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LongBeachCC_05042021_21-0382

Speaker 3: list. And so I want to make sure that we we do that. That could be an office mix up there. So I want to make sure that we do it the right way for her. For her, because you want to pull that and can we go ahead and reconsider item 18, no. Objection. Will we consider that? Can I get a motion? Your second to reconsider. 18. It is a motion of a customary ranger and a second by Councilman Zendejas. And why don't we go ahead and talk about. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 2: I district to my. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 2: And by district. Speaker 0: Six I District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 2: District eight. Speaker 0: My district nine. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 3: And then can you go ahead and read item 18, please? Speaker 0: Communication from Parks, Recreation and Marine recommendation to accept funds in the amount of 8300 from skate dojo taking place. Additional cement pathways at Michael K Green Skate Park in 14th Street Park, District one. Speaker 3: Great councilman. Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Mayor. Thank you, Councilmember Ang and Mike, every all my colleagues here for allowing me to first reconsider this item. We have requested it to be pulled. But then, you know, all of these technical difficulties that we were expecting to be. That's okay. That's, you know, we roll with the punches. But so thank you for for letting me speak on this item. One of the things that we have that we have that so very, very unique and special to us here in our district, our youth programs, our youth programs are really, you know, fired up and really doing the the work of what what's going to be the future of Long Beach and Skate Jojo is no exception. They are a phenomenal a phenomenal new nonprofit organization that is doing incredible work in my district. So I, I just couldn't go let this go without, you know, highlighting them a little bit and highlighting the work that they've been continuously doing here in the First District. They have they are a skate organization where they bring together youth from all over the city, especially the first district youth. And they bring them and they, you know, get them involved and get them passionate about, you know, being involved and being engaged in their community. They have a great following for being such a new, new organization. And I'm very proud to have them in my in my district. And they focus on right now, they're focusing on 14th Street Park, which is an amazing, amazing place in our Washington neighborhood. And I know that, you know, their love for our skate parks, their love for the community is where, you know, feels them. And they've just been great. They've had a couple cleanups where they invite the youth and the youth get to be active in in cleaning up their their 14th street park and clean up their skate park and being able to to feel like they're doing something for the community. And I just wanted this opportunity to give them a big, big shout out in addition to these pipe improvements and clean up. So I think it's it's a it's an organization that the city should recognize and should uplift, along with other incredible organizations that our youth, you know, put together and develop and really make our community great. We've had a lot of conversations in the past few months about, you know, rising crime in our community. And, you know, they have really, really serious concerns. And and so they want to do their part in being able to help, you know, reduce that not only reduce the crime, but also prevent crime and give others an opportunity, other youth, the opportunity to succeed and and to have fun while they're doing it. And so I just love the partnerships that Skate Georgia has had. They have partnered up with my office. They have partnered up with Habitat for Humanity, who is also very invested in the Washington neighborhood. They have partnered up with books and buckets and many more organizations around that that service the youth. So thank you again for letting me take a moment to really highlight this wonderful organization that's serving the First District. Then keep keep doing the great things that you're doing, Skate Georgia. And you know, you have my support all the way. Speaker 3: Well, thank you for that, Councilwoman. Yes. And we apologize for for missing the the pulled item. So thank you for that. And let's go ahead and we have a motion filed by councilman in the House. And secondly, Vice Mayor Richardson, vice mayor, to give a comment. Also, just keep up the great work. I love hearing all the transformation that continues to happen in the Washington neighborhood is a legacy transformation that's happening. And so it's great to hear that, you know, there's a partner there that's that's a part of these these efforts of graduations, Councilwoman, and skate, don't you? Great. And then with that, there is no public comment. So we're going to do the roll call. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two. Speaker 1: I. District three i. Speaker 2: District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 2: District five. I. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 0: District eight. District nine. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you, Madam Clerk. Are we. Do we have a public comment for 25 here? Speaker 0: Not yet. Speaker 3: We're not yet. Okay, well, we do have we do have a study session that we have a time certain for. I just what? I didn't want to go into the long study session. Then I have these folks waiting around. So why why don't we. Do a couple of items quickly and then we'll maybe give you a few more minutes for that. So again, and then we'll go to the study session and maybe after a few more. So let's see some of the other items out of the way.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to accept funds in the amount of $8,300 from Sk8 Dojo, a group under fiscal sponsorship with Habitat for Humanity, to place additional cement pathways at Michael K. Green Skate Park in 14th Street Park; and Increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department by $8,300, offset by donation revenue from Sk8 Dojo. (District 1)

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Speaker 3: So why why don't we. Do a couple of items quickly and then we'll maybe give you a few more minutes for that. So again, and then we'll go to the study session and maybe after a few more. So let's see some of the other items out of the way. Can we do any 23, please? Speaker 0: Report from City Manager, a recommendation to amend employment agreement with Thomas Modica, city manager, to conclude his voluntary participation in a work furlough program citywide. Speaker 3: Particularly in a motion of the second. There's a motion by Mr. Richardson, Second Lieutenant Roston. I don't think it's any public comment on this. So let's please go ahead and cast your votes. Speaker 0: District. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: District to. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 0: District eight. District nine, by motion carries. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. I think we only have two more items. Right. And that we're having public comment issues with with that. So what are we what are we through the the equity toolkit? I know it's shorter than the study session, so maybe that would give us enough time to to then come back and go. What information at the end of the meeting once we have the public comment piece fixed. So I don't. 24 please.

Contract

Recommendation to amend Employment Agreement No. 35514 with Thomas B. Modica, City Manager, to conclude his voluntary participation in a work furlough program on the same terms and conditions as those applied to other City employees through negotiations with represented employee associations effective April 17, 2021. (Citywide)

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Speaker 3: Madam Clerk, if you can please read the the study session item, and then I'll turn to. Speaker 0: Recommendation to conduct a study session to receive and file a presentation on the results of the user fees and cost recovery studies. Speaker 5: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the City Council. So we have a presentation to give to you tonight on a strategic objective of a council's that's been underway for a couple of years now. This started back with the Budget Oversight Committee making a recommendation to the council to really focus and bring some attention to how we set our fees, doing some real analysis through outside experts to help us understand at what level should we be doing cost recovery? How do we determine cost recovery? And then where are the areas that we want to essentially subsidize? Because we want to make sure that our community has access to our services at a at a price that is affordable or at no cost at all. And so we are bringing you this as kind of an action item study session. And you're actually not taking action tonight. No fees are going to be approved tonight. This is more of a policy discussion. And then we'll be bringing you some of the first round of of the recommended fees on May 18th for you to consider. So I will turn it over to Grayson and Jody and Alejo, who will walk us through our presentation and the complex analysis that's been conducted. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much, Tom. Good evening, Mayor and members of the city council. This agenda item, as Tom said, is to present to you an overview of the citywide fee study that has been completed for three departments, Health Parks and Development Services, and also present the department's recommendations on any changes to fees as a result of the study. Today's item is a presentation of the study and departmental recommendations that was previously transmitted and received by City Council on April six and similar to April six. As Tom mentioned, there are no actual fees changes being proposed tonight. The purpose of today's presentation is to provide City Council with an overview and an opportunity to make comments. The actual hearing to change fees as recommended by departments as well as other midyear fee changes is scheduled for May 18th. If the City Council has any changes to staff recommendations on fee changes, those can be made on the floor on the May 18th fee hearing. Geraldine Alejo, our revenue officer, will first provide a general background on fees as well as a background and overview of the citywide fees study. Then we will be turning the presentation over to Health Parks and Development Services, who will each go over the highlights of the study for their respective departments and their recommended fee changes? We will be available for questions at the end of all of the presentations. Before I turn it over, I do want to comment that this study and review has required a great deal of work analysis and time on the part of the departments. And Geraldine and I just want to appreciate them for their work towards this effort. And with that, I will turn it over to Geraldine. Thank you, Grace. Good evening, Mayor, and members of the City Council. I will first start with a brief overview of fees and charges. Fees and charges include two types of categories user fees and regulatory fees, both of which are included in the city wide master fees and charges schedule. User fees are charged for the use of a public service program such as recreation programs. Regulatory fees are charged to pay for the costs of a government program which regulates fee payer activity or use to mitigate the impact of the payers activity, such as building permits or pet licenses. Rents and penalties are also included in the master fees and charges schedule for convenience, but are not subject to the cost of service limitations. Rents include facility rentals and off street parking. Penalties include parking citations or late payment fees. Next slide. Speaker 2: I you. Speaker 0: User fees and regulatory fees may not exceed the estimated reasonable costs of providing the service or program. City policy requires that fees are set at the cost of service, except where there is a greater public benefit using a lower fee. This is important to point out because in many instances the city actively sets fees lower than the cost of service to achieve other goals, including maintaining access to public programs and seeing competitive comparable jurisdictions or market rates. Some of these goals and dynamics will be highlighted as part of the department presentations and their fee change recommendations. The city currently has routine processes in place to ensure that fees are reviewed and updated regularly to capture annual cost increases. The city implements an annual inflation adjustment based on city cost increases called the City Costs Index, or CCI. The master fees and charges schedule is adopted each year with the budget with any proposed changes by the departments as well as any CCI updates applied to the fees. Mid-Year adjustments are also periodically submitted to City Council, either as a coordinated citywide effort managed by the Budget Office or on an as needed basis by individual departments. The next city wide fee adjustment letter will be presented to City Council on May 18th. Each fee adjustments council letter includes an estimated revenue impact from a proposed fee change. The revenue impacts are theoretical and may not necessarily result in a budgeted revenue change by the same amount. Any adjustments to actual budgeted revenues must be evaluated holistically and consider a variety of factors such as the stability and certainty of the revenue source, as well as whether the department is meeting its current overall budgeted revenue commitments. This review and update is typically part of the overall budget development process. Now I'd like to provide an overview of the Citywide Field Study Project. As a reminder, in fiscal year 19 and at City Council's direction, staff initiated an updated citywide study. This will be a multi-year project where all city fees will be evaluated, with some exceptions, such as the cases where separate rate studies are in progress or rates are set by external agencies. Each department study will identify and review the fees charged, calculate the full service costs with indirect and direct costs. Determine subvention rates by comparing fee revenue to the full cost of service and provide recommendations for fee levels or structures. The project continues to move forward on a rolling department basis and is anticipated to conclude in 2022. The first round is complete and covered development services, parks, parks, recreation, Marine, as well as a portion of Health and Human Services. Each of the round one departments will be presenting study findings and the recommendations later in this presentation. The second round started in November with energy resources, public works and police departments. Pull in. Preliminary results are anticipated for these departments this summer. A consultant applied a consistent methodology across all department studies, which started with identifying service centers and fees and reviewing cost components. Cost components are based on the FY 20 budget and include direct costs, salaries, benefits and operating expenses as well as indirect costs, which includes departmental overheads such as administration and citywide indirect costs based on the city's indirect costs plan, the cost components are then included in a fully burdened hourly rate per position. The allocated cost is determined by multiplying the fully burdened hourly rate to the staff. Time spent to support a service after the fully allocated service cost is determined. It is compared to the current fee revenues to identify the subvention rate by service. This table is a summary of the costs, recovery and subvention rates per department and shows that the city is generally under recovering for calculated service cost. More information will be included as part of the department presentations with costs and subvention rates reported at the General Service categories or areas. The departments have reviewed the results of the studies and have recommendations on any changes they are proposing to make. The majority of department recommendations align with the study recommendations on full cost recovery, but deviate in some cases based on prioritizing different goals other than full cost recovery, as I noted earlier. These various factors will be noted as part of each department presentation. The departments will share more information on the recommendations. But to summarize here, the first table is a summary of the department's FY 21 midyear recommendations. Of the 1147 individual fees reviewed by the consultant, 470 remained unchanged. 276 or increase 190 were decrease. 188 were restructured. And finally, there were 23 deleted fees. The fees reported here are proposed clean ups to the department. Fee schedule for services are no longer provided by the city. The estimated theoretical annual revenue impact from the department recommendations is 2,013,978 and spans across various funds. Again, budget and actual revenues will be reviewed during the budget process and will vary based on usage and market or economic conditions. Although departments will be presenting an overview of study findings and propose recommendations, no changes to the master fees and charges schedule are requested tonight during this study session. Proposed changes to the master fees and charges will be brought to City Council for approval on May 18th. The proposed changes on May 18th will include the department recommendations discussed today, as well as other midyear fee changes typically proposed by departments as part of the midyear fee change process. Regarding fee changes from the city wide fee study, there have been no changes to the recommendations since they were first received by City Council on April six. After May 18th, the next citywide fee adjustment process will be part of the FY22 budget adoption process. This concludes the overview. I will now turn it over to Health and Human Services. Pamela Bright for an overview of study findings and the Department recommendations for fiscal year 21. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Council Members. Physician Services. Preliminary results are as such. The vendor reviewed 77 fees within a physician's services bureau. Next slide, please. Within a physician services bureau. They reviewed service categories in the following areas vital records, travel, immunization, laboratory services. As a result, the study found that the department is at a 46% cost recovery rate and a 54% subvention rate. PS. An Environmental Health Bureau will be reviewed in a later phase, tentatively scheduled for later this month. Next slide, please. The bottom of the screen represents the total, which is a combined total for each respective service category, which those service categories are in column one. In Column two. That is the combined actual cost to render the services, which is the 1.1 million. Column three. That $508,603 is the amount collected for the services rendered. The total profit or subvention is a 594,866, which represents a 46% cost recovery and a 54% subvention rate. Next slide, please. While determining whether or not to accept the fee study, we had to consider many factors. Enhancing access to public health services. Essentially the overall public benefit. Comparisons to neighboring jurisdictions. Medicare. Medical fees for clinical services. Or clinical fees. Regulatory requirements for laboratory fees. With this in mind. Out of the 77 fees reviewed at this time, we are not requesting any changes. Next slide, please. Next slide, please. Okay. I'm sorry. Okay. So this particular slide. Is the key items to consider. So for today's presentation, we really wanted to focus on vital records and vital records. We wanted to look at the full cost for recovery. When we did a comparison to other jurisdictions, what we noticed was what we were able to information we were able to get back was that the expedited copy of birth certificate fee would be 113% higher than L.A. County. The studies propose letters for non contagious disease b would be 450% higher in L.A. and Riverside counties. The study's proposed emergency weekend death fee. Death certificate fee would be 280% higher in Berkeley. Next slide, please. So overall, increasing these fees or increasing these vital records fees to recover the full cost of providing these services would inhibit or hinder access to these public services due to all preceding factors, as well as detrimental impacts of COVID 19 pandemic. The Health Department is not proposing any changes at this time. The Department will review the study recommendations for physician services fees and may move forward with proposed fee increases as part of the fiscal year two fiscal year 22 budget process. However, there's a high probability that we will not recommend any fee increases. I know there was one flight that was missed and that flight talked about some of the reasons why. We do not want to increase the fees. And those were okay. And. City services reform, I think is further up. Further back. But essentially, when we looked at all day, we compared it to other jurisdictions. We looked at Medicare, medical fees, studies, office schedules. We also took into consideration that the benefit to public. So that's why at this particular moment in time we are not making any recommendations to increase anything is. Not sure if there are any questions. I have a. Speaker 1: Question. Sure. But I don't know if we're saving them till the end. Speaker 2: I could. Okay. So I'm going to turn it over to Parks Recreation and the Marine Department. Speaker 5: Thank you very much. Honorable Mayor and members of City Council. My name Brant Dennis and I serve you in this community as a director of Parks, Recreation and Marine. This evening I present to you an overview of our department's cost of services study and a summary of recommendations. I'd like to point out another major area that our department supports is Animal Care Services. The department is appreciative. Of the opportunity to complete the cost of services, study fee revenue and its impact to the department's ability to provide programs and services is important to PRM. We take our responsibility seriously to establish fees that are fair and equitable, to provide affordable and diversified services to all individuals. Next slide, please. The department has over 800 fees spanning multiple funds during this round of the study. 654 current fees were evaluated. The remaining fees, not including in the study, are regularly reviewed through other established mechanisms. The study discusses changes to current rates and possible new fees pursuant to the City Charter. The Parks and Recreation Commission has authority over recreational programs and facilities, which includes the approval of related fees. Fees within the Commission's authority that were approved at their meeting in January will be presented today as they were part of the study. It's important to note that full cost recovery is not always recommended in order to encourage access to important recreational opportunities. Next slide, please. Here you will see a summary of subvention rates by service area. The columns represent service costs. Fee revenue at the current rate and the total profit or subvention. This chart includes all group funds. This chart does not include revenue unrelated to fee charges and doesn't represent fees that were excluded from the study, such as golf and marine slip fees. At the current level of fee and fee revenue represented here, the department is achieving a 13% cost recovery rate overall. Next slide, please. At the conclusion of the Study Department recommendations include changes, including both rate increases and decreases to meet cost recovery and operational needs, as well as changes in fee structures to align with service provision. The total estimated annual revenue impact from the recommended changes is approximately $514,000 in general fund and over $60,000 in the Tidelands operating fund groups. Next slide, please. During the course of the study, it's important to consider the impact of prime services and programs to the community as part of the compassion sales policy. Animal Care Services rate changes are recommended to encourage the best outcome for treatable animals. Implementing changes in fee titles to clearly identify services is recommended for consistency and to align with our service offerings. Market based fees such as rent, space and equipment are set by what the market can bear and public demand. Cost recovery is often calculated at an aggregate level of cost center, which considers the costs of a group instead of individual fees. Next slide, please. Of the total fees included in the study. PRM proposes that 340 remain unchanged. 20 fees are proposed to decrease. 162 are proposed to increase. 109 are restructured fees and 23 fees have been deleted. Recommendations in the study for new fees that are not proposed as part of the fiscal year. 21 midyear recommendations will be brought to City Council at a later date. Next slide, please. Examples of recommended adjustments are decrease fees for animal in pounds, increase fees for field use permits and facility rentals, and new fee structures for artificial turf fields just to name a few. Rates set below cost recovery are charges for staff time, animal impound and medical services and the youth sports program. Keeping these fees below costs recovery removes barriers to access programs and services. Next slide, please. Comparisons to other jurisdictions and agencies can be difficult because other agencies have different fee structures and fee types then prime such as sports field use and facility rentals. Animal licensing fees are in the higher range when compared to other agencies. Marine Bureau rates maintain a competitive price point when compared to similar marine agencies, helping to ensure a financially sound enterprise while remaining in competitive balance with marine industry price trends. Finally, I want to thank financial management and the consultants for their leadership. These are important to our city and the department finances and help us provide critical programs and services that our community needs. This concludes my presentation, and then I'll turn it over to the Department of Development Services Director Oscar Orsi. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor, and members of the city council. Next slide, please. Unlike the other departments that you've heard from tonight, the development services is funded largely from the Development Services Fund rather than the general fund. And it is funded through the collection of fees for services that include entitlements, client checks and inspections. The consultant helped us analyze over 400 fees, and it was determined that overall the department was under collecting the most significant subventions were in our current planning and historic planning services. However, we also determined that the building bureau was over collecting by approximately 30%. Next slide, please. As illustrated in this chart, current planning and historic planning have the largest fee recovery variance at 69 and 40%, respectively. As a whole, the department's invention rate is approximately 11% or $3.64 million. Next slide, please. Development services are recommending both increases and decreases, decreases in fees as well as restructuring fees to align with the services provided. As previously indicated, the theoretical revenue rate would be $1.45 million. The fees would be aligned with the study's recommendations, with the exception of historic of certain historic and current planning fees. Next slide, please. Although historic and current planning fees are not at full cost, recovery staff has recommended recommending that certain higher historic and current planning fees be phased in over a 2 to 3 year period because of the nature of the increases. Staff will evaluate the increases each year to determine if there was a need for an increase. Next slide, please. This slide provides a summary of the proposed changes to the fees. As indicated, 41%. Rather, 170 applications are proposed to be decreased, whereas 27% of the other fees are proposed to increase for 114 total fees. At this point, we are recommending that no changes be made to our to certain fees, particularly our fees, as we need further study to better assess the vacancies and the COVID impacts that we've had. As indicated on the next slide, 19% of the fees are proposed to be restructured to align with services. New fees for new programs or services with no fees such as a short term rental program and appeals are also proposed. Next slide, please. In an effort to compare our fees and to determine the competitive nature of of Long Beach versus other communities. We did do a comparison, but please note that it's difficult to compare with each jurisdiction because of the potential in difference in a difference of service delivery model. And we may those other communities may be under collecting for that similar service. That said, staff selected a few common fees and found that they were within the range of other cities. Next slide, please. This slide provides several examples of some of our most common permits. Just to highlight a few of those. The CHP, for example, at 8400, is within the range of other communities, although a range of other communities. As another example, the hypothetical 2500 square foot addition at 4500 lies also within the middle range of other communities. And that's it. Thank you. I'll turn this over to Grace for further information. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. So wrapping up this presentation, in summary, the city is generally under recovering for costs based on the studies done for health parks and development services. The three departments are proposed recommendations that are generally aligned with the study's finding for full cost recovery. However, as we've mentioned tonight, there are deviations from the study's findings where the department proposes setting fees lower than the cost of service based on prioritization of other goals, such as program participation, competitiveness, maximizing revenues, residents needs and ability to pay, etc. The theoretical revenues potentially generated from the proposed fee changes will be evaluated and if adopted by council included as appropriate as part of future proposed budget processes in line with our financial policies. And lastly, these proposed changes discussed today, along with other changes to the master fee and charges schedule, is scheduled to come before council on May 18th. City Council can officially adopt these changes on that date. This concludes the presentation and Geraldine, myself and the departments are available for questions. Thank you. Speaker 3: All right. Thank you. I'm going to take over. At this point, I don't have the cue system. So I'm going to call I'm going to call through council members from 1 to 9 and just let me know if you have comments. Council District one. Speaker 1: Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just wanted to thank staff for this presentation. One of the things that I'm looking forward to is not seeing fees increase for our residents. Right. Especially during this pandemic. But I really look forward to in the near future getting the opportunity to really dig deep into this presentation and the fees themselves. So thank you very much for this presentation to start. Speaker 3: Fantastic. Thank you. Council District two. Speaker 1: Yes, thank you. The ICE mayor. And I also want to thank the staff for this presentation. One of the things that, you know, we hear a lot about is that, you know, government is inefficient. And so I just want to make sure as we're looking at our direct and indirect cost, that we are looking at restructuring any Speaker 2: . Of our products or. Speaker 1: Services just to make sure that we're being efficient as can be. And and definitely want to make sure that we are aligning our fees so that all of our residents can utilize our services. Speaker 0: And that it's, you know. Speaker 2: Accessible and affordable for all of our residents. So where you think you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Council District three. Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Appreciated that presentation. Thank you very much to all of the departments that presented this evening. I do have a question for our PRM team. Speaker 0: The first thing is I. Speaker 1: Want to acknowledge and really thank you for being able to take a look at our swim of fees and reducing those. I think that's a really fantastic. I like that we were able to reduce those both for adults and youth and really try to promote some more aquatics programing so that the residents can take advantage of that , that offering that we have. So that that's really fantastic. Speaker 0: I did have a question on page. Speaker 1: 57 of the 455 page Appendix A. There are some increases for group rentals. Speaker 0: And. Speaker 1: The rate seem to increase based on the number of people. But then there are different categories. So if you look at, for example, item number 436 for a group rental of 41 to 80 people, there's a certain cost. But then if you look at 440 for a group rental, 41 to 80, there's a different cost. Is that is that based on the venue or is there a different table that goes along with this with this appendix that I'm not aware of? Speaker 5: Yeah, Councilwoman, that's a good question. So in many in many cases depends on the change of venue, but also as the group size increases for pools, it does require a ratio of increased lifeguard coverage. So that could be a factor that's clearly distinguishing some increases. But yeah, we were pleased to keep a lot of our rates are swimming rates for the general public at or at a reduced level. Thank you. Speaker 1: Okay. Got it. Yeah. I don't think I have any additional questions. I mean, obviously we have to strike a balance in terms of the the services that we provide and the fees associated with those. And I'm sure that metric is different for each department. I will say when I was looking at. Speaker 0: And I just sent. Speaker 1: A photo of it to someone on our staff when I was looking at the development services fees, one of the biggest fees we get complaints about from people is the concessional conditional use permit fee. And it's noteworthy and I think it's worthy of mention that our conditional use permit fee is much lower, I think, than other cities of our size, or at least along the same lines, insignificant in terms of the difference if there is an increase from other jurisdictions. And I think that's really worth noting and something that I hope to cite in the future if that complaint is directed at the city, because I think that it takes a tremendous amount of work to process those conditional use permits and to be able to do it at a rate that is consistent with and in many cases lower than neighboring jurisdictions. I think it's worthy of mention. So thank you very much for the presentation tonight. Speaker 3: Thank you. Counsel before. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. I have kind of a general question. I can certainly wait till the 18th to sort this out. But just to kind of plant the seed. So I understood that one of Grace's concluding remarks was that in some cases, we have fees that do not cover the cost. Conversely, I assume to balance that budget, you'd have to pay fees that are over the cost. So if we can kind of cover that topic on the 18th, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Edition five. Speaker 1: Thank you. I've been working towards this report for several years, and I think that the pandemic has really highlighted the disparities in our systems and the great need for us to be able to target specific. Reductions in fees through need and need is not always determined by a person's participation in a type of program, but really their true costs and burdens and in their position in life. And so one of the things that I think is really important is for us to continue to work towards a universal access card for Long Beach, where a person could qualify for assistance, and that card would then allow them to receive lots of our services at a reduced rate. So an example of that is in another jurisdiction. The Junior Lifeguard program is. $540 per session. However, if you meet a certain threshold, you get a subvention of somewhere between ten and 90%. So that would really target pulling in communities that would not otherwise have had those opportunities. Instead of spending a program on the whole. Next, I would say that there are certain costs that we haven't because we've always invented them. And in certain cases I think that. Some individuals need that support more than others. So an example might be, and I try not to pick one out, but I think that the the example is important. If a vital record service is subsidizing the costs by 49%, and then we say if we were to do true cost recovery, then we would be at a 113%. And I wasn't clear it was 113% of L.A. County's fee or our fee, but a birth certificates, $28. And if you're a family that needs assistance and aid, $20 is still a lot of money versus a family that may have had. Means and was able to provide. A different level of of opportunity. They would be comfortable paying the $56 for the birth certificate. And I think that we do ourselves a disservice as a city just reducing the fees for every unit of every person. And I think that we as a city would be able to provide more assistance to the people who need it most. If we were able to really push forward with our qualification card and the reason I say that is I had a discussion with another councilmember today that was really enlightening about how do we get people in the system? Well, people are already qualified if they're a resident of Long Beach through the utilities. So even if you don't have an ID card, you may pay utilities in our city. And so if you've already gone through the process, either with Southern California Edison or the Long Beach Community Action Partnership or with the gas company or the water company to demonstrate that you're of low income, you should be able to scan your card anywhere that services are needed. And we should be able to, as a council, determine that there are programs and services that you need that we should subsidize. And then, on the other hand, if you're not in need of those services today, we had a great presentation at the Infrastructure Committee by Mr. Mario Cordero, who talked about the K-Shaped recovery, where certain people and certain income groups have amassed more wealth in the last year with the inability to spend money than they've ever needed to before. And I know that that's apparent in my community that has median incomes that range from the I guess it doesn't range because it's an actual number, but this year's numbers not out yet. We have a high increase in permit requests. And so if we're not burdening the true cost of those permits onto the person and applying, then the the catch on that is that then their projects are often delayed. So there are people who tell me I would have paid the extra $200 if you would have let me process my roof, because not letting me process my roof means that there's significantly more costs because now I have a leak and that leak has caused this and that and the other. And now my costs are $3,000 more because I wasn't able to get the services I needed in a timely fashion because we either vented the costs and did not have enough staff. I know that COVID was a specific, unique scenario in development services this year, but. It's important for us to put a couple of things of messaging on everything that has a fee associated, in my opinion. I believe that we should put on any document that states a fee that the city does not make money on residents, business owners or landlords, that the true cost of recovery of this service would be. X So let's say there was a fee that was 80 $500 this up and Councilman Price brought this up. We get a lot of requests to reduce the cost of a cop. Perhaps it would make sense for us to say that the city does not make money through fees. Therefore, cost recovery. The true cost recovery of this fee would be $12,860. Through an action of the City Council. We are supporting this fee because we believe there's a value in having a conditional use permit presented to the Council. And so to incentivize that, we reduce the fee by 25% and your fee is 80 $500. Speaker 2: Councilwoman, obviously that's. Speaker 0: Your 5 minutes is up. Speaker 1: Thank you. Obviously, that's very verbose and we could hone that down considerably. But I plan to meet with each of the department heads that have gone through this process so far. I look forward to hearing their insights and and opportunities for improvement. And I have some specific questions on some specific fees, but I guess I'll meet with them individually on that. But there's one thing that's happening in my district that doesn't have a fee associated with it and that individuals should not get a free service if we don't feel that there's a need to segment it because there's not a value that the city as a whole. Thank you. Speaker 3: All right. Thank you. Council District six, please. Speaker 1: I just want to thank staff for the presentation, and I think it's really important and I appreciate the process that takes of getting us a report on user, just the fees and reviewing it. And I look forward to our May 18. As you know, they're similar. My colleague just questioning how we can ensure that the fees are done in in a way that ensure services are appropriately provided in consideration of those it's serving. So so that's pretty much it for me on my end. Thank you. Speaker 3: I think. All right. Thank you. Council District seven, please. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. Well, the most important is, I think that this study really comes out of the fact that we really have to look at market based fees, what's out there, what can the market tolerate in regard to some of the structures that we have in many of the services to make sure that, you know, at these things, you said it best right there to make sure that that people understand that the fees that we're charging is not because we're out to make a buck, but because we're providing a service. And I think that's very important that we get that message out, that the fees that we had is a cost, recovery of the cost for our employees out there, of vehicles, of gas, whatever, whatever it takes, all the other infrastructure type type of costs that we have to bear and those fees cover those costs. So, I mean, it's very important that we get a real robust market fee structure in there in place to make sure that we are aligned with what our neighbors are doing so that we don't overprice ourselves out of the market to to have people eventually say, I'm leaving Long Beach because you're just too expensive. I know that comes up a lot with with our license fees or business license fees. We get that all the time. I get that all the time. But you guys cost too much. Also, we were always been criticized for the fact that our parking fees seem to always be going up. And, you know, we have to be careful about if we have an increase in fees, we have to make sure that it's within the market and what and what people can stand. So I'm looking forward to the 18th. We will be able to have a more robust discussion on this and be able to review all the other 1000 fees. Are there 2000 fees that will be reviewed across all the department? So I want to thank staff for an overview. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Council District eight. Speaker 4: Thank you. Join. Want to join with my colleagues in thanking staff for this detailed presentation. I think we missed this a few weeks ago, but I'm glad we are. We're having this conversation. It's very enlightening. I, I want to just to sort of give recognition to our previous form about budget share Stacie, Margo Councilmember lingo for being or harping on this issue of subversion. And I think the first time I heard that term, I was doing a, B or C meeting and she's been talking about this for some time. And so to have this report, I know it's something that she's been working towards for for some time. And so I want to thank her and especially our financial management staff, but all the departments who participated in this, this is very eye opening, understanding that our mission is service as a city. It's not we're not a corporation. And so we don't necessarily need to balance the cost. But I think we should do a better job of cost recovery where we can. And this gives us a really bird's eye view of where opportunities could lie, but also where where we we we may have some some challenges. I want to be mindful of the 23 projected shortfall that we have. And and this is a great opportunity for us to start making adjustments to to address some of our budget challenges that we know we will be facing in the very near future. And, you know, based on what I'm seeing are our we've got a $55 billion subvention and the recommendations from staff is is to recover about $2 billion of it here. I think we can do better, better. And this council I put upon each and every one of us to go and dig a little deeper and look at , you know, where we can, you know, make make adjustments. I did have a question for, I guess, that our city manager is when it comes to subvention in terms of local government practices, is there any sort of like standardized? Methodology to to to understand switching cost. And where we should be. Is there is there a standard or best practice recommended councilmember Austin. Speaker 0: We do have city are part of our city wide financial policies is a policy on cost recovery and our financial policies that council have adopted is that we would cost recovery at the rate of service except when there are other priorities that the Council deems as higher. And as we mentioned during the study and the departments also addressed this as well. There may be other goals such as program participation, staying competitive in the market, different ways to maximize our revenue, looking at our residents needs and abilities to pay. Overall, I think cities in general do factor in all of these things when setting their rates and for their cost recovery. And our goal for these citywide studies that we're doing right now is to get to the data and the facts for what the data tells the subvention rate is. But then also each department is customizing and looking and evaluating with the consultants what is our goals and our priorities and why we might be setting rates at a lower level than the actual cost of city. So and one thing just to clarify from a comment earlier is we are not setting any fees higher than the cost of the service, at least not intentionally. And so part of the goal of this study is to to make sure that we know that we are not doing that and getting the data and the facts so that we know if there is any overages will bring them down and if there is subvention to evaluate whether or not we want to bring the cost up to cost recovery or to continue this event for these other purposes. Speaker 4: Thank you. And I just had a clarification on that. I'm sure we'll have a lot more discussion on May 18th, but I want to get some clarification. Were all of the funds considered here, general for or for other departments, or were other funds factored in reserve? Speaker 5: So health fund is in the health department is almost all health fund fees in the Development Services Fund. It was a little bit of general fund, but almost all of it is Development Services Fund, which is a fully contained enterprise and is designed to be cost recovery and self-sufficient. And then in Parks and Rec, it's mostly general fund, but there's also some tailwinds there as well. Speaker 4: So related to the Marine bureau, would that be tailored mostly? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. And no further questions. Look forward to more conversation about this. Thanks. Speaker 3: Fantastic. Thank you. Just a few thoughts on this. So look forward to this has been a good discussion. Great presentation. I look forward to the discussion in a few weeks. I hesitate to raise fees on. I always hesitate to raise fees on low income families and youth, particularly on quality of life programs. I know that we do full cost recovery, but I think just the staff mentioned it. Sometimes the council has a different priority and historically we've, you know, focused on removing barriers for people to be able to participate in some of these programs. So I would you know, I hesitate to raise any any of those fees, and I don't see those being proposed here. I think our policy on full cost recovery, you know, I think that that's a that's a good thing. Most most businesses that I know and and you know and from what I know, folks, as long as they get a value add, as long as they understand what they're getting for their fee, they're fine paying what the market fee is and and making sure that full cost fees go directly to the city. If anything, folks like seeing it actually come into the city's coffers and not go to a third party contractor to provide service. So these fees, they do support, you know, our city having quality public services and public employees providing those services. So. So I think as long as we keep them, you know, think about the value added, particularly as it relates to the development services fees. If that be into development services, you know, if they're fully funded, they're going to move faster, that people are going to get projects done quicker, ultimately saves money. And so so we just have to think about the value add. The other thing is and this is the issue of raising the past, I'm just going to ask, you know, staff to kind of respond to this. You know, I've I've I've I remember, you know, one time we opened a burger place in North Long Beach. They opened all their fees and they were closed within a year. And, you know, we have areas of town where the failure rate of small business, like they like many, many small businesses, fail in the first three years. We always ask the question, why charge fees in the first place and add to a barrier for a business that we know is going to struggle in this in this particular area of town. And so I would just ask staff, you know, as we're thinking about these fees, are we factoring in and how we go about making sure that we I know we have to make sure fees are fair across the board, but that we sort of, you know, target cents or rebates or whatever it is to make sure that they advance some of these, you know, strategic goals. I would ask staff, how would how would you respond to some of those recommendations in the past about, you know, structuring fees or rebates related to fees to create, you know, more opportunity in areas of the town where, particularly with small businesses, just haven't thrived within within the first three years of establishment. Speaker 5: Yes. Vice Mayor. So in that particular instance, that would probably mostly be the Development Services Fund. So again, it's designed as a self-contained fund so that it's not drawing upon general fund. In some of your other areas, we might just say, hey, we just want to cut the fee in half for certain areas or for certain types of businesses, but for their own services. If you if you aren't doing full cost recovery, then you're going to end up having general fund go in and subsidizing that, which we've always tried to avoid. So in that particular instance, we would recommend that you achieve your full cost recovery. You set what the rates are, you make sure you've you're collecting it, and then you create a separate fund, could be Recovery Act, could be something else, and then be really surgical and really intensive about where you want to provide a subsidy. So then you can say these are the types of businesses that fail. This is what we want to try to, you know, create and make it easier for them and use that funding to reduce the burden on the business. Speaker 3: Thank you. And it all makes sense to me. You know, I know this is really the forum for that. But, you know, as we move forward, those are things I'm interested in seeing. We have the ability to make things work a little bit easier, particularly in areas that have dealt with generations of the same economic condition. And we have to change the condition in order to have a different outcome. And so those things I'll be looking forward to in the future. Those are my comments. Thank you so much, staff. I see Councilman Mungo's queued up, queued up for a second round, Councilmember. Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember at. I want to address some of the things you said, because I think it really goes back to a discussion that you and I and the council had in 2014 or 15 where. There was a first year refund and rebates program that we did, and we set aside general funds to pay back some of the fees that a business has to pay in the first year that they have a business. And one of the things that was really interesting is the business community really supported the idea that if you open a new business, you shouldn't have to pay the fees for two years. And the council was supportive. We had a unanimous vote. We moved in that direction. Then in alignment with the business community, they said it would be really easy for them to get these refunds. And so it was literally a one page document that had maybe five things to fill out your name, your business, your address, the amount of fees you want refunded. It was simple, and it was at every station in the Development Services Office. And what we found was that in the. Strain and struggle of opening a new business. The number of people that actually applied for it was significantly lower than the anticipated projection by both the business community and the city. So I am in agreement. It would be great if we could figure out a way to. Incentivize opening businesses. I know that from our presentation from Mr. Chrysler Economic Development, our restaurants are on the low end of the number of new businesses in the city and your district. In my district, we don't have as many. But it is interesting as a a person who's opened my own business before, as a person who comes from a family that had 16 businesses in the lowest income areas of Long Beach and a franchise. When you're opening a business and when I interview individuals who have gone through these processes, there's just so much paperwork and guidance at the beginning. And I think that something else that I want to say, Councilmember Sorrow and Councilwoman Allen and you spoke about earlier that has also been a real gem to my heart is really that mentoring and coaching that's available from our Small Business Development Center and other areas. Because when you're starting that business up and you're trying your financials and order and your marketing and all that, this one form, which was the simplest we could possibly make, it wasn't a top priority to these businesses. So we really need to reflect on hopefully times have changed and that would be something that they would be interested in. But I know that we ended up repurposing that money after two years of underutilization. I'm I want to comment on a comment from Councilmember Otunga. I thought it was really a really smart comment to say about market rate fees and as a champion for the libraries and having brought forward many items that waived the fines on books. The way that we're able to do that is because the individuals who can't afford to make those those payments do. And there were some unique stories. I talked to a couple of moms and my mommy group about how Councilmember Ortigas item really brought forward their just knowledge and awareness that they had outstanding books and they ended up not needing to not pay their fines and fees. It was $5 and they felt it was important to pay it. So they taught their children and they did. But the item and the ability to do that is possible when we have market rate fees and other areas, not that we want to raise fees, especially in a time of COVID, but Councilmember Austin's point about the best practices of cost recovery, the city would have $55 million to target and say, we believe that the most important thing in these communities is considered an apex to health. And so we don't want to have sports fees, and we could do that if we were cost recovery in other areas. But it's about tough choices. So I know one of the things that happened in another area that I worked in, in another government was when we found out what those cost recoveries were. We also put ourselves on a three year path for cost recovery. We did not burden those entities with the full cost recovery in the first year. And so potentially that would be a strategy. We know we're in a deficit. I would love to be in a position where we had the Long Beach access card, where families that needed it most and qualified for income assistance could scan. And when they needed to go to Eldorado Park or when they needed a park at the library, they would pay nothing but individuals who were making $180,000 a year, $400,000 a year, which we're very fortunate to have lots of people in our community that do that. Perhaps it wouldn't make the most sense to be subsidizing their parking or subsidizing their $7 to go to the park. So I think that those are the ways in which we really get the communities that need it most instead of just an overarching fees, our fees, and we should lower them all because they're high, then we don't really get to use the funding to help the communities and lift them up in an equitable way. So those are just some of my thoughts and I hope that. The transparency component of this is appreciated because I think it's important for each of us to know what the true cost of things are so that we as a city and as individuals can prioritize where we believe that funding needs to go. So thanks so much. And I don't support raising too many fees. I'm in the downturn, the economy, and I never support raising them on our our families that are most need. But I think it's important for us to make those tough decisions. That's why we were elected. So thanks so much. Speaker 3: All right. Thank you. Any public comment on a study session? No public comment. All right. Let's go ahead and have a roll call. We need a motion and second to resume on file. Speaker 2: Some moved. Speaker 3: Moved. Okay. I think I saw Austin second. Or is that your second? Okay. All right. Let's go ahead to the roll call vote. Speaker 0: I'm sorry, who is the seconder on the motion? Speaker 3: The usually ranga. Speaker 0: Ranga? So Zondi house was a mover or ranga was a seconder. Speaker 3: Right. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two I, district three. Speaker 1: I, district four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 2: District five I. Speaker 0: District six i. District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District eight. By District nine. I motion carries. Speaker 3: All right. So that satisfies the agenda. As we close, I'm going to go to four new businessmen, go to council member Zoro first, who has a request to close the meeting.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to conduct a study session to receive and file a presentation on the results of the user fees and cost recovery studies for the Development Services, Health and Human Services, and Parks, Recreation and Marine Departments and associated departmental recommendations.

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Speaker 0: Thank you. And now we pull item six. If I can, please have the clerk read item six. Speaker 1: Recommendation to execute an agreement with Metro to accept the donation of the former Long Beach Blue Line and authorize city manager to execute an agreement with heavy transport to transport and deliver the vehicle from its current location to Long Beach District to. Speaker 0: Thank you. If I can get a motion and a second on this and I do have some comments, I'm going to have staff. Just make a few remarks. Thank you, Mr. Modica. I want to I'm going to just have staff make a few comments in a minute if there's anything to add to the report. But I do want to broadly add that I wanted to pool this because this is this is an initiative that we've been working on now for for a few years. When I was serving on the Metro Board, we noticed that the as the Metro trains were going to be replaced, they were going to scrap the old car 102, which of course, for those that know car 100, it was actually named after our city. It's called the Long Beach Car 100 and is the very first metro car in the history of the L.A. County rail system. And it traveled from downtown Los Angeles to downtown Long Beach decades ago and kicked off. It was the very first metro ride in the region. And on that on that train, it was actually then Janice Hahn, who was a young girl at the time, who was with her dad, Kenneth, then supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who actually inaugurated the line. There's a lot of history to that train. I began some efforts and with Supervisor Hahn support to restore and preserve the train. We worked with our staff. I want to thank our entire team. This became much more complex, of course, than you can imagine. But we were able to get Metro to donate the train to help us restore it to its original look and in the way that it was a service. And now being able to actually accept the train now that it's complete and we can now store it here in the city on that train, there is a plan to install it in downtown Long Beach in the East Village, right adjacent to where the train actually went right through when it came from downtown L.A. And we have a great team working on that. I do want to thank Supervisor Horne for her work and continued partnership and fact. We have a strong partnership in the future and how we're going to actually restore this train. Mr. Mark, is there anything that you want to add to that? Speaker 4: I think you said that very well. This is an exciting project and thank you for your time on the Metro Board and helping to make this a reality. We have cobbled together a number of different funding sources from federal, state and regional. We don't have any general fund in this project. This is all grant funded and it's a great opportunity to activate a space that is currently not all that active over on the first street behind the Westin and bring a piece of Long Beach history. So, Eric Lopez, if you want to add anything else as the project manager, I will turn it to you. Thanks, Tom. I would just add that we're really excited to move forward. This is an exciting project that our team is has been working hard on. The next step is to continue with the planning and design, and there will be more opportunities for the public to. Speaker 0: Get involved and engage in this and this in this. Speaker 4: Great effort. So that that's what I'd like to add. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Lopez. And I think for the council also, the kind of original proposal was to bring the original train. It would be installed onto the street and affixed to the street, and it could hopefully really create a as a museum of sorts and to honor the history of rail across the county and honor the history of that car, particularly being called the Long Beach Car 100. But then also look at ways of activating that same space. And maybe there is a way of bringing a cafe or a food service adjacent to the train that could provide and activate the space around the train as well. And so that really becomes an experience for people as they as they visit downtown or riding the blue line. They can come back, come right off the bat station, their one on one boulevard in a first, and the train will be visible from that station. So it's a very exciting project. I have a motion by Councilwoman Allen and a second by Councilmember Durango. Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 3: Thank you. I am very excited about this. And thank you, Mayor Garcia, for your leadership in securing this valuable historic asset for our community. And I also want to thank staff for all of their work in coordinating this. I can't wait to see this, which will be located in the heart of downtown. And it's just going to be a great experience for all of our friends and neighbors and children who come to visit. So thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilmember Ranga. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. Before I continue, I want to thank you for the statement you made for opening our opening our city council meeting. It's very appropriate that we recognize and condolences and congratulations to the Floyd family. Thank you for preserving part of Lambert's history. And I think it's going to be a wonderful addition to our downtown and I looking forward to it being activated as either an active museum and or a restaurant. Speaker 0: That would be that would be great. Speaker 2: And I'm glad to have the motion. Speaker 0: Thank you, Carlton Brosnan. Speaker 2: Thank you. I was queuing up the second the motion, but I will just say that this is a good news for our downtown preserving the airline. I believe I was with you or Mr. Mayor when they actually retired that car a few years ago, maybe three years ago. And it was discussed that we would actually get to this point. And so I'm happy to support the item, and I think I'm really excited about the opportunity to honor rail on the blue line now. Now, the A-line is is synonymous with with Long Beach. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. And Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to chime in. I think projects like this are great. It's very exciting. Whenever we get to recognize a piece of history now about hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, we're able to write them on the on the Long Beach 100. And so to bring it back is a really, really exciting project. So congratulations to you. Congratulations to the Metro Board. Congratulated supervisor on your report. What this turns into. Thanks. Great. Thank you. And with that, we do have a member of the public, I believe it's a representative from Supervisor Humphrey's office, Freedom Corp. Speaker 1: I'm sorry. She did not make the call tonight, so there is no public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Great. Well, thank you very much. Let's call the rock office. Speaker 1: District one. I. District two. I district three. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District for. I District five. I. District six. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 0: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. And then with that, I have item number nine, please. There is a bit about four requests for items to be moved up before the study session. So to try to honor all the requests, I know various council members have asked for different ones, so I'm going to try to get through those as much as possible

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement and all necessary documents with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Los Angeles (Metro), to accept the donation of the retired P865 Nippon Sharyo light rail vehicle car #100 of the former Long Beach Blue Line; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement and all necessary documents with Heavy Transport, of Long Beach, CA, to transport and deliver the vehicle from its current location to Long Beach, in an amount not to exceed $40,000. (District 2)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. And then with that, I have item number nine, please. There is a bit about four requests for items to be moved up before the study session. So to try to honor all the requests, I know various council members have asked for different ones, so I'm going to try to get through those as much as possible . Item nine Police. Speaker 1: Communication Problem in Supernova Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the city clerk and city attorney on municipal election dates for 2022 and beyond. Speaker 0: Thank you. I think Katherine super. I know this is just a forwarding of a presentation that you have additional comments before we start. No, I can give you a just a little brief overview that this is an item that was to be vetted at the committee level. But the complexity of it and just in an effort, an efficiency effort, I realized that this presentation would have to be made to the entire council. It's that that many moving parts that it didn't make a lot of sense to go through what would be a normal vetting process at the committee. So I'd like to thank staff for putting the presentation together and I'll make the motion. Okay. We go ahead and have a presentation from staff, so let's go ahead and hear from Mr.. Mr. Parker. And I think Mr. Parker is going to give a city attorney overview and then we might have the clerk also have some comment . So. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. Members of the council, this is City Attorney Park and Amy Webber, deputy city attorney, will present for the city attorney's office. She's got a lot of work into this this item, and there are a lot of moving parts, as Councilmember Supernanny alluded to, Amy. Speaker 3: Thank you. Charlie, this is Amy Webber from. Speaker 5: The city attorney's. Speaker 3: Office. Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes. We can hear. Speaker 5: You great mayor and members of the city council. The purpose of this item tonight is to bring forward options for the City Council to consider regarding municipal election dates. This issue has arisen because of a court case, Redondo Beach versus Padilla, which held that charter cities are not required to follow state election dates and has been made more complicated by the delay in the release of census data, which has affected the redistricting process. We have listed several options for you. In the memo, dated February nine, 2021, which was attached to the agenda. But as a practical matter, the option we recommend for the reasons set forth in the memo is to prepare a resolution to move the 2022 election dates to track the states. In addition, we recommend placing a measure on the 2022 ballot to make this change permanent for Long Beach voters, as this would be a change to the charter, the matter should be referred to the Charter Amendment Committee. Although the state of California and many other cities are in the same position as the city of Long Beach, currently the state has not yet passed legislation addressing this. So we don't have a date certain that we can identify for you and we'd have to report back on the precise date. These are the options as as outlined in the memo with pros and cons city clerk Lenny Villegas. They will provide some information regarding coordination with the County of Los Angeles on elections and on potential costs. So one, the first option is to retain the dates that are in our charter, which is an April primary and a June general election. These are the election dates that are specified in the charter and are familiar to many Long Beach voters. So they have that advantage. But the con on this is that for the 2022 elections, it would be physically impossible to have district lines drawn in time to comply with state and county deadlines. The County of Los Angeles has already informed the city clerk's office that it would be unable to conduct an April primary for us. So that option is is not a terribly practical one under our current circumstances. The second option would be to use current district boundaries for the 2022 election, and this is permitted in the charter that governs the Independent Redistricting Commission. However, we have been advised that any districts would have to be confirmed as meeting the requirements of the Voting Rights Act before they were used in an election. So it. And to do this would be likely to raise legal concerns, and for that reason is not recommended. We could follow the March primary election and November general election dates, which were the ones that were used in the most recent election statewide. These dates may also be familiar to voters as they were required by the state when we changed our election dates in 2017. And according to the clerk and the Los Angeles County Elections Division. Voter turnout increased on these dates as a result of the fact that they were statewide. The downside to this option, to this third option is that beginning in 22, 2022, the state primary may be changed to alternate a march primary with a June primary so that the state of California can take advantage of a prominent position in the presidential election years. So this may end up being confusing to people. And the final option, which is the one that we recommend, is the one where we have a June 2022 primary election date, if it's possible. And the caveat there is that if there are further delays in the distribution of census data, even a June date may not be possible. And we would have to wait to see what the state recommends or what kind of state legislation is in place to address the issue and then to follow it up with the general election date that is also identified by the state. And the further the piece of this one is to place an item on the ballot so that the voters of Long Beach can weigh in on the issue and determine what election dates they would prefer to have. And that is a change since it's charter change that would require a charter amendment and it would require an action on the ballot. And that would also. I'm sorry. So it would it would be required to be referred to the Charter Amendment Committee as well. So that is my presentation for you. If you have questions, I'm available to answer them, as well as the city clerk's office, who I think has had some information from Los Angeles County about their various initiatives regarding upcoming elections. Speaker 0: Well, thanks. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. I had mentioned to the court today I wanted her to just kind of go over a couple data points that I'm going to ask you for now, which I think are really, really striking. The one thing that has been very clear and why even long before I was a member of this body, have always supported the consolidation of elections is because we know that when you align elections, you increase the turnout of your voting population and just as important, you within the spirit of the Voting Rights Act and the spirit of ensuring that communities that are typically disenfranchized at the ballot box, those numbers always, almost always increase every time. And I was asking the clerk, what were our kind of our pre when we didn't have aligned elections versus what happened to our turnout after we aligned them? Madam Court, can you can you share with us kind of the pre 2018 number for first for the primary to then the post a consolidation number on the primary that we just had? And then the general numbers for the council, please. Speaker 1: Thank you, mayor and council members. So to compare apples to apples, I'm going to give you the numbers for the 2016 election, which is the most closely related to the 2020 election that just passed. So in our primary election in 2016, we had a 13.5% voter turnout in the city of Long Beach. In the primary for 2020, which was this past March, we had a 40.10% turnout for the city of Long Beach. So that is more than doubled our voter turnout in our primary election for the general election in 2016. We had a voter turnout of 40.12%. And in our general election, which is this past November, we had a 74.81% voter turnout. Again, this is a 34% jump in voter turnout from the general and 2016 to the general in 2020. If you want to look at the 2018 results, which were a nonpresidential election cycle for the primary, we had a 15.8% voter turnout. And for the general, we had a 28.73% voter turnout. Again, in 2020, we surpassed voter turnout by leaps and bounds in both the primary and the general. Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I think obviously from from a I mean, personally, this is to me, this is a civil rights issue. And just I'm so proud of what the council took, the steps it took for it to get us to this point. And I know you don't you may not have the data in front of you, Monique, but just as striking was when I had a chance to review the turnout numbers for our disenfranchized communities. When you look at like AAPI voters, black voters, Latino voters, voters that typically have had lower turnouts, the numbers all dramatically increase when we went to the consolidated elections. And so I think being able to have more folks in our city vote and increased turnout and increased turnout, by the way, for everyone was was really significant. I think you accounts I'm sure for not for the motion. I want to just reiterate, Charlie, I know you and I talked about what the motion would look like. So I want to just read what you and I discussed it to confirm that we're all on the same page. And that would be the resolution would move Lombard one which is municipal election dates to align with the state of California for 2022 and then also request the city attorney to prepare a ballot measure to be placed on the ballot in 2022 to permanently make this municipal election alignment. And that would be referred to the Charter Amendment Committee for a future date. So that would be the language that that would be in front of us council for super or not if you're. Well, first of all, its message to the attorney. Is that language correct? Is that capture what you needed? Speaker 4: Mayor, you did capture what we needed. The motion, in essence, would ask us to prepare the resolution, and that would come back to the city council to establish and align our elections in 2022 to the state dates. And then the preparation of any proposed charter amendment would be referred to a charter meant to the Charter Amendment Committee , which is a committee of the whole of the Council for a future date, because there is time to discuss and continue that. So with that, you are correct, Mayor. Thank you. Speaker 0: Now, I made sure that that was the recommended you know, I know that you had mentioned it, but I wanted to clarify. It's referred to for the record. So Councilman Super. I just want to just to confirm that's the motion through the city of the recommendation, correct? Correct. And I did have a couple of other questions that I well, just first of all, just a statement. So on on November four, just the con there, it says Holding an election in June, November could result in uneven campaigning cycle between 2020 and 2022 candidates. So I guess the statement I'd like to make there is we have an inherent. I want to say issue with the election cycles in that in one one election you have only four council districts up for grabs and the other you have five council districts plus four citywide candidates. So that's a conversation for a different day, probably if we ever want to try to fix that. I'm not sure how we go about just just saying that that that concept that it could be lead to uneven campaigning. Well, we have an inherent unevenness, I would say, on that. And the other point I'd just like to finalize with our city clerk, if Monique is still there, could you go over some of the items if in fact, we ever wanted to do a Long Beach City election again, besides not having the election equipment anymore, can can you kind of list some of those obstacles to doing that? Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilmember Superhot. Yes. So we do not have the equipment. That is one aspect of not being able to have our own elections or run our own elections. We also don't have the space and the new city hall that we had in the previous city hall in order to increase our staff. During election cycles, we would increase our staff size by 20 to 30 people, depending on if it was a citywide election year or a non citywide election year. And so finding that space would be very expensive, I think, and we would have to find a location that would also be secure enough to follow Secretary of State requirements to House live ballots. That would be one of the things that would be challenging to figure out how we would staff all those people and keep them close enough to current staff to keep dual operations, legislative and election operations going. At the same time, we would also be competing with the county for poll workers and polling locations if we were to keep our traditional charter election dates of April and June. This is something called to vote Tuesday. And we've we've worked in the past with the county, and it's always challenging when we have an election on the same date as a county, when we're again competing for poll workers and polling locations. So there are some some things that I think would be very difficult and challenging for us going forward if we were to try and run our own elections again at this time. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you. Second on the motion, I have Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, if we just think back to the discussions around voter participation in years past. You know, there's always the conversation about why do we have such low voter turnout? And what we saw with the 74% turnout last last year during the consolidated elections. I think it's clear that Long Beach, as a large city, needs to be aligned with the state now. SB 415 is what triggered this effort. It was a voter participation bill, while other states are making it more difficult to participate in elections in California. This bill intention was to make it easier. Specifically, where you see a big disparity between low turnout on off cycle and high turnout during a consolidated elections in Long Beach fell into that category. We had such a wide difference that this qualify for SB 415. And so the idea here is just make it easier for people who are planning to vote to know when and where the election is because everything's on one ballot and it's just easier process for working people. So I'm happy to I'm happy to second this motion. Thank you, councilmember supervisor, for your your your your vision to bring this to the full council because it's a really important discussion. And I'm happy to support recommendation number four. Thank you. Council member, Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'll be supporting the recommendation. But I just want to get in a couple of comments from someone who has recently, you know, gone through a pretty long election with the consolidation with the state and having the county run our elections. So under as I understand it, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but under the resolution that's being proposed, this will basically ensure that all of our municipal elections moving forward will be administered by the county, as I understand it, and into two councilmember supernovas point. Yes, I do see that there is just a it's built into our charter and our system. There is an imbalance between on even numbers districts when it comes to elections. There's a lot more emphasis when there's citywide candidates. Of course the mayor's race that that affect the dynamics. I'm moving in this direction. I would just say that it will end it no matter what. It will change the dynamics of campaigns and elections in our city because the runoff period is much longer. This this last election cycle, a runoff period was literally eight months, which which is dramatically different from a two month election runoff cycle where we would have elections in April and runoffs in June. So eight months and like I said, changes, dynamics. It makes campaigns far more expensive. I would just just say for the council and anybody listening and understanding the realities of campaigns and elections, we may need to look at our campaign finance limits as well because of this this longer election period that will be required in moving in this decision. Now, I do support this decision because the the the voter turnout, it to me makes it worth it. You know, if there's a longer period of time for voters to get to know and understand candidates or clarify, you know, campaigns and understand what's really going on in their community, that that's a that's a added value. And if we can get more people to turn out to vote, it's worth it, in my opinion. And so for that, I'll be supporting it. But I do. I do so with caveats and in understanding that we may have to tweak other areas of our campaign finance and election processes. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman Godfrey Ringa. Yeah. Just for clarification. So this is going to be a two step process. Speaker 6: We're voting for now is like for. Speaker 0: 2022. Speaker 2: And then we'll. Speaker 4: Have another discussion or maybe a ballot. Speaker 6: Measure that will go for. Speaker 4: How to handle the 2024. Speaker 0: Election, which. Speaker 4: Would be a a presidential. Speaker 0: Election or maybe a march November election. Yeah. And it would be 20, 24 and beyond. Actually the ballot measure would would link up or kind of permanently in the charter. Speaker 6: Is the the. Would it. Speaker 0: Be. Speaker 2: Possible maybe to avoid being somewhat pigeonholed into a into significant dates that maybe could have a broader language that would say that we would just be aligned with with county elections because of our inability to step up and handle the elections internally within the city. They're throwing it out there. Speaker 0: I mean, Mr.. Mr. Parkin or Monique can answer, but the county elections are they follow the state. It's the same it's the same thing, I believe. Speaker 2: All right. That that's correct. And I totally support the fact that, you know, we need to increase voter turnout. And if the proof is in the pudding. We're having a lot of it. Speaker 4: Councilmember. This is Attorney Park and that to answer your question, yes, it is a two step process that we would be coming back to. If this motion is successful, a resolution will be coming back to you to align the 22 2022 election specifically. And then the bigger issue would come to the Charter Amendment Committee for discussion. Speaker 0: Thank you. Next. Next up I have is Councilman Price. Speaker 3: Mr. Mayor. Just so I have clarity, the motion on the floor is for item number or the proposal number four. Is that correct? Speaker 1: Yes, that's correct. Item number four. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you very much. And then I just have a question. Do we have any idea how other cities are approaching their elections when they are not aligned with the state? Is everyone kind of going in this direction because the census data has been delayed and they continue to be delayed and impact redistricting in the region for other cities? Is that information we even have? Speaker 1: I can tell up first. I'm sorry. Speaker 3: This is Amy Webber. Speaker 5: Councilwoman Pryce. I was just going to say that we do have some information from our redistricting consultants that this has become a statewide issue because of the because of the delay in the release of the census data. And that's the reason that we're recommending this option. We actually expect that the state will take some action to address this, since most of the other cities in the state are in the same position that we are. I'm sorry, Monique. Now over to you. Speaker 1: Thank you. Councilwoman Pryce, I can tell you that most cities have already changed their election dates to align with the county due to as 415. We are one of the few cities that did not have a charter city that did not do a charter amendment and we did an ordinance. So most cities are a little bit ahead of us in that they've already addressed the issue with their charter. There are some cities out there that are general law cities and they are already consolidated with the county, so they did not have to make that change. I do have a representative from the county on the meeting, Mr. Jeff Klein. If we have any specific questions for the county, he might be able to address those for us. Jeff, is there anything you'd like to to say on this topic? Speaker 0: No, I think it's been covered pretty thoroughly. But if anyone does have specific questions, we are happy to answer. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. I don't think I have any specific questions on that, but can I just get a little bit more explanation and clarity on the con of the holding? The elections in June? November could result in uneven campaigning cycle between 2020 and 2022 candidates I know been super not asked about that, but is that limited to only 2020 and 2022? Or are we going to have an even campaign cycles every two years as a result? So I. Speaker 2: Always only read. Speaker 4: This. This is city attorney parking. I think the answer and someone may have just said it, it will always be uneven as to the months if the state maintains their current cycle in which in the presidential election year they have the primary in March and the general in November and then in gubernatorial elections they have the primary in June and the general election in November. So you would always have that timing, which would be different for the even council districts versus the odd council districts. And as Councilmember Sabrina mentioned, the citywide are in the gubernatorial years. Speaker 3: Okay. And so that difference would be two months. Basically. Speaker 4: Yes. Made three months, April through March versus June. Right. Two months. Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Allen. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. I will definitely be supporting this. Just going through a recent election, it might be way harder on the candidate, but it's way easier for the voter. And that's why it's worth it. And I think it's just. Speaker 1: Important. Speaker 3: That we keep our elections aligned with the state. A voter. Speaker 1: Participation or turnout at 75%. Speaker 3: Is just incredible, and that speaks for itself. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilwoman Sara, please. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. I support the the option number four and similar. I think building off of my colleague here council member Austin comment about the gap between March and November. The primary of 2020 to November was long. It was also unprecedented because between the primary and the general was the pandemic as well. So I'm not quite sure what it would normally be like anyways, but I do know that decreasing the gap between primary and general from eight months to six months I think will help people in general. Remember that there's going to be another election in November. So I think, you know, it's also helpful for the candidate and I think for the public as well. And I think the other concern I have is just ongoing confusion for voters around when election dates are. But I think that it's in general confusing anyway because of what happened with the pandemic. But I thought that there was a lot of education done by county and the city to ensure that people knew about the election and that at least the county is running it. And I feel that this would just go on to what was done back in 2020. So I think it's always going to be education. And I'm just, you know, impressed that we had such a high voter turnout in 2020 and the general election because it was also during the pandemic as well. So I can't imagine how much higher would even be if people are able to even vote also in person. So I really support it in the sense that it really the alignment really helps with voter turnout and engagement, especially people who do not generally vote. So those are kind of my thoughts. And I think that, you know, regardless of, you know, I think the alignment always helps in just pulling our resources around education stuff. Thanks again. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman. Mongo. Speaker 3: I want to echo the comments specifically of councilman sorrow and Councilman Allen. I do think there was a lot of confusion, and I think this year was very unique. I have heard and again, I don't have my Ph.D. and I was not in the class that did the study, but I had heard that the biggest correlation and sorry that there is a correlation between. The state elections and local election turn out. But that that is not the causation, that the actual causation is something that Councilmember Austin so poignantly mentioned, which is are campaign funding issues. Some of the reasons that more people turn out at the statewide is because there's more people that are out there campaigning, connecting with people. And when they're doing that, obviously through mailers and all those things, more people are connected and aware. And I think that that's a very interesting alignment. I remember when I had originally heard this, it was more than a year ago, I want to say it was two or three years ago because at the time I was undergoing an election and. While technically there were opponents two, one, three and nine, really, they didn't have campaigns. They didn't have candidates that were funded. Like Councilmember Aranda and I and my district in a march, June election cycle and I don't know Councilmember Odinga's numbers, we were at voter turnout over 40%. But why was that? It was because we had five candidates that were all heavily funded. There was a lot of PAC money coming into the city because there were a lot less contested races, there was a lot more money spent in a lot smaller area. And so potentially that could have been the actual causation. When we talk about what's the future of our city wide offices, I would love to see some way worked into the city charter change that. We move two of our citywide elections on to the even cycle so that it gives additional interest in the even districts. So if we currently have four citywide elected city attorneys, city prosecutor, city auditor and mayor, pick two of them and put them on even put two of them, put them on on. And then now you're you're really even in that playing field and you're bringing in additional interest at the citywide level. In the past, we did not do that because from what I had heard and maybe Councilmember Super and I can comment on this because he seems to be the council historian, it had to do with costs in the even years we only ran precincts in those districts that were even and the rest of the city didn't even necessarily know there was an election. And so it was a cost saving measure. But if we are going to align with the state, there's some significant value in potentially moving those over. I would also say that I find significant value. I've had always contested races. I find considerable value in a good, hotly contested race. I think it's great for the constituents to know and understand what's been done. I think that it's great for candidates to get out there and tell their story. I think that an eight month period between I does two things. It does probably reduce advantages of incumbents because there's more time for the new candidate to get their name out there. But it also creates voter fatigue. I mean, the number of people who get really frustrated and overwhelmed with the amount of campaign materials can be overwhelming . And so I've heard a lot of that. The other concern I have, and this is something that I was uniquely able to participate in the county wide voter system testing is the same complaint that anyone who tested it had done and it was on the wall as a viable, valid complaint. That is the same complaint I've heard from so many people who participated in this election that you are so far down ballot. Sometimes by the time you're getting to your local city elections, there's no mixing up of the races on the electronic system, which is a possibility within the programing. But you could potentially have to vote on 25 things before you get to your local city council race and then that they within the state guidelines currently they draw letters of the alphabet in order and candidates are listed in the order that their letter of the alphabet was in the order. And so now with this countywide system, the first three candidates are on the first page. But if you're one of those other candidates, you have to put first next to go to the next page, which we did not have that disadvantage when we ran our own elections, when we ran on elections. All the candidates were right there, clear as crystal. There were many people that I had heard in this race who had gone to the voting place and called me and said, I didn't see so-and-so on the ballot, so I voted for so-and-so. And I'm like, you had to push next to go to the next page because there were multiple candidates. And those are some concerns that I have that I hope that now that all of this is coming to the forefront, I know many of my colleagues on the council have a lot of dialog with people who are making these decisions at the state level. I hope that some of these things are discussed and I hope that at this time we really do address campaign finance. I see the value of what the residents said, which is they wanted the amount of money in campaigns to be lower and therefore we had low campaign contribution limits. But the issue is that on both sides, it doesn't matter what your political belief system is. Outside money is easier to be raised because they don't have those same limits. And so therefore, what I saw in this last election is a ton of independent expenditures really making significant influence on our local city council races. I think I read multiple times in the paper that there were candidates where large quantities of their money were from outside the city and from big dollar amounts. And I don't know that that's what Long Beach residents want. I think Long Beach residents really want. The local person who they know and understand, knows their issues and is here to listen and thoughtfully provide input to be able to really. Make the changes to the status quo that they feel are necessary to to live in a vibrant city like we do here in Long Beach. And I know that each of us have and gone through that process, and it is a daunting one. But for newcomers to not have an infrastructure and be viable is really difficult with the the influence that money has on elections all over the country. So I'll be supporting the item on the floor tonight. But I think it's it's it's a step in the right direction. I think there's a lot more steps that need to take place. And I would. Speaker 1: Councilman, your 5 minutes. Speaker 3: So you think. I'd like to thank Daryl. Thank you. Good idea. Speaker 0: Thank you. I got councilman's in house. Speaker 3: Thank you. I just wanted to say how supportive I am of this item. I think it's going to be great for our voters, especially in the in the communities where we see the least amount of voters. And I live in a district where we don't have a big voter turnout. So aligning with the state really does make sense so we can get as many voters out there as possible. I do share some of the concerns that have been raised here today through my colleagues and I, and I'm hopeful that we can be able to address them as we move forward. So thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you. I just wanted to follow up on my point related to the a very long runoff period. Right. Election, though, that the other part of that is that, you know, at some point, a challenger may may win an election in March. Right. They're going to have to wait eight months to take office. And that's a dynamic that I just couldn't imagine. A lot can happen in an eight month period. And then the second thing that I want us to think about also is maybe the clerk can give some clarification on this is our current matching funds process. Right. And most people don't accept that matching funds and don't utilize it. But we do have a provision in our our to our our election process that allows for it. But it was set up on the two month run off period. Right. And so you can get matching funds for a primary, but the general is actually much less because it is factored in for a much smaller period. And so when I talk about, you know, us addressing other aspects that may not have been thought about, that is one area that we are definitely going to have to address . Should we we support this this motion. We're going to have to make provisions in our matching funds process that allow for individuals that don't necessarily have, you know, the ability to raise a lot, lots of money. The intent for matching funds is to allow individuals who don't have a lot of money to participate in the process. And so these are these are factors that we are going to have to build in to everything that we are we're discussing here. In an ideal world, I will just tell you, I would prefer to have a set June and November election cycle so that we can we can we can base it off that the March primary is is a little difficult and. And perhaps I would like to to consult with L.A. County just to see if June elections are happening in any way. And if we could tag in to that, that would make a lot of sense as well. And it's because of the other factors that I'm bringing up. And again, I do like Councilmember Munoz. Thought to potentially look at, you know, adding a couple of the citywide charter elections positions to to the even number election cycle that would balance things out and make for more robust participation, in my opinion. So I just wanted to get those points out because. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Price. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to follow up on Councilwoman Mondo's comments regarding finance reform. Is that is it possible? And perhaps I can offer this is a friendly to ask city staff, and I assume it would be the city attorney's office to come back with a report that covers what our current campaign financing structure is and what options we might have in terms of campaign contribution limits, limitations on outside money and things of that nature. Just an educational piece in terms of what's even possible for a legislative body to consider in the area of campaign reform, for those for those of us who may not be plugged into it from prior employment in the political arena. Just an educational report. Speaker 4: Councilmember Price We could certainly prepare a memo for for the council on the on those issues, one of which is the campaign contribution limits, which is which was established by the voters. And so that would also require a voter initiative. And we can cover that in the memo for you. Absolutely. Speaker 3: Yeah, I would. It just. I'm just looking for some education and a better understanding of the issue, because this is all very other than me running for office in 2014. I don't have any personal experience with any of this, and I'd love to learn a little bit more about it. Speaker 0: Thank you. Speaker 3: Is that a that's a friendly amendment. I'm not sure if Councilman Superdog accepts that. Speaker 0: Yes, that friendly is accepted. And if I'm okay. Espino Mayor Garcia in Agua. Absolutely. Okay. So first, you know, thanks for all the great comments from everyone on council. I think this kind of proves the point that this was the right venue to bring this item to because the comments have been very productive. I would in particular like to acknowledge Councilman Austin's comments, probably because I made the same comments a few years ago when this idea came here. I'm coming from the side that it is a tough thing to deal with these on runoffs. I think a couple of years ago, I made the statement that council was I was in a six week runoff one time, and one reporter described myself and my challenger as up to two heavyweight prizefighters in the 12th round. I mean, it took a toll on us just during that six weeks, not to mention the toll that it takes on on the voters that Councilman Mongo mentioned in voter fatigue on these issues. So I approach this issue on that basis as zero. Is there a way to keep this old system we have? And I think what's been shown here tonight is that we have the increased voter turnout. Turnout. We have the increased. Well, just I'll just say that just the practical nature of things that we probably don't have a practical way to approach this. But I just wanted to acknowledge Councilman Austin. Speaker 7: For bringing up the point. Speaker 0: And Councilwoman Price. Yeah, let's let's do this. I probably should should bring this back to our committee, the elections committee, so we can look at all these things there. But I think, Mr. Parkin, you said this this would come back to council as as part of the package. Speaker 4: Councilmember the as I understand the motion, if approved this evening, a resolution would come back to the City Council for approval establishing the election dates for the 2022 election to align with the state. And then at a future date to be determined the A we would draft a for your consideration a proposal for a ballot initiative for for the 2022 election to establish the election dates on a go forward basis consistent with a for our charter, which would amend our charter and we could before that comes back, obviously we would get a memo separate to the council as requested by Councilmember Price and accepted as a friendly. Speaker 0: OC with the overall goal of mitigating this issue of these long runoff elections. Speaker 4: We could certainly look at that. I think that the right now we are dependent on the state election dates and that cycle of the different long runoff cycle on the presidential elections is has been a matter of the state concern. And so if we follow the state, it would still be a long election cycle for presidential and then the June November for gubernatorial. We will certainly talk to the county. Speaker 0: Would be I wasn't speaking of the dates to set the fact that we have these dates. What is the best way to deal with that? And the starting point is campaign finance. Speaker 4: Absolutely. And we heard from council member Austin loud and clear on those issues. And I think we'll address those in the memo on what the options for the council would be. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I got two more folks cued up and then we'll we'll go to the vote, Councilman Mongo and then Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you. So I was listening to that. But and I'm the only one where the city attorney's microphone is very, very muffled. So am I understanding that. We are currently moving to the state, but the city attorney is bringing back information on the possibility that since the county runs many June elections, that they're also going to bring back data related to potentially doing June, November 2022. Speaker 4: For 2022, we are going to bring back a resolution that aligns with the states election cycle, which may change with state legislation because of the delay of the census data. So we're not bringing back fixed dates at this time or in the resolution. It'll be to align with whatever the state determines their primary and general election will be for 2022. The ballot initiative could come back with various options for the Council to consider. Speaker 3: And did I hear that? The data from the census won't be back in time for March, but if we were to have the election in June, we potentially could have the correct lines. Speaker 4: The hope is we could have a June election if we receive the census data in time and the redistricting commission finishes their process in time to have it in place for 180 days prior to the June election. But that's where we're thinking we may receive state legislation changing those dates to make sure that there's sufficient time to hold the election. Speaker 3: Okay. Wonderful. To add to Susie's friendly, I'll just make a comment that to really understand the context of whatever recommendation the city attorney brings back related to campaign finance, and it might be valuable to also bring back the correlating data related to spending in each of the elections. Say for a five year or ten year, probably a ten year period, to be able to correlate multiple years and be able to see here's how much money generally was spent. The election. I'm not saying here as much money was spent on behalf of one candidate versus another. But here's that number, because when you look at the total amount spent and you'd correlate that to voter turnout, and it's it's pretty striking. And I would be interested to see if it aligns with language the way that it was presented on the national level and then how we as a city could improve that to our own benefit of getting more voters right. We always want the most voters. We'd love to take money out of elections, but it doesn't seem like that's happening any time soon. So I'm open to any suggestions that this benefits the voters. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Okay. I had another customer queue up again. Let's try to hopefully wrap this up soon. Vice Mayor Richardson and then councilman's in the house and then we'll go with the governor. Right. Thank you. So just just a few comments. So by aligning with the state, the amount of voters quadruple doubles quadruples. Our limits are very low. The amount of money it would take to communicate with more voters would mean without addressing campaign finance reform, essentially, it makes our campaigns more dependent on outside spending, independent expenditure campaigns. And those typically have there's no control that a candidate has over these campaigns. A lot of times it's divisive. A lot of times the facts aren't correct. And if some of the worst types of campaign we have to if we're going to look at campaign finance reform, we have to also look at public financing campaigns. That's something we have to look at as a big city and major cities are looking at not just matching, but actual public finance campaign. We should look at as a part of those options because what it does is limit the dependency on outside spending and allows the candidate to demonstrate more respect over the nature of the topics and more command over it. It allows them to have a level playing field in how in how they they campaign. Some cities are doing this also by looking at a public engagement element in their general plan that specifically speaks to voters saying election requirements, election laws, all of those sort of being a part of a vision document for the city that has come up in the past. And perhaps this is something when we get to the charter committee as a whole, we think about what that measure may look like. It may be election, maybe more comprehensive around public engagement, all of those things. So just some food for thought for the council to think about. But in general, I think the comments Councilman Austin made about the campaign finance were right on. I think Councilman Mungo's comments typically about how the city guides a Prius are going to be apples to apples now. I think splitting the city wide, that's something you got to look at. And so these are also all very good, very good items. But I think the purpose here, we need to just remember that it's about making it easier for people to get access, to make it make decisions, engaging their government and, you know. Turn out makers and turn out takers. Unfortunately, city council races are not turnout makers. The school board races are not real turnout because the turnout makers are city wide elections or gubernatorial elections. Your your your presidential elections. So aligning with the state does have benefits. But there isn't a president on every ballot. Right. There is an open governor's seat, every ballot. So I think mix it up some of the citywide. It isn't a terrible idea. Okay. Thank you. Customers in Dallas. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say that I also had a lot of questions about the financing for for the elections back when I started, because as you all my record, I ran in a special election. And in those special elections, the finance contribution was bigger. And so I knew that it would be definitely hard to to to run on a smaller or smaller finances limit. But I one of the things that I did do as a as the chair of the Elections Oversight Committee is that I also wanted information, just and educational information on what it was that needed to be done to to look into the possibility of increasing the limits of of the finance contributions. And as my colleagues on that committee might recall, we did get information back, which was that it would have to go to the voters. So I think we're all in this on the same wavelength right now. So I you know, that's something that a lot of other cities are doing. But I'm I'm happy that this is that we're supporting this item moving forward. And I, like everyone here on the council, has said aligning the elections, I hope, is going to bring a lot more turnout, voter turnout to, ah, not only either state or citywide, I should say, not only our citywide elections, but our district elections as well. Speaker 0: Thank you. And before we go to a vote, I just want to just add one thing I think has been mentioned. This is a great discussion, by the way. I think the one thing that keeps coming up so that it's interesting is California. Of course, the reason why there's those different dates is because California wants to have a bigger they move their primary are dependent on the presidential to influence that primary process. And so there's right now a conversation in the state legislature about not doing that by just picking one date and keeping it know, keeping it the same every other year so that there isn't the, you know, the back and forth. So we'll see where that conversation goes and it may impact our conversations here in the future as well. Madam Clerk, please go and call the vote. Speaker 1: District one if. A district to. I District three. Speaker 0: I think. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 0: All right. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District six. I'm District seven. I District eight. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 0: Yes. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. Next up is item 16.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request to receive and file a presentation from the City Clerk and City Attorney’s offices on Municipal Election dates for 2022 and beyond.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_04202021_21-0333

Speaker 0: as close to that time as possible. So I have two more requests. Let's try to see if we can get through these. I think they should be fairly quick and then we'll get to the other study session. So I'm going to do items eight and ten, which are the last two requests, and then we'll go to the study session. So item eight, please. Speaker 1: Communication from Councilman Price. Councilwoman Zendejas. Councilwoman Allen. Councilman Austin. Recommendation to review current parking policies and opportunities to update existing parking regulations to improve efficiency, efficiency and support of the Business Improvement District. Speaker 0: I'll turn it over to Councilman Price. Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. May I fire if there's any public comment on this item? Speaker 0: There is. You want to hear that first? Speaker 3: Yeah. Let's go to public comment first and then I can offer some comments. Before I go to public comment, I just want to mention to my colleagues, this is a request for us to start a process of updating some of our parking requirements and zoning requirements in Belmont Shore area. But I'd like to go to public comment and then I'll I'll make some additional comments regarding that public comment. Speaker 4: Our first speakers, Erin. Tiffany. Speaker 6: Yes. Hi. Can you hear me? Speaker 0: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 6: Great. Thank you. Thank you for your counsel for hearing through my comment and considering this motion. I'm a resident of Belmont Shore. I'm also sorry. I don't know if you got my name at first. Erin Tiffany. I'm resident of Belmont Shore. I'm a business owner. I own rented Chicago pizza on Second Street. I'm also a building owner on Second Street, currently going through a leasing and development process. I'm also on the Belmont Shore Business Association board. I am also on the Parking Commission. And in addition to being practically involved in this in this motion. I'm also a graduate of school of policy planning and development with a master's degree from USC. And I've developed over a million square feet of retail properties. So this is something I've lived and breathed for the last 15 years. And the problem that I'm seeing in the community is that there's a lot of they can storefronts and then I have a lot of interest from different tenants that want to occupy those storefronts. And the zoning on Second Street in Belmont sure is pedestrian neighborhood commercial. So it's a pedestrian based, walkable community. And we want to encourage walkability. We want to encourage people to not bring their car and take their bikes and use other forms of transportation, whether it's scooters or busses or or what have you. And the problem that has happened is that the zoning and parking regulations in Belmont Shore on Second Street are outdated and they hold due to the city oftentimes will be holding you to when you're applying through planning. They have to follow the code and the code will say you have to provide a certain number of parking spaces or a certain number of, you know, whether it's a restaurant, 10,000 or fitness uses ten spaces per thousand square feet. And those are standards that are typically found in suburban car oriented districts. It's not something that you would find in a pedestrian oriented district. And so in certain areas of the city, such as Belmont Shore and Second Street, where we want to encourage pedestrian oriented development, it's counterintuitive to then mandate and require a significant level of parking, and there isn't any available land to add parking. So it's created this conundrum that has resulted in increased vacancy up and down the street, and the increased vacancy leads to quality of life issues. There's, you know, there's there's more people taking up space and occupying the storefronts on the sidewalk. And because they're not being actively used, they're not you know, they're able to people are able to kind of utilize those spaces and occupy them with lots of things and items. And if we could just reduce some of the parking standards or modify an update. Speaker 4: I think your next speaker is Karen Blair. Speaker 6: Hello. Karen Blair here. I'm also a member of the Belmont Shore Improvement Association and Parking Commission. And I just think that we really need to make all of Long Beach more business friendly. The business districts in Long Beach need a review of the current policies are in great need of the opportunity to update existing parking regulations to improve efficiency. The parking issues that have been created due to the road downsizing that has caused increased parking hazards and traffic jams from second and PCH to the peninsula to fourth and cherry. I would hope the city council has compassion and look at ways to combat climate change with new transportation efforts. Reexamining parking lots not only for public use. But as a revenue stream when business could use parking lots during the weekdays for their clients looking for further. Improvement in their clientele. We can look at diagonal parking and improving the bus service. To include small electric shuttles instead of the large busses that take up too many parking spaces. No one rides the large busses, and we have areas that are painted red along streets that could be used for parking. Lastly, in business districts, we need Uber, Lyft. Drop off zones and bicycle zones and even scooter zones to all of these issues could improve the businesses in Long Beach. Plus the need. To look at the lack of business permits that are going on. And I realize COVID 19 happened, but we need to open up these permits. This is ridiculous that half of the buildings in Beaumont surely empty and we need to move on. And we need to get the business permits and allow these people like Aaron, Tiffany and others to continue to prosper as small business owners in this city. And we need to start now. So let's approve this and let's move on. Thank you. Speaker 4: And your next speakers, Kurt Schneider. Speaker 6: Good evening. My name is Kurt Snyder, and today I'm speaking as the president of the Belmont Shore Business Association. I've been a local resident for over 32 years. I own properties in our district as well as on a business in Belmont Shore. Personally witnessed the changes that have occurred in our retail district. During that span of time, buying habits have changes and we as a district should change to satisfy the wants and needs of our potential customers and residents if we are to remain relevant. Our current parking requirements imposed by the City of Long Beach are outdated. Based on the following how patrons get to our district. They use uber walking biking scooters which are were nonexistent when the requirements were set. Buying habits and who is frequenting the shore has changed. Our demographic has gotten younger in their wants of experiential retail, dining and entertainment have changed from what they used to be 30 years ago. 20 years ago. Ten years ago. Even five years ago. Over the past 20 years, the City of Long Beach has not changed parking requirements for potential retail restaurants, bars desirous of locating in Belmont Shore Retail District. Our city in our district has not changed with the times. Over 30% of diners are now using Uber, Lyft and taxis. This does not include walking, biking nor scooter. All of these modes of transportation are now viable and desirous for our local residents to use. Many cities are now lowering parking demand and attempting to wean the community off his addiction to using cars. And it's working. Our city has spent millions on bike lanes implementing scooter rental throughout the city, extra bus routes and other measures to change the transportation habits. We spent millions and millions on this. Why don't we have faith that these things work? We haven't changed the requirements. The demographics of Belmont sure has changed, as have the shopping and dining habits. It's true that younger people are moving to the shore. 20 years ago, Jennifer and I could have gone out to dinner on Second Street with a couple in the shore, and we still would have driven to a restaurant. Today we are walking or taking it over to our second street destination. The most frequent diners are going out to eat multiple times per week and are younger and more likely to use Uber walking, biking and scooters. When I bring up a problem, I always try to bring a solution as this is a problem that is overdue to be fixed. We're at a point where our district is tired and feels less prosperous. I believe if our city lessen the parking requirements, reflect changes in transportation and buying habits, we agree we can reinvigorate this district and in a few years exceed our most prosperous times. I renovated, developed and owned retail in many markets throughout the United States, and in almost all of those markets, there's more lenient parking requirements because, as Aaron stated, he brought out about being suburban versus a neighborhood retail area like we're talking about. They have less parking requirements. Speaker 4: I think your next speaker is Wendy published. Speaker 3: Hello. I'm Wendy Sublette. I am a licensed architect and a property owner on Second Street. I just want to reiterate things that have already been said. But the point I'd like to make is, you know, retail is really changing today. What will go in on Second Street will be food. Speaker 6: Services and. Speaker 3: Entertainment and small retail. I'm the owner of a 4000 square foot property that has been vacant for over four years. I am not going to put another. Speaker 6: 4000 square foot retail. Speaker 3: Tenant in that space. I can't. Speaker 6: I have diligently worked to try and do it. And I am. Speaker 3: My options are limited because I'm in the middle of the block, so I can't reduce the size and divided up into smaller units because it's too deep of a building. I've had many conversations with the planning department and you have a brilliant staff that is willing to think outside the box. We've talked about compact parking, shared parking in tandem parking, employee site parking, valet parking and a buyout program. They know about all the things that have been done in Pasadena and Burbank and Westwood and Santa monica. The ballet program at Abbot and Kenny is working fabulously. We have parking lots down at the beach. Speaker 6: There's lots of options here. We just have to start thinking outside of the. Speaker 3: Box and let your staff go at it. I just beg you to take the next step and do that. I thank you for taking the time to consider this because I am pretty desperate at this point to come up with a solution for the property that I own. So thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment. Speaker 0: For this item. Thank you, Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor Garcia. First of all, I want to thank the council colleagues who signed on to the item with me. I really appreciate it. Parking has always been a significant issue in many parts of our city, and Belmont sure has not been immune to that. This item asks the city staff to look at what opportunities may be available to alleviate some of the parking pressures felt by the businesses and the residents. The parking regulations in the Shaw are constrained by a number of factors. One is access to the coastal area is important because of the proximity of Belmont Shore to the ocean. And so we want to make sure that people that are coming to visit the ocean and have access to the coast have ample parking. But also we have a business corridor that also takes up some of those that competition for parking spaces. Meanwhile, we have residential neighborhoods that are in very close proximity within 50 to 100 yards of these that the business corridor. And so we want to make sure that we're alleviating pressure for the residents as well. There are other areas of Long Beach. And before I go one, I want to thank our planning department, who they're getting a lot of the requests for commercial tenants and they're realizing that the parking regulations in the shore have been updated. And there are creative things that we can do within our current footwork and footprint in order to make some some parking mitigation changes. And so there's other areas of Long Beach and many other cities that have looked at creative solutions like shared parking, employee offsite parking and streamlined changes for new businesses so that there are practices in line to help the businesses and improve parking in Shaw without having too much of an impact on residents. The focus of improving parking in the past and since I've taken office have been evaluation of necessary red curbs or reevaluate where you should have those. We've tried to reduce streets we think impacts to parking. We did a comprehensive study in 2016 of parking. We added 150 new diagonal parking spots, which I disagree with one of the callers. I don't believe that that has resulted in any traffic or parking impacts in the in the area that the 150 diagonal spots were added. I think that's been an added benefit for people who are trying to visit the coast. And we are now exploring the possibility of a pilot program that would allow for electric shuttles to help transport transport people to and from the shore and around the shore. I think there are some creative and practical ways that we can look at managing the parking issue in Belmont Shore. And I know that in 2014, when I came into office, there was a raging debate about purchasing a private home in the shore and trying to get into a parking lot that is absolutely dead on arrival idea for me. That's not what this item is about. So this item is about exploring creative things like shared parking or tandem parking and looking at ways that we can help businesses work together to utilize parking in areas or businesses that aren't utilizing them at certain times. And so I'd ask staff to please work with our office as part of this item so that we can do a resident focus group meeting and then a business focus group meeting so that we can take all of that input into the final recommendations. And I'm hoping that that that's part of the motion. I'm hoping staff is agreeable to that, and our office will obviously coordinate both of those. But with that, I ask my colleagues to support this item. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. I have a second. Councilman Zendejas. I just want to add, you know, I. I have to tell you, like Councilman, I'm very. Excited about this item, to be honest, because I think it's absolutely the right thing to look at. And I'm not sure. And I was just checking. I think any time that we can rethink anything, we can rethink what the major businesses are today and make it more walkable. So I really I really think this is really great. I was curious. I don't know. Mr. Morgan knows, but how long has it been since we've actually look, I imagine that we haven't looked at the government. You're kind of broken standards for for for businesses, for for properties in a long time. I know, I know. We recently went through process for downtown and some other places, but how long has it been? Speaker 3: Approximately 20 years. Speaker 6: Yeah, a little bit longer. Speaker 4: So the regulations. This is Christopher Coombs, Deputy Director Development Services. The regulations were adopted in 1988. There were some very minor changes in 94 and 95, but there hasn't been a comprehensive update since 88. The city did a study in 2015 really dealing with this, the public street and the public right away. But there hasn't been a look at the private parking regulations comprehensively since 88. Speaker 0: Do we still require all businesses properties to actually have parking spots or parking adjacent to the business or behind? Is that a requirement? And the SHA still. Speaker 4: Yes and no. So all businesses are required to have parking and part of what we're trying to do is look at what makes sense and what doesn't make sense. So you see some empty storefronts in the store and then you also see some businesses that are doing really well. And if I'm an entrepreneur and I want to open up a business, if I find a place that is the same kind of business as me that went out of business, I can just open up. There is no change. But if where I'm going to be a clothing store and now I want to do a tapas bar, that's a change of use, then you have to make up the difference in parking, which obviously is difficult to do because you can't. There's nowhere to build new parking, so you can use offsite parking, but it's a very limited distance. So those are all things we'd be looking at. Can you share parking further away if the bank is open during the day and at different businesses open at night, why can't they be sharing that same parking? So we don't know the solutions because we have to do the work. So but but those are all topic areas that we're looking at. Speaker 0: Okay, great. Well, before I turn this over, I just want to add, I've been talking about parking minimums and requirements to businesses. I mean, across the city. I think I've talked about it with folks and in the department and with Mr. Modica and Ms.. Tatum as well. And so I know this item is specific to Beaumont. Sure. And I obviously support that. But I just want to encourage the staff that we have got to move faster. I'm looking at the city wide. This is there is so much of the city that needs this type of work. And so I'm very thankful that Councilman Price brought this forward. It's important to do investment. Sure. And once we get Belmont Shore off the ground and focus there, I mean, this is this is a big issue and it's a big problem. And we've taken way too long to address parking minimums. And I think you guys know what my position is on this. I've mentioned it to you, but it'll be dramatically the burden to be dramatically reduced on on businesses and developments as it relates to those parking requirements. So the mayor the second on the motion is councilman's in the house. And so obviously I really strongly support this. And thank you, Councilman Price. Customers in the house. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for that. And a big thank you to Councilmember Price for bringing this forward. And I do note that this is Belmont Ward concentrator, but it really does affect the whole city as a whole because this is this gets the conversation started for all of our bids. Right. And so one of the things that I, I also would like to encourage staff to start thinking about in other other areas in the city, especially in the downtown area, which I represent along with Councilwoman Allen, is, you know, it's let's start looking at that also. And also, you know, right now we're living in unprecedented times and our businesses need our help more than ever before. And so this is our opportunity to step it up and help our businesses. And if parking is one of the one of the issues that's contributing to our businesses not being able to be as successful as they can, let's work really hard in in a fast moving motion. To help them succeed and make sure that not only they succeed, but that they thrive, especially through this recovery time. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 3: Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I'm also very thankful that Councilwoman Pryce brought this forward. Speaker 1: I'm also appreciate. Speaker 3: The Cosigners Council members, Van de Haas and Austin. I absolutely welcome review of any policies that can improve our park or any of our parking options that are similar. We have some of the same problems in District two that I know that Belmont Shaw has with limited parking parking. And these residents and businesses need our help with this more than ever. So I am just extremely grateful that this was brought forward, that we are having these conversations. I look forward to seeing the solutions that are found and seeing if they'll be applicable in District two or citywide. So thank you so much. Speaker 0: Thank you. Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I certainly support a number of these amendments. The parking. We tested some of the city manager or Mr. Cootes. If we test some of these and the upland process that's I know we did the first phase, which is the Uptown Business District. What which which elements of this did we test in uptown? Speaker 4: So Councilmember, because of the grant you helped us secure and support from Councilmember Orson during the uptown process, we had a phase one which is done and a Phase two, which we're in now. So there we did look at parking and at the issue about change of use and sort of how different scenarios are treated differently and how we can kind of bring new life to vacant storefronts. So we'll be able to use some of those lessons learned. But obviously what we're talking about in Councilmember Price's district is a smaller, more targeted effort to look at some policy interventions that can help us right now with the businesses and parking roles and the economic recovery in Uptown, we did a top to bottom review, so we did a whole visioning process with the community. We looked at uses, we looked at building form and what are buildings going to look like. We looked at housing related issues, so it's a very broad. We looked at mobility on the streets and and that was fantastic. That's. A great model. That's that's not what we're talking about today with this particular council item. You know, the goal is to work with the council member in an expedient manner to look at some lower hanging fruit in terms of parking and some lessons already learned up in North Long Beach and elsewhere and other cities like Santa monica, Pasadena or West Hollywood and and apply that to the Belmokhtar situation. So so that's that's what we're looking at. And that's where we are today. Speaker 0: Thank you. I would just offer something. So, one, you know, when we applied to the grant, this guy for the grant, we talked about testing things that will make it easier to deploy city wide because we already tested it. Right. So you can pick it up. It should make it easy to drop in any other area of town. Some of those elements, that's the first thing I would offer. And then the second thing I would say is Skaggs just engaged in a curve management study last year and it's incredible. We use our curve completely differently now than we did before because of Ride, Share and Micro-Mobility and all of those things. And I think I would ask, have we done a curve study in Long Beach Curve Management study in Long Beach? And if not, I think we should we should think about that, how the how the management, the curve can actually create more parking opportunities, particularly in business areas. So I'd like to see a curve management study, particularly in business areas of the city. So have we done that already? Mr. Coombs. Speaker 4: Well, that would be done in concert with our public works department, and they have looked at aspects of curb usage, including very recently. So looking at how we do overlap zones, how we accommodate scooters and bikes and other micromobility mobility that we didn't have in the past. So they have addressed many of those issues, but they haven't done the big comprehensive study that I think you're you're referring to. So certainly we can as as resources are available, keep that in mind for the future. Speaker 0: Okay. That's a that's an offer I just think is a big you know, we can certainly target, say, Belmont Shore. But there's I could tell you the curve management is going to be something we have to look at downtown, every business district. We have to think about that because the you know, everything has changed so much from the time that we established parking standards, all of those things. And we just have to think about it completely differently, I think. And it doesn't have to be a part of that part of this motion, or maybe it could be. But I think we have to really look at either pilot piloting a few areas of town to do a park and do a port management study and see what the impact is or some city wide study. But we we certainly need to do that. We could probably just pick up and learn from Wasco what did last year with with its current crop management study just wanted to offer off those. I'm hearing a lot of this across the region is really good stuff. Thanks, Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Thanks. And I obviously support this with the business districts in my district. We have very similar challenges with Bixby knows Bixby knows was not in the plan. I want to be clear on that. And we are watching and waiting for the results of that plan to be adopted and implemented so that we can look at it and implement it in other areas of the district. That was always the plan. And so, you know, when it comes to how city staff is focused in terms of resources, I believe that they're always looking at a city wide view and always looking to focus in all areas of the city. We were just fortunate to have a grant in North Long Beach to kind of kick things off. And so, yeah, when those results are ready to be implemented, I certainly believe that they will be implemented citywide. I'm happy to sign on to this. I know Councilmember Price has some unique challenges in third district, along particularly with our Belmont Shore. And honestly, I believe that, you know, the the 2020 may may have exacerbated some of our challenges with the parklets that are now in place. I don't know that they are going to go away. And so, you know, those are dark spots in many respects that we need to consider. And so I do like the idea of a curb management study, but also with in mind in mind that the that we were looking at more outdoor dining and possibly looking at having parklets year round in many of our business districts as well. So it's offer that I'm happy to support. Speaker 0: Thank you, councilman and House. And then we'll go to Councilman Price and then a vote. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have a quick question for city staff. I'm wondering if this could possibly lead to a change in the definition of r r r turnout streets north north claim was not recommended to have diagonal parking. And but if we are seeing more walkable solutions, if we're thinking about, you know, more people using bikes and more micro mobility, can can those possibilities of those streets be reevaluated? Speaker 4: So, Councilmember I. Hesitate to give you the bureaucratic answer, but that falls within Public Works Minister Eric Lopez, and he's not at the table with us right this moment. So we'd be glad to connect you and I'll work on those important issues. But I think that would be a separate, discrete item from from what we're talking about today. And the city manager, Tom. Okay. I wanted to weigh in a little bit here because we've kind of talked about two different issues tonight. So the item in front of you is really dealing with some of the private parking requirements that users are required for their part for their businesses. So we're seeing a challenge when someone comes in and they want to take over a new space. The code says you have to provide X amount of parking if that parking doesn't wasn't already provided on your site. So that's kind of the issue there. In the past, we've really focused a lot on public spaces. So there's been studies in Belmont. Shaw Pretty intense ones about, you know, how many more spaces can we give up for public looking at meter rates, looking at all kinds of different options? And we've done that in Belmont. Sure. And spent a lot of time there. And we've been investing in some of those solutions. We also did that pretty intensely in in downtown and in Alameda Beach through the through a parking study there. So those are kind of the public side. And then we can look at the options for how you provide public parking. This is more focused on relaxing and some of those parking requirements that we're placing on private business. So those two kind of work in concert with each other. But they are they are unique and different. Speaker 3: Thank you so much for that levitation. Speaker 0: Councilman Mongo. Speaker 3: Thank you. I just want to say how deeply we need this. I've met with business owners multiple times related to some of the uses that we have and some of the challenges with the uses. I mean, we had a play center that wanted to go in in the seventh District and then in the fifth District. And they were being moved around their development services to facilities that might meet their parking needs because they were classified as a gym, but they were not a gym. They were a little group of people who have 5 to 6 preschoolers come in and play with musical instruments and play with balls. But that was the only classification. And so we have to come up with something that also gives our planning department some jurisdictional value to bring forward a recommendation that's within some parameters as an exception, because I would say that that business would have been one of those exemptions that the planning department would have supported or it could have gone to the Planning Commission. But I recognize they don't want to do one offs, but there are times where the code just doesn't explain the new types of businesses and quite frankly, these codes that are only updated every ten, 15 years. And even if we updated them every three years, there's a rapidly changing. A commercial market right now, and we need to be available to respond to that. Thank you. Great item. Speaker 0: And and then Councilwoman Price to conclude. Speaker 3: Thank you very much. So a couple of things. I just I appreciate the city manager's comments, but I just I want to make my intent very clear. It's not to relax any parking standards for businesses. It's to think creatively about how they can provide the parking that is required so as to not put more pressure on the residents and the residential streets. So I think that we have the same intent, but I just wanted to make sure that that that soundbite isn't misconstrued because I don't think that's anyone's intent. Councilman Richardson or Vice Mayor Richardson's comment about the curb study. I love that idea. In fact, I love it so much. I brought an item about three years ago that you all supported called the Read Curb Audit for parking impacted areas. And I think that we haven't received a report back on it. It's been a couple of years, if I'm not mistaken, but that's exactly what we were thinking, because just by shortening some of the red curbs, we're able to squeeze in two or three more spots. And that's huge. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but if we can pick up 20 or 30 spots along the business corridor at Belmont, sure, that's huge for us. Our parklets right now take up at least two spaces each, which is why the PARKLET program, one of the reasons the PARKLET program probably will not become a permanent program in Belmont. Sure, it's also a traffic safety issue, but it's also an issue with parking. And the Belmont short area is is we have some constraints that other districts may not have, council districts one and two may, but we have our coastal access constraints. We those are you know, we can't make exceptions because we're we're in that coastal zone and it providing access to the public is our most important function for. So we don't have a lot of movement there. And so for us, if we can pick up a couple of spots through a curb audit where we don't need something , that's a huge deal for us, we can get two spots back that were previously a temporary parklet. That's huge for us. So, so I look forward to that. I mean, maybe I can ask the city manager, do you know what the status is on the red carpet audit item that we brought for parking impacted areas? Speaker 4: Yes. So we reported back on that in December 2019. We did some quick estimates of what it would take to do that. That's a pretty intense study. At the time, it was estimated about six months and about 170,000. So we provide that back to the council. That's one that was not funded. And so when there's funding to move forward or if the council wants to reconsider that or reprioritize something else, then we could get started on that effort. Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate that. You're right. We did we did get a report back that said thank you, but we don't have the money to do that right now. So so it really hasn't gone anywhere. So that might be something if the council's interested, but we can look at as a city because I think that would be really valuable. And I agree with Vice Mayor Richardson and Councilman Austin that this curb management issues is huge. And if we can pick up a lot of parking and parking impacted areas, and that could be the pilot, the parking impacted districts could be the pilot. So that could work. And then I'm open to any updating of parking regulations in any other district. I didn't want anyone to think that it was limited to Belmont. Sure. It's just we have a very specific need right now, and I'm trying to stay in my lane and not dictate what everyone else should be doing in their districts, which is why this item was narrowly tailored to address a need that we have in our district. But any other district that wants an update like this for your own district, I'm going to obviously very much support. I just left it off of my item because I don't want to get involved in everyone else's business through my own issues in my district that I'm trying to resolve. So thank you very much for your support. Speaker 4: And this is time, if I can add real quick, we do do these red curb evaluations all the time, so the item asks us to really look holistically and go and bring someone on to look at every red curb. Our traffic team definitely works with council offices. If you say in this street, can you come out and take a look? We go through, we do those parking counts. We picked up a number of street or a number of parking spots in District two that way in the last couple of years. And so we've done some of that work, but we do it more on a case by case basis. That's easier for us to manage with internal staff. But you know, we certainly could do it citywide, but that does require us to bring on some more. So I just want make sure, you know, that is an option on some areas if you do have requests for those. Speaker 0: Roll call vote, please. Speaker 3: Mr. Mayor. I also killed after Councilman Price. Speaker 0: Yeah, that was after I had seen that. So you're right. Go ahead, Councilman. Mongo. Speaker 3: Thank you. I'm sorry. Something that Mr. Modica stated brought a question to my eye. So Councilman Pryce brought forward an item asking for a citywide red curb audit in 2019. City manager brought back a report that said it would be very expensive to do citywide. Mr. MODICA Did you provide a price that it would be just to do parking impacted areas of the city? Speaker 4: The request at the time was to look at citywide. And so that's the estimate that we provided was 170. Speaker 3: The when is it that you determine that items brought forward during the year that say we would need this amount of money to do it, get folded into your budget proposal. So sometimes that happens. Speaker 4: Yeah. So we consider those as part of the budget when one kind of innovation that we've done in the recent past is to create a section called unfunded needs so that we are reporting back during the budget process whether those items made it in or made it or did not. And so we do our best to go through all the two from fours and the ones that we have a funding source or a grant or others or or we feel just we that is at the top of the priority list. We can fund those in the budget and then we like to identify those for you to say so that you know when you're going through your budget, whether or not it was funded, I'd have to check on this one specifically, but we do try to include that as a list of items. Speaker 3: So if this item was passed with unanimous vote of the council and several other items were passed by the unanimous vote of the council, and I was the budget chair at that time and. It wasn't mentioned, and I guess I just don't know. Like there were lots of things included in the in the city manager's proposed budget. I guess I would like to understand. What? Just to better understand, when is it that the city manager determines that one thing is the higher priority? They're all I mean, most of us support each others items with the unanimous vote, even if we may not agree in in principle for the funding component, we may agree in principle, but might not agree that it should be funded. But sometimes you still fold those into your city manager recommendations. And then on the flip side, we might agree or disagree in principle, but since it's not been funded at this time, maybe you will be supportive at this time and see what it does cost and what comes of it. What is it that we could do to kind of. Flesh out what that looks like or that process is there. I mean, I'm not budgetary anymore, so maybe it's a better question for Mr. Austin if he wants to maybe collaborate on an earlier phase of the budget. But some of these items do get put into your budget recommendation and many do not. What do you determine to be the differentiator of the highest priority of the city? Speaker 4: I think it's just. Speaker 3: That residents would say parking. Speaker 4: I think it's just the amount of money that we have. Normally, when we get a amount to do one time dollars, we get to do a fraction of our overall needs. So we start first with the requirements like legal requirements, mandated requirements. You know, I'll give an example. You know, we need water in our parks and we never have enough water for our parks. And so we try to take a small amount of that because we know that that's a priority. If we were to fund all of that, we wouldn't have enough money for anything else. So I do wish we had when we get those big one time dollars, we go back and look at those priorities. But the process is there. We provide the reports throughout the year. We now include it in the budget, which we didn't before, to make sure that people know. We can also highlight that with the Budget Oversight Committee moving forward and certainly if you have a different priority, then, you know when kind of what staff brings forward as were most urgent needs, that's what the budget process is for. Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate that. I just know that. And I could I could be wrong. But I thought I had heard Councilwoman Allen once comment that one of the major things that she hears from residents is their concerns about parking. And if it's a number one priority in her district, then maybe we should look at and it's a high priority for residents and the third district, maybe we should look at and potentially what just the parking impacted areas. Having a red card, albeit a red curb audit would cost because if it's a really high priority to a lot of residents and it enables people from different parts of the city to drive to work, they know that there was a lot of communication about I'm a patron and I Uber or I'm a patron, but but really we also need people from different parts of the city who need jobs to be able to get to the job centers, wherever those are. So I'd have to I wouldn't be able to take that pulse and see if it's still a concern of residents in certain areas. But. I have consistently heard from people in the store downtown all over the place that parking is a top priority for them. So I would be interested in parking impacted areas, having that red curb steady number and be supportive of those districts while I don't have them in my side of town unless you're around Long Beach City College when they're in session. I would say that that's probably a high priority for those residents and I would want to be supportive. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilman Price. Speaker 3: I won't take long. I just. I did want to correct Mr. Mota. I know it's been. It was December, October of 2019 when I brought the item. And it did specifically ask for parking impacted areas. It was not for a citywide audit. It was specific to parking impacted areas. And then within two months, we got basically the report back, which I just looked at that said, you know, this is going to cost, it's not feasible, it's going to cost us a lot of money. So I get it. I understand we have restraints in terms of what we can and can't spend and what the priorities are. But I agree with Councilwoman Mongo that we we really I do ask city staff to think about the individual priorities of each district, you know, instead of global priorities that may be, you know, more advocated for or more championed. I think it's important to look at the different districts because here we are two years later talking about an item that is a major issue and the cost associated with it is high, but it's certainly not that high. And I understand it's not a priority for the city management team, but some of the issues that might be a priority for the city management team may come at a higher cost. They may not be serving the needs of every district. So if we could find ways to try to address the priorities, especially when they're not a huge number in all the districts in some way, I think that would be ideal because sometimes the major priority issues that cost a lot of money are really great priority issues for the city, but may not address a need that's much lower cost than in one of the districts. And so I'm trying to say a little bit of money could go a long way in some districts so I appreciate it. Speaker 0: Thinks thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: I guess I'd like to just maybe reference a friendly or offer friendly to include in the staff work to identify or look to identify any sort of planning grants that may be available to assist with the this sort of separate in these parking impacted areas of our city. I think I mean, obviously, the up plan was was referenced and that was staff resources were where were were have they actually been paid for by bye bye through a grant? And so I would just ask that we we look at doing the same in terms of identifying resources to help address these problems. So that that would be a friendly just just a recommendation. Speaker 0: There's a I'm assuming, Councilman Price, that you agree with that friendly. Speaker 3: Absolutely. Speaker 0: Great. So let's go ahead and then do a roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: District one, district two. I District three. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: I. Strict for. Speaker 0: All right. Speaker 1: District five, District I, District six I, District seven. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 6: My. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 0: Yes. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. We need to move on to the study session I mentioned. We're going to do it before seven. There is still one item that requested to be moved up. So. Item ten Indigo it is Captain Mango. Are you. Are you on? Guzman Mango. Speaker 3: Yes, I am on, sir.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to work with the Development Services Department to review current parking policies and opportunities to update existing parking regulations to improve efficiency in support of the Business Improvement District (BID).

