City Manager: How to Improve Quiksilver Event?

asks residents to participate in a survey on the . The request was originally posted on the City of Long Beach’s website.

Dear Neighbors,

The Quiksilver Pro New York surfers have packed their boards and are headed for their next tournament site. The international surf competition was a new and exciting experience for Long Beach, and as a City, we were proud to have hosted the event.

We want to thank our residents for their hospitality towards the organizers, athletes and guests of our City. We have received very positive feedback after experiencing what one Quiksilver spokesperson called an event “that will go down in history.”

There is no doubt this event was a huge success. The beach at National Boulevard was as they were treated to the top surfers in the world, competing on some of the best waves the East Coast has seen. On the sand, children were the stars, as the family friendly Roxy House provided activities for young girls. The Quiksilver Pro merchandising tent provided a unique shopping experience and a head start on everyone’s fall wardrobe and holiday gift list.

Following the many months of planning that the City undertook to host this event, we were disappointed that we were due to damage caused by . The , and we had to make a difficult decision. Still, in spite of the storm and evacuation, and with the ardent hard work of city employees, we did a and were able to keep the heart of this world class competition intact.

Our City received hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for the event. This includes compensation for all municipal services provided to help make it a success, such as police, fire, sanitation, beach maintenance and other City personnel. We will also collect our share of sales tax from increased business traffic that the event generated. In addition, restaurants, shops, the Hotel and other businesses around the City benefited. This is a gain for all residents as increased sales tax revenue keeps City property taxes down.

The surf competition brought unprecedented enthusiasm and excitement to Long Beach by putting a positive light on our City worldwide through all of the favorable media coverage.

We would like to make this event even more successful should the Quiksilver Pro return, and we want to assess the possibility of future similar events. To that end, we are interested in knowing how you, our residents, think we might make an event like this even better next time. 
 
If you are interested in participating in a brief survey, kindly answer the questions here.

We thank you, in advance, for your participation in our survey, and we look forward to your comments!

Sincerely,
Charles Theofan
City Manager