In Long Beach, ORCA stands for Ocean Residents Community Association. It’s the neighborhood association that runs along Ocean Blvd.
One of the most meaningful changes we have seen in local communities over the last couple of decades is the growing popularity of neighborhood associations.
Downtown Long Beach has a group of neighborhood associations, including ORCA, members of an organization called the Downtown Residential Council.
ORCA is one of the most active and impactful neighborhood associations in all of Long Beach. Jim Gooden, the current President of Ocean Residents Community Association, recently spent some time with us tell us about ORCA:
“ORCA is a neighborhood association for the high rises in downtown Long Beach. Having lived in one of these high rises for 25 years, I've made some observations: many of the residents are commuters, they commute from Costa Mesa, from Torrance… even from Hollywood. They come home, they go into their underground garage, take the elevator up to their unit, spend the night and in the morning they reverse.
This does not leave room to meet many of your neighbors. Like I said, most people are not aware of Long Beach or what it has to offer.
We bring in speakers from the International City Theater, Karen Desai comes and actually holds an auction for free tickets. Same thing with the symphony, leaders come in and give us a preview of the upcoming season and hold an auction for free tickets. Jim McKaylan from the Grand Prix comes every year, gives us a preview of the upcoming race, and has discount tickets for everybody that lives on Ocean Boulevard.
In addition, we get many of the political leaders that come into our meetings. We've had the mayor; we've had several city council people. ORCA has arranged port tours and even help put in a dog park on Seaside Way. We've gotten a great deal of support from the city officials themselves. ORCA has been doing things to improve the community.”
ORCA creates a conduit of communication between the city and the people. They make an enormous difference in the community along Ocean Blvd.
Hopefully, other community-minded people can learn from ORCA by making a difference in their community.
You’re not likely to see any killer whales here, but some condos have killer ocean views!
People making a difference locally because community matters.
Dunfee Real Estate Services, Inc.
DRE # 02026232