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Speaker 0: Okay. You can do eight in ten pretty quickly. Speaker 3: Yes, sir. Speaker 0: Yes, sir. Okay, let's do attention very fast and then we'll go to the study session. Speaker 1: But communication from Councilwoman Mongeau, Councilwoman Allen, Councilwoman Price, Councilmember, your UNGA recommendation to direct city manager to report back within 90 days on establishing a citywide tree replacement program. Speaker 0: Cardamom mango. Speaker 3: Oh, thank you. Over the last four years, I have discovered that there are so many different tree replacement programs that residents are often confused and misinformed about the pathway to get a pathway tree. It's important to me that we not have a system where there are four different areas of funding and four different places you could get a tree and four different timelines to get a tree based on that you embark upon. So for those reasons, I bring forward this item to have the city manager look at and better understand what our options are. Since putting this item on the agenda, I've received a lot of amazing comments, mostly from neighbors on the park, but I've also learned a lot. Today, Councilman Allen hosted an amazing Climate Action Committee meeting of the subcommittee of the City Council, and we talked about one component of tree replacement. But I also mentioned at that meeting and I'll add it here, two things that residents brought to my attention. Replacing trees, one for one does not necessarily mean that you're replacing the tree canopy that's so vital to our tree network and to some of our utility partners believe that when a tree is in the way of their. Business need that they just decapitate it. And we need to have a plan in place that requires those utilities to replace that tree canopy and those trees and then appropriately remove the tree. Not just leaves this. 15 foot stump in the middle of sometimes walkable areas and the such that has no value. And then those roots are not being removed in a way that we'd be able to plant a tree again in the future. Tree canopies are a big component of health and equity and air cleanliness, and it's a really important part of our city. Too many parts of our city. And I know Calhoun's and they have spoke very eloquently about some of the challenges in her district related to tree canopies today and the additional heat and health impacts. And so I feel that this is a really important component of getting our city on the same page in terms of how we can ensure that the maximum number of trees with a maximum impact to residents will be planted. So thank you for all who supported the item. Speaker 0: Thank you. Let's go to public comment, if there is any in the other council. Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Marina Hernandez. Speaker 3: Hi. I'm just at a respective time. Thank you for taking on this item. I was waiting for 2 hours. I'm really glad that we got to it. I just want to say that I really think Councilwoman Mongeau and all the other council members that signed on to this. Speaker 6: It is this what's addressed in this. Speaker 3: Recommendation is exactly what happened to me. I live on a street with a ton of mature jacaranda and eight of them are slated to be removed. And when I came out I, I saw a sign and they just left me with the responsibility to follow up. Either I can apply for a permit on my own or I can get on some lists. Speaker 6: It just seems like if the city is going to remove a tree, it should be the city's responsibility to. Speaker 3: Replace that tree. If there was a streamline process, it would just make it a lot easier. Um, I formed a committee a we inundated. Speaker 6: Our. Speaker 3: Councilwoman Mungo's office. Speaker 6: With a comment. I appreciate her responding to those. Speaker 3: I just think that that can that can be mitigated in the future. If there was a streamline process and it was very clear to residents about how and when and what and all that surrounding how trees are going to be replaced. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the third. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilor Maria Ringa. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mary. Speaker 4: And I want to thank Stacey. Speaker 0: Let me rephrase it, Councilwoman Mandell, for inviting me. Speaker 4: To join in. The same tweets are very important to my district as well. And I'm glad that we're going to have a man here that's going to replace trees. Speaker 0: And replant them, which is, I think, very important for our districts. Thank you. Councilwoman. As Councilwoman Price. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have to recharge my laptop so I can turn my video back on, so hopefully that happens in a minute. But I wanted to thank everyone for bringing this item forward. Councilman Ronda and I actually have been going through a major tree replacement procedure because of the magnolia tree issue, and I'm sure it's in other districts as well. But it was prolific in both of our districts and I thought that the tree replacement policy in those cases was fantastic and there was a lot of work done with the community. Speaker 6: Organizations to select. Speaker 3: The replacement trees. And so anything we can do to make sure that a process like that is similarly followed throughout. Speaker 6: The city and in. Speaker 3: For decades to come would be very much appreciated. So thank you, Carol and Randolph, for this item. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 3: Yes. Thank you. Speaker 1: Councilman Mongo, for bringing this forward. Speaker 3: Even when I was a councilwoman elect. Right. Speaker 1: Partnered with Councilman. Speaker 3: Price on a tree planting program in the second district. So trees are disasters and they benefit everyone. And I'm excited to see the report back in three months. This is good stuff. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilman's and day house. Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And thank you, Councilmember Mongo, for this item. I think it's a very important I think one of the things that's the most important, as you were mentioning, are the canopies and the relief that they provide, especially when when the it's very hot out. I live in a district where it's not very common that my residents have air conditioning. So in the summer times, that's where they find relief going outside underneath canopies. And it's great to be outside. So I absolutely support this and I know that we're because of Earth Day. We're having a lot of tree planning in my districts that actually this week and next week and I'm just thrilled about that. So this is perfect timing. Thank you, Councilwoman Monk. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes council comment. Please cast your vote. Roll call. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 0: Yes. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes all the items that were requested to be moved up and so now will begin just the regular order. We have a study session and then after study session we have general public comment and then the rest of the agenda. So certainly we have a hefty, hefty night ahead of us. So why don't we turn this over? I know that the staff might need a minute to set up the study session, so why don't we just take a minute recess and we will start in just one minute. So we back in one minute with the study session on which will be by our city staff and violent crime and how we're addressing that. Thank you. Okay. We are going to go ahead and get the council meeting back into session.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager and all appropriate departments to report back within 90 days on establishing a citywide Tree Replacement Program that establishes standards and streamlined processes for maintaining the community's urban forest and promoting the health and safety of City trees, from the time they are planted through maturity.

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Speaker 0: So we back in one minute with the study session on which will be by our city staff and violent crime and how we're addressing that. Thank you. Okay. We are going to go ahead and get the council meeting back into session. We'll do a quick roll call vote. Sorry, it's a roll call, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Zendejas. You're Councilwoman. Speaker 3: Allen here. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pryce. Here, Councilman Superman. Councilwoman Mongo. Supervisor thank you to Councilwoman Taro. Speaker 3: President. Speaker 1: Council member Durango. Speaker 0: Presented. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Here are Garcia. Speaker 0: I'm here. Thank you very much. We are going to go ahead and restart the rest of the agenda here. So let me go ahead and take it back to the clerk who's going to read the study session item we have on the agenda tonight. Speaker 1: Recommendation to conduct a study session to receive and file a presentation on strategies for addressing violent crime. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. And with that, I'll turn this over to Mr. Modica. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the City Council. So we do have a couple of things to discuss with you tonight. This council has been very active over the past eight, nine months, really focusing on violence prevention. Before we get into the presentations, I kind of want to reiterate, you know, why we're here tonight. It started back in July. There was a request from this council to really look at a violence interruption strategy. Had a number of ideas and things that we could find if we get some future dollars and asked for some information back, which we kind of took as our base. We then got the CARES Act and we funded a number of those items that we were able to kind of squeeze into the Cares Act money. Then we got a request back in February to really put together a strategy as we started to see some gun violence happening in our communities, which is happening throughout the nation. And we'll talk some about that today. We reported back with a with a written document on all the things that PD was doing and then wanted to make sure we present that tonight. And then we also got a request in February to look at how do we fund additional violence prevention work kind of going forward. And then a lot of that got wrapped into the Recovery Act. So there's a lot that this council has asked for on violence prevention. Tonight, we're going to try to pull it all together and show you what's been happening and what we've already done, what we're working on now and what's coming in the future. So we'll have a presentation from our police chief about the kind of immediate intervention steps that we've been taking and the results there in the past couple of months. Also, kind of give you a reminder of where we are historically in crime and where we are right now as well with some of that with some of the uptick in shootings that the nation's experiencing. And then we'll go into a discussion with the health department on some of the upstream prevention, the downstream prevention, the things that we were working on longer term to really impact the cycle of violence in communities. So I will turn it and then we'll take questions at the end. I will turn it over to our police chief, Robert Luna. Speaker 7: Thank you, Mr. Modica. Good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council. I will be focusing on these three topics tonight. Violent crime trends in our community. Our response to those trends with an emphasis on gun violence and the importance of partnerships with other city departments and our community. As a reminder, we strive to align our department's vision, mission and core values with dealing with the law enforcement code of ethics. We seek to transform community relationships so that both our community and our police officers feel supported when addressing crime. We have accomplished so much over the years as it relates to violent crime. As you will see here in the slide, that's up. We have less violent crime now than we have had in decades. But I want to make it clear we have a lot of work to do. The increase in shootings is extremely concerning, and I will be discussing some of the ways in which we are addressing this challenge. In 2020. Most major cities throughout the country experience increases in murder and gun violence. Although in 2020, the murder rate in Long Beach increased by 5.9%, the overall crime rate decreased by 1.4% compared to 2019 . Currently, total citywide violent crime is up nearly 15% through March 31st of 2021, and that's driven by shootings. However, murder is down year to date, 22%. And I want to say and I want to make this clear, whether it's one murder five or whatever. This is unacceptable. And I really do want to remind everyone that every victim absolutely matters. These are family members and friends and neighbors that are significantly traumatized. Every time somebody is killed. Speaker 0: Chief, can you go back to that slide just 1/2? And I was just having this conversation with the group of a group of folks. And I just want to re-emphasize something. I know it's it's not on the slide, per se, but something you said that that's not reflected there. The group of folks I was chatting with were mentioning to me that that murders have dramatically increased this year and more people are falling victim to homicide, which obviously is the most serious of crime. I will use what you've shared with us is that year to date, the most serious of crime, which of course, is homicide, is actually down year to date this year to last year, is that correct? Speaker 7: That's correct. The Long Beach, the city of Long Beach's murder rate is down 22% in 2021 year to date. And if I'm assuming that the people who are approaching you, people get their information in so many different ways and there's a lot of media attention and there should be on other cities around us and really other cities in the country that are experiencing a very high rate of murder this year. But fortunately, Long Beach is not in that category. Speaker 0: And then and then on this slide, just before we continue going again, I think we oftentimes read or I think rightly so in the media, you know, what's going on with with crime and violent crime. And I think you address the shooting piece, which is so important. But the the overall trend as far as Long Beach, I know that historically today, the violent crime rate in Long Beach is still lower than it was 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago. Is that right? Speaker 7: That is correct. The previous slide, if we can go back to the previous slide, if you look at this slide here, it's it goes back to 1970. And you see that in 1991, Long Beach cataloged 9567 violent crimes. Again, that was in 1991. In 2020, if you compare it to 1991, there's a 75% decrease down to 2340 violent crimes. Again, that was last year in 2020. So although we had an overall decrease, if you're comparing it back to 91, there has been a significant decrease. Speaker 0: Thank you. And I just wanted to point that out. I know that you have a lengthy presentation, but I think obviously we read so much about what happens day to day, which again is really important, but it's oftentimes in what we read, what's not obviously included in that is, of course, is about how that what's going on today actually relates to what happened, you know, ten or 30 or 40 years ago. And certainly the issue around homicide, every time you read someone that loses their life and everyone has a story, I obviously I think we are somewhat heartened that the numbers haven't spiked from this year to last year, and we're not seeing the increases that that other cities have. And of course, the year, of course, there's still a lot a long way for the year to go and that certainly can change. But it is heartening to know where that is at this moment. So sorry to stop you there, Chief. I just thought you kind of went through that pretty quick, and I wanted to clarify some of that for some of the folks I've been talking to as well. So thank you. Speaker 7: You're welcome. So moving ahead from this led. There we go. Just catching up here. You see a map here on your screen. And here you will see citywide shootings that include hit and no hit shootings and firearm arrests through April 15th. Our police officers have made 177 firearm related arrest year to date. 60% have been prohibitive possessors and 18% have been previously arrested with firearms. If we were to overlay this map with the poverty and unemployment rates and the level of education in these areas, we believe that you would find a direct correlation between violent crimes and these socio economic factors. 2020 was a bad year for many reasons. We've talked about this for several meetings. We believe that the possible possible causes for these crime increases are related to a series to the serious impacts on the criminal justice system in our community resulting from the COVID 19 pandemic. In May of 2020, our city hit the highest level of unemployment at 20.8%. The California Department of Corrections and the Los Angeles County Jail have released over 111,000 inmates. Due to the risk of COVID exposure. Repeat offender arrest. Meaning somebody who was arrested three or more times are up 27%. From 2019. Trials and other court proceedings have experienced significant delays. School closures, the lack of programing have negatively impacted youth engagement. And and something pretty stunning. And it's at the bottom of of this specific slide. In 2020, recorded gun sales were up 64% nationwide when compared to 2019. Which means there are many more guns on our street. And if you see at the bottom of that slide, specifically in California, there were 110,000 firearms purchased in our state. Firearm related arrests are up 58% in 2021 compared to the same timeframe in 2020. Similarly, prohibited firearm possessor arrests are up 55%, and our officers have recovered 50% more firearms. 40 of those firearms were ghost guns. An important fact that this light does not capture is that the total number of arrests made by our officers in 2021 is down 20% compared to the same time last year. Now, let me repeat that our arrest in 2020 were down over 20%. The fact that our total arrests are down 20% and our firearm related arrests are up 58%, indicate that our officers are more focused on violent crime than lower level offenses. Related to that fact is that we are seeing a shift in recidivists data. In the past, most of our recidivists arrests were for relatively minor nonviolent offenses. Today, we are seeing an increase in recidivist arrest for violent offenses. We would welcome the I-Team to examine current data, as they have done in the past, to identify more opportunities for prevention and intervention. This slide here indicates one example of many subjects that our police officers encounter on the street. Here you will see an arrest timeline for a prohibitive possessor who has repeatedly been arrested over the past five years. All but one arrest was for illegally possessing a firearm. I would also like to point out the discrepancy between the person's sentence and actual time spent incarcerated. It appears that this person hasn't been held to the full term of any sentence. This is just one example of an individual who has been repeatedly arrested for illegally possessing a firearm. Year to date, our officers have arrested 32 repeat firearm offenders. Now we're going to get to our strategies. Our department is committed to reducing violent crime by implementing a data driven plan. Our plan provides short term strategies to address immediate crime concerns, as well as long term strategies to ensure sustainable reductions. Our plan focuses on key individuals and neighborhoods that are negatively impacted by violent crime. To ensure continuous progress. Our plan also includes key performance metrics and accountability measures to gauge our progress, which I will share with you in a moment. As part of this plan, we have several strategies we are currently using to deter violent crime. You see them here? I would like to highlight two pilot programs that have been effective in reducing crime, in particular gun crimes. Our Coordinated Response team and our Neighborhood Walks program. Our community. Ah. I'm sorry. Our coordinated response team. In February of this year, we reassigned employees away from their primary assignments to create a temporary, coordinated response team comprised of detectives, patrol officers, a divisional crime analyst and a public information officer. This team meets daily to discuss strategies for impacting violent crime with the focus on gun violence, prohibitive possessors, ghost guns and and attempting to identify the contributing factors to violent crime. In addition, they work closely with our federal law enforcement partners, including the FBI, the ATF and the U.S. Marshal's office. The Coordinated Response Team is also responsible for conducting community engagement and neighborhood awareness related to our public safety efforts. Engaging our community is a critical part of this program, and I do want to emphasize that in the past, when we're having challenges with violent crime, specifically shootings, we introduce a lot of uniformed presence that usually slows down or stops the shooting activity. What we're doing differently this time is we're very focused on individuals and places, and ahead of time we're communicating with those neighborhoods so that people know what we're doing there and more importantly, why we're there. And I think that is helpful. Since it sits. Since its inception, this team has made several arrest of violent offenders prohibited from possessing firearms and has confiscated 38 firearms. Here you will see the result of their efforts. Of the total arrest, 22 were prohibitive possessors. Also, please note that of all these firearm arrest, only one of them required any use of any type of force. And I also want to point out that zero, because I think there's a perception that when our officers encounter people with weapons, that there's automatically an officer involved shooting. That is absolutely not true. And you see just in this slide, just with this team. 38 arrests. 22 with firearms. Zero officer involved. Shootings at only one use of force. And yes, one is too many. From what I understand from the body worn camera footage, this individual had a gun in his waistband, was trying to pull it out. And instead of anybody firing upon him, you had several officers who grabbed on to him and were able to disarm him. This slide shows you the shooting before the coordinated response team was assembled and after, which equates to a 36% decrease in citywide shooting incidents. Our police officers are absolutely making a difference. When you put more on the street, it will prevent shootings from occurring. I'm really excited to also talk about another pilot program that we've been running. A very innovative approach that we are taking to reduce violence in our community. Is the Neighborhood Walk's Pilot Program. We are currently focusing resources in the Washington Middle School neighborhood in response to shootings in that area. Historically, this has been one of the most violent reporting districts in our city. The Neighborhood Walks pilot program, which we hope to deploy in other parts of the city in the future, is supported through you, the council's approved Neighborhood Safe Streets funding. It allows officers assigned to specific geographical beats to walk and to interact with community members, giving them a chance to really get to know the people who are living and working in the area while additional officers answer calls for service. Officers have spent 186 hours walking in the neighborhood and have made over 300 recorded community contacts since beginning the program on February 27th of this year. I'm happy to report that since the program's implementation, there has been a 40% decrease in reported shooting incidents in that area. This program has proven to be a true prevention and intervention tool. The next slide, I'll leave up there for just a second, or at least a minute, I should say. Here you will see some testimonials from members of our community about this program. As you can see, our community is grateful for our efforts. Engaging our community in a non-enforcement environment has proven to be very, very positive. And as I said earlier, it's really something special when you're able to get police officers out of the cars and in on foot, actually engaging with neighborhood residents. And it really shows that having officers out there in that manner really is making a huge difference, specifically in crime in that neighborhood. Our department is working with our community and other city partners to provide a safe city for all people and reduce violence in our neighborhoods through crime trend analysis, proactive community policing and community engagement. Our city team is committed to preventing violence before it starts. To be successful, we must have a three pronged approach of prevention intervention. And enforcement. We strive to build positive partnerships within our community. This is embodied in our department's mission of public safety through partnerships. In seeking to address crime alongside our city family. We continue to work with numerous community organizations like the Guidance Center, the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, the Long Beach Interfaith Council, our police policy community advisory group, and numerous neighborhood and business groups throughout Long Beach. And to summarize, our department is modifying management practices while analyzing available data in a manner that helps identify the root causes of crime in our impacted neighborhoods. With the focus on providing fair, just and equitable public safety in Long Beach, we are confident that the partnerships we are strengthening and the changes we have made and are continuing to make will help us achieve our vision of a safe city for all people. And with that, I'll turn it over to my partner, the health director, Kelly Colby. Speaker 8: Thank you, Chief. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. Thank you for this opportunity to share the public health approach to violence prevention in the city of Long Beach. I'd like to acknowledge Anna Lopez, our community impact officer who is leading the health efforts. I'll discuss today. I'd also like to acknowledge Deputy Chief Deputy City Manager Theresa Chandler for ongoing support of these efforts, as well as the partnership of the Police Department, Parks, Recreation and Marine Workforce Development Libraries, and the many community based organizations and community members as we move forward in our work together to ensure a safer future for the city of Long Beach. And preventions have been underway for over 30 years in our city. The slide shows some of the many efforts. You'll notice that almost all focus on grant funding. The city has done some great work in violence and gang prevention. Yet each effort is an unfunded mandate or grant funded, and when the funding ends, the program ended. It's so very difficult to build a movement for safety who starts and stops based on funding. The most recent plan that we've been working off of the current work underway stems from the safe Long Beach violence prevention plan approved by City Council in 2014. With various grant funding, this plan hosted trainings and trauma informed approaches. Bullying, prevention and implicit bias training for the police department. It's supported six community policing sessions and funded the all in campaign to address chronic truancy. In 2017, the safe Long Beach Plan was moved to the Health Department, where it's been focused on a place based effort and community building to support safety in their communities. It was recently awarded $1.1 million to address gun violence. We in public health talk a lot about upstream prevention. And this this graphic captures the approach. We often spend our time and resources working to intervene when people are already struggling in the downstream. It's the life vest, right? The safety vest. This is costly. It doesn't address the underlying reasons they exist. So it keeps on happening and it keeps on growing. Very difficult to change. The bridge that is toward the top represents upstream prevention. This bridge keeps people from falling into difficult situations. They're in some cases of the city. These bridges are weak and broken. So it doesn't surprise you that people are falling through into the river. Those that live near or travel across the strong bridges are protected, while those who live and cross their bridges often fall in. Of course, all bridges need reinforcement, but it's easy to see which need the most urgent attention. And our role in public health and as the city, is to address disparities, inequities by identifying and repairing the bridges that have lacked resources and maintenance, promote safe passage across for all the social and physical environments where we live, work, learn , play and age are our bridges to opportunity. Our goal by going upstream is to build the strong bridges needed for success across the city. This graphic, while busy, highlights the key focus areas that we talk about. When we talk about upstream, we focus on building the individual and community strengths needed to support success. These include healthy birth outcomes, strong families, safe housing, financial stability, education and health and communities. We focus on building community power toward collective vision for the community. As we move toward adulthood, we focus on building social capital for youth, workforce development, health and safe places to be together. And then often we move past prevention to intervention, where we focus on efforts to halt what's going on, the pulling of people out of the water at they start to fall. These include things like violence, interruption, opportunity, youth programing, use diversion and some of the police interventions. When we look at this next chart, you the actual programs that we operate in health department and across other departments. So currently programs such as Black Infant Health, the Women, Infants and Children's Program, the Nurse, Family Partnership, Family Planning, All Children Thrive, early childhood Strengthening Families Fatherhood, our housing authority, healthy, active, Long Beach and medical outreach. Those are all considered upstream preventions because we're working to build strong individuals and families. We also look at the the work, the Long Beach Collaborative, which is a focus that you'll be hearing about tonight around really building community strength. We include the Office of Youth Development in both upstream and downstream, because really, youth development is a life lifelong experience. My Brother's Keeper is included in here, as well as Neighborhood Services that operates and development services. And then our downstream again is the Office of Youth Development. You see internships, mentorships raised to be healthy places to gather. Our trauma and resiliency work and also the Long Beach Police Department Walks program, Community Walks program is a downstream prevention. When we look at our intervention, we look at our new our gun violence prevention program, our reentry services, My Sister's Keeper and the Neighborhood Safe Streets initiatives . Across all of that, our mental health supports and substance use treatment that are so important, as well as investments and policies to support the work that we are doing. Like many urban cities across the nation, the city of Long Beach experienced the impact of social policies on incarceration and violent crime rates for a black community and communities of color. Between the mid 1980s and 1990s, this problem became particularly acute as we face the implications of the policies such as war, drugs, the institutionalization of mental health services, changes in prison, prison sentencing guidelines, economic stagnation and social pressures of poverty and systemic racism that adversely affected black people and communities of color. It must be considered as part of an upstream approach to our policy and resourcing design. So I start discussing the different programs that we're currently operating in the Health Department. The first upstream prevention is our Long Beach Collaborative. How are the Long Beach Collaborative? Renamed it As of today along Beach Advancing Peace. And so we are moving from the name of safe Long Beach to Long Beach advancing, advancing peace. This effort focused on increasing social connectedness, improving economic opportunities, fostering safe and healthy neighborhoods, and creating trauma informed systems. Is currently focused in the Washington neighborhood and focuses heavily on strengthening community, voice and power to make change locally. To build a safer community. Both up and downstream prevention as a youth development. The Office of Youth Development and the Youth Develops Strategic Plan. The Youth Strategic Plan was launched in February of this year. The plan lays out key goals for the Office of Youth Development and Youth in our city. Youth development, as I mentioned before, goes across the lifespan. Many of the efforts begin in middle school through age 24. We're also taking on more coordination and alignment with early childhood initiatives. In the past year, we funded ten agencies to support projects that raised awareness of COVID 19, testing resources and emotional supports. Engaging 2460 youth in different activities. This summer, additional grants will be launched to support project placements in nonprofit organizations. The team is also planning for a two day youth forum in partnership with the Long Beach Commission on Youth and Families. Trauma informed. Long Beach is a downstream prevention. It was launched in the Health Department in 2018 to create a trauma informed Long Beach. It's a citywide initiative focused on reducing the impact of trauma inadvertently activated by organizations and city departments. Try a tree. Long Beach has completed trauma and resiliency one on one training for nearly 450 health and library staff, and now expanding this training to additional departments, including legislative staff and Parks, Recreation and Marine. An effort to become a trauma informed city. This training will also provide city organizations with tools on how to engage staff who may experience anxiety and or other social distress as facilities open up after being closed from COVID. And constituent services are again offered in-person. As a new intervention. The Health Department is launching the Long Beach Activating Safe Communities program to address gun violence through a three year $1.1 million Board of State Corrections and Community. California Violence Prevention or otherwise known as Calvert Grant Award. It'll be the OBE Ask program. We're working in partnership across sectors with community stakeholders and various departments, including the Police Department, Economic Development, Pacific Gateway, Parks, Recreation and Marine, Long Beach Unified School District, nonprofit community based organizations, faith based organizations and community residents. Its primary goals are to create a comprehensive and coordinated gun violence response system for victims of gun violence will reduce gun violence through effective street outreach and intervention programing, and activate safe community spaces to provide programs, resources and services in the Washington neighborhood. The primary activities include providing support to victims of gun violence. Implementing a street outreach interventionist model to prevent and interrupt gun violence. Providing case management to 30 youth. Hosting quarterly meetings. Community engagement. Events to build social connectedness. And supporting the Be Safe program at the seaside. Enforcing 14th Street parks through the Long Beach Recovery Act. The goal is to expand these efforts outside of the Washington neighborhood. Next intervention is our reentry program, which is home to system impacted persons seeking to integrate into their local community and families upon release. Many formerly incarcerated persons face multiple life challenges as they strive to reintegrate into their communities and families. The newest this is the newest work of the of the Division Community Impact Division's efforts. And the focus really is to expand and scale community based holistic care and services through community capacity building and service coordination, supporting family reunification models through two generational family approaches, including the fatherhood program, the increased father child bonds and father's economic stability, identifying partners for the development of a restorative center for formerly incarcerated service coordination and social connectedness. And aligning city and county alternatives to incarceration strategies wherever possible. During the summer of 2021, the city will issue $100,000 in direct community capacity building grants to local organizations working with persons formerly incarcerated and their families, including creating institutions of higher learning. It is also collaborating with the Office of Economic Development to pilot an integrated community care model, emphasizing mental health, employment and social entrepreneur entrepreneurship to support formerly incarcerated persons and family reunification efforts. This pilot will be supported by cross dependent by a cross-departmental effort with funds allocated from a Long Beach recovery effort. In the last program we share is a human trafficking program. The city has been engaged in human trafficking survivor supports for many years through various grant opportunities. Its program provides services to sex and labor trafficking survivors. The intervention intends to deter individuals from human trafficking and refer them to the City Prosecutor's Court Diversion Program. Survivors will avoid prosecution and have access to comprehensive port services, including emergency housing, mental health, mentoring, workforce training and job placement provided by selected providers. This program is administered in a partnership with the city prosecutor. Gems uncovered goodwill in the Cal State Long Beach Health Equity Center. This program's also developed a citywide awareness campaign, public service announcements and provided service provider trainings on trauma and resiliency approaches. When working with victims of human trafficking in January of 2021, two trainings on trauma and resiliency approaches were provided to more than 100 service providers. In its next iteration, this program will focus on transition age youth who are most at risk to be victims of human trafficking. This program will offer counseling, case management, employment services to any person between the ages of 16 to 25 who has experienced physical, sexual, financial or emotional harm resulting from trafficking. Exploitation. Overall between the general fund provided through the Racial Equity and Reconciliation Funding CARES Act and the Long Beach Recovery Act. Violence Prevention and Youth Development Efforts in Long Beach. We'll be funded at approximately $5 million, which is a huge boost in the work that we are doing as we focus on a future of a safer Long Beach. I thank you for your support. As close as my presentation, I'm available to respond to questions. Speaker 0: Thank you for that. We have to Mark, I think those were the two the two major reports, correct? Do you have anything else to add before I turn to council? Speaker 4: No, just. I think you'll see. We take this very seriously. I think there's been a lot of great work. There's obviously more we can do. And you know this we take it incredibly seriously when there's violence in our community. So we're prepared to answer questions and really be able to also answer some of the short term things that we're working on right now, but also some of the longer term efforts to try to break the cycle. Thank you. Speaker 0: Do you think you have a have folks are cued up, Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a few points. First, Chief, thank you so much for the presentation. Last time we had a presentation, I asked you for data. You definitely showed up with the data tonight, and that's what I love most about the presentation. Next, I'm incredibly proud to see the partnership with the Health Department demonstrating the comprehensive approach. That's important. Violence is a public health issue. We've proclaimed that as a city, and I believe it requires a holistic approach. I appreciate it, particularly the upstream downstream graphic and the bridge and the acknowledgment that some of those bridges have cracks in it. And unless we work on those cracks to keep people from falling into the stream in the first place, we'll continue doing downstream suppression. And that's not where we want to be. We want to be upstream, investing in opportunity, invest in people. I want to thank the chief for including the map and making the connection to the other determinants, the social determinants that also overlap with the areas that have violent crime. We've talked about this and these are the same areas that are overlaid with high incidences of COVID 19 is the same areas that have unemployment, elevated unemployment due to COVID 19, the same areas that have air quality issues, lack open space, public investment. There is a direct correlation. These are social determinants of health, and we're also seeing a number of our departments and strategy looking at this place based response from the recovery plan, looking at the collective impact model, the proposed economic empowerment zone, emphasizing that there is a direct economic issue within the same areas that have this violence. And so the more that we focus on these place based issues, I think the better. I want to thank the chief for calling out specifically the point that the resettlement received of recidivism. Arrests are arrests with guns. And that's important to note. So so I know we've heard I know Councilman Austin's talked about the prohibited possessor, but this is the first time that we've seen a presentation that makes the connection. How significant of an issue this is. And I think that's that that's particularly a game changer. I think we need to continue on that message points. I want to thank you also for bringing up and acknowledging the impact, the benefits of the coordinated response team. That's what I'm going to be looking for investment in. When we get to budget conversations. It's you're showing that is proven that's what I want to see a 40% reduction in and since the neighborhood walks program that's huge. We want to see how we are leveraging recovery funds to develop some of the same pilots in Washington in some of the other areas impacted by shooting. So that's that's incredibly important. So I want to I'm glad to see that the Washington neighborhood was able to pilot these things and is poised to go into north orbit. And one thing I would also state is I would I would love to see more information. I saw community intervention workers referenced as a part of I think it was the the the grant that we got from the one the $1 million grant focused on Washington neighborhood. That was the only place where I actually saw reference to community innovation and maybe intervention. Worker So I'm going to ask Kelly or whoever can speak to this, what's the plan for community intervention workers beyond that $1 million grant? Because when we came to council, we talked about identifying through recovery funds or whatever else is available, the opportunity to expand some of those strategies into north and other areas that have had shooting . So I'm curious more specifically to know, is that the plan for how we're are we going to utilize some of those recovery dollars from for violence prevention or some of those same strategies? Speaker 8: Yeah. Uh, Vice Mayor, the through the Long Beach Recovery Act, we did identify additional resources, a half million dollars to be able to expand the interventionist opportunity beyond the Washington neighborhood. So we'll begin that pilot there and then work to expand it as well. Speaker 0: Well, I would just say, with the funds that we've already identified, I want to see more. I want to see the next level of planning here on what specifically you're going to be able to commit to with the resources that we have available now. And communities, I think, deserve to know that. So in the next iteration or the report that comes back, we'd like to know which strategies I'm interested in, particularly in the neighborhood watch, community intervention workers, the things that the chief is standing up and saying, that's working. I want to make sure that that's being deployed. So all the issues that are impacted by shootings. And so I would love to see more specific more specific details there. Speaker 3: Oh. Speaker 4: Yes, Vice Mayor. So that is the next effort of the work. So what you've helped identify as in the recovery plan are the broad buckets. The policy direction for the dollars that would go toward certain efforts. What we're waiting for is in May, we expect to have the protocols from the federal government about exactly confirming how we can spend those funds. Then we start building all those individual budgets and creating basically the grant that would do those things. And then we will provide information on what are the next level strategies, how are we going to implement that? How would the 500,000 specifically be recommended to be spent and give all of that to the council? And then we start the program. So it's very similar to how we did the CARES act. Speaker 0: Fantastic. Thank you. Thank you, Rosemary Richardson. Next up is Camp Clemens and Haas. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. Actually, I was wondering if if we could hear public comment, if there's any. Before. Speaker 0: I think there's one. The. Yes. Substance addiction. Yes, go ahead. Speaker 4: We do have one person on the line for public comment for this item. Speaker 3: I'd love to hear them. Please. Speaker 4: Our first speakers, Tiffany Davey. Speaker 3: Good evening, Mayor. Speaker 6: City Council. Thanks for the presentations very in-depth. I came to this presentation wanting to see a bit more data as they become aware to me in being a victim of a violent crime. Actually, two in the year 2014, I have learned through that experience and what I did not see this evening in terms of data concerning not just gun violence. And I appreciated both the progress and where we are compared to 1991. I was concerned with the lack of data on and I'll give a content warning. Our sexual assault crimes, having dealt with Sergeant Correll and various detective over the years, have become aware of quite a few issues that I really would like to see discussed and opened up. As you know, I supported the Black Health Program and hoping to see that program expand to include prevention of these crimes as well, and trauma informed healing and the way in which we deal with these victims who also, you know, directly communicate with our district attorney's office and currently victims of violent crimes . It's just what's missing from that report that haunts me, concerned about it not being included in future discussions. That said, I know that there's so much work that the site team does too. So I'd like to see and know more about where we're headed with that in the future. I'd like to see when victims of crimes come to the city and attend meetings, that we are also not depressing their knowledge of their experience and seeking high level critique the highest level of experience as being a victim of a violent crime. We do have things to share and we do hope that these things get better within the city for everyone's daughters, your cousins, your aunt, your grandmother's, all of the women that we see and love in our community, they need to be supported in this way as well. I am hoping to hear discussion in the future as well on our facility at the community hospital. I can speak on that experience and there's not enough time. So again, really hoping we begin to have these conversations and include this data from a very significant portion of victims who experience this in the city. Thank you. Good evening. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Mr. Clare. First of all, I just wanted to say thank you so much to Chief Newnham and and Director Collopy for this presentation. I know that it is very important to me and my district to hear this because as you know, as one of the districts that has been affected by the most violent crimes and I know that this has been a discussion that has been going on among us and our city departments. But I think it's also important to take the opportunity like this and use our platforms to really speak directly to the concerns of our that our residents are making and making sure that we fully update not only not only ourselves and educate ourselves as council members, but update and educate our our residents on what's going on. I know the intent of this study session, for me at least, was to be able to see what the city has been doing, is doing and what the city plans to do in order to reduce violent crimes. I know that you know that that is what this presentation is doing. Of course, public safety is always and will always be our top priority as a city. And it's unacceptable to me that many of my residents have lived in fear because of the staggering increase in violence in in the district itself. At least that's how we feel here in the district. I really appreciate the the presentation that was given by Chief Luna, which indicates that violent crimes have actually gone down. So I appreciate that. But I know that my residents and in my district we ask as the data shows, you know, there have been a lot of violent crimes occurring. We as a city have have responded to a number of outlying, you know, in number in a number of ways that were outlined in today's presentation from Director Colby. And I really, really appreciate that. I think we need to continue to do that as we move forward. I'm thankful that that we are looking at that at this through through an equity lens. And I think that it is very important to continue looking at this as an equity issue and as, again, going back to what the data will show, showing that, you know, the violent crimes that are happening have other issues, why they are also happening. And even though we are in times of COVID, I do also believe that violent crimes have been happening in these areas for a very long time. And and, yes, COVID most certainly, you know, we have seen an increase. But one of the things that does worry me is that, you know, summer is coming. And as we all know, sometimes that is a time when violent crimes also increase. So one of the things that worries me is to see some of the programs that are doing so good, like the V programs that are walking alongside with our neighborhood residents and which. I have gone in so many, so many great feedback comments from my residents saying how important it is to have our police officers out there outside of their car and actually talking to them and talking to their children and how how important that is and how they want to see that continue. So I hope that we can find ways and and most importantly, find funds to be able to continue in those efforts. And one of the things that I would also like to share is that we need to continue providing ways to prevent violent crimes. And the other day, I had an amazing meeting with one of my residents, David McGill, and his organization, books and buckets there. And what they do is they're working to provide free basketball academy mentorship and education to help children in our Washington neighborhood and find a way out of what could be a path to to choosing violent crimes or turning a lifestyle that we don't want them to go into. So I really appreciate programs like that, and we need to be able to find ways to fund programs like that that will help our children in particularly this. This council and this organization is. Speaker 1: Your 5 minutes is up. Speaker 3: Okay. Then I just want to finish my sentence. I just want to say that funding organizations like this that will help children mentor them and help them get into college, I think is very important. I know college made a difference for me and my life, and I know that it's made a whole lot of difference for others . But thank you very much for the presentation. Speaker 0: Continue your anger. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. And of course, I want to echo. Speaker 2: The comments with the vice mayor Richardson, of course, a councilmember, and that I do want to congratulate. Thank you to Police Chief Luna and Director Colby for their presentations. I've said it before and I'll say it again. This is a this is a will situations again where the the health department has really established a leadership role in how to address many of the issues that are are facing our city. And we need to continue to find ways that we can institutionalize many of the programs that they have and not always have to rely on grants and other foundation moneys to keep them going, because I think they provide a very, very important role in our city. We need to get them fully funded as best we can to achieve. Luna Your your analytics were great. They're green. We're glad that you're looking at engaging the community as much as you can, and that's very important. We all know that, that once we get to know our police officers out in the field, that the stress level goes down within the community. And that's very important. And I'm glad that you're really emphasizing that, that that's a true nature of community policing, is to be out there and rubbing elbows with with the community and letting get them to know you as as the ASA provides protection in our communities. One question that I do have is back back in the day. I mean, you all know, I have history with the city. The police department used to have advisory committees, a Latino advisory committee, an. Speaker 0: Asian-American AAPI. Speaker 2: Community. Speaker 4: A LGBTQ. Speaker 2: Advisory committee. Those committees are still in existence or are they pretty much on hold or have morphed into something else that you're so curious as to what the the status of those committees are at this point? Speaker 7: Councilmember Muranga. So because you've been around for a while, you do remember during the recession we had a community relations division. And during the recession that got cut out of the budget. At that time, they were managing 14 different advisory groups. Some of them you named. And they were extremely helpful and productive, doing a lot of work with us. To this day, we still maintain a couple of them here and there, but it's a capacity issue for us. That's not to say that we believe they're any least important. Though recently we did develop a policy review advisory group that has a very diverse group of community members that involves clergy, academics, advocates, business leaders, and even an attorney from the ACLU. They're currently looking at our use of force policy. We believe, as it was written, it was part of a lot of the re-imagining of specifically in the use of force category. But now we have this group looking at it that's providing very valuable input to us. That's just one example. We're running that out of our Office of Constitutional Policing, but we always look for opportunities in the future if we can figure out from a capacity perspective. But even some of these programs we're running right now, they're all pilots, and I'm stealing from other places to make these units work until we can reduce some of these shootings out there. But thank you for that question. Speaker 2: Thank you for the update. And I'm sure that when times get better, we may be able to re. Speaker 0: Reinstate some of those. Speaker 2: Advisory. Speaker 0: Committees with with. Speaker 2: The community relations support. Speaker 0: And thank you again for engaging the community and for. Speaker 2: Getting a hold of our stakeholders. And stakeholder input is, of course very much important and including our businesses and our community based organizations. Speaker 4: On getting them more involved in what you do. Speaker 2: And what you what you plan to do, I think is very important. So thank you, Mayor, for the time. That's all I have. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate the presentation from both departments and the comments from my colleagues. I do have a couple of issues. We're talking about violent crime. I'm curious, what are the resources that we're allocating to support victims? Because I imagine the victims of these crimes are also Long Beach residents. They've experienced tremendous trauma and understanding that they do have some rights under Marsy's law and that either the district attorney's office or the city prosecutor's office is providing some minimal support. Are we doing anything to help those victims with trauma informed recovery and programing counseling, anything like that? Speaker 7: Good evening. Council Member Price Thank you for that question. Our department does amazing work when it comes to working with our victims of crime, specifically as it deals with child abuse, domestic violence. And sexual assault. One place that we fall a little short on is dealing with trauma, with shooting victims. That hasn't stopped us from looking at other opportunities to engage our victims. You stated one of the resources, and that is through the district attorney's office. We also work with the city prosecutor's office in town. But if you remember, about a year ago, we actually enacted a contract with a tip trauma intervention program. Unfortunately, because of COVID, that kind of put a stop to that. But we're reengaging as the COVID situation, or at least as my health director says, things are getting better. We're on the path to recovery. And hopefully we can get back on this program to to assist the victims. At the end of the day, we were victim centered. It is all about victims. And you're right on that is that should be our absolute number one priority. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Chief. And I'm I know I'm going to run out of time here, so I may have to queue up, but I do want to hear your I want to hear your answers, not just myself talking so good. Moving to the health department, do we have any sort of programs that are designed to help victims equity focused programs? Because I imagine that a lot of the victims are also residents who are in in the target area that the chief utilized in his presentation. Speaker 8: So we are engaging in the trauma informed and resiliency work and then working with our communities to build overall trauma and resiliency. We do not currently have a specific victim focused program. We have had some discussions about what those opportunities could be, and we would look forward to partnering with the police department as part of the TIP program to understand what additional needs there would be and what services we could look at supporting. Speaker 3: Well, that's fantastic to hear, and I would be very, very interested in how the health department and the police department can work together to assist these victims of crimes, because in many cases, we just have, you know, innocent people who are being while every crime victim is innocent, but really their lives are forever changed as a result of the crimes that they're that are committed against them. You know, I know and I know Ms.. Collopy knows this. I'm not sure if the chief knows this, but I'm very involved in my my regular profession on some of our restorative justice measures in terms of intervening early with mental health people, with mental health issues and people with substance use program issues. And so my question would be, in terms of our early intervention strategies, do we work with the county at all or are we completely on our own in terms of what we're doing with our early intervention strategies? In regards to some of the issues that you've mentioned, because I've also noticed that with mental health, a lot of programing and things closed down as a result of COVID. So we did see more an increase in a lot of quality of life crimes, of poverty type offenses as a result of people not getting the treatment, the programs that they needed. So how are we working with the county to address those people early with an early intervention program? Speaker 8: So at this time we are not currently coordinating with the county mental health programs. We do coordinate and partner with the Office of Violence Prevention. We are continuing to work through different options. So there was the opportunity through the Long Beach Justice Lab raid that where we had, um, we had a mental health provider who was located in the jail that was able to assess people while in the jail and then connect them to services as they were, as they were leaving. We continue to look at different opportunities to fund that capacity. We're also implementing, um, two or three new mental health providers located within our homeless services division to be able to really engage and look at different opportunities for, um, violence prevention in those spaces as well. Just the more that we can support healthy lifestyle, the less likely that will be that they would engage otherwise. Speaker 3: Yeah. Councilwoman. Speaker 4: 5 minutes. Speaker 3: Okay. My one quick question. Do we still have a clinician in the jail? Speaker 8: We're not currently have a clinician until that program has ended. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. And I want to thank Chief Luna and Director Collopy for the presentation. I really appreciate the, you know, the collaborative. As far as the intersection of how we talk about crime and violence and how they're connected to the social and economic disparities and conditions, you know, somebody who's done violence prevention work, it's really significant for me to see this step in this direction. And I also appreciate the data that's presented by Chief Luna. It's really important to see, even within the short term amount of time, that the pilot program around the Neighborhood Walk program that started that, we're able to get these data that helps just demonstrate to us not just for , you know, how it's been going. And I look forward to asking more questions as this will be an agenda item for our public safety committee and to talk about other community policing practices as well. You know, and I also want to make sure to address that I think that this is a right the right the right step , the step in the right direction around how we're doing approaching violence and crime in a comprehensive way. I think that with the discussion around how social and economic factors play a role in how we do do violence and crime prevention, particularly in areas of high crime, as demonstrated with such as the Washington neighborhood and how they're really places that are positioned for these, you know, hopefully economic empowerment zone where we really think about not just social programs but also economic programs as well, that can help ensure that we're providing a really holistic approach to developing and supporting individuals and their families to break the cycle of poverty and transition into a place and gain ability and security. And my question is for Ms.. Director Collopy is a lot of people always say, especially in the funding world, you know, prevention and intervention programs, they just take a really long time. It's a long term approach. But really I think that there are short term metrics and evaluation that is done to demonstrate that it does work. I'm wondering if you could share a little bit about what those metrics are within the program you share on short term, mid-term and long term to demonstrate that they do work and they're not necessarily long term strategies that they do have short term outcomes. Speaker 8: Woman. I'm going to, um, I'm going to have you have on a Lopez who is leading those efforts speak to the evaluation conversations. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman, for that great question. One of the things that we're doing as part of the violence prevention effort is really to focus in on the collective impact approach. And part of that is not only designing specific goals that we're going to track, but agreed to as a collective body. What are those data metrics now in the short term, the things that we could look at in terms of social cohesion, cohesiveness, engagement, immediate results, looking at people accessing services, I think in the long run we're really looking at that change over time and economic stability, family reunification, reduction in violence. So we are looking at what that metrics will look like. We are trying to also coordinate this with the data equity working team that the city has in place under the racial reconciliation framework. Great. I love I love to hear more about it and see more. Are these metrics as somebody with a research background, this is stuff that I actually love to read at night about and think about. I know as big as that sound, I think about prevention, intervention all the time and how do we measure it and how do we demonstrate that it does work? Because it does. And I believe that we can demonstrate. So thank you so much. Thank you. Speaker 0: I want to I want to get clarification on a question that Councilman Price asked, because I was surprised at the answer, and I'm not sure that that the answer was correct or maybe needs clarification. Mr. MODICA Can you clarify the clinician question? Because I know there were some changes around code, but that program is still a part of the city and will continue. Isn't that right or am I wrong? Speaker 4: Yes. And I'd like to have the chief talk a little bit about the operational model. We did have some changes due to COVID. Speaker 7: Mr. Mayor, members of the city council. If I understood the question. Right. If we're talking about mental health one, if we're talking about our mental evaluation teams, they're still out there working with the L.A. County clinicians. If we're talking about our contract with the guidance center, where we have a clinician in our jail that did stop temporarily during COVID, obviously, jail operations were heavily impacted during that time. But the contracts back on and that individual is back with us and integrating to everything that we're doing. I hope that does answer the question. Speaker 0: But no, I think that actually answers the question. And I just want to just re-emphasize just as the when I heard Councilman Price ask that question, I just was really that's a really important program. It's one that I've been really I've followed. And, you know, I know a lot of us were involved in getting that program started there at the jail, and I'm really grateful it's still there. And let's just work to make sure that that program continues. I think it's really it's really, really critical. So thank you. And thank you to Councilman Price for for asking about it. Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you. And I really appreciate this discussion here tonight. I mean, obviously, it's very, very important, the number of slides I have notes on here, and I'll try to do my best to stay within the 5 minutes. But Chief Luna outlined a historical violent crime stat illustrated. What I think many of us, particularly those of us who were around in the eighties and early nineties actually already know, is that we have a much safer city than we were 30 years ago today. Obviously, we we want to be safer and we want to reduce any violent crime in our city. And I think as a council member, Sorrell said, I think we are headed in the right direction with this approach, particularly a collaborative approach. I'd love to see collaborations with our departments, you know, breaking down the silos and and structural barriers. This is this is this is really encouraging. The the data is very, very important. And, you know, one of these issues that I have been, you know, kind of harping on and focusing on for for several years now is the prohibited possessors and getting guns out of the hands of, you know, those who are higher risk to committing crimes with those guns. Right. Those individuals we know. And and it's clearly clear that the focus there is yielding high percentage results for us. Right. And so we as a council need to continue to to try to find and focus on efforts like this. In my opinion, she going to mention gun sales being up 64% nationally. Right. And that doesn't surprise me. I mean, over the last year, you know, people a year ago probably felt like, you know, that the world was about to end or, you know, they felt less secure. And we saw people lined up, you know, buying ammunition and guns, you know, everywhere. But what it doesn't account for is the illegal guns trade and the and the ghost guns that are out there in the market, the market that we don't even know about, you know, we can't quantify. So this is this is a pretty, pretty interesting piece of data. And for me, what I heard here was a lot of good information. But I think there's a there's a there's a tie or correlation there that we can't ignore. I'm not sure I would love to get more data on this because I want to know what the causes of the violence really are, right? Where to root and what's causing the violence. Is it is it economics? Is it the illicit market? You know, it's a neighborhood beat geographics. I think these are things that we need to also explore. Go back to slide number nine in the chief's report where he actually gave us an example of a five time repeated prohibited firearm offender. Right. And that the consistency was that this individual had been, you know, arrested five times with on gun crimes. Right. But if you look at the arrest, most of those arrests were also related to drugs. Right. In substance for sales. Right. And so I think there there's a correlation there that we can't ignore. And when we related to our public health approach to violent violence prevention, I think one piece of that plan that I'd like to see us focus a little bit more on is how we deal with that challenge of drug abuse in our city, how we how we as a city, and what can we do to strategically look at, you know, cleaning people up and discouraging such use? I think that that really is a is a root common denominator with so much of our violent crime. We really can't ignore that. And so, you know, and I'm not talking about going back to the old practices of, you know, the war on drugs that, you know, don't work. I'm talking about, you know, innovative strategic approaches and obviously recognize that this is a human experience and part of it. I had several other comments, but my colleagues, I think, really addressed many of them. Like I said, I really appreciate the discussion here on this very, very important item. I think we are headed in the right direction and we need to continue, you know, utilizing data, but also testing and, you know, our our public health approach to violence prevention. And so those are my comments. I appreciate the presentation this evening. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman. Then there's. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, everyone, for all those wonderful comments, too, and suggestions and thoughtfulness. I think that it's very important that we unite together. One of the things that that my residents keep asking is, you know, how early release has affected our violent crime status. And maybe, Chief, you can answer that. I know that in my check ins, some of my residents have asked if we can find out how many of those early release persons do we have in our district. Is that something that we can that we can share, that we have knowledge of also, you know, because there's been so many regulations that have changed during COVID. Early, early releases being one of them. I know that that's one of the concerns that my residents have, is to see if that has has influenced the high crime or the shootings that have happened in my district. Speaker 4: A. Speaker 7: Yes, ma'am. Councilwoman Cindy has in regards to early release. I want to preface this with saying that we as a police department, for me as your chief, I don't believe in in putting people in prison for minor offenses. I think we've been there, done that. I think the proof is there that that doesn't always work. So when we transition over to early releases, if people are being released early on, good behavior and then there's a way for them to come out and transition, that's great. What we're focused on and a lot of the statistics that I talked about were individuals who are getting out immediately, finding a way to possess a firearm and victimizing members of our community. Those are the ones that we're definitely focused on. And from an early release perspective, we know there's more early releases as a result of COVID. We've been trying to pin down numbers. We could work to try and get more specific numbers about where people are going once they're released. It is extremely difficult to track. A lot of the systems in the county and in the state are very antiquated and a lot of people, when they're released from prison and or jail, will usually give you an address that they never go to. A lot of them will say they're transient and a lot of them, unfortunately, are within our homeless population. So there is a challenge. There doesn't mean that we can't roll up our sleeves, but it it would be a hand search and it would be challenging. But it's a very good question and a significant concern that we have at the police department. Thank you for the question. Speaker 3: Thank you, Chief, for answering that. I also wanted to say that I totally do appreciate the reentry program that our health department has. I think that that's very important for those that, you know, are getting released early because of good behavior or those that have gone to jail. When they were 16, 17, and are now, you know, ten years later. And they they did you know, they changed their ways and they need help in in, you know, reshaping their lives. I think that that's very important that we have those kind of programs in place. So I appreciate that. And thank you chiefly for answering that. Speaker 0: Councilman Marco. Speaker 3: Thank you. My questions were a lot along the lines of Councilman's and De Haas. I was listening to a report related to a lot of the violent crime and its correlation with. The gang population. And even though that gang might not be prevalent in a particular city, they may have correlated with or what you have. And while they were in jail and I was hoping to get Chief Luna's perspective on what programs or what solution we could put in place if, in fact, one, if, in fact, he believed that to be partially true or completely true. And what could we do? I know we talk a lot about job programs and a lot of. Programs that are longer term. And we talk about upstream and downstream. What about like. Today is the day you're getting released. What can we provide you in terms of resources to put you on that bridge? Speaker 7: Councilmember Mongo from. I think that may be a better question for Director Colby in regards to reentry programs because her department specializes in that area. But to answer your your initial question about gangs. When I look at the, the shootings that we have, um, based on our statistics, it looks like about 30 to. Just under 33% of our shootings appear to be gang related. So that would mean that, what, 67% are not. So that is is all over the board between just car to car shootings, people who get angry for whatever reason. And there's there's a lot of different disputes and things of that nature. And I think when you start looking at some of the challenges that we face historically with with violence, it's some of the more simple things are people, individuals that are unable to have a conversation without resorting to violence, an argument in today's environment. And somebody reaches for a gun. But if if Kelly can help me out with the the reentry. Speaker 3: Poll, I appreciate the statistic, because the statistic I heard from another city was significantly higher percentage. And that so that because that was going to lead me to my next question, which was do you think there would be a direct impact if we instituted the violent crime gang unit? But it sounds like. 33% is still an important percent. Speaker 7: It absolutely is. I mean, if we can reduce our numbers by 33%, that would be great. But I know that the question comes up about the the gang unit. We still have a gang unit. We don't have a gang filled unit. But as you know, because you've been the, the, the budget oversight person for us prior to Council member Austin, it's a matter of resources and figuring out where they go. And those are reductions that we had to make in order to make our budget. So and I've said this in front of this council in community, I'm not going to cry about what I don't have. I'm going to do the best I can with what I've got. And that's what I've shown tonight with this coordinated response team and this neighborhood watch program. And I say I've got to Assistant Chief he Bish. He's kind of the the architect of all that. And he's here to answer any questions from any of you regarding any of those two pilot programs. But got to make do with what you have and try and make a difference with it. Thank you. Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate what your officers are doing with what they have. And I also know that there's been some great results in some of our programs. I know Councilman Zendejas has connectivity to the Reentry Integration and Employment Services Program in her district, and we may need more programs like that across our city to make sure that we're building those bridges everywhere. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank Chief Luna and Director Collopy for their presentations. I know when council put this item forward, we saw that. Speaker 1: There was an uptick in crime. Speaker 3: And we wanted to make sure that that was being addressed and that we were doing everything that we could do to make sure that our city was safer. I know that that crime has gone up, you know, over the last year and that many of our residents did not feel safe and they don't feel safe walking around , taking their kids to school. Speaker 1: And just being in the neighborhood. And I've heard. Speaker 3: From a lot of them, and I know that we weren't alone as a city, that we're experiencing the uptick in crime. But the numbers look good. It looks like that is decreasing. And I just want to thank your officers and I want to thank the command staff for all the hard work that I know that you guys are doing and women out there every single day. I also know it to. Speaker 1: Be true that it's important. Speaker 3: To prevent crime before it even starts. And getting all those guns off the streets were important. So I was happy to see that great work. I'm also the the CRT team was very effective. A 36% decrease in citywide shootings is significant. So I was I was happy to see that. And also, I want to say, you know. Speaker 1: As a as a former. Speaker 3: Police officer, I understand the importance of our community relations division. I know how important that was to our community. And it was a great tool for preventing crime. And and I know that resources were tough. I also, you know, previously worked the game unit. And I, I know that we did a lot of good work out there, too. Speaker 1: During the days and in preventing crime. Speaker 3: And unfortunately, I know that budgetary, budgetary reasons, those those those programs have been cut. But I definitely one of the things I love about having the boots on the ground and getting out in the community, and I know your officers loved doing that, too. So devoting those resources to community policing, I think is going to be instrumental not only just in preventing crime, but also just having a good relationship between our police department and our community. And one of the things that I just want to make sure that I understand is that future funding for things like community policing or your of the CRT teams. And and I also want to understand what strategies and how these this funding will be allocated. So I know that we will hear back from you in from city management. So I look forward to understanding more of that. But again, thank you for the presentation. And I just really also deeply appreciate all of my colleagues comments on these issues, too. Thank you. Speaker 0: Okay. Let me go back up to Canterbury Ringa. Then then back to Vice Mayor Richardson and then we'll circle again to Councilman Diaz. And I haven't said anything yet and then I'll go after councilman's in the house. Speaker 2: Mayor Actually, may I put that up? But too, I didn't hear a motion to support the. Speaker 0: Motion to grant the report. Richardson. Thank you. Just a couple of things. There was a question earlier about engagement with the county. We made a motion a while back to go explore Measure J. I spoke with some folks at the county about Measure J, and I know we're not quite there yet, but the intent of Measure J was a budget allocation of noncommittal 25% of uncommitted funds in the county would be redirected into opportunities, violence prevention, youth opportunity, all of those things. And they're beginning the process of shaping the uses of the funds now. And so I want to ask a question of Kelly. Have we gotten to the table and we joined the committees and gotten to the table and begin engaging with the county around Measure J. Speaker 8: Yes, we do have health department staff who are participating in the conversations at the county level around Measure J. They have a number of different committees and we have folks participating in it. Speaker 0: Fantastic and how we have we forecast it when we think M.J. will be available. Speaker 8: Now. We don't have any insight into that yet. Speaker 0: Okay. Because that's going to be a big opportunity. While paying for the county's funding as the second largest city in the county, we should be paying attention to measure day because it's going to be an opportunity for us to continue to invest in a lot of the strategies we talked about today. The other thing I would say is that, you know, across across the nation, the increase in crime has been directly, directly attributed to the pandemic. And there's data that shows that the economic crisis related to the pandemic. And so I'd like to just understand, as we begin the process of reopening and obviously safely reopening, we have to be thinking about where how do we activate those high crime spaces as we reopen? When we came up with Be Safe a few years back, it was that same premise. It was based on summer night lights, and it was, how do we activate the parks in these communities to make them safe? And as we think about where the crime is taking place, we have to connect that to our recovery strategy. It just makes sense. So so I'd love to know what specific strategy moving forward we're doing in the parks, in the business corridors, in the areas that have been hardest hit, particularly over the past year during the pandemic , as we move forward, as we recover from it. But great feedback from everyone. Thank you council members and house as well for your motion and I'm happy to support this. Thanks. Cats are super not gonna. All right. Thank you. Great presentations, great commentary. Thank you for that. I wanted to provide a response on a topic that was brought up during public comment, and that is the START program at Community Hospital. And what people may not realize is that when the former operator left community hospital. The Sexual Assault Response team left at the same time, and I've said this publicly before, but we actually have three new council members since I said it originally, I believe it's an appropriate topic for April. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but I made a commitment to the former operator of the program at Community Hospital that I would do everything in my power to bring that program back. And I've been consistent on this message from day one that that was a vital program and it needs to be brought back. So as our emergency room comes back online, I'll be working harder on that. And from the words that are used tonight, Councilwoman Pryce brought up victims, I think, trauma informed. Well, that's right. In the wheelhouse. So the sexual assault response team. So I'm happy to continue supporting that. And to Chief Luna, thank you very much for the statistics on on gang related gun violence. 67% is not in in the presence of politicians. That's called a supermajority. But I might frame it that if anyone suggests that every single shooting is gang related, that person would be wrong two thirds of the time. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Van de Haas. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you, Councilmember Super now for saying that again. And I think it's very important for for us to know that specific statistic. I personally thought it was reverse. And so I really, really appreciate that statistic. And it gives me it gives me hope going forward. I think that that's very important. One of the things that I also wanted to ask, Chief, that my my district usually, you know, has been talking about why are we not bringing, you know, the gang unit back? And and one of the things I keep telling them also is, you know, funding we don't have funding for that. But one of the things that I would like to ask is, if you are your staff can please, you know, describe or define the difference between a gang unit and a gang unit. A gang field unit. Speaker 7: Yes, Councilmember. And there has. So our gang enforcement section, which is comprised of a group of detectives, investigate any and all gang crime. There are some overlaps, for example, with our homicide detail and others. But if it's related to a gang incident, that gang investigative unit will work on that project. When we had a gang filled team, they were detectives, but they were assigned to the field to strictly enforce, primarily to gather intelligence and information and then coordinate with other resources within the department. When that went away, the gang enforcement team in the field went away. We didn't stop doing that work. What happened is each patrol division has a directed enforcement team, and that team is responsible for counsel complaints. For example, a commander goes to a community meeting. It's part of listening to the community. What are the challenges? And typically they're the ones handling those challenges for all of your constituents. They work on narcotic complaints. They work on neighborhood problems. There's a whole list of things they do. They're also primarily responsible. Even now, in the last couple of days, as we were preparing for worst case scenario for potential civil unrest. There are primary unit that does that. They are now part of this coordinated response team. We have pulled them from those areas so they can focus on this. And there's actually a couple of gang detectives who are also assigned to this team to make sure that if there's any gang related incidences, they're in the middle of it , providing the right information to the right people. So we get the right people off the street who are committing violence around the city. And that's probably the quickest summary I can give you. But we can definitely spend more time in the future talking about that. Thank you for the question. Speaker 3: Thank you, Chief Luna. And I just wanted to clarify that for the residents. I know some of the residents advocate for gang unit. Some of the residents advocate against a gang unit. I'm not completely convinced that we need a game unit. I think that, you know, we need to focus on prevention and we need to focus on, you know, the crimes that are being out there right now. I'm question for Kelly. Director Colby, I know that we do have one of the things in my district that we do have is we have central chat that also offers reentry programs. And I wanted to share that with everyone to I'm very glad that they do. One of the things that I was wondering is that the programs that were are offered through our health department. Are they offered like at our locations? I know that they might be offered at the Health Department, but I know that the Health Department is kind of like on the opposite side of where my district is. So I was wondering how those programs are are dispersed throughout the city and where they're most needed. Speaker 8: Yes, Councilman. So the health department actually has sites all around the city. Most of the programs so such as the new reentry program and others. Some of that is funding to community based organizations to provide those funds, you know, to provide those services directly within the community. In other cases, you may be located at. You know, we're looking at the different sites for the the Center for Families and Youth in the north Long Beach, though it will be renamed, is is a site where we'll be offering a lot of youth programing and other. But then we also have the in central Long Beach in the MLK Park. There are also opportunities for additional programing there. So there are multiple sites where we can offer programing or we work very closely with community based organizations located in the community to be able to provide those services. Speaker 3: Thank you, Director. Speaker 0: Thank you very much. I think that concludes the council questions and comments. I'm just going to make some a few comments and then we'll go to the receiving part of the study session. I want to just broadly say that a couple of things. I think first is I want to bring us back to kind of the moment that we're in. And I think that it's been said it was said a few times tonight. We have to view our work around violence prevention as part of our broader economic recovery, around our recovery in general as a as a community. I'm coming out of the pandemic, and I think that's something that's important for us to recognize, is what you're seeing right now across the country is you are seeing some pretty significant challenges around violent crime happening in cities across America. And I think the chief will will confirm that almost every city in the U.S., every major urban city, has seen an increase in crime during COVID 19. And it's easy to to to understand why and I'm quoting some of this from our own chief and from what I've read in some other studies as well. And you have, of course, oftentimes kids out of school and high unemployment and a loss of jobs creation conditions can be created that make it more difficult to ensure that there is a safe community. And of course, that's not the only reason, but the pandemic has certainly made things much more difficult. So part of our recovery, when we look at our recovery for our community's health, when we're looking at recovery around jobs in the economy, community safety is also a part of our recovery. It has to be centered around what we're doing, which is a big reason why I believe the council also set aside money from the Recovery Act specific to violence prevention. So we have basketball programs coming back. We have part programs like the Be Safe programs in our neighborhoods coming back. We're focused on ensuring that the community has access to strong health programs. So that is all on on its way. And I'm very grateful for that. So, you know, my message to folks I talked to is this is part of our recovery in this conversation, I think is a big part of that. I also think it's important to note that whenever we talk about a crime, whether it's violent crime, which we've seen has gone up, particularly in this last year, or whether we talk around, talk around, talk about homicides or violent crime in general, we have to put it within historical context. Just comparing one month to one month or even one year to one year doesn't give us enough data to understand what's hap what the trends are over the course of the last five , ten, 20 and 50 years. And so our challenge today is real, and every single person affected is kind of for us. I know it's painful and we want to see everyone completely safe. I'm also grateful that the crime rate of the nineties, of the eighties, of the 2000 and all of those years, that that is also in our past and that we have less homicides and less violent crime than we've had. And so that's an important part, I think, of this conversation as well, as well as that historical context. And I'll say lastly, which I think is an important piece, is we have to recognize where we're also living right now in the middle of a gun epidemic. And what is happening right now with the availability of guns to the general public is disgraceful in our country. And we know that there have been little to no movement in the in the Congress some in our state. But but but but restrained because of of federal federal measures around what we can do around gun safety legislation. Just simple measures, around background checks and around ensuring that ghost guns are taken off off the streets, have fallen to the wayside in that congressional debate. And so we have to be very cognizant as a body that our police officers are confiscating more and more guns. Every few months off the street. So we're talking more guns today than we did a year ago. And we continue to look more and more guns because there are more guns today in this country. Then there's also we're many years ago. So we have a challenge around access to guns, and that's a piece of it. That's also, again, not the whole solution, but it's one that I'm really hopeful that this country can can address as well. I want to I want to think we talked there was also some discussion and I saw some and I think call up and direct call this presentation around upstream and downstream. I appreciate the programs within the health department that do that work, but we also should be thinking broader. It is the health department, but about prevention. It's not just the Health Department's job. It's it's as we all know, it's embedded in the work that our library system does. It's embedded in the work our parks system does. It's happening at our schools at Long Beach Unified. It's access to community college education. And so the work around preventative prevention, around violence is not only solely limited, of course, to the work that's going on in the health department. Under the police department, it's really a community wide effort within organizations and within. But I personally believe that our education institutions have by far the biggest opportunity to make impacts as it relates to community safety. So those are our partners and they're involved in this work with us, and I want to recognize the work that they do also every single day. Thank you, Chief, with a presentation. Thank you, Miss Coffey, for the presentation. And with that, we'll call a roll call vote to receive and file a report. Speaker 1: District one. I district to you. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 0: All right. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District six. I. District seven. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: District nine. I know she carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to conduct a study session to receive and file a presentation on Strategies for Addressing Violent Crime.

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Item 12, please. Speaker 1: Report from Economic Development Recommendation Execute the First Amendment to joint application and indemnification agreement with Central Asia and increase appropriations in the General Fund group by 292,450 to facilitate the transfer of ownership of 1852 1862. Atlantic Avenue District six. Speaker 0: A motion mechanism in SA. A second to Ranga. Why don't we go to public comment? Speaker 4: Our first speaker for item 12 is Edith Price. Edith Perez. Our next speaker is Jennifer Maguire. Speaker 6: Good afternoon. Medical student and members of the City Council. My name is Jennifer Gary. I live in the First District. I work as a community health volunteer for Central China for over ten years, specializing in helping families and essential workers with health, education, public safety and emergency services. As a 30 year resident and professional grow my daughter and mine, which I am fully I fully support, I am proud that will help build and sustain community based workforce and business owners in Long Beach. Thank you. Speaker 4: Think your next speaker is Jessica Quintana. Jessica Quintana. Our next speaker is Manuela Almaguer. Speaker 3: Good evening, Mary Garcia and members of the city council. My name is and all of my guests. I live in the sixth district. I work as a youth reentry. Speaker 1: Workforce. Speaker 3: Program coordinator for. Speaker 1: Central Trial back. Speaker 3: In 2014 and to get an opportunity to be employed as a youth intern at the age of 16. I then continued my education at Cal State Long Beach. Speaker 1: Receiving my bachelor's in. Speaker 6: Social and social work. Speaker 1: In. Speaker 3: 2019. And my job development and academic success has been attributed to an. Speaker 6: Internship and services through workforce things like temperature. Speaker 3: And with that, I try to also support. Speaker 1: The items. Speaker 3: That will help. Speaker 6: Build and. Speaker 3: Sustain a community based workforce and business. Speaker 4: I think your next speaker is Robert Castillo. Speaker 6: Good afternoon, Mayor Garcia and members of the City Council. My name is Robert Castillo. I live in the seventh district. I work as a program manager for Central China for over five years, specializing in adult and youth entry integration and employment training services, helping over 700 justice involved men and women. I currently manage the Adult Reentry Program funded by the California Board of State and Corrections Community and also by Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn. As a resident, a professional service provider in Long Beach, I'm in full support of item 12 that will build and sustain a community based, community based workforce and business center. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Edith Perez. Speaker 6: Good evening. Speaker 3: Mayor. Members of the City Council. Speaker 6: My name is Edith Perez. I live in the seventh district. I work as a reentry case manager for Central Asia in a program called Wages 19, funded by the Department of Labor. I was employed as a summer youth ambassador for Long Beach, Be Safe program, etc.. Sorry, Silverado Park back in 2014. In 2019, I graduated from Lombard City College with my associate's degree in Business Administration. As a resident and professional youth advocate in Long Beach, I am fully support of the Item 19 that will help build and sustain a community based workforce and business center in Long Beach. Thank you. Speaker 4: Think your next speaker is Jessica Quintana. Jessica Quintana. Presets. Star six Turn Mute. Jessica Quintana. That concludes the conference item. Speaker 0: Hey, Councilwoman. Sara. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. I just want to share that, you know, Senator has a long standing, important and well-respected organization in Long Beach and has provided a variety of services that range from immigration, workforce development, reentry programing, as you heard from some of our many of several of the people who provided comments. And this kind of really speaks to just our previous item when we talked about violence prevention is this is the organization doing prevention and intervention work to ensure that we break the cycle of violence as well as poverty. So I think that they're bringing important needed business and workforce development center to the central area that will serve all residents. And I want to ask my colleagues for your support on this item. Speaker 0: Thank you. There is a second by Councilmember Ringa, as a reminder. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I want graduate center Cha. It's an opportunity here to find a permanent home that they've been searching for, for so many years. And this is well deserved. Very glad and happy to support them through the hardest working nonprofit in Long Beach. Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you and come council America Sunday has. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. This is a bittersweet moment for me. I'm so happy for Central Park getting their new headquarters, but I'm also sad that they're leaving our first district. But the good thing is that even besides the fact that I may distinguish, you know, on district lines, my my residents don't. So they will still be able to benefit from from their services and continue being being involved with central charm. I know that they will that Central Cha will continue to be invaluable to our community as a partner. And I really appreciate them. And they are one of the biggest, if not the biggest Latino community serving nonprofit organization in our city. And they have been, you know, serving our community for many, many, many years. They have also stepped up to the plate in some really enormous ways during COVID and to help to still distribute food, to help with other resources , and to making sure that our hardest to reach community is vaccinated and they work tirelessly to create a better future for our residents. And I am so, so proud of the work that they do. And I just want to say congratulations on on their new location. I'd be remiss in not taking the opportunity to highlight this amazing essential work and just express my gratitude to Jessica, the executive director. I know we were having technical difficulties, but day in and day out, she truly is a champion for our community, especially our Latino community. And as always, feeling from the bottom of her heart and really working from her heart to be able to provide for all of our residents citywide. So a big thanks to Jessica and to the board of Central Short for all the work that they've been doing across the city. It's just been incredible and I'm so happy for them and I know that I leave them in good hands with councilmember and sorrows. Best of luck. Speaker 0: Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to chime in and just congratulate all who were involved. This is impressive. Back when the in the days of redevelopment, the city would invest in public buildings, public facilities to community based organizations. And, you know, that hasn't taken place in a long time, not just in Long Beach, but in many cities. And it's a testament to Jessica's leadership that to remain focused and have that tenacity to say, hey, I want to make this project happen, but also to our team in the economic development that they figured out a way to make this to make this work. And the benefit will be the community center lobbies community to have a center that can focus comprehensively on the needs of the community from food, workforce services, intervention, I mean, everything. And so that's that's really incredible to know what was able to be done without the significant investment redevelopment style investment . And so once this is done, let's continue to be creative, figure out ways to make it actually work to many areas of town that don't have basic amenities or resources. Workforce centers not reliable on the list of different things that need to happen as a basic common denominator within our communities. And I just want to take a moment to say congratulations to Centro Chocolate, congratulations to all of its area councilmembers, councilmember sorrow and also Councilmember today, Councilmember Durango. This is this is fantastic work. And I look forward to thank. Thank you. And please go ahead, members, and cast your votes. And of course, a very supportive. So we're very excited for a person that's going to cast our votes. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 3: I'M. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District four. District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: District nine? Speaker 0: Yes. Speaker 1: Ocean carries. Speaker 0: Madam Clerk, District four was an eye. Speaker 1: Confirm. Thank you.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute the First Amendment to Joint Application and Indemnification Agreement No. 35623 with Centro C.H.A., Inc.; and Increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Economic Development Department by $292,450, offset by funds available, to facilitate the transfer of ownership of 1850-1862 Atlantic Avenue (Subject Property) from the Refuse and Recycling Fund Group in the Public Works Department to the General Fund Group in the Economic Development Department. (District 6)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Item 11. Speaker 1: Communication from Councilwoman Mongeau, Councilwoman Zendejas Councilmember Your Urunga recommendation directs city manager to review and report back within 90 days on parks, roadway and parking lot maintenance. Speaker 0: Councilwoman. Speaker 3: Thank you. I was trying to text. Motion to the Q. Thank you for everyone who has contributed to this item. Our community has really reached out related to some challenges that we have found in understanding how. Potholes that are not on residential and commercial corridors, residential streets, commercial corridors or the other types of public streets that we have actually get filled. We've been working on a particular pothole for months, and sometimes these potholes get reported through the garbage out hundreds of times and still no resolution. And that's just not acceptable. I know that interior roads and our park facilities and our our parking lots often have some of the worst potholes in the city. And while I'm not looking to pull resources from one area to another, I think it's important for there to be a united method in which people can communicate with the city about a pothole and the need to repair it. Because what's happening is a pothole reported at a small size left unrepaired for months on end, actually grows to a size where the cost of repairing that pothole has grown exponentially. So we really need to figure out how to pull together a united pothole program. I think that's kind of the theme of my two items tonight, which is understanding that within our city we do a lot of great things, but sometimes they're broken up into different departments and this is one of those times. And so I'd like the city manager to look at that and come back and. He's already committed to filling the pothole issue that we have. That's been an ongoing issue, but that issues like this should not be bounced around from public works to Parks and Rec for months on end, with residents feeling totally disenfranchized and frustrated. So I appreciate everyone's support on this important item. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilmember Zendejas. Speaker 3: I just wanted to say thank you to Councilmember Mongo for bringing this item forward, and I just wanted to second her motion. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilmember Ringo. Speaker 4: Thank you for bringing this forward. Very important topic for. Speaker 0: All of us. Thank you. Thank you. Roll call vote, please. There's no public comments. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 3: District I. Speaker 1: District two. I'm District three. District four. District four. District five. Speaker 3: Eye and super unable to attend unmute his sister. Speaker 0: Finally admitted super surprising I. Speaker 1: Am very hands up thank you confirmed district. Speaker 3: Said she could also vote by thumbs up. I. Speaker 1: District seven. By District eight. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 0: Thumbs up. Speaker 1: Ocean carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with all appropriate departments to review and report back within 90 days parks roadway and parking lot maintenance and bring back to Council what proposals are necessary to streamline and fund such maintenance on an equal basis with our non-park roadways and parking lots.

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Speaker 1: Ocean carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. Item 13, please. Speaker 1: Report from Financial Management Recommendation to approve the fiscal year 2021 second Departmental and Fund Budget Appropriation Adjustments Citywide. Speaker 0: I get a motion in a second, please. Motion by customary ranga second by Councilmember Austin. There is no public comment. We'll call the. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District to the district two i. District three. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 3: Madam Clerk, did you get me? I. Speaker 1: Yes. Council District three. I got you confirmed. Council District four as and I as well. Council District five. By Council District six. I Council District seven. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Council. District eight. High Council. District nine.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to approve the Fiscal Year 2021 second departmental and fund budget appropriation adjustments in accordance with existing City Council policy. (Citywide)

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Speaker 1: District eight. District nine. No motion carries. Speaker 0: Next is at a meeting. Speaker 1: Report from Development Services recommendation to declare ordinance amending the use district map by amending portions of parts 15 and 22 from light industrial to commercial storage, red and adapted as Red District eight. Speaker 0: No public comment. Can I get a motion, sir? Mr. Mayor. It must be stopped. Speaker 4: Yes, we do have public comment for this item. Speaker 0: It's not on my list. Okay, sure. Let's do it. Speaker 4: We have Linette Frenzy. Linet friends. That concludes the public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Of emotion by Council member Austin. Can I have a second, please? Second pick, Councilwoman Price Roll Call. Speaker 1: District one. I'm in district two. I'm District three. I'm District four. Speaker 0: All right. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 6: District excuse me. Speaker 1: District five, I. I. District seven. Speaker 0: No. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 1: District nine. Ocean carries. Speaker 0: I don't know. Speaker 3: I'm sorry. I should have I recuse myself on that item. So I don't think I should be voting on it. Sorry. Speaker 4: There, there. We need to then have a motion to reconsider the item, which will take a roll call vote. And then we can have a second vote on the item with Council District six recusing. Speaker 3: Motion to reconsider. Speaker 0: In. Okay. Let's go and do a vote on the motion to reconsider, please. Speaker 1: District one. All right. District two. Speaker 3: I think. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 3: Five. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 0: By. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 0: All right. Speaker 4: Thank you. Now, the mayor, the motion would now be back on the floor as first presented. Speaker 0: Okay. And we have a we have Councilwoman Sara recusing herself on the item. That's correct. Speaker 1: Do we need an emotional and seconder? Speaker 0: I have a motion to make a motion by Councilmember Offset and have a second budget. Speaker 3: Mr. Mayor. Yes, Mr. Mayor. I'm sorry to interrupt, but Mr. City Attorney, because this is a virtual meeting which you have to close out of the meeting. Plug back in is that we were in the room. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 4: That would be the best thing. I don't have it in front of me, but we. That's how she should step away. Absolutely. Speaker 3: Thank you for the clarification, councilman practice for asking someone to have to do the vote again. I know. I know. Thank you. Let me log out. Speaker 0: There's emotion and there's emotion across them. Second by. Speaker 1: I'm sorry. The second is by. Speaker 0: We don't have a second place. Second Vice Mayor Richardson, local. Speaker 1: Council District one. Speaker 0: That's a different. Speaker 3: One. I mean. Speaker 1: Council District two. I council district three. I. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 3: Like. Mark. I'm going to. Speaker 1: I thank you. Council. District four. Speaker 0: High. Speaker 1: Council. District five Council. Speaker 3: High. Speaker 1: Council. District seven. Speaker 0: No. Speaker 1: Council District eight and. Speaker 2: High. Speaker 1: Council District nine. No motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. And Madam Court, do we do we have general public comment also open public comment before we finish the rest of the agenda? Speaker 1: Yes. Speaker 0: Okay. It's going to do that.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Use District Map of the City of Long Beach as said Map has been established and amended by amending portions of Parts 15 and 22 of said Map from Light Industrial (IL) to Commercial Storage (CS), read and adopted as read. (District 8)

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Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. We'll going now to item 19. Speaker 1: Please report from Public Works recommendation to declare ordnance finding and determining that a credit is due against the transportation improvement fee applicable to the Shoreline Gateway Project located at 777 East Ocean Boulevard, and to execute an agreement in connection with the project read and adopted as Read District two. Speaker 0: Can I get a move on in a second, please? Most of my cameraman, Alan, going to get a second. Second by Councilmember Austin. I don't think there are any public comment on this. Speaker 1: No. Speaker 0: Okay. Let's go ahead and do a vote, please. Speaker 1: District one. This time. Thank you. District two. District two. District three. I District four. I. District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District six, district i, district seven. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District eight. All right. District nine. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. Moving on to new business. We start with customer supernova. Got it. Yeah. Thank you. I just took that long to unmute. I'd like to close tonight's meeting in recognition of the 70th anniversary of the opening of Fire Station 17 on April 21st, 1951, to the Long Beach Fire Department and all the crews who worked

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance finding and determining that a credit is due against the Transportation Improvement Fee applicable to the Shoreline Gateway project located at 777 East Ocean Boulevard; and authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement regarding credit for transportation improvements made in connection with the Shoreline Gateway project, read and adopted as read. (District 2)

