Long Beach : DMV Won’t Rebuild Office Destroyed by Fire in Riots

State Department of Motor Vehicles officials have decided they will not rebuild the Long Beach DMV office that was destroyed during the riots. Rather, the department plans to open a smaller office in the Lakewood area.

Rebecca Jorjorian, chief of field operations for DMV, said the reasons for the change are twofold. The Long Beach office at Willow Street and Pacific Avenue had long prompted complaints from neighbors unhappy with the traffic caused by test drivers. The department also had been planning to open a Lakewood office for the past several years.

Unlike the old office, which processed driver’s licenses as well as registrations, the new office will handle licenses only. Local drivers will be encouraged to conduct registration business by mail or telephone as part of the department’s effort to expand its automated and mail operations.

In the meantime, the department is searching for a site for a temporary office that will open within two to three months. The workers employed at the old office, which was burned by arsonists, have been transferred to other DMV operations.