The Queen Mary: Long Beach's iconic ship has been rusting away in front of an enormous parking lot for decades. Now, as the city prepares to invest over $100 million in needed repairs to the ship, is the perfect time to address the larger issues facing the site: 16 acres of parking lot tucked away in a hard to reach corner of the city, choked in pollution, and next to almost nothing else to see or do. In an era of compounding climate, ecological, and economic crises, it is time to move forward from a Queen Mary haunted by all the mistakes of the twentieth century.

This petition calls for the city to more openly discuss the construction of a new Queen Mary Future. Imagine a world class park crowning the downtown shoreline. Imagine the Queen as a centerpiece of that park. Long Beach deserves so much more than a large parking lot with an old neglected ship.

Parks are an important part of the solutions to the challenges of the contemporary world. Parks can help heal peoples bodies, minds, and souls. Parks help bring people together and foster community in our increasingly interconnected yet isolated world. Parks can drive urban ecology as important habitat zones and carbon sinks. 

In Long Beach's west side, where low park space per capita represents an environmental racism issue, the 40+ acres of land at the Queen Mary recently reacquired by the city could become a large park. That park could become larger than every Long Beach park west of the LA River combined. 

With frequent sewage spills and other upstream pollution, a water quality treatment wetland at the mouth of the LA river could create safer beaches. 

In a city that recently passed San Francisco in a list of unaffordable housing markets, the Queen Mary could be retrofitted to hold approximately 1,700 small apartments. 

In a world dominated by compounding ecological crises of habitat loss, climate change, every square centimeter of land is needed for its lifesaving ecological value. When Long Beach's largest green spaces are almost all golf courses, an ecological park on the downtown waterfront could signal meaningful change. 

No matter what future the Queen Mary holds, that future is infinitely more valuable than a desolate parking lot where security kicks you out for having a tripod. 

The city of Long Beach's own Queen Mary Development task force came to the conclusion that we need a new "iconic public space that will attract visitors from around the county and also offer a great experience to residents". 

Together we might have a chance to get that done.