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Speaker 2: Thank you for that. And and we didn't have consent. Okay. The proper comment, we're moving on. Now, that concludes that concludes the consent calendar. We first thing on the agenda is our hearing. So we're going to begin with our our hearing. I know it's a it is a lengthy hearing, and we do have a multiple appellants. And so I want to after the hearing is read by the court, you're going to want to go over the procedure for the hearing. So please, Madam Court. Speaker 0: Report from Development Services recommendation to receive supporting documentation under the record, conclude the public hearing and consider the third party appeals. Adopt a resolution approving the Pacific Place Project at 3701 Pacific Place. Declare ordinance approving zone change on four lots at 3701 Pacific Place. Read the first time and lead over the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading and uphold the Planning Commission's approval for the construction and operation of the project at 3701 Pacific Place, District eight. There is an oath for this hearing. Speaker 1: Mr. Mayor, if I may recuse myself from this agenda item, I. I am an employee with the Rivers Mountains Conservancy who has been engaged in the discussion and potential future discussion. And out of an abundance of caution, I'm recusing myself on this item. Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you, councilwoman sorrow. And with that, let me just kind of briefly go over some of the how the order the order works for for this hearing. So we'll in a minute, the clerk will swear any witnesses. We will have our staff report from the planning department. Then I will turn this over to Councilmember Austin, who may have can give questions at that point. If there's counsel has questions, we can do questions off the staff report. We can also save those towards the end. Then we'll have the applicant will make their their presentation. And the presentation should for the attorneys time here in consultation between 15 and 30 minutes for the presentation. The applicant will also be provided with time for a short rebuttal at the end. Also, after the applicant is present, then we have the appellants present. The appellants. There are five separate appellants. Each one is provided a reasonable amount of time to appeal. And so, again, the city attorney has noted that a reasonable time would be 10 minutes per appellant. And so each appellant will go for ten up to 10 minutes, of course, and we'll go through all five of those, get a total max of 50 minutes of of appellants. And then after that, we will go back to the city council. If there are questions there or counsel wants to hear public comment, first we'll go to public comment. And then after that, the applicant is able to provide the rebuttal and then we go into council deliberations. So we'll take our lead from the councilman as far as when the questions and that piece happens as the hearing starts. But of course, there's always time for questions and deliberation at the very end as well. So with that, let me begin having the court call the witnesses. Speaker 0: Thank you. And as a reminder, the council members will have their cameras on any witnesses. Please make sure your cameras are turned off. Please raise your right hand to you and each of you solemnly state that the testimony you may give in the cause now and pending before this body shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Speaker 4: I do. Speaker 2: I do. I do. I do. I do. Speaker 3: I do. Speaker 2: I do. I do. Yes, I do. I do. Okay. I think we've heard from from the witnesses that are that have been sworn in. Before I start the staff report, just as a reminder, the clerk will be keeping time. And so once the applicant begins, then the appellant's and then public comment, the clerk will be monitoring time on all of those and making sure that time is, is noted. And and then with that, I will go ahead and start with the staff report. I'll turn it over. Speaker 5: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for the staff report. We have Patricia Devendorf, her friend, Development Services, who will give the report. Speaker 6: Good evening, Mayor. Vice Mayor, Council Members. Patricia Devendorf. The item before you consists of a request for a zone change and appeals associated with a project proposed at 3701 Pacific Place. The items before are the actions being requested of counsel to today are to deny the appeals. There are five separate appeals, as was mentioned, to uphold the Planning Commission's approval of a number of actions, including a site plan, review standards, variance, conditional use permit and lot merger associated with the proposed self-storage and RV parking lot on the subject site and declare an ordinance approving the zone change from the light industrial asset. I'll zone to the commercial storage see US Zoning district at the subject location. Just a little bit about the project site. The site in question located at 3701 Pacific Place, is a nearly 14 acre site that is currently vacant. The property is currently and has long been zoned for industrial use. The 2019 General Plan Land Use Element designated the property as neo industrial. An early draft of the general plan land use element showed the subject location as having an open space general plan place type because of its former use as a driving range. Ultimately, the neo industrial place type was adopted based on the fact that the driving range use had was no longer on the site and the property has is and always has been privately owned. And because of its characteristics and its historic industrial use, the site is located or is an ice, is isolated and is bounded by railway tracks to the north and east. The four or five freeway to the south. And vacant land. And the Al River to the west. All right. I wanted to just point out also that uses to the east across their rail tracks in Del Mar Avenue include the post Cerritos Elementary School, the Los Cerritos Park and then residential neighborhood . Beyond that, due to its location bounded by the river and other infrastructure, the site has limited access. Some history about this site. The site had oil related uses for many decades, beginning from the 1920s, and it was used as an oil brine treatment facility and for oil drilling. More recently, the uses included a privately owned and operated golf driving range and golf related retail and equipment rental. The site has been vacant since 2015 and has been a source of nuisance activity since that time. Given the historic use of the site, it has significant contamination and any re-use of the site require substantial environmental remediation. Just a little bit about the project briefly. The proposed project on the site is a three story, 153 square thousand square foot storage self-storage facility consisting of over 1100 self-storage units and a 6200 square foot office space. There's also a 578 space recreational vehicle storage, lots proposed, and a approximately 2100 square foot car wash that is accessory that would be used only by the vehicles stored on the site. So the action before the council is the zone change would be, which would be a zone change from the current ial industrial zone to the proposed zoning district of commercial storage. There were a number of actions taken by the Planning Commission on December 17th of last year. The Commission held a hearing on the proposed project and approved a number of actions. Included among them was Site Plan Review, which is required for projects of greater than 50,000 square feet of nonresidential development. At the time, the Planning Commission found it was able to make the findings in support of the site plan review action, including the fact that the project was harmonious and consistent and compatible with its surroundings and the project presents the most compatible use given the previous contamination. The Planning Commission also acted on a standards variance. The standard variance would allow for height in excess of the height that is allowed by the commercial storage use. The commercial storage district allows for 28 feet. The proposed project is just under 40 feet, with some architectural elements projecting above that to about 40 to 40 3 to 44 feet. The standards variance was supported by the fact, again, that the. The site is an isolated location and is located away from residential users. The general plan allows for greater heights of 40 feet. And the industrial zone also says industrial zone allows for 60 feet. The site being irregularly shaped and having an isolated location and limited access bounded by the river and other infrastructure supported the the rationale for the standard variance, as does the limpid viable uses based on the historic use and site contamination. The Planning Commission also approved a conditional use permit, which is required for the subject to use a self-storage RV parking and car wash. The Planning Commission found that the use would not be detrimental to the surrounding community. The project site is appropriate for this lower intensity use that is deemed appropriate again due to the site's heavy contamination . The proposed zone change is consistent with the land use element new industrial place type. The new industrial place type promotes low intensity, uses next to low density residential. It encourages the resident the retention of restricted light industrial activities associated with startup businesses and creative design offices. It encourages new developments that consist of office and commercial uses. And the proposed zone change is consistent with a particular policy allows for which encourages abandoned buildings and properties to transient transition into more productive uses through new development. As previously noted, the city council must act on the appeals that are have been filed on the project. The main appeal points are shown on this slide here. They have to do with the environmental document that was prepared for the project. There is one of the appeal points was that the initial study mitigated negative declaration that was prepared for the project as insufficient and that the project required a full environmental impact report. Another point is that the project is inconsistent with the vision of the Los Angeles River Master Plan. The standard variance for building height of more than 43 feet is not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood that the proposed zone change is a smart zoning and the planning that the Planning Commission's decision was made on false information. The proposed Cerritos Neighborhood Association was in support of the project, and there was no consideration of horse trails. So these are the primary points in the end, the five appeals. In the next few slides, I'll quickly address the primary appeal points. An initial study was prepared and mitigated. Negative declaration was prepared for the project to analyze and mitigate the potential environmental impacts of the project. The initial study mitigated negative declaration found that the project would not result in significant environmental impacts with the incorporation of mitigation measures. Areas of potential impact that were mitigated to less than significant levels include the impact areas shown on the slide here, which included air quality biological resources, cultural resources, geology and soils, hazards and hazardous materials, noise and tribal and cultural cultural resources. All of the public noticing in common periods and other procedural requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act were carried out. The public comment period for the mitigated negative declaration took place from October 19 through November 16th of last year. Extensive responses to comments were prepared and published throughout the process and in excess of those required by secure. There was a 30 day comment period on the environmental. And this table here just shows all the different comments that were received in response to the mitigated negative declaration during the comment period. Some of the main topics include concerns about toxic dust and contaminants, lost opportunity for open space, consistency with the L.A. River Master Plan, the river link plan, air quality, environmental justice issues. The rezoning of the property and cultural tribal resource impacts. Amanda, you just to be more specific that Amanda includes mitigation measures to address the hazardous materials and to remediate the environmental contamination on the site. They include a mitigation measure, HRC, one which requires the applicant to have a qualified professional prepare an approved response plan prior to any building permits being issued for the commercial industrial development on the part of the city. The response plan outlines measures that will be taken to remediate the site, institute various engineering controls to minimize exposure to hazardous materials and to restrict future land use to prohibit residential school, daycare and other more sensitive uses that would potentially to limit the exposure of future occupants. The response plan outlines measures for all phases of the project, including grading construction and recovery, and requires monitoring and reporting to DTC during the operation of the project. Similarly, the committee also includes a mitigation measure that requires the State Department of Toxic Substance Control to certify the response plan and to ensure that all the different mitigation measures as outlined here are complied with again during all phases of the project, including construction and operation. Just a point of note about the issues related to the river master plan and open space with respect to the use of the site. The subject area is shown on the Draft L.A. River Master Plan that is currently being updated as a major project area, which incorporates components of the Long Beach River River Link Plan. The L.A. River Master Plan is a long range vision plan that identifies opportunities but is not a land use plan, identifies opportunities for open space, but is not a land use plan. The city's adopted land use plan designates the subject privately owned property for industrial job generating uses plans like the L.A. River Master Plan and the Long Beach River Link plan, however, aid the city in its efforts to identify potential parkland and to identify funding for parks. And the Albee link plan in particular has helped the city secure grant funding for the DeForest Wetlands and the Wrigley greenbelt. So as previously mentioned, that the Planning Commission did approve a standard variance for additional height on the basis that the additional height would not be detrimental to the surrounding properties because of the unique side characteristics and the unusual circumstances of the site, including its environmental contamination. The fact that the proposed use is appropriate. The the proposed use is appropriate for the site and the the CRC zoning does have particularly restrictive height provisions at which the project was unable to comply with. The zone change is appropriate when looking at existing zoning patterns and taking into account the context and historic uses of the site. On the map. One can see the institute that institutional industrial zoning are both found in the area, as is the case zoning district, which is prevalent, which is the prevalent sounding south of the site. That concludes the staff presentation and we're happy to answer any questions and we have the applicant and others available on the line as well. Speaker 2: Thank you for that. Coulson often. Do we have any question at this time? But you want to just keep going and go through the the application and presentation right now? Speaker 7: Yeah. I would like to just hear from the the appellants first and the applicant and then. Speaker 2: Okay, fine. It's great. Let's go ahead and start. Why don't we then if there's no objection to it, that we will then do the applicant and then the appellants, and then we'll go to the counsel in Austin. So let's go ahead and go with the applicant. Madam. Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you. Mary Garcia, members of the Council for taking time this evening to hear our proposal for 3701 Pacific Place. Our saw, our property borders, the 710 freeway to the west as well as the four or five freeway to the south. And the metro line runs to the north and east of our site. We acquired the site in 2019. And currently surrounding our side is the L.A. County flood plain to the west and another private parcel to the east. So the site's current geo industrial zoning allows for up to 600,000 square feet of industrial buildings. But we think a low impact self-storage facility would be a better fit for the site. We also would like to relocate inside property groups headquarters to the site and a little background about Inside Property Group. We design and build self-storage facilities throughout the country. We currently own and operate about 40 projects around the country and this would be our global headquarters for the site. We'd also like to provide a public access path to the L.A. River for future access to the river. We'd also be built building a viewing pavilion to overlook the L.A. River and provide 24 seven security cameras to help ensure safety for the pavilion. We're also giving free parking for members of the community, as well as free car charging stations, for electric vehicles for people to access the site from. We'll also be building a new nature preserve to the northwest corner of the property. And we really feel this nature preserve would help set the stage for the future expansion of the LA River Park development as highlighted in the city of Long Beach Park Acquisition Feasibility Report that was just issued a few weeks ago. So this is this is Zach. Thank you all for giving us the floor tonight. The site has been underutilized for 50 years due to the challenging environmental history. As the city planning department went through and in more detail, and our plan significantly improved the site's environmental performance with no significant impacts. That's essentially the summary of the city's response. 15 months of expert third party studies confirm the project will have no significant impacts, and that's after implementing the mitigation measures required by the city of Long Beach and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. That's the overseeing thousand employee California state body tasked with protecting human health. This the third party studies and again the city's review. These just once more. We've done an environmental impact report in the form of the MMD, traffic and Noise Impact Studies, Hazards and hazardous materials impacts. Cultural Resources Impact Water Quality Impacts, Air Quality Impact, biological resources assessment. And all of these studies were reviewed by the city of Long Beach and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control as necessary. And again, the M.D. committee's finding is that the site will have the will have no significant impacts after implementing the mitigation measures. So neighborhood safety through construction is our priority. We have a fleet of water trucks on site that will soak the dirt to contain dust during grading, which is one of the major concerns been raised. Site air quality will be monitored by an array of air quality sensors. Third party experts will be on site to monitor air quality all day during grading. And if unacceptable, air quality is detected at any point, grading will be halted until it can be controlled. Neighborhood safety after construction is is our our priority as well. And in terms of the mitigation efforts we're taking, we're spending three and a half million dollars of site environmental mitigation as required by the DTC in their remediation plan. This includes putting a cap on the site to contain impacted soils, which includes a vapor barrier system that will mitigate any existing gases underneath the site and a state of the art engineered stormwater mitigation system to control any runoff, etc.. So in our experience, we've as Paul said, we've got 40 current projects and we've done over 100 similar projects in the last decade. These efforts sufficiently address the environmental concerns of the site, and notably we will be occupying this site ourselves and obviously have a good incentive to ensure that the site is safe when we finish. That's correct. And. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead, Paul. Back up. No, that's exact that. Go and go to the next slide, please. This is yours. So back in December, we went to the Planning Commission and the commission approved the project to a 6 to 1 vote. I think it was the first redeveloped. They approved the redevelopment, the remediation project. I think this is the first one that they have approved on the site. So the Department of Toxic Substance Control decided that the remediation plan will protect human health and the environment and would be implemented after the City Council adopts the amend and approves the project. So in terms of outreach and it's been a obviously a tough year for everybody all around to follow our normal processes. We would typically be organizing in-person meetings and whatnot, but instead we've held weekly webinars to engage the community, particularly before and during the the planning meeting. And we've amplified our outreach efforts with local door knocks, a major social media advertising campaign to let folks know what's going on, and then also being interviewed by Long Beach newspapers and stations and advertising in their business journal to show the community, the project and the outreach campaign results. We knocked on thousands of district doors. We targeted district specifically, given that that is where the site is is located. Over 10,000 district residents watched the entire video presentation online. That's that's not just opened it, but actually watched on your mobile phones and devices all the way through. And over 90% of digital campaign respondents clicked on. I like the plan button in support of the project. We saw the comments come in and responded and integrated those where we could and we generated over 300 plus resident emails and support cards from within District eight to the City Council. And again, narrowly targeting that at District eight, we got a good, solid response feeling. Obviously, self-storage is not the most exciting product type in the world, but in general, the community seems to really like the idea of cleaning up the site, providing amenities and the access to the L.A. River trail. Thanks, Zach. And during that outreach, I think the biggest comment we got from the small opposition was that the property should be used for a park instead. So working with the city of Long Beach before we purchased the site and answering the most common questions we received during the campaign was about the park and the city gave us a quote that said, This location has never been designated by the city of Long Beach as a park. The zoning is and always has been industrial. Speaker 7: We also read in. Speaker 2: The city's park feasibility report that, you know, the location of the park would make it difficult for people to access the site, given the auto oriented location with the freeways around it and the train tracks. So like you want to take the summary? Sure. So in summary, we're proposing to rezone our privately owned site for low density, low impact, self-storage and RV parking. Instead of pursuing the higher density, higher impact industrial use as per the current zoning. We've listened to and worked with community in the Planning Department to include benefits with the L.A. River Access Bike Pavilion, charging stations, public parking, the plant preserve, cleaning up an eyesore, eliminating illegal activities and providing security, and also bringing new jobs. We'll have more than 40 positions moving to this office. We spent 15 months working with third parties to deliver expert studies which have confirmed there's no significant impacts and have provided and put together a comprehensive neighborhood safety plan for before, during and after construction. And finally, the cleanup and remediation plan will be overseen by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and significantly improved the site. And as noted, we have community support behind this project. So we're going to introduce Fernando Vila from Allen Watkins. Fernando is one of the most experienced attorneys in the area in terms of working with California environmental quality at Sequoia and can address some of the the comments directly. And he's going to hit you with a fire hose a little bit here. But we wanted to make sure that we we were complete here and promised it will only take 5 minutes. So, Fernando, are you are you on and on unmuted? I am on it. I'm muted. Thank you very much, Zach, for that introduction to VR Land Use Counsel and seek or counsel for the applicant. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor and Councilmembers for this presentation. I'll be brief. I will try to keep the fire hose too reasonable. Full circle. The so our ask is very ably presented by your your planning specialist here is really straightforward. We're asking first and foremost, please adopt the agenda for this project. We think it's very conference fully put together. As noted already, please approve the following rezoning from light industrial to commercial storage site plan review standards variance to give us a big nudge up in height that we need that's still within what's currently contemplated by the general plan and the existing zoning we asked for because we need a conditional use permit for the self-storage RV parking and accessory carwash uses. And we asked finally for a lot merger to combine the four separate parcels into one because we need to meet your minimum parcel size. And of course it benefits the city to have this project all on one site that can be controlled that way by next slide, please. We asked the City Council to approve the entitlements for all the very good reasons already presented in the City Staff report. I just simply want to highlight the key elements of why we believe the city staff supports this project and why we think it makes ideal sense for the city to support it as well. It is the ideal use for the property due to its unique location, shape, access and the need to remediate the site and the proximity to residences which is quite which are quite a distance from the property. There's a natural buffering there that protects the residents from any close proximity to the site for self-storage use, as as noted by your planner, aligns perfectly with the General Plan's new industrial designation, which seeks to locate low intensity, uses near homes and adaptability, reuse blighted properties. Again, bearing in mind we're asking for, believe it or not, work is open for thousands for a reduction in intensity, not an increase in intensity. The project, she says, also internally harmonious and compatible with the surrounding community, with its innovative architecture and landscaping. We work very hard with the city staff to come up with a design that made a lot of sense for your for your design guidelines and what we would like to see on this property. As already amply noted, we will have a very comprehensive remediation that will protect human health and the environment. And that is evidenced, by the way, or the letter from DTC that I believe is in your packet that the DTC, a state agency, issued a short while ago, indicating that implementing this remediation plan will constitute appropriate care and it will fully protect human health and the environment. That's not coming from us, that's coming from all from the regulatory agency and as noted already by Zach. And so we will also voluntarily provide community trail access to the Los Angeles River and our dedicated greenspace. We also now would like to turn our attention to the legal to the appeals that have been raised. Next slide, please. We're asking that, as per the planning staff's recommendation, that each appeal. With all due respect to the appellants, be denied because we believe none of the claims or positions raised have any real merit to them. First, as already very nicely presented, the remedy is in fact the appropriate singular review in the it was not needed simply because the project once mitigated, as already outlined, will produce no significant impact. And here we are going to have not one, but two agencies. Your city, of course, and Dtsc overseeing our implementation and mitigation. We have to get it right. It's not simply up to us. The low density use, the state of the art design and landscaping, the comprehensive remediation plan, the robust storm drain and bio filtration systems all structurally and operationally will ensure we will not significantly impact this property or the surrounding residences or other uses. One of the claims raised indicated that a traffic impact study was needed. In fact, your Department of Transportation and planners told us otherwise because there was a very careful study put together that showed because of our low intensity use, our daily trips are well below your city's VMT screening thresholds if we fall below the stress thresholds. Your regulations say no traffic study is is needed. We simply followed your your lead and your guidance. The MVD, contrary to what was also claimed in the appeal, shows that there a very low likelihood of any tribal cultural resources impact by virtue of the nature and scope of our excavations and project design. Notwithstanding that low probability we have, we are going to abide by a mitigation measure that we crafted in consultation with the tribal represent representation that indicated they would like to see. And we fully agreed to have a tribal consultant expert onsite during the entirety of construction. If there are any tribal cultural artifacts or resources found, they will be identified and adequately protected, preserved and stored and added, and construction can be halted if any such artifact could be in fact harmed by that activity. The response plan, as noted earlier, has been the product of Gaetz's comprehensive investigation that spans many years period of time , including our last two years of effort. And as a result of that comprehensive investigation, sampling has indicated it is prepared to act on the response plan that will, as we know, fully protect people and the environment. That's the result of this MMT that opponents we believe incorrectly claim does not adequately protect the environment. Next slide, please. The appellants have also raised I'm sorry, the yes, the appellants have also raised a claim that our project somehow will impact equestrian and other trails. But that is really a strange position with all respect to the appellants, because none of these trails are anywhere close to the site. The nearest equestrian trail is 200 plus feet away. Likewise, with bicycle paths, there are no known pedestrian trails across the property. There could not be because it's private property that would be a trespass if in fact such efforts were made to impose this trail without the owner's consent. The project site, which is a bit of concern to the court, claiming that it is not compatible with surrounding uses, in fact is compatible with surrounding uses and does comply with the current general plan designation. We're right about where the hype is already contemplated by by the general plan. The current zoning would even allow a greater height, but because we are down zoning our site to allow for our lower density use, we do need a slight 15 foot high increase. Most of that and much of that increase, by the way, is not due to the building itself, but rather to architectural features that are designed to enhance the beauty and the functionality of our building. As previously noted, although there has been much concern expressed about a need for park space, this property has never been zoned or designated for park space, and there will be no park space impact for that very reason. Notwithstanding that, as noted, we are providing for greenspace to the north of our property and pedestrian trails and bike paths to provide access to the trails and to the county property. That as and when the county sees fit will developer for park space. And the last two points there has been a claim made that the zoning that has been proposed for your approval constitutes unlawful zoning. But none, nothing could be further from the truth. Number one, this site is not the same type of use as the surrounding residences or the the publicly owned county property or the the freeways that surround our property. This site is unique by virtue of its isolation, its terrain, its contamination. It has always had unique zoning. The industrial zoning today, for example, is very different from all of the surrounding uses. We're asking for a reduction in that zoning to allow our lower impact much more environmentally compatible use. So there is no spot zoning. Your city has put a lot of thought into this. Finally, as I think the planning staff noted earlier, the commission was not told that most of Reno's neighborhood supported this project. We scoured the record. We could find no such indication and that support is not necessary for project approval. Although of course we respect any and all comments submitted in support of and in opposition to the project without a closed. Thank you very much for your time. And as indicated earlier, we do reserve our time for rebuttal following the presentation by the opponents of the public hearing. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I am done. Thank you very much. That is the applicant's presentation. Now we're going to go and move on to the appellants. As a reminder, there are five separate appellants. The first one is and Control and a Christianson. The second, appellant is called Oxley. The third one is Juan, or via. The fourth one is Renee Lawler and the fifth one is Robert Gill. And the clerk will we'll do the time on each one and called each appellant up after another. And so, Madam Clerk, please take it away. Speaker 0: Mayor Garcia, the appellants would like one of you to speak first. Speaker 2: Sure. If you want to. If that's okay. If just Madam Clerk, you just. You facilitate which one's coming up after another. That's okay. Each one gets the same time. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Avaya. Your time begins. Speaker 2: I my slides. Hello, my love. I can't see my slides. Speaker 0: Did you provide us with your presentation? Give us one moment to check with our team. Speaker 2: It's a public review. Speaker 0: We will check with our team and pull them up right now. One moment, please. Speaker 2: Oh, sure. Mine. Speaker 0: Okay. We. We have them up now. Can you see them? Speaker 2: I can see them. Speaker 0: Fantastic. Speaker 2: So we start the time. Speaker 0: We will start time. Speaker 2: Before I start, they would like to note that all of the 20 people who are on the speakers list for the public comment are Alan all aligned with the Lower House lobbyists. In the spirit of fairness. I ask that you, Mayor Robert Garcia, stop violating the intent of the Brown Act and open the phone lines to more than just 20 people. Our city clerk's office has informed us, and it's up to you. It's as easy as that. Next slide. The Rural Party Coalition. I request said you denied the M&A and requests it requested so any change for the following reasons. The premature and inadequate M&A. The proposed project will make an environmental disaster worse. The proposed Sony change and height variance are not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, which is solely residential. Next. The call of the California Environmental Quality Act sequel. Congress has a review and approval process of all large developments in the state, both public and private, and as and is implemented primarily by local governments like our city. Today, you have the authority to exercise on behalf of the residents of the city a process that respects the will of the people and acknowledges the systemic inequity and racism inflicted upon our Western working class neighbors and people and people of color. Next. This map clearly shows the inequities. And a disproportionate burden placed on the western half of the of our of our residents, along which we suffer from the higher rates of asthma and cancer. And we live shorter lives than people in East Long Beach, our polluted environments, robust of both health and of life. Not only do we bear the burden of our disproportionate pollution. We are now here before you humbling ourselves, practically begging you to follow through on your earlier votes to provide a larger arc to our half of Long Beach. The very least you can do is to require an air and deny a zoning change. Next. For some reason it seems like you have missed out on your slice and it looks like you skipped a few slice. Memories doing the slice. In. Yeah. Back up, please. Jesus Christ. Next. Next there. The. We find it unconscionable that the city of Long Beach would. It is incredible that city of Long Beach would allow construction on this site without a complete air to protect the local residents. At this moment, £1,000,000 of contaminated and imported soil sits on 50 feet of highly toxic sludge with the consistency of toothpaste crashing down and displacing a storm drain. Abandoned oil wells adjacent to the Inglewood False Zone nicely. Speaker 3: Align. Speaker 2: Across an elementary school and homes, contrary to the opinion of the development services. The best and ideal use for this land is green open space, not more asphalt. Next. We've seen users. I think you're kind of going backwards and forward. Next slide. This. I'm sorry about that, but this is totally unacceptable. The slides have been missed by your city clerk's office. They cannot. Yeah. I don't know. Even this is just have different sides of what was provided to us. You could share your screen. Yeah. Can you see why this will be called the crown jewel of the Los Angeles River, a trailhead for visitors from different areas to easily enter from the A-line. A short walk from bisphenol A or from Wrigley arrested on the 405 to welcoming Park for all, where you will find a meadow repairing wetlands and trails. For those of us that grew up here, we can surely imagine this area becoming a beautiful gateway not only to our city and the lower Los Angeles area, but also to a future in which we celebrate and enhance and enhance our Native American and historical equestrian cultures along the river. This is a moral change choice. You can't choose to do what is right for the underserved half of law. Or you can choose to be part of the same old system of corporate control of government. The evidence is crystal clear. You should reject the MMD we are requiring in the air and the dying deny the zoning change. We know that the road ahead will not be easy, but we know the will of the people as there are 1500 people have signed a petition or in the air, all understanding the dire need for more green space and environmental equity. Some of us have suffered on a personal level and saw how some of our children and neighbors asthma, cancer and death that we have attempted are attempting to leave a better legacy to the next generations so that they can be proud of us. While Legacy, do you want to leave the next generation of residents? Your next generation? Thank you for your time and I will share the remainder of my time with our part legal counsel and our board member, Laurie Angell. Thank you. Good evening. Honorable Council members, this is Douglas Filmcast in the chat and Brian Kirsten's been here here on behalf of the River Park Coalition. We've also submitted a letter on behalf of L.A. Waterkeeper and the River Project. The letter details in extensive detail, the environmental injustice that would occur here by approval on the basis of a mitigated negative declaration. And we ask that you prepare an environmental impact report. And amend is not an appropriate document because there is a fair argument to support that. The project could have significant impacts on the environment in numerous ways, which I will detail and others will detail tonight. The Air or Environmental Impact Report is how the public is able to participate in decisions where a CPA has a Bill of rights for a participatory democracy. And we ask that you respect the rights of the public to have fully informative air. And here's why it's required. There's oily contamination that has been deposited on the site over the years by oil operators, including the city of Long Beach. That could be spread with compaction of the site to offsite locations. And deferred mitigation through a future response plan is not acceptable. Recreational opportunities will be lost and they are set forth in the river linked document. That is a plan for the city which is not being recognized or implemented as the general plan requires in lieu 86 . There are also biological resource impacts which Fish and Wildlife has identified, including to the southern parkland and the crashes bumblebee. The variance here is not supportable, even if it is an irregularly shaped vessel. The height has nothing to do with the shape of the castle and it cannot be supported. We explained that in our letter out. Rather than detailing all of that, I ask you to refer to that. And I would like to turn to Lori Angell for the rest of the presentation. Thank you very much. Laura. Angel, are you on the line? Speaker 3: I'll bet I am. I'm getting here. Okay. I don't have any slides, but I have just a quick few words. My name is Laurie Angel with the River Park Coalition. Make no mistake, this hearing is important and the outcome will affect the health and well-being of tens of thousands of people on the West Side that have been deprived of open space. Others in the city enjoy. Today, our decisions will set the tone for this city's future. This body has recognized the need for open space on the West Side. Time and again, we are at a point where every single parcel along the river is needed for open space. We need to protect and enhance the watershed. We need to improve our environmental situation and sustainability. Not continue to detract in this area. Speaker 2: This time is done. Speaker 3: Pardon? Speaker 2: The time concluded. Speaker 3: No, it's not. I am part of one thing for 10 minutes. Speaker 0: And once 10 minutes has been concluded. Speaker 3: So all the technical problems are just. Speaker 0: We did add extra time for the technical problems. Speaker 3: That's right. This has not been a fair process. But thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Speaker 0: Speaker number two and control. Speaker 8: Before I start, I want to make sure that the other present presenters for this are Amy Valenzuela and Anna Christianson. Speaker 4: Are. Speaker 8: On connected and able to speak. Speaker 0: I'm here. Speaker 1: And. Speaker 8: Anna is having problems, but she phoned in. And she'll have to speak by phone. Her phone number is 5625675011. Are you able to connect her? Speaker 0: SH is she on the line if she needs to hit Star six to unmute herself or she unable to get on the call? Speaker 8: She? She. Speaker 2: Now I'm. Speaker 4: Unmuted. Okay. Okay. Can you hear me? All right. I cannot see the computer screen. Cisco Systems froze up. So. But I'm online. I can give my talk. Go ahead. All right. Speaker 8: Good evening. This presentation is being presented by Anna Christiansen, Amy Vallance, Weller and myself and Cantrell on behalf of the Sierra Club, Los Arenas, Wetlands Task Force. Next slide. Our task force agrees with the appeal arguments presented by the other applicants and attorney Doug Carstens. We urge you to deny this inadequate mmd the impossible mitigations, excessive unnecessary height variance, unwanted land use. And see you. We suggest that if there is any zoning change, the site be returned to open space as it was before the l u week. Next slide. This is the city's map of the project property. However, it shows only half of what was once the oil operators site. Next slide, this map. Next slide. Slide four. This map from the River Link plan approved by City Council in 2015 shows the Pacific Place property on the north and the 712 Baker parcels on the south divided by the four or five freeway. What was planned to be park lands are now proposed to be self-storage, RV parking and car wash on the north and a gated housing development on the south. Next slide. Before being separated by the freeway in the 1960s. This was one large site performing the same operations on both the north and south sides. Both sites contain hazardous waste, the same cultural history, air quality, biological resources, recreational and transportation issues. However, a complete air with alternative uses is being prepared for the Baker Site Streets project. An inadequate negative deck with impossible mitigations and no alternative uses was done for the specific place. Next slide. We are asking you to deny the M and D. Speaker 4: And. Speaker 8: Require an air for Pacific Place as was done for the Baker Street site. Next slide. Next slide. There are many issues needing environmental study which our fellow what I once will discuss. Sierra Club will be addressing biological and cultural tribal resources. Next slide. One of the inadequacies of the media is the lack of studies for biological resources. The very thorough comment letter written by Felicia Salt, Silver, California Fish and Wildlife States. More studies are needed for the endangered, threatened and special species. She also says mitigations for the rare southern tar plants are inadequate and undoable. Now that all the vegetation has been removed from the site. Next slide. Southern Tar Plant is a special species plant, which required mitigation. In the many surveys done in early August 2020 found 830 southern tar plants on the Pacific Place property. Next slide. Every blue areas where southern tar plants were found in early August 2020. The green hash marks on the upper right are areas cleared of vegetation before the surveys were completed. Many southern tar plants were possibly destroyed before being counted. Next slide. In August 2020, the Department of Toxic Substances Control DTC posted notice of site investigation and remediations of 37 over one Pacific Place. There is no record that remediations were done. Instead, a test known as a surcharge was performed to measure the bearing capacity of the building footprint. Soil was moved from the northern end of the site to the southern end, creating a 15 foot high mound of dirt. Next slide. In the process, every shred of vegetation, including trees, were removed. This renders useless the biological mitigations of all the sensitive plants and animals on site. Yet you are being asked to approve these mitigations along with the negative declaration. Next slide and next speaker Amy Valenzuela. Speaker 4: Hi. Thank you. This whole project, there's huge opposition to it. It's not. Speaker 1: Small. Speaker 4: Opposition at all. And and importantly, my I myself am a descendant of the tongva people. We have lived continuously on and near this site in question since time immemorial. This movie is only the latest example of my family's history and indigenous peoples lives in general being obliterated. The MMD completely ignores the value of this land as the site of an ancient village. It fails to address how this loss of a historic site, one of the last opportunities we have and habitat would be mitigated. It cannot be mitigated. Next slide, please. This map shows the there are tongva villages and um, we usually built near a water source and followed the seasonal changes to the water. So this site absolutely encompasses an ancient village and there have been midden, shell middens as well as arrowheads and other artifacts found on the site. So the developer saying having a tribal consultant after construction has started and after the destruction does not mitigate in any way the destruction they've already done or what will be done in the future by paving over it. It also irreparably damages any chance we have at maintaining some type of open space where native flora and fauna and cultural practices can be utilized. The next slide. States that there are no cultural tribal resources to consider. The prepared did not bother to look at the history of this land, nor the documentation that is easily available, which clearly identifies the significance of this area as an ancient village site. I am a survivor of cultural genocide and I still live on this site. My great great grandmother, having been an indentured servant on the on the mission San Gabriel. So that just isn't true. And only an air will be able to adequately address this many inhabitants who had to work the Rancho to survive, meaning the Bigsby Rancho . Continue living in this area. The Valenzuela family is just one such example. Still living on a part of a parcel given them by the Bixby family in present day Wrigley. That doesn't even include my family myself in love Cerritos. Next slide, please. Artifacts. Middens. As I talked about and exceedingly rare, cog stones have all been found in this area. My own family history documents that this exact land has been continuously occupied by indigenous people since time immemorial. Yet there is no acknowledgment of that precious and irreparable part of our heritage in the. Next slide. The city and oil companies have poisoned this land and exposed generations of children to toxic waste, including myself, my my father, who used to ride his horse down the river and see the green pools, and he himself found arrowheads at that site. Now it's time for you to take one small step to right the wrongs of the past. You could be working with us to heal the river and create a wonderful green space. Forget about calling it a park space. It has been zoned as open space and open space. It should remain. It could be a wonderful resource for all of us. You promised you would do this. Speaker 1: Your city council and mayor. Speaker 4: Please. When you unanimously voted for the River Lake Plan, which was not just some piece of paper, we all invested in that and we need that to be seen and put to practice. Thank you so much. Next speaker is Anna Christianson. When it comes down to it. What we have here is a failure to communicate the city's vision of, quote, compatibility and profitability, meaning a parking lot runs counter to traditional tribal understandings of relationships and responsibilities as regards both community and the natural world. Tribal leaders and members who continue to advocate for the protection and preservation of places as sacred species of plants and animals, as relatives of air and water, as life find themselves caught in a web of regulations meant to control the degree to which all of the above can be owned and regulated and exploited, but never allowed equity with societies that privilege people and the accumulation of wealth above all else. The low Cerritos Wetlands Task Force takes our lead from tribal peoples and we support the community and we support life, not RV parking lots. Thank you very much. Speaker 8: Could you show the rest of the slides, please? Speaker 4: Yeah. One final slide. I'm sorry. That final slide is the Tongva tribal leader, Anthony Morales, his son offering a prayer. Tribal people are still here. Genocide hasn't worked. It's not going to work. And now, like Dennis Banks used to say, the canary in the coal mine. This is happening to all of us. It's not just tribal people who are suffering the loss. Speaker 2: Thank you. Your time is great homes and helped. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Speaker 0: Next speaker is Rene Lawler. This Lawler. Speaker 4: Good evening. I'm speaking through the telephone. My finger on my computer doesn't work. You can hear me. Speaker 0: Yes. We can hear you. Speaker 4: Okay. Very good. Thank you so much for putting up my slide deck. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I am representing the equestrian interest and my information is on file. Next slide please. Please uphold the appeals and produce any I are. There is sufficient there is insufficient review for known overland stormwater runoff and conditions that are present within this vicinity. This project will increase flood risks to adjacent properties, to the levees and the structures to the west and to the south. Please reject the zoning change to commercial storage. With that height variance, it is incompatible with the adjacent open space trail and low density residential community class 1341, three, five and 11 sigma guidelines have not been addressed with the amended class. One guideline states that if a proposed project consists of significant alteration to graphical features such as grading, that it needs to be further reviewed. The surcharged is already consistent with significant changes in the unique terrain, and there are therefore also not green solutions that have been considered despite the robust bio swell system that the developer is proposing . So it's not exempt and an R is required. The Class three simple guidelines all have to do with significant change in structures. Equipment are major modifications to the site. This is occurring class five sequence guidelines. If there is a major alteration to the land use and average slope changes which has occurred and will occur then changes in density and lot. Line adjustment for setback sequel class five needs to be reviewed. Class 11 is a categorical exemption and this project is not exempt. It's a sensitive river environment. It is a historic wetlands environment. It will have impact on the habitat corridor and there will be significant changes of use beyond the time of the lead agencies determination on air as required. Next slide, please. The result of stormwater runoff. These are some example photos showing runoff coming off the levee, showing runoff standing at the levee based floodplain. These are additional stormwater runoff photos that are from various times and years, not all the same time, but is showing land, storm water runoff conditions in the southern reaches of this watershed. Next slide. There are hydrological and topographical changes that will be occurring. Developing Pacific plates will add cumulative storm water flow. This property has been used as a retention basins for decades and water has been diverted onto it from an overland situation where there are no stormwater pipes. By changing the use of this and developing this property now, that water that had been going to the retention basin is going to continue to flow southward of the natural water, does flow west toward the levee and then it flows from a north south direction. The bio soil system is assuming that there are good pipes to tie into which there are not and there already are. The developer is acknowledging that the excess will still flow over the edges of the property lost lives. This is a example of a denial by the city to the county of tangible flood control to tie in into pipes for a project within the sub watershed because they've acknowledged that their storm drain pipes are under seismic flood. In fiscal year 2015, the city of Long Beach and addressing various storm drain have admitted that it is in a circumstance where its pipes are undersized and that that has been a infrastructure used since the 1930s. It's become undersized and insufficient based upon the growth, development and age of infrastructure. In the flood, the levee project, the lack of project created topographical hydrological changes itself in this sub watershed. That alone, by bringing the levees closer to these hard shoulder locations, created less permeable space. As the project also will do. That means less area for absorption increased velocity because of the change in elevations and increased density and volumes of overland flow not only from the levee but also coming from this property. Next slide. This is an example article of just how long these types of issues have been under review and have insufficiently been addressed for this sub watershed. Next slide Title 33 is a federal code and it covers navigation and navigable waters. But Part 208 has to do with flood control regulation. And part of the flood control regulation has to do with erosion control, where erosion is not to be allowed to occur adjacent to the structure of the levee that might endanger its water tightness and stability. Furthermore, Title 33 requires that there be inspections and also that it requires that there be permitting, so that if there is any construction, earth grading, any land movement, any FIL activities, anything on the river land or any private parcels adjacent must be permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in advance. Next slide. We also have the cultural and historical resources. The trail itself was dedicated in 1947. It is considered a scenic and esthetic trail, and despite what the developer says, this project is close enough to where it will negatively impact that trail experience. There will be added crossings that the developer is proposing, and those added crossings over that trail will have a cumulative impact in terms of the safety for the horse and rider, the lack of education, lack of signage. That has been a problem for decades without erecting proper signage on these trails. This will be a negative impact and needs to be reviewed. The overall height of the building will be non-conforming with the trail, even though it is set on a location closer to the freeway. There is still plenty of area of construction of this project that will, by the time you add the height variance loom over the trail and open space lands up to about 100 feet. That's an insufficient buffer for an esthetic and scenic and historic resource, and that's why the Coastal Conservancy supported open space and equestrian within this sub watershed and within this area of which this project is also a part of. Next slide. This is an example of the historic equestrian map. The city of Long Beach and the county of Los Angeles both enacted legislation in order to create this trail system. This property is adjacent to this trail system, and this trail system ties to a more historic trail system that's acknowledged through the 1968 federal trail. These these trails are feeder trails and connector trails via the rail hondo up to the Anza and should be given the same equal federal protective status. Next lime property is in a liquefaction zone as identified on this map and it is the third highest liquefaction zone identified landslide. It is also within a fault zone, as indicated on this map. Next slide, this map in. Next slide, please. Thank you. This map has a grand jury and map 22 as well as area mid-range map area 29. They both show the drainage system and for the experience. For those of you that don't see what you're looking at, basically you're looking at a map system of where there are not drainage pipes. There are not any storm drain pipes in this lowland area. There's no drainage pipe below the ridge line of country club drive there. The natural diversion of water that doesn't make it into any storm drain pipe is diverted overland to a westerly direction for the levee. That means it flows over this land. You develop this land, you change its topography. You're now going to start condensing overland flow, which also has a natural tendency to flow to the south. So you're going to be impacted property to the west and you're going to be impacting dramatically property to the south and a cumulative overland flow of which will also bring potential toxins and many, many other negative impacts. Next slide. This is an example of the overland flow that's coming on to this property from the Cerritos neighborhood off of Del Mar. Without addressing all of these overland flow issues, as well as the inefficient, insufficient storm drain pipe infrastructure. You can't adequately approve this and consider that in mind. Is is correct. Also, I'd like to provide some notable quotes of background history that shows that the storm drain overland runoff situation in this sub watershed, which is a part of the L.A. River watershed and this sub watershed needs further review. It has not been accurately reviewed, but there's full knowledge that there is a problem. And to quote a few notable, do you have Tony Zabel, who was formerly deputy director under Don Can? Harvey said, I understand the flooding is knee deep. You have Mary Ann Bennett, a landscape architect, associate, architectural engineering, L.A. County Public Works. I realize we have. Speaker 2: This all the time concluded. Speaker 4: It is unethical and probably illegal. Thank you very much for your time. Speaker 0: Speaker number four is carelessly. Speaker 8: Can you hear me? Speaker 0: Yes. Yeah. Speaker 8: Okay. This is cordless. I haven't seen my slides yet. This is carelessly speaking on behalf of Karp, and I agree with all the statements made by the appellants. Next slide. Currently this project does not have an environmental impact report. The city as lead agency chose to do a mitigated negative declaration instead. The site is fraught with environmental issues, and the public deserves to have a comprehensive study done to include the stormwater drainage problems that have not been addressed. And MMT is not sufficient. We ask that you do not approve zoning changes that would allow this project to move forward in the near term. We ask that you allow the facts to speak for themselves. The facts will be better, will be determined by an environmental impact report. Next slide. The values we hope our council will embrace is to consider the best use of this land for the greatest good. There are land use issues that include years of promises to make this into parkland. Plans were put forward in the L.A. River Master Plan and the Long Beach River Links Plan, which was approved at council in 2015. There is a dire need for more greenspace in this area and precious little land left that could fulfill the promise of those plans. This is one of two parcels that were considered the jewel in the crown of the L.A. River. Open space plans large enough to accommodate a good sized park, and Mundy does not allow for consideration of alternative uses. While you are asked those questions, would the public be better served by fulfilling 20 years of promises for green space? Or should you put in an installation that benefits the few instead of the many? If you want those questions examined and IRR is the vehicle, that's slide. A park or a parking lot. Remediation of this site for open space is a simpler task than putting in structures. Emissions can be harmlessly released into the air as they do in Davenport Park. Building on the site that has numerous risks that have to be addressed and monitored throughout the life of the building. Toxins in the soil will travel into the storm drain and contaminate the river either way. We need an air. Next slide. There's a storm drain pipe under the side that was not studied in the MMD. The developer's plans show a 30 inch diameter storm stormwater pipe, but county docs show it is a 24 inch pipe. So the real pipe has 30% less capacity, but is expected to handle runoff from 14 additional acres of land. The pipe is in the highly contaminated, compressible soil. Thousands of pounds of soil are currently on top of the storm drain pipe because of the surcharge test. The plan is to put £1,000,000 structure on top of that pipe and contaminated soil. The pipe is undoubtedly already compromised and cracked to build the proposed development. A cap and cement will be installed that will make a permeable side impermeable. Water will not seep into the soil. It will wash into a series of drains that will bring it into the existing pipe. The water and contaminants will get into the pipe and empty into the river. Next slide. This is a cross section of the problem. Showing the Pope under the weight of the surcharged has probably been crushed and damaged. A damaged pipe will allow the contaminated soil to enter and flow into the L.A. River and flood. There is a request for a zone change to commercial storage with a height variance. The reality is that the grading already added nine feet of height. The request is to add another 44 feet that is almost twice as high as the standard of 28 feet and is not compatible with the neighborhood. This will be an eyesore. Also note a storage pole was not erected on the site showing the proposed building height. Please do know the height variance and the zone changed. Next slide. I want to share a little of the history and the location to illustrate the magnitude of the oil drilling activity and how it affected this site. The Long Beach oil field was discovered in the 1920s. The star indicates the location of the project site. The gray blobs indicate oil deposits throughout the county. But the black area was the richest. Find the mother lode. Enormously productive. In 1923 alone, the field produced over 68 million barrels of oil. Next slide. This is an example of what neighborhoods looked like in the Long Beach oil field. Those tall structures are not trees. Those are oil wells. Next slide. Many residents had oil wells in their backyards. This is on Pacific Avenue in the 1940s. Next slide. Nearly every lut on Pine Avenue, Western Avenue, Pacific Avenue and Chestnut Avenue had an oil well. Children could not walk to Lowe's through school without an escort because of the oil fires. Between the fires and the noise. Some residents chose to abandon the neighborhood. The residues and contaminants from oil wells were delivered to sow ponds. 3701 Pacific Place was a serpent. Next slide. This is what the site looked like for 25 or 30 years up until the mid 1950s. It was operated by oil operators as an oil brine water treatment facility. They pumped oil into some sun. Water was allowed to evaporate from the brine or seep into the subsurface below the surface, leaving sludge behind. Following evaporation, remaining sludge was left in the slopes or dumped elsewhere. Next slide. The pie shaped piece of property is the project site. You can see Low Street, a school just across the road less than 200 yards away, as well as the Cerritos Park, left side. The map on the right shows contaminants throughout the site. The words elevated concentrations means more than what is safe. Lead, arsenic and TPA are the heavy metal contaminants in the soil. Total petroleum hydrocarbons is a term used to describe a large family of several hundred chemical compounds that originally came from crude oil. And that is what you have across this site. I am concerned that the soil sample only went to 20 feet. The history on this site says the residues go down 30 to 50 feet. A core sample should be done to cover the depth of the site. Next slide. What is important on this side is what is in red, that arsenic, a carcinogen, is present at unsafe levels and just below the surface. Next slides led in benzene are also toxic substances. President and dangerous concentrations. Elevated concentrations of benzene and methane were detected in soil vapor at nine locations. Next slide. The neighborhood already knew this site had contaminants. There was a sign there that was posted that told the residents about the dangers of lead and arsenic and told them to contact the South Coast HQ, M.D., to report any dust leaving the site . Next slide. Work commenced without adequate public notice soon for a surcharge test. No meetings were held with the public prior to the bulldozers arriving. You can imagine that neighbors were alarmed when they saw them kicking up billowing clouds of dust. The school and residences were bathed in dust and that likely contained lead and arsenic. That sludge. Sigma stands for California Environmental Quality Act. CEQA requires public engagement through a series of project steps. However, a mitigated negative declaration skips a lot of these steps. The public deserves to have a serious study of the environmental and cultural issues, not with the L.A. shortcut, but with a full air. As a public servant, your commitment to transparency and keeping the public safe is center stage as you make this decision. Next slide. This is the California enviro screen website. It shows today's environmental scores by census tract covering many sources of pollution. Pollution. So this is not just air quality. The area around Pacific Place has more people living with asthma or emergency department visits for asthma symptoms and deaths from asthma than 91% of census tracts throughout California. So this is heavily contaminated. The west side of Long Beach is already burdened with high pollution. Do you think it's fair to further burden the West Side with additional pollution? So go at 500 Harvey's many automobile trips to and from self-storage a three story building with employees going to and from daily along with a truck dock for nine trucks. All this will add significant impacts. Next slide school law says no projects would which would cause significant environmental effects should be approved. Approved as proposed. If there are feasible alternatives or mitigation measures that would lessen those effects. The desired feasible alternative. Thank you for. Speaker 2: Your time has concluded. Speaker 8: All right. Speaker 0: Last speaker is Bob Gill. Mr. Gill. We said Star six. Mr.. How are you going to speak for Mr. Gill? Speaker 2: Okay. My apologies for my audio problems. Can you hear me now? Speaker 0: Yes. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay, terrific. So Eric Garcia, Vice Mayor Richardson and council members my name is Joseph Hauer. I'm here representing the Lower Cerritos Neighborhood Association Board, and I live in the Low Street this neighborhood. Well, L.C. Enable is the best use of this land area, would be an urban forest with walking trails, all the possible uses. We think that's the highest quality use for the people of Long Beach LLC and is concerned about several environmental issues that I'll talk about in a few minutes and believes the project approval should only come after a full year as many of the other appellants have asked for. This should evaluate all the potential environmental impacts and require mitigations that the current MSD does not properly address. We do not agree that the project is harmonious with its surroundings. It is only at its closest point a few hundred yards from residences and a primary school. Project description also includes a warehouse that has not been talked about today. We are quite concerned that at some point someone will build that warehouse using this M&A, despite the fact that there was very little discussion of what that warehouse would or could do, how many trucks would be there or anything else. At a minimum, this warehouse should not be approved as part of this or any other secret document. Without a thorough review. It appears from the two of us that the self-storage facility would be visible from our neighborhood, particularly from most Laredo's Park. We can find no analysis of this on the neighborhood in the Mandy. The residents deserve to know what they will view on the project site as it is now. The they have added quite a bit of soil, as I understand it, as part of the test to determine the geological stability in that land. That soil is pile is very visible from many places in the neighborhood. Further clarification and analysis of those vehicle impacts, the property border wall and the proposed landscaping need to be there. We understand that there would be a wall along the north and east borders of the property, which is probably generally a good idea. But we're concerned that that wall could reflect the noise from the A-line trains back towards our neighborhood and exacerbate the noise impacts from that light rail system. And we did not find any analysis of that kind of an impact. There is an existing sound wall on the other side of the tracks from this site, but if we're reflecting the sound back from a higher elevation, there could be a significant noise impact from this project. The traffic study does not address the current city of Long Beach Traffic Impact guidelines and does not address the traffic congestion at the adjacent intersection of Pacific Place and Wardlow Road. It can. The study concludes that the magic maximum contribution of 33 peak hour trips to the adjacent intersections is nominal and the potential for an intersection impact is unlikely. The current. Impacts are pretty bad. And the project proponent told us there would be 40 employees there, plus the number of Arby's in there. So I'm not quite sure how they're saying that. There's only 33 peak hour trips. There's 40 employees. Carpooling just hasn't caught on yet. It also does not account for the effects of all the large vehicles, heavy duty trucks and whatnot that would be coming through this intersection. Again, a Pacific place in Wardlow Road, which operates poorly today, is impacted significantly already by the line, which can cause frequent closures at that intersection as much as every 3 minutes. While this is no longer a see SIEGEL impact as traffic injection, it is something that the city council should be concerned about. We've got a lot of folks in our neighborhood and others who use that intersection. And this project is going to make that intersection even worse than it already is. So before the city council should approve that project. We really need to understand what's going to happen with that intersection. In addition, there's a planned sewage dump station for recreational vehicles, which is likely to cause air pollutant emissions and odor nuisances. In a note to readers neighborhood, which is downwind of the site, that should certainly be evaluated in the air. And we could find no evaluation of that in the documents before you. Having said all that, if the city council chooses to deny our appeal. Yalcin I would like the project to comply with all the special conditions referenced in the city staff presentation during the Planning Commission meeting. One can condition notice that attractive landscape buffering and screening for parking lots and car washes should be there, in our view, in a review of the documents. We did not see such a buffer facing the Lost Mill or Cerritos Elementary School or the residential area. We request that any DI denial of the appeal require the project to have an attractive noise suppressing and maintain landscape buffer on a project boundary facing all Cerritos neighborhood. A neighborhood already has impacts from the noise of the airport to freeways, freight trains and the metro line. The homeowners have extensive noise from the interchange of the four or five in the 710 at the end of Pacific Place. Thank you very much. I believe Laurie Angell didn't have enough time to finish her remarks. If she is available, I invite her to use a little bit of our remaining time. If not, our remarks are concluded. Speaker 3: I'm available. Won't take me, but 30 seconds, probably. May I go ahead? Speaker 0: Absolutely, yes. 2 minutes. Speaker 3: Okay. Well, I can start over then. My name is Laurie Angel with the River Park Coalition. Make no mistake, this hearing is important and the outcome will affect the health and well-being of tens of thousands of people on the West Side that have been deprived of open space that others in the city enjoy. Today, your decisions will set the tone for this year's future. This body has recognized the need for open space on the West Side. Time and again, we are at a point where every single parcel along the river is needed for open space. We need to protect and enhance the watershed. We need to improve our environmental situation and sustainability, not continue to detract and diminish it. You must follow through on your promises. In the early 2000, the City Council rejected a strikingly similar project across the street because a full year was inadequate due to the traffic issues. It was a full EIA and it was rejected by the council. That project did not happen because the council did its job. You must too. This must serve as a precedent for this project. You are fully aware that the worst land uses continue to be piled up on the West Side. The actions you take in your land use decisions either attests to your commitment to the community, or they show a reckless disregard for all the critical issues that continue to lead to extensive health issues and diminished life expectancy. Open space will help. Please uphold the appeal and request a full air. Thank you. Speaker 0: That concludes the testimony from the appellants. Speaker 2: Thank you. At this time, we will have the applicant. Is there a rebuttal, short rebuttal to any of that? No. The applicant has the ability to do so. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Again, Fernando Vila, on behalf of the appellant, we do have just a handful of points we would like to bring, but most of what was raised today, we already addressed in our presentation. I will first begin with a comment made by Mr. O'Brien regarding environmental justice and how our project would undermine that. I would actually say quite the contrary will occur today. Environmental justice pervades this community because you have had for decades an environmentally impacted site that's put residents at risk. We will eliminate that remediate to prevent that contamination via remediation. We will make this place a safe community asset. So we believe environmental justice will be absolutely promoted, not undermined, as incorrectly stated. The comment was also made that it is required because it would somehow provide greater protections in the or would not make any difference in providing protections because as mentioned, each and every tropical area needed to be addressed was adequately studied. Every mitigation that needed to be addressed and included we included in the air would make not one iota of difference. The Mr. Parsons had a handful of comments to which I would like also to respond. He indicated that there is a fair argument exists that would support because we did not sufficiently identify and mitigate impacts that would support an air in of course. We beg to differ. He has found in he focused most of his comments on the contamination. He said oily contamination fear could spread recreational lost DTC thoroughly, carefully for many years, adequately investigated the site and barely, after 15 months worth of effort, required a response plan that in great detail addresses all of the contaminants and will require CAP and all the other systems already addressed. And most importantly, based upon all those systems that we didn't propose the DTC required. The DTC is determined, and it is not our finding. It's the agency's finding that human health will be more than adequately protected, as will the environment if that response plan is implemented. So that is not a fair argument to make because it has been more than adequately addressed by that action by DTC, not by US and air. We simply had nothing to. This impacts analysis. Biological resources was another area that Mr. Carson raised as as a fair argument. And in fact, we had a very detailed biological resources assessment that was submitted to the city, and the city reviewed and approved. And, in fact, the city requires, as conditions of approval, the preservation in perpetuity of a green space that will protect the southern tar plant and all of the species that were found that needed some form of protection or another soil surcharge program did nothing to impact those tar plants that were found, because guess what? All of those species, all of the tar plants that were on the site were moved to that area where they will be preserved and protected, not under our oversight, but under the city's oversight and fishing game to the extent they will do so as well. So that is not a fair argument. It's been more than abundantly addressed. Miss goes way. With all due respect, raises excellent points. I really found her description of the Tongva Tonga tribe history gripping and really fascinating. With all due respect, there was a very careful survey done onsite or artifacts were found. There were research conducted. Over 100 years of records were reviewed. No artifacts, no indication that artifacts would likely be found. Nevertheless, in consultation with this tribe representation, representatives of the tribe proposed having a very robust mitigation by having one of their representatives onsite during construction to make sure if any artifacts are found. Despite our research that suggests otherwise, those will all be preserved and protected. Ms. Lawler raises a handful of issues that I think merit responses. She cites to various exemptions that this project doesn't meet. Well, that's not terribly surprising because we seek none of those exemptions. Those exemptions would have excused this project from having to prepare immunity, which in fact we all know it was prepared. So that was really, frankly, a red herring. Stormwater impacts were robustly assessed, contrary to what she said, and mitigation, and mitigated with new infrastructure. That new infrastructure includes, among other things, catch basins, storm drain pipes, storm drain pipes, bottle preparation, which the city reviewed and modified and ultimately are going to require as mitigation if this council chooses to approve the project. So we beg to differ with that mischaracterization that was made about stormwater impacts. The study that we that the city had conducted. The site concerning topographical changes showed that no topographical changes are or major hydrological changes or impacts would result in a project that's been refuted by study. That was very abundantly done. The Miss Lawler claims that we are in a flood hazard area and in fact it was demonstrated by the studies performed that the property is not within the 100 year flood zone hazard zone area. And so that is a misstatement of fact. A statement was made that various pedestrian crossings will be impacted. Well, in fact, there are no pedestrian crossings on this private property. We will create a pedestrian right of way for the public, none of which today exists and has not existed since this property has been privately owned. So that is a misstatement of fact. The property, by the same token, is also not an equestrian property and has not been used as such. And if it is used that says, with all due respect to those that are on the horses on that property, that would constitute a trespass. Liquefaction and faults with thoroughly assessed in the amended and the city are concluded. A deal with the staff indicated and recommended to the to the to the to the planning commission and out to your body that no significant liquefaction faults were do exist based on very careful, thorough studies that were done not by us, but by independent consoles. Mislead carelessly. If can't raise a few issues I'd like quickly to address. She indicates that in fact a a park use is appropriate because it can simply be remediate, just like our project could be remediated after much consultation with the city and with the DTC. However, these agencies have told us otherwise. DHS has made it clear having a park use would require tens of millions of dollars and years and years of use of soil removal that would be extremely infeasible to undertake. The city has not ever seen fit to acquire remediate the site. No private owner has ever seen fit to do so. It wouldn't work. And guess what? Dtsc doesn't believe park use is appropriate for this historically impacted site. The there was a comment made that the community was not properly noticed and that dust control measures were not taken during the search are. In fact our client acquired a permits. That agency reviewed the proposed surcharge and found that with the permits issued and with the appropriate watering and other measures for dust control that we undertook, each and every day would be appropriate to mitigate these dust controls. So this was in fact properly permitted, and the committee made sure that we maintain compliance with those conditions. Mr. Hammer raised a couple of points that I'd like to address. I hear the case that the project includes a warehouse that was never mentioned in any of our application papers. Well, that's not terribly surprising because that warehouse will not be located on our property. We understand that the McDonald Trust property owners next door at some point may or may not develop a warehouse facility. That property was evaluated in the media along with ours, but it is not a part of our project. So we wanted to clarify the record. There was also a statement made by Mr. Howard again with Mr. Howard Stewart, with all due respect, that somehow our project will in fact be visible from the neighborhood. Well, of the building, the building itself is going to be more than 700 feet away. We will have topographical impediments, we have railroad tracks, we have a floor. And we also have site photos that show that being 700 feet away with all those natural and manmade buffers simply would not enable a viewer from that neighborhood to see that building. And then lastly, Mr. Howard indicates that that the proposed that that the traffic analysis done did fail to comply with the city's VMT guidelines. We did not make that we that is, the applicant did not make the determination that our VMT study that showed we were well within the threshold that required no traffic study, no mitigation, that was not reviewed and approved by us, that was reviewed and approved by the City Engineer with assistance by a secret consortium that the city hired, not us. That determination therefore shows that we are in full compliance with the with the VMT guidelines that the city set forth. Mr. Ward. Speaker 0: Can you please conclude your comments? Speaker 2: Yes. And I think with that, we're going to thank you so much. Thank you. We are going to go ahead now that we have heard the appellants. We will now go back to the council member, Austin, and then we will gather. We can do questions now or we can go have a comment or unless you have some comments or questions there. Speaker 7: Mr. Mayor, thank you so much. And really taken a lot in from both the the applicant and the appellants. I'm going to reserve most of my questions and comments for after public comment. But as been discussed by so many of the appellants in the narrative around this, this this project, much of it has to do with park space and open space along the river. And so before we go to public comment, I just want to ask the city manager, I think, has shared some information about the Park acquisition feasibility report that was recently released in response to a request by this Council. And in particular, I would like him to talk about the opportunities sites that were identified as relates to the Park Equity and how the recommendation was made as to the most feasible sites for park development along the L.A. River. And then I'm going to answer that question in a couple of hours. Speaker 5: Yes, sir. So I can start with some a couple of comments on that. And I'd like Meredith Reynolds, our park development officer, to talk to your manager to talk a little bit about the specific projects. Can I ask the in the back, can we put up the staff presentation again? I want to actually show a couple of images that help her talk a little bit about that concept. And so one of the things that this council asked was about two months ago to really embark on a feasibility study along the entire L.A. River and really look at opportunity sites. The team took that very seriously. They put a tremendous amount of time into it and really looked at hundreds of sites that were potentially available up and down the river, focused on about 11 and had some criteria that Meredith can talk about, about how we picked kind of those as the as the most advantageous. And in the end, we did find a property right next to this property site, an 11 acre site, which is which is owned by L.A. County. And there's been some really exciting development on that. So before I get into that, I'd like Meredith Reynolds to just talk a little bit about kind of all the other projects on the L.A. Park Project or L.A. Park, I'm sorry, L.A. River Park development projects that have happened. Park planning takes a fair amount of time. These are complex projects. You've got to assemble money, you've got to do all the planning. And but we've delivered some pretty spectacular projects over the years. So Meredith, can you talk about those a little bit? Speaker 1: Yes. Good evening, Mayor, vice chairman of the city council. Thank you, Tom. Just a couple quick slides here just to showcase some of the great planning and development work that's happened along the river. The first project is the Dominguez Gap Project. This is a project that was led by the county. 37 acres of new wetland property was developed and opened in 2008. This is on the east side of the L.A. River, just south of Delano. It is a great opportunity for trails and habitat and hiking. The cost of this was about $7.1 million and you can really see that investment in the site. Next slide, please. Next site is the forest wetlands. This is 34 or just almost 35 acres. That covers both districts, eight and nine from just south of the Forest Park, all the way to north of Delano. This was open in 2018, but much work had been happening in this location from planning and grant writing for the balance of about 12 years, where we were able to amass $8.5 million from multiple sources that features this really great wetland, seasonal wetland and upland habitat with trails and boardwalks and habitat. Next slide, please. The next site is Molina Park. This is a more traditional park that is just south of Delano in District eight. This was a park about 3.3 acres that was made possible by a private developer who was developing adjacent housing. And so this site was anticipated to be developed as a park, as a part of our city's redevelopment agency. When that was dissolved, the plans for the park were stalled. And so through a development agreement with the private developer, this was constructed this is open in 2018 and features a sports field, a very large playground, some fitness stations with ADA components and a parking lot, along with landscaping access to the L.A. River Trail. Next slide, please. The drink shop is Greenbelt down in District one toward the mouth of the river is a eight acre property that was opened in 2018. This was an investment of several grants that were amassed over a handful of years. About $3.8 million. And this project connects the Willmore neighborhood from the Anaheim Street all the way south to Drake Park. And so this features a multi use sports field, picnic benches and open space, some really dynamic murals. And we have several partners, including a community garden that is present on the site. Next slide, please. At Wrigley. Greenbelt is another project that is currently under construction. And this is a rendering that you see here. This is 9.8 acres on the east side of the river, starts just south of the four freeway and several county grants were secured about $1.6 million to develop this. And this will take folks along trails and habitat in the Wrigley neighborhood and also includes signage and connection to our city's equestrian trails in District seven. Next slide, please. There are several future park projects there that are on the horizon that have some level of funding for some of the initial steps. So the first is 51st Street Greenbelt. This is just under an acre in District eight that runs from 52nd Street to 51st Street behind Lindsay Middle School and adjacent to the southern end of the forest wetlands. This project is initially funded for design and landscape components by the Port of Long Beach Community Grants Program. We are in design for this currently. Next slide, please. Another project that is upcoming is a Drake Chavez expansion. This is just under six acres in the first District and represents the next component of development of the Drake Chavez masterplan. This idea is coined by our community, where nature meets play with some open space elements, some traditional park elements and perimeter walking loop and community garden. Design funding has been secured again through funding from the Port's Community Grants Program, and we will be beginning design here in the summer. Next slide, please. The Long Beach Municipal Urban Stormwater Treatment Facility includes a connection to a series of wetlands, the first acre of which is being developed with the site. This is at the southern end of the Drake Chavez greenbelt and connects to Drake Park right around the corner. This is currently in design and has a wetland feature with a perimeter walking path, some areas for contemplation, seating and also some picnicking areas. Next slide, please. And finally, the county property is listed here as a future potential park project. This is the site, the ideal site that was a recommended site that was included in the park feasibility study. This is 11 acres that is county owned. It is in District eight and it is adjacent on the east side, but adjacent to the River River Trail. And the city is currently in discussions with the county for a new open space. As our city manager indicated. With that, I'll turn that back over to Tom or Mr. Mayor. Speaker 5: Thank you very much, Meredith. So clearly there's a lot of work that has gone into the L.A. River and continues to happen. It is quite the jewel and Long Beach. And we're really trying to reorient our community back to having a lot of that historic open space and really be able to enjoy that. So as you see, we went through a feasibility study and a lot has happened on this river, excuse me. And so a lot has happened in a very short period of time. This is the county property. So within two months it was identified. Once we really saw this site as an opportunity site and we contacted the county councilmember Austin, you know, help with that. A number of people help with that. And Janice Hahn actually asked the county public works director to kind of stop any other types of planning on that project. They were really looking at making that a maintenance yard in the laydown yard. So basically having trucks and pipes and equipment. And so they have officially put that on hold at the city's request and at the supervisors request as well. And we are starting some discussions. So park projects do take some time. This would be when they we'd have to go find funding for and do some initial planning and designing work and all the appropriate outreach. But we are seeing that as a very good possibility. I'm very glad that the county has made it available, at least stopped what they were doing so we can really get into the next steps on this project. So we're available to answer questions. Speaker 7: Well, Tom, I appreciate and Meredith Step. I appreciate the clarification on that. I wanted to just highlight some of the great work going on throughout along the lower L.A. River here in the city of Long Beach and areas that are truly deep park space. And I'm glad you touched on what was proposed at 11 acre site next to the proposed project site, because it's important to note and to have that transparency for the community. Had this not come up with this project development not been proposed, we would not have gone into and looked at and had these conversations with the county , and nor will we have known what would what was being proposed there. And so this 11 acre site ultimately I see will be a win for our our community and for our city as a whole. With that, I'd like to allow public comment, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 2: There is. Okay then let's let's go ahead and consider Austin's a well, go to public comment, Madam Clerk, and then we'll go back to Councilmember Austin. Speaker 5: Our first speaker is. Speaker 2: Anne Reynolds, because. Actually. Mr. Clarke? Yes. Just one more thing. One thing there. 1/2, ma'am. 1/2. Speaker 4: Okay. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. And please don't start it. Don't start our time. I just wanted to say there was someone that mentioned one of the appellants earlier. I had made a comment. I just want to clarify. I'm an appellant had mentioned that as mayor, I can just change the comment rules or that I created the comment rules on my own. Just to clarify, the 20 speaker cap was actually set by the city clerk's office last June, almost a year ago, not by our office. And the clerk set those numbers that she presented to the city council for after a review that she made on a variety of technical reasons, staffing and to provide public access . And so I just want to clarify that that is a rules that are set by the city clerk's office. And Madam Clerk, I know Madam Quirk is there is just want to confirm that that is all correct. Speaker 0: Absolutely. Last June, the office of the city clerk released a press release outlining the public comment, telephonic public comment, the number of speakers that would be allowed per item, and also the signup procedures to sign up for telephonic public comment. It is not an arbitrary number and it is not. Something that was set by the mayor or nor can it be changed arbitrarily. There was a lot of research that was put into that number. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I just wanted to clarify that. And why don't we go to start public comment? Thank you. Our first speakers and Reynolds. Speaker 4: Hello. My name is Ann Reynolds. I love the community aspect. I support the project and love the community part to bring into it. It allows everyone. To safely jog and bike. The trail is something we needed for a very long time. We, the people of our communities, deserve a beautiful park. Thank you very much. Speaker 2: Think your next speaker is Cora. Mary Louise. Cora Morelos. Our next speaker is John Moreland. Oh. Can you hear me? Yes. Please begin. Okay. Good evening, Mary Christie and council members. My name is John Moreland, resident of seventh District and very close to the eighth District. I do support and uphold the Planning Commission's approval of the Commercial Office Building Itself Storage Facility. This process has been vacant for over five years when the driving range and golf shop shuttered its doors. It's no secret that the site is contaminated and will require remediation at a significant cost to the applicant. The applicant is essentially proposing an assault lid over the site to stop pollutants in its place from further going down into the ground and to essentially mitigate that soil contamination issue. Opponents of the project that are the opponents of the project essentially wanted to build a park here. But there's simply three main issues with that idea. First, building a park when I help this oil pollution situation, in fact will exacerbate it with a park. Additional excavation will be necessary to remove contaminated soils and put a vapor barrier low enough to allow for adequate plant growth, which may be more costly. Which leads to the second issue. Who's going to pay for it? Where will that money come from? The county has some funds to improve the river, but only on parcels they control, not money to acquire and remediate private property. There have been no plans to improve this car park, nor has funding been earmarked for it for a while. It's been vacant over the past six years. Lastly, a park does sound great at almost any location, but a park at this location will not be using sound planning principles or guidelines used by the City of Los Angeles . And the National Recreation Park Association referenced that a surface area for a neighborhood park is about a quarter to one half of a mile. This property is located within a half mile, within a number. Think your next. Speaker 5: Speaker is David. Speaker 2: Nutter. David Sonata. Our next speaker is Mina de Attari. Good evening, Mayor. City Council. I'm a Long Beach formal resident. I live in the neighboring city of Lakewood. I was born and raised in the eighth District, and I happened to also be an attorney and a product of Long Beach Unified School District. I've watched Long Beach grow and change and morph into the city it is now, and I support this project because it is the best and highest use for that parcel. It's a good blend of economic opportunity for the parcel, as well as keeping it in line with some public use. If there's any opportunity to. Support this in any other way. I offer my support. I was just really impressed with the presentation that I saw on Facebook, and I believe the council should go ahead approve the CFP. And the zoning variance requested by the applicants. That's all. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speakers, Mason Wright. Speaker 2: Hello. My name is Mason Wright. I appreciate all the work and efforts done by the Insight Group engineers, scientists and city officials who have worked on both sides of this project. I am a third generation Long Beach native. My grandpa Glen. Right, moved here in the thirties. I was unaware of the vast history of this site. It has been amazing to hear this background, and I'm also appreciative of that. That said, this site is currently a blight on the city and unusable in its current form. Long Beach is becoming a destination for many Southern Californians, and space is limited. As an RV owner myself, I think I qualify as a nature lover and outdoorsman, and I am in absolute favor of this project. The amount of environmental testing that has been done and that the developer has offered to do for the duration of the project is satisfactory. I trust the process. I am looking forward to at its storage a new modern building accompanied by vehicle chargers, bike path access and a green space. Thank you for your time. I think your next speaker is Tracy Hodel. Speaker 1: Hello? Can you. Speaker 4: Hear me? Speaker 2: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 4: Good evening, Mayor and city council members. My name is Tracy Hazell. Murchison and I have lived in the Lower Cerritos neighborhood in the eighth District for over 20 years, and I'm very proud to call this my home. I purchased my house as a single woman 22 years ago. I spent many years enjoying biking along the L.A. riverbed to downtown Long Beach, practicing at the Golf Learning Center and running my dog at the Wetlands. Most of my activities were halted due to an increase in crime and homelessness over the years. When the Golf Learning Center closed, it was an open invitation to additional vandalism, homeless camps, fireworks, fires and noise. This has been a problem for our neighborhood and a major concern for our safety. I welcome and support the RV storage development because the developer has addressed all of my concerns. The development will provide new native landscaping, lighting, 24/7 security and most of all, it will clean up a contaminated site. It will be a nice addition to have a development at this site rather than the homeless encampment, which is what many of us see today when driving through Long Beach on the four or five and 710 freeways . With the approval of this development. Many of my neighbors and friends, including myself, will sleep better at night, knowing there are some additional safety measures for the low Cerritos neighborhood. Thank you for your time and thank you for listening to me. Speaker 2: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. We're going to go ahead and go back to Council member Austin. Speaker 7: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I've already put a motion in the electronic system. I'm not sure if there's a second, but I'll get to the most. And then second. You know, there's been a lot of information, and I just really would say there's been quite a process leading up to this evening that has involved a lot of community engagement. I would like to thank our development services team and their for their presentation for all their hard work getting us to this point, particularly on this this project, but many other projects that they are working on simultaneously in our city. This item was reviewed by our Planning Commission, as mentioned on December 17th, 2020, and after a full public hearing and review, it was approved overwhelmingly 6 to 1 by the commissioners. And during the months prior to the Planning Commission, as well as the City Council hearings, there had been much community engagement on both sides of the issue . Unlike many issues that have come before the Council, over 500 residents. I have provided input to my office both for and opposed to the project, and I don't want to give the numbers, but most of the feedback that my office has received has been in favor of this project. There's also been interest and collaboration from a number of our elected officials. I'd like to thank the state and federal levels who shared their commitment to more open space along the L.A. River and who are also working to identify, as we speak, additional resources to make these open spaces possible. I'd also like to especially thank Supervisor Janice Hahn and her Long Beach deputy, Linda Chico, who have been engaging with the community and the city on making additional public park space along the L.A. River possible. Providing political will to make 11 acres county flood control property into public open space is a huge gain for our community in our city. And so I'd like to thank Janice Hahn again for her partnership. I'd also like to thank the city staff for their work on this project project as well as the Park Acquisition Feasibility Report, which I think provides us a framework to do a whole lot more work, a lot of good work in communities along the L.A. River because several opportunity sites were identified. And as well, as I mentioned earlier, earlier, that park space is has become a common narrative related to this park project. And if you review the park feasibility report, you'll see that many park projects in the city's history have come as a result of development projects. Right. This evening, my colleagues and I must look at the facts as it relates to this project on private property and the zoning rights that are in place. Most, if not all, of the environmental questions, I believe, have been addressed through the city's environmental review, as well as through the review of soil and water contamination issues by the California Department of Toxic Substances and Control. Ask the questions that I'd like to go over, and I'm sure my colleagues may have some questions as well. But at this point. And so. Mr. City Manager. Or whomever. Please, can you. I do think that there was some some interest in the water runoff issue. Right. Raised. Can you tell me what happened to the dust and dirt and water runoff at this site prior to the proposed application as authentic or in its current state with the applicant? And what was the applicant allowed to do on an interim basis before the project approval? And why? And maybe that that's a question for developers. Speaker 2: So Councilman asked and I'm going to start with the before and Patricia is going to cover the after. So this site, like many sites in Long Beach, you know, it doesn't have proper drainage control. And what we refer to as something that it doesn't have water quality controls for drainage exiting the site. So today and in the past, water on the site would enter through a storm event or otherwise and would drain downhill into adjacent pieces of property and eventually into the storm drain system without any on site treatment or retention. There was some discussion earlier tonight that it was a past detention base on, which is not factually correct. So that's the past. The recent events. There was a permit issued just for the soil testing, stockpiling, and that did require a review not just by the city, but by DTC and AQAP. And that includes water control measures to track to where the water will go and promote onsite infiltration rather than exiting the site. Once the project is developed. There's a number of water quality control measures to achieve the goal of having water quality leave the site better than it enters it. And Patricia is going to talk about that future piece. Speaker 6: So the the response plan that has been prepared and is in draft form currently outlines a number of different measures that will be taken, and it includes a engineered cap that will be placed over the site and it will minimize the infiltration of water into the underlying impacted soils. And it will be required to follow all of the stormwater urban stormwater management mitigations. And I think you also asked about dust. There are construction mitigation measures that require the control of fugitive dust. Oftentimes that involves watering down the site. And I think the applicant's team described some of those measures that would take place. And the fact that if there were if if there was, you know, dust and there was substances in that dust, that the grading would be halted. Speaker 7: So if we were to reject the or uphold the appeal and reject the project, what would be. I would. How would we deal with water runoff and an air slope, soil contamination or air contamination as a result of the site? Speaker 6: If we reject that, if the project is rejected, then the conditions will remain as they are and all of the mitigation measures that would be put in place to deal with water infiltration, control of dust, all of those things would not would not be conducted and would not be done in the and the current conditions would remain Speaker 7: . And if the Council were to deny this project, what will be required to make this site a public park as outlined in the feasibility study? I.e. eminent domain, legal costs, site acquisition and soil remediation. We're giving much consideration to that. Speaker 6: If if the if the city were to try to make the this site a park, it would require significant remediation. The city would have to identify funds for that remediation. The remediation would be required to be at levels that are greater than they are for the proposed commercial and industrial project. This would be a significant hurdle that the city would have to cross in order to to consider this site as a as a park. Speaker 7: Thank you for that. I understand that we are on a five minute rule still. And so I'm going to yield to one of my colleagues back to the mayor. Or now. Speaker 2: Okay. I have and I do have a motion by Councilmember Austin to believe the motion is you have here to approve the staff recommendation, which is a denial. Denial of the appeal. Councilman. Speaker 7: That is my my recommendation. That is my motion to deny the appeal. I can read the motion if you want. Sure. Speaker 2: I want you to read it. Speaker 7: Due to the consideration I move that we receive the supporting documentation into the record through the public hearing, deny the appeals and adopt the resolution certifying the mitigate, get a negative declaration and declare an ordinance approving the zone change to commercial storage and uphold the Planning Commission's approval of this project. That is my motion. Speaker 2: Thank you. And I'd love to have a second by Councilwoman Price. Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. I had queued up to talk, but that's fine. If I'm next in the queue, I can second as well. Speaker 2: Okay. Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you. So I want to I want to thank the appellants. You have worked really hard on this issue. You're very passionate about your beliefs in regards to this project. And I really appreciate the respectful dialog that you've had with any of us who have met with you. I certainly appreciated the opportunity to meet with you and hear your thoughts. When I did meet with some of the appellants who reached out to me, I committed to them that I would definitely do my homework, read the materials, and also talk with city staff. And I have done that. I have spent the past few months really educating myself on this topic, understanding that whatever we do with one project proposal obviously has precedence to other proposals and and vice versa, whatever we don't allow in some areas, that too will carry a precedent. So I've really tried to educate myself on this topic, and I want to thank our development services and planning teams for meeting with me and talking me through these the this particular issue and some of the. Arguments that have been raised by the appellants. I will say that while I appreciate the passion that has been raised and a lot of the talk, the arguments and a lot of the documents and letters and things I have seen, some of the the realities that have been conveyed to me from staff are in direct conflict with some of the allegations that I've heard from the appellants, and that may be just miscommunication or a lack of understanding. But based on my understanding of the ownership of the site and what it would take to achieve the goals and. Asks requests of the appellants. I don't believe that that is a feasible or viable option for the city. So with that, I do want to thank everyone who spoke in favor of this and those who spoke against it. And I want to thank Councilman Austin for the diligence that he's put into this effort. And I will be supporting his motion. Speaker 2: Thank you. Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to take a moment and just acknowledge it's been a lot of work and this is certainly spilled out citywide into a larger conversation and things like equity brought out. And, you know, when it's a hearing, you really can't talk about these things publicly. And typically when these things come up, you defer to the council member or the council members and the closer proximity area. One of the topics just asked a couple of questions. More specifically, big picture here. Thank you, Councilman Alston, for asking about the process of what it would actually take to develop this into a park if that were the direction that the city wanted to do. Well, I didn't hear what I didn't hear from city staff is what would be did we do any analysis on what the cost would be to acquire and develop this into park space? Speaker 5: Yes, we did. That was part of the park feasibility report. Meredith, can you give a summary of that specific 11 acre parcel breach since. Speaker 2: The height of the high level? Speaker 1: Certainly the identify I recommended site is included in the park feasibility study. And what we did do is a rough order of magnitude due to cost for the development. And the acquisition, development, maintenance and operations. We are focused on the recommended site of the county property. And so at the 11 acres we were looking at a cost, a development cost of 291 million with some additional costs for maintenance and operations. Speaker 4: So I think that's what. Speaker 2: I needed to hear. I want to be with my 5 minutes here. So forgive me if I'm sorry. Sure. So 291 million, to put it in perspective. That's more than the rebuild of Jordan High School. That's how our community center was, about 10 million. That is a significant, significant cost. And when we talk about park equity and I'm a big champion and supporter of Park Equity, I think it's important that we think for the sake of equity, that we actually prioritize area with respect to proximity and access. If we're going to make a $300 million investment to expanding of open space, they should be in areas that are walkable to communities that don't have access to open space. And and staff. Have you done some analysis? What are the top three or four districts with the least access to open space? Speaker 5: Yes, I can answer that question. I'd also I think we're going to take a second to look at the 291. That number is a little higher than what I remember. But I will if that needs to be corrected, we'll let you know. And so we did take a look at what the we do look at Park Ridge Park acreage throughout the city. While parks are open to everybody, they're not always located in the same areas and not every area has the same amount of access. When we do look at where the the districts with the lowest amount of acreage, they really fall into districts one, six and nine. Those have between 50 acres and about 67 acres each. When you look at your highest districts, those are four, three and five. Those have between 356 acres and almost 2000 acres. And so there is a disparity, and that's something this council has embraced and acknowledged. And a lot of our park development efforts have really been focused on the areas in the past several years that have the least amount of park space. Speaker 2: So I'm gonna conclude with this because we have this five minute limit here. The disparities within east and west part of town are really driven by deep, deep disparities, hyper focus in about three areas. The town of west of the 17 north Long Beach, sort of north of the Alamo and central north downtown area. That's really where the disparity is so high. It pulls down the broader disparity between east and west, and that's where we need to continue to place our focus. There are plans we need to implement and invest in those plans. I think the 11 acres on going plot 11 have been identified. I want to acknowledge the speakers on both sides for reaching out. I think they've been they've made strong cases, particularly, you know, particularly some of the appellants. I thought Mr. Gillis offer some very realistic I mean, some reasonable requests. And so my final question I would ask is Mr. Gillis talked about a list of things if this were not to be approved tonight, I mean, if the appeal were not to be approved tonight, there were a list of requests. Our staff addressing some of those requests raised by Mr. Gill Gills or Gillis. I just wrote down Give. Speaker 6: One of the comments from Mr. Gale was about landscaping. And I think there's an opportunity to look at the on the site plan and look for opportunities to do some additional landscaping. There are walls between, you know, along the property that perhaps could be landscaped on the outside of the wall with vines to soften those edges. So that is one of the possibilities that can be looked at. Speaker 2: Let's just make sure, though, there was a list of things. Let's make sure what can't what can ever be done to accommodate those steps are taken and factored into the plan. But that said, I don't see the grounds to vote to uphold the appeal on this. I think we should continue to express our opportunities to invest in the river, but really take out the scalpel and invest in the areas that are truly our core. That's where we need to make sure that Austin Young people think. Councilman Richardson, I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you. Speaker 5: And Mr.. Speaker 2: Mayor, can we go to are we able to correct. Speaker 5: Something real quick, Mr. Mayor, before we move on to the next speaker, just that $291 million number. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 5: Thank you. Meredith, can you give a quick update on that? Speaker 1: Yes. I apologize, Vice Mayor, I misunderstood the question. So just to clarify, the information that you're looking for is on page 28 of the open space feasibility study, and it's for that 11 acres. The total development cost is $27.5 million, with some additional funding for maintenance and operation. I apologize. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. The next speaker is council member Ranga. Thank you. I'll be brief. Unfortunately, I have to disagree with Vice Mayor Richardson's comments on that. It doesn't rise to the level of. Of rejecting the appeal. I think that. When it comes to the to the appeals that were there that were presented today. And by the way, I have to thank them for a very extensive, very thorough testimony. And they provided it was very compelling. And to me, also, the responses of the of the applicant, of course, were very strong and very compelling as well. However, I think that the community is asking for one thing only. Do a full year and I in support of that because through the equal air you're going to get a lot of the information that they want because we want to be comfortable that whatever goes in that property is going there because there was a whole extensive year performed. All the concerns regarding contamination, regarding the the environmental justice issues that were that were brought up were in fact, addressed and looked at. I'm not. I know what it's going to take to build any kind of other kind of structures, various mitigation. Lots of points for that because of the contamination and the history of that area there. So I'm I'm I'm not in favor of this project. I will be supporting the the appeal under those conditions, because I think that the the E.R. will provide an opportunity for the residents to provide their ideas, their concerns and with with additional scoping that would need to take place. And that's all they want. And that's and that's what that's the direction that I'm going to be. Date. Thank you. I think next I have Councilman Mongo. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. I've had some technical difficulties. Can you hear me? Good. Thank you, Mary. I want to thank all my council colleagues for their comments this evening. I also want to thank the appellant and the. The both sides of the. Presentation tonight. I thought that there was a lot of really great testimony and the quality of those presentations was excellent. I think that one of the things that comes to mind is that there are personal property rights, and I recognize that I may want my next door neighbor's house to. Be a park, but they have some personal property rights. And I appreciate hearing a applicant who takes into consideration the requests of the community, because I do know that we've had some parcels across the city where we don't have any cooperation. And by right, they are able to do things that are not only not in the best interests of the community, but sometimes to the detriment of the community. And those are from decisions that were made a long, long time ago. I think we as a body came together during the process and. Recognized a lot of needs across the city. And while I, of course, see that there are greater needs than what the space potentially is being used for, especially with our economic downturn and the need for jobs, it's also important to recognize that each and every piece has to come together to have a greater impact and lift up the city. And so I think one of the things that's really drawing on my heartstrings tonight is the excellent efforts of Councilmember Austin and his leadership in finding a parcel of additional park space and working with the county on making that a reality. I hear his commitment to the community and making that possible, and I think that's critical and important. I think that it's unfair to talk about parks based by districts as the district that has the most park space. I'm happy to talk about it by districts, but I think that it really disproportionately disadvantages Council District four because there are areas that are just on the edge of his district, such as the nature center, that we're kind of looped in. And depending on the dividing line of any given census year, park space is added to and fro. And that really is disingenuous to the communities that live on the other side of this district that really do need additional park space. So I would just say that as a community, even if our districts are split, we should really talk about the city and the park need in regions. And I think that that would be a more. Realistic and sincere a way to describe where things are, because in the next census tract, the nature center could be in the fifth District versus the fourth District. So I think that those are some things to keep in mind. And furthermore, I want to I want to thank the community for coming together behind so many projects. I think that this project would not be what it is today without the appellant and all the requests and coordination that went into this. You really made the presentation and it sounds like had the community input along the way to ensure that that. Developer and land owner are working in tandem with the community. And I think that that's a lot about what this process is for. And so congratulations. I think a lot of big wins tonight on on what the state will look like. And I think that you'll have a big win in terms of I'm continuing to work with Councilmember Austin and his legacy to pull that all together with an additional park space with the county. Congratulations. Speaker 2: Thank you. And then finally back to Councilman Austin. Speaker 7: Thank you. I think we've had a lot of great conversation and I really appreciate the input of my colleagues. I do want to just address a councilmember your rhonda's assessment about a poor e.r. I disagree with that. And and i think there are some differences between the projects being proposed in our districts. The project being proposed in his district is a housing development, which would I think it may necessitate airport air. This is a storage facility that has low and minimal impact on community. There won't be people living there, drinking the water or anything like that. And then I wanted to just just also address Councilmember Richardson's concerns. I haven't had a chance to really talk to the applicant or the appellants since this process has been under appeal. But prior to I know the applicant has given his full support toward being a great community partner. And I know that a lot of the plans and considerations were done with the input of neighborhood association residents. I've been emphatic about them speaking to. And I'll just say throughout my time on the Council, it's been almost nine years of several, maybe a dozen different development proposals have come to my attention regarding this particular site. And when I met with the developers for proposed projects, I've always encouraged them to engage our surrounding communities, neighborhood associations and referred them directly to the most Reno's Neighborhood Association. In fact, when the city was considering the lands element in 2017, Councilmember Urunga and I received a communication from the President of the neighborhood association at the time , Mr. Bob Hill, who indicated that the board of the most serious neighborhood association like to would like the former Golf Learning Center driving range land, which is approximately 15 acres, to be zoned as light industrial instead of open space. And I quote The land uses available under light. Industrial are better for our neighborhood and better for our neighbors and better for our for the city of Long Beach. But a city staff and attorney has already indicated, even without the Neighborhood Association's input, the city could not change the zoning of the property to open space because of the objections of the property owner at the time. So private property has never been zoned open space. And I just want to be very clear with that. Let me be clear that this particular site has been industrial use for the past 100 years. Right. And for the past 14 years, ever since the driving range closed, it has been a blight, blighted and vacant site. My office has received countless complaints about nuisances and blight and from this site since it's been vacant. These include dirt, bike and off road vehicles on the weekends kicking up dust, this very contaminated dust that we now know about as well as noise contamination. And there's also been complaints about encampments and brush fires in this area, which has been a drain on our public safety services. Also heard from residents who have a direct view of this property from their homes and support this project, property project, I'm sorry, because they see it as a way to permanently remove nuisances that are a blight that they've had to endure for many, many years. And so with that council, I do appreciate that the robust conversation. And again, with all respect to everyone who've been involved in this project, the applicant as well as the appellants. I do appreciate the robust engagement. I would like to channel all of this wonderful energy that we've heard here tonight. The last two and a half hours. I'd like to channel this energy toward actually working together and building park space. And so I'm going to extend an olive branch to all of our community members and stakeholders who've been engaged here today, but also to the project applicant, because I think there's a lot of work to do and we can win together as a city. So with that, those are my comments and I appreciate your support. Speaker 2: City Council. Thank you. And your customers. And they are. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know that this is an issue of great interest to our community, and I'm glad to have heard from everyone who called in and who reached out to my office, both in support of the applicant and the appellant. I'm very appreciative of all the appellants that contacted me and met with me and really to educate me on the reasons that they were appealing this project. I also want to add, during that time that we met, you know, I, I was able to reassure them my personal commitment to open space and parks. I also want to make sure that that I you know, that even though I don't represent that area in in the Y in the eighth District, I'm very, very committed to the needs of our less west site community. I know that we are definitely on. You know, it's lacking in open space and parks in in this side of Long Beach. And not not only that, but we are also the parks that we do have. You know, I think we have a lot of violent crimes, a lot of homeless encampments, a lot of drug use and sale. And so those are, of course, for other conversations. But I think that that is something that we need to deep dig deeper into. I also want to share my many concerns, you know, about having real true access to parks in these disproportionately impacted areas. I am so happy that this the city staff went and did research. And I'm very thankful to Councilmember Austin for working with staff, working with County to actually see and and find opportunities for open space and that can be developed. I know that this is private property, so this is a very difficult and, you know, decision to be made. But I think that it is very important to to make sure that we that we followed through with helping not only find open space and parks, but maybe not on this property, but and finding them along the most needed areas. I'm particularly excited, like it's said, for the parcel of land that Steph described that we are working on and partnering with the county on. So that's that's really good. I'm I'm happy to stand in support of the efforts of my colleagues tonight. And just wanted to thank staff again for all their hard work on this project. I wanted to thank wholeheartedly the community for advocating for open space and parks, and let's continue that advocacy together and find more open space. With that, I just want to say thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 7: Yes, Mr. Mayor. Before we vote, I'd just like to just give the applicant an opportunity to make a public commitment to to to the neighborhood and the community to work on the issues of concern, to be a partner with with the stakeholder groups in the community. Is the applicant still on? And I know some commitments were made a few months ago. I want to just make sure that we hear those commitments again. Speaker 2: Councilman, I don't think the applicants or the appellants are still on, but we can. And certainly if there are if there's a question, we can always contact them. So. Madam Clerk, do you want to contact one of the appellant? I'm sorry. The applicants to see if one of them could come back on. Speaker 0: We will make that call right now. Is there a specific applicant that the council would like us to contact? Speaker 7: Mr. Paul Brown available. Speaker 0: We will contact him. Mr. Brown. Is logging in right now, if you can give him one. Speaker 2: Are you there? Speaker 0: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 2: Hello? Can you hear me? Speaker 0: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 2: Okay. Sorry. We were asked to leave the call before the voting. Al Jazeera asked to leave the confidence building. Sorry if I have a bad connection. Okay. Go ahead, Mr. Brown. Speaker 7: Thank you for joining us. Mr. Brown. I'm not sure if you were listening to the meeting, but I know, you know, we're in the community meetings and early on in the process, I know you committed to being a great of a strong, committed partner with the community as you were going to move your your headquarters here to Long Beach at the site, as well as you make commitments of, again, being rooted in our city. Several comments were made and concerns related to some some buffering esthetics, as well as studying noise from the site related to the A-line. My question to you is, will you commit to working with our community to the neighborhood association as well as community stakeholders to work on these issues as your project moves forward? Speaker 2: Yes. Council Member We will gladly work with staff on the Council to appease the concerns that were given to us tonight. Speaker 7: All right. And I do understand also that, you know, as we are considering, you know, building this 11 acres and we're in the works and building 11 acres next to your property, will there be some some access points, public access points from your property for that that that a private for that public space. Speaker 2: Yes, Councilman. We will be providing parking for our access to that future park or open space. Speaker 7: Parking. Is there a is there a trail? Speaker 2: Yes, there is. There's parking spots as well as a trail and an easement that we have been working with city staff to complete. Speaker 7: And I do believe there's also some some some open space development on your property that you're also developing that would be in conjunction with that 11 acres, is that correct? Speaker 2: That is correct, sir. Speaker 7: Well, thank you. And again, I appreciate the commitment. We look forward to working with you in the future. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. That concludes that concludes questions. We'll go ahead and now go to a vote. I have a motion by Councilmember Austin, a second about Councilman Price to approve the staff recommendation. So, Madam Clerk. Speaker 0: District one. I district to. Speaker 1: My. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District for. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 0: District five. I District six. Speaker 5: Six has a count, six is recused. Speaker 0: Thank you. District seven. Speaker 2: You may. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 2: At the No. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Councilmember Urunga, we have you as a neighbor, correct? Speaker 2: Correct. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: I'm going to get through. Item number nine, please. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Sorrell. Councilman Super Anna recommendation to receive and file a presentation in recognition of Cambodian New Year. Speaker 2: Is Councilman Zorro back on yet? She? She might not be. So if she's not on yet, why don't we come back to those? I am for has been pulled from the agenda. I'm sorry Adam. 11 has been. We'll come back to nine and ten when Councilman Ciro is back on.

Resolution

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, and consider the third-party appeals of Ann Cantrell and Anna Christensen representing the Sierra Club Los Cerritos Wetlands Task Force; Corliss Lee representing Citizens About Responsible Planning; Juan E. Ovalle representing the Riverpark Coalition; Renee Lawler representing the Historic Equestrian Trail Association of So Cal; and Robert Gill representing the Los Cerritos Neighborhood Association (APL20-004, APL20-005, APL20-006, APL20-007); Adopt resolution certifying Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND 07-20), making certain findings related thereto, and adopting a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program, and approving the Pacific Place Project at 3701 Pacific Place;

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Item number 14, please. Speaker 0: Report from Public Works recommendation or declare ordnance finding in determining that a transportation improvement fee credit is due for the Shoreline Gateway Project and execute an agreement with Shoreline Development Partners for a tariff credit and in the amount of 369,596. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading District two. Speaker 2: Kevin. Motion and a second. Can I have a. I don't see any. Public comment on this item. So let's do a roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: You have emotion in a second? Speaker 2: I do. I have emotion. Councilwoman Allen and a second by Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. District one. My district to. By District three. I district for. I District five II District six. I'm District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 7: All right. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. Item number 16, please.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance finding and determining that a credit is due against the Transportation Improvement Fee applicable to the Shoreline Gateway project located at 777 East Ocean Boulevard; and authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement regarding credit for transportation improvements made in connection with the Shoreline Gateway project, read and adopted as read. (District 2)

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Item number 16, please. Speaker 0: Report from Development Services Recommendation to declare ordnance amending the use district map of the City of Long Beach by amending portions of part ten of said map from community commercial automobile oriented to community are for end read and adapted as read district to. Speaker 2: Can I, can I get a motion in the second quarter of a motion by Councilman Allen? Can I get a second, please? Second by Councilwoman Mongo. Uh, let's see. I don't think I have any. Speaker 0: There's no public. Speaker 2: Comment. Okay, great. So let's go ahead and go to a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one I, District two. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. District six. Speaker 2: She. Speaker 1: She got an. Speaker 2: Audition. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 7: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Use District Map of the City of Long Beach as said Map has been established and amended by amending portions of Part 10 of said Map from Community Commercial Automobile-Oriented (CCA) to Community R-4-N (CCN), read and adopted as read. (District 2)

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Speaker 2: Okay. Great. Then we have item 17, please. Speaker 0: Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to adopt resolution and support of Senate Bill 603, which provides for a cannabis license deferral and waiver fee program tax credits citywide. Speaker 2: Okay, I have Councilwoman Allen. Can I get a second by Councilmember Boston. And I don't have any public comment on 17. I don't think so. Speaker 0: No public comment on this item. Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and do a roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: District one, I'm District two by district three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. I District eight. I. District nine. My motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. We're going to go back now to items nine and ten. The author of the motion would like to take those together. Can you read those both together? Madam Clerk.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution in Support of Senate Bill 603, which Provides for a Cannabis License Deferral and Waiver Fee Program; Tax Credit. (Citywide)

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Speaker 2: Thank you. We're going to go back now to items nine and ten. The author of the motion would like to take those together. Can you read those both together? Madam Clerk. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Sorrell. Councilman Super Na recommendation to receive and file a presentation and recognition of Cambodian New Year and a recommendation to recognize April 17th as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day. Speaker 2: Thank you. With that, I do have a motion by Councilwoman Sara when I have a second by Councilmember Supernormal. Why don't we turn this over to Councilwoman Ciro? Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. First, I want to thank Council member Slipknot for signing on to both items. As we both represent Cambodia Town, as some people might know, Long Beach is home to the largest Cambodian population in the United States, as well as the second largest outside of south outside of Cambodia. The Cambodian New Year Festival, which is also known as charity, is also celebrated by Lao, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and some part of India. It's a three day celebration and this year begins tomorrow, April 14th, and ends on Friday, April 16. So Saturday night, my and happy new year. It's it's a again a three day activity where there are many activities and cultural ceremonies done for Cambodians. The New Year celebration is followed by a very tragic day, April 17th, when the Khmer Rouge seized control of Cambodia and the lives of Cambodians were changed forever that day. The community have commemorated April 17th as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day to honor the lives lost and the survivors and to celebrate the resiliency of the spirit. And I ask my colleagues to support on that item and this item. Usually we have many events and festivities to celebrate the New Year, as well as a commemoration event for Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day. But due to COVID 19 restriction, we're going to honor both special events with a virtual event livestreaming this Friday, April six, 16th, called Remembrance and Renewal, honoring Cambodian New Year and Genocide Remembrance Day by celebrating Cambodian American stories. I want to deeply thank Kaylee. So who is the Long Beach, Cambodian filmmaker for agreeing to work on this project as well as in her hard work, as well as Tal Song of Asian Empowerment Association for your support and assistance with this project. This Remembrance and Renew is an interview series that shares the four spiritual stories of those who had inherited the trauma of war and how they how we continue to hope, dream, to build, thrive and celebrate as Cambodian Americans. You're going to hear this, the virtual event as it follows the story of one Cambodian student that attended Cal State University, Long Beach, in the 1960s to second generation business owners, to those serving our country in the U.S. military and many other. So I want to show a very short opening clip from this Remembrance, Remembrance and Renewal. So if we could please play that clip. Jim saw. Hello. I'm Councilwoman Sue Lee. Sorrow of Lombard City Council District six. I want to welcome you to this special day of remembrance and renewal, a celebration of Cambodian American stories and to wish you a very happy new year. During the annual Cambodian, Thai and Laos New Year, which begins on April 14 and ends on April 16th, Southeast Asian everywhere. Celebrate the arrival of spring for some. April 17th, 1975, marks the day in which the lives of Cambodians everywhere were tragically changed forever. When the Khmer Rouge marched into the capital combined and evacuated the entire population, they forced people into labor camps and murdered government officials, doctors, artists and scholars, among many others. It became known as year zero under the Khmer Rouge regime. It has been estimated that over 2 million lives were lost due to execution and starvation. Several hundred thousand Cambodians later fled their country and became refugees, resettling in countries all over the world in the hopes of rebuilding their lives. Long Beach, California, became a city that still have the largest Cambodian population in the United States of America. As daughters and sons of survivors. It is important that we never forget what happened and that we remember the lives lost during the genocide. But more importantly, we must honor and celebrate the resiliency of the spirit. We will always carry our history as we move forward to rebuild, restore and renew. To look towards a future made stronger by its past. And to take pride in a generation that can now flourish beyond its scars. A generation that now has its own path to forge its own stories to tell. Thank you for joining us and enjoy our program. Jim Lehrer. Thank you so much. So please remember to join us for a remembrance and renewal this Friday, April 16th, at 6 p.m. It will be livestream on my Facebook page and YouTube. I want to make sure we have an opportunity to see if there's any public comment and loved it and then open it up to my council colleagues if they have any comments. This is our flier for the event and the pictures of many of the stories celebrating the Cambodian American stories. Speaker 2: Thank you. Let me go to that second of the motion councilmember. I'm sorry. Controversy for now. Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'd like to thank Councilwoman Sarah for bringing these two items forward and also for inviting me to sign on to them. It is an absolute honor for me to do so and to our Cambodian community. I'd like to say Happy New Year and Jimmy to a. Thank you. Why don't we go ahead and go to public comment, then we'll come back to the council. Madam Clerk. Speaker 5: Our first speaker is Chan Hobson. Speaker 2: Hello. Happy Cambodian New Year. My name is Mark Hobson, calling on behalf of Chan Hobson, executive director of my Parent Association. I am calling in support of Council Woman Dr. Susie Cheryl's agenda. Agenda Items nine and ten. April 17, 2021 marks the 46th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge and the beginning of the Cambodian genocide. That is the day that the evacuated people from the entire capital of Phnom Penh at gunpoint, including my family. They killed government officials, doctors, artists, educators and scholars. They disrobed monks and forced them to the labor camps and severely punished the ones that were too old to work. Millions became widows and orphans. My people were severely traumatized by their experiences. We should never forget what happened over 40 years ago under the communist Khmer Rouge regime that seized government. On April 17, 1975, we must remember the over 2 million Cambodian people who perished during the genocide. And we must remind the younger generation and the world what happened during that dark period. So we are not doomed to repeat that tragedy again and again. Therefore, the parents, students, youth and community leaders joined hands together to host the virtual 46th Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Day on Saturday, April 17, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. And we invite Mayor Robert Garcia, our great city leader, to deliver the opening remarks to open the ceremony. All honorable city council members are invited to attend this Remembrance Day and to recognize the Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Week of April 17. To honor the lives lost. The survivors and their descendants for their courage and resiliency. To strive to thrive. And to build their American dream and to contribute to our city. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank your next speaker is Suzanne singing. Speaker 1: She saw a lot about mayor and council members. My name is Susanna Singham, the executive director of United Kim Voting Committee. And I would like to wish you all on this first day of Cambodian New Year, a happy Cambodian New Year. Speaker 4: So statement me. I urge you to support Councilwoman Dr. Sorrels recommendation. Speaker 1: To recognize Cambodian New Year today and to recognize April 17th as the Cambodian. Speaker 4: Genocide Remembrance Day. This week is bittersweet. Speaker 1: Bittersweet for the Cambodian community as we celebrate rebirth and future health and prosperity of our community. Speaker 4: On New Year's Day and also grieve the loss of loved ones and experienced trauma from the Cambodian genocide. By recognizing both. Speaker 1: The city honors the Cambodian community, by valuing our. Speaker 4: Vibrant culture, blessing our our future, and joining our. Speaker 1: Community in healing from past trauma. Speaker 4: We recognize today so that the Cambodian community can be seen and in being seen. The city will continue to advocate, support and ensure resources. Speaker 1: Are allocated to the Cambodian. Speaker 4: Community and Cambodia town. Thank you. Speaker 5: Think that concludes public comment for the sun. Speaker 2: Thank you. Let me go to the council councilman in Dallas. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank Profoundly Councilwoman Sorrell and Councilmember Superdog for bringing both of these items tonight. We cannot have the conversation about the contributions and the significance of immigrants to our city without recognizing and uplifting the voices, heritage and the importance of our Cambodian community. Here in the city of Long Beach, the thousands of families that escaped violence and genocide to build a home here in our city represents what the absolute best of us here in Long Beach and the absolute best of humanity. The sacrifices they made and the bravery it took for them to come to escape from over there were extraordinary. And it fills me with great, great, great pride to be able to represent a city that that helped them, that they helped build, and also said embrace them with open arms. And we continue to do so. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to reflect on the memory of those who who were lost. And I'm hoping them and their loved ones and my thoughts as we observe this day of remembrance and happy Cambodian New Year to you and to us here in the city of Long Beach. Speaker 2: Thank you. Next up is Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, too, want to thank Councilwoman Sorrow and Councilman Superdog for partnering together on this. I love the partnership, and I love how authentically Councilman Supernova takes his responsibility to represent that Cambodian community. And I love the fact that we have now a Cambodian council member who can introduce us and educate us about this culture in her own way. One of the things I love about our city is the diversity of our city, and I think that just makes us so much stronger, especially when we're introducing that diversity with with love and a lot of history, which I learned a lot today from the video and rather than in a divisive way . And I think you do that so well. And I want to thank you for that. So to our Cambodian community, happy new year. When we celebrate days of cultural significance to the very diverse communities in our city, I think we show those residents how much we appreciate them and how much they're a part of our fabric. And I'm really grateful to be part of this council, especially on nights like this, when the diversity is is bringing us together and reminding us of what makes us strong. Thank you very much and happy New Year to you council Dr. Sara and your family specifically. Speaker 2: Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to chime in. Offer my my support. Congratulations. And thanks to council members Thoreau and Council member super long on this record name recognition of Cambodian New Year today. You know, when I was a student and, you know, just moving to lobbies is one of the first things I learned was about the proud Cambodian community. I remember know, a long time ago I was introduced to the sixth district and some of the culture and some of the food and. And I learned a lot then. And I've built some, you know, lifelong relationships with members, members of the community. And and certainly, I think having you here on the city council will certainly bring a lot of pride recognition to to the Cambodian population. So I look forward to many more years of recognizing a Cambodian new year and the contributions of Cambodian community to us here in the city of Long Beach. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Councilmember Granger. Thank you. And I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, but one of the proudest moments that I have with the Catholic community is when I served as a representative for the Latino community, when we broke ground to create the UCC. And that was our way of saying, Welcome to Long Beach and welcome to America. And at the same time that we might be having a day of remembrance, we also have a day of celebration. So happy New Year. Good morning, Community. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Alan. Speaker 1: I thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank council member Ciro and Supernova for bringing this forward. I, like Councilwoman Suzy Pryce said, I love the diversity of a city, but I also love the diversity of our city council. So and I also, you know, love. Speaker 0: Growing up here. Speaker 1: Going to poly and having so many friends. So. Just happy Cambodian New Year. I'm absolutely proud to support this item and. Speaker 0: We should never forget what happened to our Cambodian. Speaker 1: Community and uplift the heritage and perseverance of this vibrant culture. So thank you so much, both of my friends and council members for bringing this forward. Speaker 2: Thank you. Council member Austin. Speaker 7: Thank you and thank you councilmember sorrow as well as supernova for bringing this forward. I want to just salute and send my love and respect to my community here in the city of Long Beach. We have a growing community in the eighth District. And I want to recognize that we have a lot of you know, our community continues to diversify and embrace our wonderful diversity, which I think is is what makes you Long Beach so unique. I've been participating in the Cambodian New Year parade for, you know, at least 20 years or so. And I'm looking forward to participating in the Remembrance and New Year and Remembrance on Saturday the 16th, and celebrating with the community, as we always do. But also, I think this year is a special year because we've had our own challenges as a as a country, as a city. And it's very, very important that we embrace and I think exude love right. In our community more than anything right now. And today it's time to do that. And so I look forward to celebrating and happy to support this item. Speaker 2: Well, thank you to everyone. Just to conclude, before we go to to the vote, I just want to add and wish, first of all, all my all my Cambodian friends a very, very happy new year. And I think we all look forward to be able to celebrate in person and to be able to just enjoy all the celebrations that we typically all participate in, the great food in person with friends all around each other. And so I know that we're all looking forward to that again. And thank you to both Councilwoman Saro and Councilmember Supernova for great representation for our Cambodian community. I mean, the heart of Cambodia town. I just want to just also just add one more thing, and that is that I've actually talked to you I've actually talked to some some folks from the media and our own city staff. And there's been a lot of conversation about diversity today, I think. And I of course, this is not been confirmed, but I'm pretty sure I did a quick scan of the city council might be the most diverse legislative body of any big city in the United States. When you look at not just the racial diversity, but the ability of people, of different abilities, of gender, of just the whole spectrum, I think I think you'd be hard pressed to find a more diverse body in the in the United States. And that's not confirmed. But I'm pretty sure it's we'll have to confirm it or get that get that looked at. But I just am very grateful to that. And I think with the with the council, in addition, I think that just strengthens that as well. And I want to oh, actually, Councilman Mungo cued up. I may have missed her. So, Councilwoman, go ahead. Speaker 3: It's okay. I tried to queue up before. I just wanted to say congratulations. I know that it's going to be an amazing celebration. I know the presentation is fantastic and it is a lot of tribute to you and the hard work that you've already put in to representing your party. So thank you so much for everything that you've already done. Speaker 2: Well, thank you. And with that, we will go ahead and take a vote. Speaker 0: District one district by district to. By District three. I District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 7: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. And then with that, we have our final item on the agenda. Actually, I think we still have open public comment. Do we have open public comment? Madam Kirk, do you want to go through those, please?

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Council to receive and file a presentation in recognition of Cambodian New Year.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. And we'll go to the last item on the agenda, which is item 15. Speaker 0: Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to the sale of flavored tobacco products red and adopted as read citywide. Speaker 2: Get this. I need a motion, please. I have a motion by Councilmember Austin. Can I get a second on this reading by the. Can I get a second, please? Second by councilman saw public comment. Our first speaker for item 15 is any taken. Speaker 1: Good evening, Mayor and city council members. My name is Annie. Speaker 4: Hagan with Tobacco-Free Kids. I just am calling and staying on the line here just to say thank you. We're in strong support of ending the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and all tobacco products sell flavored tobacco products. The sweetened minty products are really aimed to lure kids with candy flavors and unfortunately hook them for the long term. So by passing this ordinance tonight, Long Beach will join over this about 70 cities in California that have passed similar ordinances. And I just wanted to call to to thank each of you sincerely for sticking up for Long Beach kids, even in the face of industry pressure. Speaker 1: So thank you very much. Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Eva carbonara. Speaker 4: An honorable mayor and city council. My name's Eva Carbonara, a District four resident and senior. I was in high school. I'd like to begin with a sincere thank you for all your continued support in the progression of the flavor ordinance, allowing us youth to voice their concerns and experiences. Speaker 3: Involving the youth vaping epidemic. Tonight, I'd. Speaker 4: Like to again stress the urgency of this ordinance. For years, youth have suffered at the hands of big tobacco and their deadly flavored products. Even prior to the pandemic, the rise of youth vaping devastated. Speaker 3: The health of Long Beach schools and marginalized communities. And now, in. Speaker 4: Recognizing the connection between youth vaping and contraction of COVID 19, the consequences of our inaction will be even more severe. However, with the renewal of the flavor ordinance, we work to ensure the safety of our city's youth, ensuring the safety of students like me from COVID 19 and nicotine addiction alike. Finally myself, along with the Concerned Youth of Long Beach, kindly ask for your support. Support in both passing this ordinance and our efforts as tobacco educators and advocates fighting for a healthier, happier flavor for Long Beach. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 5: I think your next speaker is China pop ping pong. Speaker 4: Hi, all. My name is Geneva and I'm a student at Cal State Long Beach. Throughout my journey in academia, I've learned the harmful impact of. Speaker 1: Tobacco in our body. But in the past couple. Speaker 4: Of years, I've really seen the real world impact of how tobacco companies target youth college students like myself, LGBTQ folk. Speaker 1: And ethnic minority. Speaker 4: Communities. It is so common to see high school and college students walking around with a flavored tobacco product on one hand and their phone on the other at all times, lowering access's key flavor to hook them in and nicotine keeps them dependent. I just want to thank our amazing council members who put the health of all these communities first, saving our youth from being lifelong dependance and see that tobacco is truly a public health issue. Thank you. Speaker 2: Think your next speaker is Jakarta Robinson. Speaker 4: Beating everyone. My name is Decatur Robinson and I'm with the youth leader for Sparkle Control Coalition. I attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School in District six, Miami, now a freshman at the University of Southern California. I'm thankful for your continued support on the ban on flavored tobacco products. I've seen the epidemic of vaping among youth literally throughout my school career, and it still happens even during class. Since we're not in physical classrooms at this point in time, it would be fantastic to see the end of the glorification of flavored e-cigarettes among youth. We don't know the long term health effects of vaping, and I do not wish to see my fellow classmates become data used to prove just how awful vaping can be over time. Additionally, I'm also in support of this ban because I'm sick of seeing the black community used and killed for profit by big tobacco, specifically with menthol cigarets. The fact that 85% of black smokers use menthol cigarets. The fact that they're up to ten times more tobacco ads in black and brown communities. The fact that walking the ballpark is back in high school meant passing by smoke shops. The fact that black people are more likely to die from tobacco related illnesses despite smoking at rates similar to those of white people, is unacceptable. Your support in stopping and stopping this is encouraging, and I urge you to continue to help to help lift one of the numerous burdens that people of color already face in this country . The burden of tobacco from. Speaker 1: Black and brown communities. Speaker 4: As well as our youth. Thank you so much. Speaker 5: Thank your next speakers, Kimberly Morales. Kimberly Morales. Our next speaker is Patricia Tippett. Speaker 4: I've got one. Good evening. Seeing council. My name is that you had to be a junior who goes to junior high school. First and foremost, I will. Grad gratefully like to thank you for the support you have given on the flavor tobacco ban. I'm here to speak on behalf of the youth in Long Beach. I believe that flavored tobacco should be banned because according to research flavor. Products are more used in youth of older adults. Younger adults are 85% more likely to use favorite tobacco compared to ordering books, according to an article on the two incidents. Duckworth youth preferred the taste and smell compared to regular tobacco. This shows how flavored tobacco products can be attacked and approved to use. I urge you to approve this orients as is. Thank you for your time. Speaker 5: I think your next speaker is Primo Castro. Speaker 2: Good evening, major city council pretty Castro with the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network and strong support of this ordinance to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products and the city of Long Beach. You're taking a great step in protecting our youth, protecting the residents of Long Beach on behalf of the American Cancer Society Construction Network. Thank you. And just please, let's approve this as soon as possible. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Thank you. That concludes the agenda. We do have some some closing of new business, so we need. Speaker 0: To take a vote on this item. Speaker 2: But. Oh, I'm sorry if you're absolutely right. Let's go ahead. And I do have a motion that I really call the motion. And the second I think I did. Speaker 0: Yes, Councilman Austin and Councilwoman Sato. Speaker 2: So let's go ahead and take a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. District two. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District six. I. District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 7: II. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. And now we'll have the new business. Let's go ahead and begin with Council member Austin.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending and restating Sections 5.81.010 and 5.81.070; and by repealing Chapter 5.94, all relating to the sale of flavored tobacco products, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_04062021_21-0277

Speaker 4: We do have one hearing. So let's go ahead and hear the hearing, please. Which is item which is item 13? Speaker 1: Item 13. Report from Development Services Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record. Conclude the public hearing and determine the project. 23 for sale market rate townhomes at 2200 through 2212 East seventh Street 600 through 620 Dalton Avenue and six $21 Avenue is within the scope of the project and warrants no further environmental review pursuant to secure and declared ordinance approving a zone change. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading District two. Speaker 0: I'd like to introduce I'd like to introduce Oscar Orsi, Development Services Director, to kick off this presentation. Speaker 5: Yes, thank you. Good evening, Mayor. Members of the City Council. The following is a public hearing. The following public hearing is a request to approve a zone change for 23 townhomes located within the Rose Park neighborhood. Ms.. Patricia Defender will provide a presentation. Speaker 1: Good evening, Mayor. Vice Mayor. Council members. As mentioned the item before you is a request for a zone change from. Pardon me. Is a zone change from the K zone, which is the commercial community commercial automobile oriented zone to the CNR zone, which is the commercial residential community are for and C can zone. Speaker 0: Oops. Pardon? Speaker 1: The location of the proposed zone change area is 2202 2212 East Seventh Street and 600 to 620 Dawson Avenue. The current zoning is the key zone in the CNR zone. The site is a 0.78 acre site and currently developed with a parking lot. The subject area is designated by the general plan as the neighborhood serving centers and corridors. Moderate general plan, place type. The surrounding context is a mix of commercial institutional uses as well as some other. Some family. Some residential uses on the West Side. On January 21st, the Planning Commission held a public hearing on this item and recommend took the following actions. It recommended that the City Council approve the zone change. It also approved a site plan review, investing tentative track map and administrative use permit associated with the project. Final approval of the project is contingent on a zone change. There were a total of 17 comments received on the proposal. 14 letters of support, three letters of concern, concerns related to issues of crime, parking and displacement of the current community. The so we talked about the current zoning and the proposed zoning would be consistent with the general plan, land use place type of neighborhood serving commercial center and corridors. And as a result, that's the general plan. Land use element did identify this area as a major area of change to accommodate mixed use development and the needs for housing in the in city. And this zone change proposal would be consistent with that place type just by way of some background, even though the project specifically is not before the council. The project is a 23 unit for sale townhome project. That would be three stories in height. It has some gas parking styles that are located off side across the street. It does meet all the open space and other development standards. There was an environmental compliance checklist to the program Environmental Impact Report for the land use element prepared for this project, and it was found to have adequately analyzed the impacts which were previously analyzed in. Speaker 0: The earlier air. Speaker 1: And there would be no further impacts that have not been analyzed and no further environmental. Speaker 0: Review is required. Speaker 1: So with that, the recommendation is that the City Council determined that the project is within the scope of the previously analyzed air and declared ordinance to approve the zone change from the CCR to the end zone for the subject area. That concludes the staff presentation. Happy to answer any questions. Speaker 4: Thank you. We will go. I don't see. Is there any public is there any other comment on this? Let's go to and go to that first. There might be, too, I think. Speaker 5: But Mr. Mayor, we also have the applicant. And if you want to start with the applicant. Speaker 4: Sure. What's going to hear from the applicant? Speaker 5: Matt Hamilton. Speaker 2: Hi, this is Matt Hamilton, the project applicant. Just wanted to thank staff for all their efforts in getting us to this point. We're excited to move forward with the project and happy to answer any questions you might have. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. We have one public comment. Derek Burnham. Speaker 2: Hi. Derek Burnham with the applicant's team as well. Just, just wanted to reiterate Matt's comment that we are happy with staff moving this forward and look forward additional support tonight and are excited to build this project. Speaker 4: Thank you. Turn this over to Councilman Allen, who got a motion. Speaker 0: I thank you, Mayor. This is a very exciting project and a welcome addition to our Rose Park neighborhood. I strongly support the project and the zone change that is required. This project advances our land use goals and adds to the city's housing stock. And most importantly, the project is supported by our community. I know that there are several letters of support, including letters from the Rose Park Neighborhood Association. And in May those folks have been in close communication with my office. So just think. Thank you for all of your reaching out. I do appreciate that this is a much needed project and I know that we are all looking forward to the revitalization of this space. I would like to give a special hats off to the owner and developer Matt Hamilton, who was really exemplified how a developer should work with the city and the community on a particular project. He has prioritized community outreach and developed a really good relationship with them, with our residents. I know the people in the neighborhood know him. He has addressed each of their concerns and even offered space, outdoor space during the pandemic. So I congratulations, Matt, on a great project. I know that you have spoken to my staff and I look forward to speaking with you and meeting with you as well in the near future. I want to give a special thank you to Eric Lopez and the public works team for all the work on this project and seeing this come to fruition. And and just on a separate note, I know that many of our neighbors, our neighbors in Rose Park continue to express concerns about the traffic and the speed along Seventh Street. So we'll continue to work with that and address that. So, again, congratulations and thank you for everyone that worked on this project. Speaker 4: Councilwoman. I can have a second, please, on Councilwoman Allen's motion. I have a second buy comes from Ringo. There is no additional comment. We will go to roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 0: High. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Allen. I can swim in price. I councilman's up now. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 0: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara, I council member oranga. By Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson, motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Use District Map of the City of Long Beach as said Map has been established and amended by amending portions of Part 10 of said Map from Community Commercial Automobile-Oriented (CCA) to Community R-4-N (CCN), read and adopted as read. (District 2)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_04062021_21-0284

Speaker 4: Thank you. Number 20. Speaker 1: Item 28 Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson, Councilwoman Sara, Council Member Oranga and Councilman Austin. Recommendation two referred to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Government Personnel and Elections Committee to consider naming of the newly renovated Halton Community Center complex. The doors topsy over community center and recommend city manager to identify additional sites of significance to the African-American community for the purposes of historic preservation. Speaker 4: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Today, I'm proud to present to you a proposal for naming the newly built and renovated community center complex after mother doorstops. Before I begin my comments and share short video and acknowledge a few people, first six Bishop Council members who we sorrow. Seventh District Council Member Roberto Ranga. And Eighth District Council member Al Alston also acknowledge the steering committee members former ninth District Councilman Steve Miele. Steve and Jackie Topsy. Cecily Harris Walters. Sharon Biggs. Jackson. Marcus Tyson, Anita Dempsey, Michelle Dobson, Joanie Riggs, Odie and Wayne Chaney. Also want to thank the more than 70 community members who have signed on in support of this effort, including community community leaders like Mayor Beverly O'Neal, amid Sophia Fear, Bixby Smith, Carl Kemp and others, faith leaders including Pastor Gregory Sanders, Bishop Todd Irvin and Dr. Lee. Our word in our families neighborhood associate neighborhood leaders, including former ninth District Council member Val Lerche and press birds and the presidents of many of our ninth District neighborhood associations. I also want to thank the elected officials who took time to send in letter support today. Congressman Alan Lowenthal. Representative Annette Barragan. Senator Lena Gonzalez. Assembly Member Mike Gibson. Supervisor Janice Hahn. Thank you so much for those letters of support. And finally, thanks to the Long Beach TV team who helped put together the video we're about to see. Dennis Hunter, Nadia and Ed did a great job. And so to introduce this Mayor Topsy over mother doorstops, Joubert served as the first African-American woman on a Long Beach City Council. She was our first African-American harbor commissioner and a two time vice mayor right here in the city of Long Beach. And she's a mentor to many of us and said paved the way for many of us here in leadership. The name of the new community center housing park after this living legend is a true honor for our community. And it recognizes her legacy, her contributions and 35 years of public service to the entire city of Long Beach. She's recognized and affectionately called mother for many great reasons, the new community center complex. The site is designed to be a park that embodies the very things that she valued by community and youth and equity and improving the quality of life to residents. It also provides programing which are core tenets of her legacy programing for our communities, youth, seniors and social needs. I will continue. There's much more than I can say, but we put together a great video to share. And to be clear with this, we need to do a better job citywide and these conversations come up. We need to do a better job ensuring that our assets and our our public facilities reflect the cultural diversity of our of our community. And so this does not preclude Mother Doris from being recognized even for in other areas of town and or anyone else. And I think the second part of this motion really speaks to us being intentional about updating our our citywide historical context statement and going through a process of identifying all communities that are underrepresented through these processes to make sure that they can also be reflected in our naming process, the city wide. So that's it. I'd like to go ahead and share the view. Hi, I'm Long Beach Vice Mayor Rex Richardson, and welcome to a very special edition of Go Long Beach. We are here at the Houghton Park Community Center, right in the heart of uptown Long Beach. It's a great regional park that offers services and amenities to teens and seniors for our entire community. And I'm here to share with you a great proposal to name our new center after living legend and trailblazer Doris Topsy over mother Doris . His legacy is that of community, of public service and of equity, all things that we value right here in the city of Long Beach. And for that reason, she's deserving of this distinction and honor. But you don't have to take my word for it. Let's hear from some. Speaker 5: Folks who are closest to Mother Doris on what. Speaker 2: Makes her so special to the city of Long Beach. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Doris Topsail Ward is an amazing woman who gave generously of her time and talents. Speaker 3: Doris is truly one of the most wonderful, caring, civic minded people that I have ever met in my entire life. Doris is a community person at heart. She's been my best friend, my teacher, my mentor. Speaker 0: Doris is warm, she's generous, she's loving, and she's my mom. Speaker 3: Anybody that says has anything to say about it and there's nothing but kind words because that's the way she is. Even before I met her in person, I met her in the pages of this book that I'm holding in my hand, which is the 1949 Saint Anthony yearbook. You will see that not only were you a leader, you were a scholar. You were an athlete. There's a picture in here of Dorothy leaving a social group of students that were providing food and supplies and clothes to people who are in need in Yugoslavia. Doris was the first African-American student at seniors in high school. You opened the door for so many other people of color that followed you and emulated you and all that you were able to do. You're in the city of Long Beach. Speaker 0: The 1992. She won her bid for becoming the first African-American woman to the Lombard City Council. And then she was elected as the vice mayor. So to know her is to know a woman of integrity and a woman that kept her promises. She saw the need within several underserved communities, the children in the community like the midnight basketball games. That was one of them, to keep the kids off the streets at night from getting in trouble. She was the founder of the King Parade. She also helped to put a cover on the pool at the Kings Park, too. She went to Washington to look for that money, for that project. Speaker 3: So she was she was made the vice mayor. And after that, she left the city and went to the poor. I think her addition to the Harbor Commission back then was a new day in that we had a true person who really had a good perspective of community engagement to really have credibility in terms of addressing the very legitimate environmental issues that we had to address by back then. When that became known as the Greenport policy, Doris was very supportive in that obviously there was a commitment to address the environmental questions that we had to address, but it was more than that. It was also a commitment to engage with the community. You know, today in the year 2021, we're still talking about equity and inclusion. She was a great contributor to making sure that we're also going to lead in terms of diversity, in terms of the workforce and what our commitment was. For me, I can't wait to visit and see the community center with the name Doris Top Children. You deserve a Doris. I can't think of another person who's more deserving to have a community center named after them than you are. You truly have been at the center of the heart of this community your entire life. Speaker 0: We thank you for loving us and embracing us as family. We want all of the community to know of your generosity to the city of Long Beach. Speaker 3: You are so I love you. And I would not be where I'm at today if it wasn't for you. And that goes for everybody that has worked with her and helped her. Always been proud of you. You know you are everything you deserve. Whatever you got, come on. Because you've always been there for me. Speaker 0: I hope that everyone in Long Beach will learn something of you as we go on through time, especially the young people in our communities. Speaker 2: She's truly deserving of this honor. And now I want to share with you more about the future of Highland Park right here at Highland Park. We are reimagining the way we deliver services to our broader community. We are integrating a workforce center, a health care clinic, a new signature playground, and plans to restore the original building and build a brand new indoor gym to serve the youth of our community. So that's what's happening at Highland Park. I'm Vice Mayor Rex Richardson. I want to thank you for watching. Go Long Beach. Thank you. Thank you. I'm happy to make the motion and. Yeah, thank. Speaker 4: You. Thank you. There's a motion on the floor and I have a second by Councilman Ringo. Contrary. Speaker 3: Ringo Thank you, Mary. And I want to thank Vice Mayor Richards for bringing this forward. Before Doris was my friend and collaborator, she was my opponent. We ran against each other in 1988. That's how far I go back with her. 32 years, 33. We ran for school board. We neither of us won, but we became close friends almost, almost immediately from then on. And she became very close in my career. As I move forward to see you all meet, she became a commissioner in the Civil Service Commission who for whom I worked and I was actually under her leadership. I became the recruitment officer, which I always talk about in the city. It was through her leadership that I got there, and of course the rest is history as city council vice mayor or commissioner. And I was glad to see Ralph in that very nice mayor because I haven't seen Ralph in a long time. And we are stories with that. So more than happy, very pleased to support this item and looking forward like everybody else to the naming of the community center for Vice Mayor Gore stops. He retired. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and I am excited and honored to sign on in support of this item. I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Richardson, for bringing it forward as well as the my other colleagues for signing on. This is a real honor for a true trailblazer and somebody who is well deserving of a name. I want to just say this is a special proposal for a very special person. She's a civic leader who is truly an icon in our city and particularly the black community. She was the first black woman to serve on the city council. She did so honorably. She represented our district in a in a strong manner. She was the first person to really introduce the idea and the concept of equity. If you know Mother Dorothy and you know that lives she impacted the city employees through the careers that she has has helped foster through her leadership. It is amazing. It's an amazing story. And, you know, I don't think I have time to die within my time, so to speak, on all of those accomplishments. But there are countless number of individuals who can step forward and tell you of the influence that she's had on their lives, their careers and families throughout the city of Long Beach. Our contributions in our city are broad and deep, and they go well beyond her service on the city council as an elected leader. They go beyond her service as the harbor commissioner and vice mayor. She she is somebody who has given, as we mentioned, the student at Saint Anthony. She was engaged, involved. She was a young leader and has been a public servant really all of her time in the city of Long Beach. And so I'm I'm honored to sign on to this. There's a bit about Doris that was left out here, too. I just want to just commend her for her constant. Commitment to celebrating and preserving history. She was the founder of the African American Heritage Society, along with the late Indira Hale Tucker that is currently in existence still at BURNETT Library. And there still is an organization that is very active and relevant in our city today. And personally, Dorothy has always been a great sounding board, a mentor, someone who cares deeply about this city and shares the history I have. I consider she is a neighbor who lived within walking distance. I was watching March Madness a couple of weeks ago with her on Saturday at her home, watching basketball games and chatting it up and always getting nuggets of advice, but also understanding of the rich history in our city. I think that's very, very important for all of us as leaders to have somebody like that to bounce ideas off of, but also to get advice from as well. And I just appreciate the relationship that I've personally been able to have with her and her family. I'm glad to call her one of my favorite eighth District constituents and neighbors, and I'm proud to sign on in support of this this wonderful item. Congratulations, and thank you for bringing it forward, Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank Vice Mayor Richardson for his leadership on this item, as well as all those who submitted letters of support and supporting this item, as well as by council member Yarrawonga and Austin. And I enthusiastically support the naming of Doris Topsy Alvord Community Center while she was a former Long Beach Council District Council member. Ultimately, she's a city of Long Beach civic leader and an important figure for many young women of color that looks up to her, such as myself. So she's more than deserving of this honor. And just as the first Cambodian woman council member, I look up to her as a trailblazer in setting the foundation and pathway for our many leaders. And I truly believe that the naming of our building should be reflective of leaders and people in our city. And so I'm certainly supportive of identifying additional sites of civic significance to the African-American community and all other underrepresented community for the purpose of historic preservation and landmarking and inclusion in our updated citywide historic context statement. So for that, I again just I'm so glad to see this moving forward, and I'm just really happy to help in any way I can. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Thank you. We'll go ahead and take a roll call vote on this, Madam Clerk. And as we do so, I just want to also just congratulate everyone, then Vice Mayor Richardson and everyone that signed on to do this effort. Of course, Vice. As we know, our mother, Doris, but Vice Mayor, Doorstop Silver is a legend really in our history and in really in present time as well. I think the one thing that was said that I just want to add to is, ah, her influence and really leadership within the African-American community is something that's very lasting and that our our black community, our black leadership for African-American, our history has so much in her work. And so I'm grateful to be supportive. But also just want to thank all of you for bringing this forward as well. So real. Speaker 2: COLBERT This. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Cindy has. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Price. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mango. I can swim in Zara. I council member Tauranga. I can swim in Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. All right. Bush and Kerry's.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to approve renaming the community center at Houghton Park the "Doris Topsy-Elvord Community Center".

