Well, it sure beats therapy.
No, but seriously now. Blogging is fun for someone like me, picked by curiosity about all and everything. The trick is to make it somewhat relevant.
So my point was to talk about Long Beach. Mort precisely, what is it like like living in Long Beach. It’s fine, thanks. I love my city even though the harsh reality of local politics sometimes really makes you question humanity. I chose not to speak too much about it.
There are stories that pick my interest but have no links. Bonnie Lowenthal takes an easy pick at our local newspaper the Press Telegram. She hasn’t said anything that wasn’t true. It has been going down the last 10 years with declining and reporting quality. Notice how the PT all the sudden started to put it a big page about its award breaking journalism? Hum, interesting. Frankly said, my beef with that newspaper is that it’s too sensational. Big headlines, often blowing out of proportion stories, focusing on negativity. Does that still sell anymore? If you read it, it’s 95% bad news, mostly outside of Long Beach murder news. I know of two people who were covered negatively on it and knowing the inside scoop, it looks like PT definitely presented them in a negative way. But then again, we can’t all be the Financial Times.
Then comes news from the city, through my little antennas that it sees itself as the next NY Manhattan! Yikes, where did that one come from?
Besides these Cool-Aid stories, life is great here. I drive a convertible almost all year long. I have 2.2 miles to get to my office, the rest of the time I meditate on the beach, work out at the gym and go to Polly’s to get the latest on the neighborhood. I’m developing my Coaching practice and continue to consult in IT, help out with old car transactions. Life could be worse.
Reporting on real estate isn’t as easy as I thought. Truth be told, things are obviously slow. Everyone is hurting, real estate companies have been closing doors, mortgage companies also, higher commercial real estate vacancies. On the positive side, sellers are starting to get the message: Buyers aren’t buying! OK, yesteryear’s prices are not todays. But how straight forward can you be with sellers. I walked out on a few deals, not out of financial comfort but in order to avoid spending $3,500 advertising on each properties knowing darn well the price was too high. Sorry, I’m the professional.
Lastly, Long Beach is a community of neighborhood. That’s why there is such a gap between elected officials and residents. We are neighborhoods that form a city. In the Shore, people don’t really know what happens in Wrigley, and vice versa. We tend to stay in one or two spots.
Frankly said, blogging is a great way to get your word out there and express your opinions in the hope that one or two people might also ask questions. There is so much complacency that it doesn’t hurt to ask questions, especially these days. Blogging is a great outlet for creative people like me.