SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

Time to move the regional to the Anaheim Convention Center...

The Regional committee has tried, but FIRST has this thing about competitions being in "diverse" neighborhoods. The Forum also gave a really good deal cost wise. I'd prefer the Long Beach convention center myself, as they don't have a huge distraction directly across the street, it is much closer to home, and there are more teams in the area.

On to the real question:

The LA Regional visitor guide is due out within days. It is probably being printed as I type. Once it has been mailed a pdf version will be posted in the White Papers section here and probably also on the BeachBots website. Yeah I know you could have used it weeks ago, but this is a new venue and we had to start practically from scratch. It has an extensive discussion of hotels, how to get from them to the Forum, and areas to avoid.

I've never heard of any problems at the Forum itself. They have gate security and high fences all around the property. Just outside is another story. "Downtown" Inglewood (near Manchester and La Brea) is OK. Hotels on either Manchester or Century will probably be OK if they are in the AAA book. Those are tourist areas and the city works hard to keep things relatively safe. The FIRST hotels are in OK areas.

If I was making arrangements I'd look at hotels in El Segundo, Hawthorne, or Lawndale. They are likely to be cheaper than the FIRST hotels, they aren't too far away (10-15 minutes), and the neighborhoods are pretty good.

Last year in Phoenix we had a shootout IN our hotel during the practice day. A couple of our moms who were hanging around the hotel literally had to take cover and one of our rooms wound up with bullet holes. I wouldn't expect any such excitement at the LA regional.

ChrisH