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_04062021_21-0282

Speaker 4: Great. Thank you very much. Item 18, please. Speaker 1: Item 18 Communication from Councilwoman Allen, Councilwoman Zendaya's and Councilwoman Price recommendation to discuss the possible transfer of the Operation and Control Pier eight from the City Council to the Harbor Commission. Speaker 4: Great. Thank you. Let me turn this over to Councilman Allen. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor. I am proud to introduce this agenda item and explore the possibilities of transferring power to the Harbor Commission. I want to make sure that the discussion is public and transparent. And tonight's discussion is a first step to beginning these transparent conversations. Public engagement is going to be key. And this process. Staff will come back with a report with detailed recommendations as well as next steps. I would like to thank my colleagues, Councilwoman Pryce and Councilwoman Cindy Haas, for signing onto this item. And also just a special thank you to Councilwoman Price for all of her efforts over the years on this on this topic. I believe that our harbor department is well equipped and experienced to handle leases and development on the pier on the piers. I also transfer locally appointed harbor commissioners to represent our community's best interests. Our city attorney has carefully looked over the legality of this discussion, and he says that there are no legal impediments to the discussion. I have also talked to up to the hotels and the event venues on here H and a question they have is how specifically the city and the harbor will manage their permits and developments, inspections and just other items related to the hotel and the event uses uses. So I would please request and kindly ask that staff include this in the report and work with the hotels and the event venues. I look forward to hearing back with more information on the analysis in 60 days. Thank you very much. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank Councilman Allen for bringing this forward. It's been a true pleasure to get to work on the issues surrounding specifically the Queen Mary and the site with her since she joined the council. And I want to commend her on how proactive as she has been on this topic. And again, it's been it's been a true pleasure for me to work alongside her as we think about the future of of the ship and, of course, the land around the ship. And the one thing I wanted to ask is I just wanted to ask counsel our staff, as we move this project over to the harbor department, I just want to make sure that the stakeholders that are in that area are consulted regarding future developments and just make sure that they have a seat at the table in terms of what future development of Pier H can look like, what type of uses, because I just want to make sure that we're being as creative as possible. I think we all understand that that is a very, very valuable city asset and we want to see it realized to its fullest potential. Not just the ship, but the land is really what I'm talking about. And I hope that Councilwoman Allen is okay with that. I just want to make sure that the stakeholders have a seat at the table in terms of potential development opportunities and partnerships. And that's all I wanted to share. Speaker 4: Thank you. Let me go to I believe we have one member of the public. They want to speak. Speaker 5: Yes, we have Michelle Grubbs. Speaker 0: Hi. Good evening. Good evening, Mayor. City Council members. My name's Michelle Grubb, and I'm the vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. Operation of the Queen Mary for the last 29 years have passed through multiple organizations, resulting in disappointment, bankruptcies and failure. Now, almost 30 years later, the city wants to transfer it back to the port with an estimated repair cost of $289 million. The audit report, released last week by the city auditor regarding the lack of documentation of 23 million in repairs is another example of the disappointing history and only heightens our concern based on specific goals from . Garcia and Governor Newsom. The Port of Long Beach is transitioning to zero emission. The port's Clean Air Action Plan estimates it will cost $14 billion to transition equipment and infrastructure to zero emissions over the next decade. The tenants and customers of the port are struggling to find a way to transition to zero emissions and remain a competitive gateway. In addition, the port's priority is to develop an $800 million Pier B rail yard, which is critical to achieve their environmental goals and attract discretionary cargo. Both of these major investments will take the focus of the management team to ensure the port is a successful economic engine. Moving forward, the port has a world class management team and international trade, not in overseeing hotel and tourist attractions. These are fundamentally different skill sets, the city attorney memo states. Since 1992. Two things have changed that support the transfer pier back to the harbor. First, primary port use has been developed as a cruise facility. And second, the Port Master Plan has an increased focus on visitor serving and recreational uses. These two items are not new. In fact, in the 1998 Port Master Plan, Section six, it says the goal for the Queensway Bay Planning District meet demand for appropriate visitor service facilities and recreational activities and develop a cruise facility. It's time for an honest discussion of whether this ship is a viable attraction to MSA request. The city undergo a structural and environmental survey before a discussion about transferring it to the port of Long Beach. The costs and liabilities involving the Queen Mary need an independent and transparent process and need to address how the port will also be able to meet their zero emission and Pier B financial goals. I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you very much. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment. Speaker 4: Think you were going to go have to go back to the counsel. I'm going to make a couple of comments now that the motion has been made. And then let me I'll turn it back over to those that are chewed up before I commented. Councilman's in the house when it was on item. I want to comment first and then I'll go after. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say thank you to Councilmember Allen and Councilmember Price for bringing this this item also forward. And I think it's it's very timing. I and I think that we it's a great thing that we're actually exploring the possibility of transferring it to the Harbor Commission. Like like we said, they are very, very capable of being able to handle this. So I'm excited to see what that possibility looks like in the near future. So thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. But I just wanted to just to add of course, I want to thank first just Councilwoman Allen. You kind of just came right in and I know are very interested in taking on this challenge, and we appreciate that. I just wanted to uplift both you and something, Councilman Price. And Councilman Price. I also just want to thank you. I think you've been very active in this work, and so it's been great to see both you and Councilwoman Allen engaged and really trying to come up with some positive solutions moving forward. So I just want to thank you, Councilman Pryce, also for your extensive work, particularly around all the title of work that we're doing. I just wanted to uplift something. I think it's important just to note, obviously, I think we know that prior to the early 1990s, all the Pier H was under that kind of leadership of the Harbor Department of City One, which of course the harbor department is still part of the city of Miami Beach. But of course it is a separately run, a special department by operated by its own commission. The appearance, of course, is more than just the Queen Mary. We are talking, of course, about the park. We're talking, of course, about the Carnival Cruise Line terminal, the enormous amount of land that exists. Absolutely, of course. And the all the land around the block development opportunity land around around the Queen Mary. But also there's incredible hotel and tourism properties that are all on the same site. And so pure H, as a reminder, is broad. It's a it is a pier. And I think one thing that I'm in the conversations with Councilman Price and Councilman Allen have you know, we've discussed is that the folks who manage Piers are the best in our city is our harbor department. And they they they don't know this work. They do this work. And so I think this is a really an important just first step in getting information back from staff on how this would what this would look like, what a transfer could entail, and then getting the council engaged in that process, of course, and I know that throughout this process, I know that the Council and I are committed to ensuring that the city auditor remains an active partner in this process. She, she and we have discussed and she has discussed this possible port transfer as well with Councilmember Allen and others. And I know that she is supportive of exploring this as an option as well. I mean, as is the port and I've been I've had some conversations with our our chief executive there, and he's looking forward to doing the research and then working with the city to put some more information in front of the council and in front of the Harbor Commission, which I think is the most important thing, to just want to thank everyone for their from gathering committee to kind of gathering this information. And with that, let me turn it over to Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to take a minute and offer my support, I think. You know, we're a city that's blessed and fortunate to have a harbor department. And although none of the nine members of the city council, the mayor, where we're here for the discussions about acquiring the Queen Mary here to Long Beach, I think it doesn't preclude us from exploring what I think makes a lot of common sense. Aligning the Queen Mary, a ship with a department whose main business is ships and the tide lands in the harbor and all that. So. So I think that certainly makes a lot of sense. And I wanted to offer my support. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilmember Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 3: Thank you, Barry. And I want to thank the council members who stand up to this is very important for the Queen Mary in terms of its future. And I think it's a brighter future when it's with poor language. I also want to make a note that the it's within it's going to be before it is actually and always has been within the jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission, of which I serve. And I'd be more than happy to actually support any project that's there that I know that going to be coming forward in development when it comes to the Queen Mary and any other items that come before that your age. So looking forward to continuing the development of the Queen Mary and. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilmember Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. First of all, I'd like to just congratulate my colleague, council member Alan, for hitting the ground running and taking really the bull by the horns and taking on a tough issue, a challenging issue, an issue that has been a challenge for the city council for many, many years. I'll just say it is very refreshing to have a clear eyed council member who is engaged, particularly on this issue of the Queen Mary. So salute you for that. And I really support innovative thought when it comes to problem solving and dealing with our challenges. And I think I see this as a as an innovative concept. I'm looking forward, obviously, to getting all of the details back and and encouraging our staff to do the great work that they do around this and understanding what the details are. But but I certainly support this moving forward to to studying this. And hopefully we get to a place, a better place with that asset here in our city. And I'll just mention that I don't see too much separation between the Harbor Commission and the city of Long Beach. I'm looking out my office at the Harbor Commission. They're very much connected with the City of London. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. Many know from discussions in closed session over the years that district residents, while far from the port, do have a passion for the Queen Mary and the history that comes with it. I mean, many of their ancestors that came over on the Queen Mary and we're excited to see a new opportunity and are very supportive of this item. Speaker 4: Thank you. And with that we will go ahead and do a Rokakis. Speaker 1: Councilwoman sandy has. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Sabina a bona. Speaker 2: Fide. Speaker 1: Councilwoman. Mongo. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 1: Bush and Kerry's. Speaker 4: Thank you. Now we're moving on. We're going to do all the final transfer items in one item and then we'll read them all and do comment. Those are items 14, 15, 16 and 21, unless there's any objection. Those are all the points transfer items. We'll do those all as one item. This is here. Any objection from the council? I do not. Madam Clerk, please read 14, 15, 16, 17 and 21.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to discuss the possible transfer of the operation and control of “Pier H” (including the Queen Mary) from the City Council to the Harbor Commission; request Harbor Commission to review and consider acceptance of the transfer of Pier H as outlined in the memo from the City Attorney, dated March 10, 2021; and request City Manager to work with Harbor Department staff on providing necessary information and documentation for review and to report back to the City Council in 60 days.

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Speaker 4: We'll do those all as one item. This is here. Any objection from the council? I do not. Madam Clerk, please read 14, 15, 16, 17 and 21. Speaker 1: Item 14 is community. Item 14 Communication from Councilman Price. Recommendation to increase appropriation in the Public Works Department by 7500 to provide funding for the installation of speed cushion on Examiner Avenue between Broadway and Second Street. Item 15 is communication from Councilmember So Pinol. Recommendation to increase appropriation in the Public Works Department in the amount of 2500 to install a new street light in the fourth Council District. Item 16 is communication from councilman have been a recommendation to increase appropriation in the city manager department by 500 to provide a donation to Cambodian Town Inc for the 2021 Virtual Cambodian Town Parade and Cultural Festival. Item 20. 17 Item Seventeen's Communication from Councilman Super NA recommendation to increase appropriation in the city manager's department by 500 to provide a donation to CSU LP 49 year foundation for the second annual Wings of Hope virtual event. Item 21 is communication from Councilwoman Mango. Recommendation to increase appropriation in the Public Works Department in the amount of 2500 to support a critical needs. Safety improvement in the Fifth District's. Speaker 4: Thank you. I have a motion by Councilmember Supernova to approve the items in a second by Councilman Price. Councilman Supernanny comments. Speaker 2: No. Just you, sir. Speaker 4: I appreciate everyone's support. We have some charitable contributions here and a street light. Speaker 2: So there's the breadth of these motions. Speaker 4: Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 0: I just want to acknowledge the residents who are going to be the hopefully the beneficiaries of this traffic mitigation enhancement that we're installing at this location. This was truly such the quintessential democratic process. The residents got together. They had multiple meetings with me and my team and really advocated for this. And then they did their own community outreach. And I'm just really grateful to to them, to the residents for bringing this forward. And I just want to give a huge thanks to Carl Hickman and Elias Garcia from our traffic team, who really have helped us a lot with this issue and everything that they do. We'll see if this works. It's a pilot program, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to fund the pilot and to have the residents support and traffic support to do it. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Counselor. Murray. Ringo. Speaker 3: Look, Simon, thanks for the good. Speaker 4: Luck and councilmember Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. This recommendation comes from our police department in partnership with one of our local community groups. And I'm very supportive and I really appreciate the number of comments we receive from the community in support of this item. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes council comment. There is some public comment. I believe we might have a public comment for item 16 and public comment for item 21. Speaker 5: Yes. We have Patricia to Pat for item 16. And. Oh, there we go. Patricia to Pat. Speaker 0: Cooney. Yeah. Sorry. Good evening. Same console. My name's Patricia, but I'm here to speak on behalf of the youth and which I believe that tobacco should be banned because according to research paper, products are more used in young adults than older adults. Younger adults are more likely to use. Favorite product by 85% compared to older. Speaker 2: Adults. Speaker 0: Who mostly use 10% to 20%, according to an article. On Truth intuitive Blackhawk youth prefer sweet taste and snuff compared to regular tobacco. This shows how flavor products can be addicting. I urge you to pick this audience as it is. Thank you for your time. Speaker 5: I think your next speaker. Sorry. Our next speaker is for item 21. Carol Mayor. Speaker 0: Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Carol Meyer, living in the third district and I am first vice president of the Long Beach Community Garden. And speaking on behalf of our 15 member board and 300 garden members, we are asking for support of an allocation to improve security. In one of the corners of our garden, we unfortunately have experienced theft by people without homes. They come into the garden at night and opportunistically steal vegetables, tool machines and other equipment purchased either by the garden. Speaker 2: Or. Speaker 0: Personally by the members. This garden is a gem that many Long Beach residents don't even know existed. It is nine acres and likely the largest community garden in Southern California. We work very closely with the city through our Councilperson Stacie Mango and the city department, particularly the Department of Parks and Marine. We have members from every city district. We provide fresh, organic vegetables year round for our family and friends. Further, we do share the garden members contribute over £60,000 of vegetables to the Long Beach Rescue mission on an annual basis. During COVID, we were inundated with requests for membership, and all plots are now assigned with 35 applicants on the waiting list. The garden was an oasis during COVID for its members, some with with us. For nearly 40 years it has been and continues to be that peaceful, productive place. We request your vote to secure critical funding to deter nonmember entry where access is most frequently violated. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker for item 21 is Milton Johnson. Speaker 2: Give me a favorite. Sure. Speaker 4: There's a comment that says you guys are a good unanimous vote. Speaker 0: Mr. Mayor, you're not muted. Speaker 4: Oh, thank you. Thank. Speaker 5: And that concludes public comment for this item. Mr. Mayor, that concludes some time for all these items. Speaker 4: Yeah. Councilman Price is up next. Okay. Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm sorry, but I didn't realize that we were talking about item 1/2. Item number 29. The flavored tobacco ban. Is that up for a vote right now? Because we had some public comment on it. Speaker 5: No, that was not. Speaker 2: That comment was was attributed to item 16, which was my item. And the comment did not relate to the item of my. Speaker 0: I understand. Okay. Thank you. Then I have nothing. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Please roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. I'm Councilwoman Allen. I'm Councilwoman Pryce. I Councilman Sabina. I Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Zahra, Council Member Oranga. Speaker 3: By. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Now we're going on to item number 19, please.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Public Works Department by $7,500, offset by the Third Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide funding for the installation of speed cushions on Ximeno Avenue between Broadway and 2nd Street; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $7,500 to offset a transfer to the Public Works Department.

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Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Now we're going on to item number 19, please. Speaker 1: Adam 19. Communication from Councilwoman Ellen. Council Member Oranga and Vice Mayor Richardson. Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution in support of SB 603. Speaker 4: Thank you. Councilman Allen. Speaker 0: Thank you, mayor, and thank you vice mayor Richard said that and council when you're ringa for signing on to this item, I introduce this item because I think our city needs to lead the way and I know we have already when it comes to supporting social equity programs and council members. You have been at the lead of this. This bill, Senate Bill 603 provides a tax credit and makes it easier for equity businesses to operate in the cannabis industry. And as you know, legal cannabis operators face a host of regulations and requirements from growing standards to product testing, licensing fees and city taxes. And these are daunting challenges for the cannabis industry and businesses. For equity applicants, there are major barriers, particularly against the illicit market, and the illicit market continues to thrive and undermine the legal operators. By providing this modest tax credit. This bill will help equity dispenser dispensaries stay in business, meet all the state requirements and pee in the illicit market. So ultimately, this bill will help the equity businesses play a larger role in their communities. And we all have a responsibility to support equity programs. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilmember Durango. Speaker 3: I want to thank Castmember well for bringing this forward. Social equity has been a big issue for us for a long time now, and it covers all aspects of our of our city audiences. I think it's important that we review this and that and are looking forward to looking at it even further at the state level when it comes to us and come back with a recommendation. So I thank you that Councilmember Aloe. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. And I appreciate Councilman Allen for bringing this item. I chose not to sign on at the time because I wasn't quite clear if we were at the final stages of the bill or if there would be significant amendments. I know that there have been significant amendments to other items. And so I guess I'm hoping and I know we've just reorganized all of our committees. I'm hoping that we can get continual updates on the progress of the item and if it changes. Oftentimes these things happen and major changes take place. And so while I will be supporting that item today, I would like the state ledge to have an overarching statement of what our position of support is on items like this and should the item get too far out of the range of the policy statement of this Council and what we support that then our support would change to no support should a bunch of fillers be added to the item that are not in alignment with the Council's current strategy. So but I do appreciate that item. No hard feelings that I didn't sign on because the legislative process is a quite unwieldy one at the state and federal level right now. And so it just makes me nervous to support any particular item by number, but I will support it at this time in hopes that we can continually get updates as Councilmember Ortega said. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I'll be brief. Thanks for inviting me to sign on. I think it's you know, obviously, these issues are to evolve, evolve since the legalization of cannabis. I'm happy to support this and I look forward to continuing to follow it. Thank you. Speaker 4: Kathryn Austin. Speaker 2: Yes. I'd like to just say say I think this is interesting, Bill. Certainly it meets the spirit and and the the the direction that our city is definitely headed in when it comes to cannabis equity. I see it as a real benefit to potentially many new new cannabis license holders to encourage them to to. To open businesses, but also to B, b, be successful in what they do. Senator Bradford has brought this bill forward. I do believe that there are options and opportunities for there to be changes in the bill. And, you know, certainly as to two of the three members of the state lands committee have signed on in support. So I'm going to support this as well. But obviously, should should there be some sort of dramatic change, I'm sure will be notified and staff will make us aware. And I assume excuse me, like I said earlier, I do believe that this this legislation is in line with our state led agenda to promote social equity in our city. So thank you. I'll support. Speaker 4: Thank you. Let's do public comment if there is any on the of first. Speaker 5: Speaker is Elliot Lewis. Speaker 2: Hello. This is Elliott Lewis. I'm CEO of Catalyst Cannabis Co, also a lifetime resident of Long Beach. I always love having an agenda item because I get to sit through the meetings and listen to all the great stuff. I want to applaud the mayor for his inspirational discussion regarding the border crisis. I'm here to talk about SB 603. I want to give a shout out to Cindy Allen for championing this issue, as well as Councilman Richardson and Durango for signing on. It's really important to get these letters of support. I love to see Long Beach being the first one to get a letter on this item. The city of L.A. is supposed to be right behind, and there should be some other cities supporting as well. And these are very important. So the state knows that, in fact, we're behind the issue. There's still a lot of work to do at the state, but the city showing support is very important. Again, I love to see lobbies leading on the equity issues. The war on drugs has been a bad thing that disproportionately impacted communities of color and municipalities. Taking action is very important. Catlett has been also very outspoken and very public about its opinion on adding brick and mortars, and we applaud the city for their vote a couple of weeks ago. While this is a huge step and we think it's symbolic and there are some people that will benefit, we do think this will be a small amount of people compared to the entire population that was incarcerated around the war on drugs. So we want to see the conversation get broader on the equity issue, from expungement to job training to community outreach to reentry, etc.. SBO SB 603 is important part of breaking down barriers, giving social equity applicants a better chance to be able to compete in the marketplace. And it also illuminates how nuanced and broad the issue can be. Myself and Catalyst Cannabis Co are in support of it. We applaud the Council for their letter of support as well, and we give our word and we will continue to do our best to support this through our connections at the State. Thank you very much for letting me speak. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker, Steven Contreras. Hello, everyone. Speaker 2: Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, city council members. My name is Steven Contreras and the community outreach director for the Long Beach Collective Association. I would just like to say that LBC supports SB 603 that will provide a deferral or a waiver of an application fee, a licensing fee or or a renewal fee otherwise required by a division or a need based applicant or a needs based licensee. In addition, the LBC also supports AB 1138 and SB 59. If SB 235 is amended, it will also have LBC support. I'd like to thank you for your time. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you. To can go ahead and take a vote. I want to thank Councilman Allen for leadership on this. Certainly an innovative bill coming out of the legislature and members. Please go ahead and cast your votes. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Cindy, have I? Councilman Allen. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pryce. I in Sabina. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you. I think we still have do we have a few folks that are signed up for general public comment? I remember. Speaker 5: Yes. We have someone on the line.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution in support of SB 603, which establishes a cannabis license deferral and waiver tax credit, and request City Manager send a letter communicating the City’s support of SB 603.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. I think we have one more item here. Item 29, please. Speaker 1: Item 29 is communication from City Attorney. Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to the sale of certain flavored tobacco products within the city of Long Beach. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading Citywide. Speaker 2: Thank you. Moved by Councilmember Price and second by Councilman Ranga. Councilmember Price is. You want to speak to this? Speaker 0: Yes. Thank you. Our office has been working with the city attorney's office on amending some of the language. So if I can please have the city attorney's office share with us the latest update on the proposed language change. Good evening, council members. This is Taylor with the city attorney's office. It was brought to our attention that some other jurisdictions have faced legal challenges regarding some of the language that had been included in the ordinance. So to avoid similar legal challenges. Our office is recommending the following changes and to adopt the ordinance as amended on the floor in section 5.81.010.8 on page six, lines 21 through 22. Strike characterizing flavor includes flavor in any form mixed with or otherwise added to any tobacco product comma, including electronic cigaret. In Section 5.81. 010s on page ten at lines 15 through 17. Strike Tobacco Product Flavor Enhancer means a product designed, manufactured, produced, marketed or sold to produce a characterizing flavor when added to a tobacco product in section 5.81. 070f on page 11 at line 22, amend the phrase to offer for sale, to read, to sell in section 5.81. 070f on page 11 at lines 23 through 24 strike or a tobacco product flavor enhancer in section 5.81. 070f3 on page 13 at line five, strike or Tobacco Product Flavor Enhancer. And finally in section 5.8, 1.07.4 on page 13 at line eight, strike comma, including tobacco, product flavor enhancers and were available for any other questions that you may have. Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilman Ringa. Speaker 3: No comment other than I know that our Department of Health and Human Services is very much on top of this as well. So I'm looking forward to that. There are monitoring this is monitoring our our response. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman Austin. I support. I signed on to the motion, but I'm full support of this with the better enough. Thank you. Was there any public comment on this item? Speaker 5: Yes. Our first speaker is Isabella Carroll. Speaker 0: Hello and good evening, Honorable Mayor and mayors of the City Council. My name is Othello Carol. I live in District five. I'm also a volunteer ambassador for American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. I applaud the city for taking steps to protect our youth from the dangers of flavored tobacco products. As a mother and a grandmother, I am deeply concerned about the dramatic increase of e-cigarette using usage among our youth. And it is unconscionable that tobacco products are the number one cause of premature death in the United States because it's so preventable. I strongly believe that protecting our youth from tobacco initiation and addiction is one of the most important public health actions policymakers can take. Flavored tobacco products are driving this unprecedented increase in the usage. So in closing, I respectfully urge you to pass a strong ordinance to permanently end the sale of all flavored tobacco products without exemptions. Exemptions for any product will weaken the ordinance, creating loopholes for young people to access flavored tobacco products that can lead to a lifetime of tobacco addiction. Thank you, everyone, for your time. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Annie Hagan. Speaker 0: Hello. This is Annie Pagan with Tobacco-Free Kids. Good evening, mayor and city council members. We are in strong support of ending the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and all flavored tobacco products. These sweet and minty products are aimed to lure kids with candy flavors and hook them for the long term. Ending their sale is a critical step that will protect Long Beach kids from the unrelenting efforts of the tobacco industry. Took them to a deadly addiction, and the tobacco industry would like nothing more than to scare the city council into believing this is a more more complicated than it is. This is a commonsense solution. The policy simply removes the flavored products that are most attractive to kids while leaving unflavored products on the shelves. It's a fair solution that will protect our kids and vulnerable populations. By passing this ordinance, Long Beach would join over 60 and maybe 70 now cities in California that have passed similar ordinances. So I thank you, each of you, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart for sticking up for Long Beach kids, even in the face of industry pressure. Thank you so much. Speaker 5: Think your next speaker is Alexa warming. Speaker 0: Good evening, Mayor Garcia and council members. My name is Alexa Warman. I'm with the American Heart Association. I'm here tonight to support a strong policy to protect Long Beach kids from tobacco addiction, disease and death. Ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products is key to reducing youth tobacco access and youth sweet kid friendly flavors like mango , mint, menthol and cotton candy mask. The harshness of tobacco products make them seem safer and are highly appealing to youth. In fact, over 80% of kids who use tobacco started with a flavored product. The tobacco industry knows this and uses this information to target children. The industry has even called high school students their, quote, replacement customer customers. This is unacceptable and cannot continue. All flavored tobacco products, including flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarets, flavored hookah, cigars and smokeless tobacco are hooking kids into nicotine addiction. We need your help to reduce access to these deadly products at the retail level with your commitment to a strong flavored tobacco policy. Long Beach can better support our youth and overall community well-being. Please put our kids health over tobacco profits. Speaker 5: Inc. Your next speaker is David Ross. Speaker 2: Very. Good evening there, Garcia and city council members. My name is David Ross. I've been a Long Beach resident for about 40 years. I'm also a volunteer for the American Heart Association and was the chair of their board of directors. The American Heart Association supports ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products as an evidence based policy to reduce youth tobacco use. It's clear that the tobacco industry is actively and aggressively working to addict new customers, using flavors to target youth, people of color and the LGBTQ community into a lifetime of nicotine addiction. So e-cigarettes are the most common tobacco product used by middle and high school students. Kids are also using flavored cigars, cigarets hookahs and chewing tobacco at alarming rates. All flavored tobacco products are appealing to kids. They're highly addictive and they are deadly. Both of my parents started smoking in high school. Both my parents were killed by tobacco. My mother at age 61 and my father when he was only 47. We need bold action to prevent a new generation of nicotine addiction, disease and death. I urge the Council the health of our kids and families first by ending the sale of flavored tobacco products here in Long Beach. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ed Sanders. Speaker 2: If evening council members know that. My name is Ed Sanders with the Coalition of Los Angeles Families Fighting Flavor and Tobacco. I would like to urge you to enact this ordinance that ends the sale of flavored tobacco, including menthol flavored cigarets as well. I think you've heard from other speakers the obvious threat to young people is clear. I know you will hear from opposition that ask you to look at how this impacts businesses. But I think it's important to point out how we as a community need businesses that could products that benefit the health of a community. And when we're looking at flavored tobacco, this is a product that is high in nicotine. It's addictive and it leads to poor health. It is, you know, still the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. Flavored tobacco is used to entice new customers to this product. And then when you start looking at menthol in a more insidious way, it's targeted at vulnerable communities, particularly the African-American community. I think you, as a legislative body can take strong action. I think you've heard how over 60 to 70 municipalities throughout California have already acted. This is a growing movement, but it is a growing movement that says that. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speakers, Eric Bache. Speaker 2: Good evening, Mayor Garcia and city council members. Again, my name is Eric Batts from the vice president of advocacy for the American Heart Association. And I you know, I really just wanted to call in tonight and applaud you all for considering taking this action. You know, the national dialog right now has focused on holding those accountable who abuse and harm our communities, and that includes big tobacco. I had a chance to read the article that was in the Press Telegram today by the Circle K owner. And I got to say, I couldn't believe that the author would say that this policy would make it difficult for businesses to survive. I mean, what about Long Beach residents? I mean, should we not consider measures that will help Long Beach residents survive and really thrive for that matter? Selling flavored tobacco. It's not an honorable endeavor, and it certainly doesn't contribute to the health of Long Beach. The bottom line is that flavored tobacco products attract youth, nicotine addicts them. And when you put flavored tobacco together with nicotine, you know you're setting our youth up for a lifetime of addiction and health problems. Tobacco use contributes to more deaths and disease than any other product. And menthol is the deadliest of all tobacco products. So during a time when we're all being asked to do what we can to protect the health of our communities from COVID, you know, we can also keep our community safe and healthy by restricting the sale of all flavored tobacco products. You know, every day that goes by without this policy, another Long Beach child can start a lifetime of nicotine addiction. So making it harder for Long Beach youth to get their hands on these products the right thing to do. And I respectfully ask. Speaker 5: Thank. Think your next speaker is Jakarta Robinson. Our next speaker is John Kindred. Speaker 2: Keep up the. Good evening. Mayor and city council members. My name is John Kendrick. I live on the borderline of District One into an area that is most populated by the damage. Health wise, environmental wise, on this on these products, as you heard to everybody else. And the tobacco company has never showed any data to back up their claims. Well, while the Long Beach Health Department. Speaker 0: And I keeping. Speaker 2: The CDC and the World Health Organization has shown countless times and data how dangerous these new tobacco products are and the damage it does to communities of color of our children. And it also goes against the city's. Mission and vision when it comes to addressing the community's health as best. If anybody reads your mission statement, what it says also to what nobody says when he said that is it's also a health problem, environmental problem. When you look at the cities cap the city's climate action and that action plan, when it comes to climate change and air pollution, this is one of the deadliest things we talk about planting trees all the time. Speaker 5: I think your next speaker is Laurie Bremner. Speaker 0: Good evening. My name is Laurie Bremner and I work with peers, which is parents against vaping e-cigarettes. PAVE has found and run and powered by volunteers. I'm the grassroots coordinator, but I'm speaking to you tonight. Also from my heart as a parent and a cancer survivor and a daughter who lost her dad to tobacco related illness. He was grateful that the city council is focusing on this urgent piece of legislation. YouTube are 5 to 7 times more likely to develop COVID. Speaker 2: Than those who. Speaker 0: Do not vape flavored tobacco is now more than ever a deadly hook. The use of Long Beach simply cannot wait for the state or the federal government to take action to protect them. The California State Bill 783, has been delayed by a big tobacco funded referendum for a year or two. And that's why we urge you to immediately end the sale of all flavored tobacco products with no exemptions. SB 793 provides a floor but not a ceiling for a local ordinance. You can and. Speaker 2: Should go. Speaker 0: Further. Please remove the exemptions. Parents and kids are counting on you, their local elected. Speaker 2: Officials, to. Speaker 0: Step in and halt the epidemic of youth tobacco use. The need is urgent for you to place the health of kids lungs. Speaker 2: Above some. Speaker 0: Small portion of a retailer's profit that comes from flavored tobacco. We urge you to take decisive action to do for the kids of Long Beach. Please remove the exemptions. Pass a comprehensive ordinance. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Primo Castro. Speaker 2: Dear Mayor Garcia and City Council. My name is Premal Castro, government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and also committed to protecting the health and well-being of residents in the city of Long Beach, use evidence based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. As such, we're here tonight to urge this council to pass this ordinance to end the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarets. Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in our country, and sadly, sadly, greater than, you know, greater than 90% of adult smokers began smoking before the age of 21. Actions taken now at the local level can help to encourage a generation of Tobacco-Free Kids, potentially saving them from a lifetime of addiction and the deadly consequences of tobacco use and in the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol, is not only a health issue, it is also a social justice issue. Targeting marketing to communities of color, low income communities and the LGBT communities adds to the health disparities in populations already impacted by social inequities. Atheist Kent urges this council to pass this order and the ordinance as amended, prohibiting the sale of bob flavored tobacco products without exemptions removes so much of the allure of these products and is a key component of a comprehensive strategy to effectively help reduce tobacco. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Gina Rodriguez. Speaker 0: Good evening. Mayor Garcia and city council members. My name is Jeanette Rodriguez and I work at the University of Southern California Institute of Prevention Research at the Keck School of Medicine. I would like to share some research findings from the U.S. Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science. Our center has been following student cohorts for many years, and the trends in tobacco use over time have shown that youth with no history of cigaret use and those who are unlikely to have smoked cigarets are starting with e-cigarettes. And the most common reason for starting is the availability of a wide variety of flavors. This includes mint and menthol. The majority of youth reported that they would no longer use e-cigarettes if flavors were not available. It main research point I would like to highlight is that we found that a strong, comprehensive ordinance to regulate e-cigarettes flavored and mental tobacco products has a tremendous potential to substantially reduce youth use of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Our research study shows that a strong, comprehensive tobacco retail license preventing sales to minors was associated with lower rates of youth and adult initiation of combustible tobacco and e-cigarette use. Our current research suggests that it is important to consider the overall impact of e-cigarettes and tobacco use on all segments of the population. However, the weight of the evidence points to a far more detrimental effect on youth. We hope that this research can educate and inform your decision. Please let me know if you have any questions our team may be able to answer. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you, members, please. Let's go ahead and have a roll call vote. Thanks. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sandy has. I'm Councilwoman Allen. I can tell I'm in Price Pryce. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilman. So, Boehner. I can swim in Mongo. I can swim in sorrow. I Council member Oranga. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Bush and Kerry.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending and restating Sections 5.81.010 and 5.81.070; and by repealing Chapter 5.94, all relating to the sale of flavored tobacco products, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 4: Great. Thank you. We're going to go in and go back up to item 22. Speaker 1: Item 22 is communication from Councilman Super Knoll, Chair of the Personnel and Elections Oversight Committee. Recommendation to approve renaming the Bixby Dog Park as the Dr. Marina, Mickey Donoghue Dog Park and the Long Beach Performing Arts Center as the Beverly O'Neill Performing Arts Center. Speaker 4: Thank you. That's number two from. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. These both items have been vetted by our committee, and so we forwarded to the City Council for discussion. Speaker 4: Thank you. Is there any public comment? I believe there's 1/1. Speaker 5: No. We don't have anyone that called in for the seven. Speaker 4: Okay. Great. I have a I have a motion. I have a second backed by Councilmember Ellen. Speaker 0: Also. Amir, I have some comments. Speaker 4: Yes. Please go. Speaker 0: I want to start. I did receive some of some messages I'd like to read from the community regarding the dog park. And so the. The first one is I received a message just just 1/2. I'm trying to pull up the letter here. So. So here it is. Bye bye. It's my president, Robin Richardson, and and this is his statement. He says, Mickey's kindness and dedication to the community engagement through the dog park has been an inspiration to all of us. She gave her expertize in community activism to our group. She also generously gave her own time and efforts to make sure the dog park is the best it can be for the members of the local community and their dogs. And I also want to share a few words from Nikki's husband, Tommy, who wrote this. Said. Dr. Donahue was a leader in the formation of the Friends of Bixby Dog Park from the park's inception early in 2017. As such, she was elected by the community as a first president of the Friends of the S.B. Darke Art Association . Through her tireless effort efforts, the dog park has grown to be a jewel for dog owners and the densely populated neighborhood. As a professor of emeritus at California State University, Mickey possessed the organizational skills to coordinate many improvements to the dog park. As a community organizer. Mickey knew how to involve the whole community in these efforts. So the part belonged to the dog loving public who shared a stake in the park. Until the day she was taken from us. Her love of the dog park was instilled in her. It's only fitting that the dog park be named in her honor. I look forward to seeing her name at our dog park. So thank you for submitting those comments. It was just my pleasure and honor to be able to read those. And then with regards to the mayor, Beverly O'Neill, I just want to start by thanking the community members who organized and came together and a way to honor Mayor Beverly O'Neal. And she has done more than anyone to uplift the many forms of art than any other elected person in the city. So I look forward to honoring her generous contributions and talent and with our entire community with this well-deserved honor. Thank you very much. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank Councilman Sucre not for taking these two items. To get the full. Counsel. I'm very happy and pleased with the naming of the dog park. The dog park, for those who may not have the institutional history, has equal funding from District two and three. So I very much consider that a joint asset between our borders. And I'm so grateful that we're able to put some love behind the name to remind people of the love that's in that space. And I very much enjoyed hearing those letters. Councilwoman Allen, thank you for sharing those. I know we talked a lot about Mayor Beverly O'Neill when this item first came to council. And I certainly don't want to rehash a lot of the statements that we made, but I'm just very, very excited about having her name attached to a place that brings so much light and culture to our city because she brings so much light and culture and kindness to our city. And I just wanted to just acknowledge that again and just I can't wait until her name is on on the marquee outside of the Performing Arts Center. And I just wanted to ask staff, do we have any update? I know the cost for that is, is was something that was being considered and contemplated, but I just don't know. Is that something that we are going to be able to get up there soon? Because I would love for her and her family to be able to see it as well. And during this time in her life. Speaker 5: Councilmember. We'll get that information to you. Speaker 0: Okay. Thanks. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. That concludes council comments. Please, members, go ahead and do a roll call vote. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Ellen. I can swim in price. I can summon subpoena. All right, Councilwoman Mango. Hi, Councilwoman Sara. I Council member Oranga. I mean, Austin. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 4: Vice Mayor Richardson has left the meeting. He has actually had an outage at his home. So he's just informing me right now. So he's had a power outage. Not sure if it's just his home or how big it is, but he is unable to join us. Speaker 1: Bush and Kerry's.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to approve renaming the Bixby Dog Park as the "Dr. Myrna “Mickey” Donahoe Dog Park” and the Long Beach Performing Arts Center as the “Beverly O’Neill Performing Arts Center”.

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Speaker 4: Thank you. Next up is item number 22 and actually 23. Speaker 1: Item 23 to 4 from development services recommendation to award a contract for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program implementation in a total amount not to exceed 1.4. Now, see, I. Speaker 4: Have a motion in a second, please. Most of it comes from Boston. Can I have a second. Speaker 3: Thoughts about that? Speaker 4: It's like I'm a councilmember. Zero. I know. Public comment. I just have one question before we vote on this. Do we have a still a timeline of when we're going to be able to folks who will start applying for the emergency rental assistance? I know. I've heard from some folks. Speaker 0: Mayor, I'd like to introduce Oscar or so he can respond to that question and we'd like to read a correction in the motion on the item into the record. Speaker 5: Sure. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. We are hoping to roll out this program immediately, immediately, potentially by next Monday. Speaker 2: Great. Speaker 4: That's great. Thank you. Okay. Real is there. Speaker 5: Mayor, prior to the vote. We need to amend the item. Oscar, do you want to? Yes. Yes, thank you. Uh, we want to make sure that we amend the recommendation to not to exceed $1,507,957 through September 30th, 2022. Speaker 4: Okay. We'll cover. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Cindy has. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Allen and. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Price, I. Councilman Sabina. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mango. Councilwoman Mingo. Councilwoman. Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Rich. Motion carries.

Contract

Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. RFP DV21-034 and award a contract to Yardi Systems, Inc., of Goleta, CA, to provide Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) implementation, in a total amount not to exceed $1,437,177, for a period of one year; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract, including any necessary amendments. (Citywide)

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Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. I motioned Kerry's. Speaker 4: Thank you. Next up is Adam 28. Speaker 1: Item 28 Report from Human Resources Recommendation to adopt resolution to hire Stephanie Camp for a limited duration to work in the in the human resources department citywide. Speaker 4: Yeah, I have emotion, but I can get emotion in a second, please. Okay. Most of my concern was in the house. And the second my councilwoman sorrow. No public comment. Please cast your votes. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. Councilwoman City has. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Sabina. Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 0: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilwoman. Sara. I Council member Oranga. Speaker 3: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes, I believe, the agenda. Madam Quirk, is there anything I think we got through every item there. Speaker 1: Correct? Speaker 4: Correct. So we will go to closing any closing comments or announcements from the council? Seeing none. We will go ahead and adjourn this meeting of the Lombard City Council. And thank you all for the evening.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution approving an exception to the 180-day waiting period for Public Agencies pursuant to Government Code 7522.56 and 21224, to hire Stephanie Kemp for a limited duration to work in the Human Resources Department. (Citywide)

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Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Now we're moving on to item number ten. Speaker 0: More communication from Councilman Price recommendation to receive and file a presentation in recognition of the Persian New Year Nowruz. Speaker 1: Mr. Mayor. With your permission. Speaker 4: Yes. Speaker 1: Thank you. Well, I was trying to get myself in a position where I can show you guys. The Persian New Year have seen that I have that my mom helped cut for me, but it's very difficult for it to come through with the background. But I was hoping to share our family have seen with all of you tonight as we celebrate for the seventh year in a row Persian New Year. I know that we have a video tonight on Persian New Year. So I was hoping that we could start with that. And then I'd like to make a few comments. Speaker 6: Nowruz is the celebration of the New Year. Celebrated by over 300 million people around the world on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox. It marks the beginning of spring and is a time of renewal, beauty and fertility in nature. Although the spelling and pronunciation of the word Nowruz varies from country to country and region to region, the word carries the same meaning. New Day. Who wins is an ancestral celebration dating back more than 3000 years. It is a reminder of the natural cycles of life and nature and promotes peace and reconciliation, fostering good neighborliness and strengthening family ties. Speaker 1: They don't just show. Speaker 7: No camel? No. No. Speaker 6: Over the past several years, the Iranian-American community in Long Beach has brought the celebration of Nowruz into Long Beach City home. We have shared traditional sweet treats, tea and other cultural aspects of the Nowruz celebration, including the displays of the half sea, a symbolic table setting which includes a number of different items, each with their own meaning . Some of these items include garlic symbolizing medicine. Apple's. Symbolizing health. Lotus tree fruit symbolizing love and affection. Vinegar representing patients. A sweet wheat pudding called salmon, representing the sweetness of life. And strength. Sprouts, usually wheat or lentil representing rebirth and growth. Hyacinth flowers symbolizing the beginning of spring. For those who celebrate Nowruz, the beginning of spring also symbolically marks the end of a harsh and hard winter. We hope this spring marks the beginning of the end of the difficulties and tragedies of the past year. May Nowruz bring peace, prosperity and health to all. Speaker 1: Thank you very much for sharing that video to our tech team. I want to thank you both for putting that video together and helping us have that presentation tonight. And I'm just so honored that we are a city that embraces the diversity of our community. And I get very happy every year to get to talk about Nowruz. So to all of the Persian community who are tuning in tonight to watch this, and I know from our Iranian-American Persian Association in Long Beach, I want to thank them for participating. We started that organization approximately seven years ago when I took office, and it's led by Mori Mustapha, who is our president. And I want to thank them for their participation and putting tonight's event together. I think it's it's a beautiful thing for us to celebrate Nowruz every year because it's such a positive part of the year for Iranian families. But it's also a very positive time of year for everyone because it's the arrival of spring. This particular year has been very special for me and the Persian community because we were not able to hold any Nowruz celebration last year and this year we weren't able to hold many of our celebrations, but we were able to to bring this event to all of you tonight. This is a year that we all look forward to in terms of optimism for our community, optimism for our state, and optimism for our country, and celebrating our connection with nature. Every single day there are so many difficulties that we all face around the world, around the country, throughout the city. But there are so many reasons for positivity and optimism. And Nowruz is about putting aside the negativity of the past, the toxic events of the past, and embracing the new year with a sense of hope and optimism . In fact, on the Tuesday night before the actual spring equinox, we have a celebration which if the fire chief is listening, please go ahead and cover your ears. But we gather and we jump over a fire, a bonfire. I'm not saying where in Long Beach that might happen, but I'm just saying I have heard about such events taking place. But it's a really big deal in the Persian community. And as we jump over the fire, we say a phrase which is, I give you the pale and sickly yellow that I have to the fire and I take from the fire the red energy, the positive energy that the fire gives, the red embers. And so it's really a sense of moving forward with optimism and hope and rebirth much, much like the spring season for for so many other religions and cultures. I want to share that. Since the outset of COVID 19, the Iranian Persian Association American Association has focused its efforts to help the Long Beach City College and CSU, all these students facing financial hardship. Our ongoing efforts have helped provide food, grocery cards and hygiene products to more than 710 students. We've also continued the educational meetings with the community on issues of voting rights, ballot propositions and immigration issues, which are very important to our community. And I'm very proud of our community for being involved in these efforts. I want to thank my council colleagues for allowing me to share this beautiful part of my background and culture with all of you. It really is a huge part of who I am and who my mother raised me to be, and I'm glad that I have the opportunity to share it with all of you and to our Iranian friends that are watching. Do Sana Aziz. No. Rose petals. Eggshell. Mama Barack. Thank you, everyone. Speaker 4: Thank you very much, Councilwoman. And that also includes a motion to receive and filed. Our celebration. I have a second by Councilmember Ranga. On that count from Ranga. Did you have some comments? Speaker 2: Yes. It's always an honor to celebrate Nowruz with Councilmember Price brings it up every year as we celebrate all our other cultures as well. Throughout the year in the city of all means, we are diverse and we certainly need to celebrate our diversity because that is our strength. So thank you, Councilmember, for bringing this forward every year. Those pictures were absolutely gorgeous. With this HD television that we have now in front of us, all the colors were so vibrant, but not the same as being there in life. So to you, to the Iranian community. Peace, prosperity and health. Speaker 4: Thank you. Council member councilman's and day has. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much, Councilman Price, for this beautiful presentation. What a beautiful, beautiful meaning it has. And how fitting is it? Especially this year. So happy Nowruz to you and to all of the community. And May. May. Together we have a prosperous new year. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman Zoro. Speaker 1: Yes, I. I want to thank Councilmember Price for sharing. And happy New Year to you. Councilmember Price them our our party and community. Speaker 6: That celebrates it. Speaker 1: I'm so appreciative that you're sharing this with us in a time where it's been it continues to be a dark and challenging period. And and it's always great to learn about the different cultures and how everyone celebrates spring and New Year in the way that that each culture does. And so thank you very much. I just appreciate it right now in this challenging time to be able to. And so I wish peace and prosperity and comfort to everyone. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilmember Price. You mentioned it seven years. It's hard to believe it's been seven years since you introduced this. And it's, you know, even though we're virtual right now, that was a very informative video. I learned a lot more in this format about no rules. So rules pros look forward to next year and and even some more of the delicious treats and cookies that your mama your mother normally bring. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Thank you. And Council member Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you. I just wanted to also. Join in the celebration of Nowruz. Look forward to it every year. Unfortunately, it's virtual, but I will say that the presentation was with excellent and it was educational because it went beyond the Iranian community. It explained how it was actually celebrated throughout the Middle Eastern region and how many help and how much it means to to so many people. And today, more than ever, you know, we are celebrating the new day ahead. And so happy Nowruz. Thank you. Yeah, I'll be dropping by for some cookies later. Speaker 4: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Yes, sir. Thank you. Councilman Pryce, this is such a wonderful video, and I did not know all those things, but, you know, love and prosperity and help. And so thank you for sharing this. And I look forward to when I get. Speaker 0: To. Speaker 1: When this comes back to city hall and we get to enjoy this next year. So thank you so much. That was really that was really awesome. Speaker 4: Thank you. I'll just add also that I really enjoyed celebrating Nowruz over the last few years and getting to know the community. So thank you, Councilman Price, for always sharing such a beautiful part of your culture and of the diversity of Long Beach. Which one of the best parts I think about our celebrations is really enjoying kind of each other's traditions and cultures. And in your case, as you know, my absolutely favorite food and in fact, I think some of our colleagues would oftentimes I would we would we would have so, so, so much Persian food that you and I think were or enjoyed it maybe more than than most folks. It was so often when we were all gathered together. And I also, of course, I'm very grateful to your mom and all the sweets that happen every single year and look forward to those next year. And the best part I think, about Nowruz is really the opportunity for renewal and for a new start and a new day. So I love I love that part of it. So thank you all. And with that, there is not public comment, I believe, on this item. There might be one actually. Madam Court, do we have a public comment on this item? Speaker 0: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 4: Okay, then we will go ahead and go to a vote. Speaker 0: District one. I district to. I. District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 4: Hi. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 6: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 0: Ocean carries. Speaker 4: Thank you. Let me go ahead and go ahead and start with we're going to do items 14 through 18/1, which are some staff items, and then we'll go back to some of the Fed pledge and other items after those.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a presentation in recognition of Persian New Year - Nowruz.

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Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Okay. Next up is Adam 15. Speaker 0: Please report from Public Works recommendation to request city attorney to prepare a resolution to set operating days and hours for parking meter zones. One and one a district three. Speaker 4: Okay. Can I get a motion in a second, please? IV in motion by Counsel Murray. Can I get a second? Second bye. By Vice Mayor Richardson. No public comment on this item. So, members, please go ahead and do a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two. I. District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District eight. By District nine. Speaker 4: All right. Motion carries item 16, please.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution to set operating days and hours for Parking Meter Zones 1 and 1A, pursuant to Section 10.28.130 of the Long Beach Municipal Code, to Monday through Sunday, excluding holidays, during the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., for a maximum of two hours, at a rate of $1.00 per hour. (District 3)

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Speaker 4: All right. Motion carries item 16, please. Speaker 0: Report from Public Works. Recommendation to adopt resolution to enter into an agreement with L.A. County Flood Control District to accept and expand funding for the Long Beach Municipal Urban Stormwater Treatment Phase one project districts one, seven, eight and nine. Speaker 4: I do have a I do have a motion and a second. I do want to add the next three projects. And Mr. Modica, correct me if I'm wrong, but the next two or three projects are projects that have received funding through the L.A. County Measure and measure W And Mr. Modica, do you want to maybe talk briefly on each one so that the community knows about these projects? Speaker 5: Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We also have public works here to answer any specific questions. But Long Beach has been very, very active in Measure W. We were one of the major proponents for Measure M and Measure W to really bring additional stormwater resources to Long Beach to make sure that one city's upstream from us are paying their fair share and taking care of their stormwater. But then we also have solutions available to ourselves. So we're really excited to bring over $24 million to you tonight. One, you know, it's got to be one of the largest awards that we're aware of. The first project is for the Long Beach, Ms.. Project, which is a really innovative stormwater treatment plant down by the Drake Chavez Park and is going to be really a signature project to treat water, have wetlands on site, to fill those with treated water, and also to do irrigation. We're also able to do under a number 18 I'm sorry, number 17 is a stormwater retention basin to capture and filtrate water at scaling. And then we're also improving our Eldorado Lake projects with this money as well. So kudos to the entire team for putting this together and a real big investment in our water quality and also part of our L.A. River projects that we're constantly working on to improve the L.A. River. And that's the whole be must project. And any other questions? Eric Lopez and his team are available. Speaker 4: Great. Why don't we go ahead and Madam Kirk will? Well, we'll vote on all three of these together. Do you want to read the other two items so we can all go round them together? It's all part of the same big grant program. Speaker 5: 17 is a report from Public Works. It's a recommendation to adopt resolution, to accept and to expand funding for the gaming golf course at Willow Stormwater Capture Project, District five. And Item 18. It's also a report from Public Works to adopt resolution to accept and expand funding for the Eldorado Regional Project District five. Speaker 4: Thank you. Well, with that, we do have a motion by Councilman Sun House and we have a second by councilman, mongo, councilman and Day House. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I just really want to say how excited I am about the we must project here in the First District. This is such an amazing opportunity for both to address serious environmental challenges in our area, but also to, to, to it's an opportunity to develop this area. And it's going to be incredible having the wetlands space there for our community and to continue our Drake Charvis master plan in this area. Staff has been working really hard on this. So for that I'm very, very thankful for your continuous updates to my office on this and thank you for your hard work on this. I'm especially excited about the way that we that we can expand this project. And this is this is an idea that that is growing and that we'll we'll keep that in mind as well. And it really is going to become a regional leader in the L.A. River area. This is something that's built with growth in mind. And I can't wait to see all the amazing opportunities that are going to be created here, not only for ourselves and our residents, but but for for the entire county and staff. So I'm really excited about this. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 1: Thank you. We're very excited about this project that's been in the works for several years and the community is very supportive. Thank you. Speaker 4: Vice Mayor Richardson, did you have any comments? Speaker 3: Oh. Comments supportive. Thank you. Speaker 4: Councilwoman. Sara, was that just a motion or any comments? Speaker 6: Now a motion. Okay. Speaker 4: And, Councilman, your anger or those comments are just emotion. Speaker 2: No, I actually have some comments. I'm a member of the Rivers Animals Conservancy, and we contribute some money to go towards a law which must. And with these gone with these contributions, now that we have it almost fully funded. So I'm really looking forward to the completion of that project. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. And I want to just congratulate the team. I think a lot of us were involved in Measure W and we were active supporters of that county measure, and it's producing some significant projects for the city as it relates to stormwater and water in general. And so this is a significant award for the city and we're going to see other projects in the future also receive funding. So we are we're excited about that. And so with that, we're going to take one vote. This is for items 16, 17 and 18 benefit. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two. District three. District three, District four. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 0: District five. District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 6: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you. We will go back now up to item number 11, please.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution authorizing City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into an agreement with the Los Angeles County Flood Control District (LACFCD), to accept and expend funding in the amount of $10,800,000 for the Long Beach Municipal Urban Stormwater Treatment (LB-MUST) - Phase 1 Project from the Safe, Clean Water Program’s (Measure W) Regional Program Transfer Agreement No. 2020RPLLAR02; Increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group in the Public Works Department in the amount of $10,800,000, offset by Measure W revenue from LACFCD; and Increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group in the Public Works Department by $10,800,000, offset by transfer of Measure W revenue from LACFCD funds from the Capital Projects Grant Fund. (Districts 1,7,8,9)

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Speaker 4: Thank you. We will go back now up to item number 11, please. Speaker 0: Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson, chair of the Federal Legislation Committee, recommendation to approve the 2021 federal legislative agenda as recommended by the Federal Legislation Committee. Speaker 4: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you. I just have a few comments, but I want to ask our staff if we're able to take all three of these on one vote. They're all related. Vice mayor, this is Charlie Parker. And I think, yes, if the clerk. Speaker 4: Reads all three of the items and then. Speaker 3: If there's any public. Speaker 2: Comment on all. Speaker 3: Three items. Speaker 5: If that's heard before. Speaker 3: The action is taken. Yes, you can take them to. Great, great, fantastic. Can we read the other two? Speaker 0: Item number 12. Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson, Chair of the Federal Legislation Committee. Recommendation Requests Request City Attorney to draft a resolution in support of Medicare for All, as recommended by the Federal Legislation Committee. And a communication from the Federal Legislation Committee. Again, Vice Mayor Richardson, Chair recommendation to approve the recommendation of the Federal Legislation Committee to support federal legislative proposals. Speaker 3: Thank you. So proud to bring these recommendations from the committee forward. They were supported unanimously in the committee level. These are obviously some changes to the agenda, all consistent with our goals around economic development, public safety, public health, sustainable and livable cities. COVID 19 response. And it also is consistent with our Racial Equity Reconciliation Initiative. Initial report. I look forward to continue to work with the committee to identify more resources for Long Beach. We're pretty proud to see the results of the Long Beach Recovery Act. Next, Congress is going to focus on a large infrastructure bill. I've spoken with Lowenthal Waters, Bass, Norma Torres and others. This bill will be much bigger than infrastructure. It will have housing, CDBG support. Large projects like Metrolink and high speed rail. Also green infrastructure projects consistent with cleaning our air. So that will be the next significant order of business. I will expect Congress to pick up on that very soon, expect action in May or June. So that said, I'm happy to make this vote, this recommendation to approve these three items. Speaker 4: Kate. There is a motion to approve the items on the floor. And I have a have a second to my councilman's in Davos. Councilman Van de Haas. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to show my support for all three items, but especially for Medicare for All. The COVID pandemic has further exposed just how poorly we can't just how any, you know, art our care health care system has been. Because it seems that insurance nowadays is a luxury when there's actually millions of people that cannot even afford to go see a doctor when they're sick. So I'm very excited that the federal Federal Legislation Committee has proposed a resolution in support of Medicare for All. I think it's the right thing to do. And I think the whole committee for bringing this forward. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. And next up is Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: Mr. Mayor, I did have a question for perhaps city staff can help me with this and I can't switch back to my PDF notes from the agenda item, so I don't know what page it is, but I want to talk a little bit about gun control and I am very interested in seeing what legislative proposals are out there. Federal legislative proposals are out there that the city can support or even possibly suggest that address the loophole in the universal background check proposal, because right now that background check proposal applies to retailers and not private sales. And I was recently listening to a piece in NPR about some of the violence that we're seeing in South America and in Mexico with the guns flowing south and these private sales of of a really large amount of arms and. Very dangerous weapons between private parties is not really regulated at all in terms of universal background checks. So are we aware of anything like that? And I know that our Fed large agenda has a very general comment about supporting legislation to control access to guns. Speaker 4: And I think maybe it's Dr. Curley on the. On the line. Speaker 5: Yes, I am. Speaker 4: Okay, great. What do you want to give her an overview of? I know that some of that's in the agenda currently, but you wanted me probably speak to councilwoman prices questions, please. Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely. So some of the things that we are recommending in partnership with Long Beach PD is new items around ghost guns regulations and also just more interoperable databases around ammunition cases, things like that. But there are existing items in the legislative agenda related to strengthening gun control laws and requiring background checks on ammunition purchases. You know, I think that we could potentially, if there was an amendment or a friendly to include something more specific around universal background checks that would give us more direction around just how far we'd like to go on that specific item. Speaker 1: I would like to offer a friendly that if there is legislation proposed on universal background checks that the city advocate in favor of it and also. Evaluate whether it can apply to private sales as well. Speaker 3: Accepted. Speaker 1: Thank you. And then the other question I have is, what is there any legislation pending right now regarding assault weapons ban on assault weapons? I mean, it's just that the mass shootings don't seem to be stopping. And I'm just wondering if there's anything pending in the legislation right now on that. Speaker 5: I would have to double check exactly what proposals are out there right now. But yes, those are often introduced and then would likely pass the house right now. But I don't know if they would be successful in the Senate currently, but that is definitely something that we could check back on for the details. Speaker 1: Yeah, and it could just be either a two from four or if you just send me an email. I'm just curious what current legislation there is regarding banning assault, large scale assault weapons and whether that discussion is is is ripe right now or not. So thank you. And with that, I'm happy to support all the items. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, councilwoman. I also have next up is Councilwoman Sara. Well, actually, I think that was just a part of the motion. I do have a just a couple broad, broad comments and as well. First is, I think this is a great agenda for federal agenda. And I want to thank the committee Vice Mayor Richardson for their work on this. I think it's going to be a couple of very big years in Washington, D.C.. I want to also speak to Councilman Price's comments around additional gun control or, you know, gun safety legislation. I think that's really important for us. That debate, obviously, we have supported those issues in the past. There will be additional bills in front of the Congress or ones that will be reintroduced. And so the more that we can be involved in and engage in that conversation, we should be. And I also just want to also just touch on something that Vice Mayor Richardson said as it relates to infrastructure that is going to be a massive recovery bill as well that is now being negotiated and discussed. And so we look forward to being very engaged in that at the federal and local level as that bill is developed. And with that, I think that has answered all the questions. Are there any public comment on this item? Speaker 5: Yes. We have Steve Shukla. Speaker 3: Good evening again. I urge you support for all three items and would like to thank the Federal and State Legislation Committee of the Council for bringing them forward, particularly H.R. one, the for the People Act, the Medicare for All Act, and in the federal legislative agenda, the focus on implementing the city's Climate Action Adaptation Plan, particularly as we look, as a major said, towards the infrastructure portions of the American recovery plan. You committed the city of Long Beach needs to turn the corner from being a state laggard, state leaders in emissions reduction and particularly achieving net negative emissions by 2030, 2045, 2040, 2050. We're simply too late looking forward to seeing not only these measures, passion, but also seeing how this year how we develop achieving these needed targets. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 2: That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 4: Thank you. And with that, we will go and take the the one vote on items 11, 12 and 13. Localities. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 6: I. Speaker 0: District two. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 0: District five. District five. District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 0: District nine. I motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to respectfully request City Council approval of the 2021 Federal Legislative Agenda as recommended by the Federal Legislation Committee.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_03162021_21-0227

Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. And item 15, please read. Speaker 0: Adam, 15, is a report from City Manager Recommendation to receive a presentation on the proposed Long Beach Recovery Plan Adobe Resolution to execute our BLOCK Grant Award documents on behalf of the city. Increase appropriation in the Community Development Grants Fund Group and in the Health Fund Group and approve the Economic Recovery Strategy Report citywide. Speaker 2: Well, thank you. I'm going to go ahead and begin by more briefly giving an overview of the Long Beach Recovery Act. Broad proposal and one that we gave last week. And then we're going to turn this over to our city manager, who will then be giving the staff report, which is most of the details around the Recovery Act report. And then, of course, we will go to any public comment and, of course, the motions in the council and go and go from there. So I'm going to go ahead and start us off now. Let me just start by saying that the Long Beach Recovery Act is probably one of the most significant pieces of legislation and proposals that we've had in front of this body and certainly in the last few decades. It's an opportunity for us with a significant amount of federal funds, to make a bold impact on the future of our city. We know what that this crisis is, and it is the most difficult challenge that we have ever faced. Next slide, please. I'm going to have to ask the court to do the slides so we know that we are facing this enormous COVID 19 challenge, the biggest loss of life we have ever had in the city of Long Beach. And certainly for us, it's also been very tragic. We have now almost going to be at 900 lives that we have lost. That's more than the earthquake. That's more than any year of violence. And that has brought us with a very serious challenge and one that this this body has to take up and has to take up take it up in a way that is that is serious and that is important. Let me let me go ahead and just note that the city itself in your next slide has done an incredible job of response. We've tested two 5000 people a day. I mean, hundreds of thousands of tests. Hospitalizations are down, of course, which has been great, and our positivity rate is lowered. So all our response has been fantastic. Next slide. And so now we have a real plan in front of us. And as we go into that plan, we have a national model and vaccinations currently in place. The fact that we're almost 70% of our seniors vaccinated, which is higher than Orange County in L.A. County and our partners, and we have had so many firsts around teachers and vaccinated people, disabilities. It's really been a model and our health department is in a fantastic job of leading these efforts. Next slide. And so we have in front of us is the Limbic Recovery Act. And initially, of course, this was a $207 million plan. There's an additional 12 million, which I'm going to talk about here at the end. And we've divided these buckets up into three areas. It's economic recovery, healthy and safe community and securing our city's future. And I want to start our next slide with economic recovery. Let me just begin by acknowledging kind of where where economic recovery actually comes from. The city council actually took action on an economic recovery plan late last year. The Economic Development Committee, I believe Vice Mayor Richardson was chair at the time with that committee, began that process in the community. And then as Councilwoman Mongeau became chair just recently, she also helped lead efforts with within within within this current year by attending a variety of groups as has been involved other members of the committee. But believe it or not, our economic recovery efforts there has been probably close to 20 or more roundtables and groups of businesses and nonprofits and folks engaged. And so I do want to thank both the former chair of the committee and the current chair of the committee for all their work on on this piece of the plan. And it's and it's robust and includes a lot of the work of the other committee members and the full council. Quite frankly, in this in this plan, there's, of course, money for for testing and contract tracing. Next slide. We have all the investments have already been made by the council, the restaurants and breweries. The personal services were adopted. We cut more and more money for nonprofits and arts. There's moneys for future which have been important to so many of you on on for businesses and nonprofits. Business Improvement District, which are so important to us, are receiving additional support and additional money for tourism so we can get folks back into our hotels, back into our driving that economy that's so important for economic recovery. Next slide, there's support for economic inclusion work, which this council has been really focused on economic empowerment zones with a lot of conversation around what those could look like. We talked about the Mercato a few a few weeks ago. We've talked about other zones across the city, maybe north Long Beach, Central, that can really bring some of these zones together. Small business development is in this plan, the digital divide. And, of course, additional support for our youth. Our next slide and also in this economic recovery work, something that I'm pretty really very passionate about is this includes a significant amount of resources for a major clean Long Beach initiative. We have to recognize that during the pandemic, we have not been at full speed when it comes to cleaning up. People produce more trash in their homes, 25% more in their own homes. There are trash folks have had to pick up. We have a lot more debris in the community. And so this will allow us to double down on graffiti and trash abatement, invest in quarter cleanups, get our business areas looking, looking sharp, and really focus on the loose, clean team programs that we have. And so that's, I think, something that is really critical for us. Moving on to the next section of the plan is really are healthy and safe community resources. Nothing more important than having a healthy and safe city. And we, of course, again, have money for for the health work and then money for so many of the programs so many of you've been advocating for. I mean, we've heard consistently for. From Councilman's in Dallas and in Councilman SA about health equity and reaching out to communities that are impacted. And you see that here. You see mental health programs that so many of you have advocated for that is also here and that we've heard from the community. Our next slide. And then around food security and basic needs. I know that. I mean, Vice Mayor Richardson, you talked a lot about the needs of the funding on basic needs. But we heard this from all of our churches, from our community members. How much how much people are suffering on issues around hunger or access? We have support for truly early childhood education and child care. Again, something that a lot of you have advocated for, particularly in the last few days. Councilman Allen, I know you've been very vocal on that issue and intended assistance for not just for for for tenants to ensure that they don't get evicted and have money to bridge the rent, but to ensure also that the folks that that are housing providers and landlords can actually pay the mortgage. So they're able to actually take care of their mortgages and take care of those important payments. So those are all really, really critical. I want to talk about next slide about people experiencing homelessness. And these are some of the items that we have some additional support from direct allocation, by the way, from the American Recovery Act to get new modular temporary shelters, additional housing options, outreach showers, all the things that we've been asking for in our homelessness work. Next slide. And then I think something that's also really exciting, a lot of programs around violence prevention. So I think one thing we have to recognize as a city is that the pandemic has increased violence not just in Long Beach, but in cities across the country. Kids are in school, more people are unemployed, less people are out on the street. A lot of loss opportunity for folks. That has created opportunities for there to be increased violence within the city. And so part of our recovery has to be making the city safe. And a lot of that are going to be kind of doubling down on our be safe programs. I mean, Councilmember, your engagement engagement supportive of those in the past? Councilmember Austin. I bring up in a basketball court. It's been a big something. You've also brought up a lot in the past, but all these programs that were that are here and are listed are things that a lot of us have been have been talking about and are part of the violence prevention safe city piece. And I want to turn to the last piece that is really, really critical, and that's securing our city's future. I can't tell you how important this part is for our recovery. I want to start by saying that the fact that and I want to thank everyone that's been involved in the budget process currently in in the past . Former budget chair Mungo current budget year Austin. The members of that committee the fact that we are going to able to we drew down our reserves because we had the money there we didn't spend our reserves. There are councils and cities across the country that spend their reserves. Any given year that we saved our reserves and actually saved it for an emergency is really, really important. And so we we can respond to the emergency because we had the reserves to do so. And now part of his plan is to replenish that for the next pandemic or the next natural disaster. And so this is critical for us to do is to not spend this money on programs, but to put this money into the reserves. So I want to also talk on this reserve issue, and I want to thank Councilwoman. Councilwoman Price. She has been also a strong advocate for the preservation of reserves. And I want to thank her again and know her and I've been talking about this over the course of the last few weeks. Moving on. Also, if I can have everyone else mute their. I think. Thank you. Next, I want to talk about the deficit. We just heard a budget presentation. We we have been expecting a deficit in the budget. We don't want to be having debates about what we're going to cut in a year that we need to rebuild. And so instead of having conversations about which library is going to get cut or what street, what streets we being service we're going to dial back on or what park we're not going to be able. Eliminate that deficit that was caused in large part due to COVID, due to a decrease in revenues, and really double down on recovery, which is what we're trying to do. And the last piece of the plan is really about after losing our employees. We have we have when you tie this furlough elimination, where with our removing the deficit, we can focus on programs that are important, on public safety, on fire and customer support. Now has been a strong advocate for ensuring your fire safety programs are in place and furloughs will allow us to bring people back and to get our resources back to where they need to be and get people back to work. So our employees deserve to get back to work and the city deserves to have that support in place. So that's a big overview. I'm going to now turn it over to our city manager. If we're going to go into specifics in all the areas. This is a a a hardy presentation, but also one I hope we consider the amount of money that's in here is is significant. And it's almost like a mini budget that we're getting on top of an event of a normal year. So thank you. Let me turn it over to our city manager. We're going to get into the details of the recovery proposal. So. Mr. MODICA. Speaker 5: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So we'll be bringing up a presentation. I think the mayor did a great job, given the overview, and I'll try not to be too repetitive and kind of take a deeper dove into some of the specific programs. So I really encourage the public to take a look at the full plan. We've certainly done some summaries, but there's a lot of work that our city team has put together. Can we get the presentation of police and has really done some thought about how best to help our economy, to help our businesses, to help our residents , and also make sure that we're not in cutting critical city services at the same time. So as we pull up the presentation here, it's great. So in terms of where we are, our team's done an amazing job with COVID 19 response. We are testing. We have the ability now to test up to 5000 people. We've performed more than 725,000 tests. As the mayor mentioned, our hospitalizations are down 86% and our positivity rate is down as of today to 2%, which is one of the lowest you've ever had on record, compared to a high of about 17.4% during the pandemic. We have done 160,000 vaccine doses administered citywide. Over 68% of our seniors have been vaccinated. And we were one of the first in every category where the state allowed us to vaccinate. We were one of the first, if not the first in the state to do educators, to do school staff, to do emergency workers, to to do people with disabilities, people with underlying health conditions. And so Long Beach has really been a leader in the vaccination arena. The reason we're in front of you tonight is the council gave us some very clear direction in December to basically get ready to develop an economic recovery strategy, knowing that city dollars were going to be coming and that we really needed to have a plan. And so we did some economic studies as well, getting real economic data, five different studies utilizing our CARES Act funding. We went out to the community over about six weeks with 30 intense community listening sessions, contacted over 350 community leaders and representatives to really listen about what is needed through this pandemic and how we can recover. And then we had very good input from our Economic Development and Finance Committee and our WHO and who attended a lot of these meetings as well, and also gave specific committee input. And then we also had a hearing last week by the Federal Legislative Committee, where we also took some additional public testimony before we got here tonight. So what did we hear out in the community? We heard a number of things. These are summarized here. One, we heard the importance of service sector vaccinations about how in order for people to rebound quickly economically, we need to really be vaccinating that sector as soon as the state allows us to. We heard that, you know, people will trust to come back to businesses when they feel healthy, when when they're safe . And we really need to focus on public health. We know that our community based partnerships can really help us as as the government. It can't do it all alone. We need those partnerships. Business is asked to really restore trust, to create a defined set of rules so that they're not opening and shutting and opening and shutting based on case rates, but that they can plan for the future. We very clearly heard about the need for both tenant and property owner assistance. We heard that we should be making needs based decision making and really studying the data that businesses and residents need revenue generation to be able to thrive. That we should be looking as we spend our our federal dollars and our local dollars to be as inclusive as possible through our procurement processes, that we should be efficient and we should cut any red tape, and that we should really not just start from scratch, but be incorporating all of our past plans and all that great work that we've done over the past couple of years. And so throughout this whole plan, we really have grounded it in equity. We know that there are historic economic and health inequities that have exacerbated COVID 19 and the impact on our community, and that we really need to focus our resources on the areas of the community that are most impacted by the pandemic. We have to protect public health and relaunch our service sector, and we want to create a more prosperous, resilient and inclusive local economy for everybody. And really build that economic foundation for the next generation of residents so that they can compete. We also know that the things we do in one area of the plan need to be correlated and intersect with the other areas of the plan, and that we have disparate impacts across all communities and that we are really trying to create that intersectionality and have those impacts on the pandemic really be thought through and then addressed through our programs. And so the programs you see tonight are not independent strategies, but rather are a coordinated approach to support that long lasting economic recovery and equity in public health. And of course, we know that there's other programs out there, lots of federal and state programs. So we want to try to avoid duplication. If through these processes, we learn that there's a program that's doing one that we were going to do as well. We'll be coming back to you to adjust and make sure that we're doing this effectively. Foundational to the plan is also language access. We know that we need to communicate with our community in the language that they're most comfortable in and can communicate back to us. And that in means that we're doing multi-language translation, that we're having interpreters that can really speak well and understand our community and also help explain the concepts of city government in in a way that is coherent and, and really impactful. And so in every single program, we have included a language access component. So you won't see a line item in the staff proposal for just one line item on language access. It is really embedded in everything that we are doing. And so we also are really paying attention to those existing city plans as council did a lot of work through racial equity reconciliation, through our economic development plan, our everyone home task force, our, you know, everyone in play on digital inclusion. And so our team, as we were putting together these proposals, really looked at all of those plans and those objectives and tried to move those forward with the dollars that we have available. So the dollars that we have, we had estimated in our city staff report last week about 207 million. And as the mayor mentioned, we are now up at about 235 million across three different funding sources. So those funding sources, the first one is the American Rescue Plan Act, which is 178 million, which has now been signed by the president. We expect 153 million in flexible city funding in the original staff report that was at 141 million. So tonight, we're looking for additional council direction on that $12 million increased 12.35 million. We have a dedicated tranche of 10 million for homeless services and prevention and then a dedicated amount of approximately $15 million for our airport to help pay for operations and debt service. The funding is fairly flexible, but not infinitely flexible, and the eligible uses are the following responding to the emergency and addressing the economic impacts, responding to workers, performing essential work, providing government services address affected by that revenue reduction resulting from COVID, and then making infrastructure investments in the areas of water, sewer or broadband infrastructure. We expect the money to be 50% will come within 60 days of enactment and then the other 50% will come 12 months later. And it all needs to be spent by December 31st, 2024. And so the mayor mentioned the additional $12 million and we had put out a memo to you. And I think we're going to hear some direction from the council tonight. And there's also a letter from the mayor with some additional proposals, areas for the council to consider. So a couple other funding sources. We have our emergency tenant assistance program of about 30 million. The council saw this about a month ago, and we have not yet launched the programs that we are including this into the program because this is really a big part of our response. And then we also have negotiated with the county about $26.7 million of their share of public health funding. This is called epidemiology and laboratory capacity money. It can only be used really for those functions, including testing, data collection, workforce capacity and as our epidemiological arm of the health department. So the three areas are economic recovery, health and safe community and securing our city's future. So the first in the area of economic recovery, unemployment is it continues to be troubling. It was almost as high as 30% during COVID. It is now at about 12.1% and it is up significantly from just before the pandemic at 4%. And we know that it's had unequal impacts on our low income workers, on business owners and service sectors, and that to be successful, we really need to address those economic inequities. These are the categories, and the mayor talked a little bit about those, so I'll just dove right in. So in the area of public protection for businesses and nonprofit at 13 million, that's that county money. In order for businesses to be successful, they need to be COVID free or as free as possible. So we're going to be providing free COVID testing, will provide free contact tracing, will be able to go out to businesses and do if there's a hotspot, be able to do the investigation and make sure that we're addressing that as quickly as possible. The biggest category that we heard from the economic from the business community was that of that section, the vast majority should go to direct business support, which is exactly what we've done. It's about $25 million. These include things like $5 million to restaurants, bars and breweries, $5 million for personal services, including fitness and personal care services like hair salons and others that were impacted. We have direct funding for administrative support grants for our nonprofits of $3 million. We're going to be doing fee waivers of three and a half million dollar program to be able to waive some of the city fees based on need. Our business improvement districts are a huge part of our plan at $2 million. They did amazing work with the CARES Act, dollars of a million. And so we're doubling that. We also want to make sure we're getting back to marketing ourselves and bringing back customers. And so our CVB will be assisting with that at $1.25 million. Those are just some examples of the of the projects there that will be funding. Under the area of economic inclusion, $7.5 million. That's this, you know, another huge category of this plan. And so we're looking at digital divide, $2 million for both resident and commercial sectors combine to really address being able to get online, to get computers , to be able to run both businesses and access services for residents. We're going to be funding our economic and digital inclusion coordination programs at $450,000. We've got economic empowerment zones where we can really do a focused approach on areas that need additional economic assistance at two and a half million dollars. And we're looking at service worker programs, customer protection programs, youth workforce development programs, and the list goes on and on. We want to really invest. As the mayor said, in our clean city, we've seen a huge increase of trash and also impacting our ability to really address that as our workforce was affected by COVID. And so for $5 million, we're going to create an aggressive, multi-year strategy to expand our illegally dumped items, our collection crews, special collection programs. We're going to have dedicated groups that can go up and down our commercial corridors and do litter abatement in order to make sure those customer those quarters look great as our customers come into them. And we also want to help our partners. Both Caltrans and L.A. County have really struggled on keeping their areas clean. And so be able to, as the council directed, take over some of those areas that make sense for us while they do the others and provide some assistance there through. In my view, we want to also support our businesses through technical assistance and keep our business best care call center. Our pop up service centers provide that technical assistance and also fund economic equity analysis to really be informed by data. The next big category is health and safety community. Healthy and safe community. Excuse me. And so before I get into the dollars here, I really want to just show some of the impacts. And we know that are disadvantaged communities or minority communities have been impacted at a significantly higher rate than our white and our affluent communities. And so I just want to underscore that you see the data here. For the example, for example, in our Latino population, the cases are two and 2.7 times higher. Hospitalizations, 3.3 times higher deaths are 2.9 times higher. In the black population, it's 1.4 times higher for our cases through 2.3 times higher for hospitalizations, deaths, or 1.8% or two times higher. So there really isn't an equity in the way that COVID affects our communities, and we want to be very intentional about that in our response. So these are the major categories in healthy and safe community, and we'll dove into those a little deeper. Our residents, just like businesses, need access to free testing, contact tracing, education funding, community partners to be able to go out and speak about the importance of COVID 19 protections and getting tested and so and funding that in different languages. And that county grant is going to help us with that. These funds can't currently be used for vaccine administration, but we're really going to press the federal government to allow us to do that, if at all possible. We know that basic needs is one of the biggest areas that just the ability to call somebody and ask where they can get food, where they can get meal and grocery delivery, how they can get access to senior services, how we can support, you know, our youth as well. And so in this area, we're going to be looking at $4 million for food security. A right to counsel program and housing support in the area in the amount of $900,000 older adult supports and supporting our seniors through mental health and those types of programs. That $800,000. The next category is physical and mental health equity. $5.3 million to create dedicated health equity fund to fund direct grants to nonprofits. We are going to do this based on data. It's going to help us with physical and mental health services. This is where we'll do Latino health programs. This is what we'll do dedicated black health programs. We'll work on programs in the Asian Pacific Islander community, Cambodian community. And we're really going to be leaning into our nonprofit partners to support us with that. We'll also create a $900,000 promoter, a community health worker program, which the council is going to talk a little bit later tonight about people who are able to go out into communities and be trusted community partners to really reach those hard to reach communities. And then we want to provide ongoing mental health awareness and capacity resources as well. We know how important childhood education is and child care support. So there's $2.1 million in this category to both offer supplies and developmental services to expand child care, creating 28 additional slots at the with the west facility of the health department, and also to enhance some of our library programs that deal with bilingual parent engagement. We all know that we've seen an increase in violent crime, not just in Long Beach, but throughout the country. And, you know, we we are concerned about that. And we want to make sure that while our police department is responding and doing everything that they do when there's an increase in violent crime, there were also investing long term in creating programs for our youth. This includes creating new park programing and teen centers, doing B safe type programs. We want to invest in youth health and safety programs like Midnight Basketball and potentially even a police athletic type league program, gym operations, virtual recreation programing, mobile recreation programing. We also have a community interventionist program currently going on in Washington neighborhood that we want to roll out citywide. We also are looking at reentry programs, pilot programs, where we have people coming back out of incarceration that need to get integrated into society and start on a better life. In the area of homelessness, we have $12 million. One of the most exciting programs here is creating tiny homes, 50 modular units that we would set up a lot of them at the Multi-Service Center to create actual housing opportunity right there for temporary housing. We would also want to use some of this money to partner on all of our different assets, whether we're buying additional hotels or we're expanding some of our of our shelter spaces. And we have some flexible dollars there. We also need additional motel vouchers for clients who, you know, we see at the mercy. And we want to get into an immediate housing option. We want to expand our mobile outreach so that we have two mobile outreach stations, something we've never had before. So we have the MSI, and then we'll create basically mobile nurses staffed with a combined six outreach workers for case managers and partner agency representatives that can even be open when the MSI is closed. We're going to support our Heart program, which is being reformed with public health nurses and mental health supports. And we also want to bring mobile showers and restrooms out to encampments so that we can address their services there and help get them services right on scene. And we also want to really address the the people who are not quite who are done with the permanent supportive I'm sorry, with temporary housing, but aren't quite ready for Section eight housing and address that gap and create supportive housing services for that interim bridge. The mayor mentioned tenant assistance. That's $30 million. And the council has directed us to move forward on this. We're going to be launching it in the next probably 2 to 3 weeks. And what we're looking to do is basically help pay 80% of past due directly to a landlord, if that landlord agrees to forgiving remain and the remaining 20%. We'll provide additional details on this specific program as we roll it out. But this is going to be the biggest tenant assistance program we've ever had in our city's history. And it's going to help a lot a lot of people. So the last category is securing our city's future. As we've talked about, COVID 19 has caused severe impacts to our city budget, and we ended Fy20 with that $21 million shortfall. For the first time that we can remember. We've had to draw down on both our operating and our emergency reserves. And we also had some pretty significant department cuts. And our staff took up to 26 days of furloughs, you know, for the 21 fiscal year. So all in all, all of our reserves from all of our different funds has been about $48 million that we have either draw down or would project to draw down in FY 21. And so I strongly recommend that we use this money to replenish those reserves to be ready for the next emergency. We also want to make sure that we're not impacting our residents with through additional service reductions. And so our plan, as long as the federal funds can be used for this, is to use $30 million to balance the Fy22 budget for one year so that we don't have to take those significant reductions in the middle of a pandemic. Also to return our staff so that they can be at full strength to serve people, and so that we would be meeting, conferring, to eliminate those staff furloughs and then make sure that we're and that we're preparing ourselves for the future. We know that there's additional funding out there, that the money that we've outlined here is just the direct allocation. We're still going to be very aggressive in addressing any other pot of money that can help us. There's specific money for vaccines, about $16 billion in grants to health departments that we'll be able to pursue. We also know there's tenant and homeowner assistance. There is emergency rental assistance, help with utility payments, homeowner assistance to prevent mortgage defaults, foreclosures and housing loss. There's also childcare grants that are out there that we're going to pursue as well. Another big component that is coming up is funding infrastructure and it's called the big back build back better plan, excuse me. And so we are preparing right now a list of infrastructure projects that we're going to be pursuing to really both kickstart our economy, invest in our infrastructure and create jobs. And so tonight we're asking the council to provide input. This is really your plan. Staff have created our best recommendations, but it needs to be a document that the Council is very comfortable with and gives us that high level programmatic overview of where you want to invest these dollars. Couple of other quick things. Just please remember, we must really wait for that official guidance. We have some general outlines of what we think the money can be used for, but we expect in the next 60 days to get specific regulations and that we really should not be committing these dollars to anything that we can't undo before before those regulations are out, so that we know that everything that we're planning to do is going to be supported by the dollars. There are some risk areas, so we don't quite know whether restoration of reserves or services is consistent with revenue reduction. We believe that is the case. And so we'll be looking for confirmation there and also that, you know, some of the uses of funds, you know, may or may not be eligible, depending on how narrowly or broad the regulations are written. And we're hoping it's going to be very broad. I strongly encourage the council and the community to think of this money like a two year grant. It really isn't money that we can use to expand services long term because it's not going to be here for very long. And so we really should be thinking of these about two year grants. So any staff positions you see being proposed are really funded for two years and then they would go away. And that's because the City Council's fiscal policies prohibit that, which is a good, sound financial policy. And so the next steps really would be that once we get your approval for these larger plans, staff will really get into the detail of creating specific program budgets. To come back to you with how much staff we're going to need, what are the contracts we're going to be looking for? How are we going to support our nonprofits and ask them to help do that work? What are the individual line items for each one of those buckets and start to create those both outreach plans and the ability for people to apply. This is going to be an incredible undertaking. And as you mentioned, we have, you know, very, very limited staff resources left. So this is going to become one of the big things that we do because of its importance. But it does mean that we're going to have less ability to do other types of projects out there. But this you know, we clearly are going to be staffing up as well with some of these dollars. So I know that was a long presentation. We actually have a lot more detail in the documents. We have all of our team here who helped create all this work and they'll be available for questions and just thank you council for trusting us to bring you a recommended plan. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to really get back on our feet. I think our approach has been intentional. It's been listening to everything you've been saying for the past year about your needs and what you're hearing from your community. And we hope that we've met your your goals and objectives, and we look forward to the changes you're going to make tonight. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 2: Thank you. Want to go ahead and just add a few things and then we will turn this over to the Council on the Public. So let me just also add, I think Tom alluded to this. It is there when we when the plan was originally being developed, we took a conservative approach to how much money we thought we would have in the plan. There ended up being an additional $12.3 million that when the final bill was signed. We're in that plan for Long Beach. And so I think you'll probably all have a memo that was sent earlier today that outlines some broad strokes and some areas of where there could be need for for those resources. And I want to just kind of list those for the public since they weren't part of the formal presentations. For the additional 12.35 we've got. I propose on the economic recovery section an additional $2 million for micro and public transit pilot programs. That is a program that's been brought that the council has adopted but has not been funded. And I want to thank Councilwoman Price for her advocacy on that program. There's an additional $2 million for direct income pilots. These are happening now everywhere. The state is funding some. The feds are to our ability to micro target communities that need additional direct direct income support. So that's very supportive of that. There's an additional 1.25 million for economic empowerment zones, and most of you've been already advocating for these, but it allows us to grow that pot of money so we can really have some great zones. I know I've been talking to Councilman Austin for particularly his interest around the African-American Cultural Center and the Mercato, which I know has been brought up and so many others that are out there. And so this gives us an opportunity to increase that economic empowerment zone opportunity. There's an additional 1 million for child care in early childhood. Add in here that under the healthy and safe community, there's an additional $5 million on housing support, which is really the big need right now in the city, particularly around down payment assistance, which would be a big chunk of that which I think we all have talked about, is getting First-Time Homeowners the ability to buy their first home in Long Beach. And that's something that's missing in the plan, particularly want to think. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I know you brought that to the council last year. That was supported by all of us. We've all been kind of talking about that, that as a as an initiative. And the idea of beginning a public land trust, I think is very exciting. Also also in here and some rental housing navigation and then and then some other items. Councilmember Durango, Councilwoman Price, others have talked a lot about libraries and the item that just came forward. And of course, from your wrangling, you've always talked about eliminating library fees year after year. So we also set aside some dollars from this additional money to wipe out library fees for the next year so that our folks that really depend on our library system can have some additional support. So not having to pay fee after fee after fee and then there's additional support in here for the justice fund at 300,000 and 500,000 in additional support for language access translation. Our staff did note that while language access is spread out across the entire proposal, which we're glad we could use some additional funding for direct translation of meetings. And so there's an additional 500,000 for just that piece so that we can get all of our meetings translated on the spot. And so that together the micro transit money, the direct income, economic empowerment, child care, housing support, language access, library fees and just as fund rounds out the additional 12.35 million for the full package. So with that, I think most of you have been are queued up here. Let me go first and then we'll go to the public as well. I have Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I want to go ahead and start this. What I want to do is I actually want to want to just give some brief comments, then go to go to the public before we get into motions . But it's been a very difficult year. We all know that we've had a crisis on our multiple fronts here. And what we have today is comprehensive. That's the key here. It's comprehensive. There's so much in this plan. It's focused on the people. There's equity is baked in throughout this this process. We've learned from the CARES Act program, the Long Beach Racial Equity Reconciliation Initiative, lots of our plans, input from the council. And I think what's here is incredibly comprehensive. I think is what's important to note is this is one of the largest investments, one time investments into a grant program, a two year grant program in our in and in a generation. And so we need to make sure that these investments stand the test of time and are here for future generations. So I love that there are significant investments into the future. This has been incredible leadership by our mayor as president. This guy can tell you in the entire six county region, there's one city that has an actual plan on economic recovery in advance of these funds. And that city is the city of Long Beach. So, Mayor Garcia, you've done a fantastic job. The entire region pays attention to that and delivering on time the resources that we need as a community. And, you know, until the entire council and the budget, the Economic Development Committee and the Fed led committee, everyone who's played a part in this, you've certainly helped to put our city put our city in a strong position for the future. So so I want to as vice mayor, as chair of Economic Development, I'm honored to to make the motion here today is based on community feedback. These the economic roundtables and all of these things are factored into the staff recommendation. Staff done incredible job here. I also want to acknowledge Councilman Congressman Alan Lowenthal and that barragan are Senators Feinstein. It would be a for making sure that we bring these resources, these federal dollars back to the city of Long Beach. We also want acknowledge the region, a lot of regional leadership, the mayor, so a lot of regional leadership, regional partners and involved in supporting the proposal for $300 billion, $350 billion in flexible funding, which pay to pave the way for this to happen. So we're talking SCAD, we're talking to colleagues. They all National League of Cities, California League of Cities all advocated for this effort. So all of you have been involved in these regional boards. Thank you. So in terms of in terms of sort of acknowledgments, I know that we need to I know that the council all contributed. I know councilmembers Mongo and Sandy Allen spent a lot of time in the roundtables and off village committees being engaged in this, but staff really has done a great job all year. John Cox, Keisler and Kelly, cowardly ality where you need to have both those departments, a health department and an economic and economic development department. We're talking two sides of the brain. So this proposal really represents sort of the economic future situation within our city, but also the social and the health status of our city. And so I really want to want to thank those two members of our staff and entire staff for helping put together what I think is a great starting point on this on this proposal. So that said, we'll take a deeper dove. I'll accept the mayor's recommendations and talk a few more details after public comment. But I'm happy to make this motion today to begin this to begin this discussion. And after public comment, I'll clarify my motion a bit and then we'll hear from the rest of the council. Thank you. Okay. I have a motion in a second. Let me know if there's no objection. I also. We should go a public comment. So let me go to public comment and then I have everyone queued up. So we'll go through all the queue. So, Madam Court, we can take it away and do public comment. Speaker 3: Our first speaker is Beth Sibley Solis. Speaker 4: When I started this. What? Afternoon. Hello? I was nominated. I mean, this is a list that I was holding a loaded treatise on federal in. Speaker 2: My name is Bits of Sleaze and I work at the Doubletree in San Pedro. Speaker 4: Or is it a pyramid anywhere through the them in the they a la pandemia. Speaker 2: Today's the first anniversary of my firing due. Speaker 6: To the pandemic. Speaker 4: Amy Premiere the other I on. Speaker 2: My first day coming back to work. Speaker 4: Durante La Pandemia. Are you the only seahorse in this glitter? Speaker 2: During this pandemic, I was able to help my children through the school year. Speaker 4: Poem Mi Familia Interlock computer. There are no clear slices. Speaker 2: I supported my family in everything I could, but it was not easy. Speaker 4: There is also the noise considerably. Speaker 2: Their rent is extremely high. And really the way of life is not really something we can trust very much these days. Speaker 4: System. I'm not to a joke on the honor system, Ramos. The system failed. Speaker 2: The time when we needed the most. Speaker 4: Pursuing as I am, is companeros the trabajo. Speaker 2: My concern really now is about my coworkers. Speaker 4: Get ready to. Speaker 2: I would like them to go back to work. Speaker 4: Lott allocated Lott artillery support plus oakamoor. It'll be me. I mean, as opposed to me, that label will throw our whole. Speaker 2: Short term rentals like Airbnb, it really put at risk my opportunity to go back to work. Speaker 4: Based on Rovaniemi Travel. Speaker 2: It's like this. They're stealing my job. Speaker 4: This is damage on the moratoria calculator, of course. Speaker 2: So we need to have a moratorium on those short term rent places. Speaker 4: Our motive for not moratoria. Speaker 2: So I ask you, please vote for a moratorium. Speaker 4: Yes. Yes. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Hilda Gaytan. Speaker 2: Let's hear this in the portfolio, Senator. Speaker 4: I think it gives you an idea instead of coming under attack of every minute, every one day. Speaker 2: When I arrived at this country, I was walking around and I got lost and I called my brother to help me. Speaker 4: L mi proponents of understanding the complexities of evolutionary languages. They hope we are one. We can not look where there will be that. Speaker 2: He asked me where I was and I told him I was at the corner of Hope and one way. And he was laughing so hard. Speaker 4: You're Puerto Rico. That said to be here in west with the Sierra Nevada, the supreme leader coming in here. Speaker 2: And I recognized like how the lack of access to our own language, really, it's a way of oppressing us. It's a way of eliminating our opportunities and forcing us to work only one way. Speaker 4: Navigational trackers and some points of improvement. You know what I'm saying? Even the president. Speaker 2: And that one way is one way to failure is where our dreams are destroyed and everything is really a test. Speaker 4: Your production times in these stories are viable sources of revenue, in this case extraction, etc.. I love you very much. Speaker 2: I think I can tell you a countless number of situations where there is abuse and suffering from people that is going through these very difficult situations. Speaker 4: It is, as you know, can be rented for two or more. But I'm presuming luckily they. Speaker 2: But those stories are not going to change their future or change the situation in which they're suffering. Speaker 4: When the state is Mr. meeting communicate with Carolyn Turner with David Niven opportunity valley and understood to be. Speaker 2: When you give us an opportunity to speak up in our own language, you really are giving us opportunity to use all your services. Speaker 4: Tambien was an opportunity that they never pressed internal control on Camino Puntos. And, you know, I think it's up to the. Speaker 2: And also you give us the opportunity to represent ourselves together in a government that is really more equal for everyone. Speaker 4: Only theater can be open and institutionally shattered in that case. Walking past the process of that. And if you stay busy and come from a theater. Speaker 2: So I ask you to. They should really institutionalize language access in order to create a more equitable society like you are really intending to create. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Billy Brown. Billy Brown. Please limit yourself. Speaker 2: Hello? Can you hear me? Speaker 3: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 4: Good evening, Mayor Robert Garcia and Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 6: In the City Council. Speaker 2: My name is Billy Brown and I'm the director. Speaker 4: Of Violence Prevention and Reentry. Speaker 2: For the. Speaker 6: Ronnie's house. Speaker 4: And I'm also the focused founder of Safe Passage. Speaker 6: I am a resident of the sixth District. I went to all of. Speaker 2: The. Speaker 4: Long Beach Unified School. Speaker 6: District Elementary, junior high and high schools here. I graduated from Long Beach City College in Cal State, Long Beach. Speaker 2: And I really care about Long Beach and. Speaker 6: I really care about the community that I serve. As we can see, there's been a spike in. Speaker 2: Violence and my family personally has been affected by this. And I won't. Speaker 4: Go into detail. But this speaks of the. Speaker 6: Large issues in our community and. Speaker 4: This. Speaker 2: Equity. Speaker 6: We know how to take care of my village at one time and the sixth district. I remember that the youth. Speaker 2: The youth programs, they were thriving. And we surrounded a lot. Speaker 4: Of the youth programs around sports, and that's why Long Beach is known for their athletics. If you think about the history of Long Beach in their athletic programs, in their academic programs. But we need you to invest in the community. Speaker 2: As you invest. Speaker 4: In other communities. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Darlene Mejia. Speaker 4: Hello? Speaker 3: Yes, darling. Please begin. Speaker 4: Okay. Good evening. Mayor Robert Garcia and City Council. My name is early in the year. I'm 21 years old, born and raised in Miami. I want to thank the economic development for allowing me to be part of the Economic Recovery Roundtable that brought attention to our re committee that needs for recovery. I'm working with one to also focus on younger justice system impacted individuals like myself who has been impacted and understand the struggle of overcoming the stigma that comes with making a mistake. Navigating my way back has been challenging as it has for so many without housing and jobs and basic skills, which are challenging for anyone. We have no starting point. Thousands of men and women are coming home each week and we need to ensure we come together as a community to decrease recidivism while we ensure a mother or father stays, while we build healthier communities and ensure children have the pace of parent which decreases their said, We love going to prison. I support the economic recovery plan and encourage the city to continue to engage the community in the work and solutions to support our impacted better than ever. Thank you for time. Speaker 3: Thank you. Your next speaker is Fred Sutton. Brett Sutton. Speaker 2: Hello? Can you hear me? Speaker 3: Yes, please begin. Speaker 4: Oh. Speaker 2: Hello, honorable. Speaker 4: Counsel. My name is Fred Klein with the. Speaker 2: California Apartment. Speaker 4: Association. Speaker 2: We thank you for everything you do. This comprehensive proposal is a critical step in directing resources to those most affected by the pandemic and has rightly garnered national attention for the vaccine rollout and previous recovery efforts. Speaker 4: We appreciate the expediency in which the Rental Emergency Assistance. Speaker 2: Program is being implemented. We urge navigation, the navigation portal, to include an ability for a rental operator to nominate a resident in need who may not have applied or qualified. Speaker 4: We do have concerns regarding the use of these funds for an expansion of the Right. Speaker 2: To counsel program in the county. Speaker 4: Distributing critical relief funds to. Speaker 2: Lawyers for only one party in a private dispute unfairly favors one side. There are alternative. Speaker 4: Solutions. These relief funds can be used to expand. Speaker 2: Emergency rental subsidies would help residents stay in their home for the long term and would help more people rather than use these funds that encourage protracted litigation. Use them to fund a. Speaker 4: Pretrial mediation program that assists all. Speaker 2: Parties to come to a mutually agreeable resolution, or use these funds to direct towards a robust education program, ensuring every resident knows their rights. Speaker 4: We urge the Council to put precious recovery dollars to. Speaker 2: Uses that will be most effective. We request a few lawmakers to meet with housing providers. Speaker 3: I think your next speaker is Karen Cervantes. Speaker 4: Good evening, mate of the council members. My name is Karen Francis and I work for Irani's House as a director of outreach and support for the beauty industry. I called in today to voice my support for item 15 and the letter submitted by Ronnie South and the LBC Beauty Association, which was signed by Oprah Bath and Hair Salon. Barbershops and beauty salons are. Speaker 1: Closing in record numbers. Speaker 4: They've been closed for most of 2020 and most of 2021 and without, and have received little to none technical support and proper funding to overcome the losses. I ask you today to invest and create a plan solely for them so that they can get back on their feet and so that they can also get and rehire their . Employees that they've lost. Please consider also adding vaccines so that they could feel safe and that their clients can also feel safe when they are visited. Thank you in advance for your support. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Manuel Navarro. Speaker 2: Hi. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. How you guys doing today? My name is Manuel Navarro. I'm the owner of Benny's. Speaker 4: Barbershop in North Long Beach. I support the letter submitted. Speaker 2: To City Council by the LBC. Speaker 4: Beauty and Barber Association. Speaker 2: For a. Speaker 4: Beauty industry recovery package. Our industry has suffered tremendously, and the investments, in my opinion, has to make sense with our losses. We need help to make our businesses, our businesses and communities stronger. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Maria Grollo. Maria guerrilla. Speaker 4: Well. Do you hear me? Yes. Speaker 3: Please begin. Speaker 4: Okay. My name is Mario Loyola, and I work on the Doubletree Hotel Osaka. I've been working there for 18 years, but it's for a year that I'm the work and I had to take care of my kids during the pandemic. I had to take the hard decision to move to Arizona during that. Election. And it was hard also to. Very difficult. But I feel so proud of her body. But now we need to we need to work. We need to open up a job because we are very bad. So I. I like. Urban bias affects light pollinators. And we need like a moratorium for death. We need support enough to get a job. But in both, life will be normal and many people are waiting for. I'm ready to go to work, but I don't know when that's possible that I go back to work because everyone is starving as job. And we need we need support. We need a moratorium for that. Thank you very much. Speaker 3: Thank you. Your next speaker is Mike Berge. Mike Birch. Speaker 2: Good evening, Mayor and city council members. My name is Mike Murchison. On behalf of hundreds of rental property owners in Long. Speaker 4: Beach, including organizations that you are. Speaker 2: Familiar with, such as the Small Property Owners Alliance and the local apartment association. We want to commend the mayor, the vice mayor and council and Mongo for their for their presentation on economic recovery. Specifically, the mayor recently announced a 29 million to terms regarding deferred rent out. I strongly encourage you to consider innovative technologies versus the traditional application method, as tenants all over Long Beach are not truly incentivized, nor is there a high. Speaker 4: Percentage taking advantage of this particular. Speaker 2: Program as seen in the first round of CARES Act. This technology encourages tenants and landlords to give and work together. This is not something that either side is going to be successful. Speaker 4: Unless the other. Speaker 2: Side gives in. And that's for both parties. I'm asking you to support an innovative approach as we move forward to allocate these funds out to the tenants, but ultimately to the landlords or all the money on the deferred rent. Let's come up with creative solutions that make sense for both sides so we can avoid evictions later on down this year, which will happen if we stay with the current process. Thank you very much. Speaker 4: For your time. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Raven McDowell. Speaker 4: Hello. Hi. My name is raving about the evening. Mayor Rob regarding city council. My name is Ray McDowell and I am a resident of the city of Long Beach and I have the impossible justice justice system. I would traffic at a young age causes movements for our father. I attended school and working 50 hours a day and working for my son that I am not alone in this struggle. I'm here to support a solid representative to ensure our reentry community has the investment to get back on our feet. We need housing, jobs in health and family reunification services. Please consider the challenges we face being released without support and thousands of logs locked in against us when you are creating programs to support us. Thank you for your time and support. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mike Berg. Speaker 2: Good evening, Marion City Council. My name is Mike Birge. I work at the western Long Beach for 23 years and I'm part of a unique community that has fought for good paying jobs with good benefits like health care. During the pandemic, I have had to rely on my wife and I started dipping into our savings account. We are depending on you to make a good decision for us as workers. Until business comes back to our hotels, there must be a moratorium now. Repeat moratorium now. Prioritize. Prioritizes workers like myself. Prioritize my coworkers who are without work because of companies like Airbnb voting moratorium for short term rentals. I'm born and raised here in the city of Long Beach. I love our city. Let's take care of our hotel workers. Hotel workers lives matter. Thank you very much. Thank you. Mr. Clarke, before we go to the next speaker, I just want to make sure that these speakers are in the right. I'm not sure they're signed up for general public comment because I know we don't have, you know, staffers or any sort of moratoriums or anything else on the agenda on this item. So I'm not sure if maybe they that was meant for the open public comment section. So I just want to make sure you double check that as we have speakers moving forward. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ricky Thomas. Ricky Thomas. Speaker 2: Good evening. Speaker 4: Mayor and City Council. My name is Ricky Thomas. Speaker 2: And I'm the owner of the barbershop. Speaker 4: In Long Beach. Bought the letters submitted by the City Council by the Beauty and Barber Association, the beauty industry recovery package. Our industry has suffered. And it has it has to. Speaker 2: Make sense what our losses. Speaker 4: Our businesses are suffering and we need assistance. Our businesses were stopped, but our bills never stopped. Thank you for your time. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is sentencing. Speaker 1: Good evening. Speaker 4: My name is Matt and Sam and I'm with. Speaker 1: The United Cambodian. Speaker 4: Community. UCC is part of the Language Assets Coalition and even before the code with our community has been impacted by the lack of language support service in the city. So our NDP residents were really. Speaker 1: Struggling and. Speaker 4: Even hit harder during the pandemic. Speaker 1: In. Speaker 4: Order to access the city services, the meetings. Speaker 1: And getting documents and. Speaker 4: Even like critical COVID related information. So like for example, like with the digital inclusion. Speaker 1: Program, the city has. Speaker 4: Partnered with UCC to have reach out to the community. Speaker 1: We have help out. Speaker 4: The community applying to get the device help, translating over the phone with the Internet service provider on issues with their Internet connection because those communities and also the services. Also for the code, we receive about 30 calls every day. Speaker 1: Seeking help on. Speaker 4: COVID related, ranging from finding the test site to making appointments for the COVID test. Speaker 1: To getting appointments. Speaker 4: For the vaccine. Because when they call the city phone line, it took at least 24 hours to get those answers back. So language access policy has been mentioned generally in the Economic Recovery Fund, but there is no specific funding to support that. So we asked the Coalition asked that the city should dedicate some funds to address those gaps. Speaker 1: And. Speaker 4: To hire staff to implement the LDP within this. Speaker 3: Thank your next speaker is Sharon Sinegal. Cynical. Cynical. Our next speaker is Susanna Seguin. Since a union. Speaker 4: Two tips on about mayor and council members. My name is. Speaker 1: Dennis Mam and I'm the executive director of United Cambodian Community. As city manager, Modica. Speaker 4: Shared during the pandemic, economic and health disparities were exasperating communities of. Speaker 1: Color. Speaker 4: Many of the residents in my own businesses. Speaker 1: That make Cambodia town great are at. Speaker 4: Risk of displacement due to eviction or closure. In Cambodia town, we already. Speaker 1: Have seen one Cambodian. Speaker 4: Large restaurant. Speaker 1: Permanently. Speaker 4: Closed. And in June, one Cambodian grocery store will be closing. Not only do we need to recover from COVID. Speaker 1: 19. Speaker 4: Impact, but also invest in new infrastructure and build new systems that will work better. Speaker 1: For our communities. Speaker 4: Redlining and other racial policies have create disinvestment in communities of color. With this opportunity of recovery, the city can move these areas invest in equitable development. UCC has a business center that has been operating for three years and provide each year business counseling to over. Speaker 1: 90. Speaker 4: Businesses. As folks are losing jobs. Speaker 1: Community members. Speaker 4: Are being resilient and starting their own business. UCC has already helped two businesses stepped up to open during the pandemic in alignment with Cambodia Town Thrive and the People's Recovery, UCC urges the City Council to adopt the following recommendations. Some community. Speaker 1: Specifically in Cambodia town. Speaker 4: With mixed use projects that have business incubators on the first floor and affordable housing in the in the other fourth. Create a rental housing division and specifically fund a right to counsel program to prevent unlawful evictions and invest in minority small businesses, specifically to support community based organizations that do not have beds in the corridors. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Suzanne Brown. Speaker 4: Good evening. My name is Suzanne Brown, and I'm a senior attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. We submitted a letter, along with our community partners, that include our funding recommendations for recovery dollars. We appreciate that. Some of our recommendations are included in the staff report, but we urge the Council to make adjustments to further fine tune the document and address the community's recommendation. I will highlight a few of the missing items. First, we asked the city to create a rental housing division to act as a point of contact for both tenants and landlords. The housing landscape has become increasingly complex in light of the pandemic and the myriad of new housing laws. And we need the city to play a role in issuing bulletins, answering questions and assisting those in need. The staff report refers to the creation of one new position and the Housing Services Bureau. But we are hopeful that the. Speaker 1: Money in the mayor's. Speaker 4: Letter means that we will get more for this division. We asked that 700,000 be allocated annually for the creation of a rental housing division in the city. Second, we asked the city to fully fund the right to counsel program a proven program of success. We anticipate a tsunami of evictions as a result of the pandemic. We appreciate that 900,000 was allocated for this, but a fully funded program would cost at least $3.6 million. Additionally, this program is needed to prevent displacement of our most vulnerable residents of color. Third, we asked the city to allocate funds to create a community land trust. The staff report proposes to study them. We would like to see money dedicated to get one off the ground. Thank. Speaker 3: Thank your next speaker in Serene Senegal. Speaker 4: Good evening. Mayor Robert Garcia, Vice Mayor Richardson and City Council. Thank you for bringing the investment into Long Beach to help us with the economic recovery. My name is Sharon Senegal, and I'm the executive director of Rodney's house and the co-founder of the ABC Barber and Beauty Association. I'm here to support a $5 million recovery package, to support the beauty industry with no less than $25,000 per shop, license fee breaks, rental support, technical support and support for individual barbers and stylists to ensure the industry recovers. We must make a sound investment in the industry. Mayor Robert Garcia I would also respectfully ask you to make a recommendation to the State to ensure that our beauty industry receives vaccinations based on their close contact with their customers. We have submitted a letter outlining our ask from the beauty industry, signed by 100 active barbershops and hair salons in the city of Long Beach. Thank you so much for your support and I look forward to working with the city on the economic recovery. Speaker 3: Thank you. Your next speaker is Victor Sanchez. Speaker 2: It's a mayor, vice mayor, Councilmember Victor Patches. Speaker 4: Of the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and a Healthy Community. I want to uplift three elements community. Speaker 2: Organizations believe are vital. Speaker 4: To be included as part of the economic recovery process. Speaker 2: We hope the full. Speaker 4: Council to support the first has to do with housing. We asked the city to create a rental housing division that is fully fund the right to council program and to study the creation of a community contract. I want to thank Mayor Garcia for proposing. The city matched its previous investment of $300,000 to the Immigrant Justice Fund. Missing from the initial. Speaker 2: Proposed recovery package was any direct relief from our community, many of whom are ineligible for federal benefit or released, yet make up the core of our city's essential workforce. Speaker 4: They have been among the hardest hit, and we owe it to. Speaker 2: Them and their families to ensure that they have critical legal representation during this difficult time. I hope we can. Speaker 4: Count on the rest of the Council. Speaker 2: Support. And lastly, I want to ask the. Speaker 4: Council consider as part of this recovery process, some additional policies such as a moratorium on. Speaker 2: Short term. Speaker 4: Rentals. Speaker 2: In order to fully support the hospitality sector in recovery. Speaker 4: Hotel workers need their jobs to provide financial stability. Speaker 2: For their families during this recovery. Speaker 4: PR don't provide jobs, hotels do. Speaker 2: We must help this overwhelmingly immigrant part of our workforce with the help they need to get back on their feet. Speaker 4: Don't let short term rentals operate until hotels can rehire. Speaker 2: Their workers back in time. Speaker 4: Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. We are going to go ahead and go back. So the list I have so I have I have the motion which is made by Vice Mayor Richardson, Vice Manager of additional comments before I go to. I do that. I do so well. First of all, thank you to all the folks from public comment. I think a lot of the comments are already reflected in what's here. And so you may get questions from from from staff, maybe get questions from me or from others on how those things are are reflected. Okay. So I'm going to go ahead and jump into this motion. So staff did a high level plan so that the motion is staff's recommendation. We're going to go ahead and include all of the mayor's recommendations, and I'm just going to go through them quickly. 2 million micro public transit pilot program, 1 million for direct income pilot programs, an additional 1.25 million for economic empowerment zones. Additional 1 million per child, child care and early childhood education, 5 million for housing support. And I'm going to ask city manager, how would you break out that 5 million housing support? Speaker 5: So if we had an additional $5 million, we would look at a couple of functions. One, we're looking at adding some additional positions. About three, to do our housing navigation. That would be about $1,000,000 to fund them for two years as a two year grant. We would look at about $1,000,000 for the Community Land Trust to get that program started in about 3 million. The balance for for mortgage assistance. Speaker 2: Fantastic. Going to make sure that's reflected in the motion. There's 500 K here for language access interpretation at meetings, 300 K to waive library fees. 300,000 in additional support to lobby justice fund. I want to make sure all of those included in this motion. I also want to make sure that the motion reflects there's some things that has as a result of placing in the mayor's thing mayor's recommendations. It frees up additional resources here. There's $900,000 for housing, navigation and right to counsel in this budget since we just placed a million into navigation. Mr. City Manager, that free up this 900,000 for right to counsel. Speaker 5: It could in that bucket we had one position for two years at about $400,000. So if that position is not needed because we have three on the other side, those funds would be available for other uses in housing. Speaker 2: Fantastic. So I want to make sure that's reflected in this motion. There was also a request on immigrant communities to make sure that there's some direct component support, support on immigrant communities. It's not called out here, but there is a health equity fund. And we want to make sure that a portion of there's, I think, $5 million in health equity. That's where the intention is. It's not called out, hey, this group or that group. But that's where the black health equity work, the Latino Health Equity Access work, the Cambodian AAPI health access work. I think the direct support for immigrant communities kind of belongs there. It's want to make sure it's reflected that 500,000 of that 5 million is reflected in direct support for communities. So those are the changes to my motion here. Now, there are some just questions and some questions here that I want to kind of clarify. So, one, I love that you framed this as a two year grant. And when I think of grants, I think about a grantmaking process. And in that grantmaking process, you really want to ensure that sort of the strategies are coordinated in a way that there's evaluation, there's measurement, there's strategy around the allocation of these investments. And our health director loves to talk about this term collective impact model. We did something like that with $1,000,000 and he'll grant North Hills on North Long Beach. It was over that two or three years. There was a lot of collective impact. I see that there are a number of strategies here that are already sort of aligned to hardest hit communities like violence prevention, food insecurity, economic empowerment zones, health equity. These strategies are already sort of targeted there. What I don't want is a process that's not coordinated. If someone's dealing with housing insecurity, if someone's dealing with, you know, violence issues or food insecurity. They're all interconnected and we need to make sure that it's coordinated with a collective impact model. So necessity manager or maybe Kelly, can you speak to that? Are we are we are we going to utilize the collective impact strategy here? Speaker 5: So, yes, you made the point that you raised. There's a number of different buckets that we are looking at to fund, but we realize that they can't work independently from each other. And so the areas where we have food security issues are, you know, in a lot of cases, the same issues where we have violence issues, where we also, you know, have, you know, want to be able to lift up kind of the economy. And so we do see a couple of these buckets of money are going to be overlapping. And we want to take a coordinated approach in the strategy. Again, we're not at that level yet where we program every single dollar and how they're going to go. But we do see the ability to kind of focus a number of these programs on the regions where the data shows that we have the most need and we can make the most collective impact. Speaker 2: I think that's important. And so yeah, I want to make sure that that that we do that. You know, another thing, you know, I was noticing there was an opinion editorial to talk about it didn't invest this plan didn't invest enough into equity. And I disagree. I see equity lays throughout the whole plan. We learn from CARES Act. We saw that we implemented a an equity lens through CARES Act. We tested it and we've learned from that. And I see that reflected here. So excluding redevelopment, if you think about it, this represents the most significant investment that we have in these areas in a generation. And we need to make sure that the impacts are felt for generations. Can you speak a little bit to your approach and what you've learned in how you approach an equity lens? Speaker 5: Yes, I actually have Kelly, call me, talk a little bit about that. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 7: Evening, Councilmember. Yeah. So we know that when you look at the data across the city, the impacts just generally we see very different outcomes for many in terms around health, around economics, around many, you know, violence prevention and others. And so when we built out the, the sort of the ideas behind the funding, um, partially with CARES Act, but also going forward, we focused very clearly on the areas where we were seeing the greatest impacts. And then and then start to build the basic needs in those spaces, investing more around violence prevention and youth development and others. Really working to make sure that we are sort of creating opportunity and creating opportunity for prosperity across the city. And that that was built into all the efforts that we were looking at, as well as the health equity fund more specifically. Speaker 2: Okay. I mean, that 5 minutes. Vice Mayor Richardson, I think, is the make of emotional content for the governor. But I'm almost done. That's have 5 minutes past, mayor. The maker of the motion gets ten and then the rest gets five. But these are what I don't want. I don't want to argue that the technicalities I think the maker of the motion gets ten if it's more item. But not if it's a staff item. But it's okay. Let's just continue. I mean, it's just a few things. I don't have any other amendments. These are clarifications I think are important. So there's a question about the 27 million in rental housing support. Two questions on that. To be clear, some of that goes out to direct rental support and some of the take her back payments on rent zacharek. Speaker 1: Yes, that is correct. Speaker 2: Okay, great. And when is that going to be available? At the time. But I'm sorry, but the time is up. You only get 5 minutes unless it's an item that you're proposing. That's fine. So I've got to move on. You just. Please, sir. Okay. Thank you. So next. Next up is Councilman Ciro. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. Sorry, it took me a moment to unmute, so I want to talk a little bit more about the economic empowerment zone, just to kind of explain a little further. I do appreciate that we've taken an equity lens to to this and really thinking about how we're making investment in our hardest hit and the areas with that that's that's had the highest COVID rates because I really think that this is a way that we can accelerate our long term kind of plans that we've been wanting to address around generational poverty. Right. I think this is a way where we can accelerate economic inclusion because we've heard that we've had the highest poverty rates , you know, during COVID, but we've had them very high in the north west central area prior to the pandemic. And yet at the same time, we don't have these workforce development centers in the west, north, south, central areas, nor and especially in the west side, we haven't we don't have computer labs. So it's a really important we've talked a lot already earlier about closing the digital divide, but I really want to make sure we tie it in with the cultural center while there are cultural centers like the African-American Cultural Center. And then recently we talked about the Latino Cultural Center, that it's important that there is an economic piece to it, which is ensuring that we tie in the economic inclusion and also with the central area. We certainly have a designated Cambodia town and I hope to also talk about cultural center there as well, adding to it. So I think that, you know, again, these are not just centers for cultural activities, but also about how we're addressing the economic disparity that's existed in these communities. And so really wanting to make sure that we think about how it's centered on increasing home ownerships, supporting our small businesses and diverse entrepreneurs, to thinking about local inclusive procurement and contracting, as well as our youth development. Focusing on youth in these work development sites as well within these empowerment zone and ensuring that we also have a strong community development, economic development, so that we can do this possible land trust pilot that that, you know, would land trust. And then also starting our bids and business associations. So that's something that I just wanted to explain a little further as some people wondered, well, what exactly is that and what does it mean? And I think this is important about how we're really building infrastructure to address long term, longstanding issues that existed in the north, west and central area of Long Beach. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman. Bingo. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. Lots of great things in this plan. I want to kind of talk through several of them and some ideas and thoughts that I think are important for the staff to consider as we move forward. I appreciate the comments about our. Our empowerment zones and our cultural diversity zones. I think those are really critical to the discussion. But I know all our colleagues will have a lot of comments on different components of the plan. I do want to talk to a couple of things that I know I've heard, both from the community and some from my colleagues. I won't spend time on giving credit to each colleague that mentioned them, but I think that they really need to be addressed. I appreciate the memo from the mayor today that identifies the micro and public transit pilot program. I think that's really critical in our ability to move people across the city as we try to really engage the community in. Taking opportunities for development of healthy lifestyles and other activities that really help contribute to the overall life expectancy in any one person and then collectively as a community. Some of the amenities are not currently available in some parts of the city. Because of geography, I mean, the ocean is only where the ocean is. We can't drop an ocean in the fifth District, and I know that. But if there were kids that were underprivileged in any part of the city and they wanted to participate in certain programing that's only available in the ocean, we do need access to and affordable ways to get there. I talk a lot about violence prevention and a lot of, you know, the work that I did with the 10,000 Job Summer Youth Program. And I really feel like this summer is an opportunity for that for us. I don't really know which bucket to drop it into. There are so many buckets that it already fits into, but from a violence prevention standpoint, getting our youth to work. I remember one of the roundtables from the barbershops and the Personal Services Division talked about the ways in which they could employ youth throughout the summer as marketing analysts, social media analysts really building up the part of the strategy that talks about by Long Beach shop, Long Beach, spend your money in Long Beach. And so I would love to see us set an aspirational goal similar to the ones that the mayor really led on several years ago of getting thousands of kids internships. I'd love us to do a mirror program similar to the 10,000 summer youth unemployment jobs where we our funds really lifted that up and if possible, added to it with these additional American Rescue Act funds. We talk about our health activity support. So there are only so many facilities in the city and I hear a lot of comments from communities. I'm throughout Long Beach. When I see them in the parks on the east side, 43% of the parks are in our district by square footage . But a lot of the activity of activated space is not always available. Soccer fields are rented at capacity, and so our tennis courts and our pickleball courts and our basketball courts and our are all of these places where kids and youth and teens can go to stay out of trouble and stay active. They're at capacity. And so we really need to look at what is possible today in terms of our investment in additional space for organized activities, so that even if we were to use majority funds or infrastructure funds, we need to do that now so that some of the violence prevention funds can pay the activity fees and the enrollment fees and the league fees for participants in these programs. But we can't grow those programs if we don't have the space for them to do that. So I think we need to really look at what that looks like. There are ways to do it very inexpensively and in a semi-permanent manner. Whether there are drop on arena court like they have in San Diego or repurposing some activity space and just pouring the concrete to get it done. We need to talk about child care. When I when I look at the chart of where you can't even see the chart on the screen, when I look at the chart of where the money is being spent, I think it's great that we're investing in child care. And I really want to recognize Cindy for championing that. I think it's also important that we don't just do what we've always been doing. We appreciate the health department. They run a great program, and the way that they run that program is supporting child care systems that exist already. But what we've learned by listening to the dominant female head of households that have really been holding the economy together is that they work nontraditional hours, and the current childcare available to them through that program does not meet their needs. And so we really need to look at some of that child care money being put over to the economic development side for a re-imagining of how child care can be provided. A lot of that lack of supervision that's in our communities these days is because female head of households need to be at work. There are only so many jobs available and they're taking that investment in themselves to go back to work. But that leaves our youth and our teens at home alone. And we need to talk about our seniors and whether it's through active living, like the senior programs that have been championed at the art center or adding activities across the city like Pickleball. There are small investments in getting people active. I know the seventh District has a walking path that's been pretty great. How we are able to invest that money into a program that's. Speaker 2: Five more connections and not one and longer. Speaker 1: Thank you. And hold seniors accountable is really important. And then I'll just end by saying and I know Tom knows this mental health is so critical. The county of Los Angeles is launching their 711 program. And we really need to find a way to be able to connect our community to emergency mental health services through programs that already exist. Thank you for all that you've done for this mayor. I may have additional comments, but I'm very supportive of the plan, though I know over the next several weeks many adjustments will need to be made. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Next up is Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to thank you and staff for putting together the proposals tonight and giving us a framework from which to start our discussions. I think that was a very professional way for staff to approach this because it allowed us to be able to have some general ideas of where the funds were allocated will be allocated, and I personally appreciate that. I also want to take a moment to recognize my colleague, Councilwoman Mongeau, who I believe is the current chair of the Economic Development Committee. And she was on that committee with me. And I know that a lot of the things that we are really advocating for today are things that have been priorities for her for a long time. And so I want to make sure that she's recognized for her work, both on that committee currently and also for her work as the Budget Oversight Committee chair for many years . There's a couple of things that I want to highlight about this budget that I think are are really fantastic are this proposal. The first is the the money that we're dedicating to the mobile outreach teams, you know, throughout the nation, prosecution agencies that I'm familiar with and law enforcement agencies are really looking at alternative response models when we're talking about people that either have mental health, substance abuse or co-occurring disorders. And I'm very excited that this the money that we are receiving through this, a federal relief package, is going to allow us to be able to pilot a few different models. I know Councilwoman Allen and I and I know council woman sorrow and I have talked about some of the different models that perhaps our police department could be involved in, because some of the issues that we're facing in the city with individuals experiencing mental health are not police issues and not issues that police officers should be expected to manage. So I'm really hopeful that this mobile outreach program that we're going to start in this alternative response model includes some data compilations so that we know where to structure our funds moving forward. So I'm asking the city manager to please make sure we have some sort of data collection on the number of people we encounter , how effective we are at linking people to services. It's really important and I think it will form our our budget commitments in the future. I want to thank my colleague, Councilmember Ranga, for his partnership with me in the area of prioritizing our city's libraries. I know every member of this council has been actively supportive of libraries, so I don't mean to single him out because you've all been champions of it. But most recently he and I had the opportunity to really work on the city auditor's report, and I'm hoping that some of the funds that will be allocated to violence prevention and language access will be utilized to enhance the library's digital divide opportunities. The access to services in terms of the number of hours or the days that they're open, and also language access receiving books in other languages. I know as someone who learned how to speak English later in life, English is my second language. I know that my community has reached out to our law library director asking for resources in my native language. And so I'm hoping that we're able to use some of this money to provide that access. I'm really happy for the mayor's recommendation on the micro transit service. I want to be very clear with city staff that I'm hoping that we don't take a whole year to develop a program. We've had numerous reports that have been brought to the council to ask for a micro transit study in the Belmont Shore area to get people from Belmont Shore to Second and PCH to Alamitos Landing. Because right now with the PARKLETS, we've lost a lot of parking spaces. And I know that those business improvement districts where we're willing to help pay for this program, but because of. Or pay for some of it. But because of COVID impacts, they weren't able to because they lost meter revenue. So I'm hoping that we can look at that. And also for the downtown area, the shuttle service that we had, that has to be ADA accessible. Those services were really great and I want to be able to do to collect some data on user ship so that we can plan for the future. So I'm hoping that we can get this process started immediately. And then finally, I want to thank the mayor for prioritizing the importance of having a healthy reserve. We, as a result of COVID, we had to burn through a lot of our reserve. We simply were not in a place as a city to be able to cover the costs of testing and the health response that we needed to deal with COVID. And so we burned through a lot of our reserve, not because we're responsible, but because an emergency hit our city and we had to react in order to protect the welfare of our residents and our businesses. And so building that reserve is prudent. I know that some people think we should not build the reserve to the level that we are. I think that's reckless because we don't know when another emergency situation will hit our city. And I want to make sure that we're prepared for it like we were the last time. So I want to I want to thank the mayor for his leadership and staff for being very mindful in terms of the priorities, and I'm very supportive of the motion. So thank you, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Counsel one. Next I have up is Councilmember Austin. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 6: And wow, this is really, really quite a lot to digest. You know, over 200 pages of the staff report on this matter. It wasn't done in a in a week either. A lot of hard work has been recognized here. A lot of great leadership on from our mayor. Great execution from our city manager and city team, but also a lot of thoughtful consideration. This this document and this this item motion before us is really a summary of our dialog as a council with community literally over the last year, recognizing the needs of our city, the vast needs of our city. And this is a really, you know, from a public standpoint, a public official standpoint, we won't see these type of windfalls for our role model. I don't expect to see anything like this in the near future. And so this is this is certainly extraordinary. And I'm very encouraged by the presentation and the direction that this economic recovery plan is taking. I think that this has to be really, really viewed as a relief. It is a sigh of relief that allows us to breathe over the next year, year and a half. I think it's ambitious, even what has been laid out in terms of the amount of resources and the what we can actually deliver. And are we actually ramped up and prepared to deliver over the next three months or six months? It's going to be quite a colossal effort to even pull this out to the to the extent that that we want to do this. And I think we need to be clear with what the expectations on that. I am thrilled that we are eliminating furloughs for our city employees. We went to them first when we realized that, you know, this pandemic was going to set us back $30 million in our budget. And we went to our city employees and said, we need to renegotiate, we need to ask you to take sacrifices. And they stepped up first. And so I'm glad to see that we are restoring or eliminating the furloughs that that impact our city employees. I think the empowerment economic empowerment zones are going to be critical and strategic for us to to really improve economic development in some of our more economically depressed areas. And again, this package presents opportunities for our city that were not there before the pandemic. And so that is a great thing. And I think we should be focusing on those areas and taking full advantage of those areas. And I know our our team is aggressive and looking forward to doing that. Somebody mentioned in public comment about rental assistance. You know, we were able to put about $5.3 million toward rental assistance. We were able to assist about 2000 families in the city. This adds to that significantly. $29 million, we're going to be able to help a lot of families and deal with back rent, as well as housing providers who have missed their rent over the last several months year. This this will help help breathe a sigh of relief. It may not cover everything, but it puts us in a better we're in a much better position today than we were last week or two weeks ago. And so I'm encouraged by where we're headed with this. I do. I think that the BA and I agree with the motion on the floor in terms of budget oversight. I would just say that, you know, we're not out of the woods. We still have to think about the the resources that we have as temporary and then manage expectations as we are rolling out these programs. Because the hardest thing for any body to do is to cut, you know, and so while we are have the position or have the ability to to recover, to for relief, we have the ability to to do some creative things for our community. We still have have had to come to grips with, you know, 2023, 2024. We may have some very, very difficult decisions before us. And so I think we need to be mindful of that throughout the process and and also planning for contingencies. To Councilmember Price's point, yes, we we drew down on our reserves. And it's important for us to, if at all possible, to replenish that for our financial standards or our ability to finance and be able to to provide the services that are at the level that our residents deserve. And so those are my comments. I'm happy to support this item. And again, great work, everybody. We still have to roll our sleeves up. We still have a lot of work to do. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman. Next up is Councilman Zendejas. Councilwoman Jan de Haas. I think you're on mute. Maybe. Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to give great thanks to to you, Mayor, for bringing this forward to our incredible staff that has been working tirelessly on this recovery plan. I think you've done an exceptional job in considering all of the needs of all our community members and really listening to the community and the needs that we have. And it is very important that we continue this process in a very thoughtful and deliberate way and most importantly, in an equitable way. As we as we decide through this process, we want to make sure that we build ourselves stronger than ever before so that we can go through the next year or year and a half. Two to come. I know that. We are definitely looking through an equitable lens through through this process, and that makes me very happy. One of the things that we will see is that as no secret to any of us, the Latino community has been hit very, very, very hard through COVID. And Latinos keep a dying every day of COVID. Still to this day, I know that we went through a very rough patch, and I'm so grateful that our numbers are going down right now. I know that I've been very active in putting together a task force that Latinos contract, COVID task force, to address some of the issues on why and what we can do to stop the spread of COVID within the Latino community. I know that I have an item coming up later on, and that is the meet up with the Latino Health Initiative, which I'm happy to see that $5 million have been allocated aside for four equity health initiatives. And I'm hoping that at least two mil 2 million of this will be set aside for the Latino community because of the fact that data shows that this is the community that has been definitely affected the most. Also looking forward to the empowerment zone, economic empowerment zones, where we can really focus on the item like and like it was mentioned earlier. And that item is so necessary right now, especially when recovering from from this economic crisis in the Latino community. It's going to provide so much outlets not only for our youth, but also for so many of our Latino residents, especially in the first District, who have continuously lost their jobs. And to some of the workers that haven't been able to go back to work, including single moms and single dads, because they have had to make the tough decision of staying home with with their child because they're not in school yet. So I'm very happy to be able to support this plan and and look forward to hearing the rest of my colleagues comments on this plan. And again, a huge thank you to everyone that has worked so very hard on this. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilmember Ringo. Speaker 6: Thank you, Mayor. And I, of course, want to thank you for all the efforts that you've done putting this together. You and city manager have put a phenomenal program together in terms of how we're going to address is comprehensive. It hits all the buttons that that are important to me. I want to thank the Councilmember Suzy Pryce from the third district for her shout out. It was a good effort that we put together, and I think the library is a very important event for our kids. And it addresses what are the weather, the motions that we want to address, that violence prevention, and how can you prevent violence when you have kids in libraries learning as opposed to being on the street and doing it, doing the things that they should be doing when they're out there. The other thing, the other components of it is that, you know, we're dealing with those other items that are important to me. Language access. I've been mentioning that for a number of years, Don, and it's been my desire to have language access integrated and baked into our into our culture of the city so that we don't have to have these issues about contracting out here or contracting out there with the different translation services to get bilingual, to get medical services. I think that if we are able to integrate, integrated within the culture of the city, I will be done with that. We need to get more, more staff, bilingually, tested and trained to do the translations internally and not have to always rely on outside sources for that. It addresses, of course, the the economic empowerment zones, which is very important. But there's another point to point of me is to look at our digital divide. I know you addressed it somewhat, but I think that's highly important that we address the digital divide that exists in certain parts of our city and in and of course, having one of the largest impacted areas that does not have Internet in the West Palm Beach area. I think it's very important that we look at getting access to everybody everywhere as soon as we can because we're important. If there's anything that we learned about this this pandemic is that we discovered where our weaknesses are and where we need to focus in and some of our some more resources. And of course, we couldn't be anywhere else, anywhere without having our Parks and Recreation Department with our health department. And I really want to I would say the fact that I want to say it again, I've been saying it for a long time now. We need to institutionalize our health department. 95%, if not more, of their budget is grants oriented. And this grant that we're getting here is a part of that. How do we do that? That's the million dollar question or the multimillion dollar question about that. But I think that if there's anything that came out of this pandemic is the fact that having our own health department was a tremendous resource, a tremendous help, and actually put us out there nationally. And thank you, Mayor, for all the representation you've been out there. I think I saw you on NBC so many times. You should have your own show there now. And when you were all, it seems like every time I turn it on, you were you were saying something about about our COVID response or recovery rollout or our economic development. I mean, great job, Mayor. It was it was it was very proud to see I was very proud to see you there. And again, I mean, you should get your own show on there. It looks like we have a consensus building from everybody to to support this. The motion on the floor. I think it's a it's a great motion. Thank you for putting it forward, Mayor, for working with it. And, of course, our city manager and and his team were rolling aside and like said, it's comprehensive. It's got almost everything we need in there will probably be tweaking it here and there because it needs to be. But other than that. Thank you again and thank you, everybody. Speaker 2: For supporting this. Thank you, Councilman. You'll be my first guest. How's that? I'm just kidding. Councilman Allen. Speaker 1: But thank you, Mayor. This is. Just a historic day for this city and the beginning of a new chapter. I'm normally not a person of a lot of words, but I do have a little bit to share, so I'm probably going to get that five minute. But I do want to start by just thanking the mayor for his leadership and hard work and just a love for this city. I know that your efforts and advocacy on behalf of our city has empowered us to make major investments in critical areas, and it's just much needed for this economic recovery. So just. Thank you, Mayor. I know how much you care. And just to all my amazing colleagues, this is really an incredible moment for so many people in this city. And I'm so proud of this moment. I was excited from the moment we got word that this money was coming. I just was just jumping up and down. And I'm just so proud to be sitting on this virtual diocese with all of you. So thank you. And I also thank you to the staff. John Keiser, city manager to so many folks. I know how much work and effort and countless hours that you all have put into this. And as we all know, the COVID 19 pandemic has caused more hardship, hardship in this city than anything I can think of in the history of Long Beach. And so many of our neighbors and friends are struggling to get by. Small businesses closed. Our essential workers and health care staff are working harder than ever. In our city. Our crime is up. Homelessness is widespread. And I mean, our city is is dirty. The pandemic has also brought into focus so many systematic disparities in our city. When I ran for office last year, I made a commitment to the second District that my top priority would be to rebuild stronger than ever. And today, I'm so glad that we're able to begin that process. This is truly, truly, truly historic opportunity and a once in a lifetime event that will reshape the future of our city. And it's also an opportunity to honor those that we have lost in our city and make investments that will matter the most. We will be assisting renters, businesses, workers, and directly assisting working parents with more childcare and resources that they desperately need. And I'll also be increasing the much needed resources to address homelessness. The pandemic has shone a light on the and significant. Support for our neglected communities, including our immigrant communities, and which some of those have been hit the hardest. As a member of the Economic Development and Finance Committee, I participated in over 36 hours of roundtables with diverse businesses and community leaders from every corner of the community. And I also want to thank Chair Mongo and Vice Mayor Richardson for their leadership. And most importantly, I really want to thank the hundreds of people who participated for their insights and their perspectives because it was critical in developing this plan. I know all of us understood the pains, the struggles, the needs and the hopes for this recovery strategy. We had so many conversations with businesses and community members. And with groups that represent the interests of so many of our neglected community members, including Lane Black Lives Matter lobbies, forward laughter, child care providers, and just, just so many . And I have to say that this listening process was one of the best experiences that I have had since my election. There's no better way to serve your community than to listen what they need and really try hard to provide it. So business and residents and residents have been hit the hardest. And they need a major lifeline. And we definitely heard that we need to focus on residents and businesses and organizations that need it the most. And this is what this plan does. So I'm really proud of that. I'll queue up again because I have some more comments, but I'm very supportive of this motion and I'm so proud of everyone that worked to make this happen. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilwoman. Next, Councilmember Supernormal. Thank you, Mayor. And I'd like to recognize the mayor for a couple of recognitions. I actually had the Fed Pledge Committee. I recognize his strong advocacy to get the funding here, and he could have taken a break after that. But now he's working hard on on where to spend those funds. So we appreciate that. And staff's time also. Also, I appreciate a mayor for recognizing my advocacy for fire services. At times it sounds like that's that was my obsession. But I was such a strong believer in this. And it's not about this agenda item tonight. I read many, many areas in this item that supports keeping our fire services restored. But I think that this body might be on the cusp of what would be a paradigm shift from where we were in the past. And I have a strong feeling that this group feels that the last thing you should cut in an economic downturn would be fire services. There is such a strong need during times of economic challenges. When you think of folks on the street, arson and just the violence that you might forget that fire response to all those incidents of violence also. So I feel very good about what is stated in this item. But moving forward is probably a separate agenda item that I'll bring forward at a later date that that kind of has a statement saying that we want to maintain these resources and and not balance our budget by cutting those. I'll be very brief and the rest of my comments. But but I just thought of something as Councilmember Arango was speaking about that digital divide. And one thing I'm not sure that we've done is reach out to the school district to see where they are with with this issue and what gas money we might be able to fill. And I think partnering with them like they have a, you know, program where every student gets a Chromebook. And I think we need to take that into our own inventory as we move forward, because that's a huge piece that I think we were all asked about as councilmembers. We're getting school district questions are opening of schools all the time and we need to be there in support of our our partners there. I'll defer the rest of my time to my colleagues. But thank you again to all the are working hard on this. And and I think Alison said this is a daunting task. I'll tell you one thing. It sure beats the alternative. It sure beats the fact that we could be sitting here making huge cuts. So thank you for all of everyone who advocated for this funding. Thank you. I'm going to go back to folks. I have councilman mongo. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. So many great comments tonight and so much to build on. But I can't spend any of my 5 minutes telling you all how great it was because I only have 5 minutes. So thank you. And especially to the staff. Cindy's words regarding the staff were just so right on and I just appreciate it. They were so helpful to our committee. I mean, just relied on them and spent hours with them every week. So going back to something that I know the mayor and I talked a lot about, and 2016, 2017 is people's access and ability to get to city hall. And I know Councilmember Orengo, when you were on EDI and you really pushed hard for economic inclusion to be a part of the Blueprint 2.0. And part of that goes to what you said tonight, which is the language access piece. And we talk about coming up with a way for everyone to access City Hall 24 seven. I remember the mayor would say we want access to City Hall 24 seven. We want everything to be accessible. We really championed transparency. But I don't know that the things we had online at that time were the things that people needed. I think during this pandemic, we've really seen an ability to transition to that. We put vaccination numbers, we've put phone numbers and access. We've put the the COVID numbers, and we have that dashboard. I'd really love to see us double down on that 24 hour access. Our goal Long Beach app needs to be expanded into our Long Beach passport. We talk about banking. We talk about. Access to city services. You should be able to go on your app and you should be able to click, okay, here's how I get utility assistance. Here's where I can get food, here's how I can register for a tenant assistance support program. Here's where all that should be in the palm of everyone's hands. The Obama administration worked really hard to get cell phones in everyone's hands. And even I was talking to a homeless gentleman the other day. He has a cell phone. It's a way to access services and now is the time. The agenda item we brought about the the one card slash long passport go along with pulling it all together. Now is the time for us to take a big step forward. So I hope that we can see that I'm kind of expanded as we look through this list and as the programs are developed. And then I want to talk a little bit more about the Down Payment Assistance Program. And this is something that came up. I remember John Edmund was reading the names of these individuals who went through programs in the sixth District and how empowered they were. And I was talking to a sixth District resident and a fifth District resident. Both of them were very low income and gone through the program. And they want to stay where they are. They don't want to leave the sixth District. They don't want to leave the ninth District. They don't want to leave the fifth District. But the homes in those areas or the places where they currently live would not be affordable. I would love to see a part of this $5 million in addition to a down payment assistance program to really facilitate so many multi units, especially small property owner multi units are really turning over as people are not being able to pass on their Prop 13 value to their children as those change hands. We need a program that incentivizes and provides the down payment for the people living in those apartments or multi units or duplexes or triplexes to be able to turn that into a condo association, even if it's only two or three units, and that that down payment would let them by their property. So you try to buy a single family house in the city. You can read the reports online. You're talking $600,000, $500,000. Even for a two bedroom, you can get a triplex for 750 800,000. Now, for you to buy your own destiny of one of your units, you're talking about 250,000. You write about 300,000. So in Mr. Richardson or Vice Chair Richardson. Last week talked about the down payment assistance program and how 25,000 can make a difference. Well, 25,000 makes a lot bigger difference when you're purchasing a unit for 300,000. Because now you're talking about higher percentage, 10% of its 250,000 and so on. And then you can really potentially buy down that risk of the the mortgage insurance and that money that a lot of people feel is essentially being thrown down the drain or not. So or if we as the city can provide that mortgage insurance, if we could be that backer. So they don't have to make that extra $400 payment a month. And that would make the affordability really come down. So. So much good here. But I just want to add those two things. I know that that was also in your Everyone Home initiative, Mr. Mayor, and kind of just we talk about pulling all these plans together, whether it's the blueprint of the everyone home or the everyone in or that there's so many of them. I really am looking forward to seeing how this money can activate not only our city as a whole, but so many of the plans that have been. Little seeds and grow them into amazing gardens. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 1: Yes. Thank you. I won't be very long. I was just so excited earlier to talk about the economic empowerment zone that I did not have a chance to share my gratitude to you, Mayor, for your hard work and advocacy from the vaccination rollout to our recovery plan and then future conversation about infrastructure. So thank you so much as well as to Vice Mayor Richardson for his leadership as chair on the Fed Legislation Committee. I'm a member of that and also I just want to thank staff so much for their hard work. I know John Kaiser attended every one of those session and wrote the report himself on a very short timeline, as well as our city manager, Tom Monaco, for leading us through this process as far as just, you know, ensuring that, you know, that we're getting making sure we're being comprehensive about it, that we we put a little bit in a little bit of everything to ensure we have this kind of full recovery. But making sure that we also narrow into our hardest hit and high need community as well. So just wanted to share my gratitude because I didn't get to do it earlier. So thank you so much. Speaker 2: Thank you. Sorry, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I just have a couple more comments and I won't be really long, but I had a couple of things that I want to say. As you know, that 30 million in rental assistance is going to be huge. You know, our community should not have to decide whether to pay rent or buy food. And I think getting that to build them as quickly as we can is going to be really important. I love the additional 5 million for housing support that provides the rental housing navigation assistance, which is going to be a huge help. And and I love the idea of offering a down payment assistance for first time homebuyers. It just is going to level the playing field. It's a great equalizer, creating wealth in our new our neglected communities. And I just I just love that. And we talked about childcare a little bit. Thank you, Councilwoman and Mongo. And but one of the one of my ask on that is I know we're creating an additional one in sports that is that that goes directly to providing child care services to our working parents that desperately need the help. And so I just I know there's 2.1. And so and there are some other buckets that's going into. So my ask is that any of that additional money goes directly into child care services. And so I'm city manager. I'm not sure if I need to make a motion on that, but but that is that is a ask. And also, with regards to one of the things I did advocate for, too, is, is just making sure that we have funding for our convention center because our tourism, as we all know, is the nexus. And it drives so many jobs and to into our our city. And then I and the $12 million that's being allocated towards homelessness is huge. I think this is a this is a game changer. I never understood the Multi-Service Center, and I know, as one of my colleagues talked about earlier, is is grant funded. And that is a problem that was on council council member Urunga. That is a problem. The way that is funded. And and so we definitely need to work on that. But the multi-service center not being available longer hours, you know, after that Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 has always been problematic. So I like that we're addressing that and the existing modular units as well. So again, and also one other thing that I wanted to I wanted to ask is with regards to our clean streets with that money, can we also, if there are that there are bids that are currently providing clean streets like the LBA that could jump in immediately and help and some of that money be used to expanding their programs. So that was that was a question that I had. Thank you again, Mayor. Speaker 5: And council member to answer the two questions from from that one, the childcare. Yes, we do believe that if there is additional money for child care, one area of the plan that's that could use some additional resources is to directly fund child care services so that people who need to go to work at night and need someone to watch the children or or during the day or any other time that they're looking to be employed, that they have access to those types of services. We do believe there's going to be direct money for child care as well out of the stimulus package that would be able to go to child care providers. But until that money is there and we know about it, we'd like to really focus the 1 million on those direct services for child care. The second question was on clean streets. Yes, we're still developing what that exact plan would be for that $5 billion over the next two years. But we do believe part of part of what we want to do is make sure that business corridors, major corridors, are really clean and picked up and that we're doing these these kind of deep cleanings. Some of that will be done with city staff. But if we have partners that can help us, we would like to engage them. Anyone from the Conservation Corps to potentially some of the bids that are set up to do some of that work. So yes, we would be interested in exploring that and can continue to work through that. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Councilman Allen, do you have anything else? Speaker 1: No matter where that was at. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay. Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I thought this was a great conversation. It's great to see so many people on board with so many great ideas. Ready to land this land, this plane here. You know, I talked a lot about the broader stuff, but I wanted to touch base on how you talk about my district. I want to make sure I touch on a couple of things I think are I'm excited about. Two things I'm excited about. First is I'm glad to see so much support on the economic empowerment zones. This allows us to invest in our communities, implement strategies for the racial equity plan. This is an ambitious plan. We have had have funding to implement those things. Things like cultural, cultural centers and cultural districts, special districts. ERISA needs cannabis equity pipeline or equitable procurement processes in our city. All of these things are they're called out in the reconciliation plan. And this allows you to think about those long term investments. Secondly, down payment assistance has been something I've talked about a long time. Other councilmembers talked about made a motion that came back, said, you know, we just don't have money. If we had a pot of funds to start it, you can leverage it and create a larger fund that over time replenishes itself. I think this is a smart investment that makes sure current generations and this investment can be felt for generations to come. So I'm really excited about that and I just want to recognize and find, you know, it's been a lot of thanks on the council and all that, but I really want to thank the speakers and particularly, you know, a lot of these meetings we hear from a lot of the same folks. I was really impressed to hear from so many Barbara. And, you know, I've been going to the same barber. I've been on the same barber since I moved to Long Beach in 2007. And and it's true, these are the community anchors and I'm really glad to see, because they were hurt and they were hit and they really haven't been organized historically. But that's the that's really the heart of it's an important part of black and brown communities. Barbershops and hair salons. So the fact that they were so organized and I was surprised that there was the organized, I think that's important. I think you should know that a lot of your asks are already reflected here. Now you have a standalone category for investment into salons and hair in barbershops, all of those things. And it's and it's a good fund like the Max Max Grant is up to $25,000. So that's significant and I encourage that. Just make sure you capitalize on momentum and make sure the businesses are, you know, seldom represented, you know, that you're working with them and that you get that in. But I think this is a great motion. I'm happy to I'm happy to vote for this and support this. I'm going to ask and I'm going to ask staff to just restate the motion just for the record, restate what you have after you've had everybody's comments, and then and then we can move on with the vote. Speaker 5: Thank you, vice mayor. So we certainly were listening. We heard a lot of comments, a lot of what the council has talked about is in the plan and it will be kind of fleshed out as we do the rest of the detail, and we'll do as many of those as we can. And what we heard it for the actual motion was one to adopt the city staff's recommended plan to you two to adopt the mayor's changes as outlined in his letter, with the clarification that the $5 million for housing would be $1,000,000 for a navigator is $1,000,000 for land grant or land grant and $3 million for affordable housing land trust. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 5: $3 million for additional down payment assistance that then the $900,000 that's outlined currently in the plan for housing legal support would be for right to counsel. Speaker 2: Exclusively. Speaker 5: That under health equity of the $4.9 million we have for health equity, about 500,000, not about but exactly 500,000 would be supporting immigrant support services and that we would be looking at this through a collective impact type approach and create dedicated areas that align the empowerment money, the food security money, the youth prevention money, and a couple other areas that are location base that are overlap and create the collective impact model for those areas. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm going to I'm going to go ahead. And I think also and obviously, I think every separate of the motion, there's a lot of comment from the council about different parts of the fight, and I'm assuming all those will be coming back in different ways. Mr. City Manager So I know that you're going to be incorporating kind of all of the comments made by the council and and the community. So we appreciate that. I want to wrap up and we're going to go to a vote. I'm going to say a few last, last things. The first is to our business community. As a reminder, what we're doing today on economic recovery is just a piece of what's really happening around economic recovery. We want to encourage folks to remember that the state has set aside $2 billion with a B for recovery grants and economic development. The feds also sent specific dollars in this same bill for economic recovery. Separate of this, President Biden even created a fund just for restaurants within the American Recovery Act. And so pleas from from the business perspective, what we're doing, of course, is to supplement all these amazing grants and work. But I want to make sure that Mr. Modica and our economic development team, that we're ensuring that all of our businesses have access not just to our grants, but when we're promoting our grants, that we're also promoting them to try to get a state grant or a federal grant so that they really have all of the opportunities in front of that. It's really, really critical. I also just want to just want to note that from a from a thankful perspective staff, the team you guys did such a great job of, number one, listening to the community. I mean, you hosted 20 plus roundtables and what you guys put together to present is really what you heard from from so many community members, business owners, nonprofit leaders. That's where this plan is coming from. It's really from from the community. And then at the same time, when when Mr. Moynihan, when you were kind of walking me through what staff wanted to present and some of the ideas, what I really saw was you guys carefully listening to what this city council has been saying for the last few years on what different priorities were. You know, you you focus in on issues around businesses and digital digital inclusion and around equity and around funding types of programs in our parks and violence prevention that have matter to the council or ensuring that certain reforms were in place. So I really saw in this plan just a real listening to the body that is really speaking on behalf of their constituents and speaking on behalf of what they're hearing out in the community. And I don't I there is. There's so much in this plan. Then I have heard all nine of the members talk about for the last few years consistently and for some of the newer folks just in the last, you know, obviously few months. And from what I've heard from the community. So I just want to thank you. I do honestly believe that this proposal is a creation of what we've heard from the community and what we've heard from the city council. And it's also a creation of, quite frankly, being fiscally responsible. And first and foremost and Mr. Markey, you you know, when we talked about this earlier, I told you today one top priority is reserves and making sure that we put money back. Did we prepare ourselves for that next emergency? And I just want to also think the council, for taking that seriously, because I can't tell you that if we didn't have that money set aside and had we been spending that down, we would not have been able to meet the moment of this emergency. So I think that's a great opportunity for us. And then finally, I can't I can't leave the conversation without thinking. President Biden, Vice President Harris and the Congress, we're actually passing this plan. This is a proposal. To be clear, this is a proposal. Of President Biden's. He put this plan forward in front of the Congress, and many of us have the great honor and opportunity to meet with him and members of the administration to craft what this plan would look like, including many of my colleagues from across the country. And so I'm grateful to him. We're grateful to Congress and everyone that actually passed and voted to adopt this plan that's in front of us here today, or this would not be possible. So we're very grateful. And and with that, we'll go ahead and call a roll call vote. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Zendejas. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Ellen. I can swim in price. I can spend subpoena. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mango. I transwoman Sara. I can't remember. Oranga. Speaker 6: Absolutely. I. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin? Speaker 6: Yeah. Yes. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. I'm Bush and Kerry's. Speaker 2: Great. Congratulations, everyone. That's it's going to be a big year for us in recovery. So congratulations. A lot of great work by the staff. Amazing. Amazing. We're going to move on. We're going to take just like a one minute just break, and then we're going to start with item 11 and then I'm sorry, public comment and then item 11 will be first up. Okay. So just one minute break. Thank you. Okay, everyone, we're going to go ahead and restart the the meeting from the recess. We are believe that we do have a quorum. So I'm going to just have the clerk call the roll call to restart the meeting again for the quorum. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sunday has. Speaker 1: Both. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Allen. Present Councilwoman Pryce. Present Councilman Sabina. Speaker 2: I'm here. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 1: Here. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sara. Present Councilmember Ranga. Present Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Here we have a calm.

