Putting Long Beach on the Cyber Space Map

Between Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites and free web logs or blogs, websites are becoming increasingly user-friendly. This phenomenon has provided people more opportunities to turn to their keyboards to use online media and morph into citizen journalists or information-hounds to educate readers, solicit commentary and involvement and provide resources. Long Beach residents are no exception in joining in. Here's a look at just a few of their city-oriented sites.

Slow Down the Town
slowdownthetown.com

When Michele Reinbach was asked to run the website for the newly formed residential committee Slow Down the Town, she just couldn't say no. A close friend of Kate Rose Eichin, the mother of two young children who was struck and killed on Shore Road while she exited her car in June, Reinbach was deeply affected and in turn was inspired to make Long Beach streets safer.

"It would be nice to make Long Beach a model city for traffic safety," Reinbach said.

She helped committee members get more than 1,000 residents to sign a petition calling for traffic reforms and presented it to the Long Beach City Council at an August meeting.

The stated purpose of the site, hosted by the free blog website Wordpress, is to keep residents informed and get them more involved in the citizen campaign. The committee's latest project is to get volunteers to post signs on their property urging drivers to slow down on their streets. Interested residents can sign up through the site.

"I'm hoping that Slow Down the Town will be a wake-up call for everyone in our Long Beach community so that they will not need a personal tragedy to become involved," she said.

Sea by the City
seabythecity.com

Anthony Dalto was inspired to start a blog about his new hometown when he realized others had yet to fill the niche.

"Blogs are more about commentary rather than real journalism you would get from a newspaper," said Dalto, who has called Long Beach home for nearly three years. "So I like to think of seabythecity.com as a supplement to all that."

Dalto's blog is filled with a myriad of information and commentary, with posts based on anything he finds interested about Long Beach, including the local rumor mill that says a Barnes & Noble is coming to town. He has opened his site up to contributors, like local realtor Joe Sinonna. But he admits that it's difficult finding other people to get involved or even to leave comments.

Despite that lack of commentary, Dalto said his view count is higher than he expected and it keeps him updating the page regularly. "The site gets visits from people all over the world," he said. "That's pretty amazing."

I Love Long Beach NY
ilovelbny.com

Since leaving Long Beach for Fairfax County, Va., to pursue his dream of becoming a firefighter in 1978, Chuck Jacobi said he has learned more about Long Beach's history than when he was a city resident.

The research came when he compiled old photos for his website, which he started about 10 years ago to keep in touch with friends. The photos come from various sources: private collections, post cards, maps, Long Beach Historical Society and Library of Congress. Some Long Beachers have asked Jacobi for photos to use for different projects or to accompany stories in local newspapers.

"I get numerous email and posts on the guestbook thanking me for putting the site together," Jacobi said.

Now living in Wilmington, N.C., Jacobi said he wants to dedicate more time to the page, but not so much that it begins to feel like a job. "They always seem to conjure up memories of when we were much younger and life was simpler," he said of the photos.