only if it can overcome daunting challenges. Major concerns include how altering the breakwater would affect navigation into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the offshore loading of weaponry onto Navy ships.

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Supporters of the proposal said the change would revive the city’s historic seaside allure.

U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) said it was her “hope and goal” to see the project completed within a decade.

“All the pieces are coming together,” she said. “We are excited about the prospect of returning waves to Long Beach, but also committed to ensuring that any such project protects homes and the economic vitality of the largest port complex in the United States.

“If it is determined that we can do those two things and return the waves,” she said, “then let the waters roll. We’re ready.”

Ed Hendricks, 84, vice chairman of Long Beach Surfrider, an environmental group, agreed.

“But in the meantime, we have a big dead sea out there behind the breakwater that’s so dirty I wouldn’t stick a toe in it,” he said.

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Complete removal of the breakwater is not recommended in the study. Instead, it offers five options, including three that would reconfigure the breakwater. They range in cost from about $10 million to $310 million…

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Given the numerous competing pros and cons, there's a reason this issue has been so hotly contested for so unbelievably long.

However, my viewpoint is that Long Beach becoming a "surf town" carries positives that more than outweigh the potential downsides. Thoughts?