Resolution

Recommendation to: (1) Receive a presentation on the Proposed Long Beach Recovery Plan, provide input and policy direction, and approve the Long Beach Recovery Plan and its priorities to address the public health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic utilizing Federal, State, and County relief funding, with approval subject to confirmation of compliance with American Rescue Plan Act regulations, when issued, with direction to return to the City Council if there are required material changes; (2) Adopt resolution authorizing City Manager, or designee, to execute all Block Grant award documents on behalf of the City of Long Beach (City), and any documents necessary including necessary amendments, to accept State Emergency Rental Assistance Program funding for the City’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program; (3) Increase appropriations in the Community Development Grants Fund Group in the Development Services Department in the amounts of $13,754,734 for the Federal Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) and $16,404,412 for the State ERAP, for a total amount of $30,159,146, to provi

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Speaker 2: Thank you. We are now moving on to item 11, please. Speaker 0: Item 11, this communication from Councilwoman Zahra, Councilwoman Allen, Councilmember Aranda and Vice Mayor Richardson. Recommendation two requires city attorney to prepare a resolution condemning hate incidents against Asian Pacific Islander Americans. Speaker 1: Thank you. I want to begin with. Sorry, I'm just a little shaken because we just recently heard, just as this item is reporting today, that there was a recent mass shooting targeting several Asian owned businesses in Atlanta, Georgia. So sorry. Sorry for that. As I resume with this item. So since I want to just express that, you know, that that, you know, we should we should all be against hate hate against anyone. And particularly right now with the COVID 19 pandemic, that since it's began, inflammatory and sign of a phobic rhetoric, referring to COVID 19 as the Chinese virus or kung flu has put the Asian and Pacific Islander American families, communities and businesses at high risk for bullying, harassment and hate crimes. And unfortunately, many Asian Pacific Islander, American and L.A. County and around the nation have been unjustly blamed for causing the pandemic. Long Beach, the city of Long Beach, has approximately over 60 out 65,000 Asian Pacific Islanders. And the hate has increased and escalated where many are living in fear. And we've been targeted for discriminatory, discriminatory treatment, hostility and violence. According to the Pew Research Center report, about three in ten Asian adults, 31% say they have been subject to slurs or jokes because of their race or ethnicity since the outbreak of the pandemic. And I just shared earlier that it's very real. The chief had just informed me, just, you know, an hour or so ago about this mass shooting and that three of them were female Asians. And this has happened also locally just a few months, about in October 2020. We had a Long Beach resident who went viral for her racist rant and then sentenced for 45 days in jail for assaulting a Filipino-American woman. And in the city of Rosemead, Matthew Long, he's an elementary school worker waiting at a bus stop, was brutally beaten with his own cane and lost part of his fingers. And in San Francisco, an 84 year old Thai man, Ratana Paddy, an elderly who is nearly blind, died from injuries he sustained from an assault he suffered while walking. And yet, you know, yet Asian Pacific Islander Americans have been sacrificing their lives, making our country safe, and serving on the front lines of this pandemic and this crisis as health care providers, as first responders and other essential roles. So, for example, nearly 31% of the nurses who have died from the coronavirus in the US are Filipinos, yet they only make up 4% of the nursing population. So I just want to ask my colleagues to support this item, to condemn the discriminatory treatment, hostility and violence against our Asian Pacific Islander American community members and commitment to working to ensure that they feel safe during this pandemic by standing in solidarity against hate. And and I also wanted to make sure that once I concluded my presentation, then we can go to a public comment. And I'd love to hear back from my colleagues on this item. But I did want to ask if the Chief is Chief Lunas online or if we have a staff online that can share information about how to report hate incidents or crimes that they experience. Because I really don't I can't stress enough that there is no crimes. Are incidents too small to report because we need to hear them in order to make sure that it's documented and that we addressed it head on. So, so with that, I, um, I leave SAC for if you're able to respond to that question. Speaker 5: Thank you, Councilmember. Yes. We have Commander Pino on the line and can talk about our process. Commander? Speaker 2: Good evening. Councilman. Sorrow. Honorable mayor and city council. Speaker 1: Obviously, if a. Speaker 2: If it's an emergency call, we request that the community members call 911. If there's an immediate danger and we request the community member if there's not. Speaker 1: Immediate danger. Speaker 2: We request the community member to call our non-emergency line, which is 562 or three five, six, 711. With that, police officer will be dispatched out to the scene or wherever the victim is. Document the incident. Speaker 4: If that incident meets the element. Speaker 2: Of other hate crime, they will then file an appropriate report. All of our reports of hate crimes are handled by the violent crimes detail, which we also have a violent crimes detailed detective on call available to respond to suspected hate crimes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That detective will respond out there, will coordinate with patrol officers, speak with the victims, witnesses, suspects, and gather any type of evidence. From there, we automatically, if it's determined to be a hate crime. Notify the Long Beach Human Dignity Officer Teresa Gomez. Make sure our notifications are done there. And the Human Dignity Officer will then communicate with the victim and arrange to provide any requested services. The responding detective continues the investigation all the way through prosecution. Speaker 1: Great. Thank you so much, Commander. I also want to share that if people didn't feel comfortable calling the police line, that there is also an organization called the Asian Pacific Policy Planning Council that they can contact that could do it in language as well. And so with that, I'd love to hear public comment on this item. Speaker 2: Q Why don't we go to public comment and it will come back to the City Council and Councilman Soros? I'm assuming you've also made a motion to do. Speaker 1: Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, I make a motion to move that item. Speaker 2: Okay, great. Then, Madam Clerk, why don't we go ahead and I do have a second already, so why don't we go ahead? By council member, you ringa. So why don't we go ahead to go ahead and do the public comment. Thank you. Speaker 3: The first speaker is Angelina Tan Tran. Speaker 4: Good evening, mayor and council members. Speaker 1: I'm Angelina Tran. Speaker 4: And I'm. I show support for. Item 11 all over social media in 2020 and even now still in 2021. I've seen hate crimes against Asian-Americans all over the country. And. You know, even. Speaker 1: Globally and other. Speaker 4: Nations as well. And. I want to be in a community where I can feel safe going. Speaker 1: Out, where. Speaker 4: I know that my family and my friends feel safe when they go out. And with all these hate crimes, it really puts our community at risk and. I think that he is a more severe virus than COVID 19. So. I really support this item because I want everyone to just respect and accept, you know, everyone from all backgrounds. And I really want our community to stand in solidarity and unity because it will really advances in the future. And I hope that, you know, the council members will vote in support of this item. Thank you. Speaker 3: Think your next speaker is Kiwi. So. Speaker 4: Good evening, honorable council members and Mayor. My name is Kelly, so and I'm calling in support of Councilwoman Dr. Sylvie Sorrels, item 11, and which we want to condemn the incidents, harassments and racist comments that has occurred in our communities all across the state and here in Long Beach, too. We want to acknowledge the risk that words like the Chinese virus and the kung flu virus and any other of those that are placed on our Asian and Pacific Islander communities. As you all know, we are all living in an unprecedented time. We face the challenges of COVID 19 and the long road to rebuilding our businesses and our economy. But we must not overlook or turn a passive eye to this epidemic. The elders in the API community are oftentimes unable to verbalize the abuses that we are seeing grow by 150% this year and rising daily. They are the most vulnerable among us and the most targeted. And so it is our responsibility as leaders and members of the community to ring the bell, to let everyone know that this is wrong, that this shouldn't be happening, that this is, in fact happening. To acknowledge the breadth and reach of this problem and racism of any form should not be allowed to grow. So with that, I just encourage and call upon all of the council members to vote in support of this item. Thank you so much. Speaker 3: And your next speaker is Charles Song. Speaker 4: Good evening, Audible Mayor and council members. I am Tolleson community organizer calling in support of Councilwoman Dr. Celi Sorrells. Agenda item 11 to condemn the hate incidents, harassment and racist comments which has put the Asian and Pacific Islander American Apia at risk. As we slowly recover from the COVID 19 pandemic and four years of heightened xenophobia and racism, California have an opportunity to recommit its value and deliver for the community members who have suffered the most from these tragedy and to avoid this hate crime from spreading into our beautiful and most diverse city. We must create a culture of respect and accept them for all members, regardless of their background on about mayors and council member. We must stand in solidarity and support AAPI community and condemn these hate incidents and crime which perpetuate racism, discriminatory treatment, hostility and violence. Tonight, I encourage all the council members to vote yes to support this item. Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity. Good night. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speakers, Yoko Koyama. Speaker 2: Hello, Honorable. Speaker 4: Mayor and council members. Thank you for this opportunity to for public comment. I'm Robin Gill. Kerry Yokoyama, a minister of Long Beach British Church, a Japanese American Buddhist community on the West Side. I'm calling in support of Council man, woman, Dr. Silly Salaries Item 11. And I would like to thank Dr. Sara for this proposal. With the previous generations in our community having gone through the experience of internment camp and we witnessed the lingering harassment, aggression and racism after the war, which was directed toward the. Speaker 2: Vulnerable members of the community. Speaker 4: Including the children and senior members. We need to prevent by all means the recurrence of this tragic cycle. Needless to say, many people are. Speaker 2: Bearing the burden. Speaker 4: Of the impact of the pandemic and all sense of ongoing mental stress. And this will create. Speaker 2: An environment where. Speaker 4: Any one individual can be a victim or perpetrator without a clear guidance of the leadership of the city. Myself coming from Japan to Canada. This mutual respect and acceptance of multiculturalism is definitely the greatest virtue of this city, which I most certainly appreciate for myself, but also for my eight year old son with Down's Syndrome, which is as a member of a Asian Buddhist community, I fully support this effort to stop the cycle of racism, discrimination, hostility and violence, which we see now is being directed to the most vulnerable members of the community. So I ask that all respected council members and their support this attempt to create a safer environment for APIA community and beyond. Thank you very much. Speaker 3: And your next speaker is Julia Huang. Speaker 4: Thank you for allowing me to virtually stand before you today. Honorable Mayor and Council Members. My name is Julia Wang and I am the President of Inner Trends Communications, located in the second District of Long Beach. In addition, we are property owner in Long Beach owning two historical buildings that we lovingly call Psychic Temple and Edison Theater on Broadway. We're also known as the organizer of arts and culture events in the city such as Power Long Beach. Today I am calling in support of Councilwoman Dr. Duley item 11 that is being brought forth together with Vice Mayor Rex Richardson, Councilwoman Cindy Allen and Councilmember Roberto Ronda. And as has been presented. Item 11 is for the City of Lumby to condemn racism against Asians, reflected by the increasing number of hate incidents, harassment and racist comments made since the beginning of pandemic. As early as last March. Some of our staff members, most of whom are of Asian descent, have been targeted with acts of racism solely on the basis of their appearance. The magnitude of the verbal attacks that they experienced cannot compare to the horrendous acts of crime that are taking place around the country. And as Councilwoman Sarah mentioned, even as we speak just a few hours, just a few hours ago, there are at least eight dead, all Asian, following shootings at three spots in Atlanta area. It is time that we not regard these incidents as random acts but racially motivated. The conversation to end racism must include Asian American Pacific Islanders. Therefore, I urge the Long Beach. I urge the City of Long Beach to stand in solidarity and support our AAPI community and condemn hate incidents and crime which perpetuates racism, discriminatory treatment, hostility and violence. I encourage all the council members to vote to support this item. Thank you very much. Speaker 3: Think your next speaker is Michael Kahn. Speaker 4: Hi. My name is Michael Kahn. I'm the executive director of Pacific Asian Counseling Services, and I am in support of Dr. Soros motion on item 11. Our agency provides mental health services, especially to Cambodians in Long Beach. My staff reported that they had no specific attacks on our clients or themselves because many of our staff are Asian . However, our Cambodian clients, who are often older adults, are aware of the attacks and have expressed great fear during their counseling sessions, especially about going out into public spaces. Many do not go out unless it's absolutely necessary, and this has increased their sense of isolation and loneliness and caused great anxiety. Both our clients and staff are also reporting anger. They are angered because they feel APIs are seen as helpless with the upsurge of attacks in the Bay Area and New York City. Many people have finally started to speak up, including President Biden. APIs are not accepting the situation, silently adds legislation and press coverage have increased to inform all of America about these acts of violence. Two of my staff reported to me that they felt better knowing that this motion was going to be presented tonight. It reassured them that these attacks are acknowledged as racist and hateful. I hope the City Council will approve this motion. Your residents should not have to restrict their lives out of fear. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is from Byron Shire. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 4: I'm Karen and I'm calling in support of Councilwoman Dr. Sally Sara. Speaker 2: Item 11 to condemn the hate incidents. Speaker 4: Ratchet down racist comments referring to COVID 19 as a Chinese virus or a kung flu, which has put the Asian. Speaker 2: And Pacific Islander. Speaker 4: American. Speaker 3: Community at risk. Speaker 4: I'm an education student at Cal State Long Beach, and this September I'll be entering the education community as a teacher, as a member of the education community and an artist. Poverty, hatred and ignorance have a way of destroying the work that we all work so hard to collectively build. Racist comments towards Asians will not merely stop there, but it will bleed over into the Latino community, African-American community, West Indian and Caribbean community, and any other minority community. In other words, this is everyone's problem. Mayor Garcia, the Asian American and Pacific Islander community now has its eyes on you. How will you respond to how you respond to this will affect how our community looks at you, how we vote. And it's a potential gold star in your political career. The ball is in your court. We must create a culture of respect and acceptance for all members of all backgrounds. We must end solidarity and support our AAPI communities and condemn hate incidents and crimes which perpetuate racism, discriminatory treatment, hostility and violence. I encourage all the council members to support this item. Thank you and I look forward to hearing your results. Speaker 3: I think your next speaker is Tai Chong. Speaker 2: Good evening. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. Speaker 4: My name is Tim Chan, a Cambodian. Speaker 2: American entrepreneur and longtime. Speaker 4: Resident of Long Beach. First and foremost, I would like to say. Speaker 2: Thank you to Councilwoman Dr. Susie Ciro for bringing to light the agenda number 11 of the ongoing rise of Asian and Pacific Islander American. Speaker 4: Hate throughout the city, state and nation. Speaker 2: That needs to be addressed. Speaker 4: As we all know, silence killed my childhood experience, recalls Cambodian. Speaker 2: Elders, elders that have been getting robbed, killed, beat. Speaker 4: Up and threatened in the mortgage community for years and years. In the eighties and nineties, the worst. Sometimes by our own kind. Yet other races. But with technology surveillance video in 2000 2021 being televised, discussed and coming to light. Police reports are made, but less fear of reporting, standing. Speaker 2: Up and being a target of another crime is what silences our community. You know, imagine living in the hood and you voice out and get someone locked up. Now they know your name and where you family stays. Speaker 4: It's tough to voice out because fear is what is. Speaker 2: Embedded. Speaker 4: Into our system. Speaker 2: In the aftermath. But I would like to say. Glad to have. Speaker 4: Having actors, people of influence. News outlets speak out. It's powerful. How do we create a change in policy, policy or a movement to stop these claims? Well, we're actually policy makers at the local, state and national level to partner up in contributing to stop the hate crimes. And it starts here. We're giving the community a platform to talk to our local politicians. So thank you for. Speaker 2: My time. Speaker 4: And ask to keep this discussion going and made of the importance of voting yes and supporting this item. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I do have folks that are cued up. So let me I have some comments also, but I'll go through the counsel first and then I'll come back. Doctor So Councilwoman, did you have anything additional to add right now? You want me just go down the speaker's list. Speaker 1: Now I just want to thank everyone who made public comment for their courage and their advocacy to speak out today on this issue and and to speak in support of the item. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Comes from Ringo. You were the second. Speaker 6: Thank you. Barry, I don't want to. I don't know what to say in regards to how many words are not enough to express the grief and the hurt that I feel. Having having to bring this forward. If you may recall, I brought an item forward back in January, used to describe the events that happened on January 6th . And where we saw just all the hate and all the violence that was that existed there at the time. And this is just being fomented as a result of that. Our country is is in a bad place right now. It needs to be healed. And we need to get rid of all the hate that started with the last administration and where those names came from, the dog flu and everything else that goes with that. So. Dr. Sara Mai Mai. And I share it with you. We had the same incident in El Paso, Texas. Where another racist attacked a ton of Latino families in El Paso in a in a in a mall. And it seems like. And then, of course, we know what was going on in the African-American community. And we all mourn George Floyd. And we'll continue to do so forever. But I'm hoping that some day will come when we won't have to be writing these kinds of resolutions. Well, we can write resolutions that celebrate our diversity and that acknowledges that we are working together to make a better world. Speaker 2: So thank you. Okay. Thank you, Councilman. Vice Mayor Richardson. Just want to take a moment and acknowledge Dr. Sorrow for bringing this important item forward so we can acknowledge. Terrible situation. It's typical. I just heard you know, I just heard Dr. Sahloul talk about a situation that happened just today. So I think that helps drive home the importance that we need to, you know, understanding, acknowledge the need for compassion and love in the coming days and reclaim racism from the top of our government. So I'm happy I'm honored that you allowed me you asked me to sign on. I'm happy to support it. And and I think this is great leadership. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman's in the house. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to also say thank you to Councilmember Sorrell for bringing this item forward. I share in your in your frustration with this. My my horror and sadness of the instances that have been happening. Just leave me without words as well. In Long Beach, we know that our diversity diversity is our strength. And even though we know that, there's still a lot of work still to be done. I really appreciate you bringing a resolution forward like this, especially after learning of this mass murder event that just happened right now in Atlanta . I mean, it's just outrageous and and very, very heartbreaking. And my condolences go out to all the families that lost loved ones on, you know, because of nonsense like this. So thank you. Thank you for inviting me to sign on to this item. And thank you for continuing to make our city proud by bringing forward resolutions like this. That. That. You know, there are focused on on the positive, on compassion and love and not hate. So thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman Allen. Speaker 1: I thank you, Mayor. Also, I also want to thank the councilwoman sorrow for bringing this item forward. And and also thanks to the public for for all of those comments, I just so bothered to hear about Atlanta. These attacks are just horrific. And our hearts are heavy caring about this news. And we all are committed to stopping the cycle of racism and violence and and leadership starts at the top. So thank you, Councilwoman Ciro, for your leadership on this. And and I also want to thank my council colleagues. Our support sends a clear, strong message that Long Beach stands with the Asian and Pacific Islander community and that the xenophobic and racist, racist behavior of any kind will not be tolerated. And this type of violence just has to stop. So, I mean, if anyone listening to this, if you are, you know, someone or you have been a victim of any type of hate crime, please know that we have the resources and the city and the mechanism mechanisms to to deal with with this crime. And our prayers go out tonight to the families and to the communities in Atlanta. And I agree with you, Council member Turanga. I can't wait. Til there's a day when these type of resolution resolutions are a thing of the past. Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilwoman. Councilmember. Super. Thank you, Mayor. I'd also like to thank Councilwoman Ciro for bringing the item forward. What a sad irony that we have this incident tonight in Atlanta on the night we have this agenda item. But as the councilwoman mentioned, police chief Robert Luna contacted her and he also contacted me. I represent the eastern end of Cambodia town. And that to me is such a positive note that Cindy Allen just mentioned, like a zero tolerance for this. And boy, your police chief is right on that. I just wanted to add that that he mentioned there are no credible threats locally tonight, but LAPD is on alert. So for anyone out there fearful know that your police department is on this? And yeah, it's just unbelievable that we need these types of agenda items. Let's all hope for the day that we don't. But I, too, would like to encourage anyone who has experienced any incidents to please, please contact the police department. If you'd like to remain anonymous, you have that avenue. But don't. Don't let it go unsaid. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I, too, want to thank Councilman Ciro for bringing this item forward and allowing us to have a conversation about it. Unfortunately, I think many minority communities have experienced a lot of hate incidents and hate crimes over the past 4 to 5 years. We saw a tremendous increase right about four years ago, and we started to see more of it. When the country became even more divided after the Corona virus, discussions began to really tear up our communities in terms of politics versus science. And it's very unfortunate that we have landed ourselves in this place where we're having these conversations. I do want to say that I have the privilege and the honor to have a daily profession where we talk about these topics on a daily basis. All of the attorneys that I supervise get police reports submitted from one of 33 police agencies in the county of Orange. And we often have to make difficult decisions whether we're going to charge a hate crime enhancement to a crime. And I can tell you, as much as we talk about the criminal justice system, giving people second chances and offering opportunities for diversion. My personal philosophy is this as the supervisor of the courthouse that I manage is that when it comes to hate crimes, we prosecute them to the fullest extent that the law allows us to, because the individuals who are committing crimes that are fueled by hate, who are making allegations about people who are putting forth out there very irresponsible comments about their fellow community members deserve to be punished. It's not okay to have people living in fear, and it's not okay to categorize people and make assumptions about them based on their race or their color or their gender. And I know that in my day job I have the honor and the privilege to represent the people of the state of California and treating those cases seriously. And I'm here as a partner to you and any other member of this council as part of a community like I am, that is often judged based on the way they look and assumptions made based on the way they look. To know that I stand with you in solidarity and anything I can do to help you advance your goals in this endeavor, you can count on me for that 100%. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 6: Thank you. I don't know that I can say anything that hasn't already been said by my colleagues. But I will say that I stand with our our Asian-American API community during this time when we see significant spikes in violence against our brothers and sisters. And this is this is important. And I say that with reverence. You know, we I was always taught to judge people by the content of their character, not what they look like. And and that that is something that I think everyone should. Everyone should carry themselves that way and to do unto others as you want, you expect them to do unto you. I. I think the tone has. Has changed. And I'm. I'm encouraged. Although we had a spike or an incident in Atlanta today, and I'm really, really disheartened to hear about that. I learned that and the tone at the national level has shifted, which I am I am hopeful that that that will. I will somehow suppress and get us to a better place where we can start thinking about, you know, repairing our our communities, becoming healthier. Working collaboratively toward, you know, improving our economy. And that's going to take all of us as as Long Beach residents and citizens of this country to do it. And so everybody brings something to the table. Respect everyone else's culture. I certainly do. Particularly, you know, of course, are my community here in Long Beach who, you know, they have my heart always. They are my brothers and sisters. I see you that way and I will continue to see you that way. So thank you for bringing forth this item. And again, I'm happy to stand with you in support of this item and, you know, be a voice against violence in our community in any way. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. And figure everyone for their words. I happen to have a couple comments as well. One, I'd just first start by, I think we can all unequivocally say that hate against the AAPI community is not acceptable, not just in our own city, but it's not acceptable anywhere in our country or in the world . And it's incredibly both saddening and angering to see the hate crimes that have happened among our Asian community, among our AAPI community. Long Beach has a history of having a very diverse and large Asian-American community. Pacific Islander community. You think about not just the, ah, Cambodian community, but think about our Filipino community, for example, which is very large in the city and has a history of that dates back to our military history and so much of how this area of the country developed. And so I of course, stand with Councilman Sorrow and the whole community. And I want to just just kind of to close I share something personal that I don't know that I've I've shared with many of you before. Few people know. First, I think most of you know, my sister is half Thai, so her whole family is is Thai. And that's a big part of of my family and who we are. My father, his partner, she has full Japanese. And that's a big part of our family. And so from my on my dad's side, you know, I have spent a lot of a lot of our time having a lot of amazing Asian food and being part of a that's a big part of my family and that's a huge part of who of who we are. But also something that you may not know is my family name actually originally is is not Garcia, but it's actually Chan, my great great grandfather. I will tell this story. They never give a chance to share it. My great great grandfather, actually a Chinese laborer, he was from China and came to Peru with many Chinese laborers at the time to build railroads and infrastructure and were indentured servants in Peru at the time. And so my great great grandfather, whose last name was Chen, was given the name Garcia. Like what like was given all those in his work group. That was the name essentially of his owner, of the person of the person that was actually forcing him to work. And eventually, in many ways, these these these folks were indentured servants. In some cases they were slaves. In other cases, they were forced forced laborers in much of South America, but certainly in Peru. And so the name Garcia is passed down from from him. And my my on my dad's side of the family, there is a rich appreciation of that Chinese heritage that comes from our original name and and just got married into this beautiful other Asian culture is from from from my sister and from my father's partner. And so I see that just from a place of a lot of of love for the greater Asian-American AAPI community. It's a part of my family. It's it's it's who it's who I am. And I just want to share that it our when Sara, of course, we all stand together on this issue and anything that we can do to show our solidarity and support in the days and weeks ahead, I think we will we will do so. And so with that, I will ask for a roll call vote. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sun has. Councilwoman said they had. Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilman Price. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sara I. Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 6: I. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Speaker 6: Hi. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: I did. Speaker 1: And that was an I from modern days. Speaker 0: Thank you.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution condemning hate incidents, xenophobic rhetoric, and harassment against Asian Pacific Islander Americans and work towards ensuring that APIA feel safe both during this COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_03162021_21-0226

Speaker 2: Thank you. We will move on to item number 12, please. Speaker 0: Item 12. Communication from Councilwoman Sunday has Councilwoman Allen, Councilwoman Sara and Councilmember Oranga recommendation to request city manager to report back within 30 days on funding a mia Vita center, COVID 19 Latino Health Initiative. Speaker 2: All right. Mayor Garcia, are you handling this? Are you willing to go over after. Just go ahead and start. I'll be. I'll be right back. And, um. Yeah. Okay. Well, I don't have the Q, so we're gonna do a voice motion. We're going to. We're going to send. We're sending the cues over right now. All right. To Matt as we go. Okay, let's do some voice motion so we start discussion. Speaker 1: This is Council Member Sunday. So I'd like to make a motion. Speaker 2: Okay. So you're recognized as our second. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 2: And we're all around the council member. And they ask, how do you want to handle. You want to start report? Speaker 1: Um, actually, before we get into it, I also wanted to make a quick motion, and I'm an amendment on the motion. I wanted to read that, you know, I would like to request our city manager or designee to work with the appropriate departments and relevant community partners, meaning community based organizations such as fraternal Latinos and Action and other neighborhood associations, so that we can have this item be more of a city and community led health initiative. Speaker 2: Fantastic. All right. So we have that and it's been it's been seconded. Anybody else? What's the councilman you're on? I am with you now. Helping your. Speaker 6: They gave me a poor support of this item that thank you customers and that has to bring this forward. As we heard earlier during the presentation on our budget items that we brought with the federal relief. There was a chart there that showed you those of communities. Speaker 2: Are. Speaker 6: Highly impacted. And we saw Latinos are impacted tremendously by the coronavirus and its impact in the community. And so I am fully supportive of this and where we would you need to identify what resources are out there that address these issues. Speaker 2: Particularly in these. Speaker 6: Hard to reach communities. And we know that there's systemic issues in the Latino community when it comes to vaccinations and how it is contracted. We know that that there are multigenerational families living together, that that doesn't do us any help in regards to controlling the virus, that when they're all together in one location, one place, it makes it tough. So I'm very supportive of the Sacramento Thank you conference and that is we're bringing this port very much needed. Speaker 2: All right. Okay. So that concludes comic metals members. And they asked if you have anything else. Speaker 1: Yes, actually, I wanted to see if there was any public comment before I continue my comment. Speaker 2: Right. I was going to go public next. Is there any public comment on this? Speaker 3: Yes, we have. Jessica Quintana, thank you. Jessica Quintana. Jessica Quintana, please. That means yourself. Vice Mayor. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Okay. I see we have we have Council District two, Councilmember Alan. Speaker 1: I thank you, vice mayor and Council Womans and de Haas and Councilmember Turanga and Councilwoman Sara for bringing this item. I am proud to be a co-sponsor of this very important initiative that addresses the disparities in our community with regards to health resources. This pandemic has been anything but fair, and many folks in our most vulnerable communities were hit the hardest. And also many of our workers were undocumented and haven't received any assistance from the federal government. And are also hesitant to even access resources. So this item will lay the find foundation on how we build community resilience. So I'm very honored and happy to support this item. Speaker 2: In first the council member during the council members in the House. Well, actually, you know, before you get final comments, we have one more for you from Councilmember Taro. Speaker 1: Yes. Thanks, Vice Mayor. I want to thank council members in Doha and colleagues for Councilmember Urunga and Councilmember Allen for supporting this item. I think it's important that we continue to address the community's needs, and I think that it's so crucial that we involve community leaders and nonprofit leaders in this process, because it takes all of us to make sure that we continue to make our community healthy and safe. So thank you very much. Speaker 2: All right. Council members and they are you can close us out. Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Vice mayor also wanted to make it clear that the intent of this item is not exactly to wait until the 30 days are up to try to do something. As we know, every single day we have Latino residents dying from COVID and many, many families that are being affected by COVID on an on a hourly basis. So, you know, I know that it says on here within 30 days. So I will come up with a plan and I'm looking forward to working with city staff on this. With that said, I know that we're counting down the days that we as as a city, as a nation can go back to, quote , unquote, normal life. And I'm so incredibly grateful for all the work that has been done during this crazy pandemic by our city staff, by city council, by our community. I mean, our true colors have really shown, you know, our compassion has really shown. And I'm very proud of everyone. Something that we must absolutely not lose sight of is the way that COVID has highlighted the inequalities in our city and the work that still lies ahead of us. And we we really need to close that gap. And I know that we're working hard to do so. One of the things that I've been doing is I put together a Latinos contract COVID task force that focuses on on why is there so many disparities right now in the community, in the Latino community, and how we can stop the spread of COVID in the Latino community , which is being affected by COVID the most? And so I think out of this task force, we have had several equity based vaccine clinics throughout the city, and I am so very proud of that and that we've been able to reach those hard to reach individuals like the the grandmas, the grandpas, the uncles, the EMTs that are not computer savvy or cellphone savvy or don't understand the process. But the only way that we've been able to do that is through our community based organizations that I have been working with very closely, including Central China, our Washington neighborhood association, Latinos in Action. When they we all these amazing organizations that have helped be able to reach out to to those in particular those those communities as as vaccines become more available. It is absolutely unacceptable that we allowed the gap to continue. And we have an obligation to provide all the necessary support to ensure that we are prioritizing the health of our Latino residents. I'm grateful for the work that has already been started. And through those efforts, we like I said, we've been able to vaccinate so many, almost a thousand Latinos, hard to reach Latinos in our community. And that is to me, that is significant. And I want to continue to have those. I think that that's going to be very, very important. We know that the process has also demonstrated me the importance of engaging our community partners in this work and and that I think it's beneficial that we continue to have those conversations and that we continue to use our trusted messengers through these community based organizations that really are in the ground, you know, in the ground, working with all of these communities, especially the Latino community, and who who the Latino community already has a built in trust with. So I think that that's very important that we continue to work with them as we develop this health initiative for our Latino community. Also, I know that we had one public comment on this, and she wasn't able to. She was still waiting. I don't know if if you guys can check if she can speak right before this item is voted on. Speaker 2: Mary Garcia. Speaker 1: Or if we lost her, you know. Speaker 2: We can do a public comment again on the we call for her. But I think Jessica's on the line now. So we tried public comment again. Speaker 3: Yeah. Give us one moment and try to see if we can get her. Jessica Quintana. It's a cooking timer. Speaker 4: Hi. Good evening, Mayor Richardson, members of the city council. City Manager Tom Modica. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak tonight. For the first time, I'm just so inspired and and. Speaker 1: Hopeful for. Speaker 4: Better days. I've never heard such a council meeting that had so much inspiration and working together. This has been great. I just want to thank council member then the House for bringing forward the movie La Quinta Initiative and Councilmember Roberto Dongo and Councilmember Sorrell. This this initiative is so important. I'm not only the executive director of Center Child, but I've lived in the city of Long Beach for over 56 years. And so living here in the city know I've seen a few things, I've been through a few things and worked in non-profits for over 30 years and been with Center Child for over 20. So through my experience, I've seen us be hit with health and economic emergencies in our city. Speaker 1: We heard earlier about. Speaker 4: The violence in the eighties and the nineties and, you know, the deaths and injuries that occurred in our city and having to respond to those issues with the with the drugs and alcohol that plague our communities, um, with the mass incarceration, with discrimination against Latinos. And now we're seeing the uptick in, in Asian Pacific Islanders, which is, which is terrible, you know, and this is all due to, due to lack of, of information and access and inclusion. Language barriers. But we have never seen in the history of Long Beach, no health emergency like we have experienced the COVID 19 that has hit the Latino community harder, three times harder than any other community. We've had members in our community not only lose a member, one member of their family, but they have lost several members of their family. This has hit our community not only helped, but but grew economics. And so I just want to thank Councilmember for bringing this item forward. As she has mentioned, the culture, COVID, the task force, has been working very diligently together, putting on Latino clinics in our community, really trying to reduce the barriers of access to the system to be able to get vaccinations are reducing the language barriers and the fears and the myths that happen in our Latino community. So this initiative will not only help with information and accurate information to our community, but also develop it from a thought up model which is so much needed in our community from a thought, our models are evidence based. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. We're going to go customers and they have. Did you have other comments or should they go back to the council? Speaker 1: You can go back to the council. Mayor. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay. Council member Ringo. Speaker 6: I just wanted to add the council members in the House will also accept reaching out to unite here. They have also been a an organization that's been trying to do a lot of corporate outreach in the hotel workers and the people who are our service workers as well as well. You could include a unite here in that list of the organizations to reach out to. That would be great. Absolutely. Speaker 2: Great. I just want to just add just a few remarks. I want to thank particularly Councilman's in the house for working on this. I know that she's been talking about bringing forward a Latino health equity plan or initiative for many weeks and months. And she's been talking about it with staff and with me and with I know other folks on the council and the community. And so I just want to thank her for that. I also want to just thank her and council murang'a for their leadership around the Latinos contract and group working group has been meeting regularly. It's really great to see that group and so many leaders in action and taking on the Cova challenge that the Latino community has been disproportionately impacted by COVID 19. That is something that is real. It is direct the relationship direct when it when it looks when you go back to health care access, when you look at the way a lot of people that are undocumented feel about getting services or about accessing health care and they're scared. And so to have an initiative that focuses not just on the undocumented, but on our immigrant community, our new Americans are full Latino community. Those that have been here that really need that additional support is really important and key. And I think that I just want to thank the councilwoman. I think this is really great. And of course, everyone that's that signed on to this item, but especially to two councilwoman and they have some concern. Murang'a You guys are our true champions for the community. Everyone, I want to thank both of you and, of course, the community groups that have been advocating, in particular Cynthia, Jessica and so many others. So with that, there is a motion and a second. So we'll go ahead and do the roll call the. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sunday. Speaker 1: How's everything? Speaker 0: I Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mango. I Councilwoman Sarah. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilmember Ranga. Speaker 6: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilman Alston. Speaker 6: Hi. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. We're going to go back to item 13 here. Let me go ahead and get a couple of three other items that are just quick off the calendar here. Really quick. Item 16, Madam Clerk.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager, or designee, to work with appropriate departments to report back to City Council within 30 days on funding a MI VIDA CUENTA COVID-19 Latino Health Initiative. The MI VIDA CUENTA initiative should include sufficient resources for providing continuous health education, equitable vaccine distribution, appropriate food distributions, and mental health care for the Latino Community including undocumented residents.

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Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. We're going to go back to item 13 here. Let me go ahead and get a couple of three other items that are just quick off the calendar here. Really quick. Item 16, Madam Clerk. Speaker 0: Item six this report from Energy Resources. Recommendation to Award a contract to Hrb for Oncor Natural Gas Pipeline Construction in a total annual amount not to exceed 10 million CDI. Speaker 2: Can I get a motion in a second, please? I got a motion by Councilmember Austin. Can I get a second, please? Second. I can't remember your ring. I think there's one public comment and we'll go to about. Speaker 3: Yes, we have Elliot Gonzalez. Speaker 4: Oh. Good afternoon, Mayor. City Council Member. I just wanted to just recognize that what we're calling for is a construction and maintenance of a natural gas pipeline in the year 2021. I just want to say that it's not in line with our climate goals, including. Speaker 2: The mayor's compact. Speaker 4: Which calls for a reduction in fossil fuels. I want to ask the city council, where is this reduction? When is this reduction? I mean, the crisis is here now. You know, we see California and parts of California catch on fire every year. Speaker 2: We we lost our. Speaker 4: Whole city of paradise. And I just wonder how concerned you all are over the climate crisis. How sincere is your commitment to preserving a healthy and habitable planet for future generations and for ourselves in the middle of this crisis? How sincere is our commitment to doing something about it when you have the opportunity? And year after year, the city spends millions of dollars on construction and maintenance of natural gas and oil pipelines. And folks, that's always been how the city has done business. This is a city founded on oil and gas. But here we are in this in this, you know, in this climate crisis that will determine the impact of the future of all life on Earth. And you will have this opportunity to spend $10 million on infrastructure. And this is natural gas, fossil fuel infrastructure. This is what warms the planet. So I just want to imagine if the city invested $10 million every year on solar panel, even just this year, $10 million on solar panels in the communities most impacted like we do oil and gas. I understand that Long Beach is all we spend millions on oil and gas, but at this time, given the reality, I think that it's time that we need to see real leadership on the transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy. When we ask for money for public needs, we're often told the money isn't there yet. Here we are in 2021, about to spend ten up to $10 million for an outdated and expensive infrastructure and infrastructure that we know warms the planet. I want to ask the city council to begin looking at ways to make direct investments like being in clean energy procurement like wind and solar. Next time when this budget item is before you. I would like to see direct investments in clean energy equal to the amount being invested in fossil fuels. So 5 million for pipelines. 5 million for solar panels. I don't think that's asking too much. I think that is what this world needs. I am asking for that leadership in council members in their house. You haven't taken natural gas money. This is a way to demonstrate that you're willing to to call for that investment. Mayor Garcia, I want to see you before you go anywhere outside Long Beach. I want to see you do something that shows that you know what it means to honor the legacy. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. We go and we have a motion in a second. Please go ahead and do Rocco go, please. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sandy. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price. I clansmen soup and. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Cans woman mango. I can, Councilwoman Sarah. I can't remember. Speaker 6: Muranga High. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Speaker 4: High. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 4: All right.

Contract

Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. ITB ER20-071 and award a contract to ARB, Inc., of Lake Forest, CA, for on-call natural gas pipeline construction and miscellaneous services, in a total annual amount not to exceed $10,000,000 for a period of one year, with the option to renew for four additional one-year periods, at the discretion of the City Manager; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract, including any necessary amendments. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson, i Bush and Kerry's. Speaker 2: Thank you. We're going to item 13, please. Speaker 0: Item 13 Communication from Councilman Austin, Councilwoman Mongo, Councilwoman Sara and Vice Mayor Richardson. Recommendation to explore additional options to provide services to other local cities and agencies in areas such as public safety, health and animal care services and public works. Speaker 2: Okay. I'm going to have Councilmember Austin, please. Speaker 6: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I think this item is pretty straightforward. Our city is growing and I think is recognized as an invisible leader in many respects. And we are surrounded by many contract cities. This is an item that that I have been thinking about and talking to colleagues about for several years, actually maximizing our resources and leveraging the resources that we have to extend our services, but also help our bottom line here in the city, our residents, as well as our potentially our our general fund. This is a direction to the city manager to begin having conversations with other cities about potential services that we can contract in. Right. That we can provide for neighboring cities and proximate proximity to. That makes sense, for example, and I will just put it out there. You know, there is a city that's like little early, right in the middle of Long Beach. Right. That that contracts would with the county RFP should be put forth to to to look at the services that we could provide, be it our health department public works, be it fire police resources. These are great resources that if if. If we are being smarter, if other cities are being smarter, we could we could we could really leverage our resources and provide great services to the residents and neighbors in Long Beach and around Long Beach. And so those are my comments. I would really love to hear from my colleagues to get your your thoughts on this. But I think this is a direction that we should be going in. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 1: Thank you. I am so excited to be supportive of this item. This is something that Al and I have talked about for years. Back when I was Budget Vice Chair in 2015 and we talked about some of the opportunities that we have. I know that even before I was a council person, back when Mr. Keisler was with Animal Care Services, we talked about even offering some of these services to L.A. County, as the fifth District has pockets of unincorporated areas that when a stray cat has an issue, L.A. County sends someone from Downey. And that's just not an effective use of their resources. It's not great response times for our residents and neighboring residents. Those residents believe that we are their city council, even though they live in an unincorporated area. Oftentimes my office gets calls and we kind of help triage and say, What color are your trashcans? Our trash cans are these colors, and if your trash cans are those colors, you live in the unincorporated area of Long Beach and they don't recognize that. Sometimes we may we kind of provide services even to Orange County in terms of animal services and others. So I don't want us to limit ourselves. Even L.A. County, in their contract cities model, does provide some services to Orange County cities. On our border, we have unincorporated Orange County of Rossmore, Cypress, Los Alamitos, and so many others. We're here to partner. I had a great talk today with a vice mayor of a neighboring city and a councilmember of a different city and just so excited that they are excited to hear what opportunities are possible. Long Beach provides first rate services and Long Beach staff are some of the best staff in the country. From public administration standpoint, we are just so fortunate to have so many great employees and as we expand these services, we'll be able to expand the number of employees we have on staff. And really the coordination between cities will be better. Many Border Council members like myself, that border other cities, we often have coordination challenges that we could improve if we were providing those services in both areas, it wouldn't be a this is their jurisdiction or our jurisdiction. The line actually goes here. And so enforcement issues come up sometimes. And I think that this would be just an amazing opportunity. So I enthusiastically support and bring this to the city staff and look forward to their creative ways of really growing Long Beach and our ability to provide high quality of life and improve the quality of life for not just Long Beach residents, but those in the cities around us who often work, play and enjoy Long Beach. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I really just want to take a moment and thank Councilman Austin for inviting me to sign on to this our border. I've said this a lot. There are five city halls closer to my district than my own city hall. We border Lakewood, Bellflower, Paramount, Lakewood. Bellflower, Paramount. Compton, Rancho Dominguez. It's actually six signal hills, technically closer to my house than City Hall. There's six city halls closer to my house. Then there's the downtown. And that that matters because, you know, when you're on the edge, when something happens in one city, I get a phone call about that issue, something, you know, there was an incident where there was a shooting on one border. The shooting occurred on one border. The person fell into our border. You had two agencies standing there wondering what was going to happen. How are we going to process that, you know? So I make it a point to work with these different city managers know the council members, because we'll have issues that sometimes are strong allies, the national issues. And there have been multiple conversations about fire services in Compton and other other services. And on top of that, like, let's be honest, we're signing right now our vaccination process. All the things we've done, the leadership our public health department has done looks good and people are interested. So I'm fully supportive of this. I think we should look at, you know, make sure, you know, my interest would be that we look at bordering cities and have some direct conversation with those city managers about what opportunities may exist, because it may enhance our own services here, particularly on the far outskirts of the city with respect to public safety and some of the other things. Thanks a lot. Happy to support. Thank you. Next up, I have Councilwoman Sorrell. Speaker 1: Thank you. I want to thank Councilmember Austin for introducing the items and my colleague, Councilmember Mongo and Vice Mayor Richardson for supporting as well. And for they said a lot and I agree with them. And I think that I just want to add a few things. District six Borders Signal Hill And I think that it just contributes to regional cohesion and coordination. When we're able to explore what makes the most sense, sometimes it's more efficient to contract to another city who has that infrastructure set up. So for that reason, and for many of the things my colleagues said, that's why I support this item. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. I also appreciate council members Austin and Mango and Sorrow and Rex Richardson for bringing this item forward. And I would always encourage staff to look at ways to boost efficiencies and service levels in innovative ways. I know I talked previously at the Council meeting about opportunities to provide services like our police helicopter and to bordering cities, and we can look at opportunities to provide street work at our city borders. And I know that we had looked in the past for adding fire services to Signal Hill. So maybe there is an opportunity for us to explore that again. I just think this is just a great item. It's a great way to grow our city revenue and to hire more city staff and happy to support this. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I have customary ringa. I want to add. Speaker 6: My voice to the support of Saddam. My district borders the city of L.A. and the city of Carson and the little cities north of that. So it would be a great opportunity to see what what we can do, how we can expand and grow out there. Also, I also wanted to see a lake as well. This is a way, I think. Speaker 2: Thank you. And I think we have one member of the public wishing to speak, I believe. Speaker 3: Yes. We have Dave Shukla. Speaker 2: Hello. Speaker 3: Yes. Again. Speaker 2: Thank you. Good evening. Speaker 4: As you heard. Speaker 2: Earlier this afternoon in the budget study session and in the council discussion on the Recovery. Speaker 4: Act passed. Speaker 2: In item 15. Thank you very much, by the way. As we heard earlier, there's a clear need for structural funding solutions as we chart a course for economic recovery, particularly after the immediate. Speaker 4: Disbursement of the Recovery Act money. Speaker 2: We are a major city and we are a regional anchor, and it's important that this discussion is taking place, and it's important that the city look. Speaker 4: To. Speaker 2: The various services that it can provide when it comes to public works. Specifically, one of the options still open to us. Speaker 4: When we talk. Speaker 2: About things like street lighting is developing a community choice aggregation program of buy for from the city for this not only this city but for the greater Long Beach area, for the whole Alameda corridor. In fact, there are strong reasons, economic recovery reasons, emissions reduction reasons, consumer choice reason, but also structural budget realignment from our current municipal dependance on oil extraction and sales without a managed transition to a clean energy economy. A lot of our current assets are very quickly going to flip to liabilities uncovered risks. The city of Long Beach really should look at this program as a potential way to to move forward. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you will go back to the council at that. Everyone that was queued up so we can go ahead and go to a vote. Let me go ahead and do the roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sun has asked Councilwoman Ellen Fine. Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilman. Have been asked by Councilwoman Mangum. Councilwoman manga. As women, Sarah. I can. So, Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Speaker 6: Hi. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Hope Bush and Kerry. Speaker 2: Thank you. Uh, let's see. Next up is item number 14.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to identify opportunities to expand the City’s role as a leading municipality by exploring additional options to contract to provide services to other local cities and agencies in areas such as public safety, health, animal care services and public works.

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Speaker 0: Thank you. We're going to go ahead and move on to the regular agenda. Item 12, please. Speaker 1: Report from financial management a recommendation to implement a cash flow loan to the Aquarium of the Pacific Corporation for up to 5 million and terminate the previous authorization for a loan for October 2020. Rent District two. Speaker 0: A promotion from Councilor Allen. Can I get a second, please? Second by Councilwoman Price IV. Mr. Walker, did you have an update on this? I know we've read the report. Speaker 6: We have John GROSS prepared to give a staff report. But essentially, this is a city facility. They've worked really hard over the past year to manage all of their expenses, but there's clearly uptake or up maintenance that needs to happen on a for keep the building up and keep all the animals safe. And so they're asking for a short term loan that wouldn't have any impact on the general fund. It would be a tidelands loan that specified in front of you. So we're recommending approval. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Allen. Any comments? Speaker 4: Yes, thank you, Mayor. I just want to say, you know, the Aquarium of the Pacific is a major asset in our city. This is our asset. It's a city asset. And millions of people from all over the region visit the aquarium annually. And I definitely don't want the aquarium to default on any of their expenses. They will pay the city back over a maximum of 13 years. And in fact, we're likely to be paid ahead of time and they'll pay us a little interest to so that so that's good. When I first got elected, I spoke with the CEO, Peter Correia, the new president, and he explained the need for consistent operations by key experienced staff that are caring for the endangered species. And even without visitors, the animals and the ecosystems must be maintained. And while I know the commitments and concerns surrounding the health of the Tidelands Fund, I trust that this short term loan will keep the aquarium operating and will preserve and protect this incredible institution and our city. And I also trust that it will be repaid once the aquarium is allowed to fully reopen. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Brice. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am going to be voting in support of this item tonight as well. I do have some serious concerns regarding regarding the Tidelands Fund, and I want to make sure that those concerns are are noted and are on the record, so to speak. Specifically in reading the staff memo on this item, in looking at page four, I think staff did a very good job of outlining the stress that the Children's Fund is under in general, the future vulnerability of the Children's Fund. And I want to be very mindful of our future obligations when it comes to any commitments that we make in the Tidelands area. I do believe, and I shared this with the aquarium team that that they are a very reliable partner in terms of operating this facility. We have a track record with the aquarium that has been very positive in terms of repayment of of of loans and other financial assistance. I think they take that commitment very seriously, but they are not our only city asset in the tidelands area and we have not had as positive of an experience with other partnerships in the Tidelands area and that has resulted in the Tidelands funds being further leveraged and ultimately that fund being very vulnerable in terms of future use and future programing. I think for many years there was a belief that the Tidelands Fund was. Positive and secure and a stable and a reliable source to fund a lot of the infrastructure that we have along the ocean, including our major city assets, like the convention center, like the Queen Mary, like the aquarium, and of course, all of our concession stands and other infrastructure along the tidelands area, that is no longer the case . And as we look forward to our obligations in the Tidelands area and we factor in the liabilities that we have to now fund as a result of some realities that we have as a city, I think it's important for us to be mindful every time we leverage this fund, our efforts to provide equity and access to the coast, our ability to program for those opportunities will be significantly limited if the Tidelands Fund continues to experience stress. And I know that that is a priority for the city and the council is figuring out how to use tidelands dollars to bring people to the coast. Most of. Allow for access. Citywide and regional each of the use of types in infrastructure and the operational budget. So I just want to make sure that that is very clear. I wholeheartedly support the Aquarium's efforts and want to make sure that I'm acknowledging and commending them on the progress that they've made in light of the COVID limitations. And I wish them the very best as we move forward with this item and and and supporting their operations. So thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: And if you had just cued up 2 seconds before, but I see it's all covered, so I'm happy to vote in support of this. Speaker 0: And thank you, Councilwoman and Day House. Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say that I'm also very much in support of this item. I know that the Aquarium of the Pacific now got some really remarkable programs to our city and outside of our city, especially the Festival for Human Abilities that I always look forward to, which highlights the talents and skills of people with disabilities and people all throughout come to visit our aquarium. And so that, you know, the aquarium is very near and dear to my heart. I'm very confident that they will do good on this loan and that they will, I'm sure, like Councilmember Allen said, that they'll even probably pay it back, you know, even earlier than anticipated. So I look forward to supporting this item and I want to thank the aquarium for all that they're doing in spite of everything happening and such a hard year without having, you know, the ability to show off our beautiful aquarium. So I look forward again to supporting the site. And thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. There is no public comment signed up. So although. Speaker 1: District one, high district two. I District three. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: District five. My District six. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District seven. By District eight. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Ocean cares.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to: (1) execute and approve all documents necessary to implement a cash flow loan by the City of Long Beach Tidelands Oil Revenue Fund Group - Oil Field Abandonment Reserve - to the Aquarium of the Pacific Corporation of up to $5 million, and (2) terminate the previous May 5, 2020 authorization for a loan from the Tidelands Operations Fund to the Aquarium for October 2020 rent. (District 2)

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Speaker 0: Item 13 Please. Speaker 1: Report from Financial Management Recommendation to approve the fiscal year 2021 first departmental and one budget appropriation adjustments citywide. Speaker 0: Can I get a motion in a second, please? Got a motion by Vice Mayor Richardson and a second by Councilmember Ringo. There is no public comment on this item. So, members, please go ahead and cast your vote. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 3: That's. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 4: Can you hear me? Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 4: This for me. I said. Speaker 1: I. Yes, thank you. District for. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: District five. I. District six. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 3: By. Speaker 1: District eight. By District nine.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to approve the Fiscal Year 2021 first departmental and fund budget appropriation adjustments in accordance with existing City Council policy. (Citywide)

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Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Item 14, please. Speaker 1: Report from Financial Management Recommendation to extend the deferral of payment for business license, taxes and fees and the street sweeping relief program through June 30th, 2021, to establish a citywide COVID 19 Relief Payment Plan Program citywide. Speaker 0: Thank you. There's a motion any second by Vice Mayor Richardson and second by Councilmember Ringo. I don't see any public comment on item 14, so we'll. Speaker 3: Probably. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 4: By. Speaker 1: District to. I. District three. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District five. I. District six. I. District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 3: II. Speaker 1: District nine. My motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to extend the deferral of payment for business license taxes and fees and the Street Sweeping Relief Program through June 30, 2021, to establish a citywide COVID-19 Relief Payment Plan Program for individuals and businesses, and coordinate accounts receivable collections in conjunction with the COVID-19 Relief Payment Plan Program beginning April 1, 2021 for Parking Citations and July 1, 2021 for most business-related and general fees, including health and fire fees. (Citywide)

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Speaker 3: 16, please. Speaker 1: Communication from Councilman Super not Councilman Allen. Councilman Price, Councilwoman Sara Recommendation to direct City Manager to prepare an application for the 2020 Safer grant for submission by the March 12th, 2021 deadline. Speaker 0: Citywide Construction Grants. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor Garcia, and I always appreciate the opportunity to extoll the virtues of Fire Engine 17. First, I'd like to thank my council colleagues for joining me on this agenda item Cyndi Allen, Susie Price and Sally Sara. As the clerk just read, the recommendation is pretty narrow in focus. We're simply directing the city manager to prepare the application for submission to FEMA next week. If there, I'm open to a further discussion on funding, but tonight the urgency is to get this vote accomplished so the application can be submitted. Following in the agenda item. Within the discussion, we included what the grant is. It's a grant of $4.8 million over a three year period, and that actually cuts in half the cost of operating engine 17 over that three year period. So it's a significant grant under background in the agenda item. We kind of explained the response zones for four engine 17, a very wide area squarely in the center of District four, also directly impacting Districts five and three, also measuring it diagonally from the north west. It spans from the Redondo Avenue in the 405 all the way southeast to seventh in Bellflower, a huge, huge area and but citywide. Having engine 17 in place cuts those response times citywide by a huge amount. And within Seventeen's area, it's up to a minute and a half that it cuts down with it with it in inaction . We also look through an equity lens at the item and we mentioned that. Engine 17 response areas includes a zip code of 90804 and 9081590804 is the most densely populated zip code in Long Beach and Engine 17 response area also abuts the response area of Engine ten. Engine ten is located in District six in central Long Beach, and it is one of the busiest engine companies in the city. And when I say that, that that's an historical statement also, I think probably for over 50 years, Engine ten has been either one or two in total number of calls in the area. It's critically important because twofold when Engine 17 is not in place. Engine ten is responsible for calling on parts of Engine 17 area. So that takes that very busy fire engine out of central Long Beach out of their area of response. The statement of urgency I already mentioned, and that was that this application has to be submitted next week. I also didn't mention in the agenda item, but I'd like to make a statement about the intangibles not measurable, but I think they're very, very important. And Station 17 is located right next to the Captain David Rosa Training Center. So every recruit that trains that are training center gets to watch Station 17 on a daily basis. And I think it's critically important that these recruits, these rookies, see a fully functioning fire station, one that includes a fire engine. And just as a side note, there are training center. This is a second training center we've had in the city of Long Beach, and it's been there since 1964. The first training center in the city was located right next to Engine Hour Station ten, where those recruits got to see that busy fire engine functioning on a daily basis. I'm not going to take my first 5 minutes. I'd like to reserve some time for any type of discussion after and emergency. If you'd like to go to public comment that that works for me. Speaker 0: That's great. Let's do that. Let's do is there I think we do have one member of the public and then we'll go back to the council. Speaker 5: Yes, we have Rex Pritchard. Speaker 3: Yes. Rex Pritchard, president of Long Beach Firefighters. I too want to thank council members, supervisor Alan Price and Turrell for bringing this item forward. It is urgent as the date for submission is this Friday, and this is an urgent action that, again, I'm going to just keep my comments brief. Council member Super nine made very good points and our ability to bring nearly $5.2 million to help fund resources. The International Association of Firefighters work diligently with the Biden administration in making the 2020 Safer program even better than it was in 2018. And we appreciate everything the Biden administration did in allowing the no cost sharing aspect coming forward so we can support and encourage council members to support this item. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: We have a motion that comes from a supernova and it's a second by Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to support Councilmember Superdog in this item and in supporting this motion. Engine 17 has been a priority for Councilman Superdog for really since since he started his service on the Long Beach City Council. And as he mentioned, it services multiple different districts, a number of different diverse communities that have different response needs from the fire department throughout the city. And I think that having a plan for Engine 17 on a short term plan and a long term plan is obviously in the best interests of the city, but also in the best interest of our fire department and our residents, because having Engine 17 there will take the stress off of the nearby stations that are now doing a lot of the responding and have been for some time. And the response times, although they've gotten better, certainly need to be a focus and a priority for our fire department. So I do know that District three among other districts would be a beneficiary of a long term restoration plan for Engine 17, and therefore I support that item on behalf of my district and of course, on behalf of the city. Speaker 0: Councilman's in the house. Thank you. Speaker 4: I really want to thank Council member Steve Bernoff for championing this item. I know that this is something he's very passionate about and I really admire his commitment to maintaining these emergency services in this community. I know that we are really going through a difficult financial situation as a city, but I'm certainly hoping that this grant funding will help to address these issues, that we can explore this as an option in providing these services to our residents in the fourth District and the surrounding communities. Thank you again, Mr. Cooper. Now, council members are not for championing this item. Speaker 0: Thank you for asking. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and to Councilmember Supernova for bringing this item forward. As you all know, in our budget, our discussions in the last year, we had a considerable amount of conversation about super grants in our past super grants and the potential for future super grants. We know that this grant comes with some some level of risk. But at the same time, we do value and pride ourselves as being a city who puts public safety as a high priority, and particularly our fire department, as they seek to save lives and be heroes every day in our communities. We went through a period of time, I would say ten years ago or so, where they were cuts. We lost an engine 17, we lost engine 12 and rescues as well. In this council, previous council worked through Measure A to restore of many of those services. We do not want to reverse course. We want to continue to provide the excellent public safety services that we promised our constituents. Now, this the safer ground is, I understand, a little bit different than the one in 2018. I wanted to give the city manager an opportunity to explain the differences between the 2018 SAFER Grant and the 2012, and specifically where we're both the flexibility of how is this 2020 Saber grant more or less flexible than the 2018 Super Grant? And, and then allow you to answer that question. But I also want to just make a statement that I think. It is certainly worthwhile to apply for this grant as an option to consider. This is I mean, it doesn't hurt to apply for especially for money from from the federal government. We do know that there are strings attached. But this is this is a prudent move, I believe, to to help us outline a strategy moving forward for our fire services. I'm a city manager. Can you answer the question? Speaker 6: Yes, it does have slightly different scenarios compared to the 2018 grant. It is a little bit more flexible. We've outlined a lot of that in our memo, but I'll have Lynda Tatum talk about the specific comparison between those two. Speaker 1: Good evening. Council Member Austin and other members of Council. Probably the the two most significant differences in this grant is that it it gives the city more flexibility. As you recall, the last grant had a very specific timeline for performance. And in this case, while it does have that same three year timeline for performance, there is the ability for the city to request an extension of the grant without any penalties. The current grant establish essentially says that if you can't perform, you'd have to return the money. So that's one significant difference. The other difference is that with the staffing, the staffing level requires you to add in, in this case, the 12 positions. We're asking for it, ask you to add those 12. In addition to whatever the budget positions are, the 2020 grant says it's the the 12 in addition to whatever the staffing level that is in place at the time of the grant application. So that again is, is, is, is significantly that's a significant benefit to the city and requires us to add fewer staffing. So those are probably the two most significant components that differ from the grant. But overall, we feel that it's a lot more flexible than the 2020 grant provisions. Speaker 3: Well, thank you for that clarification. And yeah, I have no further questions. So my comments. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 4: Yes. I thank you, Mayor, and also thank you, Councilmember Supernova, for bringing this forward. And I agree with all of your comments. I'd like to see us apply for this 2020 Safer grant. It's more flexible and it has fewer requirements than previous grants. And if we were awarded the ground, it's almost $5 million, which is a lot of money. I do understand some of the risks, given our fiscal position and future uncertainly uncertainties. But nevertheless, I think this grant is a huge opportunity and I am confident that our city staff can find fiscal opportunities to ensure that we can take full advantage of this funding opportunity. I know that there's an urgency to get this application done because we have a deadline just right around the corner. But just because we're applying for the grant doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to get it. So in the event that we do get it and it gets approved, does that mean that we have to accept the grant? Speaker 6: Let's remember, this is America. No. So this is an application process. We would then, if awarded, bring it back to the council and you would take a second vote to decide whether or not you're in a fiscal position to accept the grant. And we expect that if they stay on schedule to happen in September. Speaker 4: Okay. Awesome. Thank you very much. I look forward to supporting this. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Happy to support this application. I certainly want to lift up the improvements to the program. I remember, you know, we've we've had this discussion probably over the last decade about the safer grants, the fire safer grants and the challenge that they provide. Glad to hear from Mrs. Tatum about some of those improvements. And we want to continue to work with the federal government to continue to improve the program. But I think this is the right thing to do. And Councilmember Supernormal, good job on the tap on the equity lands. I really appreciate seeing that your item as a well thought out item and I love the way that you presented it. So I'm happy to support this thing. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilman Mongo. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Super. Nice council member, Superhot. As you know, I've been a champion for the Safer grants since I've been added to the Council. I think it's a great source of revenue to support our first responders and a way to expand. I appreciate that we're going for 4.8 million. But if you look at the SAFER website, there are entities and cities that have received significantly more than that. And so if we're going to go in, make sure we know that we're going all in, that some cities get upwards of 8 to 13 million. And I know size does matter, but if there is a need that fits in the grant and we're going for it, let's just be sure that we have a really great write up and ask for as much as we actually need and can use. And we have a lot of need right now. So thank you. Super not for bringing it forward and I look forward to finding out the outcome. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilman Ciro. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. And I want to thank council member Superman for bringing this item forward. And I'm happy to sign on to support this application to the SAFER Grant. Given the equity lens and its impact in District six without Engine 17, it takes Engine ten, which is as Council member Superman shared earlier out of a very already busy and high need area. And so I also just think it's great to explore grant opportunities and to address increasing needs given our current situation with the pandemic. And I really look forward to making sure we meet the deadline and and hearing that we received guidance so that it can come back before council for us to do another look at it. So thank you so much. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes council comment. And we have a motion on the second controversy for now. Please, let's catch the votes. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District three. I. Catwoman price. I thank you district for. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District five. I. District six. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District seven. I District eight. Speaker 3: Hi. Speaker 1: District nine. I'm ocean cares. Speaker 0: Thank you. Every time certain item 18.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to prepare an application for the 2020 SAFER Grant for submission by the March 12, 2021 deadline. For this funding cycle, the grant will provide $4.8 million to cover the cost of 12 FTE entry level firefighters for Engine 17 over three years to fall within an estimated timeframe of mid-FY 22 through mid-FY 25. (Citywide)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_03092021_21-0207

