Federal funding needed to work on upgrades for Long Beach Harbor

The mayor of Long Beach, who says he’s frustrated with federal agencies, will once again travel to Washington to fight for the completion of upgrades to the local harbor.

WXXV’s newest reporter Ethan Krauss tells us why Mayor George Bass is working fast to get the project done.

The break walls will be installed along the Long Beach Pier to protect the harbor from any storms headed our way.

The project, which began over a year ago, consists of these break walls that need to be installed to protect the harbor from high winds, waves, and potential hurricanes such as Hurricane Zeta, which hit the city back in October 2020.

However, according to Mayor George Bass, funding for this construction could run out. As of now, the city has raised $13 million dedicated to the project, but will need an additional $25 million from the federal government to complete it. “This is ridiculous that we’ve had to wait this long for funding to put ourselves back together. There are families, before the storm hit, that were out here fishing, crabbing, and shrimping off this pier and this drive out here, to feed their families, and those folks are still here and they still need that.”

Mayor Bass is set to travel to D.C. later this month. There he’ll speak with higher ups at FEMA to try and secure the funding needed to cover inflating construction costs.