Narrative:

I was working harbor radar. Lgb was flipped; to RWY12 operations. Aircraft X came in for the visual approach to runway 12. Everyone in our area that I know of agrees that this is an unsafe operation. When aircraft X came to me; I had multiple targets between him and the airport. I have to make a judgment call to descend or stay high to avoid the cluster of VFR targets in the vicinity. In this situation; I chose to descend aircraft X to get underneath traffic (that may or may not descend also; however; I can only work with what I know). I descended aircraft X to 3;000 [feet]. There was a target aiming toward him that I didn't know if it would descend; turn; climb etc.; so based on the information I had; I decided to descend below the target to 1;600 [feet]. The target started to descend also; and at this point; I had already told aircraft X to 'expedite'; so stopping him at 3;000 [feet] was not an option because if the pilot started his descent already; then we would have another issue. I issued a hard vector from a 310 (estimated) [heading] to a 220; then 210. Now aircraft X was aimed into a new cluster of aircraft; all low (1;100 [feet]; etc). Lgb yelled over that the prior target was a cherokee who had aircraft X in sight. Of course they did not turn the cherokee away from aircraft X because their culture is not one to do something like that. I issued a hard turn back to the right once aircraft X was under the target to get away from the other targets. I cleared aircraft X for the visual approach to avoid any MVA problems. In hindsight; I could have kept aircraft X high; but there was also the risk that the VFR traffic would have climbed into him; and if he would have then I would still be writing the report. This is how the long beach 30 departure corridor/long beach 12 arrival corridor is; we get lucky sometimes; and sometimes we don't. The long beach practice area is completely unsafe. I've reported it many times and so have my coworkers. Class charlie airspace; one that is well thought out and doesn't push the problem to another area.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SoCal TRACON Controller reported an unsafe operation relating to Long Beach runway configuration with VFR and IFR Traffic congestion.

Narrative: I was working Harbor Radar. LGB was flipped; to RWY12 operations. Aircraft X came in for the Visual approach to RWY 12. Everyone in our area that I know of agrees that this is an unsafe operation. When Aircraft X came to me; I had multiple targets between him and the airport. I have to make a judgment call to descend or stay high to avoid the cluster of VFR targets in the vicinity. In this situation; I chose to descend Aircraft X to get underneath traffic (that may or may not descend also; however; I can only work with what I know). I descended Aircraft X to 3;000 [feet]. There was a target aiming toward him that I didn't know if it would descend; turn; climb etc.; so based on the information I had; I decided to descend below the target to 1;600 [feet]. The target started to descend also; and at this point; I had already told Aircraft X to 'Expedite'; so stopping him at 3;000 [feet] was not an option because if the pilot started his descent already; then we would have another issue. I issued a hard vector from a 310 (estimated) [heading] to a 220; then 210. Now Aircraft X was aimed into a new cluster of aircraft; all low (1;100 [feet]; etc). LGB yelled over that the prior target was a Cherokee who had Aircraft X in sight. Of course they did not turn the Cherokee away from Aircraft X because their culture is not one to do something like that. I issued a hard turn back to the right once Aircraft X was under the target to get away from the other targets. I cleared Aircraft X for the visual approach to avoid any MVA problems. In hindsight; I could have kept Aircraft X high; but there was also the risk that the VFR traffic would have climbed into him; and if he would have then I would still be writing the report. This is how the Long Beach 30 departure corridor/Long Beach 12 arrival corridor is; we get lucky sometimes; and sometimes we don't. The Long Beach practice area is completely unsafe. I've reported it many times and so have my coworkers. Class Charlie airspace; one that is well thought out and doesn't push the problem to another area.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.