Speaker 3: I. District eight. All right. District nine. I know she cares. Thank you. Number 17, please. Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson, Councilwoman Allen, Councilwoman Sato. Councilman Austin. Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on Care Closet LBC. Thank you. This this this is a presentation. And like we said, in this virtual moment, it's hard to do recognitions, but when someone steps up and does something important, I think it needs to be deserved to be recognized. This pandemic has been difficult for our entire community. We've seen impacts on our city. We have to do more with less. And we've seen the impacts from Caltrans and trash piling up in different areas. We've seen this pandemic exacerbate our homeless crisis. We've seen a lot of, you know, individuals with a lot of. With with a lot of pain. And so Duke Gibbons is a community leader who saw me sprung into action. And and and from that simple standpoint, you know, he's really inspired a lot of people to step up, clean up their own communities and to help be more compassionate with individuals experiencing homelessness. And so I'm going to introduce a video and then I'm going to have the brief, brief comments from Duke at Duke Gibbons. But really, the point here is this is a grassroots effort. The grassroots effort. And we're we're acknowledging the spirit of this effort to step up and create a wave. And we see it. We want to embrace it, help formalize this structure in our experience. Let's go ahead. We shouldn't have. Hello, everybody. To those of you who do not know me, my name is Duke Gibbons, and I'd like to say thank you for allowing me to present this small little video to you. Over the past few months. I have gotten with some of our homeless brothers and sisters in our riverbeds and other communities, and we started doing a major cleanup. COVID 19 really hit us hard. And in this season right now, we're working diligently to clean up our river beds and other locations in our city. I would like to share with you this small video. Thank you. Enjoy. Somebody burned his whole camper actually up at. Hear about another friend of mine named Ziggy. Somebody burned his as well. Hey, Long Beach. The question is posed. Ask not what Lambie's can do for you, but what you can do for Long Beach. Over the past few months, myself and a few other amazing people that live in our community that are homeless have been getting together and working with the issue of trash in our riverbed and on our entrances and exits of freeway. With that said, I'd just like to thank our city council, our mayor, our city manager, all those who are diligently putting up the effort to fight homelessness first and foremost, and secondly, working on comprehensive housing solutions. With that said, your brother has been out there right now, boots on the ground working to clean up our streets in a major way. To date, we've collected over £4,000 of trash out of our riverbeds and other locations. That's what we can do for Long Beach to help her bring her back to the beauty that this town deserves and what she represents. All right. Thank you. And at this point, I want to be recognized to do our bit of time to honor you and get your comments. You got. I'm sorry. I'll try again to. You don't. That's out on my left hand side. It seems like the audio is working, but we got four comments in the video and we just wanted to receive this presentation. Again, this is really a gesture to acknowledge the effort. I know it's a volunteer grassroots effort. I know that, you know, there is more that we can do to formalize this structure. I think it sends a good message to the city to step up and be a part of the solution. You know, help do what you can to keep our community together and help support those who are hurting. And that's really why we want to lift up and recognize you. So at this point, I'm going to have comments from the city council and I'm going to make the motion and I'm the first person shooter is council member uranium. Thank you, Vice Chair Richardson and I had the opportunity to visit with Duke over the weekend, and we went to a couple of the camps, to the homeless encampments that were along the L.A. River and the freeway. And I got to tell you, it is a experience. One of the most impressive parts of that little tour that I took with him is that we had these preconceived ideas as to who are the people where a lot of these river beds we think about people with. Or have mental issues or other addictions. And I'll tell you, the people that I met were so kind. We're so friendly or so accommodating. We are able to greet and talk to you and tell you about what's going on with them and their lives under the bridges or along the river here and the freeways. But as Duke is doing God's work, he has communicated with these individuals. He has built trust among them, and they see him become the boss of it because he is not only offering opportunities for them to clean up their vacations and their places, but he's offering them some some compensation for it as well. They're looking forward. They look forward to work. They look forward to helping clean up the river, clean up the freeway. And it was one of those enlightening experiences that just gives me a different perspective as to what he's doing. And I want to thank you for allowing me that opportunity to enjoy him. And if there's any way that the city can provide him with support and help, I. He asks for it. Trash cans. Yes, for the porta potties to clean up. And I wish we could. And perhaps one day we came out of that where it would be part of our infrastructure to provide assistance, to continue the ritual. So perhaps we can also look at our mercy and how we can improve services there as well. That did come up in our conversation. So do hats off and congratulations and excellent job doing and you know that are there you will be before and I'll be worried having to put my jeans on backwards and that's why I feel good work. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Duke Now that the audio is here, do you want to give your comments now? Yes. I'd just like to thank you all for giving me this small time. I'm a long beach rather than born and bred. Went to poly. Went to the Air Force. Went to lobby City College, worked for Long Beach, tried for over 20 years, and I've had a chance to work with some of you all as well. And that tagline, asked about what lobbies can do for us that we can do for Long Beach, is truly something that is true in my heart. And being able to get some experience and some form of structure from you all to help me with this endeavor, I think would be a great move forward to assist our brothers and sisters in these communities. Thank you. All right. We have a few more council members. Next in line is council member thoro. Speaker 4: Thank you, vice mayor, for bringing this item forward to acknowledge and showcase the work that care closet LBC does. And thank you to you for your just hard work and commitment and passion to serving and finding solution and empowering our our most overlooked members of the community. You know, my office recently made a contribution to the organization and hopes that it continues to further the work that that is being done to lift up and empower our houseless community members and to help make this what you use as a tagline that that I love to is little by little, because I think you are a person who sees no effort is too small and that all of these little efforts together does make a huge difference. And I look forward and continue to find ways to work with you and and, you know, and however we can make sure we're doing little by little to do a lot together. Thank you. Speaker 3: And thank you so much as well. Thank you. Next in queue is council members and they are. Speaker 4: Thank you, Vice Mayor Duke, I just wanted to give you a huge thank you for all that you're doing for our community. I think that this is so humbling of you and also, you know, thinking about our neighbors who are houseless right now and giving them the opportunity to feel empowered and giving them the opportunity to to just, you know, social while at the same time doing a good deed is something that is very respectable. I think that the work that you are doing is incredible. Keep up the good work and I look forward to being able to support you and your organization in any way that I can. I know that I am continuously committed to making sure that we find permanent homes for our houseless neighbors. You know, that is one of my greatest goals. And and even though things are not done overnight, I wish they could be. I think that what you're doing is something that is very commendable. And again, I look forward to working with you and continuing your your efforts. So thank you again. Speaker 3: You're welcome. And that's our new mission will be for all of us, little by little. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Little by little, I love. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next, we have council member Austin. Thank you. And this presentation actually hit really close to home. Duke is a personal friend. He is a awesome photo artist. Is that tell you every time you meet him that you graduated from poly? So he loves this city and he can add to his list of accomplishments. Now, as a humanitarian, somebody who's actually doing the work, rolling up his sleeves and making a difference every day in our community. Duke accompanied me several months ago as we were doing some homeless outreach along the railroad tracks on Union Pacific Railroad. And I have, you know, just over the last couple of months, witnessed firsthand the clean ups and the just amazing efforts happening in our grassroots happening efforts happening in our city. You know, Duke has really, really inspired trust from a community that doesn't let too many people in. He has extended dignity and hope to a group of folks who have been forgotten in many respects. And I just want to mention that the care closet was has not been in existence very long. This is a very, very young nonprofit, but one that is effective. And and if you just weigh the volume of the work, he's doing the work in the short period of time, in two or three months, that many organizations and many resources haven't been able to match in years. And so, you know, the amazing community efforts that have had an opportunity to witness at the expo where the sleeping bag drive and and supplies that are coming in, it's just breathtaking when you see the amount of community support behind this effort. Duke, you you you met your colleague. And I think on behalf of the residents of the district, I know we all are talking about meeting your accolades right now, but I want to extend my appreciation and encourage you to continue on your mission. I know that you know from. Programs like this are not sustainable unless other people get involved, unless we are able to put structural resources behind them to to to continue. This is a model that is that is a new model. That is a necessary model. But one thing that I can say about it, it is clearly an effective model because it's visible, it's clear our freeway, our ramps are are cleaner, our underpriced passes are cleaner. And the people engaged in this are individuals who have been on the streets and understand the and understand the the culture of of of of homelessness. And so to work is something that I certainly support. I would ask that my colleagues support and I look forward to working with you on do for many months and years to come. All right. Next, we have council member Alan. Speaker 4: Thank you. Will Vice Mayor Richardson, for putting this item forward. And one thing I have to say is do given it's just an inspirational leader in our community and he has been doing amazing work for a long time. And I and Duke, I still have the lobby's pollie hat that you gave me years ago. And it's hanging in my council office right now. And I know, just like me, I think we loved graduating from from Polly. But but you know, Duke, you just been are a role model. You've been an incredible advocate for the homeless community. Just thank you for all you have done in Long Beach and for all the opportunities that you have created for people that really need it. And like Councilwoman Sara said, helping people that are so often overlooked. Just great work, my friend. Just much appreciation for all that you do. Speaker 3: Fantastic. The you heard it. No doubt, my love here on this council, we certainly all recognize vice mayor. Yes. Speaker 2: This is Councilwoman Price. I queued up. Speaker 3: About 40 minutes. Speaker 2: Ago. Speaker 3: Okay. It wasn't set to go forward. Councilmember. Speaker 2: Thank you. So I want to thank you for coming and presenting to council this evening as well. I did have the opportunity to go out and visit him as well, like my colleagues did, and I know that he and so many others, I know there are residents in my own neighborhood. My neighbor is very, very involved in these efforts as well. And I think, you know, the more the merrier in terms of responsible and structured programs to help us get to where we want to be as a city where we're providing opportunities and cleaning up these, well, visible corridors. I know that my office worked with Duke to get him registered as a city vendor, and I know that there's other some other formalities that Duke would have to go through. And I think any nonprofit that's doing work like this should definitely reach out to the city so that we can figure out how to combine the efforts of our nonprofits with some of the goals that we've set in the city. I know one of the programs that we have and I could talk to Duke about this that I feel very passionately about and I presented to council was our homeless work program that got started and then got a little bit of a pause because of COVID, but that's starting up real soon. So I think my question would be to city management. Would it be possible to connect Duke with our once work program so that they can provide who can help provide some jobs to people who might be interested in those opportunities as he goes through accomplishing the goals of the nonprofit Speaker 6: ? Yes, absolutely. That RFP is getting finished pretty soon, should be out and we would love do to apply for that. And we've actually done some outreach to realize and there is a newer nonprofit just to help give him a little bit of assistance too on the kinds of things that we would need to have somebody award a city contract to so he can get prepared for that. So, yes, I think it'd be a great opportunity for him to apply. Speaker 2: That's great. Thank you. And so, Duke, I know you and I have talked and I know you're going to pursue that. And I just want to thank Lisa West from my team, because she really worked hard to make sure that all the paperwork and everything was processed to become a city vendor. But I think the type of work that you're doing is amazing. And I applaud you and so many others in the city that are doing this kind of work. And we are here. I think I can speak for all of us to say we're here to utilize whatever resources we have in the city to help people structure nonprofit so that we can utilize public resources to effectuate some of the goals that we share in common. And I'm grateful for the work that you're doing, and I thank you for inviting me out to see your work and sharing a little bit about it with me. Thank you. Speaker 3: Right. Thank you. I see no further comments from the council. I just wanted to close by saying, you know, there's you know, every once in a while you need to lift up those who inspire others of what you've done to hopefully serves as an inspiration. Everyone can make a difference. You clearly from the comments here, you've heard that you've inspired the council, you've received a lot of comments here. But this is you know, this is recognition of what one person can do to help create a ripple effect, to multiply the impact that we have on the community. So we all just thank you for your friendship and for your service to our community. Let's go ahead to public comment now. Speaker 5: There is no public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Fantastic. All right. Let's go to a roll call vote. Speaker 1: District one by district two. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 2: District II. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: District five. I. District six. I. District seven. By District eight. Speaker 3: Right. Speaker 1: District nine. I know. Curious.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on “Care Closet LBC” by community leader Duke Givens.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_03022021_21-0182

Speaker 3: Public comment is complete. We're going to go to the items that have the most folks right now signed up. So I we do item 22/1. Speaker 0: Item 22 Communication from Councilwoman Zendejas, Councilwoman Allen, Councilwoman Mango Councilmember Urunga Recommendation to request City Manager to study feasibility and explore support or financing options for the creation of a Latino cultural district and a mixed use small business economic development. Speaker 3: Okay, Councilwoman Zendejas. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. At this moment, I would like to ask if we could please hear public comment on this item, if there is some. Speaker 3: Madam Clerk. Speaker 4: Yes. Our first speaker is Alan Armijo. Speaker 3: All right. Good to hear. Speaker 4: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 3: Thank you. Hi, I'm Alan Ami Hope. Speaker 2: Local business owner of Ami Enterprises, Inc. I'm calling in to express support of item number 21, Dash 018 and the Long Beach. The ongoing pandemic and protests for social justice have focused a spotlight on our communities of color, not because the events exposed disparities and inequalities in these communities, but because they proved the disparities and inequalities exist and are ongoing, if not systemic. Please read Jessica Container's Concept Paper Report on Ricardo The Long Beach. This project takes a lot of boxes for helping our Latino community achieve what a lot of people take for granted because of better access to opportunity. Keep in mind that Jessica did not write this concept paper overnight. It is a 20 year work of devotion to helping a Long Beach Latino community prosper and thrive. Speaker 3: And whose time has come. I encourage the City Council to study, fund, implement and develop The Mikado of Long Beach. Speaker 2: There's enough intelligence, talent and work ethic in the Long Beach Latino community to make this a success. But it requires financial and governmental support to get it off the ground. To sum up my support in an equation economic opportunity plus business and property ownership equals economic and social justice. It only gets better from there for everyone. Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Chris Chavez. Speaker 2: Yes, I may heard. Yes. Speaker 4: Please begin. Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you. Yes. My name is Chris Chavez. I am actually resident of the sixth district. I want to state my support for item 20 10182, which would start the process of creating as Mercado the Long Beach. This project will better serve languages Latino, Latina, Latin, its community, which comprises over 42% of the city's population. Working with a trusted community partner like Central Cha is vital in ensuring the Mercado is culturally appropriate. Inclusive and helps address the community's needs is also important to note that the Mercado could provide a convenient, accessible location for community organizations and services. Creating a place like the Mercado de Long Beach is important for historically underinvested. Neighborhoods such as Park is isn't a census tract that ranks in the 90 to 90 fifth percentile of column virus screens disadvantaged communities. Lastly, while measure US is a potential source for funding of the project, I urge you to carefully consider how any project addresses the community's environmental, health and or youth and economic employment needs. Given the limited funding. I do think that this is a good potential source for it, but certainly want to see that funding used in the most effective way possible. Thank you for your time. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is David Selzer. David Selzer. Speaker 2: Mary Garcia, members of the city council and city staff. My name is David Salazar. I'm a resident of District five. I speak tonight as a longtime board member of Central Cha and the founder and executive director of the Long Beach Community Design Center. The creation of a remarkable mixed use project in a Latino cultural district is an idea whose time has come. The project has been talked about in the Long Beach, Mexican-American and Latino community since the 1980s. You have before you tonight is the. Speaker 1: 2021. Speaker 2: Class 2.0 version of that dream. The project has equity at its core. It will provide affordable housing, workforce development, health services, retail, commercial, all within a district that will showcase the city's vibrant and historic Mexican-American and Latino community. Presently, there is not an established commercial area that represents a city burgeoning Latino population in our government. Cultural district will provide identity and recognition for this population and can. Speaker 4: Be integrated. Speaker 2: Into the city's downtown, core and waterfront. The creation of place is critical at this moment in establishing a center, a hub for the Long Beach Latino community to call home. But it will also serve as a regional economic generator, offering residents, visitors and tourists an authentic cultural experience. In summary, the combination development of the Mercado Mixed Use Project and the designation of the Latino Cultural District will provide the following creation of a community of community, wealth and self-determination. Speaker 1: Affordable workforce. Speaker 2: Housing, entrepreneurial and small business opportunities and economic development. Mexican-American and Latino heritage recognition and identification and equity. And just as important, the creation of a place that promotes art, culture and social space. Thank you for your consideration. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jessica Quintana. Jessica Quintana. Our next speaker is Lourdes Ramos. Speaker 1: Hello. Hello. Speaker 4: Hi. Please begin. Speaker 1: Okay. Hello. My name is Lord. This grandma signed the Brazilian SEAL at Mola. The Museum of Latin American Art here in Long Beach is an honor to support the proposal to develop a civility study to understand the need for a Latino district in Long Beach. We will also like to express our interest to be an active part of this process agrees align with our mission and enforce doors, inclusion, diversity and equity among all on the presented communities. In language, it is cause for celebration that at the time when the Mola began the 24th anniversary and after two years of planning for the future expansion of the museum, the possibility arise of contributing to the development of the great Latino District of Art Cultural Corridor that will provide more opportunity for the benefit of all in Greater Long Beach. We hope that we can building up this dream together. And thank you for your attention. Bye bye. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Megan Anaya. Speaker 1: Hello. My name is Megan and I am and I am speaking on behalf of Central Trust. Today I am here in support of the miracle of the Long Beach, a mixed use Latino Economic Development Cultural District. Now it's important to remember that we need to support our Latino community here. Our community our Latino community in Long Beach is a powerful and resilient force in the local economy. They represent over 40 nearly 43% of the city's population, with 198,872 citizens residing within the city. Now, these this population also represents 42.6% of the residential labor force. So the workforce in Long Beach and of the Latinos working in Long Beach, that's a 70% labor force participation rate, which is amazing in the economy. But we have to remember that in order for this group to continue to thrive and contribute to the local economy, we must proportionately support them by dedicating resources and allocating them towards projects like Medicaid or to make sure that there's continued success within this community. So to give you an understanding of what this community means to Long Beach, in our 2019 report, we discovered that of the $90 billion generated in the local Long Beach economy, 34.3 billion is directly contributed from Palm Beach working Latino residents. And of that, 13.7 billion was contributed by our Long Beach immigrant population in our Long Beach Latino resident immigrant population. So overall, the Latino population in Long Beach supports 38.1% of Long Beach total contribution to the greater region. And we need to make sure that we have a space dedicated and carved out to this resilient group because there are no existing spaces within the city to dedicate to our Latino youth families or small businesses or individual to make sure that they can have the strength and prosperity to continue to grow within our community. Additionally, we find that 16% of our Latino families are living in poverty. And that's representative of over 6273 families within the city. Further, there are additional economic disparities faced by our community that we hope that this Mercado and this economic district can help us support. And when it comes to digital access gaps, we see that our Latino residents have less digital access than our other residents within within Long Beach. We see that there's a health disparity among our Latino population, and this has only been exacerbated by the past year and the effects of the COVID 19 virus. And not to mention. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jessica Quintana. Speaker 1: Hi. Good evening there, Garcia. Members of the city council. City Manager Tom Modica. My name is Jessica Quintana and I'm the executive director of Center Cha and we are so excited for this item to be presented before you today. I know you heard speakers before talk about all the needs of the Mercado project, but we just want to also provide how important this establishment of a Latino cultural district will serve to connect the development of the El Mercado mixed use development and become a designation that offers a vibrant collection of retail, commercial housing, art, cultural venues and businesses that respect the history and cultural values of the Long Beach Mexican-American Latino community. Presently, there is not an establishment commercial area that represents the city. Latino community, which stands at 42% and growing of the population. A cultural district will provide identity and recognition for this population and can be integrated into the city's downtown, core and waterfront. The creation of this place will not only be a showcase for the vitality and spirit of a Long Beach Latino community, but will also become a regional economic generator offering visitors. And tourists, an authentic cultural Latino experience. I just want to take this time to thank our two champions. I'd like to thank Councilmember Mary, Cynthia House and Councilmember Stacy Mango for being bold and taking this project forward. As you heard in previous comments, this is not new. This hasn't been discussed overnight. This initiative has been well over 25 years in our community. And so I just also want to thank Cindy Allen and Councilmember Roberto Ranga for signing on to this initiative, because it really takes innovation to be able to bring forward a project like this. And we are pleased to be working in partnership with our city, with our economic development, with the director John Kiser and Sergio Ramirez. Projects like this only come about through through community and public partnership. And so we'd just like to thank them for their innovation and understanding our community demographics and the need of how we are going to really look at how this pandemic has really impacted our community and looking at a long term economic recovery for our community. So I just want to thank you so much again. Thank everybody for their leadership. This means so much to our community and we look forward to moving this project forward. So thank you so much. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. Barb, back to you. Councilman's in the house. Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Mayor. And I'd like to thank all of the people who spoke or in support of this item and met up over Long Beach is an exciting vision that has been happening for years in the city of Long Beach. We have one of the biggest and biggest Latino communities here in the city of Long Beach. So it is with no doubt why this would come up over and over throughout the years. I think that the timing is is perfect right now. I think it's it's long overdue. And it's time that we move with something for such a great project. It's going to be a mixed use project that would include and not be limited. And we have to tell them we're an item number 22 that they get through others. I'm sorry. Speaker 3: Someone's on the on the line. Please, please mute. Councilman, please go ahead. Speaker 1: Thank you. Like I was saying that this project will not only be to restaurants, grocery store, commercial housing, entertainment, but also so many other social services that will be available. One of the most exciting things that is happening is that right now we're also working on the development of our Latino Cultural Center in the Cesar Chavez Park , which is an amazing thing to be part of right now. So I'm really excited that we're going to be bringing this together side by side. I feel that this is perfect timing for it. I really want to thank Councilmember Mongeau for her contribution to this and Councilmembers Allen and and around that. Thank you so much for for joining in on the mission of this project and for councilmember long up for your vision as well on this project. I know that so many community members, especially Center Cha, have been working on this for a very long time. And so I just, you know, I'm I'm grateful that the time has come and I'm grateful that we are able to move forward on this item. I also wanted to to have a little bit of clarity on the on the funding that I know that part of the funding we were hoping that we could look at and measure us. And I know that measure us is mostly for four years and stuff like that and health and climate. But there are other, other appropriate funds that we could look into. So I don't want to limit ourselves. So as we do this to really be studies, let's not limit ourselves to the funding and let's explore all possibilities because this is going to take a really a city effort to create something like this. It's going to be huge. I can already see it. It's going to be attracting so many people, not only locally here from Long Beach, but it's going to be attracting people regionally. And I can I can see how much it's going to drive our economic our economics here in the Long Beach. I mean, just just imagining and just gives me so much excitement. So I'm really looking forward to it. And I'm to invite to hear from my council colleagues as well on this item, and I'll come back to it as well. Speaker 3: Thank you. Customers in the US accountable mango. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilman Sun Hoss. I'm so proud of so many district residents who have really championed this for many, many, many years. I want to recognize Suzanna Edman and David Mercado and Carmen Perez. And I also believe Cynthia Cordero, just so many of our Latino Latina leaders have really championed this and it is their work that has come to fruition. I am just a supporter here in ensuring that their voices are heard and that we here can work towards ensuring that cultural districts across the city for not just the Hispanic community have been invested in, but at this time we need to focus that and the resources where they are most needed and the time has come, as Councilman Sun has said, for this community to have an area that really supports the growth and flourishing and respect. And I can't think of the word that I had in mind, but to ensure that that goes on for generations to come. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. But Richardson. Speaker 2: They queued up to lend my voice in support of this this item. I think it's a great way to demonstrate creative ways to boost our local economy. We have to play to our strengths, our cultural districts, create a safe place for culture and music and art and food and commerce and exchange and overall community. And the more we can play to our strengths in areas, particularly in areas that have had longstanding economic issues or or over time, they haven't grown in the same ways that other areas have. This is a great way to invest in those communities. So I certainly support this. We had a good, healthy conversation in the Economic Development Committee today about this and economic zones and cultural zones across the city. And so I'm certainly happy to support this. I want to congratulate and thank council members and De Haas and your contributions, Councilmember Mongo and all the signers, because I think this is a great item and I look forward to walking through McCardle some day and with my girls and talking about the process to get there. So I'll certainly look forward to supporting this. Thanks. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilmember Ringo. Speaker 2: Becky Baron. I want to thank all the councilmembers who have spoken in favor of this item. It's a wonderful we had a discussion about this about a week and a half ago or so. And that and that was part of that discussion as well as people have seen. This is not new. It's it's it's a project that it's been many years in the making. And it's one of those situations where the timing was perhaps not right 30 years ago or so. It was in 1930, mid eighties, where an idea like this concept of this would feature was first brought forward, but the stars were not aligned. And I think that now we have the stars aligned, we have the right people in the right places doing the good things. And I think that once we are concluded with the study, we can move forward with an actual project that will bring people to the region to learn more about the Latino culture. In all its grandeur and amazement, we have also a New Zealand American. I'd like to see how we can connect art into this project as well. I think it would be very important. This is art and food and culture is very important to the Latino community and it would be a wonderful addition to have that inclusion as well. So I'm very supportive of this and I'm so happy to be here. Be able to vote on this project is something that I didn't have an opportunity to do back nearly 30 years ago, which is coming full circle for me. So thank you for bringing this forward to Mary and Stacey and all the Crusaders on this. So it's a wonderful opportunity to move the community forward. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank Councilmembers and de Haas and Mongo and your ranga for bringing this forward. I'm just happy to support it. And I absolutely agree with so many of the comments that were made. It's the time has come to invest in this dream that so many people have advocated for years. So this is got to be a great day for all of you. You should be proud. Your hard work and your advocacy paid off. And I just strongly support small businesses and business hubs and the disproportionately impacted areas. And having been a small business owner myself, I know that there's a lot of value in these community business hubs, and seeing more minority owned businesses encourages local entrepreneurship and provides jobs and also help small businesses grow. And I also believe that this is going to be an amazing economic generator for the city. And I also would like to see other institutions, including Lola in the second District, included in the feasibility process. So, again, congratulations. You all happy to support this. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. I come to him in sorrow. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I want to also express my support for this item and how excited I am to see this come in this form of a not only cultural center, but an economic development component, too, and really lifting out to address various equity issues in the Latino community. And I think it's just a great way to create inclusion in our city, to celebrate and really reflect the diversity and the population that has lived here and has contributed greatly to this amazing city that we live in. So I just want to also make sure to thank council members than they have for leading the item with Councilmember Roberto Urunga and Councilmember Mongo and Allen and as well as Central Park are leading the efforts. And I also just want to make sure we have a process that will also include many of the other various Latino businesses and nonprofit groups that I think will be able to just work together. In addition to Mal as well. So thank you very much and thank you to staff for working on this item as well. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman Pratt. This. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to chime in and say that I support this, too. And Councilwoman I mean, Councilman Ranga recently said something. He was obviously not the first to say it, but it really rings true on this. He said, build it. They will come. And I thought, you know, when we're talking about integrating our diverse communities in the city of Long Beach, how wonderful it is to have spaces that have their own character, their own offerings, their own vibe. And that celebrates the rich diversity and culture of all parts of our city, and have that as something that every resident in the city can enjoy. And I love that the small business aspect of it and supporting our small business owners enough in a corridor like this. So thank you very much, Councilwoman Sunday House and the Cosigners for bringing this forward. I wholeheartedly support it. Speaker 3: Thank you and catch me. Ringgit, did you queue up again? I'm sorry about that. Speaker 2: No. But I do want to have a final comment in the sense that the. Perhaps stop and look at the archives when we brought the Lusk Center back in around 1987, 88 around there. But we did the study with them. Many very well known to take in the area at the time. I led that that group and we came up with a plan. But again, it was the right time to witness people of a council that were supportive of it. And so it was sort of put on a shelf. And I was wondering if we could have staff look at the archives and dusted off and and see what would be presented back then as part of the place, giving the historical perspective. You know, the more things change, the more they stayed the same. And so I'm pretty sure that there's some material in there that would be of help in getting this project off the ground. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you. And unfortunately, Councilmember Durango, you didn't have the last word. I guess we cued up the cued up after you. But I did want to express my my support for this this item, obviously. Thank you. Council members and de Haas Co endorsers of the sidewalk. Anytime we can celebrate culture and memory that with economic development, we're winning as a city. And so this is a a a motto I think that we should look at. I did I know we were all in support of this and we will vote in support of this. But I did have a question for staff. I'm related to the process in terms of how the feasibility study will be conducted and with stakeholder groups and would be this be engaging our Economic Development Commission. Speaker 4: Yeah. Council member this is John Kaiser. I'm here with Sergio Ramirez and this is this is a great project for economic development. So typically what what we would do is we would start with a market analysis in taking a look at potential stakeholders as well as community needs and perform some community outreach. And then we would engage with some financial analysis to to see what the different recommended areas might require. Of course, we want to look at land use and zoning, so we would work with our partners over in development services to take a look at the different uses that are currently allowed for those areas that are recommended. And and then we would come back to the City Council with some recommendations. So it would take, you know, a couple of months to, to do this the right way and engage with the community and different stakeholders. But this is something that per the Council direction, we would get together with the city manager and put together a process with some of those timelines and resources that are needed as soon as possible. Speaker 2: Well, thank you for that clarification. And I think I heard one or two of the commenters mentioned ideal locations. Have we? Are we there yet? Or is that part of the feasibility study? Yes. So I'll just tell you. I know of a couple of excellent business corridors in the eight district. That would be awesome candidates. I just wanted to throw that in there. Speaker 3: Thank you. Customer Supernova. Speaker 2: Thank you. I just wanted to thank all those who brought this forward. And I really do appreciate the longevity of the project here. The infrastructure project came up and 20 years on. And so I really appreciate the fact that 30 years old and no one lost sight of that. So congratulations and thank you for being able. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman's in Dallas. Speaker 1: Thank you, everyone, for your comments and your support on this. Again, there reconfirms how the timing is is perfect right now for for bringing a study forward on this amazing project. I also wanted to give a big shout out to some of the supporters that have been supporting this for a while, like Senator Lena Gonzalez, who continues to be a champion and continues to be supportive of the first District and having something like this in the first District would be super amazing. I also want to thank our school board member, Juan Benitez, for for his support on this item as well. The him being part of this district is very important to have his support. I also want to thank our trustee for one city college, Linda Chico, who continues to support this item as well. These are elected officials who continue to support the Latino community in any way possible. And I think it's super important that that we as a community unite and become very inclusive of all the organizations that represent Latino the Latino community, in order to make this a very successful project going forward. So I look forward to the visibility study and I can't wait to see what staff will come up with because I have full confidence that they are going to bring back something amazing working with all of the stakeholders. So again, thank you. Central charge for board meeting on this as well. And I look forward to working with you hand in hand on this. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. And I just wanted to just add, of course, my thanks to everyone and most importantly, all the community members that have been advocating and really working and fighting for this project for so many years, particularly central GI and all the community organizations that have been involved. This process and especially thank you, Councilman in the House. I want to thank Councilman Mongo, who is very involved in the development of this and the other folks that are on the item as well. Councilman Ranga, Councilwoman Allen. Thank you, everyone, to supporting this this project. I think it's going to be fantastic. And thank you all for working on it so much. And with that, we've done public comment. Let's go ahead and go to a vote. Speaker 4: District one. I District two. I District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District four. I. District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District seven. I. District eight. Speaker 2: District nine. Speaker 4: I know she carries. Speaker 3: Thank you. Let's go on now and move on to item 17.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to study feasibility and explore support or financing options in for the creation of a Latino cultural district and a mixed-use small business economic development hub significantly similar to the El Mercado de Long Beach proposal supported by Centro CHA, and suggest support from upcoming grants and revenue including recovery investment funds, Measure US funds, and other grants that support health and equity for our Latino communities.

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Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you. Item 15. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilman Super Na recommendation to increase appropriations in the City Manager Department by $500 to provide a donation to Partners of Parks for AOC Sevens Quarantine Food Project benefiting Fourth District residents. Speaker 3: Controversial or not. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'd like to thank the AOC seven Neighborhood Association for organizing this effort. And this will bring enhanced food security to Fourth District residents within their neighborhood association said. Appreciate your support. Speaker 3: Thank you. And can I get a second, please? Speaker 1: Second. Speaker 3: Okay. Just make sure you go to the Q system. Second by Councilwoman Allen. There's a motion in the second. There's no public comment. Members, please go ahead and cast your votes. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: It's my. Speaker 0: District two. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 0: District nine. I motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $500, offset by the Fourth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a donation to Partners of Parks for AOC7’s Quarantine Food Project benefitting Fourth District residents; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $500 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. Item 16, please. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Mango. Councilwoman Sauro. Councilman Austin. Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution in support of MWD employees filing harassment complaints. Speaker 3: Thank you. This is who is the lead author on this. He went second this councilwoman Price. Speaker 0: Yes. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 2: Yes, please. Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and I'd like to urge my colleagues to support this item. But before I make any of my own comments, I want to say first, is there any public comment on this item? Speaker 3: I believe we have some. Madam Clerk. Speaker 4: Yes. Our first speaker is Greg O'Shea. Speaker 2: In the first District. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Honorable council members. But in this regard, see, I'm the president of the Water Management District Local to that city, and I want to express support for this measure. It goes without saying, given the reason that how difficult the difficulties that public employees face in the areas of sexual harassment and workplace. Discrimination. And I think it would be an expression of respect for the employees of the Metropolitan Water District and for your own employees, for you to take a stand against this sort of behavior and to let them know loud and clear that this will not work. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Daniel De La Cruz. Speaker 2: Good evening. Speaker 4: Please begin. Speaker 2: Yes. Good evening, Honorable Mayor and the city council. My name is Daniel Dela Cruz. I'm a resident of our district for formal ABC Local 3620 President and Current AC 3634 member. I'm here because of the situation that an article came out three weeks ago. An investigation by the L.A. Times revealed a pattern of rampant sexual harassment, bullying, discrimination and retaliation at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. This appalling abuse in the workplace must be thoroughly investigated, while the review initiated by the MWD board. OPI and committee is a positive start. M MWD workers need a full comprehensive investigation into any and all misconduct taking place at the MWD. Not a process that is limited in scope and may be inadequate. We cannot allow these severe problems to be quickly swept under the rug. Every worker deserves a fair, safe and equitable workplace. And if incidents of misconduct take place, their stories must be taken seriously. That's why today I'm joining MWD workers in calling for California state auditor to complete their own ideas into the abusive workplace culture at the MWD. Workers need the full comprehensive review into these matters that was promised and is so desperately needed. Abusers and their enablers must be held accountable for their actions. And the MWD must institute structural reforms that increase oversight to ensure reports of misconduct aren't ignored. A state audit is the only way to provide justice for these workers and to ensure this type of abuse never happens again. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Gina Chavez. Speaker 1: Believe me, Mayor Garcia. Oh, I'm sorry. Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: Okay. Good evening, Mayor Christian Council members. My name is Gina Chavez and I'm a plant mechanic at Metropolitan Water District. I'm also the first woman and first Native American Hispanic graduate from the Apprenticeship Mechanical Program, one of two women still working in their field at MWD. And more recently, I'm one of the women who have come forward in the two 1221 LA Times article to speak about the corrosive work environment under MWD Executive Management. I'm speaking to item number 16 and continuing from Ellen Mackey's written comments. MWD cannot continue to waste ratepayers money on abusive management. Further background In November 2020, the Women's Caucus, together with three board members Sylvia Belen, Charles Trevino and Don Ortega, strongly requested an independent outside investigation of a culture of abuse at MWD. Not only the desert, but all the facilities. We specifically stipulated a thorough, full investigation that ranged freely to include every witness and issue raised since then. Not only were Trevino and Ortega removed, it seems this investigation itself has been compromised through interference from MWD board chair and MWD executive management. We are requesting this Council send a message to the MWD board that you, number one, support an independent outside investigation that is uncompromised and without interference. Two, to support the request for a state audit which complements the independent investigation. And three, support the SB 331 that nullifies nondisclosure agreements which silences MWD victims. As MWD faces the selection of a new general manager and increased legislative scrutiny due to the workplace abuses, it is critical that Long Beach is informed regarding these issues. Abusers and their enablers must be held accountable for their actions, and MWD must insist to structural reform that increases oversight to ensure reports of this context are not ignored. A state audit is the only way to provide justice for workers workers like me to ensure this type of abuse never happens again. We thank Council member Suzy Price and the rest of the Long Beach Council, city or City Council members to move and support Resolution 20 10167. In addition, I invite you to listen to an interview with Claudia Stamper on the KUCI Assa Leader from two 2321, and you'll hear more about her experiences firsthand. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. Let me go ahead and go back to the council. I have council member Austin. Speaker 1: Actually, Mr. Mayor. Can I say I wanted to reserve my comments till after public comment? Can I say a few words as a start? Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 3: So much. I think we'll go to Councilman Price and we've go to Councilman. Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. So as many well, most of the council members know now and members of the public who may not know, there have been recent reports, substantiated allegations by female and LGBTQ plus employees who are working in nontraditional female jobs of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California regarding allegations of workplace harassment and bullying. The incidents have been highlighted in recent L.A. Times news articles, as well as discussed by Assembly members and state senators in our capital. Unfortunately, sexual harassment in the workplace and especially in the construction and building trade environments is well known and often reported reality. There are numerous white papers that have surveyed women in nontraditional roles and the experiences that they have that prohibit them from thriving in those environments. The reason this issue is important to me and why I've brought it forward is because what these women are requesting and again, several of the allegations have been substantiated. So this isn't at this point an issue of he said she said, but rather substantiated allegations that these employees really want to have a fair process in adjudicating. And that's really what I support. I very much support and ask my council colleagues to support a resolution that offers these workers, as we would want for any workers in any environment that's public serving, to provide a fair process that's objective and not designed to reach a particular conclusion. I know that the state legislatures who have weighed in on this issue have recommended that the Joint Legislative Audit Committee provide an oversight or a review of this particular issue in order to provide a fair process to the people who have been harassed and bullied and have raised those concerns. Now, I just want to make one thing very clear, and I know those who read the agenda items read this. I don't want to really repeat it to them. But just to be clear, this agenda item does not seek to interfere in any manner with the operations of MWD. It's not the role of the Long Beach City Council to tell another entity or another operation how to run its practices. But and nor does this resolution seek to prejudge the veracity of the allegations of bullying or sexual harassment or workplace discrimination. It doesn't even serve to render an opinion on whether any wrongdoing occurred. The purpose of the resolution is simply to demonstrate that the Long Beach City Council stands in support of and with the women and LGBTQIA plus employees who worked in these nontraditional roles and serve the public through their service, in their desire to receive a fair process and a thorough consideration of their allegations and concerns. We stand in support of their ask and their passion for having a fair process in which to voice their story and be able to have some spotlight on what they experience and that hope that that objective overview will result in a positive impact for these individuals as well as for the organization. So I ask my colleagues to please support this item. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: I thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank Councilmember Price for bringing forward this item and it really articulating why it's so important for us to support this. This request requesting a resolution in support of an intimate pendant audit at MWD, I think as Meredith. I am very disturbed and concerned by the recent press reports regarding complaints being really not fully investigated or that the feeling of that employees, that these complaints are not being fully investigated. These are are women who work in nontraditional work environments. When you say nontraditional work environments to understand where the Metropolitan Water District work environments are, the work sites are, they are in some of the most obscure places in our state. And that should be taken into consideration in places that are not easily accessible or or at all. And at this this city council has a strong history of supporting workers, women workers in distress and experienced in abusive work environments. These are very serious allegations based in the Metropolitan Water District that our city should take very seriously as well. And so I am happy to support this, I think. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is on the kill list. Sorry about that. We have councilwoman in the house. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. And I am so very grateful to Councilwoman Price for bringing this item today. And these reports of harassment will be far from shocking to most, if not all, of the women listening tonight. And it's important that we voice our commitment as a city to changing that. It is my hope as a unified council and government and city government that we can demonstrate with our words and our actions that we have an obligation to end harassment against women and the LGBTQ community and everyone who has been a victim of mistreatment in the workplace. I have never been a big fan of women in nontraditional roles. And but these are some of the consequences that unintended consequences that happen in these roles, and that shouldn't be. So I'm very, very proud of Councilwoman Price for bringing this item forward. And I hope that the whole council is able to support this item going forward. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Council member Ringo. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. As far as I'm concerned, any job for anybody is intolerable. It should not be tolerated anywhere. Employee. Supporter wouldn't say thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Councilwoman Pryce and the Cosigners, Austin, Mongo and Ciro for bringing this forward. You know, items like this are just long overdue. And everyone should have, you know, should be working in a safe working environment. And what this resolution does, it sends a clear message that harassment of any kind is unacceptable and it will be investigated and it will not be tolerated. And I completely support this president and this resolution. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman Ciro. Speaker 1: You, Mayor. I want to thank Councilmember Price for bringing the item forward and having me join her and as well as the cosigner. You know, I'm just disheartened that even after we've had such strong vocal movement towards against harassment, that not only females but also LGBTQ, I feel class workers face. And so I I've appreciated that, you know, we are taking a stance. And I hope that all of my councilmember colleagues will support the item as well, that we continue to take a stance against sexual harassment in all workplaces and all industries, regardless of where they work. And I also just want to speak that at some point I hope that these roles within as we encourage women to work more in these STEM industries is that they become less of what is described for people as nontraditional roles and that they become traditional as somebody who went on the STEM pathway. I hope that we make it more inviting and that it may make it more inclusive for all genders to be able to work in a way where it doesn't distinguish them from what is traditional or not. So. So I am supportive of this item and thank you very much. Speaker 3: Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, you know, we're a large city and the region pays attention to the statements that we make. And, you know, this water district, it's a large regional water district. And we again, we're engaged in a number of different regional boards. And I think this makes sense to pass this resolution to state that, you know, this is something that certainly deserves a statewide audit. And, you know, the things accused the things accused are very serious. And we should be on the right side of this and encourage this agency and the state to take appropriate action. So I certainly think this is an appropriate move for us to make, given our significance in the region, second largest city in the region. So I think it's important for us to do and I'm happy to support this. Thanks, Councilmember Price, another great item. Thanks a lot. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes the Council comments. We have done public comment and we will do a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two. I. District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District six. I. District seven. By District eight. District nine. High motion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you. We're going to quickly do item 20, please, and then we'll go back up to the last two items.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution in support of women, LGBTQIA+ and other employees who have filed complaints of harassment by various employees of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and supports the calls for a Joint Legislative Audit Committee.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. We're going to quickly do item 20, please, and then we'll go back up to the last two items. Speaker 0: Item 20 Report from Parks, Recreation and Marine Recommendation to adopt a resolution to submit a grant application to the California Department of Parks and Recreation for funding under the Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program Districts one and six. Speaker 3: Thank you. Have a motion by Councilmembers and House. Can I get a second, please? Can I get a second, please? Second by Councilwoman Allen. Councilman is in the house. Give any comments? Speaker 1: Yes. I just want to say how excited I am about this grant application. And I'm unbelievably grateful to our director, Dennis and his team for the work that they have done on behalf of our parks and especially our great Chavez vision plant here in the First District. These are both areas of such high need in our city with so little access to green space. And I know that personally, the Drake Park mission plan is something I've been absolutely thrilled about since before I was on council. Seeing this project take its first steps towards fruition has been wonderful for our Willmore neighborhood and our Parks and Public Works team have done an amazing job with with the place, like the local park connection. We still have a lot of work to do and to address that an equal and equal equities in our city, especially as it relates to park access. But these visions will more well, we'll need a little bit more work, you know, and creating access to high quality, accessible and equitable park space in Long Beach is is something that we're working towards. So I'm really excited about that. Thank you all so much for your hard work on this item and I'm so incredibly excited for the future of this. So thank you. Speaker 3: Mr. Motorcade. Did you have any anything you want to present on the staff side on this or. Speaker 2: That's up to the council? We can do a short presentation by Mr. Brant or Mr. Dunn. Sorry, on this. It's both this and MacArthur Park and he can park. No. Speaker 3: Let me go. Let me go to Councilman. Sorry was a second. Just some comments, councilwoman. Speaker 1: Oh, no, I was going to ask if we could have stopped your presentation before then. Speaker 3: Let's do that. Mr. Motor. After a short presentation. Speaker 4: Mr. Dennis. Thank you, Manager, America, honorable mayor and members of council. Both of these projects earlier tremendous examples where establishing a shared vision by engaging with the community have provided the foundation for the pursuit of significant grant funding. So for for the direction of his vision plan in particular, should the department be successful in receiving the eight and a half million dollars in grant fund? It will bring some tremendous recreational amenities in terms of the early phases of the overall parks development, and it includes a whole array of things and especially to be appreciated during this COVID era by the community where there's a focus on fitness equipment, improved sports courts and athletic fields, landscaping, but also things like community gardens, I think for sustainability purposes and just the connectivity and giving people in some of the higher density neighborhoods, some open space and some opportunities to really build community in their neighborhood. Park MacArthur Park again is another great example. Over in Council District six of a similar process, we're developing a shared vision with communities. Input is once again providing the foundation for excellent appeal for an additional eight and a half million dollars in grants. In that particular park, there'll be specific renovation of the playground area and expansion of open play for both active as well as passive enjoyment in the park perimeter. Walking trails and multipurpose walkways are proving to be very important for individuals fitness. And we also look at investing in outdoor fitness equipment and other opportunities for, again, the community together to really become more resilient, getting to know their neighbors. So these are both excellent examples, but we do appreciate the council's support for us to pursue these grant funds. That concludes my presentation. Lester Energy Questions. Thank you. Speaker 3: Councilman Sara? Speaker 1: Yes, Mayor. I was wondering if we have public comment on this item. And then I would like to make my remarks. And that's okay. Speaker 3: Sure. We do have public comment. Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Chan Hobson. Speaker 1: Hello? Hello? Do you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: But every mayor, Robert Garcia, city council members and city manager, Tom wanted them. My name is Ken Hobson. I'm a resident of the city of long before for a year. I am the executive director of the Smart Parent Association. My office is in the district about a mile away from MacArthur Park. My oldest son grew up with that park. I just thought I'm 20. Specifically for city staff to find funding for the Park Vision Plan Implementation Project. MacArthur Park is my goal and it badly needed improvements to accommodate the community. The community within the one mile radius in the area makes up 17% of the population, making it one of the most densely populated area in the city. I was so happy to participate in the visioning process for the park because it never had a vision plan and I am so excited to hear that the staff involved will find funding to implement the plan. Thank you to the city along with Parks, Recreation, Marine and all the partners 87 Friends of the Park, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust and City Fabric for the hard work, participation and commitment to finishing the plan. Thank you to Councilwoman Farrow for her support and dedication to ensuring them through our path and quality of life for people in this state. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mary Simmons. Speaker 1: Yes. Good evening, Mayor Garcia and city council members. My name is Mary Simmons. I live in the sixth district and I fully support item 20. Specifically for city staff to find funding for the MacArthur Depart Vision Implementation Project. MacArthur Park is my park and that I go to and needs improvement badly. I actually live across the street from the park. This community, the community within one mile radius of the area, makes up 70% of the long, long beach population, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the city. I will say I was happy to be able to participate in the visiting plan for MacArthur Park because I'd never, ever had a vision plan. I'm so excited to hear that the staff will work to find funding for the implement to implement the plan. Thank you to moms. Long beaches, parks, regs, Marines, all the partners, AOC seven Fred, the MacArthur, Los Angeles Neighborhood, Land Trust, the fabric and all our local stakeholders for their hard work participation and. Commitment to finishing the plan. Let's continue to bring resources to a to the park and finish the plan. Two weeks ago, we had an amazing vaccination clinic at MacArthur Park. And I would like to commend Councilwoman Julie Sorrell, her staff, as well as the entire health department, for a job well done. We vaccinated 400 residents at MacArthur Park and thank you, Councilwoman Julie Barrow, for your support and dedication to ensuring we improve our parks and quality of life for the people. Speaker 2: Of the Sixth District. Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Melissa Williams. Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Melissa Williams and I live in the sixth district with my husband and my two children. And I wanted to speak in support of the finding funding for the MacArthur Park Vision Plan Implementation Project. As the other commenters have mentioned, this is a very dense part of Long Beach. Many of us live in multi-family homes without a lot of outdoor space for children and families to use. The park is kind of the center of our neighborhood and it is in dire disrepair. In spite of the condition the park is in, it still continues to host very important cultural and neighborhood events such as the vaccine clinic that Mary mentioned. I would I was very excited when I found out that there is a vision plan to improve the park. So I'm really happy that the city council and the city staff seem willing to support those efforts to find funding. And I think that this kind of thing is especially important in the pandemic with the children not in school, to have a place where families can go. I want to thank all also the partners. Long Beach Parks and Recreation and Marine, the AOC Seven Neighborhood Association to do really wonderful work around here. Friends of MacArthur Park and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust and City Fabric for all of their support to helping to make our our district better. And also Councilwoman Shirley Sara, for all of the great work that you've done in our area to really improve conditions and equity for our residents. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rocio Torres. Speaker 1: You. Good evening, Mayor, and good emergency council members. My name is Joe Theaters. I live in the second district and MacArthur Park is my childhood park and it is still my park. Believe it or not, 47 years I've been here and I've never had a vision in crime for my part. So I support item number 20 specifically for City to find funding for MacArthur Park's visioning plan and implementation project. I was glad to be able to participate in the process for MacArthur Park Visioning Plan because it had never been done before. Thank you to the city of Long Beach, Parks and Recreation and Marine and all the partners that champion for our Park 87 Friends of MacArthur Park, the L.A. Neighborhood Land Trust and City Fabric for their hard work and participation and commitment for finishing the project. Thank you for Councilwoman Susie Saal for continuing to champion for our park. She helped us with the visioning plan and information that we needed. And MacArthur Park is a beautiful park in a beautiful place. Let's continue to reactivate our park. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Back then to go back to Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. And I want to just thank all of the committee members who made their public comment. And I feel that they've said a lot of things that I would have said and that I continue to want to have them lead this process, as they did with the visioning, with our partners. So so I want to thank again, just reiterate, thanking the studio staff at Parks Rec and Marines and our amazing neighborhood group, AOC seven. That's just really been, you know, making sure that we address so many of the issues in our parks and our neighborhoods. And the Friends of MacArthur Park and the L.A. Neighborhood Land Trust and City Fabric for helping to really just get feedback from such a wide variety of groups. I saw many seniors sitting with younger generation and talking about what they really like to see at this park. And I also want to mention this is also my neighborhood park. I live in the 9.13 area. It's really like within walking distance from me. And I'm just disheartened that we continue to have porta potty bathrooms that have been there for a long time to variety amenities that I think could be much improved, which is why I really look forward to working with our partners on the ground, as well as our city staff to look for funding so that we can make improvements and really improve the quality of life of everyone around the area. So thank you so much. Speaker 3: Councilman Allen. Now? Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't have any comment. Sorry about that. Speaker 3: No problem. I mean, I just want to add great projects both obviously. Certainly that the Drake Chavez project has a special place in my heart. Having worked on that, in fact, in my predecessor worked on that project as well. And it's been a long time coming just building that part kind of piece by piece, and it looks so great now. I love seeing the soccer fields, love seeing the connections, how well the Willmore neighborhood is and such a great job. And the community with that and folks like Kathleen and Jim and Cheryl and and so many others that have played such a vital role in in getting that park to where it's at a and Diane and so many others so just happy to see this where it's at. So with that, I'm sorry. The councilman. Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you. I just want to our staff where we were on budgeting to replace and repair the bathrooms so that they won't have porta potty bathrooms. Speaker 2: This time. I got it. We do have a budget. A project was added into Measure A, I believe, about a year and a half ago, something like that. And it's in design and it's more important. Speaker 1: Wonderful. So I'm just going to speak to and I know after I made this comment last time, I got a text from Council Vice Mayor Richardson supporting what I'd said, and I think that it's important to say it again. The park bathrooms are part of a critical infrastructure across our city for our families. That was prioritized by this council in a previous council action related to measure A for other measure funding as it became available. And as I said in the Infrastructure Committee meeting earlier today, when when other proposals are brought forward that are in opposition to the original intent of the Council, we should also at least be brought the list of things that are not getting funded that would have been funded by the previous council action. Because when you see projects like this one that are just so critical to a community like park bathrooms, I can tell you today I was at a park and I saw multiple city staff stop on their break because they need to take a bathroom break. And they're an infrastructure across our city, not only for families, but for our city workers. And some of them are in such horrible disrepair that we just need to continue to invest in these park bathrooms across our city . They're just too important. And so thank you to the community who partook in the visioning process. It will come out to be amazing, but those amazing amenities are only possible when bathrooms function and are kept and maintained in an appropriate manner. So thank you so much to everyone for all the great work and congratulations to Councilwoman Sara. It'll be a great, great project. Speaker 3: The Mercedes. Cast your votes. Roll call. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District six. I District seven. By District eight. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Ocean carries.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution authorizing City Manager, or designee, to submit a grant application to the California Department of Parks and Recreation for funding under the Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program, for the first phases of the Drake Chavez Vision Plan Implementation Project and MacArthur Park Vision Plan Implementation Project (Projects); and, if awarded, execute all documents necessary to accept the funds in an amount up to $8,500,000 for each Project, for a total grant funding amount of up to $17,000,000 for the Projects. (Districts 1,6)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_02162021_21-0135

Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up, we're going to do item 11, please. Speaker 1: Item 11 Communication from Councilwoman Allen. Councilwoman Price and Councilman Alston. Recommendations to forward a request from community members to the Government Personnel and Elections Oversight Committee to consider naming the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, the Beverly O'Neill Arts Center. Speaker 3: Thank you. Before I before I pass this over to Councilwoman Allen, just want to make some some some statements, and then I turn this over to the council. I just want to just note that. I think we're all I think we're all, first of all aware and understand how incredible of a legacy that Beverly O'Neal left for the city and continues, quite frankly, to create and build. She started here in our city, going through our schools, leading numerous organizations. She herself spent time, of course, as president of Lombard City College. She was a faculty member. Taught music. Music and the arts were always part of her life. And as mayor, I just significantly increased the ability of arts organizations to be able to operate within the community. She's always been an incredible patron of the arts. A year ago, the Beverly on your theater was Christian and supported by this council. It's been a great a great space of performance. And a late last year, a group of arts of citizens and leaders chaired by Randall Hernandez, who was her former chief of staff when she was mayor, brought folks from the community together to discuss other ways of honoring Mayor O'Neal. She, of course, will continue to be honored in the city. She's just an incredible person and a mentor and a friend to many of us. That committee spent many weeks meeting with the folks that new Mayor O'Neil best and that served with her. And they came forward with this recommendation, which folks have in front of them today, which is really to try to rename not just the theater, but to that whole performing arts center after Mayor O'Neill, which is significant but absolutely justified. She is a really a the senior stateswoman of our city and just will be remembered for having transformed this community really out of a very, very difficult moment in our city's history. And I think we all can't say enough about about her and her leadership. And so I want to thank Councilwoman Allen for kind of spearheading this and working directly with Mr. Hernandez on this issue. And I want to turn this over to her, because she really kind of took this on and introduced this. And I want to thank her for her leadership on this. So, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor Aaron. Thank you, Randall Hernandez, for your leadership with this. And also want to thank the community members who organized and came together to propose this way to honor Mayor Beverly O'Neill. And I also wanted to say just thank you, Mayor, for your longtime support of the arts and for your leadership and partnership. I also would like to thank my council colleagues, Councilwoman Pryce and Council Member Austin, for signing on to this item. On a personal note, my neighbor Johnny Steel gave me a book this weekend that I read that was called Passionately Positive The Beverly O'Neal Story written by Harry at the Gazette. I enjoyed the book so much, and it just confirmed how deserving Mayor Beverly O'Neal is. Just here are some things that I took from the book. She's a collaborative leader. She did not care who got credit. She was just born to lead and born to lead this city. She listened and she inspired people around her. She believed that the small victories added up to big success, and she was a trendsetter and a barrier breaker. And she did that with such style and grace. And everyone that knows her will attest to that and to illustrate her immense contributions to our city's musical and cultural culture. I would just like to read a short paragraph on the community letter. Like a mirror, Garcia said. It is attached, and I really encourage all of you to read this great letter that our community and put together. But here's a paragraph it says Throughout her life, music and throughout her life, music and theater has been a personal passion and focus of civic pride. Beverly Bunnell was an avid singer and has worked tirelessly to expand arts and cultural opportunities at Long Beach City College and across the city. Mayor Beverly O'Neal often remarked how vital a vibrant arts and cultural community is to the economic, health and spiritual enrichment of a city and its people. And after the after the proposal from the community and stakeholders, I also heard from several groups and individuals. So I look forward to discussing those topics that were that were the emails and letters that were sent to me. I look forward to discussing those ideals and concerns through the committee process. And I just want to say, I've heard while I've had a wide net of people who are really supporting this, I know and I want you know, that people, especially in our community, want to make sure that there is a focus on the performing arts in this name. And I understand that that makes sense. We want to make sure that that that performing arts is still in the name. So I would like to make a slightly modified recommendation to the committee and I the committee. I'd like to propose that the committee consider renaming the Long Beach Performing Arts Center to the Beverley O'Neill Performing Arts Center. So thank you very much and I appreciate your support on this item. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you to Councilwoman Allen for bringing this item forward. I know that Mayor O'Neal is a source of inspiration for many of us local leaders here in the city of Long Beach. She, as the mayor, said, she really led this city through some very challenging times, and she did so through her positivity and her willingness to work hard to get things done, which was so important to her, as Councilwoman Allen said. She's just one of those people that is really about getting the work done, making progress. But she's never, ever the kind of person who demands praise or self-promote. I mean, when you hear her talk about the progress that the city made during her her time, there was never an eye associated with any of it. She talks a lot in the way. And I really learned I've learned a lot. I have a long way to go in terms of lessons of leadership from her. She's a tremendous mentor to me personally, but she's really a wonderful representative of the city. Her ideals, her values, her work ethic, and her commitment to making sure that the trust the public has placed in her is not misused or used for a personal purpose or a personal gain or advantage was evident in all of her years of service and certainly evident in the vote of the people to elect her for a third term as a write in mayor. She is part and parcel to the city of Long Beach that we all know today. You cannot separate her from the city that we are today. The good parts, especially so and so. I'm grateful that this process has led to the recommendation that is being brought forth tonight. And I can't wait to see her name on the Performing Arts Center, Big in Lights, because anyone who knows Beverly O'Neal knows how much she loves the arts, but how much she really shies away from getting too much attention. But yet she deserves it. And she has earned it, and she has earned it in the most selfless way. So I proudly support this item, and I thank the councilwoman from the second district, councilwoman Allen, for bringing it forth. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to, first of all, take this opportunity to just appreciate Councilmember Allen for inviting me to sign on to this item. I am enthusiastically in support of it. I think no, but no one is is more worthy of such an honor than former Mayor Beverly O'Neal. She I'll just just say on on a personal level, I was a student at Long Beach City Council City College when she was the president of the college. I had the privilege of working on her campaign as a young aerospace worker. I realize and remember those that very difficult times. But she led our city with grace and strength and poise and really was a very highly respected national on a national level. I think the last president to visit the city of Long Beach was with President Clinton. I may be wrong on that, but but she brought President Clinton to the port of Long Beach. And I was really honored to be appointed to the Citizen Police Complaint Commission. A charter commission got my start in the city back in 2003 under then Mayor Beverly O'Neal. And so she's someone who has profoundly impacted my family, me personally, but so many others, and been a role model for so many people in this city. She is somebody she's a woman who, like I said, govern with strength and poise. And, you know, it's really nice for us to be able to to recognize and salute individuals and give them their roses while they're here. And I think that's very, very important. And I don't think anybody would disagree with. Beverly O'Neal being honored the way we we're seeking to do so. So it's my pleasure to support the side of your councilmember. Speaker 3: Councilwoman and house. Speaker 0: Mayor. Thank you. Sorry about that. And I just want to say what a great honor it would be to to support this item. I think that Mayor Beverly O'Neill has been such a fantastic and inspirational example of a woman for so many years. Yes, she was our mayor for several years. And she gave so much to our city in a very difficult time. But ever since then, she continues to give and continues to give and continues to give. So this is only something very, very I would say, very natural for us to be able to give something, even gifts of this magnitude to her. In honor of all of the the work that she has done for our city and all of the values that she brings to our city. So I am so happy to be supporting this item. Cool. Speaker 3: Vice mayor. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This this item. This item does feel good. I agree with with council members. And based on our thanks to Councilmember Allen, Councilmembers Price and Austin for bringing this forward. I think what stands out to me the most is this letter. This letter is incredible. They've already named ad hoc committee members. These are respected community members. It carries a lot of weight, got elected officials from the state and across the region. You have civic leaders. I mean, these people here all are very invested in our community. See downtown interest. You see tourism interest to the arts community. This is the way this is the way it should be done. And, you know, if anything, this should be a model for how we move forward name process in the future. Look forward to voting on this. You know, I encourage the committee to go ahead and, you know, get this back to the council, as, you know, as as as soon as you can. And and we look forward to recognizing celebrating this tremendous legacy of, you know, our lobbyists favorite mayor. You know, I was just reading her bio little bit. We all hear about it. She's kind of a larger than life figure. When I was 11 years old, looks like she was elected mayor. I feel like I know more about I know more about her just based on her legend and the things she was given. Just her incredible track record in our city. So congratulations to Mayor O'Neal. And I look forward to voting on this. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Mary Richardson. Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. I am in full support of this item and I appreciate the committee that has brought forward this recommendation. It's important that we take the time to recognize those who helped build our city back to the place where it is today. And I'm very grateful for all of the things that that has taught me personally and us as a city. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes our council comment. I just want to close by again, just thinking. Mr. Randall Hernandez I couldn't thank him enough. He just did a phenomenal job. Numerous meetings, brought a lot of people together. And I want to just leave leave us with what was with one thing, which is why when they kind of presented the performing arts center as as kind of the option that that where they landed, which I thought was really, really great. And that is that a lot of people forget that Mayor O'Neill was a music teacher. And I know I've said it before, but I think that's where her that is where her life as an educator started . And she taught music from, you know, early elementary. And then, of course, going through Atlantic College and became in leadership roles within the music department at Long Beach City College, which then got her to become a vice president at the college under the dean and then the presidency. It's her career, too, on the on her road to politics. I began in music. She was a performer for those that have not heard her sing. She is a great singer. She is a musician and she loves the arts. And so when this was presented in the way it was and the connection was made to her history and what got her started in Long Beach, which was music. This is just a home run, in my opinion. And so I'm just very grateful to her and her contributions to the city. And so very well done. Again, Councilman Allen, thank you again. I know you worked hard on this in the last few weeks and months, so I appreciate the committee's support. And let's do a roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Zendaya's. Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Price. I councilman's subpoena. I asked the woman mongo. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilmember Aranda. Speaker 3: Have him do. Speaker 1: Councilman. I'm Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Motion case. Speaker 3: Thank you very much. Let's move on to item. 12.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to consider renaming the Long Beach Performing Arts Center as the “Beverly O’Neill Performing Arts Center”, and forward this item to the City Council for approval.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_02162021_21-0137

Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. Let's have item number 13, please. Speaker 1: Item 13 A report from Health and Human Services. Recommendation to award a contract to the Illumination Foundation to provide site operation and interim housing services at property located at 1725 Long Beach Boulevard that will be acquired through the Project Homekey program in an annual amount not to exceed two point million District one. Speaker 2: Thank you, sir. Let's start with the staff report. Speaker 0: Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. Thank you for. Speaker 2: This opportunity. Speaker 3: To share our progress for our project. Speaker 0: Homekey Non Congregant Shelter and Sobering Site at 1725 Long Beach Boulevard. As you remember, you may remember the city purchased the best western of Long Beach last year. This contract is the next step to opening a new 102 room non. Speaker 2: Congregate housing. Speaker 0: Site in our city. The contract will be funded as part of the 2.265 million in state funding for the operations of our project site. Through an RFP process, the Health Department selected the Illumination. Speaker 2: Foundation to operate this non congregate site. Speaker 3: The Illumination. Speaker 0: Foundation operates sites throughout L.A. and Orange County. Speaker 2: And has. Speaker 0: A strong reputation in their. Speaker 3: Work. For people. Speaker 0: Experiencing homelessness, the population to be served would be primarily people experiencing homelessness with incomes at or below 30% area median income who are engaged in the city's continuum of care coordinated entry system. Speaker 3: The goal of. Speaker 0: This transitional housing program is to facilitate the movement of people. Speaker 2: Experiencing homelessness. Speaker 0: Into permanent housing within 24 months. The Project Homekey Opportunity provides. Speaker 3: A move towards this goal. The Illumination Foundation Contract for Project. Speaker 0: Homekey includes site monitoring to ensure that participants are safe and have basic needs that are. Speaker 3: Met. Speaker 0: Case management and to support connection to permanent housing. Connection to needed services such as mental health services and employment opportunities. Transportation to connect to services and care appointments. Food services for people who are seeking food support. Security onsite to ensure people are safe. And that unauthorized people do not come on to property and basic cleaning services as we do for all other. Speaker 2: Congregate non congregate facilities. Speaker 0: The site is scheduled to open on March 15 to begin taking residents. This is required by our state contract for the funding the March 15th date. We look forward to working with the. Speaker 2: Illumination Foundation to provide this. Speaker 0: Interim housing opportunity. Speaker 3: For people. Speaker 0: Experiencing. Speaker 2: Homelessness in. Speaker 0: Long Beach. Speaker 2: With that, I conclude. Speaker 0: My presentation and I'm open for questions. Speaker 2: Thank you. I see a motion from council members that they have. Council member you have for. Speaker 0: Thank you very much, Vice Mayor, and thank you, Kelly, for that presentation. I just want to thank you for all your hard work. As you know, this is very important to me. Every step closer, we get towards the full operation of this amazing project. Home t location makes me so very happy and excited for all of our houseless residents that are in so much need right now. I know that the operation of these sites is something that that's really important for both, you know, for both us as a city and for our residents. And I was wondering, Kelly, if possible, if you could highlight a little bit more on why the Illumination Foundation was selected to do this, to oversee this project. Yes. The Illumination Foundation has experience across the many sites. And Paul Duncan, our homeless services division, knows of their their. Speaker 2: Their work well. Speaker 0: I have had many conversations with them. Speaker 2: They also run. Speaker 0: Recuperative care and other types of services for people experiencing homelessness. So they have a very strong reputation for the work that they are doing, and we know that. Speaker 2: They'll be a good partner in this process. Speaker 0: Thank you, Kelly, for that. And I have heard of the wonderful work that they've done outside of the city. And so I'm happy that we that they're going to be the ones doing this project to actually mayor. Before I continue, is there any way that we can see if there's public comment on this item? Sure. Speaker 2: We can go to public comment. Speaker 0: Is there public comment? Speaker 2: There is. I believe there are. Speaker 4: Yes. Our first speakers, Jonah Breslau. Speaker 2: Hi. My name is Joan Breslau. I work at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, an organization dedicated to supporting good jobs and healthy communities. We agree that Project Homekey is a critical program in this moment. We need to do everything that we can to support getting people housed in off the streets and especially in non congregant facilities. During this terrible COVID crisis and the housing crisis that has been pre-dating COVID for so many years. But we cannot forget the hotel workers who are also struggling in this moment as unite here. The Hospitality Industry Union has estimated 80 to 90% of their members have been laid off due to COVID. And unfortunately, some of these hospitality workers may themselves be facing homelessness at this time. This council actually has not forgotten about these workers. And I want to thank you again for for passing a worker recall and retention law that will protect hospitality workers whose hotels continue to operate as hotels. But as we see in this situation, there may be workers who will not necessarily be covered. And even though we do think that, you know, perhaps that could be applied to this situation, we urge you to specify in the contract that former best Western workers be given the opportunity to work in any position that they might be qualified for. You know, as you mentioned, there are basic cleaning positions. There are also food service positions. And, you know, some of these workers may have skills for other roles as well. And so I urge you to include that in the contract so that we can all move forward together and protect both the hospitality workers and our houseless neighbors who need support in this time. So please keep those things in mind and please make those changes so that we can ensure that we are all safe. Thank you very much and take care. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Mary Dawn. Speaker 0: Hello. Casson members. An honorable man. Garcia. My name is Mary. You and a pastor and a faith organizer with Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, also known as COO. And I represent faith leaders and congregations connected through you in urging you tonight to ensure that the workers from this Western hotel will be brought back to work in this new project. I want to say thank you to the Council and Mayor Garcia for supporting the worker recall and retention ordinance last year to ensure that our workers in the hospitality and beauty services can return to work with businesses safely reopen again. And I commend you for doing the right thing in taking steps to provide safe shelter for our citizens with their homes. However, as we care for our folks with their homes, let's not forget our workers from the hotel who also needs good jobs to be able to pay rent and put food on the table for their children and families. And both both the folks without homes and the hotel workers are vulnerable and need protections from our city. So I ask the City Council to ensure the recall and retention ordinance will cover the hotel workers at best Western. And as people of faith, we believe that we are all interconnected as one family. So safety and flourishing depend on each other and not compete against each other. So your support to ensure the recall and retention of best Western hotel workers in this project is also your support for our community's health, safety and sustainability. Said This will help our city survive and move forward together in this health crisis. So I want to say thank you for the Council's leadership, and I urge you to require the contractor to bring back the hotel workers in this new project. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 4: Give us one moment when we transition to the Spanish portion of public comment. Speaker 2: Thank you. Okay, next, we have a different form of cancer for. Speaker 4: Sorry, Vice Mayor. We have the Spanish speakers we're moving to. Speaker 2: Our first speaker is Guadalupe Lopez. Well, I look at Lopez. Speaker 4: Guadalupe Lopez. Speaker 2: Well, I look at the. Speaker 1: It went. Speaker 0: Unnoticed. Speaker 2: Good evening. Speaker 0: Well, I love the things, but I'm a heck of more accommodating and holding. Speaker 2: Nora Lopez. Speaker 3: And I worked as. Speaker 2: A maid chamber at best Western in continuing. Speaker 0: Um, but about her holidaying in Condo de los Angeles. Comparable in holidaying. But it's a little project. The home, he. Speaker 2: Says in Los Angeles. Comprar A lot. Del BARCO but I think the home key but also see Daniel's back or holiday in. On the night. Speaker 0: Um. I like the woman. Speaker 2: So good at English? Yes. Interpreter will. Correct. Speaker 0: Um. Speaker 2: And you know, I said, you know, to go with this, you're learning lessons. Okay. This is my Lopez. Lopez. And she. Speaker 3: Worked. Speaker 2: For seven years holidaying. And the hotel was purchased by L.A. County for the Homekey program. Continue. Speaker 0: I do believe that. And make more our day home. You may be the real appearance on the finale of The Guilt of Me Later. Speaker 2: And then I was fired when the transition happened by the end of 2020. Speaker 0: You know well, both of our hearts. And the one thought that our hard work we must battle for for corporatism is the idea for our local level. O Happy Warrior Project or Home t. They don't know. There are things that they want me to say, that I want that to be the end. Speaker 2: And so I agree with the project. But the problem is that when we got fired, then people was some subcontracted. And so it would not be fair for our families to face a homelessness situation. Speaker 0: One moment that I really want. That is over. Resort is a comparable hotel. It's a double barrel travel. Speaker 2: So when they realized that the council bought their hotel in the county, then I was hoping to go back to work. Continuing. Speaker 0: Estimated to back it. But I don't buy that unless you let all elements that are me early join me like at Idle Not a puzzle of me, small little me mocking my past. So I may have a set about how all of this you've been. Speaker 2: So this month I had to either pay rent or support my daughter or feed my daughter. So I had to select and pick my daughter, of course. So I don't want other workers to face the same situation that I had to face. Continue watching. Speaker 0: So there is a feeling that I could very well have ordered hope. But I had already run scared in. So I think that there is room for our humble on this empathy for. Speaker 2: I ask that organization to record jobs. If those workers had lost jobs for so many years. I'm doing what? Speaker 0: The idea that the little thing which is democracy. Speaker 2: And that is on my comment and I thank you very much. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Johanna monet. Speaker 2: And this. Joanna Montanez. She sang it up with aplomb. Speaker 0: Oh. Speaker 2: Give me one minute, please. Speaker 0: Alarming number of journalists recommended, including. Speaker 2: Hi, my name is John and I worked as housekeeper at Holiday Inn. Continuing. Speaker 0: Under the La Pandemia and Coleraine, but also in the settlement. And we look for other job. We decide either condo. Speaker 2: And so the L.A. County purchased the property for the program and I was one of the. Speaker 3: Workers that was fired. Speaker 2: Due lot of that change. And I was never able to go back to work. Speaker 0: We must pursue other people. Friends of a man together, Nicola Holmes, that we thought that. Speaker 2: So was replaced by subcontractors when they realized that the County Board of Supervisors bought the hotel continuously in. Speaker 0: But I almost hurt, especially in front of me. Speaker 2: So we have been waiting for a telephone call in order to go back to work. I am currently pregnant and I am. Speaker 3: Very concerned for my. Speaker 2: Future and my family's future. Continuing. Speaker 0: What they need in style. Yeah, they all matter. Nokia. Oculus, Barcelona, PS4. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the most terrible holiday. Speaker 2: So I am about to very close to becoming homeless. I don't want this to happen to people. The same things are happening to me. Continuing. Speaker 0: It was a little trouble, huh? I lost my virginity with. Look at those two samples. Speaker 2: So I would ask the organization to record this, just to bring the jobs back to those people that want to work. We want to work and support our families. That is all my comment. Thank you very much. Thank you. Speaker 4: Our next speaker is Nydia Cardona. Speaker 2: Near Nicholson. Speaker 0: And I just. Speaker 2: See, I learned this and yet I put out a. Speaker 0: Number of media card on that. But I like the camera and I am Holliday. Duran, the Quattro I you. Speaker 2: Hello. My name. Speaker 0: Is. Speaker 3: Kapo. Speaker 2: Now, and I worked as a housekeeper holidaying. Continue. Speaker 0: And now I have forgotten one young and holy name and then holy name, I don't think suddenly. And so the thought of how my good. Speaker 3: So I worked for four years, for. Speaker 2: 40 days, and then L.A. County purchased that property in order to establish that program. They continue. Speaker 0: Doing it. And I do I don't know how long they spend in that, you know, commitment and plus our taxes system. Speaker 2: So I was one of the workers that was fired by the county, but then we were replaced by subcontractors. Speaker 0: One woman said, It's one of those people we thought of. The brother looked at it, said, I don't know your mother, but a woman has. Speaker 2: When the board of supervisor purchased property at the hotel, I was hoping for a telephone call to go back to work. But that never happened. Continue with. Speaker 0: It better meet them in the end. But only a map of all buried travel. A map? Well, that I know. It's so important. Speaker 2: They never call me back. Speaker 0: Continuing to stand up for women in the military and. Speaker 2: Say, I am struggling to cover the basic needs, like rent or even food. Speaker 0: Continuing in esprit de corps, they were at the home again. Speaker 2: So I agree with them. The goal objective of. Speaker 0: Not have yet. Nobody ever says that. Proper familia. The circle of the division. The. Speaker 2: So it shouldn't be the case where our families are about to become homeless. Continue. Speaker 0: I still didn't know your mother. Speaker 2: Till today, I did not receive any call. Speaker 0: No Caracalla Barthelemy, my sister, I have noted that is the thing. Speaker 2: I don't want the same to happen to these hotel workers right now. Speaker 0: Yup. Yup. The list goes on, not the strava strava holiday skipper. I had sent up the info. Speaker 2: So I asked this organization to bring back those jobs to the workers that worked for so many years. Continue. Speaker 0: Mm. And then I had to look for the Myrtle Temple for the Journal. Speaker 2: So I thank you all very much for taking the time to listen to us. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: All right. So we have a few speakers cued up. Let's go. And Council District two, Councilmember Allen. Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Vice Mayor, I just want to say this is an important step to address homelessness and affordable housing in the city. I am grateful to the governor and our state representatives for the increased resources that they have provided to the local communities. I did get a letter from Unite Here 11 and I did have a call with them over the weekend. I definitely would like to see the language in this contract. Contract state the following. So I'd just like to make, you know, a friendly and I understand that this is a different business model and it's not a, a motel anymore. But I would like for you to consider this friendly that the receipt of this award and any of its subcontractors at the site provide the former workers of the best Western, the first opportunity to come back and work at any position that they are qualified for before they hire new employees. And we just heard from these speakers, these are hard times for everyone. And I would hate to see any one lose their jobs. And if they are qualified for any of these positions, I would definitely like to see them considered. Thank you very much. Speaker 2: Fantastic. Thank you. Max, do you have Council District six. Council member. Sorry. Speaker 0: Yes, thank you. Vice Mayor. I also want to. You know, reiterate my gratitude for the support we have to be able to purchase this hotel for Project HOMEKEY and also just want to thank the many speakers that provided comment today about the job retention. And I also want to express the importance of having Project HOMEKEY in order to address our housing crisis as well as our homeless issue. But I also want to explore I actually wanted to see if this is I I agree with Councilmember Allen that we do need to figure out a way to support and retain workers. But I also want to ask staff if there's a timeline, a sensitive timeline. We have to move this item forward. As well, if you know. So I just want to make sure we consider the timeline as well. I yes, councilwoman. So we the further requirements of the state contract with us for this funding, this needs to open on by March 15th. Speaker 3: So we are. Speaker 0: Under a tight timeline, too, to be able to move. Speaker 2: This forward. Speaker 0: Okay. And I don't you know, I'm not sure if I'm able to offer another friendly or a friendly to the friendly. Given the timeline we have. But I'm just wondering and maybe we could do a report back on city efforts to retain existing workforce. Given the time sensitive nature of ensuring that we retain this contract opportunity to be able to move it forward. And Councilmember the you know, we were able to work with the Pacific Gateway and we offered everybody who was working on the site an opportunity to work with Pacific Gateway for additional supports in in finding jobs. We were also able to provide assistance to the two people who were living on site. One has already received another job and the other is has decided to move. So we have reached out. We have been working to connect them. We're certainly happy to forward the names. Speaker 3: Of those who. Speaker 0: Have not been able to find other employment through other best Western opportunities or through the specific gateway to the Illumination Foundation for, you know. Speaker 2: For opportunity as they are coming in. Speaker 0: And we will be able to get a I guess then a report back in 30 days on those existing workers that might not have a position at the moment just to ensure that they do get have opportunities provided for them. Yes, we'd have to reach out to Best Western and see and. Speaker 3: Learn of. Speaker 0: Their willingness to share that information with. Speaker 2: Us. But we're certainly. Speaker 0: We. Speaker 2: Can certainly report back. Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you. Vice Mayor, I may have a chance to address the two friendlies. First off, I wanted to also make it clear. Well, first of all, I wanted to thank everyone who participated in the public comments today. I think it's very important to do so and to voice your opinions and give you a regulator that's going to ask you to give back the final aprobado to say experiences on on Project HOMEKEY. Is that that is someone to ask versus a thumbnail sketch layered on. I also wanted to make. You know, maybe and maybe you can help me clarify this, but I wanted to make a clarification that Project Homekey and Project Roomkey are two very different, but yet with similarities projects. And that Project Homekey is, is something that was, is a building that was purchased by the L.A. County. And this is our own our own long the city of Long Beach is home project. And if you could clarify that as well quickly. Yeah. So there there are three project Homekey sites purchased in the city. Two were purchased by L.A. County. And then we purchased this best western site. Speaker 2: So the Holiday Inn site and. Speaker 0: The Motel six site were purchased by the county. And we were not privy to, you know, their operations from that point. This is the one site that our city purchased, and we. Speaker 2: Have. Speaker 0: Been working to connect people in terms of the ability. Speaker 2: For further employment. Speaker 0: I think you and I really appreciate that. That I really appreciate you taking the F word and connecting everyone with, like I said, the gateways. I think that shows really good initiative on our side. You know, I think that with the community with asking for and what Councilmember Allen and City were probably alluding to is something like a peace labor agreement. But I wanted to hear from staff how how if that was feasible in this particular situation, especially going into this with a nonprofit organization. Speaker 4: The City attorney. The answer to that question is no. That would not apply to this nonprofit homeless shelter operation. Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you, Charlie, for that. With that, I know that we I think that it would be nice to share with us your efforts in a report that give, you know, the retention or the intentions of the retention of the workers, at least in our project. So I you know, so maybe I'd like to accept that as a friendly. Hopefully that can come back in 30 days if that is not going to start the process of moving this item forward. City staff. We can we can certainly support the. We can come back in a report. Speaker 3: From the efforts that. Speaker 0: That we've made. Speaker 2: Through this process in. Speaker 0: Connecting any staff. Speaker 3: From the. Speaker 0: Previous best Western Hotel to the opportunities. Speaker 2: That that could be available through the Elimination Foundation. Speaker 0: We can bring that back. Speaker 3: As long as we can move that forward. Speaker 2: Then that would. Speaker 0: Also allow us to align with the March 15th requirement that we need to open. Thank you. Kelly. Yes. Speaker 2: Thank you. Next grades council. Thank you. I appreciate the conversation on this. But I really am excited, too, to enter into this agreement and and accept the funds for the project homekey that will house and increase our bed capacity for those experiencing homelessness in our city. And that has been a priority for us for some time. It is really unfortunate that this is comes in conflict with the with the workforce and jobs in our city. But I do think that the conversation is definitely headed in the right direction. I support us to the best extent possible. Retaining workforce of four positions that qualify for recognizing that, you know, this budget for operations is, you know, just over $2 million. It's not a lot of money, clearly not a lot of jobs. 17 full time employees to manage the program. I wanted to ask and that raises the question, what will these employees be doing? Do we have an idea or a breakdown of the positions that will be required to operate such a site? I guess the question is for the health director, Miss Colby. Speaker 0: Yes. I don't. Speaker 2: Have. Speaker 3: You know. Speaker 0: Specific numbers for each for each thing that they'll be doing, but there will be onsite site monitors. So those who are living on site. Speaker 3: And available 24. Speaker 0: Over seven, there'll be case management. Speaker 2: Staff. Speaker 0: Will be engaged as well. Transportation, some of these maybe subcontracts, others will be on site. And I don't I don't have the proposal in front of me to be able to. Speaker 2: Do that, but I can provide you. Speaker 0: Additional information. So transportation and food service and our food service that we do is generally by contract, by subcontract to. Speaker 2: Folks to provide the food service. Then we'd also have. Speaker 0: Security and then basic screening services. But I don't know how many fall into each one, so I would have to come back to you with that. Speaker 2: Well, won't there be mental health support? Social workers associated with this contract. Yeah. So that's. Yeah, that's. Speaker 0: Connected. So the connection to these, to those services through the case management will be there. Speaker 2: So they'll have. Speaker 0: Access to all. Speaker 2: Those different providers. And that will be included in the 17 full time employees. Those services? Speaker 0: No, not necessarily. So that in many cases we have other providers as well. So some of those may be on site as part of the staff. We don't actually have we don't. Speaker 3: Have a breakdown. Speaker 0: Right now, but I can get back to you. But then we also have a number of through their folks that they have other. Speaker 2: Services. Speaker 0: Other providers within the city and area, different areas to be able to provide those services. Speaker 2: So I'm not sure that all of those folks fit within the 18. Okay. And then my last point is those 17 full time employees that will be hired to manage the program. It does say that it may potentially provide employment for up to 17 full time employees residing in the city of Long Beach. And so I think that's very important. Let's make sure that that that is an aim or a goal as well that we meet. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Thank you. Council member. Council member. Frank. Speaker 0: Very much so. I. I don't have too many comments on this particular project, but I do get very excited every time I have an opportunity to talk about the project, home key project that is in my district. The one in my district is a county run project. And so the city wasn't very involved in it by it. But I imagine from an operational standpoint they'll have a similar model. Our project was a Motel six conversion and there's approximately 40 rooms there and I've been onsite to visit. And I can tell you that the nonprofit that took over that Operation Serenity did retain some of the employees from the Motel six, and they have found that that was a very positive thing for them. So to the extent that that experience is relevant for the nonprofit operator that will be operating this site, I would encourage a connection between the two of them because it was really nice to see the former Motel six employees working at the location when I went to visit and they were obviously very grateful for the continued work. But also the work as is, is really meaningful in a different way given the the scope of their responsibilities and what their mission is as a whole in that nonprofit. And so I thought it was a very nice way to expand upon the previous employment that the motel workers had, but also to provide them new exposure, new skills, so that they're able to advance themselves professionally through working with a nonprofit that has a different operational model, obviously, than the motel did. So to the extent that that's relevant, I wanted to share that that is a very successfully happening happening at other Motel six site. Now, like the legality of imposing that as a requirement, I don't know. This is really the first time I'm hearing that conversation and dialog with our city attorney. But from our operational standpoint, I think that it's it's really very positive. And my understanding that is that the were the employees that were retained at the Motel six were retained at the request of Supervisor Hahn's office, who worked with the nonprofit, to ensure that that as many people as possible could retain those jobs and have some continuity in their knowledge of the operations of that site. So I'm really grateful to Supervisor Horne and to their staff, because the roll out of that project was fantastic and the operations have been really great. And I mean, there's 40 people who are no longer living on the streets as a result of that site. And I'm really proud to have that in my district because I think it's being part of the solution. And I and I really look forward to more of these sites as one of our solutions to providing long term transitional housing. So thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilman, your anger. Thank you. Is there a guarantee of this whole topic? Is the fact that while creating some some housing for homeless and displaced workers who are creating. All this have displaced workers. So I would like to see that this move forward with the friendly amendments it's okay with that councilmember said that she would accept the friendlies and told supporters of this home with friends. Thank you very much. Thank you. So I'll add my comments here. And then we have some some folks in the up again. So just just to clarify and talk through a few things. I'm going to ask Director Colby a few questions. So so first. Tell me a little bit about and I'm familiar with this, but I want to I just want to explain this a little bit more publicly once this hotel was acquired. Is it ever going to become a hotel again? Is that within the agreement or what is the future of this property? Speaker 0: No. And what just is, is that for the next two years, it will run as an interim housing site, otherwise known as a non congregate sheltering site for the state. From there, our goal would be to either continue this model or move it to a permanent supportive housing opportunity that would operate. Speaker 2: More like a supported. Speaker 0: Apartment complex. Speaker 2: Thank you. And what is the date that we have to have this facility open? March 15th of this year. Okay. So and so there are significant timing considerations on where we have to move forward this contract. The other thing I would say is. You know, I get the gist of it. The gist of it here is these motels are being acquired very quick period of time. State came out with the guidelines. We our staff is doing a great job acquiring these hotels and no one wants to do this in a way that it is unintended consequences or that we are impacting these workers. So I support the friendly amendment. Asked after you know take a good hard look at our efforts to ensure that there are, you know, recall you know, retention provisions to make sure whatever if there's a janitor that was at the hotel, there's likely going to be a janitor at the permanent supportive housing facility. You know, someone's been working at that site. Let's make sure this person gets to keep their job as best as we can. And those are the things we expect. You know, we hope that staff can, you know, think about more outwardly, talk about as we move forward. But I'm going to support the motion that's in front of us. And I think we've already done public comment. You know, we have more council comment. Let's go to councilman. Looks like council members and is next. But vice mayor. Speaker 4: May this is city attorney. May I ask for a clarifying question before we go back through. Speaker 2: Again or go forward? Thank you. I have the. Speaker 4: Motion to approve staff's recommendation with. There's been two friendlies requested. One, I believe, has been accepted. And that is a to receive a report from staff on the former hotel employee workers within 30 days or 30 within 30 days. The second friendly, I'm not sure, has been accepted. And I believe if I heard it correctly, I was from Council District two, which requested additional or a change in the language be added to the contract that the recipient of the award and any of its contractors at the site provide former airport workers from the best western. The first opportunity to come back to work at any position they're qualified for at the location before any new employees are hired. Because of the timing, this contract has been shared and negotiated with the proposed vendor in anticipation of tonight's action by the Council. We could certainly ask them to consider that, but I'm going to need direction that if they decline and the short deadline, we need to know whether we should move forward with the contract or what the council wishes to do if they say no to the friendly, if it's been accepted. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 0: All right. Thank you. Mr. Perkins. Thank you very much for asking for the clarification. I did a set, the first friendly I think that the second primary right now is not feasible. But I think that the intent is to make sure that we, you know, highlight the efforts that we are doing as a city to try to help those who are going to be maybe losing their jobs as previously had, quote unquote, with the best list, or if that clarifies it for you. Speaker 2: So it sounds like council members and they have accepted the report and the way that you describe it, I think Charlie way you described it was just about these workers. I think the report you want to we want to understand that this is efforts that the city has done to ensure that they can be retained. And and is that right? Council member and they have been council member through. Speaker 0: Yes. Yes, that's okay. Speaker 2: Are you clear, Charlie? Yes. Thank you. Okay. We'll move on. We have Councilman Austin back. Thank you. I think most of what I wanted to get cleared up has been cleared up. But I did have one question that I think I know the answer to. And it's for the city attorney in purchasing the motel or the best Western. You know, I'm assuming that there was a labor agreement with the previous owner. Did or did the contracts have successor agreements to ensure that that the workers would be protected? Speaker 4: Councilmember Councilmember. I don't have that information. Taylor Anderson's on the line also. I don't know if Taylor does. Speaker 0: I do not have that information off hand. I can definitely try and find it right now. Well, the council continues to discuss them. Speaker 2: Okay. Well, okay. Thank you. Thank you. I was just curious. I think I know the answer to that, but. But I just wanted to get clarification on it. I support what's on the floor. Speaker 4: The mayor and council. This is Tom. And we are getting a sense that most of the employees did have the ability through Best Western to have ultra employment at their other sites. We've also connected a number of them with workforce development. Something we've done in the past is we have requested interviews for anybody who did not have other opportunities to at least be able to interview with the group and see if there's a fit. We find that is people are a little bit more willing to do that if there's a process that they are able to see if that that employee is a good fit. So we'd like to be able to offer that as well for the ones that are remaining or that we do at this point think it's not that many that were impacted. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. And it's my last comment. This this is a this is an item that I think we should be celebrating. Again, we're creating rooms in capacity to house folks who who don't have homes, who don't have shelter. This is this is something that we should be moving with urgency on. And and, you know, we've, I think, put a lot of conversation into this item this evening. Obviously, you know, we want to take care of our workforce and those who have lost their positions due to the pandemic. But at the same time, I would have appreciated being. They reached out to buy, buy, buy some of these folks because this is kind of taken me off guard. And had I had I had an opportunity to tend to prepare, I would have been been able to look into this matter a little bit more. So thank you very much for the robust conversation and congratulations council members and De Haas and the entire council for moving this item. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. I just want to this is Mary Garcia. I know that that has concluded the both the public comment and the council comment. So I just want to just to add, there is a motion on the floor and I wanted to add just more, more broadly speaking, that we are of course, this is this project is part of a much larger state effort of working to house people, experiencing homeless people that are trying to get into transitional housing. And I also want to just uplift the work of the state and the county in getting this project across the finish line and for their partnership. But really the Long Beach Health Department, who I know put in a proposal to get this done. And I'm also grateful to Governor Newsom and his team, who's worked with the city to ensure that we get these projects done in Long Beach. And I want to thank both, of course, customers in Dallas for kind of ensuring that we get back more information as well to sure that we're doing right by workers and jobs. So I think all of this is important. And I want to thank everyone for their work on this roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 0: Filed. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Price, I. Councilman Sabina. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mango. I transwoman sara. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Council member oranga. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: And. Speaker 1: Bush and Kerry.

Contract

Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. RFP HE21-019 and award a contract to The Illumination Foundation, of Orange, CA, to provide site operations and interim housing services at a 102-unit hotel property at 1725 Long Beach Boulevard that will be acquired through the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Project Homekey Program, in an annual amount not to exceed $2,000,000, for a period of 12 months, with the option to renew for an additional 12-month period, at the discretion of the City Manager; and authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract, including any necessary amendments; and Increase appropriations in the Health Fund Group in the Health and Human Services Department by $2,265,600, offset by grant revenues from HCD. (District 1)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_02162021_21-0138

Speaker 3: Thank you. Item 14, please. Speaker 1: Item 14 Report from Public Works. Parks, Recreation and Marine. Recommendation to execute amendments to contracts with winery properties. Long Beach and Arab North America to address COVID19 related impacts and for additional services associated with support of the Civic Center Project Phase two and Lincoln Park Operation District two. Speaker 3: Okay. Let's kind of briefly go to this presentation, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is an exciting project we want to talk to you about. Want to show you the kind of updated design for the Lincoln Park that is part of our public private partnership. It is the last major piece of the public improvements that needs to be done for that agreement. And we're getting pretty close to moving forward to getting that started. So we'd like to go through that for you today and then also talk to you a little bit about the next steps for the demolition of City Hall and then hopefully the subsequent private development that will come on that site in the pending future. The Eric Lopez will give a staff report. Speaker 3: Thank you, Tom. An honorable mayor and members of the city council. We're ready to proceed with construction for Lincoln Park and the demolition of the Old City Hall. Next slide. We've worked really hard on the side plan and on the different activation elements for this park. We're going to be providing opportunities for for dog owners at the new dog park. There's going to be a playground, a field, a basketball court, fitness equipment and an outdoor reading room and other elements focused on activation. Next slide, please. Shown here on the screen is a rendering of a nighttime shot. We've designed this park with the ability to be. Speaker 2: Activated as. Speaker 3: An 18 hour park. Speaker 2: We know that. Speaker 3: Costs money and we're working hard on the operations and maintenance plan and will be returning to council prior to the end of construction on on that on that plan and on that strategy. But we wanted to really make sure that this park had something for everyone and that it could be active not just in one element, but in multiple elements at the same time, and that it would have the opportunities for special events and that there would be synergy between the new library to the north and and the adjacent a park. And in the future with the block development, we're looking for connections. Speaker 2: To the West as. Speaker 3: Well. Speaker 2: Next slide, please. Speaker 3: This is the view from the. From the front, the corner of Ocean and Pacific, and it shows one of our art components. To the left, you can see the library. In the back, you can see the activity within within the park. This is one of a couple of renderings that we will. Speaker 2: Quickly show you. Speaker 3: Next slide, please. She has a rendering of the playground at at nighttime. This is just a rough rendering we're still working on on refining some of the color elements to to make it pop. Speaker 2: But we're really happy about the effect. Speaker 3: During the nighttime and really making this a a. Speaker 2: Lively. Speaker 3: And cool place for people and kids to to play and just interact at night with with their families. Speaker 2: Next slide, please. Speaker 3: We've identified multiple locations for public art in addition to the two, the Lincoln Memorial and the reading area, and to the link in our piece on Ocean Boulevard. These to our areas shown in this slide are going to be areas where we're going to be focusing on working with our arts communities to really develop sculpture art that can really help with the what our goal of activating the space and making this an iconic area. Next slide, please. We haven't designed the art, but we have developed the size and the scale and we want this to have a wow factor and this as well as we're ready to go through this process of developing the design of these sculptures. Speaker 2: And we really. Speaker 3: Want to. Speaker 2: Work with our. Speaker 3: Local artists to help them take a lead role with this component and really help us make this park great. Next slide, please. This is the view from the corner of Pacific of Ocean and Cedar. And you can again see the sea, the library in the background, see the playground and just different elements, different areas for people. Speaker 4: To to. Speaker 3: Interact at. Next slide, please. In addition to proceeding with construction of Lincoln Park staff, is proposing to proceed with the demolition of the Old City Hall concurrently. Like in other areas within our organization, the COVID pandemic has negatively impacted the Civic Center project. Speaker 2: The sale and development of the MID-BLOCK has been significantly delayed, which has caused problems at the at the site. Speaker 3: That early demolition would. Speaker 2: Help us address. Next slide, please. This concludes staff's presentation. Speaker 3: And we stand ready to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Lopez, before I turn this over to Councilman Allen, I want to make just a couple of brief remarks. This is, of course, going to be just a a spectacular park in the city of Long Beach. Really impressed with the work that the architects and the designers and our public works team put in place for the park. I want to just also just share one. I absolutely love that the. But the designers of the park really kind of took this idea of building some kind of special moments and spaces in the park of significance. And I think that speaks to the opportunity for those large art pieces and really to that just amazing piece that will be the the Lincoln Penny. And I imagine that that that a piece like that done the right way will become an instant overnight hit from an art perspective and the way that you connected that to the idea of Lincoln Park. Yet it also harkens back to the idea of of of the bike and of of of what was there before and the penny arcade. It's the whole thing, honestly, is amazing just the way that at least that's what I interpret from that Penny and the Lincoln on it. So I think it's just it's just pretty phenomenal. And I can guarantee you that you're going to have an endless stream of Long Beach residents and visitors posing in front of that large penny, taking endless pictures. And, you know, it will be a probably one of our most Instagrammed moments and sites across the city and so very well done on the park. Look forward to seeing it completed. And I just I love the attention to art that was placed in the park and the history that that that Lincoln still is spoken to at the park as a as a, you know, obviously. One of the greatest presents that we've ever had here in our country. And so thank you for still continuing to honor President Lincoln, which I think is really important and in a very unique way. Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor. I was so excited to get the report on Lincoln Park. And as you all see, it just has something for everyone. I love, love, love the playground with the black lights. And I can just see that there are going to be so many kids that are going to enjoy that. And the basketball courts. I love that. I was literally cheering. I love basketball courts. In fact, I was down at the I don't want a parallel like basketball courts over the weekend. And it's just so wonderful to see the families and children, you know, engage down there. And they even had some of the break dancers with music. And it just remind me, you know, back in the days when I was in high school here at college, just what these parks do and how they bring people together and create, you know, community. So I'm just so excited about this. Lincoln Park is going to be a gem. And our city, the planners did such an amazing, just amazing job on this. And I just cannot wait to see it completed. So thank you so much for this report and just I really appreciate this and excited about it. Speaker 3: Thank you. And councilman's in the house. Speaker 0: Congratulations. Council member Alan on this amazing park. I'm so excited. Of course, reactivating this green space in downtown Long Beach is going to be phenomenal for all of our residents, including the First District residents. So I can't wait to see you support this item. So again, congratulations. Speaker 3: Thank you. And Councilman Allen, there was a motion. Speaker 0: Yes, Mayor. That was a motion. Speaker 3: In conference in the House. That was a second. Speaker 0: So. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 3: I do not think I see public comment on this item. So with that, was there a roll call vote? Speaker 1: Councilwoman Zendaya's. Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilman. Speaker 0: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman. Mongo. I as woman Sara. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Council member oranga. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Alston. I Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Motion k.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute a Fourth Amendment to Contract No. 34342 with Plenary Properties Long Beach, LLC, of Los Angeles, CA, and any other documents or agreements necessary, to address COVID-19-related impacts to the Civic Center Project and to allow for the completion of Lincoln Park construction and the demolition of the old City Hall; Authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an amendment to Contract No. 33444 with ARUP North America Limited, increasing the contract amount by $180,000 for additional services associated with support of the Civic Center Project Phase II and Lincoln Park operations, in a revised total amount not to exceed $11,461,545, and extend the contract term to February 15, 2023; Increase appropriations in the Civic Center Fund Group in the Public Works Department by $1,250,000, for the revitalized Lincoln Park, offset by a transfer of revenues from construction and development funds totaling $1,250,000 in the Development Services Fund Group in the Development Services Department; Increase appropriations

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much. Our next item, please, which is item number 15. Speaker 0: Item 15. Speaker 1: Communication from Councilwoman Mango. Councilwoman Sunday has Councilwoman Allen and Councilwoman Price recommendation to require city attorney to prepare a resolution in support of congressional ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Speaker 3: However, most of my councilman. Mongo councilman. Speaker 0: Thank you. Many know the story of the era, and it has gotten additional attention recently with the television series that recently came out. I think it is time that we as a city work towards the bipartisan support of the era. I'm glad to be supported by, I'm sure, all the women on the council. We had four of us on the item, but that's only because of Brown after restrictions. Otherwise, I know all of us would have been on it and I am so thankful to the partnership with the community. We've communicated some opportunities and we hope to celebrate this and many other big victories for women during Women's History Month in March. Speaker 3: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 0: Mayor. And I want to thank Councilman Mundo for bringing this item forward and for asking me and some of our colleagues to sign on to this item. I'm very, very pleased to support this item. And I think that over the years we've taken. We've taken the opportunity so many times as a council to talk about disparities with both gender and racial, ethnic and financial disparities. I guess it's more than just both, but many disparities that we have recognized as as a council in our city. And I think that we continue to talk our talk about gender equity and celebrate the progress that we have made for women both in the city but also around the country. And efforts like this continue to celebrate the progress, but remind us that we still have tremendous ways to go. And I'm grateful that the city has raised this issue as as one of focus. I know that I have brought an item forth a few years ago, and we worked with Cal State Long Beach to identify some of the the gaps and our in our services and our programing and the things that we need to do as a city to recognize and celebrate gender equity and make it at the forefront of our efforts, as we do with with all issues of equity. So I'm grateful to have signed on to this item and to be joining so many others in supporting this this particular policy action. So thank you very much. And thank you to Councilwoman Rondo for bringing it forth and for connecting us all on this very important topic. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Allen. Speaker 0: Yes, thank you, Mayor. I'm just. What a great item. And I also want to thank all the council women, Mango Price and Zane de Hoff. And I know that all the women on this council or at this. Neither women or woman or sex are words that appear and constitution. And this definitely reveals the limits. Our Founding Fathers had an understanding of women as equal citizens. This meant that one of the things that this does that went that. Sorry, I just muted myself. And that meant that people of color were regarded as less than full citizens. So ratifying this era would confirm that sex discrimination is inconsistent with the nation's core value of equal protection under the law. And one of the things that this does, it sends a clear message about our national commitment to the equal right of all people. I want to say just a quick thank you and appreciation to Zoe Nicholson, who was a second District resident and sits on the Human Relations Commission. She's just been steadfast and committed to women's rights, and I know she immediately reached out when I got elected. And and I just want to thank her for her dedication to equal rights for women and commend her for her lifetime work. And thank you, Councilwoman Mungo, for bringing this forward. I appreciate it. Speaker 3: Thank you, customary, Ringo. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mary. And I want to thank all our female cast members for supporting this, to bring it forward. But I would say that if I were invited, I'd be right there working for right in front of it as well with you guys that I think that this makes the city proud again. But we at the forefront of these kinds of issues and certainly have my support. We've always had my support at any time that I could be there. I'm ready. So thank you very much to all councilmembers. Support this forward and looking forward to it. Speaker 3: Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Wanted to chime in offer my my strong, solid support for this resolution. Look forward to adopting. And I think it sends a good, strong message that, you know, Long Beach is on the right side. We have a council full of, you know, proud, dynamic, educated female leaders, women who are ensuring that we are on the right side of history here and acknowledging this important resolution and the era. And so I'm happy to sign on and I'm happy to vote and support and look forward to when this comes back to council. Speaker 3: But Councilman Van De has. Speaker 0: Thank you, Major. Thank you very much to Councilwoman Mongo for bringing this item forward and for inviting me to. Beyond this item, I am more than honored to support this item. This legislation in Congress is so, so important, and it really is the last thing standing in the way of that. You are a being enshrined in our nation's constitution. This is long, long overdue. And I'm so glad that Long Beach will have taken our place standing on the right side of history with all of the amazing activists that have made this possible. We still have so much ahead of us to bring an end to gender discrimination, but adding that great to our Constitution is such a powerful step forward, and making making that possible is going to be amazing, not just for ourselves, but for all of the amazing woman who worked so hard to achieve this and the many who didn't live to see this bill come to fruition. So thank you again. Council member Mongo. Speaker 3: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 0: Yeah. I also want to thank all of the council women for bringing this item forward and want to thank Zoe Nicholson for being such a staunch advocate for making sure that this is just a priority for us as a majority council women. And it's also just really symbolic as well that we also have our first female vice president. So this is just so meaningful and such as, you know, one of the very many step forward in ensuring that we have gender equity. And so for that, for many of those reasons, then I staunchly support this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Support this item. It is far past time. So thank you to everyone involved. And I'm glad that Zoe Nicholson was also mentioned because she has been leading this effort across the city and really doing great work. So thank you to to her. Is there I believe we do have public comments. I want to go do the public comment on this item and then we'll go. Speaker 0: To here, if you wouldn't mind. Speaker 3: What am I to do? Speaker 0: I can modify my emotions slightly. Speaker 3: Oh, sure. Councilman Mongo. Absolutely. Go ahead. Speaker 0: Thank you. And we asked for community feedback and received some after the agenda item had been filed. And so we wanted to also modify the motion to include sending a letter to the national archivist that the City of Long Beach supports the publication of the 38th state. So if that could be noted, for the record, we'd like that letter of support sent should this pass, as I hope it will. Speaker 3: Sure thing. It's added to the motion public comment, please. Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Zoe Nicholls. Speaker 0: Thank you very much. This is Zoe Nicholson, and I'm barely able to speak. Uh, how fabulous to hear my name spoken by several of you. Um, I'm really proud of that. Um, I am bursting with pride that after bringing the array to council several times, uh, actually, council came to me. Um, the fact is, since Michelle was Paul wrote it in 1923. Today, right now, in 2021, we are the closest to passing it we have ever been. And I want to tell you why. It's because in 2016, something really significant changed. And that was women started running for office at every level, at every turn, and women were elected. Nevada elected a majority of women into their state legislature. And then African-American veteran and state senator Pat Spearman organized Nevada and broke through that mountain. And Nevada ratified in 2017, thus becoming number 36. Their attorney general certified it, and the archivist in Washington published it in June of 2018. Illinois ratified and again their A-G certified and the archivist published it. In January 2020. Speaker 2: Because. Speaker 0: Of a majority of women elected to the legislature in the state of Virginia. Speaker 2: They completed their. Speaker 0: Requirement of a full majority of 38 states. I'm proud to say I was in the balcony when it happened. Speaker 2: The Virginia. Speaker 0: A.G. certified. And the national archivist got a call. From Bill Barr at the behest of President Trump to stop the publication of the Equal Rights Amendment. And David Ferraro, the national archivist. Is waiting for the green light. And you may know that both President Biden and Vice President Harris have committed to the Equal Rights Amendment. Your letter of support joins with city state citizens, urging this new administration to direct the National Archives, David Farrow to publish that last 38 state and thus adapting the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution. I want to say this is great news for all your daughters, your mothers, your sisters, your aunts, and actually all Americans, regardless of sex. Together, we will finally have equal rights. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Marcella de Rivera. Speaker 0: Am I still. Speaker 2: On? Speaker 0: We will have equal rights under the. Speaker 2: Marcelo Rivera. They came back thanking me. Speaker 0: But thank you. I just want to get in. Thank you. There before my time is up. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 4: Marcella de Rivera. Marcella de Rivera. Please begin. Speaker 2: Mercier. Speaker 4: They were very they're. Speaker 3: I think that that included a comment or more. Speaker 4: Yes, that'll conclude public comment. Speaker 3: Okay, then let's go and go to a roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sunday has high councilwoman Ellen I. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 0: II. Speaker 1: Councilman Sabina. Speaker 2: High. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Trans Woman Sara. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: Bush and Kerry.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution by the first week of March in support of the certification and publication by the National Archivist of the State of Virginia’s ratification of the of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), in addition to support for the joint resolution introduced in Congress on January 21, 2021 to eliminate the arbitrary deadline towards full constitutional ratification.

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Speaker 1: Bush and Kerry. Speaker 3: Thank you. Item number 16, please. Speaker 0: Hi. Speaker 1: Item 16 is communication from Vice Mayor Richardson, Councilwoman Sunday and Councilwoman Allen. Recommendation. Recommendation to direct city managers to establish a food security plan for communities impacted by the closures of grocery stores. Speaker 3: Q Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I think it sounds like it's resolved the audio issue so quickly. The idea here is that food security is at an all time insecurities, an all time high right now, well, at the highest levels in generations, in fact, according to the Northwestern Institute of Policy Research. Nationwide, food insecurity has doubled overall and tripled among households with children as a result of this current economic crisis that we have on hand. A Long Beach has actually done a pretty good job since the pandemic. We began with our basic needs security work, and we were able to fund that with CARES Act, building significant capacity across town for delivering and expanding access to food, everything from pop up markets to pantries and even direct delivery of meals and direct delivery of groceries through nonprofits and local restaurants. We have, you know, most recently, we we went through the Heroes Act dilemma when Kroger announced that it may be closing two of its Long Beach grocery stores . This announcement comes at a time when our nation is again facing unprecedented levels of unemployment and food insecurity. And so we want to make sure that if this were to happen in April, we have a game plan on how we're going to provide food and enhance food security in the areas around food for us. I asked my my social work fellow to create this map because identifying where the, you know, access to food, the bodegas, the big box grocers, all of them exist around the food for less is true. Food for less is in my district, the one near South Street at the bottom. That's the one that's closing. Now around it, you see to the right the WinCo and food for left to the north, superior to the south. There's a number of big boxes surrounding it. It's had some issues. But if you go sort of north northwest, it's a big you know, it's a big gap in terms of access to food. And so what we need to do is make sure that we put we plan for it. We know that there may be a shock to the system if this grocery store closes. We can talk about long term plans and development, all those things. But I think our most immediate need is to ensure that the needs of the local residents are met. And so to offset the sudden economic shock that may be created, food shock by the closure of these grocery stores. We should prepare an equity informed food security recovery strategy, a food security plan, and this should be put in place to prevent further escalation of food insecurity in this fortunately impacted areas. Now, and my motion as written, I'm going to make that motion as written. But I will say I think there are many areas of uptown that could be areas that need additional attention with food security. Again, we built a lot of capacity care that I want to see what opportunity we have specifically around this area. But if there's other areas as well that may be impacted by closure of grocery stores or lack of grocery store, we need to be intentional about calling out what our food security plan is and making sure that that is as a part of our ongoing inclusive recovery plan that the city council directed staff to work on last December. And so that's the gist of this motion, and I'm happy to submit it to the Council and urge your support. Speaker 3: Okay. There is a second by customers and they have concerns and they has. Speaker 0: Thank you. I absolutely want to thank Vice Mayor Richardson for bringing this item forward. Both of us represent neighborhoods that are severely impacted by a lack of access to fresh, affordable groceries and produce, which makes the COVID 19 crisis and store closures that much more painful in our communities. It's it's critical. It's critical that we have that we treat food security as a basic right of our residents and develop a plan to make sure that we are all actively working on ways to preserve and expand access. As a matter of policy, it's unfortunate the case that even before the pandemic, far too many of our residents were faced with hunger and food insecurity. Those numbers have only grown since COVID 19, and it has become harder and harder for a Long Beach residents just to keep food on the table. This plan is needed and it is my hope that we can use it to work together on actionable items that will close this gap for our food insecurities. So I really, really hope that not only focusing on late nights, Long Beach, I'd really welcome the the opportunity, thanking my mayor, the opportunity of implementing these and other districts as well with high food insecurities. So thank you. Speaker 3: Cut some of your anger. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mary. And I want to thank my colleague device where Richardson cuts to the pencil analogy for bringing this forward. And I want to add my voice in regards to the food insecurity that exists in Long Beach. I certainly have my area in the West, long, weak that is food insecure and extremely disappointed, not only for the fact that during a time when they were making record profits of being close to stores and especially especially disappointed in the press telegram with their recent editorial regarding the heroes pay, especially when they're saying that Kroger has it's been affected by the fact that because of the Heroes Act or the heroes pay that they're losing or they're minimizing the profits, a profit is a profit, and therefore they're making a pay based over low tax profits. They can certainly afford it. So I'm very supportive of this item. Thank you for bringing this forward. And I think that this would be helpful a long way. This would go a long way in helping those communities that are food insecure. So thank you again. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, I'm happy to support this motion. Certainly. Food insecurity. As a city council, we should be looking to provide as much comfort, and particularly in the area of food for for our residents. I think some of the challenges with insecurity have to have the have a lot to do with the market. You know, just a few years ago, a superstore was was developed in the ninth District in North Long Beach. A Wal-Mart superstore right down the street from a pooper less that is now on on the table to be closed. And I certainly hope that that that that's not a final decision. I hope that Kroger will come to their senses and realize that, you know, that this is a store that is meeting the need of community. And if they don't, I think someone else will. I certainly hope someone else will. And so what does this item does it actually. Direct staff to to look at other grocers, to come into the community to provide groceries or all these services. Maybe that's a question for the author. So I'm happy to answer. So this plan can include a whole host of things. But I think in terms of developing that site, that's a different conversation there. You know, in conversations with development and others, we identified this site as an opportunity, as a major opportunity when we went through the land use settlement process. And as you know, we're in Upland right now at about 12, 13 acres right in the heart of North Long Beach. Huge opportunity banks, housing, grocery. If that were to happen. But right now, the interest is how do we how do we do a needs assessment and analysis on what the food insecurity levels are and also build on the capacity that we have? I mean, we've you've got lobbies it. You've got organic harvest gardens, lobby, center for Economic Inclusion, a lot of food distribution giveaways. These things didn't we didn't have this year. And so there's significantly more capacity. I think this is about the strategy of what can we deliver? Is it. Is it pop up, farmers markets, arm stands? Is it additional food distribution? Is it conversations with grocers? All of that could be factored in. I think this is just about sort of bringing the mindset table. I'll figure that up. Thank you. And I would just say that that to add to that point, you know, there are resources that that should be considered like our our seven acre urban farm in the eighth district, the hard a district right by the Carmelita that is providing lots of organic vegetables for for for families. That's a resource that should be tapped into. I talked to many residents who live in Carson and Compton and other cities who come to Long Beach for their groceries. And so this is a this is not just a North Lawn Beach issue. 90805 issue. But this is a regional challenge because I know for a fact that a number of folks from other cities come into our city to shop. I've heard from that from so many people just recently. I'm fortunate. I live within walking distance to the four or five grocery stores, literally. And we have a hub here in the eight district of grocery food providers, which is, I think, an asset and resource here in our community. Look, people should be able to have resources close by. And so I support that 100%. But I do think, again, some of the market factors should be considered and some some of that we can't control, as the city council is the private private market that that that that is driving some of this this all this activity, in my opinion, outside of our certainly we all supported the Heroes Pay Act. We stand on that. It was the right thing to do. And and, you know, whatever PR move it was to to to to announce closure, you know, and blame it on that, that's fine. I don't necessarily believe that that is the case. I can I guess we can state that publicly now. I think it was more have had more to do with market factors than anything. Thank you. Speaker 3: Councilman Allen. Speaker 0: Yes, thank you, Mayor. And I, too, look forward to supporting this item because the pandemic has had a significant impact on our residents and especially on families. And that's why we have to look at ways to support food security for our communities. And I just want to say great word to Vice Mayor Richardson for bringing this item forward and also want to say thank you for inviting me to co-sponsor. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes council comment. Is there any public comment on this item? Speaker 2: Yes. Our first speaker is Joey King. Joey King. Good evening, Mayor. Vice Mayor. Can you hear me? Yes. Please continue. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor and council members. My name is Joey King. I volunteer in District nine with Collins Neighborhood Association and collaborate with a network of pantries and community organizations that span across this amazing city we call Long Beach Item number 16, which is a recommendation to direct the city manager to work with the health department to establish a food security plan is a step in the right direction. But it does make me wonder why would we not already utilize all existing and possible resources to work together in fighting food insecurity? So let's not just do the research, write a report, and let it collect dust on a shelf somewhere. Let's use this momentum and start to take action. The food insecurities that already exist in District nine will be exacerbated with the closure of food for less on South Street. Local pantries and community organizations stand ready to help, as we always are. But making the decision to build food security into the fabric of who we are as a city would mean that we finally begin to address the problem at its root and stop very important fruit. I urge that in developing a plan to move forward, you include those local organizations that fight the battle of food insecurity on a daily basis. As we all look forward to rebuilding our city. I'll leave you with this. America is the richest country in the world. And yet tonight. Thousands of your neighbors will go to bed hungry. It may be your child's schoolmate who is undernourished and has difficulty learning on an empty stomach. Or it could be a coworker or a working parent whose low wage job doesn't make ends meet. Perhaps it's an elderly neighbor who has to make a decision whether to delay filling a prescription or buying groceries. The faces of hunger are as broad as the faces of America. That was David has be with General Mills. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Good night. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Marcella de Rivera. Speaker 0: Hello. This is Maricela. Can you hear me? Speaker 2: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 0: Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Garcia. Council members and staff. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak on this item. I'll be brief. I want to thank my council member, Vice Mayor Richardson. I am a proud resident of District nine, and I'd like to thank him for bringing this forward and council women and their husband, Allen, for co-sponsoring . As a resident of the ninth District, Food for Less on South Street is someplace we shop regularly or at least did. And so I just want to let you know that that the heroes pay that they purport is the reason that they are closing even though, again, they purport that it is why they're closing the store. I still support completely. This is absolutely going to impact my life. I look forward to Vice Mayor Richardson. I know that he's going to aggressively try to address this issue and the food desert in the ninth. I know that he has for years before he was even on council when he was serving on staff under Council member Stephen Neal. And I know that this is an issue that's not going to go away for us right away and it's going to be exacerbated for now. But I still think the city of Long Beach did the right thing. And so I'm very excited about what will come and what better grocery store we can get, hopefully to come to the ninth district and serve our residents. I think we're a diverse community that deserves better than Kroger if what they are giving us is not good, not being good employers, I just don't think that that's worth fighting for. I think we need to fight for good employers who are going to treat their customers well. And so I thank you for this and I thank you for the heroes pay also. Speaker 4: The next speaker is Juanita Top. We need a deeper more. Speaker 0: I need it. Speaker 2: Okay. Please begin. Speaker 0: Yes. Hello and good evening. Yes, thank you. Good evening, Mayor. Vice Mayor. With such members of city council and staff. Good evening. My name is. We need a couple more. And I'm a resident here in the ninth district. I'm also the founder and president of the Colors Neighborhood Association. During this pandemic and moving forward this year, the Collins Neighborhood Association has hosted food distributions at Jordan High School and in the North Long Beach community. In addition, we partnered with North Long Beach Pantry Collaborative, sponsored by the Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion. During the pandemic, these distributions represent approximately £200,000 of food. And speaking of this, to bring awareness to this need, the closure of the food for left on south and north Long Beach will put families at greater risk. This also puts the residents of Long Beach closer to being a food desert. We have more marijuana dispensaries in the ninth District than we have places to shop and get fresh fruits and vegetables. The residents in North One Beach experienced greater rates of poverty. One in four children living in North Long Beach. Residents with their families live below the poverty level. Children attending public school are dependent on milk for breakfast and lunch. With school closures during this pandemic. Those students are going without daily meals. How can they focus on school on an empty stomach? These are issues being brought to life as a result of this pandemic. I'm asking for the city manager and many a members of city council to take a closer look at the number of food distributions that are being held in North Long Beach and develop a plan to address the food insecurity that our residents in Long Beach , throughout Long Beach are facing. Please be proactive and develop an effective plan, not just putting a Band-Aid on food insecurity, but to come up with a plan to address the issues of food insecurity and the lack of funding taking place in North Long Beach. Thank you very much for your time and the opportunity to speak with you tonight. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the center. Speaker 3: Thank you. Please go through a roll call. Vote, please, on item 16. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Ellen? Speaker 0: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Pryce. Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman mango. Councilwoman Sara, I council member oranga. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilman Alston. My Vice Mayor, Richardson. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Bush and. Speaker 0: Kerry. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next item, which I think is 17.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with the Health Department to establish a Food Security Plan for communities impacted by the closures of grocery stores and make recommendations for inclusion in the inclusive economic recovery plan.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. Next item, which I think is 17. Speaker 1: Item 17 Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson. Councilwoman Cindy has Councilwoman Sarah and Councilwoman Allen recommendation to direct city manager to provide a progress update on the Long Beach violence prevention and intervention strategies. Speaker 3: Vice mayor. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have a presentation on this recommendation here. There's been a lot of progress over the last year on violence prevention. Some of it was touched on last week in the youth. Youth Development Office work. But there's a lot more that's taking place. And I think we need to highlight and understand that's created some opportunities for us that I think we can use now more than ever. A little bit of background. We've had a violence prevention plan since 2014. Important. It's an important plan. And we believe that it's the philosophy. I'll save Long Beach that talks about making investments, investing in youth, using data to understand what are the what is the violence? What is violence that is at its root and how can we intervene early? But it's sort of a long term plan for many years. That plan was, you know, as we would say, sitting on it, sitting on a shelf. We didn't have the investments necessary to actually implement this plan. Last year, things changed. There was a motion that the city council made to explore other ways to accelerate this that ultimately led to a Long Beach Active Safe Communities program. It's a $1.1 million grant that began and piloted in the Washington neighborhood in Central Lobby. So let's go to the next slide. And then, you know, we we adopted we unanimously adopted our racial equity reconciliation initiative, which really double down on violence prevention as a public health issue. It has a strategic goal on violence prevention, which it calls for increasing funding and investment into into these things and community based intervention strategies and focusing on reentry. So City Council adopted that. How do we respond? Let's go to the next slide. We we responded. We invested three point $2,000,000 million, implement certain recommendations related to this. And more specifically, we invested in creating one reentry position and additional position on violence prevention to complement the one position we had. And then with the grant from Long Beach acting safe communities, we added a separate position as well in addition to additional funding to go out and work across the community. So we went from essentially 0 to 1 staff for violence prevention in the city. Now for staff for violence prevention, that adds incredible capacity for us. Let's go next time. And so this is this highlights some of that background and funding that we talked about. So between the framework funding, the B C program, that gets us a good start, but there's still more that we can do to expand it. And I think the next slide will help illustrate that. So this map was put together by our health department to really show the areas of focus with the LBC. And there is focus in Washington and the Stevens Center. Long Beach has $1,000,000 investment going in. But if we if we know what we all know is that we've had you know, we've we've had violent crime across the city. And there was in North Long Beach, we really don't have the funding to really implement the types of strategies that are being implemented in Washington and in Stevens neighborhood. Let's go to next slide. So. So what does that mean? It means there is a gap. So we know that that there's, you know, increasing rates of violence, particularly since the beginning of COVID 19. What are our opportunities to take this capacity that we've built additional staff to implement our plan and invest into communities? Well, if we know that we have $1,000,000 invested in the in the central Long Beach area, we should identify now that we have capacity, additional resources to invest in north and west parts of our city where we know that there is a direct overlay with violent crime. Now. You know, I want to be clear. This isn't the for that. This is it. This is in place of crime suppression or police work. This is investment in the community that when you have crime, you don't you don't abandon that anything. You double down on these investments when you need it most. It's like when folks say, you know, when the stock market goes down by as much stock as you can. You want to invest. It's a long term play. That's what we have to do here. We have to identify resources to invest in violence prevention more than we're doing right now. Next slide. I think that might be both. Okay, great. That's the last slide. So. So the proposal here is let's identify let's work together. And we're starting with some, you know, some initial direction here. We know that L.A. County adopted Measure J. It may be some time until Michigan is ready, but they're already having convenings and meetings about how to appropriate measures. And measure J is direct alignment with our youth work and our violence prevention work. It's 10% of the of the non dedicated operating budget from from the county. It has to be spent in these ways. So we should get to the table with them and begin negotiating that. Additionally, we should seek other resources. If we have the capacity now to move, we should invest those resources, go into community partners, those resources going to go into prevention. That's where those resources go to help amplify and accelerate what the violence prevention strategy. So this is something I believe in. I believe that we should continue to invest in violence prevention. We have to continue to invest in youth. We need to make sure that we are being creative and leveraging these resources that we put forward over the last year. We leverage them to get as maximum of an impact that we can get in order to have a long term impact and reduce violence within our city. And so that's the that's the proposal here. And I'm happy to make this motion. I urge City Council for support. Now you can take down the slideshow. Speaker 3: I have Councilwoman Sara, please. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor. I'm very happy to cosponsor this item because as somebody who's work with young people and particularly around violence prevention, it's really critical that while important, we do have violence suppression. We need Metron and long term solution. I don't think that violence prevention necessarily have to have you see results in the long term. You can actually have them alongside, you know, short term strategy that can show up in different ways. You know, my chief of staff is really a results of a programing where it's afterschool programs saved his life because there was a place , a safe place he could go to, surrounded by mentors that helped shape his path. So it's hard, short term and long term impact. And I also want to express support that that we do need to make sure we are addressing violence and tackling them head on. Because I believe that gun violence is a public health issue. It's a disease that really spread. And we really just don't target the the the spots and the area that's highly needed. And so I think that it's important that we really go to them and we've seen huge spikes in central as well as West and North Long Beach. So for those reason, I support this item. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, sir. Public comment on this item. Speaker 4: Yes. We have Sri in Senegal. Speaker 0: Good evening, mayor. Vice Mayor on council members. Thank you, Vice Mayor, for bringing this item forward and for the council members who coauthored it. I have heard a lot of comments about policing to stop our gun violence, but this is not the solution. Investment in our youth development. Ensuring that our brothers and sisters coming home from prison have the opportunities to build better lives, mental health support, trauma based education programs, and propping up our community based organizations that are on the ground across the city that are working with intention. I support this item tonight, but I have to agree with Councilwoman Sorrow that it is important for us to recognize gun violence as a public health issue. And I urge City Council to take the steps to make it that so that we can have long term prevention that is sustainable. Thank you so much. Speaker 2: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. I do have calculators in the house. Speaker 0: I think in there in there, as we all are aware, of violent crimes and gun violence, especially then on the rise in Long Beach in the past couple of months and especially in my district, we have seen overwhelmingly increases in gang violence. So I am very supportive of this item and and look forward to the item that I brought forward a couple weeks ago as well. And so thank you very much. Anything that we can do to really bring attention to the the issue that is gun violence in our in our city is very important. So thank you, Vice Mayor, for bringing this forward. Speaker 3: That concludes comments. Roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 0: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Council Member Oranga. I can't say I'm in Austin. Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. My motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to provide a progress update on the Long Beach violence prevention and intervention strategies, and, further, engage with the County of Los Angeles to explore funding opportunities to accelerate the implementation of the SAFE Long Beach Violence Prevention Plan and intervention strategies through the recently adopted Measure J and other potential funding opportunities.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is item 18. Speaker 1: Item 18 Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson. Councilwoman Sarah. Council Member Oranga. Recommendation to direct City Manager to establish the Long Beach Youth Fund. Utilizing Measure US revenue and additional revenue sources. Speaker 3: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was a few years back that city council received a fail to invest in youth report on youth. Youth leaders across the city advocated for Youth Fund. And we explored city council, explored a number of options to create this youth fund. The case was made that, you know, a number of major cities in America have made this commitment to have an ongoing fund, to support youth development ongoing and and certain steps have been taken. The mayor allocated $200,000 in his 2018 budget to to begin the process of developing a fund. And the youth group said we'd rather work on the youth strategic plan and in the hopes of coming to a fund later after exploring of those opportunities. Well, since then, a lot has happened. Last week we heard about the strategic plan. We know that the Framework for reconciliation invested in creating a new Office of Youth Development. And we also went to the ballot to find ways to fund investing in equity through youth and as the US was adopted. And now it's time that we make these youth whole and we move forward with directing staff to begin making taking the steps to create a youth fund, create a program website, engage with how to rules and how to work and all those things to have it ready for the next fiscal year. So if we start now, February, we have a lot of time to make sure we've designed this the right way where it makes sense, and we begin the next fiscal year with the youth fund in place with the rules and the parameters, with equity in consideration and all of the things that we need to do to make sure that we are making a real commitment to investing. Now, I mentioned measure us, but I also say don't stop there. I think once we have this established, let's see what the Port of Long Beach has to say to Mendes. L.A. County again is going through the conversation on Measure J. Again, that's not ready today, but we can get to the table and begin seeing it. Can we leverage some of these, measure U.S. dollars to draw down county resources and others to expand this youth fund? So we take incredible steps. I think we're in a really good place to make a strong commitment, a strong statement here by beginning the process of shaping this youth plan. I want to thank particularly my girls in action and all the youth that have advocated Invest in Youth Coalition have advocated for Youth Fund for many years. And I want to thank you for staying on it. And I think this is what the City Council should do in its moment. So that's my motion. The motion has written and I urge city council support. Speaker 3: Thank you. Council member Ringo. Speaker 2: Thank you, Aaron. I want to thank Vice Mayor Richardson for bringing forward more and more importantly, I want to thank the voters of Long Beach for a fascinating review. It's going to speak it speaks volumes for how the city feels about our view. And then also it's a statement about how we need to address not only terms of bringing our youth to get better services, but to also provide them with all the resources they need to be successful. So I very strongly support this measure, and thank you to all my colleagues for supporting this. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our twins are a. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank Vice Mayor for bringing this item forward. And, you know, as somebody who I've shared, when we had the strategic plan presented before us, sure. That I was the former executive director, Michael was in action. And, you know, I'm proud of their leadership on this, bringing this item forward to council as well, working with everybody and coordinating the effort. And I think that, you know, our young people have worked really hard in so many different ways to bring this strategic plan forward. And I think as adults, we need to demonstrate that we support them through investments to follow through with their plan. To really support them is to see their Plan B come alive. And the way we can only do that is to ensure that there is an investment in the form of funds. I'd also like to see if we can draw that up from state and federal dollars as well. As far as supporting this plan and so and so, yes, I'm proud to support this item. Thank you. Speaker 3: Council member, Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Certainly, I support this, the direction that this item is going in. But I think as a council, didn't we already do this last year? We supported putting measure us on the ballot and identified that that a good percentage of those dollars would be going toward supporting youth. And won't this be coming to us? And I expect this to be coming to us as a budget proposal anyway as a result of our action last year. Leicester City Manager Can you comment on that? Yes. So we see. Speaker 4: This as giving us direction to start with the concept of creating this fund and then it would be incorporated into your f y 22 budget process. One of the primary funding sources that we would look at would be measure us and measure us starts actually generating money in October. So that would be a part of the city manager's proposed budget and to lay out the uses of the first year, measure US funding. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to get some clarification on this because it does seem like déja vu. We already, you know, committed to to supporting our youth through to a fund by putting a ballot initiative on. And in that ballot initiative, we identified that this was one of the areas that we wanted to target our resources . You know, I I'm really interested in, you know, getting engaged in the budget process. And I know this year we will have a different type of process which will engage more the community, more of the Council through our strategic priority budget process, but which is a take up a zero based budgeting which was also directed by the Council. Yes, investing in our youth is certainly the priority. I'm happy to support this. But I just wanted to get clarification because again, I think we we as a council have already committed to doing this. And I'm happy to recommit tonight to supporting our youth. Thanks. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. I actually have had a couple of agenda items tonight that are already things that we as a council have discussed. And I thought we're coming back to a certain committee, whether it's budget or. I mean, I think that this sounds a little bit more like not just making funds available through the budget process, but it's really a program. And I think the confusion comes with the naming of the fund. It sounds like a youth program that establishes criteria by which when the council. Authorizes funding. Whether it's restricted or non restricted or how that works, that there there would be a process. At least that's what it sounded like when hearing from Councilmember Richardson. So I'm happy to support the item tonight. It does seem like there are a lot of different components of what we're working on for youth, and I just want to be sure that it all comes together. We have the youth strategic plan, we have the violence prevention, and we have many, many other programs that we've approved over the last six years, including and you did mention this one, Mr. Austin, but some of our parks after dark programs and then our summer reimagined or after school reimagined, we hear a lot from the community that they want to know how much we're investing in our youth. And I think that a component of this that's really going to be important is being able to bring all of that together so we know where all those investments are being made so that we're able to see the return on that investment and the outcomes and what things what levers you invest in have the highest return in lifting up our youth and preparing them for prosperity, especially as we go into some of the the listening that I've done related to financial literacy that is not taught in our schools and other components. So I'm happy to support the item tonight, and I look forward to the city staff ensuring that all the components of what we're working on at the council are included. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. And just just to clarify, we pass as we move forward, measure us. We established a resolution. It didn't establish a funding that youth as a priority for investment, wealth, climate. But it didn't call out a fund. And what I don't want is for the fund itself to be lost in translation, because councilmember among those. Right. There's been a lot of things that sound like they're very similar. This is a very specific request, reflective of a community ask that honors the community's work. And so this is an important win to those youth to have fun. You know, the program, the website, you all know what I'm saying and where we can point to. And this was the communities when they fought for this, they set us on this course to get there. Now, in terms of the presentation last week, if you notice, the youth fund wasn't was it highlighted as an element? It is called out in the reconciliation plan. It is referenced in the strategic plan. I spend a lot of I read both those plans, spend a lot of time folks and those things. This is ties it together I think, and aligns it really well. And I think the things that I'll be looking for is a similar what Councilmember Mongeau said. I want to see some transparency. I want to see investments and things like, you know, I've got a lot of youth sports in North Economy, Pop Warner and, you know , Uptown Little League and a lot of a lot of folks who are a little just a small investment goes a long way. A $5,000 grant here, there, you know, goes a long way. Let's create a process to actually hear from these folks where we stand it up and we begin collecting youth. Measure us. We're ready to go on day one that that takes a motion from this council to staff to say, we want to do it. We kind of want to go about it this way, begin that process now. So that's the intent. Thank you to the City Council for your support and read about. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Zoro. Speaker 0: Yeah. I just want to just follow up on one point around making sure we have an allocated, you know, my experience and having done, you know, fundraising went from private foundations to public and state is that the pool of resources are together. And then when it comes down to then making a decision on how much is allocate for young people, it's a very, very small percentage. And I think I want to lift up what Councilmember Mungo said is it's it's to make sure that we know how much is needed and to fully invest in young people and how much is really spent. And I think that the only way we can tell is having a specific fund. So we know really how much it really takes to develop and support young people to be successful and to implementing a plan. So that's just what I just want to make sure to add to it from my experience and that at times young people get the kind of the very kind of leftover funds. And so I just want to make sure we prioritize it by having their own fund. And that's why I think you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Is your public comment on this or did we do public comment already? Speaker 2: Yes, we did. Right. Well, we still have public comment. Speaker 3: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're right. Go ahead. Speaker 2: Our first speakers, Jillian Moore. Speaker 0: Hello and thank you for having me. My name is Jillian Moore. I'm a resident of North Long Beach and a youth and family commissioner representing the ninth District. My recommendation is to the city to use the funds for measure us to establish the Long Beach Youth Fund. Programs in Long Beach that uplift youth are long term investments in the future of Long Beach as a whole, and with help from Measure U as the fund would truly thrive, programs that create spaces for youth to grow individually and together with their community to target the problems plaguing our city at their core. Programs that bring youth together, such as arts programs and sports programs, allow youth a place for mentorship, friendship and deeper education. These programs preemptively lower crime and will greatly improve the well-being of Long Beach youth. Because of COVID, we have all learned firsthand the importance of having local communities to build one another at. As it currently stands. There is a lack of program in Long Beach for youth that served its purpose as a youth in Long Beach. I see a. I see a great need. As a youth in Long Beach, I see a great need for community spaces, specifically for youth, and would benefit from them greatly. These programs would also open up opportunities to connect youth to job opportunities and college funding sources. Youth young people need resources that will help them bounce back from the devastating effects of the COVID 19 pandemic. Reopening schools will not alone solve the problem. The corona virus only revealed the problems that were already present and showed us that we cannot go back to the way things were before, especially not for our youth. If we do not address the mental health crisis among youth now, it will continue to get exponentially worse. Now is a perfect time to make the change. Youth have needed access to resources. And we. And. Ray offered. I'm sorry. The major roadblock for community development is always money. And now because of us, we no longer have this roadblock. You see the problem in their communities. They know them in and out, and they're the ones with the knowledge to fix them. By utilizing the youth funds, they will be able to carry out the change they want to see. Thank you to the city manager and the city council. I hope you'll consider my words and choose to establish this fund. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank your next speakers, Jennifer Hing. Jennifer. Speaker 0: Hi. Can you hear me? Speaker 2: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. Hi. Dear me, are Garcia in Long Beach. Councilmember is my name is Jen lead organizer with Kline Girls in Action on behalf of the Investing Youth Campaign. We thank you all for the passing of the Youth Strategic Plan last week. Tonight, we want to especially thank Vice Mayor Rex Richardson, Councilmember Dr. Sally Sara and reporter Aranda for sponsoring Agenda Item 18 and for leading by bringing young people, vision and leadership to the table. Tonight, we are hopeful for all councilmembers to continue to show your support by voting yes on establishing the first ever Lyme Disease Fund with dedicated funding revenue. Young people deserve support and resources, especially in challenging times like these. I speak tonight because youth leaders and community residents envision a more equitable world where young people are valued and included in our city's budget. And with the implementation of the U.S. treatment plan, young people are eager to continue their leadership in shaping decisions that impact their lives. Youth are facing barriers today, but continue to be civically engaged regardless of they are eligible to vote. For example, council meetings are not always accessible for young people to speak, so your decisions and your vote tonight can show you that your efforts are seen, valued and prioritized. Are Youth Fund dedicated funding from the local passage of measure US as well as the county passage of Measure J ensures an equitable infrastructure that supports positive youth development and centers racial equity. We urge the Council to leverage these funds to ensure young people are prioritized no matter the economic climate. We also have submitted a letter of support to your offices from partners and organizations from the investing campaign, which include the Advancement Project, Building Healthy Communities, Long Beach, California Conference for Equality and Justice. The Long Beach Chapter of the California Faculty Association. California for Justice Educated Men with Meaningful Messages, Genders and Sexualities. Alliance Network. Long Beach, Forward Filipino Migrant Center, I Girls in Action Voice Waves as well as the Youth Leadership Institute. So since 2017, young people have been helping to lead an equitable budget process in our city and have looked forward to the day they can say they were part of establishing the first ever youth one in the region. We have an opportunity to support long term COVID recovery and intergenerational healing. And we hope you can show you still love tonight by voting. Yes. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman. Mongo. I'm sorry. Thank you. Yes, that's right. Speaker 0: Thank you. So I just want to thank all the speakers, particularly the first speaker you talk about, because considering your words. Youth leadership in this city has been a dominant force that has gone unanswered since the nineties. And I served on the Long Beach Press Telegram's Youth Coalition in the nineties to talk about violence in our communities and the things we needed to do. When I was elected, we proposed lots of special funds and city management pushed back and said there were all sorts of barriers to getting there. So I appreciate. Vice Mayor Richardson's comments that this is brought forward by the community. Funds, which become available in October. Speaker 3: Councilwoman, we lost you for, like, the last maybe 20 seconds or so. Councilman, mango. Speaker 0: Challenges and or restrictions and how we work together. Speaker 3: We just so you know, we you cut in and out. So we haven't really been able to hear anything you said. Okay. You know, the last like minute or so. Speaker 0: Okay. So when we talk about a special fund and we're talking about our reporting requirements on our annual CAF and all of those things, Mr. Groves has consistently pushed back that special funds are not really possible. My office has proposed multiple special funds in the last six years, all of which were brought forward by community members with a special intent or need, including youth sports, which we talked about, and depending on some different considerations. And so I don't know if we need a report back from the city manager's office on how he plans to do this now when in the past it's been rejected. I can understand the side of it where we talk about a program that every year the council allocates a fund or two funding to. That has a roll over mechanism. I guess I'm just interested in the city management and maybe it's it's just something that you provide to us in a to from for annotating why a special fund would work this time when it hasn't in the past or if it is possible now. And some laws have changed that all the other special funds that have been rejected in the last six years would come back to the Council for reconsideration because they were rejected at the staff level before you even made it to council , even though community groups are the ones bringing them forward. So I am passionate about a youth fund. I am passionate about stopping and stopping issues in our community and empowering youth to find those solutions. But I also want to do it in a way that doesn't create a false sense of hope or a false a tool that's not available. So if there's could just be some outline or information about that, because I know I even asked some of these questions at our briefing and it seemed as though we were going down a path of a program. But I hear something very different from the vice mayor. And so I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page and that previously rejected requests are not now overlooked, because. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Would like to know the reasoning that there would be a variance. So thank you. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman de. Speaker 0: Thank you, Major. I just wanted to thank Councilwoman Richard, Vice Mayor Richardson for bringing this item forward and for those who cosigned on this. I was very, very impressed last week with our discussion on our strategic plan and all the work that that went into the plan and especially the work coming from all of the organizations that have been involved, all the youth organizations. May I add, that have been involved in in the youth strategy. So I'm so happy to be able to support this item going forward and making sure that we achieve the goals that we set and that we're able to follow up on this, this just to make sure that we bring this fun into fruition for our youth within their strategic plan, because that was something that was the big ask was a youth plan. And as we all know, and especially in my district, I think that investing in our youth is definitely a game changer from providing a good quality of life for their future. And I'm very happy to be able to support them like this. So thank you again. Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Vice Mayor. Speaker 2: It's a. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Just to sum up a couple of things, though. First, this is within the general fund. It's not a special fund. And we've done this a number of times, legal defense fund, other things that we've done. The city manager we talked about this at length for many, many years is not a new idea. In fact, we discussed when we talked about the resolution that these are general fund dollar measure, U.S. general fund dollars. They all have to go through the budget appropriation process. And, you know, within the whole conversation about this, you know, I don't want it to be lost that by establishing a fund, this empowers the youth to help set the rules on the fund, talk about the allocations, talk about what the needs are and and and make our strategic plan live. And because a major U.S. structural fund can be structural. So so we're really talking about semantics here. I think staff knows exactly what what it is they want to do. What I don't want to do is give the false hopes to folks that this is a one time thing. We had that discussion, that council councilmember Mongo, if you remember, you offered $1,000,000 to take the measure off the table and walk away. And we said, no, we want to go to the voters because we want the structural. And that's what the voters voted on. This was not one time. This is something we're going to we want to commit to now. Could it change? Sure. A council could could change and make other priorities. But, you know, the idea here is we want to stand up to flag down and say that we really, truly believe in this. And that's what we're we're voting on. We're voting to move forward with establishing a fund, transparent and open. And I think. Yes. The city manager should provide regular reports to the city council. I think he already does that and so we will be informed on what that process looks like. But I hope that it's really youth, youth and youth serving organizations really have a strong voice and how its how its shape. So thank you and we can move on. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. I appreciate that. You said that it's part of general fund. I think that it's important to note that the legal defense fund is an annual allocation by the city council. And so, yes, like you acknowledged each year, the council would have to acknowledge. The reauthorization or authorization of funding towards that. If we wanted to do a resolution of some sort about how much or of what percentage of this council feels is appropriate. Even still, two years from now. Five of the current council members could be gone and that new majority could decide something different. And so the difference in what I thought you were trying to suggest, which I would be supportive of if the city staff would give me a methodology to make it happen, is setting money into a fund like the Legal Defense Fund? When we did that, we took that money and we contracted it out to the vendor and it was set. It's not like it was just like any other general fund. At the end of the year, what's not used can be swept, but the council can make it a priority otherwise and so. I understand the methodology and I look forward to reading the report back because making it a priority is one thing. Setting aside $1,000,000 is another thing, but measure us is a general fund and in any given year those challenges do come up. And so the city financial management staff has parameters that are in place that I was just questioning Mr. Modica earlier today at our briefing to find out if parameters that were set before are no longer in place because we do have strong fiscal policies for a reason. And it's important to be honest and transparent with the youth about what those are, so that they're clear on how to continue to advocate for themselves and the fund, because that is the part of the process and they are capable of that. And so if we can change a law that makes it possible to set it aside in a special fund like tobacco tax or any of those other things, or a refuse fund, that would be great, but. Calling the fund. The fund without those legal restrictions is something that we just want to be very transparent about. So I'm happy to support the item and happy to continue to support youth. And I'm also happy to sit down and have a real conversation with the community and or the youth and or they can have that with the Budget Chair about what we've tried to do in the past and what legal measures may be appropriate to protect funding on a long term basis. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes everything. We will go ahead and go to a roll call vote. I don't think there's any more common sense. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Zendaya's. Speaker 0: Right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Ellen. I can Silverman Price. I can swim in Sabina. I can swim in Mango. Times. Woman Mango. Councilwoman. Sorry. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Zahra. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Council member Oranga. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilman Alston. Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Enthusiastic, I. Speaker 1: Russian case. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is I am 20.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with the Long Beach Health and Human Services Department Office of Youth Development to establish the Long Beach Youth Fund, utilizing Measure US revenue and additional revenue sources.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_02162021_21-0149

Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is I am 20. Speaker 1: Item 20 Report from Development Services. Recommendation two DAB Resolution Authorizing the city to support the California State Communities Development Authority. Issuance of bonds under its Middle Income Workforce Rental Housing Program to enact moderate income deed restriction on the existing Ocean Air apartment project at 150 West Ocean Boulevard, District two. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Modica. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor and Council. This is a relatively new program that was brought to the state of California to look at how to convert some existing housing to a moderate income housing, something that the council had asked us to look at back in November. And we are here to you tonight to recommend a pilot project. We've done a lot of negotiating on this. We want to make sure that you're aware of the various program features. There's some benefits. There's also some risk that we need you to be aware of. And with that, I'll turn it over to Oscar Orsi, our development services manager. Speaker 3: Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Mayor. Members of the city council. As the senator indicated in November, Council had directed staff to study the benefits and risk associated with participation of the Community Statewide Development Authority, also known as CDA, to develop and preserve middle income workforce housing staff contracted with HRA advisors to analyze the proposal between CDA and Waterford to acquire property and maintain it for middle income households. So that would be the ocean area. 150 West Ocean Staff Attorney CDA in Waterford have worked to address and identify concerns and address those through some project modifications. Can you please go back to the previous slide? Thank you. The as you can see from the slide, the there are many steps in this involved in this transaction. We've highlighted the area where. Speaker 2: The. Speaker 3: Council is asking for your direction on how to proceed with this transaction. Overall, Waterford proposes to purchase Ocean Air from the air for 122 million. Proposes to simultaneously purchase Ocean Air from Waterford, who will act as a project administrator and asset manager. What we are requesting that you consider tonight is the city's proposal to is is a request to enter into a public benefit agreement PPA with CDA to act as a host. Forgoing our ad valorem property taxes and reserving the right to force the sale after 15 to 30 years. Excellent. Thank you. CCD will finance the project through tax exempt bonds as well as housing revenue bonds. The financial structure also includes closing fees and annual ongoing fees for property maintenance and property administration and asset management. Next slide, please. As indicated in our staff letter, this transaction provides several benefits. It preserves 216 units for middle income households for again, for a period of 15 to 30 years or longer, if the council chooses to do so in the future. In response to his staff's comments, Waterford and KDA have modified their initial proposal to the following. They've modified the affordable housing mix to provide additional 80% Army units. They've also agreed to provide annual reports, as well as that allow staff the opportunity to investigate the condition of the building to make sure that the Oceanarium maintain is maintained at a class A condition. This slides indicates the May levels and the household size for the project. Typically, the city will use the state income limits. This transaction proposes to use the light tech, which is slightly higher in terms of income household requirements at 3530 5% versus 30%. Next slide of. Patrick yeah will complete continue this presentation and we do have the project proponents CDA in Waterford here also to provide a brief presentation once we conclude our presentation. Thank you, Patrick. Speaker 4: Thank you, Oscar. And good evening. Mayor Garcia and City Council. I'm now going to cover the project's potential issues and risks. Before doing so. I must reiterate that this is a new program designed to assist moderate income households. There are no other programs or funding available to provide moderate income housing opportunities. So along with a few issues, there is a great benefit to providing moderate income housing units. The projects for affordable housing gains are modest compared to market. There are significant rent reductions only at the 80% AMI level, which comprise 87 of the 216 units. These units have a 28% reduction from market rents. We will not be able to get credit for these units because they're not new construction units and they do not have long term 55 year affordability covenants placed on them. And it is estimated to take about four years for all the units to convert to affordable units. A completed I'm sorry, a complicated financing structure and aggressive rent growth assumptions may result in high debt and limited sales proceeds to taxing entities upon the project sale at 15 or 30 years. There are no new housing units created. But again, this is currently only the only option for providing moderate income housing units. It will take a little time for the units to become affordable through attrition, but that's really unavoidable. Based on Rene's analysis, the initial loss property tax revenue would be about 1.5 million for all taxing entities in year one, which includes 264,000 for the city over 30 years. The lost revenue would have a present value of $43 million for all taxing entities and about $8 billion for the city. With the current structure, the city can request the sale of the project after 15 years. There are risks and trade offs associated with the exit scenarios. If the city chooses to sell earlier at 15 years, this minimizes the lost tax revenue and risk of deferred maintenance, but it also limits the affordability term and sales revenue. Conversely, if the city chooses to sell it later, there is a risk of deferred maintenance cost. Additionally, the option to maximize the value of the asset is to allow the project to return to market rate, which means that the city would lose the affordability benefits. Staff believes that this is an undesirable outcome for the city and therefore there's a risk that sales proceeds, which are needed to pay off bonds and repay taxing entities, will be limited. Only a few of these projects have been approved in cities throughout California, and there are no operating experience or models that we can show how the long term transaction may play out. Staff recommends that the City Council consider designating this particular transaction to be a pilot project and request staff to develop a draft policy for this type of project going forward. The city has an established track record of working with CDA on the development of affordable housing. Waterford is a well-known developer that owns major assets in the city, including City, Place and the World Trade Center. Staff is encouraged by the development team's positive track record in the city and as such is supportive of approval of the project as a pilot. Create Middle Income Housing Project. Here again are the recommendations before you for your consideration this evening, and that concludes our presentation. Thank you. Aaron Council that concludes staff presentation. Kay and Waterford are here and available to answer any questions if you have of them. I think we've done a lot of work on this project. We've done a ton of analysis. We're at the point where we do feel like this is something we can try as a pilot if the council wants to move forward and otherwise, we're ready to answer questions. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. County Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 0: No. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Oscar and Patrick, for the presentation and staff for all of your hard work on this. I know we started talking about this a while ago, and and I know it's been an incredible amount of work for for the team. I moved this item and I again, I just think the staff are there hard work it's an. ETA. And new type of program. And I'm happy to consider this as a pilot project only so that we can first analyze the impacts prior to setting any precedent for for other developers. One of the things that I do like about this project is that Water Ford is a well known developer. And like we said and you said in the presentation, they have substantial investment in the city. I mean, city plays and the World Trade Center are are significant developments in the area. And given their success and history and Long Beach definitely makes it easier for me to support this item also. More unit more unit units at a lower income level of affordability are crucial, and I'm always open to new ideas to add workforce housing for the missing middle. So again, I commend our city manager and staff for their diligent efforts and for a thoroughly, thoroughly vetted proposal, and especially that it's something new and innovative. So a question that I do have is if you are someone that's answering questions can describe what the Anaheim Project program is under and what that looks like. Speaker 4: I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question, please? Speaker 0: Yes. What does the what does the project in Anaheim look like? Speaker 4: Remember, this is a Christopher Cross. There's three different projects in the city of Anaheim, one which is further along than the two others. We spend a lot of time with the Anaheim projects and the unit mix that was described by Patrick and Oscar earlier tonight is a similar request that was made by the city of Anaheim. So this deal is structured very similar to the city of Anaheim. And if you're familiar with Anaheim, it's its three platinum triangle multifamily buildings that are involved in what's been under consideration in Anaheim. So that's the information we have. But Waterford is with us and they were also involved in those transactions and would be able to provide you some more information about the Anaheim deals that preceded this deal by about two months. Speaker 0: Thank you, Christopher. Speaker 3: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 0: I just queued up to second the motion. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Motion asked. Can Council Councilmember Austin? Count some of your anger. Speaker 2: Thank you. I also cued up the second, but now that you have me, I have one question about the. It's early on in the presentation, there was no directive on the restrictions. Can you explain what that is? Speaker 3: Yes, Councilmember. What? The property will be restricted for the life of the bond sales 15 to 30 years. They will be limited to only. Speaker 2: Being able to. Speaker 3: Have residents that meet the middle income household requirements, EMI requirements so they the deed restrictions. Speaker 2: Will not allow for the CDA to offer those at market rate prices. Well, I think it's is a great project, it's a great experiment, and I'm looking forward to it as it is about it. I understand that. But the way it's celebrated now, it's great. And again, the Waterford and CSA are great partners for the city and the support to work with the ministry. Speaker 3: Thank you. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to chime in and just acknowledge, you know, a couple of things. The dedication on the part of Waterford to figure out how to make this happen and city staff's cooperation and working together to address this idea as a number of innovative pilots that they do with respect to this program and others across the state. I've I've, you know, probably had relation with a seat with CSP, KBA for the last five, six years in terms of seeing them at local government commission, others. And sometimes, you know, things are brought to us that we may not be familiar with. And I think the approach here with the pilot makes sense, makes a lot of sense. So I think the city manager did a good job at sort of working with the developer, negotiate the income levels and ensure that, you know, the project got better as it moved along. So congratulations to everyone and I look forward to support this project. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. I want to echo Councilman Allen's comments. It is hard to approve of projects like this that can bring so much but have so much risk. It's great that it a trusted partner of the city and I was one of the reasons why I'm able to support it today. But as we move forward, I would look for options that come to the city like this to be even better and better as the housing market has also become better and better on the developer side. So thank you to this partner. I'm excited to support it today, but I look forward to more support of our community through future projects. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman. Speaker 0: Sun has been coming here. I just want to say how excited I am about this project. I don't think that we have enough middle income housing, so I think that this is really good. Any housing that is developed is going to help our housing crisis, not only the one that we're in right now, but what we're facing . So I know that there's going to be so many families and just people in general that will be able to benefit from this middle income housing that is going to be available to them. And I'm so excited that we are working with Water Board. Thank you, Water Board for your commitment on this project and for, like Councilmember Mungo said and for the risk that you are taking and willing to take on for this project. So I look forward to seeing this project come to fruition. So congratulations, Councilmember Allen. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman Sorrell. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate all the work that's gone into this. I know that there's a lot of layers to this. And I just have a you know, I you know, I'm still learning about this process. So I just have a few questions because I am you know, I know that there's benefits with risk. And I just want to make sure I understand, you know, the benefits are laid out in a way where we are moving forward with a pilot project so that we can learn from this. So maybe I can get some questions answered about, you know, because my concern is just the loss in potential property tax revenue with this pilot project. And I just want to make sure that we are being, you know, wise about our approach to taking risk that can also benefit keeping housing our our our our middle income, essential workers and teachers. And so if I could just kind of get it understanding and a little bit more explanation about how that works out so that we're moving forward in the best way possible. Speaker 3: Yeah. Councilmember, this is one of the reasons why we are identifying this as a pilot program. We need we need to be able to study policy moving forward and bringing that to your attention for your review involving such things as property taxes and the benefit of of middle income as well as other income households, and solicit your direction on how to proceed moving forward with other similar projects, we are mindful of the property taxes and the loss or the foregone of those property taxes and would like to come back to you to discuss that that policy in greater detail. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you so much. Speaker 3: Thank you. I think that concludes. Council comment for now. Let me go to you public comment. Mr. Clarke. Speaker 2: We have an election. Thank you, Mayor. Members of City Council Alex Charron with Englander and Albion Allen representing Waterford, want to thank first and foremost city staff. I know this has been several months of discussion in a learning process and engagement, so thank you to Tom, Linda, Oscar, Christopher Patrick and Regina Anthony in the city attorney's office . There were hundreds and hundreds of exchanges and ideas and conversations, and tonight is really the culmination of that. I know it's a complex issue structurally, but I think it checks a number of housing boxes and policy boxes for the city, some of which were recently addressed in the city's housing studies last year. So I think this is incredibly consistent with where the city wants to have long term. And I'm glad that we can launch this as a pilot project to to see the benefits similar to what other cities have enacted, including Anaheim, San Jose, Oakland and others. There was a comment, I think, that Mr. Urie made about the arena numbers. We've been in discussions and I know others have too. There's a lot of momentum up in Sacramento to close that gap and to give cities that are enacting these programs arena credit. So just wanted to make the council aware of that. And lastly, just echoed the sentiments raised. Waterford is a good actor in the city and a good partner to launch this pilot program with. So thank you very much. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. Roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Sabina. Hi. Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. I Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you. I think that concludes the regular agenda. Mr. Quirk if that's correct. And that. Speaker 1: Is correct. Speaker 3: With that, great. I'm going to go on to a new business and any closing item. So I'm going to I'm going to start from I I'm sure that we all learned earlier today that our former mayor, Eunice Sotto, passed away.

Resolution

Recommendation to: (1) Based on the analysis provided, consider the request to (i) adopt resolution authorizing the City to support the California State Communities Development Authority Community Improvement Authority’s (CSCDA) issuance of bonds under its Middle-Income/Workforce Rental Housing Program to enact moderate-income deed restrictions on the existing Oceanaire apartment project, at 150 West Ocean Boulevard (Project), and (ii) authorize the execution of a Public Benefits Agreement (PBA) with CSCDA in connection therewith that includes a provision that shares any future sale profits with taxing bodies proportionate to the current tax allocation; (2) Request City Manager to develop a proposed policy for any future similar projects that participate in the Middle Income/Workforce Rental Housing Program; and (3) If action (1) is approved, designate the Project as a pilot, with no similar projects to be approved until the City Council has an opportunity to consider the City Manager’s proposed policy. (District 2)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_02092021_21-0107

Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 3: Well, we go on to the next item, please. We're gonna do item number nine. Speaker 4: Item number nine report from Health and Human Services. Recommendation to request city attorney to prepare an ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code to prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products citywide. Speaker 3: Turning it over to the staff or the city attorney have a report or comment on this. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We'll have a staff report from Kelly Collopy, our director of Health and Human Services. Speaker 5: Good evening, Honorable Mayor and Council Members. Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the request to establish an ordinance to prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products except for hookah lounges and premium cigars under certain conditions. A December 3rd, 2019, the City Council adopted Chapter 5.9 for the Long Beach Municipal Code, a temporary prohibition of the sale of certain flavored tobacco products, including flavored cigarillos, flavored electronic smoking devices, flavored electronic smoked smoking device fluid and menthol cigarets. As of January 4th, 2021, this has expired. We thank Councilwoman Price for bringing this item forward in 2019 and first supported this Council to pass that temporary measure. In August 2020, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 793 to ban the sale of flavor tobacco products statewide. The ban prohibits the sale of all flavored tobacco products in California, with the exemption of hookah and premium cigars under certain circumstances. The Senate bill is more comprehensive than the temporary ban that was implemented in Long Beach, covering a wider array of flavored tobacco products such as flavored smokeless tobacco products. Senate Bill 793 was slated for implementation starting on January 1st, 2021. However, implementation has been postponed pending the outcome of a referendum planned slated for 2022. Statewide election. As of December 2020 over 60 jurisdictions in California currently have taken action independent of state action to regulate the sale of flavored tobacco products, and many more are currently working on ordinances at this time. Cities such as Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach have banned the sale of all tobacco products. Our Health and Human Services Department strongly recommends that the City Council take immediate action to adopt a permanent prohibition of the sale of all flavored tobacco products in the city, except for hookah rounders and premium cigars under certain conditions, as outlined in Senate Bill 793 to protect the public health of our community. We recommend this based on compelling data regarding youth utilization of flavored nicotine products. Impacts of nicotine to the youth brain and health. The Future Addiction. Based on early use of these products, it's essential to take immediate action for the safety of our youth. Nationwide, youth e-cigarette usage has grown nearly 20 fold in less than ten years, increasing from 1.5% in 2011 to 23.6%, including nearly 5% of middle school students in 2020. Both the FDA and the U.S. Surgeon General have declared that use use of e-cigarettes is an epidemic. Flavored tobacco products are currently the current youth. Driving are driving the current youth vaping epidemic. 81% of youth who have ever used tobacco product initiated with a flavored product. This includes all types of flavored products, including cigarillos, hookah and menthol products. Nearly 40% of youth who use e-cigarettes have never been cigaret smokers. It's the flavored e-cigarettes that are engaging them in Nicorette and nicotine use nicotine as damaging effects on the developing brain, which continues to develop up until about the age of 25. It changes adolescent brain cell activity in the parts of the brain responsible for attention, learning and memory and can interfere with emotion and impulse control in the future. A younger person is. A younger person is. When they start using nicotine, the more likely they are to become addicted. As of 2017, there are more than 15,500 unique e-cigarette flavors available, such as cotton candy, gummy bear and juice boxes. Flavors can create the false impression that a tobacco product is less harmful than it really is and lead to increased nicotine intake. An average cigaret contains 6 to 12 milligrams of nicotine and a user inhales approximately 1 to 2 milligrams. Flavored product range and nicotine levels from just above 0 to 90 milligrams a day for pods or about 41 milligrams of nicotine and puff bars are at about 50 milligrams of nicotine ether, often aware of the amount of nicotine they are. Vaping and vape devices also deliver nicotine more effectively and generally and higher content. In addition, the flavor additives themselves can contain chemicals that are harmful when inhaled. According to the Surgeon General, some of the flavorings found in e-cigarettes have been shown to cause serious lung disease when inhaled. At least ten chemicals identified in e-cigarette aerosol around California's Proposition 65 list of carcinogens and reproductive toxins. To add to the concern. E-cigarette products are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not yet subject to manufacturing standards. Studies have found that even though 91% studies have found that 91% of e-liquids marketed as nicotine free actually do contain some level of nicotine. Menthol cigarets are also concerning as they pose more of a risk than traditional cigarets because menthol users may be inclined to smoke more due to the masking nature of the mint flavor. Additionally, an analysis conducted by Truth Initiative found that partial flavor bans that exclude menthol as a flavor increase the risk of flavored tobacco users switching to menthol tobacco products. There also is a link between COVID and smoking and vaping. Emerging research is showing an ever stronger link between COVID 19 and smoking and vaping. Studies show that the smoking doubles your risk of severe symptoms, such as hospitalization and death from COVID 19. And it stems from the fact that menthol and other tobacco flavorings and e-cigarettes increase the severity of lung related, lung related illness so it's harder to recover from COVID. A separate study from Stanford University shows that teenagers and young adults were five times more likely to be impacted by COVID than peers that don't vape. The Health Department has continued through all of this to provide a robust prevention program, including partnerships with Long Beach Unified School District, the YMCA, Youth Leadership Institute, Families in Good Health at St Mary Medical Center, and many other community based organizations to bring vaping education to youth in Long Beach. This program conducts an annual seven week summer leadership program focused on youth capacity building and engaging youth in conversations on tobacco control issues and how to make their communities healthier. Your Health Department seeks your support to pass a permanent ban on all flavored tobacco products with an exemption for hookah and premium cigars under certain conditions, as outlined in Senate Bill 793. That ends my presentation. I'm open for questions. Speaker 3: Thank you. Have Councilwoman Pryce, have you up first? I do have a pretty lengthy public comment if you want to go to public comment. Or did you want to make comments first? Speaker 6: I'll just make some brief comments. I don't really have a need to hear myself talk, especially after that eloquent presentation by staff. Thank you very much. It was very detailed. I fully support this and I urge my colleagues to do so as well. The only clarification question I had is I know that the state exempts hookah lounges as well as hookah retail. I just want to make sure that our ordinance would align with the state. So I just have a point of clarification. Speaker 5: Yes, the ordinance would align with the state. The state allows for retail for only if people if it's for 21 and over as a say so. It would allow for retail in that in that situation. Speaker 6: Okay. Thank you. And, Mr. Mayor, I don't have any additional comment. So if you want to go to public comment, I defer. Speaker 1: Entirely to you. Speaker 3: Okay. Great. I will. Go ahead. I think that's emotion. I do have a second, but I think it's Councilman Austin. Councilman, should we do public comment and then I'll come back to you. Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Yes. That would be fine, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 3: Okay. So, Madam Clerk, let's go through public comment, then. Speaker 0: Our first speaker is Eva carbonara. Speaker 2: Diva. Speaker 0: Hello, carbonara. Speaker 6: Uh. Yes. Hello? Can you hear me? Speaker 0: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 6: Okay. Perfect. How are the city council members? My name is Ava Carbonaro, District four, resident and senior at Wilson High School. Although much has changed for youth of Long Beach over the past year, there's still an invisible plague that haunts us. A virus that, in addition to the rise of COVID 19, threatens the lives and wellbeing of those it captures. Youth, nicotine addiction and the appeal of flavored vaping products is as dangerous as ever. Pandemic withstanding. As mentioned, previously youthful vapor up to seven times more likely to contract COVID 19 and suffer even more severe symptoms. Returning to in-person learning will never be safe as long as smoking persists on my campus. As a teenager and lifetime Long Beach resident, I urge you City Council to implement a permanent ban on the sale of flavored tobacco and ensure the safety of my peers. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Amir Khan. Amir. Brian. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 0: Please begin. Speaker 2: Amir. Yeah. Hello. Speaker 0: Yes, Ameer, please begin your public comment for item nine. Speaker 2: Yes. I'm a store owner. I have two locations in six and four. And my comment was like, we've been hurting before. Like our business down by 30%. I wish it works, but what happens when you guys pass the law? All the business will signal help. Nothing changed except we lose business. It was the next city. All my customers. And then after you guys allow us to sell, buy from us after we stock up, now is going to happen the same thing. All our business is going to go down and all the money along with money is going to go to the next city. So I don't see was helpful. I wish the works but it wasn't helpful. It does give more business to the next city. That's my comment. So please consider we've been hurting because of quarantine. And then again, we're going to get hurt more after we purchase all this inventory. Then why not wait like the whole California people if they're going to vote on it? Why not? We'd like California to hold the whole state. Why? Only long before they do that? To harm us more and more with the coronavirus in the top of that. All the money goes to a different city. I don't know any of my customers. They stop because of smoke. Except. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Charlie Patel. Speaker 2: So. Hi, my name's Charlie Patella. I'm also a store owner. And like in last six months, once we banned flavored tobacco, all sales go to our neighbor city. And you look at like sales data, like about more than 70% of people of Long Beach, they smoke like menthol cigarets. And right now they're talking about like smoking is dangerous. But how do you consider like flavored tobacco is only dangerous? Non play what is not dangerous for smoking and please wait until California State decides to stop all state like menthol ban. Then it's going to stay the same customer either way all customer try to next city and they buy cigarets from them. Yeah. And for menthol you cannot stop anybody like that. Be like otherwise you have to make a distinction or something like that. So my concern please wait until the state here we decide like posted stop w where tobacco and menthol cigarets then so do not do right now at least due to COVID at least give us businessmen a little bit of any time. Either way, it's hurting too much to our business. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jamie Rojas. Speaker 2: Good evening, Mayor and council members. My name is Hyman. I'm with the National Association Tobacco Outlets representing many of the retailers in Long Beach. We are definitely against the ordinance that's proposed. It's a shame that we're in the middle of a pandemic and the Long Beach Public Health Department is focused on this issue versus the issue of opening up business, vaccinations, distribution. And it's a wonder why things are a rea in regards to dealing with situations of public health in general. We completely oppose it. And I hope city councilor realizes that all they're doing is closing more businesses and losing the economic opportunities of businesses reviving in Long Beach. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mark Torno. Speaker 2: Good evening. Long Beach Mayor Garcia and City Council members. My name is Mark Torno and my family owns and operates Long Beach Circle K, which is a 76 station Circle K located at 6370 Strand Street in Long Beach, Palo Verde and Stearns. We're located in District four with our council member, Super Nine. We've been I've been a business owner in the city of Long Beach for 23 years, and I love Long Beach. I spent $2.1 million three years ago to rebuild this site and make it a beautiful site in the city of Long Beach. I pay a lot of business licenses to the city, to the health department. Business licenses. I pay a tobacco license and we oppose putting a ban on flavored cigarets. We're here to. To sell to our customers to make it so they don't go to other cities. You know, when they had that temporary ban on, we lost a lot of business. This year, our business is down over 30% due to COVID. I think right now we need to focus on saving lives. We got a lot of people dying from COVID. I think the health department needs to focus on that and that's not focus on labor. Cigarets Right now it's up to state do their job. You know, the state has that. Yeah. They're going to be voting on that state. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Myra Batista. Myra Batiste. My Rabbi Battista. Speaker 6: Sorry. Thank you. Hi. My name is Myra Batiste and I represent Natal. I like to give the examples of cities that have adopted a flavor ban and how it only makes adult customers travel to nearby cities and spend their money elsewhere. I'm taking away revenue from small. Speaker 2: Businesses and still the youth. Speaker 6: Find it online. Speaker 2: And elsewhere. Speaker 6: In are not regulated entities that they're going to find and that's going to be the problem. The mission of the city is to help and keep the underage usage of tobacco. Well, the stores that have legal appeal systems, that white cards are not the problem. Instead, the city should look at different ways that the retailers should help with school officials and find solutions and not take away from their revenue. I say please, please stick with SB 793. Give them a year and a half at least. This is something that at the very least, the city of Long Beach should be supporting their small businesses. So we should not be destroying them right now. There's a pandemic going on and right now we need to work together. The businesses, we do not feel supported by the city of Long Beach, and we want to be heard that this is not something that can be decided in one city council meeting. Please wait for the state. Do not hurt the businesses anymore and support us. Let's create let's create committees for small businesses to work with, with the schools and with the city. Let's work together. Stick with us. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Michael Rowe, a child? Speaker 2: Hi there. My name is Mike. For the past couple of months, I've had the opportunity to get signatures to declare the California flavor tobacco ban until people can vote on it. Because of this opportunity, I was able to talk to thousands of people about this issue. The main consensus was that we should wait for the voters to decide. Of all the people I talked to, I want to focus on the younger generation and what they said to us. Almost every response I got from the younger people was, I don't care about the ban. I will get it either way. They said they would get it from different cities out of state. Online, which is unregulated or the scariest part is from dealers on the street. A lot of the stores that I went. Who they're already dealers selling illegal drugs outside the stores. And now young people are going to go to those same dealers, get unregulated, questionable products that might contain other harmful drugs. I know that in many past cases, dealers have also added stronger drug products to their clientele. Please, we don't want our kids to have any more access to harmful drugs. Let's wait for the state to figure out a better way. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank your next speaker is Primo Castro. Speaker 2: Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Primo Castro, government relations director with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. Our goal is to reduce tobacco use and prevent cancer in our communities. We ask that staff be directed to draft the strongest ordinance possible to protect all residents of Long Beach from flavored tobacco. Specifically, this ordinance should include the following all flavored tobacco products, including menthol, mint and Wintergreen, include all flavored tobacco premium cigars, cigarillos, pipe, tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco and loose leaf tobacco. Include all sheets of flavored tobacco products and exclude any exemptions for any tobacco product in this ordinance. Again, big tobacco continues to addict countless lives through the use of candy flavored tobacco, including flavored sheesha products levy tobacco continues to exploit communities in the name of profit. It is clear that Big Tobacco has not learned the lessons from the late 1990 tobacco master settlement agreement that found reprehensible practices to take tobacco advertising, marketing and promotion of these and cigarets to targeted communities. As one of the leading public health authorities, we continue to push for public policies that protect public health against cancer and other chronic illnesses. It is the reason, along with other public health organizations, we have led the fight to push for needed changes such as Pot 56. Speaker 0: And thank you. Our next speaker is Vanessa Battista. Speaker 6: Hello. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is Vanessa, and I'd just like to start off by saying, in high school, I had the pleasure of working with the lieutenant governor and went on to work for the United States Senate. And tonight, I'd like to speak on behalf of my generation. I think one of the worst things that we can do for our youth in our upcoming generations is take away their right to make a choice, take away the right as a voter to express their voice and take away the right to education. Banning stuff. Taking stuff away has never helped. It's never worked in terms of the prohibition with alcohol. It doesn't work with abstinence. In fact, teen mothers that are pregnant have that are addicted to smoking cigarets are actually being told and encouraged to move on to vaping because there's less side effects and less harm for them, their bodies and their babies bodies. So vaping can be a big help to those who need it. And taking away the right to purchase tobacco isn't going to help education. Kids need to be able to learn. Education needs to start at home and in school. And furthermore, please consider the businesses, the local businesses, by giving them time. Let the California voters express their voice during SB 793. And don't take the businesses into your hands. Let California voice their opinions, exercise their vote, and be educated. Thank you for this time. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is after nine. Speaker 6: The good. Speaker 2: Hello. Speaker 0: Yes. Afternoon. Speaker 2: It's been a motif name. Yes. I would talk about my experience. Hello? Speaker 0: Yes. Please begin your comment. Speaker 2: Okay. I have a store in Long Beach. The border? Ramone Beach. And now you want to burn the minister and the Veep? I have a customer. We're going on Paramount. Buying the Cigarets the menthol cigarets from over there sale on Long Beach. Now you looking at that? I am losing my business. Just wait for the state for your voting. Give the customers the right to vote this or no thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Victor Sandoval. Hello. I please begin. Speaker 2: Salutation to council members. My name is Victor Sandoval. I'm in the eighth District of Long Beach under Al Alston, but graduated from Jordan High School and I'm currently attending PCC. I would just like to inform you that I believe a permanent flavored tobacco ban would do this community well because of how flavored tobacco has been gaining prevalence within the youth of Long Beach, the Stanford School of Medicine stated that 97% of kids who smoke have done so with flavored tobacco products. This number amounted to 3.6 million kids from middle to high school. Imagine how much that number can be reduced by withdrawing flavored tobacco products. The reason why I want this effort to buy tobacco better passed is so the kids don't fall into addiction by flavored tobacco products, which can hurt them, especially during a pandemic. Please prioritize the health of our kids over the profit of us or another city like Signal Hill. Thank you for your time. Take care. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. With that, I'm going to go ahead and go back around. And I have Councilmember Austin. I have a motion and a second by Councilmember Austin. Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I also want to thank our staff for the presentation and the comments from the public. I want to thank Council Member Susie Price for bringing this item forward and back in December of 2019 and for the City Council for their bold support of a temporary ban on flavored tobacco here in the city. I think it was the right thing to do. It was the right decision. Moral decision. Because we know that the outcomes for youth are impacted negatively if they pick up addicting habits as youth, particularly smoking. A lot was said about our council's focus and our health department's focus, and I can I know for a fact that we are focused like a laser beam on COVID 19 and reducing our numbers there. But I think as other items come up this evening of those paying attention to the council meeting, we also understand that our focus is also on youth this evening and improving the outcomes for our youth in the city of Long Beach. I think some of the points were well taken and I do have a couple of questions just to follow up. But this permanent ban by having a permanent ban, I think we reduce the addiction to tobacco or for youth. We reduce the access for our youth and we reduce hopefully have impacts in reducing actual smoking habits among youth here in the city of Long Beach. And hopefully we can figure out some way to measure those outcomes over time. We want to also understand that that smoking leads to harmful outcomes, health outcomes, respiratory disease, cancer, even death. I mentioned when this item was before us. Before that I've lost loved ones, my own mother to lung cancer and smoking. And this this this smoking and the negative outcomes disproportionately do affect. Black people and communities of color. And so, you know, the moral thing to do, the right thing to do would be to turn to Turkey to support this this permanent ban. But I did have a quick question. Just understanding the state legislation and how it impacts other cities as it as was mentioned by some of the speakers and perhaps that this is for our city attorney or the city manager of the state legislation that currently bans flavored tobacco statewide. Can you give us an update on where that at and how that impacts other cities and what happens if we don't pass? An ordinance in the city of Lombard permanently banning. Taylor Anderson is on the on the line to answer respond to that question. Speaker 1: TAYLOR Good evening, Councilmember. So Senate Bill seven 3793 was supposed to take effect January 1st of this year. The tobacco companies actually ended up gathering enough signatures for there to be a referendum. So and there is an injunction preventing this bill from becoming effective. So right now, there is no state law, in effect, prohibiting flavored tobacco products. It will go on the 2022 ballot for the voters of California to decide how to move forward. And it's my understanding that other cities in the interim are anticipating or waiting for that outcome, have banned flavored tobacco products because there is no state law in effect. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you for that clarification. I would just say that that I do understand the impact to to our small businesses and operators who have enjoyed selling this retail product for for many years. Well, but it's a horrible product and one that is is, again, the problem with our youth accessing these products in our retail stores. I really wish everybody played by the rules and this was only applicable and everybody and we were talking and having our only adult conversation. But this this impacted significant population in our city and we're doing our best. And the intent here is to to protect our youth. And that that is that is why I will be supporting this. I do understand the the the unintended consequences or creating an illicit market, I hope will will not be the case. But and I do believe that the economic impact on the city in terms of in terms of sales tax revenue is going to be negligible. But I would like to, if possible, have have that information and that information studied as well. But I'm supporting this item because I think it's the right thing to do and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up, I have Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 1: Thank you. If I could get an answer from the health department as well. I'm interested in knowing if the target is to eliminate youth, getting access to tobacco products that we may not be bringing forward an item that has more strict guidelines and consequences for businesses that violate the. And sell to miners. And we talk a lot about the health order. And we have restaurants that violate in restaurants that are good. And we wouldn't want to shut down all the restaurants because two or three restaurants aren't meeting the health guidelines. We would then want to enforce and shut down the restaurants that are the problem. Why are we not bringing forward an item that says one strike? You lose your tobacco license completely. You're both adult and your adult your license to sell adult products at all. So that's my question for the health department. Speaker 5: Councilmember right there. Sort of two pieces to that. One, the developing brain goes until about the age of 25. Currently, any sort of focus right now is the age of 21 around tobacco products. And so it goes beyond the the limit for which people are monitoring the utilization of vaping. The other is that there are a number of adults who have never been smokers who had who had begun vaping and also, you know, increasing the level of nicotine and other addictions going forward. So we are focusing on youth, particularly because of the impact on brain and long term development. But that does go up through at least age 25, for which no one is, you know, focusing on the ability to sell their as well as on adult. Speaker 1: And. When the state brings this item on the ballot. If the voters approve the measure as written, wouldn't this overturn our own local? Ordinance. Speaker 5: If the state passes the ordinance, then we would request that we become part of the statewide. Speaker 1: Which the signatures that were collected were for. Allowing flavored. Speaker 5: No. Well, so if the if the. So I'm going to turn that over. The city attorney, though, explain it better. Speaker 1: Yeah. I was just going. Let me help. Let me help. Yeah. Yeah. I'm confused by the number of comments I've received in my inbox, and I can't even tell the difference anymore between one side or the other. Yeah. No, it's okay. And this this is a this issue keeps growing, too. So the council letter, letter and recommendation from the health department as written would actually have a sunset provision in it. So upon the effective date of a statewide ban and our local ban that mirrored the state's language would be terminated. And so only the statewide ban would be in place unless the council took a different action. So what the voters are going to vote on statewide in the 2022 election is to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products statewide instead of just at the local level. And it would be it's just about all flavored tobacco products. The state did carve out an exception for hookah lounges and then higher end, higher end cigar products. I believe it's a $12 is the threshold for cigars and flavored marijuana is not in the ordinance either. So no flavor. Marijuana is regulated by a different chapter in the state law. So this is strictly under tobacco products. Okay. Well, my preference would be and I, I voiced this before, but it doesn't seem to have gotten any traction. I preference would be that when you have a bad actor who does something wrong, they should lose their ability to participate in the game. When we say, okay, well, here's I can give you an example. There was a vape shop in my district that has now gone under and now that land that landlord is out rent, the tenant has debt, the storefront is vacant and I cannot find anyone who will give me an example of any time they've seen a youth in his store, he particularly catered to adults and specifically focused on individuals who wanted to quit smoking cigarets and move over to flavored vape. And so in that case, we've lost jobs, we've lost viability. That storefront is now vacant during the pandemic and many of you know the challenges that come with vacant storefronts. And so just the the ripple effect of this policy, which I think kind of pairs with the same discussion I've had with Mr. Modica related to the ordinances that the Health Department puts out. The Health Department says, you know, we want 60 people six feet apart. And then they put out an ordinance or a health order that says we want be feet apart, because when people are asked to be eight feet apart, their chairs scoot and they become six feet apart. Speaker 0: But yet for Mongo, you're 5 minutes, right? Speaker 1: Thank you. There are unintended consequences because if we said the thing that we're trying to accomplish and legislated to what we are trying to accomplish, there would be less unintended consequences. Speaker 3: Thanks to Mexico Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to I just have a comment. I wanted to say that this is a public health issue. And I want to thank staff for taking the lead on this in light of Senate Bill 793 postponement. I also want to thank everyone who contacted my office to voice their support for this item. I think it's really important that I hear from the constituents and the residents on such critical issues like this. Labor, tobacco, and particularly vaping among the youth is something I'm definitely concerned about. Personally, my son quit his menthol cigarets because the band he just got out tired of driving out of the city to buy his menthol cigarets. And I'm here to tell you that the ban works. We are saving lives and we are helping our youth. And I think this is a may your step forward in improving the health of our communities. And again, I just want to thank staff and I want to thank the Health Department for their work on this. We're doing the right thing. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Got some of your Ringo. Speaker 2: Appreciate other comments have been made, I guess, to put it clarification legislatively. So the the the referendum that's going to come in 2022 is to. Have a permanent ban or not. So we adopt the permanent ban. What happens in 2022 if the referendum does not pass and it is not there? Speaker 1: So council members. Speaker 2: Are on the other way. Speaker 1: Yeah. So council member if if tonight this council directs my office to draft an ordinance and an ordinance is put in place to ban flavored tobacco locally and the state does not implement a ban. Then the local ban would remain in place until this council either amended it or repealed it. Speaker 2: Okay, that's all I have clarity that. Speaker 3: Councilmember Super now. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to everyone who participated in public comment. I just have one question, and I think it's for Taylor Anderson, and that is, should this item pass tonight? What would the timing be? When would that be brought back to council? Or more importantly, when would a ban go into effect? Speaker 1: Good evening, Councilmember. I believe that we could get it back to you within the next couple of months. I don't even think that it would take that long because we have we have the states language to look to. So it should be fairly easy to implement. And then I'm sorry, what was the second question? Speaker 2: Well, would it would there be a grace period built into that ordinance? Is that what you intend on bringing back? Oh, yes. For the retailers. Okay. Speaker 1: So is in the council letter from the health department, there is actually a three month moratorium to allow the vendors to sell any product that they would have acquired between January 1st to now recognizing that our local vendors likely had acquired product. The time period is shorter than the last time that this council enacted a moratorium. And that's just recognizing that the amount of time that the vendors have had to acquire product, it's a it's a very short window, which is why it's only three months, I believe last time it was 180 days. Speaker 3: Councilmember. Did you have anything else? Speaker 2: No, no. The mute button is a little sticky tonight. I apologize. Thank you. Speaker 3: Okay. Councilman's in the house. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you so much to Councilmember Price for bringing this forward for our city staff. I think that this is a very important item to bring forward. I know that a lot of our of our youths, including our Latino and black communities, are the most affected. And so it is always an it is always a priority of mine to see how we can improve the outcome of our youths. And so by providing such a and I think that we can definitely improve the quality of life, not only of our youth, but also of their families in this community. I do, however, appreciate all of the public comments, and I, I know that, you know, these are tough times, but we really have to look at the fact that this these tobaccos are really harmful to our youth, especially in the early years. But they can have over over lasting consequences that will last throughout a lifetime. And so it's very important that we take action. And I'm very, very much in support of this. So thank you again, Councilmember Price. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman Zoro. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Two council women price. Excuse me for leading on this item. And I also want to thank Ms.. Collopy and the department for working on this. And I just want to share that I appreciate the comments and the letters and the meeting I've had with various members of the community that's concerned about these items. And I also want to share that the you know, the tobacco industry has also just really had a long history of targeting communities of colors and youth of color, especially around how flavored e-cigarettes and vapes have always been a risk for addiction for our youth, especially since a majority of youth of color lives in my district , as well as the north, west and north Long Beach. And how? And also the number of retailers that are in the district as well, making the accessibility of it that it is there. And I and I am in support of this item because I think it's really important that we decrease the accessibility and that we ensure that we increase our young people's health. And and so and for that, I'm a part of it. Thank you. Speaker 3: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I won't take too much time. Congratulations to all involved. Councilwoman Price, when you when you stepped up and let this is obviously was a trigger for the whole state. So congratulations to you. We all know what this is about. Flavor, tobacco targets, young people. And we all are unified and making sure that we make the right decisions and that we move away from these practices. I can remember as a kid, the ice cream truck had little, you know, little pieces of candy blow on it and it looks like a cigaret and smoke will come out. Little pieces of a pieces of ground and we move away from all of those things. So I think this is the right thing to do. And this obviously has my support. Speaker 3: Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and thank you to the comments from my council colleagues. This really is a public health issue. And when we brought this item forward in 2019, it was long before COVID and we knew the public health risks, and now the public health risks are exasperated. In light of everything we know about COVID and protecting our communities from being vulnerable to illnesses like COVID in the future, hopefully we don't have anything like this again, but I think it's really made us all mindful of what we can do to get at the root of the problems and make sure that people are strong and are able to fight anything that comes their way from a health standpoint. I think that I just want to I want to thank everyone who called in, especially the businesses. But I do want to just remind folks that when we brought this item forward, I'm not sure how many remember my comments at the time. I really wanted this to be a permanent ban then, but we made it a temporary ban as a way to mitigate the impacts on the businesses. And we alerted them that we were providing sufficient time for them to pivot in light of the scientific research regarding these products. Regarding the national conversation and gave them time to try to get rid of the products that they had and think about an alternate business model. And what I shared with a lot of those businesses is I'm a small business owner myself. If there were research that came out that said the products that we were providing to people was scientifically found to have a public health risk. As an industry, I know that myself and other businesses in our category would have to shift and pivot understanding that the industry was changing forever. And I understand that they're scared and this is going to have a negative impact, but we can't ignore the national conversation that's happening. And in a way, to say that we're pro-business, we are pro-business. I think this entire council does everything we can to help our small businesses. But when we've got public health versus supporting business, we've got to find a way to move forward that doesn't endanger public health. You can't even compare the two. And I just want to make sure that everybody understands this is something that we did tremendous outreach on. And because of COVID, the item hasn't even come back to council. So there's been plenty of time for our business owners to be able to get rid of their product and anticipate the changes in the industry and pivot in light of those. And so with that, I want to be sensitive to them, whatever the city can do to help them pivot their industry in terms of what they're selling and how they're marketing in light of this new reality for them, I think we would do happily, but this is a national conversation. It is a statewide reality. And if the voters disagree with what we're doing today, then we can reassess the situation then. But until then, I just want to thank my colleagues and just remind everyone this is really about a public health issue and nothing more. So thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman. With that, that concludes council comment. I do have a motion by Councilman Price and the second by Councilmember Austin. We can please do the roll call vote. Speaker 4: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District two. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District six. District seven. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 4: District eight. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 4: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 4: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare an ordinance (1) amending Chapter 5.81 of the Long Beach Municipal Code (“Tobacco Retail Permit”) to prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products, except for those products sold at hookah lounges and premium cigars under certain conditions, within the City, and (2) repeal Chapter 5.94 of the Long Beach Municipal Code (“Sale of Certain Flavored Tobacco Products”) temporarily prohibiting the sale of certain flavored tobacco products within the City of Long Beach. (Citywide)

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Speaker 3: Thank you. Next, we have item 11 and then we'll have general public comment and then the rest of the agenda. So let's do item 11 is next. Speaker 4: Report from Parks, Recreation and Marine and Health and Human Services recommendation to receive a report and confirm the proposed citywide strategic plan for youth and Emerging Adults citywide. Speaker 3: Thank you. I'll turn this over to staff for their report. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you members of the city council. We're excited to be here tonight, the culmination of a lot of engagement and planning. And we've got a presentation from Brant Dennis, our director of Parks Rec and Marine, and Kelly Colby, our director of Health and Human Services. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. Thank symbolic of the close working relationship between the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department and our Health and Human Services Partners. I'm honored to present the Long Beach Strategic Plan for youth and emerging adults. This plan was completed in the midst of two significant health crises the global COVID 19 pandemic and the country's reckoning with racial injustice. Shelter in place and stay at home. Orders, combined with social distancing measures introduced nearly a year ago in March 2020, sparked a definite shift in community conversations uplifting the social, emotional and economic impact on youth of color in Long Beach. Kelly will start our presentation by recalling how the plan before you this evening began. The plan began through a community effort led by Career Girls in Action and the Advancement Project to develop the Invest in Youth Campaign Report. Kelly. Speaker 5: So. Good evening, Honorable Mayor and Council Members. Thank you for this opportunity to share the city's new strategic plan. This plan comes from the youth of our community and reflects voices from all of our communities in the city. The groundwork was led by the Invest in Youth campaign. This was a partnership of the coming Girls in Action, building healthy communities and other community apartment partners. The Advancement Project in Cal State, Long Beach. The partnership surveyed more than 700 people and engaged many others in the community. What it found was that Long Beach residents were willing to support greater investment in youth in the community, and that at this time the city spends more of its resources on youth suppression than it does on youth development. Utilizing these findings. The Youth from Invest in Youth Campaign presented their report to the City Council in June 2018. Youth leaders spoke to the multiple challenges they face and their vision for youth in the city to live their best lives now. In 2019, the City Council authorized $200,000 to develop a plan that would serve as the guiding vision and a framework for responding to the needs of the city's youth and their families over a three year, 3 to 5 year period. Parks and Parks. Recreation and Marine and the Health Department a partner to develop this plan with youth and consultants. Speaker 2: Our youth ambassadors were really an important element in the development of the plan. We had nearly. Speaker 0: 20 ambassadors in the fall of 2019 an application and. The Youth ambassadors were really an integral part in the development of this plan. We had nearly 20 youth ambassadors, ages 16 to 24, that were selected in the fall of 2019 through an application and interview process. Two ambassadors representing each of the nine council districts were joined by several other youth ambassadors that were nominated at large by the greater community. Ambassadors participated in several strategic planning trainings, facilitated all seven community forums, co-designed the online and key and format, survey instruments and outreach, and engaged to ensure the survey data was collected from throughout the city. I think very much reflective of the motivation and the energy shared by all of our youth ambassadors. The quote that's included by Alexa King is most appropriate. And she she said, quote, I believe that young people deserve to be involved in the institutions that govern them. The best way to represent the youth of our community is to hear from them directly. This is why I was so eager to get involved with the youth strategic plan, unquote. Just a quick glance at our planned development timeline. The project began back in early portions of 2018, and as the timeline indicates, several important steps led us to this evening. We will be presenting to you this plan for review and release to our city council leadership. Speaker 5: The beginning of the planning process, we engaged the youth in conversations about their possibility, the possibility at home, in community, in school and their future. They described what it would look like when all was going well and when Long Beach was supporting them to be their authentic selves. They began the process of establishing the vision and their statement of possibility, and then refined it based on information they received from the community engagement process and then refined it even further through their experience of the COVID pandemic and the uprisings of last summer. The vision for youth is that all youth and emerging adults between the ages of 8 to 24 are healthy and empowered through the necessary resources to develop into their true, authentic selves. Their statement of possibility is that youth are valued and empowered as decision makers in the city of Long Beach to lead long term change and solutions for the betterment of youth now and future generations. When we look at youth in our city, we realize that we have approximately 130,000 youth between the ages of 5 to 24 across the city. The data show that our younger generation is much more diverse than our older generation, where 55% of those over the age of 65 are white. More than half of our youth, 56% are Latino. 16% are white, 14% are black, and 11% are Asian. The data also show that a majority of our youth are ages 5 to 17 in the city live in central, north and west Long Beach areas that also have the highest percentage of low income households. Nearly one quarter of our youth under the age of 18 lives below the poverty line. This impacts access to health, mental health and wellness, educational outcomes, future income housing, and opportunities for successful futures. Speaker 0: Community engagement was significant and extensive. Led primarily by our 19 youth ambassadors. There were 71 key stakeholder interviews. Forums were attended by over 200 people. Residents completed surveys that totaled nearly 790, and there were three. My brother's keepers, Long Beach town halls that had nearly 14,900 viewers. Thematically, there were five challenges identified that faced our youth. The challenges included access to mental health, economic and educational opportunities, stable and affordable housing, safe spaces to belong and connect and stable and affordable transportation. From these challenges faced by our youth, six specific goals were established. Speaker 5: The plan, as Brenda said, has six primary goals that are aligned with the themes. The first goal is around youth development and to ensure that youth ages 18 to 24 have robust, sustainable and accessible services within the city. Throughout Long Beach, there are services for youth in our schools. Our neighborhoods are employers and are community based organizations. Yet the services are not coordinated, can be difficult to find and are not sufficient to meet the needs of our youth. The first step is to establish an Office of Youth Development, to lead increasing access to services, coordination of available services, funding and support for youth in the city. The office will be focused on positive youth development, which recognizes, utilizes, enhances young people's strengths and promotes positive outcomes for young people by providing opportunities, fostering positive relationships, and furnishing the support needed to build on their leadership strengths. The office will be housed in the Health and Human Services Department with the funding appropriated to the Health Department and the FBI 21 budget. The focus will be on leveraging existing funding opportunities such as measure US and identifying new structural funding to support youth efforts. The Office will also focus on building coordination and collaboration with partners, tracking data to show impacts of the efforts across the city and building additional supports and services for our youth. The second goal is around physical health, mental health and emotional wellness for both physical health and mental health. It's not just the absence of disease, but includes emotional, psychological and social well-being, as well as the ability to navigate challenging life circumstances, adapt to change, and have fulfilling relationships to realize full potential. Parents and youth across the city identified mental health as a key concern based on the demands of schooling, employment, family and so much more . There are many efforts underway to increase physical and mental health, including school based efforts. Healthy, active Long Beach parks activities, healthy market place conversions and teen programs. However, many youth say accessing mental health services is either very hard or somewhat hard. This goal focuses on increasing access through partnerships, funding, coordination with the County Department of Mental Health and local providers, and then making that access easier. It's also important to continue to create safe and open spaces for physical activity, connection and families through connected through increased programing of park sites, drawing user agreement with Long Beach Unified and other organizations, and creating a virtual connection to build relationship. Speaker 0: Bill number three focuses on planning for the future. You should have career pathways to ensure economic stability and mobility. This can be done through the establishment of partnerships to increase access to pathways that expand economic and social capital for our youth. Also to increase private sector engagement. And a commitment to support youth development. And then thirdly, to increase access to technology and resources to support innovation and ensure that all youth have an equal opportunity to succeed. And then moving on to go for the focus is upon community care and social connectedness. The youth should have inclusive spaces that foster a caring environment to grow and develop. The creation of open spaces that reflect the needs of young people is essential. Also, the creation and the sustainability of youth led platforms that promote inclusive spaces and equity was was pointed out. And then thirdly, to increase and sustain programing that promotes pro-social engagement for youth that are system impacted. Speaker 5: The Community Care section also includes a prevention and intervention section. This goal focuses on eliminating justice, touchpoints with youth and expanding enhancing availability of community based alternatives to youth incarceration and supervision that are trauma informed and promote healing. Community members and youth ambassadors expressed concern during the My Brother's Keeper Long Beach town halls about youth, sense of safety and the effects that current policing and public safety strategies have on youth growth and development. Information from the town halls led to conversations around alternative interventions and violence prevention strategies that reduce youth interaction with law enforcement. Within the Health Department, efforts to reduce violence in the city as well as alternative interventions are aligned to support these efforts for youth. Existing efforts at the Long Beach Unified School District have begun to promote positive alternatives to school discipline trainings, training school for faculty and staff on the use of restorative justice approaches that reintegrate students into the classroom through mediated conversations. This approach to justice focuses on repairing harm done to individuals and the community. The goal also focuses on building a multidisciplinary response system that advocates for individual youth needs, responds to mental health crises and school related incidents, invest in community resources and services, and integrates alternative non-law enforcement intervention specialists. This will help minimize the criminalization of youth behaviors and will help youth live in their communities with the adequate trauma informed support they need to thrive in their transition to adulthood. Well, five is a housing youth, that youth have safe, affordable and accessible housing options. Safe housing is a core basic need and is the foundation of wellness to have safe and affordable and accessible housing options for youth as they live with their families and as they grow and then when they leave home, is essential for those exiting out of foster care. The justice system are experiencing homelessness. Accessing this housing can be a much more difficult. Many efforts are underway through the Health Department, Development Services and other providers. However, there remains a need to focus closely on ensuring our youth have homes in which they are safe. Speaker 0: Our sixth and final goal focuses on transportation that youth have safe, affordable and accessible transportation options. In that area to see the creation and sustainability of reduced and or no fair for youth policy. And also to increase access to safe transportation from the six goals. Kelly will share with you where things will be headed in early implementation and governance. Speaker 5: Our early implementation is focused on bringing resources to the Office of Youth Development through the Racial Equity and Reconciliation funding to hire two people to lead this work for the city. Additional funding of $170,000 in CARES ACT funding was distributed through RFP to ten community based organizations to support their work with youth. Also, the measure, US ballot measure passed last fall with youth as a focus area for future investment. All of these funding streams are important to expand opportunity and oversight for youth across the city. The overall governance structure for youth development in the city is three fold. The Office of Youth Development, the Youth and Family Commission and the coordination with existing city led youth advisory and leadership groups in the community. The plan's goals indicate a restructuring of the Youth and Family Commission to align with the Office of Youth Development. This would be a partnership with parks and a commune and community members. With this, I turn it back to Britain. Speaker 0: Thank you, Kelly. In closing, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge our 19 youth ambassadors. I'm sure they're all patched in listening tonight. But also, I'd like to acknowledge the work of Ana Lopez, who's our health department's community impact division officer, and also our CARES Act consultant, Eli Romero, who did a great job. I also thought it was appropriate the youth selected, although she's quite famous now. Amanda Gordon An excerpt of one of her poems. And again, I'll try to do it justice. Quote Let every dawn find us courageous. Brought closer, heeding the light before the fight is over. When this ends, we'll smile sweetly. Finally seeing in testing times, we became the best of beings, unquote. Amanda Gordon So with that, we thank you for your attention. We're available to answer any questions. Speaker 3: Thank you to the staff. Really great presentation. I do have a vice mayor Richardson, I think has a motion to approve, but I have also a public comment by somewhere. Did you want to make some comments or you want me go to public comment first. Speaker 2: Before the public comment? Speaker 3: All right. Let me go, Madam Clerk. Let's do public comment, please. Speaker 0: Our first speaker is Alexa King. Speaker 6: Alexis Garcia and city council members. Hello. Speaker 0: Yes. Please continue. Speaker 6: American City Council members. My name is Alexa King. My parents are she hers. And I'm representing Council District number five and 19 years old. And I go to Cal State Fullerton and I'm also the founder of the nonprofit The Exceptional Day of Play. And for the past year or so, I have also had the privilege of being a youth ambassador. And I'm so thrilled to share this plan that we've worked so hard on with all of you today. I urge you to approve this recommendation, to receive this report and confirm the proposed citywide strategic plan for youth and emerging adults . And my time as youth ambassadors. I have been so lucky to have spoken with so many different people of all ages, from every background. But I can take away from the entire experience is that young people have voices that demand to be heard. This plan is a direct result of the collaboration from the youth of Long Beach and their shared experiences and opinions, all of which deserve to be recognized. It is no secret that our generation has inherited a planet in need of healing, and the young people who will one day be sitting where you sit in positions of power deserve to be part of the decision making. As you reflect on the recommendations here today, I urge you to think of the Long Beach youth who dedicated themselves to the adopting of this report and what it would mean for their futures to confirm the proposed citywide strategic plan for youth and emerging adults. Our futures depend on the decisions you make today, so please consider the feedback and recommendations shared from Long Beach youth and ensure the voices of young people are validated and represented. Thank you for your time. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Brianna Mendez Padilla. Speaker 6: Hello? Speaker 0: Yes, please begin. Speaker 6: Hi there, Mayor Garcia, Long Beach councilmembers. My name is my pronouns are she her and I'm representing Council District one and 19 and a freshman at Cal State Long Beach. Over the past two years, I have been involved with my community as a youth reporter for local news Media Hub VOICE We have been given a platform to uplift voices by sharing their stories. I am a youth ambassador for the same reason we have worked strenuously on this plan. I am thrilled to share it with you all. I urge you to approve this recommendation, to receive this report and confirm the proposed citywide strategic plan for youth and emerging adults. My main goal is that you can be ambassador has been to ensure that you have access to resources and opportunities that possibly support your leadership and growth. This is a way to ensure that. I want to emphasize two main points. Firstly, this plan has been youth led from the start. It is for youth by youth, and that must continue with implementation. Black and consumers, youth of color of all genders, entities have been systemically disrupted by policing. Poverty and racism must remain key for justice decisionmakers. Those most impacted by systems of harm should be leading the solution. Secondly, the vital to ensure that funding for positive use of violence in the city is never threatened by budget cuts. The mayor and council members need to ensure that there is an established one with children and youth and in this year's implementation process, again are here to approve and support the feedback share today with all these using. Thank you for your time. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Cesar Armendariz. Speaker 2: Hello. My name is Cesar Armendariz and I live in the third city council district. zipCode 90804. I want to express my support for the specificity, taking and recognizing the need to bring young people as partners to the decision making table. I feel very proud of the young people of our city and their allies who worked hard to put this plan together. This is progress because young people in our society are often excluded from the decisions that end up directly impacting their lives. The creation of the Youth of the Office of Youth Development is a cause for celebration because it implements a common sense solution to the issue of public health and public safety. Investing in the mental health of our youth and connecting them to resources and access to capital is a preventative and cost effective upstream policy. This plan gives us an alternative to the policies that inflict discriminatory and often lethal violence in our communities in the name of public safety. This plan gets us one step closer to building a community where public health and public safety is not measured by how many men with badges and guns patrol our streets. I urge city council members to increase funding to the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Office of Equity and will oversee the Office of Youth Development, a well-funded health department prioritized through the city budget as the alternative to a healthier and safer Long Beach. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Dave. Now. I'm sorry. Dan can. And now. Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you. Dan Knapp, your contribution call Armitage. Good evening, Honorable Mayor City Council again. Dan Knapp. At the core, we applaud the city for developing a citywide, comprehensive plan for youth and emerging adults. You know, the Conservation Corps, which has been serving Long Beach in the community, has been a community resource for over 30 years. Our mission to develop young people to reach their full potential through work service, conservation, education is our our stalwart of the corps. That being said, I'd like to say that we're first and foremost a youth development organization. We utilize a project work such as urban forestry, recycling, resource conservation, greenspace and park development as a means to help develop the young people of the Conservation Corps. Most young people come to our doors looking for paid work. What they find and what keeps them here is our holistic approach to job training, skills development, opportunities for new experiences in environment, case management, transition, support and opportunity to serve the community, and of course, a passionate and caring staff and board. The opportunity to an ability to serve cannot be understated. We cannot be more proud of our young people, especially during this past year, whether it was helping the city establish testing in health care facilities to support the city's pandemic efforts, or helping clean up downtown, uptown and Midtown. Today, after the Conservation Corps, Corps members and staff marched in support of Black Lives. Speaker 0: Think your next speaker is Gabe Sanders. Speaker 2: Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Gabe Sanders. I'm a freshman history major, attended the University of Wisconsin virtually from Long Beach, where I've lived my entire life, and I represented District three as a youth ambassador. Long Beach has cultivated within me a commitment to public service and a profound passion for advocacy, both of which I carry with me today. As I implore this Council not only to respond to this long overdue plan with words of affirmation, but to implement our recommendations with a sense of urgency. It must be noted that as as this is the first plan of its kind, not every important issue could be fully addressed. For this reason, I would also urge the Council to look beyond the language of this report to local and global youth led effort against climate change, one of the most enduring and existential crises of our time. In the wake of a pandemic, it would be easy to turn a blind eye to seemingly less imminent threats of carbon emissions and rising tides. However, the issue of environmental justice should be of paramount importance to a city that hosts the second largest port in the country, a port that happens to sit in the backyard of our indigent communities of color. Last year, I participated in the city run program Youth Leadership Long Beach, which provided me and 29 other high school students with an opportunity to learn how we might integrate environmental sustainability into our lives. I was given a phenomenal experience, however, in a city with nearly half a million people. 130 person youth program is not enough. Whether expanding this effort to educate and activate youth means allotting funding for a similar program in every district, or bringing the curriculum to middle and high school campuses. Young people must be at the forefront, and the time must be now. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jennifer Hing. Speaker 6: Hi. Can you hear me? Speaker 0: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 6: Thank you. Hi. Mayor Garcia and Long Beach Councilmember. My name is Jen and the lead organizer with Clean Girls in Action. Two things I want to list on this agenda item. First, you said your plan emerged because leaders of the Investing Youth Campaign envision a more equitable world where young people are valued and included in our city's budget and in decisions that impact their lives. Before the pandemic, close to 30% of our city's youth population, ages 19 and under, were already living in poverty. Districts one, two, four, six, eight and nine hold 90% of youth poverty in our city. With the release of the planet Earth, the Mayor and Council to respond to crises and support positive interventions like establishing and prioritizing along these Children and Youth Fund with a dedicated funding source in 2021. This has been young people's asses before this plan. Secondly, I want to uplift goal number four, specifically prevention and intervention proposed activities on behalf of our community. I strongly recommend that OPD use their own budget to assess youth and police relations, to inform policing practices and not to serve, and that a survey to inform community care to not be facilitated by the Long Beach Police Department in our survey, which was received and filed as official city data. 80% believe the best way to make our community safer and invest in community based youth development programs. Furthermore, additional data shows black indigenous youth of color in District six, seven and nine live in heavily police neighborhoods, which specifically lead to more fear and mistrust moving towards a new generation of hope and COVID 19 recovery means creating a process of community. Speaker 0: I think your next speakers, Mac Harris. Speaker 6: Good evening, Murcia Beach Council members. My name is Mac Harris. My pronouns are they them? And I'm representing Council District six. I am 22 years old. I'm also currently one of the youth ambassadors of the Institute, a plan that we are presenting here today. I am so excited to share this plan that we worked so hard on with you all, and I urge you to approve the recommendation to receive this and report and confirm the proposed citywide plan for youth and emerging adults. I grew up in the city. Went to high school in the city. Like myself. And then one more way back to myself. With the help of the community in the city, I wouldn't be where I am today without the community I found. That's what uplifting the voices do or reminding a young person of what their power looks like. This plan is a way for the city to listen and be accountable to the youth reside within it. I want to bring that to the attention of the Council today. The Need for Youth Fund. Young people need infrastructure to support city wise, positive youth development and dedicated funding to ensure there is equal access and resources and opportunities. It is finally time I start our city side by youth and invest in our future. Lastly, it is vital to this plan that young people in Long Beach have an equitable opportunity to continue shaping the implementation of this plan. We deserve a voice at the table. Prior to this, there is no end to institutionalized practice that brings young people to the table to talk about needs and priorities that will shape our city budget and policies. Many spaces are adult led to the release of this plan shows what can and should be done differently. Please consider this feedback. Thank you for your time. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jordan Wynn. Speaker 2: Hi there. This is Jordan Win District two resident and representative for the everyone in Mommy's campaign. I just want to speak to the great support of this wonderful Strategic Youth Initiative that has been in the works for quite some time. At this point, all the wonderful people at many of the nonprofits, including Kaga, who have been very close to creating this this really successful looking program. I just want to emphasize the need for affordable housing. As someone who was recently a youth and someone who has siblings who are growing up, you know, born and raised through the wonderful Lumbee public schooling system, we have a very stark housing affordability crisis in front of myself. I am getting by, but as the years go on, rents continue to rise and our affordable housing needs also continue to rise. We need close to 11,000 new affordable units, according to our regional housing needs assessment. So when we think about affordable housing, we need to think about investing in our youth, the people who have grown here in Long Beach. You know, I went to poly and the slogan is Enter to learn, go forth to serve. And I love to serve my city here so long as it's not breaking the bank. So I thank you for bringing this presentation forward, and I look forward to all the good that will come from it. Thank you very much. Speaker 0: Thank your next speaker is Mina Marder. Speaker 6: Good evening, magazine Long Beach Councilmembers. My name is Mina. My pronouns are she her. I'm 18 and I'm currently a freshman at UC Santa Barbara, majoring in history of public policy and law. I graduated last year as a valedictorian from Wilson High School, where my involvement in clubs and student run organizations fostered in me a passion for community and youth activism. I am honored to be in front of you today as a youth ambassador representing District five. This plan is incredibly important to me and I'm so excited that we get to share it with you. I urge you to receive this report and confirm the proposed citywide strategic plan for youth and emerging adults. As someone who lived in Long Beach my entire life, I feel very close to these issues and I'm so grateful to have been a part of this process. Like many youth in America, I've struggled with mental health issues and experienced many barriers when trying to access support. This is an opportunity to attack this issue head on, especially since it has intensified because of the pandemic. The city needs to play a more active role in bringing mental health resources to students. It could look like prioritizing funding for on campus counseling, creating safe spaces for students who don't feel safe, talking about their emotions at home, or even educating families in the best way to support their children. Your people will allow us to secure the futures that we envision for ourselves and ensure the mental well-being of Long Beach youth for years to come. Although this plan is the first of its kind, it must not be the last. The strategic plan itself speaks to just how capable the youth are when they are empowered and valued in society. Youth have been at the forefront of several movements, especially in the past year. Our collective initiative has shown that there is no. Speaker 0: Thank you. Our next speaker is Sharon Sinegal. Speaker 6: Good evening, Mayor and city council members. My name is Sharon Sinegal and I'm the executive director of Rodney's house. We appreciate the dedication and hard work of the city staff and the youth ambassadors and the entire team, including Arnold Lopez and Eli, for their dedication to this youth initiative. This past week, Ronnie's House and Success and Challenges host the 35 Team and Creative Leadership Program that integrated mental health, mentorship and podcast training. Thanks to the CARES Act funding, we asked teens to answer a survey to tell us where their priorities were. And in this order, number one was opening up a business. Number two were career opportunities. Three, Tutoring and mental health teams are hungry for the knowledge and the programing and mentorship, and we owe them. And we have an obligation to them to ensure that they receive that support. If we are committed as a city to public safety, stopping gun violence, eliminating poverty and building an equitable Long Beach. We must invest in our youth through leadership programs, spaces for recreation and creativity, and we must connect them with the proper mentorship and mental health resources. We can leverage our city owned properties and work with our local businesses. We can also invest some of the money that is put into our police department, expand our CARES Act funding and move some of our cannabis dollars into our youth. Considering that the cannabis industry has hurt many communities with the war on drugs. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you very much for that. I'm going to turn this over to Vice Mayor Richardson, but I just wanted to just say something real briefly, because I've been listening to all the comment, and I just want to just I just have to start us off by just saying how impressive everyone that spoke is. And it just I'm sure for everyone that's going to speak from the council, it just gives, like me just so much hope to hear all of our young people and the future of our city speak so forcefully about the issues that they care about and about putting this plan together. And, you know, just the testament to even those that have gone on to the next phase of their education but are still involved and still back and promoting this plan. It just speaks to, I think, the integrity of everyone that was involved in this. And, I mean, it just brings me back to all the great memories of of being in a classroom and just seeing students succeed. And you guys are awesome. So just thank you for all those amazing comments that some of the best stuff I've heard and at a council meeting in a very long time and I just want to thank you all for really uplifting the rest of us. So excellent, excellent work and comments. So with that, Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: I couldn't agree. I couldn't agree more, Mayor. I think first, the timing couldn't be better. All the things taking place in our community to hear such passion and vinegar from our young people, it's really exciting. And to see that they know what they're talking about, how they've contributed this report to standing up and endorsing this report, that means a lot. I want to acknowledge the youth ambassadors and everybody who participated, Jillian Mack, everyone who contributed to this. You did an incredible job on the Invest in Youth Coalition. I remember when this was just a twinkle in your eye in the beginning. You know, that request was for youth that you have to move away from, that you want to youth hear you loud and clear out. We pivoted and mayor, thank you. It was your budget that allocated $100,000 to start the conversation on Youth Fund. And the youth said, hey, let's use that on a strategic plan. So I'm great. I'm glad to see the progress that we have we've made. I remember there was a discussion at my field office three years ago, you know, of numerous youth, our planning, strategic planning, you know, to bring this to front of the city council. So it looks it looks good. I think the goal is it was it was a lot of things. I like the goal. I think that to create the best youth development system in America, it's holistic and intersectional. And we have great institutions already, but we need to work together with one strategic plan. I love the term Live Our Best Lives. Kelly said that a few times. I wrote that now for our youth to live their best lives that we want for our children want them to live their best lives. I love the statement of possibility that was incredible that the youth prepared. I think the challenges faced by youth that were outlined really align with the challenges faced by the broader community. They brought out mental health. They brought up transportation to transit. And that's that's really insightful. I think equity really comes across here. And and framing our youth is assets and that's really a youth development to me is about reframing the conversation from youth, having a bit of insurmountable odds to changing those ads for making sure the system promotes and develops harmony. I think that's important to know. I'm inspired by these youth. I was 26 when I started working at City Hall. I'm you've all talked about 16 to 24 the adolescent, right? You guys can change the world. You can change the city to make it better. You have the opportunity to do that more specifically, just a few things. I think some critical next steps are important. You know, you strategic plan was one step in the reconciliation. We created the office youth development manager you see past there's all of those things create alignment I believe people know I'm always talking about plan plan this plan that. But then after you have the plan, you work the plan. That's where we need to go. Next one, a couple of things. One, I'm going to introduce the motion on Tuesday to begin the process. Now that measure us is adopted, create the process of structuring a youth fund for the community, for the community, as well as the youth that talked about we should leverage our measure us. But also look at L.A. County Measure J. That's important. Secondly, we got to think about integrating youth into our all of our planning process. We're already doing that. But I think the way we can appropriately do that is think about a civic engagement element in our general plan, our youth, to actually submit themselves and their voice into the future. The last thing I'll say is there was a discussion during My Brother's Keeper and all of this about creating a youth council within the city of our youth at Youth and Adults, the Youth Council of Youth. That's something I want to see that we pursue. Now, I'm not sure what the timeline would be. That's certainly something I think we need to have. Thank you to staff. Thank you to everyone who contributed this. I think this landed in a great. And I'm really eager. The timing is incredible to see what we can do to grow this clan and to make sure that we work this plan with our new offices. Development and measure U.S. Opportunity Manager Jack. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman Price. Speaker 1: There we go. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm sorry about that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank staff for that amazing presentation. I love that it was done in partnership between health and parks, because I think that programing and providing opportunities and activities that are subsidized by the city for youth throughout the city to be involved in is such an important piece of this. And so I want to thank staff for the presentation. I want to thank Gabe Sanders, who was one of the youth that I recommended, and Mina motta, who spoke tonight, and Ali Khan, who did not speak tonight, but who were all people I recommended and served on this committee. I'm just so impressed by you guys. Mina motta was involved in our youth participatory budgeting plan that we did many years ago, and there's not a day that I don't walk through Marina Vista Park and look at the Luke Johnson Sport Court and think of the work that that youth did to honor a third district youth who passed away as a result of cancer. But what they did was engage that park and activate it. And that's been really positive. And I really want to talk about just Gabe's comments regarding climate change. There was a study that I read about recently in The New York Times regarding how climate change is affecting the youth in terms of allergies and how much longer they're staying sick. And these are climate change impacts that sometimes we don't think about, especially for a councilmember who represents the coast. We're often thinking about sea level rise and other major climate impacts, but we're not thinking about how these climate impacts are affecting our youth and their ability to succeed and thrive. I love the part of the strategic plan that talks about housing and transportation. I know that for my mother and I, we struggled quite a bit to find our footing in America when we came. And, you know, my own personal experience has dictated to me that if you don't have a safe structure from with from which to build your future, have that solid foundation, it's really the odds are against you. And so anything that we can do as a city to help build that strong structure in terms of housing and transportation is critical. We can't expect people to to thrive if they're set up for failure. And so I think that that's really important that that's in there. And then I just want to talk a lot about mental health and substance abuse. I staff one of the collaborative courts in my daily job, and I see people whose lives have been completely devastated as a result of substance abuse that started when they were in this age group. And specifically, what concerns me the most is opiate use. And I just worry that sometimes the pressures in life get really hard for all of our youth, regardless of what part of the city they live in. And if they don't have the support and the infrastructure in place, then they can easily go down the wrong path. And once you get on that wrong path, it's it's so difficult to get back out and be able to to make something great of your life. And so I just want to encourage our health department and our Parks and Rec department to think about mental health in terms of our youth. We should be offering programing in every corner of this city for our youth to have the support of infrastructure in place, to route their anxieties, their fears and their concerns in a healthy way. That, to me, is the number one issue that we should be focused on once we establish a strong foundation of housing and transportation and get people in a place where they can actually think about the type of support they need and utilize those opportunities. So I want to thank the youth that served on this committee, those of whom I I'm aware of, those who have never met. Thank you for your leadership, because you guys are the future of the city. And I'm really grateful for your participation in this process. Speaker 6: Thank you. Speaker 3: The next step we have. And by the way, I think the motion was made by Vice Mayor Richardson and there was a second by Councilman Rice. Is that right? Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: Okay. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 3: Okay. Then we have. Next up is Councilman Mongo. Speaker 1: Thank you. What a great presentation. This is amazing. I want to thank all the ambassadors and the hard work that you put in. You spoke so eloquently about the item and your passion that you put into it. Thank you so much for your contributions. As I've been saying a lot with our listening sessions, it's really we as the elected officials that are here to represent your ideas and your opinions and make sure that the things that are important to you and allow you to grow, thrive and be prosperous are available. And so thank you for bringing forward this roadmap. I look forward to investing in it, and I really appreciate everyone who contributed to this report. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman Zoro, please. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. So I want to thank my girls in action for their leadership, as well as our youth ambassadors, our, you know, the youth that participated Project Teen Advisory Committee part and all the partners. And just so much went into completing this, especially during a pandemic. And I just want to thank Ms.. Collopy and Mr. Dennis for his presentation and all the staff were working on this item. You know, as the former executive director of My Girls in Action from 2006 to 2011, I'm just so proud of our young people's leadership to see it as item and that it proposes a citywide strategic plan for young youth and emerging adults. You know, at that time, when I was that age, it was a vision, a dream that all of us doing the youth development and leadership work had something like this an office for Youth Development and to create an integrated system for young people, to have a seat at the table, to have their voice heard, and to make decisions impacting their lives. So I believe it's just so critical, crucial that we invest in young people's success by investing in programs and process, that it prevents the social health, social health, public health and educational disparities and inequities. So I've been I've always been deeply and fiercely passionate about developing and supporting our young people to organize and fight for a system that works for them. And I still do. And this is just a great example of how we can better support young people to grow and thrive and be engaged in a civic process and a systemic beginning process for systemic change. And I support keeping the Office of Youth Development and the Health and Human Services Department and of course, to supporting the strategic plans implementation. And I enthusiastically support this item. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I, too, want to just leave my congratulations and applaud all of those involved in creating this plan, especially the youth ambassadors who participated. Our staff and the many community partners and advisors who were engaged in this is a very impressive document. I think it's a it's a great guideline and a good start for continue or improving engagement of our youth. I think looking at this, you know, understanding that positive youth development is the framework or a baseline for us to to develop this plan. I would say it would be lost on us, not to to mention that the most positive youth development is good parenting. And so I salute the parents out there who are nurturing and doing the right thing in terms of developing their kids and allowing them to build the confidence and allowing them to dream and be there, achieve their best lives. I do like that this plan emphasizes safe communities and stable communities as a as a as something necessary for it, for youth to be developed in the way that that provides a positive outcome for them. And I think that includes, you know, livable communities, walkable communities. We have to continue our investment in neighborhood libraries and in parks and recreation programs that really go a long way to to create a positive, a good experience for our youth in our city. And also, I would like to to just make a suggestion that, you know, we we continue to engage. I didn't see it much in the plan, but we continue to engage. You know, outlets like. Youth sports and the coaches related to those still sport programs as as strong strategic partners for the city and in developing. Hopefully this will will be done through the Office of Youth Development. The mentoring the many mentoring programs in the city as well as coordinating the internships that are so important in terms of developing our youth. But this is this is a great, great plan. I want to applaud the staff. I want to applaud the youth who were involved in this. I look forward to good things coming out of this Office of Youth Development. And I'm glad that this is that we now have an umbrella kind of organization or piece of our organization that will help us focus more on youth development in the city. So again, thank you. I'm happy to support this and I was delighted to see this before this evening. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman Ringa. Speaker 2: Thank you. And I think the comments have been made by my colleague is spot on. They're all exit comments and I couldn't be more proud of our youth in the public comment period when they came forward and spoke of their experience and their wishes for the future. We're doing a good job here at Long Beach. As I go, we'll close to 40 years of working with the city and the city, not only as an employee, but also as a member of the Community College Board of Trustees and City Council. And this is a proud moment for me as a city council member because we've tried this before. I want to be the stick in the mud. But we've had youth commissions before. We've had strategic, strategic plans dealing with youth and getting them to a level that we want. But this is the most comprehensive report and plan that I have that I've seen anywhere, and I think that it's an excellent one to reach out to both our directors of Parks, Recreation, Marine and Health and Human Services for the detail that they've done. And of course, they don't do it without the support of their staff. I think everyone did a great job with this. But as you all agree, the old village proverb goes It takes a village to do everything and to do anything to be successful. And by the way, if I didn't see it last week, I would say right now that Happy Black History Month, when it comes to these types of projects and these kinds of commitments, what I say, it takes a village. It takes all the stakeholders that we have in the city to get involved from employers to our boards of education, community colleges, universities. And we have in place the college promise that I think we can use and benefit from and get it more engaged in terms of what's going on with our youth and in our future. We have the city college, we have the district, we have the university, and then we have that fourth cog that are which was the of law, which involved which creates the full loop of education, internships and opportunity and employment. And where we put all that together, we have a successful and great city. So I am looking forward to the implementation of this program. There's a lot of different elements to it that we need to work on, but I think it won't be. It won't work unless we get everybody involved. And that's where we have been successful in the past, is that there hasn't really been that connection, that that opportunity to get all the stakeholders involved and engaged in what we're trying to do here. So I'm looking forward to working with our colleagues on the College Board and the school board at the university to strengthen our educational system. To strengthen the opportunities that we have for our youth to go into the programs, not only in terms of the community, college and university would be a doctor, programs and high paying jobs here in the city and elsewhere. So that that's my comment today and had really like I say, it's a proud moment for me being on the city council adopting this plan. Thank you very much. Speaker 3: Thank you for that, councilwoman in Dallas. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say a big, big thank you for Director Denis and Ms.. Collopy for this very impressive presentation. And even bigger, thank you to our ambassadors who obviously did put in so much work into into this plan. And I'm so excited. I couldn't be more thrilled with what's supporting this item. And as we all know it, it makes a huge difference when we have programs set in place for our youth. They could mean the difference between going down the wrong path or creating and achieving their dreams and being successful and really productive members of society. So I'm just super thrilled to be able to support these efforts that have been made. And I know it's been a long time coming and I know that it's been worked on for years, but the end result is a really great result and I look forward to in the near future supporting a fund for our children and youth. I think that that's going to be very important and that we need to move in that direction. So thank you very much for everyone that worked on this. And I'm very, very happy, any group to support this item tonight. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Allen. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. Just what a great presentation. And thank you, Director Colletti, and thank you, Director Dennis, for all of your hard work on this report. I also want to give a big shout out to all the 19 youth ambassadors and the staff who work so hard on all the forums and all the town halls. And like the mayor said earlier in his comments, I was just so impressed and and just really moved by all the the speakers tonight. I'm just so proud of the youth in our city, I believe, and the youth in our city. And I, too, want them to live and fulfill their best lives. And I look forward to supporting this office and making sure that we're able to find all of the elements of this plan. And as a young person who grew up in this city, I'm just so proud of our progress. Just great work, everyone. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 1: Thank you. I was so excited to thank everyone and the youth and so impressed by all the things they said. I forgot that I had one question. Mr. Modica or Ms.. Cappelli, perhaps one of the slides discussed the transportation for youth and the desire to have complimentary transportation available. I know that we have a program in my district that we're piloting with the Transit Authority. Is that project. I mean, it was before COVID and obviously it was it was initiated and provided through Millikan High School. And so I'm not sure where we are with programs like that. Is that something that we could get an update on either via email or two from Ford just so we know that they know that providing free transportation to our youth is a a critical service. Speaker 5: Councilmember Enter the objective one under goal six the current activity and say we're supporting a discount of bus passes for eligible students and increasing awareness at the city colleges. No cost, strong beach bus pass. So there are some free options right now. And then the intent would be to expand that. So I'm not as aware of the one that you're referring to, but we'd love to learn more. Speaker 1: On how wonderful it was to the Long Beach Transit director way before that. And that program rolled out its best to potentially move citywide. And with COVID, I guess students weren't technically moving to and from school, but we can do during COVID to help facilitate getting those transportation options into their hands. I imagine that they're just as important now as when they're in school. Thank you so much. And with the staff and the community and the participants and the ambassadors, great presentation. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes council comment and I just want to circle back and just thank everyone on the team. And I think folks have been really, really active at all levels at the city and it's just been really wonderful to see. And so thank you to the Health Department, to our Parks Department, all the especially the youth and the different groups that also were involved in the creation. And so great work, really great plan. I look forward to being able to implement it here at the city and and continue to engage youth as actively as this process did . So thank you. And a roll call vote, please. Speaker 4: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District two. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District three. Councilwoman. Is that an eye? Speaker 1: It was an I. Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes, thank you. District four. District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District six. Office. District seven. Speaker 2: II. Speaker 4: District eight. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 4: Motion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes the two big items we had tonight. Most of the public comment. So we're going to go back to open public comment. And Madam Karp, you can go ahead and go through those and then we'll go back to the agenda.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive a report and confirm the proposed citywide Strategic Plan for Youth and Emerging Adults. (Citywide)

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Speaker 3: So I'm looking forward to that then be included in that process. So thank you to everyone that spoke and let's move on to the rest of the agenda. Let's do item ten, please. Speaker 4: Report from Human Resources recommendation to adopt a resolution approving an exception to the 180 day waiting period for public agencies to hire Maria or Maria for a limited duration to work in the Technology and Innovation Department citywide. Speaker 3: Thank you. Can we get a motion in a second, please? Motion by Vice Mayor Richardson. Second patient has recovered. Speaker 4: District one. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 4: District two. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 4: District three. My district for. Speaker 2: My. Speaker 4: District five I District six, I'm District seven. I. District eight. Speaker 2: II. Speaker 4: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 4: Motion carries.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution approving an exception to the 180-day waiting period for Public Agencies pursuant to Government Code 7522.56 and 21224 to hire Maria Armijo for a limited duration to work in the Technology and Innovation Department. (Citywide)

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Speaker 3: Okay. Next item, please. Speaker 4: Item 12 Report from Public Works Recommendation to Award three Contracts for Design Build services for curb ramps in an annual aggregate amount not to exceed 15 million citywide. Speaker 3: Here. There's emotion and I get emotion. The second police motion buys in the house can make it a second place. Second by Vice Mayor Richardson. There is no public comment. Let's go ahead and take a roll call vote. Speaker 4: District one. I'm District two. I'm District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District four. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 4: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District seven. I District eight. District nine. I motion carries. Item 13. Report from Development Services. Recommendation to declare ordinance amending portions of Part nine of the Youth Use District Map of the City of Long Beach. Red and adopted as Red District six.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. RFP PW20-084 and award contracts to Bitech Construction, Inc., of Buena Park, CA, EBS General Engineering, Inc., of Corona, CA, and Sully-Miller Contracting Company, of Brea, CA, for design-build services for curb ramps, in an annual aggregate amount not to exceed $15,000,000, for a period of two years, with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods, at the discretion of the City Manager; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into contracts including any necessary amendments; and Accept Categorical Exemption CE-20-142. (Citywide)

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Speaker 4: District nine. All right. Motion carries. Item 14 Report from Development Services Recommendation to declare ordinance amending and restating the Midtown Specific Plan to reflect a boundary change read and adopted as read District six. Speaker 3: Give a motion like Councilwoman Taro. Can I get a second, please? Second rate Councilwoman Allen there. There's no public comment. Roll call vote. Speaker 4: District one. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 4: District two. By District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District for. Speaker 2: High. Speaker 4: District five. I District six and District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District eight. District eight. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 4: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 4: Motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending and restating the Midtown Specific Plan (SP-1) to reflect a boundary change, read and adopted as read. (District 6)

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Speaker 3: Thank you. Item 15. Speaker 4: Report from Development Services. Recommendation to declare ordnance removing previously established special setback requirements on the 5800 block of Linden Avenue. Red and Adopted is Red District nine. Speaker 3: Can I get a motion in a second? Most of my advice May Richardson second by. Councilman's sorrow. No public comment. Speaker 2: Let's cast our recovery. Speaker 4: District one. My district to. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District three. I. District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District seven. I District eight. Hi. District nine. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 4: Ocean carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance repealing Ordinance No. C-3377 for the purpose of removing previously established special setback requirements on the 5800 block of Linden Avenue, read and adopted as read. (District 9)

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Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. So let's go to 17. Speaker 4: A report from Development Services recommendation to receive a report on the State Emergency Rental Assistance Program and adopt staff recommendation option B citywide. Speaker 3: Thank you. I do have a staff report. This is a pretty important agenda item, actually. So I want to make sure that we have a chance to to hear the report from staff. And then I'll have some comments and then we'll go into our council comments. We have one member of the public signed up to speak as well. So, Mr.. Speaker 0: Modica Thank you, Mayor and Council. This is a great opportunity to help out a lot of our residents through some direct tenant assistance. We will go over the options with you and Oscar Orsi will give that staff report. Thank you, Mayor. Members of the city council. This is a great opportunity. We've been awarded up to $28 million for additional residential rental assistance. We have before you tonight three options to present to you. We're recommending option B, but to Andrew Chang, our real estate project coordinator, will be giving you additional details on those options. Andrew. Thank you, Oscar. Good evening, Mayor, and members of the Council. This item is related to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Next slide, please. As part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplement Appropriations Act of 2021, Congress established the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and appropriated 25 billion in federal rental assistance. Of this, 2.6 billion is allocated for use in the state of California. 1.5 billion is allocated to the state for use as a block grant program. And the remaining 1.1 billion is allocated by the Treasury directly to local governments with populations over 200,000, including Long Beach. The state block grant has 14.8 million reserved for the city, and the city has already received its 13.75 million federal allocation directly from the Treasury. Next slide, please. The States are offering three options for implementation of the State and Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Under option A, the city would transfer its entire federal allocation of 13.75 million to the state, -206,000 or 1.5% of the allocation, which can be used by the city for coordination and administration. The state would then run a central program with these funds that designated for Long Beach tenants and landlords. Under Option B, the city would request that state block an allocation of 14.8 million from the state and self-administer a local program. Up to 10% of these funds can be used for administration, and the city program would need to conform fully with state requirements. Finally under Option C, the city would not conform its director allocation to state rules and would administer a separate local program while the state serves Long Beach to the state program simultaneously. The city would accept responsibility for duplication of benefits checks between the two programs. And it's likely. Staff considered the pros and cons of the three options available, with considerations made for maximizing program delivery, speed and control, maximizing the ease and access to the program for eligible tenants and landlords, minimizing the local administrative burden and minimizing financial risk for the city, including the risk of recapture of funds by either the state or by the US Treasury. Excellent. Staff is recommending Option B, which offers the highest level of standardization across both federal and state block grant allocations and allows the program to be locally administered and customized within the bounds of state requirements for customization, such as deeper income and higher need area targeting. Staff also seriously considered Option eight, which would place all funds under the state's authority to administer the state, already has assembled a group of partners experienced in the administration of such programs with a stated program launch date of March 15th, 2021. Option C was not considered viable due to the risks and complications associated with avoiding duplicate or improper payments. Next slide, please. The recommendation is for starters, it's for the City Council to receive the staff report on the State Emergency Rental Assistance Program and adopt staff recommendation option B. The state is requiring jurisdictions to submit an expression of intent form by February 12th, 2021. To be eligible to receive the block grant funding. And this will commit the city to its chosen implementation option. Next slide. That concludes my presentation and staff is standing by to answer any questions. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. With that, let me go ahead and go to the council. I want to make some just broader comment. And then I have Vice Mayor Richardson who who's up? So first, I want to thank staff for their presentation. I think this is obviously a very, very important work. And I think most importantly, I do want to thank all the work that's gone on to ensure that we received both this federal allocation as well as the state allocation. Obviously, these resources just don't magically come down to us without a lot of work. And I think our local team, as well as all the work that's happened both in Sacramento and at the federal level, have been really helpful to ensuring that these resources come down to cities and especially a city with like Long Beach, which has such a robust tenant population that really needs this assistance. So just to everyone involved, a huge thank you. I did want to highlight and I mentioned this at my at the state of the city, just the URL allocation and loan, which is 13.8 million, which I talked about a few weeks ago. Just that allocation alone would be the largest tenant assistance program that we've ever had at the city. And so that was significant. And then, of course, the state came in and added and more than doubled that allocation. And so what we're looking at in front of us is by far the single largest opportunity to help tenants with , particularly during this pandemic with with COVID and rents that we've ever had as a city. And so this is a program that will be enormous for us to undertake. I'm very supportive of staff and their ability to kind of go in to own the program to ensure that we're working with with organizations that can help get the word out, that we are working with associations, of course, that that are supporting tenants with landlords that are trying to get get their tenants to work with them as they're having to pay back, back rent. So just the whole process, I think is really important and I'm looking forward to the city's leadership on this. So I look forward to obviously getting regularly updated on how we're doing. It's going to take us, I think, some some time to get this program off the ground. And we're already started. But I just want to commend staff for all their amazing work and to everyone that's been involved in helping us get these funds. And so good work to already be able to help a lot of people with that. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think I think you nailed it. I think option two or option B is that presented? So for a number of reasons. First, this allows us to set up scaffolding support for the front door. I'm on rental assistance here in the city in case we choose to invest in it again in the future. And that's really important. We place a front door on workforce programs, we place a front door on homelessness programs, and this is a great opportunity for us to have the program here locally. I also want to just acknowledge that the state's actually done a lot of good work recently with the extension eviction moratorium on the conversation on what happens with back rent investment into rental assistance. All of these things help make our job a lot easier as as council members so we can focus on sort of the broader recovery . And then the federal support I think is incredibly key as well. So being able to put a front door on it and deploy it I think makes a lot of sense. So I'm going to move that. We go with staff recommendation of of option two or option B. Speaker 3: Okay. I have a second by Councilwoman Allen. Councilman Allen? Speaker 1: Yeah. Assad. Thank you. This is just exciting and hopeful and and just long overdue for our residents who are in desperate need for our help. And I, too, want to thank our federal representatives for all of their hard work and supporting this necessary assistance for our needy families and individuals. This is a down payment on our future economic recovery, and this is going to help a lot of people who desperately need it right now. So thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is Councilman Mongo. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 1: Thank you. I'm very supportive of option B. I think this best provides us a position where our residents have a single door of access to all options. I think this is a great proposal and much needed help and I'm in big support of this item. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up, it is customers in the house. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I am grateful to have this funding made available to us here in Long Beach, to our tenants to be able to assist them. We all know we have just a tremendous need when it comes to our renters who have been severely impacted by COVID. And in many cases they are behind in payments and in severe risk of losing their homes. I think that this this is not only going to help our tenants, but it's also going to help our landlords who have been missing out on the rent. And so this is going to help a population that we've been wanting to help and that we've been, you know, advocating for, which is both our tenants and landlords. So I'm very, very happy with this. I think option B is definitely the way to go. And I'm like, man, Councilmember Allen said, this is definitely way into our recovery and I'm looking forward to supporting this item. So thank you again. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is Councilman Sarno. Speaker 1: Thank you. I also want to echo my colleagues in supporting option B when I think staff for their heart working on this as well and that I really the part that I really like about option B is allowing us to be able to distribute it, administer it locally so that we can work with our local community groups and leaders to ensure that we're doing the outreach necessary to getting it to the the relief that's so desperately needed right now to our residents, our tenants. And so thank you so much. Speaker 3: Thank you. I do. I'm going to have to have one member of the public. Let me go ahead, make my comment and then we'll go to that member of the public and then take a vote. I just wanted to also just add and I'll ask Vice Mayor Richardson to add this hopefully to the motion as as a friendly or just a something for staff. I want to make sure as we do this, this is this is an enormous undertaking and really significant that we also are looking at doing some additional data collection as we are tracking who or who is receiving the assistance and how it's helping them. And I think that particularly around our our basic income and guaranteed income work that we're already doing, which we already kind of participated and started collecting some data. I want to make sure that when we do this, a tenant assistance program, this expanded program, that we're also within it, creating some opportunities for data collection or cohorts within this enormous amount of folks that are going to receive assistance that we can do some real targeted research on how kind of this consistent kind of monthly income is can help them. And so I'm excited about that opportunity. And I just want to make sure, vice Mayor, that we can add the guaranteed income piece as a data collection point for us. That I would appreciate that. Speaker 2: We we certainly can. So I'll add that to my motion and I think we should. As we talk about the inclusive recovery plan coming back, we should be tracking based on average, certainly this. Speaker 0: And Mr. Mayor, if I can clarify where we can certainly do some additional data and collection and take a look at that, I do need to say that the federal requirements do not allow us to run any guaranteed income programs as a part of this money, that that is an ineligible expense. But we understand the point. We can certainly do and look at a lot of data because we're going to give the people a lot of resources that they're going to need during this time. Speaker 3: Right. And I know that I'm not suggesting we run it as a guaranteed income program and just to collect the data to understand, to help us with that, the broader guaranteed income work so that. Speaker 0: Thank you for the clarification. Speaker 3: Yep. And so and so with that, I have a motion in a second. Is there I think I think I have one public comment. Speaker 0: Yes. We have Melody Osuna. Speaker 6: Good evening, Mayor Garcia and City Council. My name is Melody Osuna and I live in the eighth district. I'm an attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, or Lala. And I run a medical legal partnership with a health care facility in Long Beach, providing free legal services to low income tenants. Lastly, is a nonprofit firm that protects and advances the rights of the most underserved. Even though we have Los Angeles in our name, we've been a part of the community of Long Beach for decades. We have a community office in downtown Long Beach. Laffer runs the self-help and domestic violence clinics at the courthouse. And we have two medical legal partnerships with health care providers of the city. We work closely with low income tenants, and we see what works and what doesn't. And I want to begin by thanking the mayor and city council and staff for applying for the rental assistance program and providing it for the residents of the city of Long Beach. I agree that local control of the program is important and has the ability to help so many tenants. I understand there are limitations to the use of the funds based on state and federal guidelines, but I encourage the Council to consider the guidelines as a floor instead of a ceiling for the residents of Long Beach. We recommend that the city prioritize tenants at or below 50% area median income and specifically lower than 30% PMI. These tenants do not always have access to other kinds of safety nets and these funds could be the difference between staying housed or ending up on the street. We definitely recommend that the city prioritize access to programs because one size does not fit all. This can be accomplished by hiring multiple community based organizations based in different Long Beach communities to assist with outreach, community education and application support in multiple languages. Finally, we ask that when administering the program, we're working with the contractor who administer the program. But the documentation requirements should be the minimum needed for audit purposes, and that they be flexible with required documents requiring onerous documentation from tenants places an additional burden on many tenants who would be qualified for the funding but couldn't make it to their bank on time, or don't have a inkjet printer to print up their unemployment statement . Flexibility is key. I have a client who can get a copy of his lease agreement in time for the last one year program. He had COVID. He was hospitalized. He lost his job. And he's a bona fide tenant with rent receipts. But he didn't apply for the program because he couldn't get a copy of a lease agreement. He's still struggling to catch up on rent, and I'll be working with him to apply for this new round of assistance. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. Roll call vote. Speaker 2: Please. Speaker 4: District. District one. District two. District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District four. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 4: District five. By District six. Speaker 1: District by. Speaker 4: District seven, six, seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District eight. Speaker 2: District by. Speaker 4: District nine. High emotion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes the agenda items. We will now adjourn the meeting. But I do have a new business from Councilmember Yaw Ringa for an adjournment. Please.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive a report on the State Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) and adopt staff recommendation, Option B, relating to the implementation of the ERAP. (Citywide)

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Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes consent counter. We have two hearings, as you hear them. Item number 11. Speaker 0: Report from Development Services recommendation to receive supporting documentation under the record. Conclude the public hearing. Adopt resolution approving and certifying the Environmental Impact Addendum. Declare ordinance approving a zone change on nine lots located at 2012245 West Pacific Coast Highway and 1827 Pacific Avenue. An An ordinance approving zoning code amendment to the Midtown specific plan read for the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading District six. Speaker 2: I'd like to think. Speaker 4: So, but I'll let the. Here and go out and start stuff. Speaker 2: Like to introduce Christopher Coons, the deputy development services director for this item. Speaker 5: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, vice mayor and members of the council. This evening we're talking about an important housing project in the Sixth Council District. And it's also important because this is our first project brought forward pursuant to the land use element that was approved by the council back in 2019. So with that introduction, I'm going to hand it over to Patricia Defender, who is our planning bureau manager, and she will guide you through the presentation and take any questions. Speaker 2: Good evening, Mayor and council members Patricia deepened over here. So this project, as Christopher noted, is a project located at 201 Pacific Coast Highway. I. The proposal is for a zone change and a zoning code amendment. This project was heard before the Planning Commission on November 5th of last year. At that time, the Planning Commission approved a site plan review for a new, new five storey buildings with 138 units, a mixed use project and a lot merger of nine lots into two separate lots. So at that time, they approved. They took those actions to approve the site plan review and the lot merger. And they also took an action to recommend that the city council approve a zone change, which I'm going to tell you more about, and also to approve zoning code amendments to expand the boundary of the Midtown specific plan. And that would be an expansion to one block west of the current boundary of Pacific Avenue. This is the site here in question at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Pacific. And you can see that the colored area on the map is the proposed extension zone change area and boundary extension area. This map here shows you the existing zoning. You can see from the map on the on the right that the zoning is a combination. The site currently consists of zoning. That is a combination of C, H.W. K and R2. And the first two zones are commercial zones that do not allow any residential use uses. And the second, the last of the zones that are two one is a low density residential zone. Important to note here, as Christopher mentioned, this is one of the first projects or the first project coming in using taking advantage of the newly adopted land use element. The proposed zone change would go from. Sorry. The proposed the general plan land use element identifies this area as what's called Tod Yellow, a transit oriented district low. This place type encourages mixed use projects that mix commercial industrial uses. It encourages a development pattern that's designed to foster a pedestrian friendly and invite environment and encourage transit use. And it also encourages transition so that larger scale developments transition and step down to smaller scale developments that may be existing. The current zone being that it does not allow mixed use and each of those those zones allow only single use are inconsistent with the toddler place type. And as a result, you know, this is one of the reasons why this zone change is an appropriate zone change for this property. The general plan land use element map additionally permits seven stories at this location as you can see on the on the map shown here. The subject location is identified also in the U.S. as a major area of change and as seen on the map and as shown on the inset map on the slide, and is described as an area where transit oriented development is anticipated, given its location on a major bus corridor and its proximity to the airline station at PCH and Long Beach Boulevard. This slide here shows photos of the existing condition at the subject location. The photos are looking north at the north side of PCH and west of Pacific Avenue. The subject locations and under-used site largely vacant or occupied by surface parking. It also contains a longstanding vacant building. The site has been a nuisance attractor and contributes to blighted conditions in the area as shown particularly on the bottom photo there. The fenced off vacant lot. This slide shows the location of the proposed zone change. So the zone change would be to the Midtown specific plan, transit node low. That is the zone and it is a mixed use zone that is consistent with the Todd Low general plan place type and would be extended west to the subject site . To apply the zone. The Midtown specific plan would be extended to the subject site, as you can see here on the map. Consistent with the general plan. The table shows the consistency of the proposed specific plan, transit node, low zone with the Todd Allawi place type. So you can see the general plan identifies this area for mixed use at seven stories. The zone is a mixed use zone that allows five stories, and the project as proposed is a five story project. So this slide shows the general plan goals of the zone change helps to implement and is consistent with so it for there's a number of different general plan goals and accommodate strategic growth and change. It encourages degraded and abandoned buildings and properties to transition to more productive uses and it diversifies and the housing opportunities and provides new opportunities for housing that is located on corridors and near transit. Likewise, the zone that is proposed better aligns the zoning of the parcels with the goals of the top low place type. It facilitates the construction of mixed use development consisting of commercial and residential uses, and it facilitates construction of new housing consistent with state laws, including Senate Bill 330, the Housing Crisis Act of 2019. And finally, it facilitates the citywide rezoning efforts to bring the zoning into alignment with the new land use element. The city is currently undertaking a systematic geographic rezoning program citywide to bring consistency between the general plan and the zoning. And this request in the meantime, is consistent with that effort to rezone in a manner that that does implement the general plan. Just a quick note on, you know, state law, this particular in particular this bill. Senate Bill 330 was passed in recognition of the current housing prices. The proposed zone change facilitates construction of new housing units consistent with this bill, which gives substantial weight to the general plan and essentially says that when the general plan, the zoning differ, the city is required to apply the objective zoning standards that are consistent with the general plan. Just very quickly, I wanted to kind of run through some of the benefits of this project and what this project does. It increases housing. It increases opportunities for access to shopping and services it will replace, as proposed the current grocery store, which is located on the site. It creates an active pedestrian environment with ground floor commercial uses and an activity to pursue. It promotes walking, biking and the use of public transit and reducing number of vehicle trips, which is something that the general plan aims to do. It replaces underutilized surface parking with new commercial opportunities. It reduces building massing adjacent to low scale residential uses by stepping down in height. And it improves safety in the area by creating eyes on the street. The this as I noted previously, the planning commission did approve site plan review for this project that's contingent on this zone change in the zoning code amendment. Just wanted to show a rendering here of the project. This is the front facade or elevation of the project that would be facing Pacific Coast Highway. This is another rendering that shows how the building steps down to a existing low scale residential use that is directly to the north of the project. So you can see that the building steps down to a height of as low as 19 feet as it approaches the single that the single storey residential uses to the north. This slide just summarizes some of the public comments. There was a significant amount of public comments at the time of the commission and some of those issues related to height and compatibility of the project to the to the neighboring development. In terms of noticing or pardon me, an addendum to the Midtown specific planning. I r was prepared for this project in accordance with sequa and it was duly noticed in accordance with the municipal code requirements and notices were mailed to owners and tenants and site was posted in publication in the newspaper as required by the code. So in closing the City Council, the recommendation is that City Council from approve an addendum to the Midtown specific plan IIR. They did approve his own change from the existing zoning to the Midtown specific plan transit node lo district and approve a zone text amendment to the Midtown specific plan to reflect the expansion of the boundary to the subject area. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions that the Council and the Mayor might have. Thank you. Speaker 4: Well, thank you for that. Let me first close out that part of the hearing. I don't believe there's any public comment for this hearing. Mr. Roberts. Oh, actually, I'm sorry. That's not true that you do have public comment on this hearing. So let me go ahead and have the court call the public comment and then we'll go back to Councilwoman Sorrell. So public comment, please. Speaker 3: Mr. Mayor, this is Mike Brooks. Before we call public comment, just a reminder. Speaker 2: We're going to need three separate votes. Speaker 3: On this action. The first one is a resolution certifying the EIA and then a separate vote on each of the two orders and. Forward. Thank you. Speaker 4: Well, we'll do that. Thank you. Madam Clerk, public comment. Speaker 6: Our first speaker is John Dike's. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. City Council. I am the project manager for the project and we have been working on this for three years now and we're proud of the project presented to you. Architecturally, we think it's a significant move in that area and. We think it's going to make a big difference in helping the continued progress of that corridor, especially that Pacific PCH corridor. So those are the only comments I have. Other than we thank you for bringing this to council and we appreciate your support. Thank you. Speaker 6: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rebecca Davis. Rebecca Davis. Our next speaker is Todd Loomis. Speaker 3: Hi, this is Todd Lemons from Pacific six, along with John Bendis. We also are pretty excited to get this corridor up and up and optimized. You probably know our company, Pacific Six, we are we're doing the Breakers Hotel and the Ocean Center Building where we re recently negotiated to be the developer on this project. We're a Long Beach developer and we're really eager to connect with the neighbors and members of the community. And since we just recently signed on, we really haven't had a chance to do that yet, but we certainly plan to and are very excited to do that. And as with all of our projects, we are certainly committed to build a great project and and we believe that the project will be a real asset to the community. Thanks very much. Speaker 6: Thank you. Your next speaker is Rebecca Davis. Rebecca Davis. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. And with that, I'm turn it over to Montoro. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. And I want to thank all of the residents and many people who care about the current market. That's right there. It's a high personal market. And I appreciate Mr. Lim is calling in as well to introduce himself as the new property owner. I just wanted to share that, you know, the owner wanted to make a public comment but wasn't able to do so. But I just wanted to make sure that I hear that those who that he's been serving the community during this pandemic, as you know, essential business has been providing groceries as almost kind of a little bit like a bodega in the neighborhood. Right. And so I know that he has expressed a lot of concern, as well as many who shops at his market, and that I want to make sure that he knows and many other knows that I'm committed to working with council members and danger as well, since we have, you know, residents that are just right neighbor that that are neighboring residents of this market and that we're committed to working together to ensure that we work with Mr. Specific six and anybody as well as residents to proceed in a way where we can continue to communicate about this development and this project as we proceed forward and just want to make sure that, you know. That it is. We have new owners that that's how I would like to proceed and appreciate all the comments and concern people have shared and looking forward to hearing the discussion and conversation with everybody. Thank you so much. And that I motion to I don't know if we have to have a motion for a hearing, but I do want to express that. I do want to support this project and that it's bringing housing and affordable housing into our neighborhood and meanwhile, wanting to address many of the other public comments, concern that was provided in the slideshow. Thank you so much. Speaker 3: Well, thank. Speaker 4: Thank you. That's a motion for the hearing to approve. Can I get a second on the motion, please? Set in by Councilwoman Allen. Any comments? Councilwoman Allen? Councilman Allen, any comments? Speaker 7: I do not have any comment. Speaker 4: Customers and day has. Speaker 1: Think, Mayor, I just want to say how grateful I am to Councilmember Sorrell for her partnership and her willingness to to involve me and my residents in this project. I am super excited about this project going up. I think it's going to going to be fantastic for District six, but not only for District six, but for District one as well as we are the neighboring district and we share a lot of the things across PCH. So and I also want to thank all of the residents that have gotten involved in in this project and that have been concerned. I know that it has been a great concern for us to see the displacement of a wonderful grocery store that has been providing affordable food for our our residents, both in the sixth District and in the first District. And I want to thank Mr. Kell for all that he has done. You know, up until now, providing our residents with with not only great food, but also being a staple in the community and serving our first district residents as well. I'm very excited that Pacific Six has come on. I know that they have great partnerships with the community and I know it hasn't been like that in the past couple of months and that the community has felt that they were left out from participating in this in this exciting project. So I just want to say how encouraged I am by Bay and Pacific six coming into this project. I think that they're going to be fantastic and that our community is going to absolutely benefit from having them. I think that, you know, it's it's really hard for my residents and the residents of the sixth District to see our El Bassano market be this place. But I know that, you know, working with Councilmember Sorrell and working with Pacific Six, I'm hoping that we can provide some some good, good guidance and and maybe hopefully come up with another. I know that there's going to be an additional grocery store there. So I hope that it is tailored to our to our neighborhood. And I did have a question. When we send out notifications of projects, are those are those notifications also sent out in Spanish for the neighboring communities to understand what's going on? Speaker 5: So Councilmember. Speaker 3: Our. Speaker 5: Notices typically include the bulk of a text is in English and then there is portions of the notices in other languages. And then on a case by case basis, we obviously have projects and locations where there's a lot more need for Spanish language. So when we have a meeting on those particular projects, we staff accordingly and have staff able to conduct that meeting in Spanish. When we do specialized outreach, we provide additional notification in Spanish, but the legal notice is provided in English with text at the end of the end of the notice that in Spanish and provides the option for the individual to request a translation. This is an area where the department, prior to COVID, was doing a lot of examination and looking to update our noticing and to to better multilingual our notices. That's a project that's on the shelf that as as COVID abates and we get back to staffing we can return to. So to answer your question, the notice is primarily done in English, but we do supplemental in situations. Speaker 6: Where Spanish is helpful. Speaker 1: Okay. And obviously it would, you know, in this area would be Spanish. And my so I thank you for that and for looking into that. And I thank you for for hopefully getting back to it. I think it's going to be important with other projects that may come along. And I know that there's a lot of development going on, so that's going to be very important moving forward. So I just want to say thank you to all of my residents that have been submitting comments and letting their their opinions be heard and also those that have continuously called my office and who have partnered also with with District six. And I think this is going to be a really good project for for the city, but especially for District six and District one. And I look forward to supporting this site. And thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman. I think that concludes when we check here the council comment. We have a motion in a second. Let's do a roll call. Speaker 3: Vote, please. Speaker 0: District one, i. District two. Speaker 7: I. Speaker 0: District three. District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District five i. District six. District six. I District seven. I District eight. District nine. My motion carries. Speaker 4: Great. Thank you very much. We are hearing item 12, please. Speaker 0: We have two more votes for that item there. Speaker 4: You're absolutely right. Let's take that second vote and then call the third one after.

Resolution

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record and conclude the public hearing; Adopt resolution approving and certifying the Environmental Impact Report Addendum (EIRA-05-20) to the previously certified Midtown Specific Plan Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (SCH No. 2015031034);

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Speaker 4: Thank you. And now we'll move on to hearing what. Speaker 0: Report from Development Services recommendation to receive supporting documentation under the record. Conclude the public hearing, find the project exempt from secure and declare the ordinance. Repealing Ordinance related to a special setback on the 5800 block of Linden Avenue. Read the first time lead over to the next regular meeting of City Council for Final Reading District nine. Speaker 5: And we have a planning bureau manager, Patricia Defender for. Speaker 2: Good evening again, Mayor and council members. So the item before you here is the repeal of an ordinance for that city to 15 foot special setback on this block of Linden Avenue, 5800 Linden Avenue. This is the location of on the map here. And the block is between South Street and 59th Street. Roughly the zoning in the vicinity is multi-family and neighborhood commercial. The development in the area is single family owned, multi-family uses and there's a vacant lot to the east. The special setback. This ordinance dates back to 1954. It was created. It was one of the tools the city used these setbacks to create the opportunity to widen streets. And it was intended to potentially widen the street by 15 feet on each side of Linden Avenue. It precedes some of the contemporary tools that we have to regulate building setbacks and to require public right of way dedications. So there are more effective mechanisms that exist today to implement street dedications and improvements. Some of those include the mobility element. Street designations. The current zoning code, which has set back requirements that are tied to the zoning and the subdivision MAP Act, are some examples of those tools that we now have in our toolkit. So the removal of this special setback would further implement the new zoning that this City Council approved back in November for North Long Beach . The new zones do already have a way to regulate setbacks and do have a ten foot public realm requirement that would be applicable in this area. This particular the extent the geographic extent of this ordinance is very limited. And so it has, you know, limited utility to accomplish what it's trying to accomplish. And this ordinance also potentially conflicts with a development project that is in you know, that is in the works. So with that, the recommendation is to find that the proposed action be exempt, that the proposed action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, and to repeal the special setback on the 5800 block of Linden Avenue. Happy to answer any questions that you might have in relation to this item. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. I don't think any public comment. So is there a public comment? Speaker 0: No public comment on this item there. Speaker 4: Okay. Can I get a motion, please? Speaker 3: But for me, I queued up to make a motion. Speaker 4: I don't have it on here. Sorry. So I'll do a motion by Katherine Richardson. And a second by your Rango. Let's do a roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District to. Speaker 7: My. Speaker 0: District three. District by district four, by district five by district six. District six. District seven. District eight. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District nine. District nine. High motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. That concludes this item. So we're moving on from the two hearings. Let's do I think we have a short, open public comment period. So why don't we go ahead and do that, Madam Court. Speaker 0: There's no one on the line for public comment. Speaker 4: Okay. Then we will move on to the regular agenda. We do have a lot of items on the agenda, so I want to go and go through those. Let's begin with item 13.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance repealing Ordinance No. C-3377 for the purpose of removing previously established special setback requirements on the 5800 block of Linden Avenue, read and adopted as read. (District 9)

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Speaker 4: Okay. Then we will move on to the regular agenda. We do have a lot of items on the agenda, so I want to go and go through those. Let's begin with item 13. Speaker 0: Communication from Mayor Garcia. Recommendation to receive and file a new list of City Council standing committees, authorities and memberships. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. I want to go ahead and go through some of these committees really quick. And I just first want to just think, just the whole council. I know that just recently, of course, they approved kind of some consolidation that happened around committees. And I want to thank them for that. And I want to talk about our standing committees that we have put out forward here on the agenda. Let me just first say that we have condensed our standing committees now down to nine. That way, every single member is chairing a committee. Every single member is the vice chair of a committee. And then every single member is a member. So everyone has three committees. And then, of course, we still maintain all of the special committees and authorities that people are a part of. And of course, those range from the actor authority to the the the ICE Reference and Oversight Committee to the the Parking Authority. And we, of course, we have some of the memberships like we cities and the selection committee in California City. So all of those are part of it. But today's item is to approve all of it, but especially the focus on the new committees. I want to just highlight those. They think really there's a lot of thought that went into these new committees and the folks that are leading them. And I just wanted to briefly share some of that. I think it is important. I want to kind of redo standing committees. I want to first start with budget oversight. This is the one committee where we did not. Every committee, by the way, has new chair people. So we changed the whole system to just mix it up. I'm the only one that does not have a change is budget oversight. And that's because, of course, Councilman Austin, I was just appointed to that just last year. And so that's the one that retains the same chair. And that committee, of course, will be that is chaired by by the councilman. And we'll continue to do similar work as that has happened in the past. Then the next committee is our new Port Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and that of course is being chaired by Councilwoman Price and that will include Councilwoman and House and Councilwoman Mango. And this committee, which I'm actually very excited about, is a combination of all the work that's happening at our ports, which of course is our biggest industry in the city. It's all of our transportation work. Which is everything from transit to goods movement to all of the kind of interconnectivity that we have across across the city, to the region and the country. And then, of course, infrastructure. And for for us, we're going to have an enormous infrastructure bill coming down the pipeline this year out of the White House. And so the building of that bill and how we can get as much possible back into the city is going to be really, really critical work, I believe, for this committee. And also what we talked about at State of the City, which is I'm really hoping this committee immediately takes up Measure eight and not just looks at how have we done with infrastructure across the city, but how are we going to spend these additional measure, $8 that are now in perpetuity for the city? So I think there's a lot of opportunities there. And I'm really grateful to Councilman Price, who I think is a kind of our leading voice and one of our leading voices around infrastructure for chairing this committee. Then we have economic development and finance, which is going to be chaired by Councilman Mongo and include Vice Mayor Richardson and Councilman Allen. This becomes also kind of job number one coming out of the COVID pandemic around economic relief and economic recovery. It's been, of course, Councilwoman Mango's kind of main issue as a member of this body is economic recovery. And so we're very excited about her chairing this as well. And I think a lot of our economic recovery efforts are going to come out of this committee, which is also very exciting. So I want to thank her for for taking on that challenge. Now we have our public safety committee, which will be chaired by by councilwoman sorrow. Again, I think that this is a moment we're all talking about about safety and we're talking about reform, and we're talking about how we create a just public safety system, more just public safety system. And I think that Councilman Sauro also brings the experience of having formerly chaired the PCC. We know that this committee will be looking at PCC possible ballot reforms and changes for that for the next election cycle. And so we think that is going to be a great conversation. And in this committee, not just around the traditional safety issues that need to be discussed, but also around the city. PCC So I want to thank Councilman Sauro for taking on that challenge, and I think he's well equipped to lead that conversation. The next two committees, I think, are pretty standard, but they're always important, and that's the Federal Legislation Committee and the State Legislation Committee. Those are being chaired on federal side by council member, by Baxley Richardson. And then we'll have Councilman Super now and Councilwoman Sara and for state legislation will be chaired by Canterbury Tauranga and vice chair will be Councilman Austin. And then we have Councilmember Richardson. We are living in a moment where we have an opportunity to bring down a lot of our support from the feds over the new administration to that committee will be critical to doing that work. And on the. And Vice Mayor Richardson also brings already some really great relationships there, especially with a lot of members that are now involved in committees and has work with the Congressional Black Caucus, which has been very active in over the last few years, is important. Also important is the why I think he's going to be a good chair is his work on Skaggs directly has a federal ledger link as president, and so I'm hoping that there's synergy there between those two so we can use both his work on Skaggs to help us at the federal level at the State Legislation Committee. We have come from Eureka, who again has really strong relationships in Sacramento. And so I'm looking forward to him chairing that committee and getting our state legislation approval through through all of our our committees in the state legislature on climate action, which is to get a new committee. We have Councilwoman Allen, then we have council member mango and council members. And there's probably no bigger issue that faces us in our future long term as as as climate change and climate action. I know Councilman Ellison very involved in that, and she talked a lot about that in her last campaign. And so there's a lot of work around the cap and a lot of work for us to do in the future there. So I look forward to that, to her leadership on that committee. We have the new Public Health and Housing Committee, which is a new committee and combined with the House, the former housing committee. Now, there's certainly probably no one better to chair that than councilwoman. Industry has been a strong advocate around housing and has really made that a kind of cornerstone of her work. I also want to congratulate and thank Councilwoman Sorrow and Councilmember Superhot for serving on that committee. And we also add the public health component, which we haven't had before on the council. And of course, having covered it as a as the key issue right now and all of our public health work, I think customers in their house will do a great job of leading the work on that committee. And finally, we have another great new committee, which is a combination of a different few others, and that's a new government and elections oversight committee, which will be chaired by council. A number supernova now included Councilwoman Allen and Councilmember Austin. Quite frankly, this is a very exciting new committee. It combines our personnel committee and it combines our elections, oversight work and really just government oversight. This is going to be the committee that internally looks at the systems and looks at our at our city, everything from who we're putting on commissions to how our elections are being run and to working with with some of our new commissions like the Ethics Commission, like redistricting. And there's so many other kind of internal kind of. Speaker 3: Reforms. Speaker 4: That the public has put in place that I think this we have we need to have this committee to be able to take an important but also oftentimes critical view of how we do things within the city. I've been customer super now we all respect is fair and balanced and I think you're going to do a great job chairing this. And so I'm really excited about kind of everyone's strengths and these committees. The last thing I'll say before we before we move on on this is that we are I'm hoping and it's not part of this motion, but something I've talked to a couple of members of is I'm really hoping and this might be an agenda item that comes forward at a later date, but that we establish some additional council rules around committees. And the reason why we are streamlining is, is because in an ideal scenario, we would have major issues that come in front of us, would first go to a committee or be forwarded to a committee to really vet it and to show that the folks on there have an opportunity and the public to really get into an item before it comes to the full council. And oftentimes I've heard from folks and I've noticed that an item will come on the supplemental or with a week's notice, and it's a major policy issue and has not been really vetted or discussed. I think I'm hopeful that the council can use this committee system to really vet items before they get to the full body. Of course, that's only going to be as successful as all of the council members want that to be. So we can't and unless we put a rule in place. But I'm really hoping that. We can bring something forward soon, that that strengthens these committees, encourages participation from the public at the committees. And then so when the item actually gets to the full body, it's been heard, it's been debated, there's a recommendation and we can move forward with a little. Speaker 3: Bit more. Speaker 4: Confidence that it's been well vetted. And by the way, this system is not new. This is most major cities across the country have have have structured committee systems. And I think we're at the point where we need to move a little bit closer in that direction. So I'm really hopeful that we can work on this over the next few months as these committees get going. So. So with that, let me first go. I do have 1/2. Thank you. I have a motion by Vice Mayor Richardson and seconded by Councilmember Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I like the alignment of new committees. I think it plays to a lot of the strength of the members of the body. We have a difficult road ahead in terms of the recovery, and a lot of the committee work aligns with different aspects. We know Fed Ledge is going to be incredibly important in terms of federal relief. We know that economic recovery, the strategy for that is rolling out now. The committee adopted that, council adopted that. That's important. State led is going to play a key role in infrastructure. And I think each of the members really brings a really strong really brings a lot of dedication and focus. And I'd love to actually see these committees remain in place for some time so committee members can really deepen their relationships and their expertize on a subject matter and really have a command of these details. So I'm happy with this. I really like these nine committees, the approach where everyone's equitably easy to understand. Everyone gets one committee, one vice chairmanship and one chairmanship. And I think that that makes a lot of sense. So I'm happy to make this motion and support the recommendation of others. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I second the motion and I congratulate all of my colleagues for their committee appointments. Thank you for being thoughtful and making me the appointments. I look forward to serving as Chair of Budget Oversight and on the other committees that are that I've been asked to to participate on. Thanks. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman. Councilman, Mongo. Speaker 3: Oh. Speaker 2: Thank you. I echo the comments that you made, Mayor, about utilizing committees to really vet and go through the details of these types of agenda items. I hope that we can get to that point. I know that a lot of great work happens in these committees, and I would love to see some staff support in the way where Council on Price has been an example. When I served with her on public safety and how her staff have done real reporting out of what happened at committee, but I think that all committees could have that kind of support and staffing. And I know that each of us have had different roles and different responsibilities and different methods, but I think unifying how that happens is also important. Speaker 4: Thank you. And I don't believe there is any public comment. Right, Madam Court? Speaker 0: No, there's no public comment for this item. Speaker 4: Thank you. In a roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two by district three. I. District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District six. I. District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District eight by district nine I. Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. We're going to continue on with the agenda. So let's go into M 20, please.

Appointment

Recommendation to receive and file a new list of City Council Standing Committees, Authorities and Memberships.

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Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Moving on, we have I think we've got four or five kind of second readings of ordinances. So why don't we go ahead and get through these rather quickly? I 22 please. Speaker 0: Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code or related to third party food delivery service fees, and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately read and adopted as read citywide. Speaker 4: Okay. Can I get a motion in a second, please? Check out a motion by Sunday House second by country ranger. I don't think there's any public comment. Roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one, district two. I. District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. District five, i. District six. Speaker 2: He. I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 3: By. Speaker 0: District eight. District eight. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 5.95, related to third-party food delivery service fees; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide) (Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-21-0005)

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Speaker 4: Thank you. Item 24, please. I'm sorry. 23. Speaker 0: Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to Declare Ordinance Amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to Temporary Enforcement of Long Beach health orders related to COVID 19. Declaring the urgency thereof and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately. Read and adopted as read citywide. Speaker 4: Okay. Can I get a motion in a second, please? There is no public comment on this item. Then get a motion in a second, please. Motion by Councilmember Ringo. Second vote comes from a Sunday House roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. My district, too. I. District three. I. District four. All right. District five, I. District six. I. District seven. I. District eight. By District nine. District nine. Speaker 4: Clinton.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Subsections 8.120.010.D, 8.120.020.B, and 8.120.040; and amending and restating Section 8.120.030; all relating to temporary enforcement of Long Beach Health Orders related to COVID-19; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide) (Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-21-0003)

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Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you. Item 26, please. Speaker 0: Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to Declare Ordinance Amending the Long Beach Municipal Code. Establishing Labor Standards Requirements for premium pay for grocery workers working in Long Beach. Declaring the urgency thereof and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately. Read and adopted as read citywide. Speaker 4: Thank you. As your city attorney, is it just one vote or two? Speaker 3: This is one vote, Mayor. Thank you. Speaker 4: Okay, great. I have a most of my councilman and Diaz and a second by Councilwoman Sara. I have no public comment. Roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two. Hi. District three. District three, II District four, high District five. District five. I. District six. I. District seven. I District eight. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you. We have a thank you for getting through all those. We have a couple of council items. And so let me go ahead and go through some some of these other items. First step, we're going to hear item number 19, please.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 5.91, relating to grocery workers in Long Beach, and establishing labor standards requirements for premium pay for grocery workers working in Long Beach; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide) (Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-21-0004)

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Speaker 4: Thank you. We have a thank you for getting through all those. We have a couple of council items. And so let me go ahead and go through some some of these other items. First step, we're going to hear item number 19, please. Speaker 0: Report from economic development. A recommendation to adopt specifications for the long term leasing and development opportunity at former Long Beach Armory and authorize city manager to execute all documents necessary to enter into an exclusive, exclusive negotiation agreement with Howard Cdmo District one. Speaker 4: Kate. We're going to do a council presentation. I think we have a short presentation first. So let me turn this over to staff. Speaker 6: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. John Chrysler and Sergio Ramirez will give the report. Perfect. Good evening, honorable mayor. Council members have a very short presentation. I'd actually find it quite exciting project. So for a request for an exclusive negotiation agreement for a city property. Speaker 3: The former Long Beach Armory. By way of background the the city. Speaker 6: Property that's located at 854 seventh Street along seventh and Alamitos is was a former Army National Guard property that was decommissioned in 2018. The property reverted back to the city. It's approximately an acre with a three story building. It's situated adjacent to Sin Anthony High School, right across the street from Mola Payam and GOM Minor Park. As mentioned in 2018, when the property was decommissioned by the the armory of the property asset vacancies. That time and rec has significant improvements that are required. Back in last year, in May of 2020, the city staff issued a request for proposals. And due to the pandemic, that request for proposal timeline was extended to July 20. July 29, 2020. At that time, a respondent team, we did get a proposal from Gunnery Partners, a group of partnership, Howard C.M. Pacific six and son Anthony High School and Studio 111, who are proposing an exciting project. The Armory Arts Collective would be an adaptive reuse restoration project of the historic Armory Building, which would introduce offices, meeting rooms, studios, exciting performing arts center, a gallery space and an outside performing arts garden. The space would be used by Saint Anthony High School, as well as opened up to the community and made available for programing. In addition, as part of the component of the project, potentially there could be development of an 86 unit workforce housing project to help finance the improvements of the armory. This evening, staff is requesting an exclusive negotiation agreement period, which would allow staff to work with the applicant for a period of time to see if to explore due diligence and also negotiate terms of a more definitive agreement. The term that's being requested would be a 90 day negotiating period with an additional 90 days, if required, to be able to come to an agreement. That concludes the staff presentation and happy answering questions. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. We have. Let me turn this over to Cattleman's in Dallas, which I know is in the district. I believe that's a motion. And then I have a second, I believe a Councilman Price Council members in Dallas. Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you, Mayor, very much. First of all, I wanted to say how excited I am to see this proposal moving forward. I know the staff, especially our economic development department, have been working so hard to help our city turn this space into a positive, good, good for our community. And I couldn't be more excited about the plans that they've outlined here. I'm especially excited to see the collaboration between all of the people on this bid and that are really going to be making a huge difference. I mean, I'm grateful for any opportunity to increase access to affordable housing in Long Beach, as you all know, but especially in my district. On top of that, being able to see this turn into an active, vibrant community space that can be used by our amazing partners in that neighborhood is so exciting for me. I'm glad to see that St Anthony's is going to be part of these plans as they move forward. And I'm also looking forward to the effects this could have on our surrounding neighborhood and the way that it's going to elevate that particular neighborhood. Something that has been particularly of concern of mine over the last year has been the binder park that we have right now. And I feel that with this project, it's going to elevate it and really give these park the the the opportunity to really thrive as it was intended so that all of our neighbors can can really be able to take advantage of this new project coming up in our first district. So I'm so excited to see this coming up right there on that particular corner. And I can't wait until it comes into fruition. So thank you, everyone. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman Price. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to echo the comments of my colleague, Councilwoman Zed de Haas. I think this is a really interesting project. The collaborations are interesting and very positive. And what I love most about this project is that as we will discuss with item 15, this did go out to bid. It was a competitive process. It was fair. And as a result, I think we can all have confidence in the outcome of that process because it was a fair process that everyone was able to participate in to determine whether or not they they were both suitable and a viable partner to the city. So I really appreciate this collaboration and very much support this item. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate the comments of my colleagues. I've enjoyed meeting with Saint Anthony after they were able to be the arbiter of choice for this negotiation. And while I understand there are no guarantees they'll come to an agreement, I'm hopeful that they'll work together or hand-in-hand with the city to find a solution for some minor park and for that community that will have a lasting impact for generations to come. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. There is no public comment that I have. I'm going to make some comments and then we'll go to a vote. So I just want to just congratulate Councilwoman Zendejas for her work just believing in this project. And this is something that we've been working on. When I was a councilmember for the first district and hoping that we could get that armory activate, it did and brought back. And I know that then Councilman Gonzalez also was so interested in this. And the part of this that I really love is I want to just uplift Saint Anthony High School. I think they partnered with some amazing folks to get this project done. My first job out of college was Saint Anthony. I worked for an amazing woman who's now retiring named Gina Rushing. And Gina, I would have been the president for this entire time. And she talked about the armory when I didn't even know the neighborhood. Right out of college and about, you know, kind of her vision and dreams for the armory and Saint Anthony. And so when I think about Gina generosity, Maguire and I think about her legacy that she's leaving. I also know this is a part of her work is always fighting for Saint Anthony, is being a part of this project. And so I just want to also honor her and honor Cindy Anthony High School, an amazing institution that we have in our city and all of the staff on that campus and that faculty that really have always looked at that armory as an opportunity for those students. And so thanks to them and of course, thanks to the development partners as well, Councilman and de Haas and just the whole team, I'm ecstatic that you guys got it across the finish line and we're going have a great project there. So thank you to the city staff as well. And with that roll call vote, please. Speaker 3: District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 6: District two. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 3: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 3: District four. High District five. High District six. Speaker 2: I. District seven. I. Speaker 3: I. District eight. Hi. District nine. All right. Speaker 5: Motion carries.

Contract

Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. RFP ED20-041 for the long-term leasing and development opportunity at the former Long Beach Armory (854 East 7th Street), Assessor Parcel Number 7274-019-900 (Subject Property); and Authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement (ENA) with Gundry Partners, LP, doing business as Howard CDM, of Long Beach, CA, for the continuation of negotiations in connection with No. RFP ED20-041 for the Subject Property. (District 1)

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Speaker 4: Thank you. Item 14, please. Speaker 3: Communication from Councilwoman Pryce, Councilwoman and Councilwoman Allen, Council member, super long recommendation to direct city manager to report back within 90 days. Speaker 6: With a report. Speaker 3: Between various models for the operation of the helicopter unit of the Long Beach Police Department. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman Price. Speaker 2: You, Mr. Mayor. So this item really is a follow up to some of the budget discussions and decisions that we made regarding our police helicopter unit. I'm a huge, huge supporter of the helicopter operations because I'm very familiar with and I think many of us are. The reality that when people commit crimes, one of the first instincts is to flee. And either whether they're fleeing on foot or in a car, that flight can be very dangerous and difficult for our police officers to apprehend the fleeing suspect if they're on foot. It's very difficult to be able to locate their whereabouts from the ground. And if they're in a vehicle, it can be really dangerous because oftentimes it results in high speed chases. And so the helicopter, a police officer, is trained to be able to see things from a much broader viewpoint and vantage point. And their operations are just much more efficient and safe in terms of apprehending fleeing suspects. And so I'm a little bit concerned because when we adopted the changes to the budget regarding our helicopter unit, we didn't really have a structure in place. I know we delayed the implementation of moving things like the Hart team over without further study and evaluation of what the practical changes would be. But with the helicopter unit, we simply just approved the budget modifications with the understanding that we'd be notified later of the operational changes. So we have been given some more information of how the operational model might work with the new budget. But I'm asking the city manager to take another look at that because with the increase in violent crime that we're seeing throughout the city. What I don't want to happen is for us to lose any more patrol officers from any of the four divisions. If a patrol officer who's trained to know what to look for has to go and assist a civilian pilot with with basic law enforcement functions, then I think it will cause our patrol divisions to suffer with that loss of a body. So it may make sense to do it. It may not make sense to do it. I know circumstances have changed since we adopted the budget in terms of staffing for that unit. And I'm just asking the city manager to take another look to for us to determine, does this new model still make sense ? Is the cost benefit enough that it it outweighs the benefits of having trained law enforcement personnel in a helicopter? And and if so, of course, I'm going to support whatever decision the chief and the city manager believe is the right thing to do. But I think this warrants a second look now that we've had an opportunity to to kind of settle from the budget and evaluate what some of the impacts of our decisions might be in a practical sense. So I want to thank the city manager for taking a look at this, and I want to urge my colleagues to support this item. And I just want to remind everyone, we're not asking to move any money around right now. We're just asking to see the current budget recommendations make sense in light of some of the practical realities. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, councilwoman. Next up is and I'm assuming that's also in motion. Councilman Van De has it received? Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I just want to thank profoundly Councilwoman Price and our amazing city staff for this item today. I'm really looking forward to that discussion when it comes back. And I think it's absolutely important that we understand the impact of our budgetary decisions on the work our city is able to do for our residents, especially coming from a district where there are so many violent crimes that happen. So I'm looking forward to that discussion. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman. Speaker 2: Thank you. I hope that when this report comes back that we're able to hear a little bit more about the standards across the industry. There are agencies across this country that take police officers and pay for them to go through a pilot school just so that they can get trained police officers. The amount of value that a pilot and spotter team happen when they coordinate and know each other well and work together well and have similar training experience. They say that it's worth between nine and 15 cars on the ground. And so the the cost benefit seems to be one that we really need to look at. So I'm very supportive of this item. I was supportive of reevaluating this as a potential cut when the budget was here. And I'm glad that it's coming back for an additional look. Thank you, Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 4: Thank you. Now I have Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 7: Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank Councilwoman Price for bringing this item. I, too, am a huge advocate of the helicopter. And as a former police officer, I can definitely attest to the benefits of the helicopter and what they bring to law enforcement. It saves on bad manpower and it's a great de-escalation tool when you can set up perimeters and it just slows things down. And so I look forward to seeing their report. I think experience matters. Like my councilwoman, Mongo just spoke on. And I like to see that those benefits. I also would like to know, I mean, if there's been any conversations with even, you know, contracting our services out to any of our border cities. And and then also, I did have some questions with regards to I know that the port has participated in some of the fees for the helicopters in the past and what that still looks like. So these are all things that I definitely would like to see and when the when the report comes back. So thank you so much again. And I appreciate staff looking into this. Speaker 4: Thank you. I don't believe there's any public comment on this. Speaker 0: No. There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 4: Cast your votes, please. Speaker 0: District one. I district to. By District. Speaker 2: Three. Speaker 0: District four, District five. I. District six. I. District seven. District eight. High District. Speaker 2: Nine. Speaker 3: Right. Speaker 0: Merchant carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to report back within 90 days with a report with analysis of operational models, practical impacts, and budget differences between various models for the operation of the Helicopter Unit of the Long Beach Police Department.

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Speaker 4: Thank you. Next up is item number 15. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Price, Councilwoman Zendejas, Councilwoman Allen. Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with economic development. Create an unsolicited proposal process for development of city owned property. Speaker 4: Thank you. Councilman Price. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I'm bringing this item forward because I know what happens to all of us, but every once in a while, I'll get a call from a developer who has driven by either an underutilized city property or a city property that may appear to be vacant. And they want to know what they can do to acquire it or to utilize it. And we currently have no formal process in place to make such a discussion, a fair discussion that provides access to anyone, access and information to anyone who might be interested in developing the same site. And so it seems sometimes like the process is a little bit of who, you know, instead of us publicly putting information out there that a specific property has been the subject of interest by a developer, and we are welcoming interest from other potential developers on that same property. And so I think this is a process that that really we should put into place. And we've talked to I've talked with John Keisler about this, and I don't know if John wants to speak further about it, but I imagine that Council District three is not the only district where this type of conversation happens. And so I think developing a formal process that provides access and opportunity for all potential interested developers in acquiring and or operating city owns land is a beneficial tool for the city to have. So I'd ask my colleagues to support this item, and I don't know if Mr. Heisler still here on the call, but if you wouldn't mind, maybe just talking a little bit more about why this is a positive development if we had a process like this. Speaker 6: This is Tom Modica. I think John is it was not available right now, but he and I have spoken as as you and I have as well. We do believe that there is a benefit for creating a citywide structure for unsolicited proposals. We do get these on a regular basis and we do have a process for processing them and taking a look and analyzing them and getting those to the city council in closed session. I do think having a more of a structure and knowing kind of what to expect if you do want to do an unsolicited proposal. And also some of those key questions about how do you also give opportunity to those who you know, who are also interested in the part in the process and developing on that site. So we think this is a good thing and we'd be happy to bring back some ideas for the council to consider. Speaker 4: Thank you. Councilman, president, anything else you want to continue? Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 4: Councilman Margot. Councilman Mongo. Okay. Let me move on. I'll come back. Councilman Zoro. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm sorry. I want to go ahead. Councilmember, you know, I've been having some microphone challenges this evening. Thank you. Councilman Price and the co-sponsors of the item. This is something that comes up so often. And we've talked to city staff about options. It often has to do with what city department is most involved in it. And so I would love to see a transparent process that both encourages the businesses and or ideas to come forward, but also has some transparency to it. Where proposals received are incubated for a certain period of time, where the address of interest is listed on a public website. So other individuals who might have ideas about that particular site could come forward with ideas without revealing the efforts of the original proposer. And so that ideas can really flourish in a competitive way without direct competition of losing the value of the ideas and the work brought forward by one. So I really appreciate this item. I would love to see this move forward. And if we do move to a committee structure, I would love to hear this item in economic development in finance, because I think it would be a powerful one. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. So and I also think Councilmember Pryce and the other members for bringing this agenda forward. I do think that we should have a formal process to understand these, a process for unsolicited proposal and a clear process. But I also want to make sure that as we do develop a process, we take into consideration, you know, districts like mine who might have some properties available that developers might be interested to take in consideration of the concerns around community as far as how it might impact or change the makeup of the community as well. There's just been a lot of heightened concerns about displacement in in my district. So I just want to make sure, as we're developing it, that we also take that into consideration about how we're making sure there's a transparent process as well to residents that might be impacted. I know that the process is a proposal and it doesn't necessarily, you know, have a process yet for informing community members or residents of the area, but also making it so that we encourage those from the community maybe or create process where they're also able to possibly apply for this as well. And so thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 7: Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Am I also signed on to this item? And it's important because it creates a path for unsolicited proposals regarding the acquisition we sell or shared use of city owned property and Lumbee each has a good history of strong processes, and I'm proud of that. But we also need to make sure that we have a defined process for unsolicited proposals as well. And I am a firm believer that by creating a channel for unplanned projects not formally requested by the city is also a great opportunity to boost innovative development projects. And it's just good for the city. So I look forward to seeing this move forward. Speaker 4: Councilwoman and councilman Sunday has. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I just want to thank Councilmember Price for bringing this forward. I think that this is very, very fitting for us as a city as we continue to grow and as we continue to develop. I think that having a fair and just process will be beneficial to all involved. So very happy to support this item. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes comments. Let's do a roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: District one, i. District two. I District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four by district five, i. District six. At District seven. I District eight. District nine. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with Director of Economic Development to create an unsolicited proposal process for development of City owner real property.

LongBeachCC

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Speaker 4: Thank you. Next up is item 60 in? Speaker 0: Communication from Councilman Austin, Councilwoman Zendejas, Councilmember, your UNGA recommendation to request City Manager to study the feasibility of acquiring open space for public park development along L.A. River and report back within 60 days. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 3: All right. Thank you. I'd like to thank my councilmembers Van de Haas and Durango for joining me in signing on to this important item. Creating new parks in open space has been a priority for our city council and for me personally. For many years, for nearly two years, I served on the Lower L.A. River Revitalization Plan Working Group, identifying potential projects and working with other cities along the entire 90 mile stretch of the lower L.A. River, which extends from the city of Vernon to the mouth of the L.A. River in Long Beach. In just the past 12 years, more than 70 acres adjacent to the L.A. River have been opened to the public to enjoy its parks, walking trails, natural habitat and open space. In 2008, L.A. County opened more than 35 acres of the Dominguez Gap wetlands. In 2018, we opened an additional 32 acres of the entire forest wetlands connecting to the Dominguez Gap wetlands and creating the longest contiguous stretch of open space along the entire L.A. River. We also opened Molina Park in 2018, providing an additional 3.5 acres of park active recreational park space along the L.A. River in North Long Beach. We are also doubling the size of Davenport Park with additional with an additional nearly three six acres of additional park space. In addition, there are a number of projects along the river that are being designed under development or have opened, including the Jake Travis Greenbelt, Wrigley Greenbelt, the 51st Street greenbelt, and the Hamilton Loop, just to name a few. With these efforts, we have significantly increased the amount of open space along the western part of our city and we must continue to do so. So at this time, I'd like to request the City Manager to study the feasibility of acquiring additional properties that may not be currently publicly owned along the L.A. River. This feasibility study can somewhat mute. Speaker 4: Can everyone mute, please? Except for the councilmen. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. This feasibility study should provide a realistic assessment of what was a visit with L.A., what the Long Beach River Link Plan and the Lower L.A. River Masterplan. What funds are there from different funding sources, including local, regional, state and federal levels and potential costs for acquisition and development of open space. I would also like to just say we should be also looking at any opportunities for public private partnerships. And as we look at equity for communities throughout Long Beach, it will be helpful to understand what other part projects are currently in the works in the city and that they also may be competing for these funding sources. We know that we cannot limit this to any particular properties and I don't want to do that. But I do want the city manager and our city team to provide a comprehensive look at what is feasible in Long Beach. I ask my colleagues for their support on this particular item. This is very, very important to many in the community, as there's been a new, new reinvigorated interest in the lower L.A. River in our city. And I think this merits our attention, but also the attention of our state legislators as well. And so I'm happy to bring this forward and look forward to hearing your comments, but also from the public. Speaker 4: Thank you. Next up, it's customary, Ringo. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mary. And I want to thank Councilmember Alsup for inviting me to sign into the title. I have been a long time supporter of increasing parks space. In fact, in last year we made great strides in creating some space and by purchasing the park, which added 1.3 acres into the end to create park space, we were also able to execute an agreement for city ownership and management of the cemetery. I think recently the acreage for little things complex for over three attacks, 13 acres and allowed it to be continuously to our Willow Street. So the sale was a continuation of our work to get more park space into the city. And I am proud to support the sentiment that get the members of the City Council to also support you. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 2: Yes, I want to thank that Councilmember Austin and as well as the other members on the floor signing on to. Speaker 1: This. Speaker 2: For bringing this forward. I appreciate Councilmember Austin's leadership and having represented. Speaker 1: Long Beach. Speaker 2: On the Lower L.A. River Revitalization Working Group, as well as council member Urunga, having served as a sitting on the board of the Rivers Mountains Conservancy. I just have a few question about the the the naming of the reference of the report in the title. Its it refers, it refers to lower L.A. River Master Plan. I just want to make sure and then but in below that it discussed the lower L.A. River revitalization plan. I just wonder if that was meant to be. And the Lower L.A. River revitalization plan as there is no such. There's nothing. We don't have a lower L.A. River master plan, only an L.A. River master plan. And it's. Speaker 1: Currently. Speaker 2: Hasn't been adopted. It's currently going through public comment. And so I just want to make sure we clarify that. We're talking about which document, which document we're referring to. Speaker 3: Well, this typically want to acknowledge all of the visiting and work that has actually occurred over the past two decades, even before I joined the council. And so there are a number of documents or other plans. I reference the L.A. River River Lake Plan, but I know that the County of Los Angeles just recently released a plan as well. But the visioning, that process that went through we went through for the Lower L.A. River Revitalization Task Force was there were a number of projects and opportunities identified in that plan as well. And so I want our city staff to look at the sum total. Speaker 2: Thank you. All right. I just wanted to make sure because I want just to make sure there's alignment in terms of since I agree with you, there are so many different plans working towards the same vision. The other clarification I just wanted to make, Councilmember Austin, is I heard you say kind of public and private partnership. Can I just clarify if if this feasibility will also include both public and private property, that will be part of the feasibility plan? Speaker 3: Well, absolutely. I certainly I don't think we should limit our potential. I think we should be aspirational. And I think private properties, if there are willing sellers, should be certainly included and looked at as opportunities as along with public spaces as well. There are there are county parcels along the lower L.A. or along the river in Long Beach that that are currently undeveloped on an unplanned at this time. And we need to be looking at public spaces as well. Speaker 2: And would you be open if I just made sure we offer a friendly amendment that we just specifically clarify to say, you know, adjacent to the L.A. River, both public and private property, just so that we're clear and there isn't confusion that we're not overlooking any any areas. Speaker 3: That would be fine. Including golf courses. Yeah. Speaker 2: Thank you. And if I can just circle back really quick, this is just my last if I may just include maybe if we could refer back to the recommendation to be and the Lower L.A. River Revitalization Plan just because that's been adopted versus the L.A. River Master Plan, which hasn't yet. And I just want to make sure we have the staff look at documents that's been adopted that's going to be reporting back in the next six days as the L.A. River Master Plan will. Speaker 1: Be. Speaker 2: Are just taking public comment right now for the next 60 days. So I just want to make sure staff has the right document that's been adopted to review. Speaker 3: Again, I'm not not necessarily interested in limiting, and I don't know that that really serves a purpose. I think staff should consider all documents that are that are currently adopted and under consideration right now. Councilwoman. Speaker 2: Okay. Just wanted to, you know, just provide those comments as we're working toward that. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 2: No further question. Speaker 4: Thank you. Councilman's in the house. Speaker 1: Thank you. First of all, I'd love to thank Councilmember Austen for inviting me to sign on to this to this item and for bringing this item forward. I also would like to thank our engaged community members who have done such a wonderful job of identifying this space and advocating for expansion of park access in Long Beach. Although obviously this is not in my district access to green space and especially the development of open space along our L.A. River corridor has been a huge passion of mine for a long time. I'm incredibly interested in seeing this feasibility study come come to fruition, and I absolutely share the vision. And I hope that we can see these large parcels of land be turned into park space for our entire city to enjoy. So thank you again, Councilmember Austin. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman. Vice Mayor Richard. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a couple of questions for her staff and before I get there. You know, we've been pretty engaged. And in my first term, we spent a lot of time on the uptown open space plan. It was modeled after the Great Providence plan. We saw the Drake Chavez, you know, follow the process. They did a plan and they saw funding and they expanded, expanded. Drake traveled the uptown open space plan. We follow the same model. We saw there's a lack of open space. So we worked with the community and we got we went through a planning process, a one, I believe, a Parks and Rec award. And from there, all other efforts stem from the DeForest Art vision, the Hamilton Loop vision, the Highland Park Master Plan. All of those things came out of this this focus here. I think what I'm unclear on, based on this motion is this centered on just river, because I see a larger issue. And and I'd love to see some connectivity if it all started with Jake Chavez. And the top of the river is in the bank district, the Forest Park and North. I'd love to see a plan that brings it all together that the five members of the council along that L.A. River can be engaged in. I know that there's been significant work on the West Side with Councilman Turanga and the Westside Livability Plan. And I know that Councilman sorrow. Councilman Zoro has tremendous history with the Mountain Conservancy. And I would just hope that what we have here ultimately is a vision that's inclusive of all those. So so so my first question to staff is based on this motion, are you or do you anticipate moving forward with creating a larger vision for this area that incorporate all of this work, including the river work? How are you how are you planning to respond to react to its motion? Speaker 6: So we see this as requests for information. Vision plans tend to be pretty involved documents where you're setting aside consultant resources and staff resources to really go out and start from scratch and kind of engage your community and you start looking at vision. We've perceived this to be more of a feasibility analysis, to look at, kind of answer the questions about what are some of the opportunity parcels out there. We've done some of this work already. We can't remember your UNGA brought some attention to this a couple of years ago as we looked at oil operators. We've had our deputy city manager, Kevin Jackson, really following a lot of the L.A. River plans and been giving input into into those plans. And so we see this as a report back in a memo format to talk about what it takes to be able to procure land. What are some of the opportunities, both public and private, along the L.A. River and kind of connected areas to really help educate what are the opportunities and what are some of the challenges and some of the high level costs and next steps. Speaker 3: Okay. Perfect. Thank you. I think. I think what I'm interested in is, you know, not reactionary. There's been a lot of proactive work that's taking place. It's been highlight for wetlands tells me you rank his work on the oil properties. Drake Chavez uptown open space. I'd love to see us advance to the next step of unifying, connecting those plants. And I would hope that we can draw on, you know, I want certainly want to make sure that I'm a part of this conversation given the river, the uptown sort of pathway. And I think it's important to remember sorrow is a part of the conversation as well. Given her professional expertize, the the Mouth Conservancy. So those are my suggestions. I'm happy to support the motion. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Let's go to public comment, please. Speaker 6: Our first speaker is. And Cantrell. And Cantrell. The next speaker is Aimee Valenzuela mere. Speaker 2: Hi. Can you hear me? Speaker 3: Yes. Speaker 6: Please be in. Speaker 2: You can. Thank you. My name is Amy Valenzuela, and I thank you all for your time tonight. I'm going to be the first person to speak, and I just want to introduce our team. We have a group of neighborhood volunteers who've come together to form in a very short time, the River Park Coalition. Some of you have heard of us. We've started as a grassroots organization, as mostly people who had participated in the planning processes that Councilmember Austin has spoken of tonight, as well as some of the other council members. And we have in a very short period of time really under threat of one property that is now being developed . That was part of the signature feature of the Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan as it pertains to Long Beach, which includes the Wrigley Park north and south. So although we came in opposition 23701 Pacific Place, we've really come to understand that the entire park that was planned through the River Link and other documents is under threat . And so we really appreciate Councilman Austin's bringing forward the feasibility plan. We also feel very strongly that we need to be at the table. I think we're all clear on what the challenges are. We're all clear on what the costs are. We've been part of planning for decades now, and it's just really time to act. So we've launched this grassroots process. We want to come to you and especially to our council members who've worked so hard on this issue over the years that we're here. We're not going away. We're going to be partners in this. Speaker 6: We thank you. Our next speaker is Carlos Servais. Speaker 3: Good evening. I'd like to address two points. One is support for Councilmember Austin's memo, and the other is related to the activity at 3701 Pacific Place during the very framework for reconciliation listening sessions, one of the items raised with the issue of environmental racism and park inequity in Western Lobby, where the highest level of pollution in the nation, the most overcrowded conditions, a higher incidence of asthma and other respiratory diseases, higher incidence of cancer, high rate of poverty even pre-COVID, a shorter life span than the east side of Long Beach. A contributing factor to all of this is the lack of parks and open. Space. We have one park acre per 1000 residents versus 17 in the eastern side of the city. Even with the parks mentioned by the council members, we are still woefully short. Council, I strongly urge you to consider equity in supporting parks in open space such as the Council Approved River Link Project Reference in town Councilman Austin's memo regarding the ongoing construction at 30 7a1 specifically the developer took out permits for grading and soils. However, development services have turned a blind eye to the fact that £1 million surcharge pile built under city permit is causing damage as we speak through a major storm drain that services this area, as well as damage to two abandoned oil wells and two active oil pipelines making an existing environmental disaster even worse. This is why council must require a full environmental impact report that will look in-depth at this and many other issues before accepting the plan. Speaker 6: Thank you. Your next speaker is Clayton Hurd. Speaker 4: Hi. Good evening. Speaker 3: Everyone. This is Clayton Hurd from the office of Congressman on file. Just want to read a brief letter from the congressman. Speaker 4: Dear, honorable mayor and. Speaker 3: City council members. The Los Angeles River has been a source of inspiration and opportunity long before my time on the Long Beach City Council. From the original caretakers, the Gabrielle, you know, and tons of people to countless neighborhoods and communities alongside the 51 mile waterway, the river has always offered unlimited potential. The existing river and limited open space provide a patchwork of areas for residents to experience nature. Speaker 4: Exercise with friends, and spend. Speaker 3: Time with loved ones. As the river continues to transform, I strongly encourage the city to explore all options to develop new public access and open space alongside the Los Angeles River, with a focus on communities lacking park space and those disproportionately impacted by environmental injustice. Long Beach has already made progress in the past few years to provide park space that connects the community to the Los Angeles River in areas like the Forest Park and into Wetlands and Drake Park. However, certain areas of the city still lack significant access to park and open space. Speaker 4: Many of the communities surrounding the L.A.. Speaker 3: River are also disproportionately impacted by several sources of pollution, from heavy traffic on the 710 freeways to refineries and port activities in the south. Additional greenspace will help reduce the urban heat island effect, making neighborhoods cooler and even reduce some of the harmful air pollution that has resulted in higher rates of respiratory illness compared to other areas of the city. For these reasons, I strongly support the agenda item and I look forward to supporting efforts to ensure all residents have access to open space and part. Speaker 6: Think your next speaker is Elina Teachey. Speaker 2: Hello. I'm opposed to the proposal that proposed land use on the brownfield site at 3701 Pacific Place. As a resident living near the L.A. River and as a landscape architect, I would like to see greater park equity across West Long Beach, and I would like to see the city council and Mayor Garcia keep your promise for open space at that site, along with all of the sites recognized in the River Link Vision Plan and the Lower La River Revitalization Masterplan. The industrialization of all river adjacent open space, including brownfield sites, should cease. I would like you to support full environmental impact reports for each of those sites, as well as what other clean up and mitigation is required. I want to point out that there are funding sources and grant moneys available to purchase parcels, clean them up and convert them to green and recreational spaces and or green infrastructure sites. I would encourage you to make a bottom up rather than top down land use decision. Most importantly, I believe that as part of the River Park Coalition, we are demonstrating that there is public will. I have sent you all a detailed letter of my thoughts on this issue. Thank you for your time and consideration of my views on this matter. Speaker 6: Think your next speaker is Gabrielle Weekes. Gabrielle Weeks. Our next speaker is McFadden. Speaker 3: Okay. Speaker 2: I'm sorry. Hi. My name is Gabrielle Weekes. I'm the chair of the Sierra Club. Speaker 3: For the region. Speaker 2: So that's not just our city, Long Beach, but many cities around here. Speaker 3: As you heard. Speaker 2: From some of the previous speakers, many of us have been excited about the L.A. County project re-imagining the Los Angeles River from end to end. I was a commissioner on that as well. As a lower revitalization plan. Some of the work that's been done at the northern end of Long Beach, there's been a lot of action around our rivers and I think that's wonderful because we need more still. Somebody had referenced the River Link and I know some of you on the council, we've been around long enough to know what that was. Speaker 3: I helped Susan with that almost 20 years ago. Speaker 2: And for decades the community has known we need more open space in central and west Long Beach, more trees, more. Speaker 3: Recreational opportunities for. Speaker 2: Humans, more wildlife areas. We need more of all of that. And especially with this wonderful thing that the county is doing in partnership with Frank Gehry, now is a really great time for us to look for IMC money or state programs, to work with people like Alamogordo or reps in Sacramento to really make. Speaker 3: Our river. Speaker 2: Here as beautiful as the stuff that they did up in City of L.A. a few years ago. Speaker 3: I hope that you guys will vote to do this. Speaker 2: And to have some. Speaker 3: Ambitious. Speaker 2: Goals and police work with. Speaker 3: Us to accomplish this. Speaker 6: I think your next speaker is McFadden. Speaker 2: Hello. My name is Mark McFadden and I'm with River Park Coalition. First of all, I'd really like to thank council members Austin and Ringo for requesting this feasibility study. This is a wonderful first step towards gaining park equity for the park for residents of West Long Beach. But I'm confident that the feasibility study will find, however, that there are precious few parcels left for developing into open space, one of the largest of which is 3701 Pacific Place. I'm urging this body to halt development by the builder on this site until this feasibility study can be completed. Furthermore, in light of the fact that this property factors into the Long Beach River Link plan and the L.A. River Master Plan, which is still under its own secret process, a complete are must be conducted on the site to analyze the biological and cultural resources that are vital to the larger L.A. River community and that will be severely affected by industrial activity here. There are at least three precedents in the state of California for an M and B being deemed insufficient, and the government instead opting for the sequel required air. You'll find those precedents in the binder that we presented to your office there in Enclosure three under the letter from Chatterton, Brown, Parsons and Minter, environmental lawyer. Thank you. Speaker 6: Thank you. Our next speaker is one of a. Speaker 3: I congratulate council members and they got enough in for bringing up this agenda. Item Council Member Austin. As the key author of the item, I am pleased to see you are addressing your campaign commitment that stated with your vote upgrade and improve our space. I am supportive of such an item. This can be the start of meaningful action that takes our city from aspiration to implementation. I also encourage that this motion not be limited to just open space but to any vacant land along Gilbert River, private or public studies and plans. Years and decades, taxpayer funds, community involvement have clearly shown that there is a desire that only requires the political will to develop action steps and connect the dots, such as the Over the River Revitalization Plan in our city's own River Link plans developed by our Parks Department and approved in 2007 and again reaffirmed by many of you in 2015. I would also like to note that the only river master plan identifies the oil operators and former golf driving range as the crown jewel of the Lower Elk River. Over 70 acres of land, which should be at the top of any list, studied the feasibility of acquiring vacant land for park space. Again, thank you for bringing this portion to the council because it's not just about dollars and cents or feasibility studies. It's about doing the equitable thing and addressing environmental justice to a community. Speaker 6: Thank you. Our next speaker is Kyle Scepter teacher. Speaker 3: Lately, Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Keith Taber and I'm a resident of the of those neighborhood. I'm also a licensed architect in the state of California, certified by the National Council of Architects Registration Boards and a lead accredited professional. I'm here to voice my strong opposition to the 3701 development, and we'll say, in my 30 years of practice, I've never been activated to categorize a development as reckless and irresponsible as this one. And equally short sighted is the paving of the L.A. River. I believe that this project deserves the rigor of fully air. Furthermore, the designation of a light industrial zoning central to a residential district I think is negligible. The development's tepid response to its opposition by providing a publicly accessible green space, all with a front row view of an RV parking lot is not equal to or better than that of a park parkland, which is the intent of the River Link plan. Our leaders of Long Beach have the responsibility to ensure that a development within the L.A. River watershed are ecologically responsible, promote the proliferation of natural flora and fauna, and benefit the future generations of the communities they serve. They must consider the problem zoning districts around and provide equitable greenspace in the community with a deficit 17 times that of this Long Beach. Our City of Long Beach also has an opportunity to set an example for every community along the river. They must take that opportunity seriously to the betterment of our region's quality of life. Thank you for listening. Speaker 6: Think your next speaker is Kimberly Walters. Speaker 2: Good evening. Thank you so much. Council Members Austin Oranga for getting the city of Long Beach back on track with a long standing Long Beach reveling plan and the Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan. I'm also extremely grateful to Congressman Lowenthal and Assemblymember O'Donnell, who have lent their support to getting Long Beach back on track. New field reps are here tonight to support this plan. Our message here is the funding is out there. As has been referenced, there is EPA funding for brownfields cleanup programs that EPA funding for environmental justice grants. Just right now. March 12, 2021. California Department of Parks and Recreation has a grant opening for almost $400 million for the statewide park program that could help us acquire these lands. And there's over $30 million available from the RNC specifically for the lower L.A. River from Prop 58 and another $30 million available from the RNC for Prop one for an open call for projects. There's also money from the state, from outdoor equity and for land and water conservation, for habitat conservation. So there's also, as you know, money from the county in Measure A and also the port has a great deal of funding that they could put towards this. We also removing River Links coalition plan to go for direct philanthropy so that the many millions of dollars it will take to acquire, to make safe and to green these parcels will in fact be feasible. And this is possible. Speaker 6: Think your next speaker is Shane Weaver. Speaker 3: You mean honorable mayor and council members? My name is Shane Weaver, Long Beach Road Representative for Assembly Member Patrick O'Donnell. I'm here this evening to speak on behalf of the Assembly Member O'Donnell, support of River Park Coalition's effort to create more create more open space and improve the quality of life for neighbors living near the Los Angeles River. Assembly member O'Donnell acknowledges the River Park Coalition's efforts to engage their neighbors in hopes of a better quality of life. Assemblymember O'Donnell has long been involved in securing open space in many parts of the city. The city council member as a member of the San Gabriel Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and as assembly member serving as your voice in Sacramento, the member would like to thank those, including councilmember councilmembers Austin, Urunga and Sun House for making this effort a priority. And please consider the Assemblymember your partner in this effort. Together, we can make this happen. Thank you. That concludes public comment for the sun. Speaker 4: Thank you. We are going to go back to the item. Councilman Austin, you have any additional comments before the vote? Speaker 3: No. I just want to appreciate all the comments from all the public, all my colleagues. And I think staff is clear on on the direction we are looking at repeatability and we're looking at more than one parcel. We're looking at the entire lower L.A. River, the L.A. River in the city of Long Beach, encompassing all of the districts in the city. I think it's very, very important, again, that we understand that, that we're looking at a big plan. We're looking at a plan that has and vision that has been in place for for many years. We're looking at the complicated parcels. And, you know, I heard some comment, comment that all it requires is political will requires a lot of money to. And so I'll be also in my capacity as a vice chair and a member of the state large committee pursuing state resources and any other resources and grants to work to help realize our vision here in the city, as we always have been over the last eight years. Thanks. Mayor. This is City Attorney Park. And may I make a short comment? Sure. Thank you. There was a lot of public. Speaker 4: Comment this evening on a particular. Speaker 3: Project, but I just want to point out that project is not before us tonight and is not part of this agenda item and that this is a request to explore possible open space acquisition adjacent to the L.A. River. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Speaker 2: I can say. Speaker 3: Something. Roll call vote. Speaker 2: We need to be able to speak. Well, I guess not so. Speaker 4: I. I'm sorry, Mr. Clarke. Did we conclude a public comment, Mr. Clarke. Speaker 3: So. Speaker 4: Mr. Kirk. Okay. Yes. Speaker 6: It's public comment. Speaker 4: I just wanted to make sure that I heard something. Go ahead and roll call. Speaker 6: Sorry. We have one more person that you missed. Leslie Guertin. Leslie Gerritsen. Leslie. Claire Dirksen, are you there? I can choose for the company. Speaker 0: We'll do a roll call vote. District one. Speaker 1: What I. Speaker 0: District two. Speaker 7: I. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District five i. District six. I. District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Hi. District nine. Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you. Next item, please. 17. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Zendejas. Councilwoman Allen. Recommendation to request city manager to work with all appropriate departments to report back within 30 days on violent and quality of life crimes in Long Beach.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to study feasibility of acquiring open space for public park development along LA River consistent with the Long Beach RiverLink plan and the Lower LA River Master Plan and report back within 60 days.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_02022021_21-0090

Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Zendejas. Councilwoman Allen. Recommendation to request city manager to work with all appropriate departments to report back within 30 days on violent and quality of life crimes in Long Beach. Speaker 4: We're going to go in here. Here. The item. Please. I think I'll see. Believe it. CD1 Councilman's. Speaker 1: Yes. Do we have any public comments? Maybe we can hear those first, Mayor. Speaker 4: If we don't think we have any public comment on this item. Speaker 3: Of course, speaker Mr.. Speaker 0: Mr. Perot is on the line. Speaker 4: Sure. Go ahead. Speaker 3: Bill. Yes. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Council members. I am Bill Perl. I published Long Beach report dot com a media outlet now in our 21st year providing independent news online all the time and regarding violence in the city of Long Beach. As we have reported, the city of Long Beach has crime stats, have gaps, and we urge the council to fix them so you can do. The city of Long Beach, for example, does not list shootings in its official crime stats, but the city of Long Beach. But the city of Los Angeles does. L.A. residents can see every month how many shootings there were and where they were. They don't have to rely on Public Records Act requests to get neighborhood crime information. Long Beach buries it shootings with an aggravated assault, which is a category that includes various crimes. And the council can fix this. Any of you can. Agenda is an item for future use. It could be in the next week or so to begin listing shootings in long beaches. Official crime stats. We urge you to do so. Second, the city of Long Beach no longer lists serious part one Crimes against persons and property by Council District. The city used to routinely do that. It was easy for us to taxpayers to compare what's going on in Council District two with five and seven and nine. But that stopped. Elbe PD now only shows crimes by divisions north, south, east and west, which spans which spanned more than one council district and then invites confusion and misinformation. For example, in her official 2018 ballot statements. Councilwoman Mongo took credit for crime decreases that use numbers from East Division that included numbers from council districts three and four that weren't part of her council district and five reporting crimes by council district would end the confusion. If there are incumbents on this council who don't want the public to know the facts, let's find out who they are. Some council members should agenda is restoring reporting crimes by council districts. And third, this council needs to end the double standard. If a child or adult is shot by a police officer, the city collects and releases data on the person shot to disproportionate impact on various groups. But in non-police shootings, which impact historically disadvantaged and working class areas, the crime victim is invisible. This council needs to correct this inequity and begin to compile and release data on the victims of non-police shootings, just as we do for police shootings, because those crime victims matter, too. So I must add that there will be a report that has advocated all of these actions constructively and editorially, some for some time, and tonight will show whether the council wants to maintain the status quo or to move to fix things. Thanks very much for letting me be heard. Good evening. Speaker 6: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 1: And thank you so much for public comment. And I also want to give a big thanks to all my residents who have been calling in to my office, who have been meeting with me on on this item and who have sent in any comments as well. First of all, I know that that this is a very intense item for me. So I really want to thank my colleagues for their help in bringing bringing this forward. Thank you so much, Councilwoman Allen. I know that you know how important this is as US council members, our first priority as is. The safety of our residents. And given the recent shootings and other high profile acts of violence in our city, especially in the First District, I felt that I must ensure to my residents that we are doing everything within our power to bring this to an end. And so this is why I brought this item forward. I as I said, I know that this is a complicated issue. And there there are no easy ways of doing this, obviously, because if there were, they would have already been found and done. That being said, the seriousness of this challenge means that we must find new solutions, renew our existing efforts to keep our community safe and free of violence. And law enforcement must be our first partner in this. And and continues to be. But I'm also interested in looking at ways we can work within our neighborhoods to address the root cause of violent crimes. COVID has placed incredible constraints on our ability to maintain programing within communities and provide the necessary opportunities for our residents. But we're all now all aware of these gaps that are deadly consequences to our neighbors. And we must find ways to address these needs. I'm grateful that staff has indicated that they will be able to bring this item back on such a quick turnaround. I know that it's usually a 90 day turnaround, so I'm so grateful for you accepting to bring this back in 30 days. That means a lot to me and to my residents. I want to make sure that my residents and our residents here in the city of Long Beach know that we hear your concerns. And it is absolutely my position and my responsibility as a councilwoman that we find an end to our violent crimes and that we acknowledge that these violent, violent crimes are not acceptable in our city, and they are not and they are intolerable. The first district has had history with with violent crimes. But this is not okay. We cannot and I repeat, we cannot normalize this behavior. We we have been having violent crimes for years. And at the beginning of the of my term here in the first District, I saw a lot of violent shootings. And I've been working really hard to try to find ways to eliminate that. But all we've been seeing is the uptick in these violent crimes, and it is not okay. I know we have lost a lot of officers and our public safety is at risk. You know, for our residents in the first district and I know that, you know, we need more more public safety in in the First District. And I know that that's something that is very important to my residents. And I understand that we we must try to figure out ways to eliminate these violent crimes. One of the things that, you know that really upsets me is that every weekend I or even it doesn't have to be during the weekend. You know, I have to be with my fingers crossed hoping that we don't have a shooting that weekend. We should not live like that. You know, that's not quality of life. We we as leaders have the responsibility to create safety for our residents, safety for our children. Right now, during this city council meeting, we got a council notification that a 16 year old young male was shot, another shooting while we're in city council meeting. This is not acceptable. So I thank the staff for being open to bringing back and bringing back a presentation on what we are already doing to prevent this and and finding new ways and finding new solutions to putting an end to this and also, you know, finding and finding ways to be able to involve the community and bring the community in and work together as partners while we eliminate this this violent crime epidemic that's happening not only in the first District, it is happening throughout our city, but we really need to take care of this. And so I just want to thank all my residents for all of their support on this item. I want to ensure that to them that, you know, I will continue being their strong voice on this matter. And I look forward to the presentation being presented in 30 days. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Next up, I have Councilman Sara. Speaker 3: It's full of germs. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank council member Councilwoman Sunday for bringing this item for it with the support of Councilwoman Allen. I definitely hear and reiterate the concern that council members and I have as my district borders hers and we have the same and increased rate in violence, gun violence as well. And I, I believe that we need to make sure we pay attention to this as much as we are doing a lot of work and important needed work around our response to COVID. And but I also want to make sure that they're not separate either, right? That we know that a lot of this is connected and there intersected, and that there's also been an increase in how things lead to violence. And some of these cases are interpersonal dispute. And I so I want us to consider also appreciate stop being willing to do a report back in 30 days. But I want to make sure that we also take into consideration past report that's been done around violence prevention. I know that we want to make sure we have short term, immediate response to the current rising violence. But I also don't want to and I want to acknowledge and honor the work that's been done for many years and what we need to do to prevent and address really also some creating some mid-term and long term approach to this and really also empowering our. Speaker 1: Community with. Speaker 2: Some kind of resource because they've also been very inspiring during this pandemic to support and demonstrate kindness is that it shouldn't be limited certainly to just, you know, groceries and other, but that everybody's shown other ways of acts of kindness. Speaker 1: And I think that this. Speaker 2: Pandemic has prevented certain level of support. But I also want to think about can we also include all those other methods that we had explored in something like Safe Long Beach violence prevention plan that was certainly created before I closed it. But are there some ways we can integrate that into this as a way where we can have a response that doesn't only look at it from a public safety perspective, but also a public health and equity perspective as well. So I just wanted to share that and I think staffer, you know, taking this on and your leadership council members and Dana and also to all of the residents and everyone that has been very concerned, we are concerned with you. It's it's not a day that goes by that we all doubt that this isn't care, that this is it doesn't rest heavy. It's all heavy on my heart. And I want my residents and to know that I think about this a lot and and looking into ways that we can work together to decrease it and prevent it . Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm hoping that when this item comes back in 30 days, it also has the opportunity to touch upon the technological advances that Ms.. Ericsson has made to allow us future greater capabilities in pulling reports. I know that for each community meeting that our commander and lieutenants joined me at, we pull data and statistics for that specific neighborhood by crime, and we make sure that they know neighborhood by neighborhood zip code, by zip code where we stand as compared to years before and even a decade before, if that's important to them. So we pull that data, but we've also worked on the technology that's necessary to make the changes so that residents can make that pull those reports themselves. I want to thank one of our community members, John, who has worked hand in hand with two of our prior commanders on some of the challenges with the systems that we have, but that there's also progress being made. And I think that that would be a valued part of the of the presentation if a maker of the motion is so open to it. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 7: Yes, thank you, Mayor. I also was drawn to this item, and I notice that our residents don't feel as safe as they used to. I also want to acknowledge that the 30 days was a, you know, aggressive timeline. And I do appreciate the PD for getting this report back to us so quickly and I to look forward to the presentation. I have recently seen the difference in the quality of life and the feeling of security that many of our residents all over Long Beach have long enjoyed. And like Councilwoman Sun has said, I think we all as a council bear the responsibility and making sure that our community is safe. I took that oath very seriously when I was a police officer and was seriously injured in a line of duty protecting my community. And I take this very seriously now as a councilwoman. And when I look at gun violence is up and I don't want our quality of life and or the feeling of being safe and secure and secure to go back to what I experienced when I was a police officer back in the nineties. So, you know, our kids need to feel safe going to school. People need to feel safe playing at the parks or walking to their stores or whatever they do. We just need to have a sense of safety. So I, I just like I said, I care a lot about this. I care a lot about the safety of our community and and those who are serving on the front lines. And this will always be a priority to me. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Thank you. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Council member, Sunday House and all the signers on bringing this forward. It's certainly a challenging issue. And Long Beach is committed to violence prevention time and time again and and to the community. I just want to just remind just remind you to let folks know that violence prevention, it's a it's a long term it's a long term strategy. It's the process of looking at the conditions that surround a community. Communities in common that have shootings and look at some of the factors are those communities. They have a lack of investment. They allow the lack of programing, open space opportunities for, you know, investments into education and and poverty is a lot of times the common thread between these communities. So you all you meet violence prevention. Within a public health lens to be coupled with investments into that into those communities. You also need crime suppression, intervention by both law enforcement and and community based organizations that can do intervention. So it is really three dimensional chess. What's happening? I think one thing I would highlight is that I believe that the next city council meeting, we're going to see a presentation about a lot of the work that the community has advocated for in terms of youth development, youth strategic plan, our investments in the youth that will now be boosted with measure us and all of these things that presentations come to council very soon. And City Council has a previous budget in alignment with the reconciliation plan, just funded additional investments into activating our violence prevention plan. So we've had a plan for some time, but it hasn't had the Stafford investment in this recent budget and the reconciliation funding. We funded staff to begin that process of violence prevention. So I think whatever we do in terms of response needs to be balanced with look at the investments we have ongoing. Let's look at the new capacity we built, CARES Act and other things and couple that with the crime suppression strategy. So it should be it should be comprehensive because unfortunately, a lot of times when you hear about crime or violence or shooting, it's already happened and it's already too late. And that family's already impacted, their communities already impacted. And so we have to make sure it's just like, you know, putting, you know, putting some money towards savings for the future and paying for some bills right now. That's how we have the best in violence prevention. We have to really think about that with all the investments that we make. So I look forward to it. Councilmember Sunday House, Thank you for taking the lead on this item. Look forward to supporting this effort. Look forward to jumping in fully and making sure that what we do is real. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Catherine Ashton, please. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to appreciate also Councilmember de Haas and Allen for bringing this item forward, because I think it's very important that we have an honest conversation at the city council right now. Crime is really on the rise, particularly violent crime and gun crime in our city every day for for several now months , it seems like there's been a shooting or multiple shootings. And we can't sugarcoat that. We can't gloss that over. I don't want to put that responsibility on our health department. I would put that responsibility on on anyone other than the the the the our our police officers. And they need our support to do this to do their jobs. We have had a violence prevention plan for a few years now. Just a few months ago, we supported and voted for a violence into violence intervention strategy. And now we're talking about a crime suppression plan. And I think all our great acronyms and great approaches. And yes, we do need to have a balanced approach, but we need to call this for what it is. You know, this is this is street politics. These are these are this is the illicit market. We have we have a gang culture in our city. And we as a city council cannot make excuses for gun violence. We have to come up with the solutions. We need to move the resources. We need to get prohibited possessors off the streets and get the guns out of their hands. I mean, I think we just have to call it what it is. It's a problem right now and it's a big problem. And and we're not going to get out of it inspired by sugarcoating this. We have to make sure that that our police officers are supported to do their work and to do their jobs and in every area of the city. You know, I've asked for our our acting commander ten is able to to increase and chief of police obviously Chief Luna to put more resources in the north long. It's I mean whatever it takes right now to to suppress the strategy of the crime that's happening right now. We have to do it this this. This is this is a this is a problem. We have not had crime a crime spree. We have not had violent crime like this in our city in many, many years. And so what we are experiencing now is not normal. And and it can't we can't we we have to use unconventional strategies and approaches to to to deal with a very, very unique and unconventional spike in crime. Something is going on. You can see it with the watch commander alerts that we as a city council get every every evening. Right. Something is going on. It's different. And, you know, this is this this impacts our ability to to be the city we want to be. This crime is impacting, you know, the quality of life for our residents. It's impacting our ability to attract economic development in key corridors and key areas of our city that we want to revitalize. It's an issue that we have to come to grips with honestly in how this conversation about the direction that we want to go in as a city. But I'm happy to support the item. Speaker 4: That comes from San Diego that you have something additionally. Speaker 1: Yes, Mayor. I just wanted to thank all of my colleagues for your support on this item. But I also wanted to see if if Chief Luna was available, I know that he might have had a small, brief presentation that I might have missed. Speaker 6: Yes, Chief Luna's available if he'd like to hear from him. Speaker 3: Good evening, Mayor, and members of the city council. I am here with all of you tonight listening to every word that all of you are saying very intently. And I did not have a presentation that's going to be set up for 30 days, but I'm available to answer any question you have regarding violent crime or as a matter of fact, almost any crime going on in the city. What I do want to emphasize with the comments being made is that even though this report is due in 30 days, we are not sitting on our hands waiting to report out to you what we're doing. Yes, we are absolutely, extremely concerned about the shooting activity that happened in 2020. We ended the year not in a good place. We didn't begin this year in a good place. I know that not only the members of my command staff, but I personally lose a lot of sleep over the shootings that occur. You have supported us the last several years with neighborhood, safe streets, overtime, money that's already been utilized in some of the locations that you've already spoken about. Some of these hotspots per se, where we're seeing more activity pop up, a very data focus not only on those spots, but individuals that we think are perpetrating a lot of these shootings. And I'm looking forward with more time to brief you on a lot of the things that we're seeing that are very problematic. And I'm going to focus on our city, but I don't think I'd be doing my job if I didn't tell all of you that every major city, almost every major city in the United States right now has experience, assert a surge in violent crime, specifically murders and nonfatal shootings or hit shootings, as we call them. And you will never hear me make excuses. I'm going to focus on our job here. My job is to stop these shootings. Speaker 4: Whether I get help or not. Speaker 3: That's my job. It's our job in the police department. And I welcome meetings, strategies, community input. When I do speak in 30 days, I'll talk about the strategies that we've come up with working with some of our city partners, and I'm really looking forward with a lot of energy. I'm ready to go right now. Matter of fact, I wouldn't mind going out in the street right now and working. That's just my passion and the passion of the people that I represent on this police department who come out here 24, seven, seven days a week, putting their lives on the line. Shots being fired in a matter what it is. They're taking guns off the street, putting prohibitive possessors. As Councilman Austin stated, he knows because he's worked a lot with me. Our prohibitive possessors, for example, are arrest in 2020 were up over 40%. That's people that are out of prison because of COVID, who are carrying guns, who are have no business carrying guns, who are involved in a lot of the criminal activity in our city. And the councilman has nailed it. And a lot of our efforts are there. And we'll continue that. And I look forward to making this report out in 30 days. Thank you very much. And I stand ready for any questions any of you may have. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Speaker 2: Real quick. Speaker 1: Well, I'm sorry. I have one more comment. Sure. Speaker 4: Go ahead. Speaker 1: I just wanted to thank you, Chief Luna. I know that my residents are very, very happy with the interaction that they have with our public safety officers. They're always there. They're always presence there. Are there to answer any questions? I know that I've been able to call on them at the spur of the moment to come meet with my residents. And they've been there. And we also know that you've been overworked. A lot of our public safety has been overworked and continues to be overworked. And yet you still find ways to provide more resources for us in our district, and we are aware of that. And so we do want to thank you for that. And I believe that, you know, I think that when it comes to these violent crimes and we can't put it all on public safety officers. We we as city leaders have to find solutions. This is like. These crimes that are happening. Yes, are happening not only statewide, nationwide, but we need to do something about stopping them in our own backyard. So, you know, I look forward to your presentation in 30 days and I look forward to an action plan for my former city staff as to how we can address these violent crimes. And again, I want to thank my residents for always being so active and and being being great neighbors and making sure that we focus on what's happening out in our neighborhoods. So thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Vice Mayor, thank you again. Speaker 3: Then just a question for the chief in the request on chief. Can we make sure? I'd love to. You mentioned some of the issues with respect to folks being let out early with COVID 19 due to COVID 19. I'd love to hear more specifically how many of the early release folks been perpetuating these approaches. I'd love to. I'd love to know some specifics. If I. Yes. Or vice mayor, if I hear your question, you want to know how many prisoners have been released due to COVID between L.A. County jail and the state prison system? The correlation between that and the violence has happened in the. I don't understand that. So some data to help flesh that point off. Absolutely. I'll be closer to the report if this council chooses to have that information. Thank you. Speaker 4: Roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 0: District one I. District two. Speaker 7: I. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. I District five. I. District six. By district, by district seven. Speaker 3: By. Speaker 0: District eight, district nine. Speaker 3: By. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager, or designee, to work with all appropriate departments to report back to the City Council within 30 days on violent and quality-of-life crime in Long Beach with an overview of incidents and trends, an outline of current efforts and opportunities to address violence in highly-impacted neighborhoods, and a plan of action to meet the need for safety in all of our communities.

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Speaker 4: Thank you. And item 18, please. And I think I am 18. Oh, no, that's different. Now, I know we probably heard a lot of that in the study session, but it is a separate item. So can we just hear that item? And then Councilman Mango, if you want to make a motion on that. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Mango Councilwoman Price Recommendation, direct city manager and Health Department to provide an update on the latest changes to the state and local health orders, the status of our vaccine rollout, and how residents and businesses may be impacted. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 4: Okay. Thank you. Do I have anything else on that? Speaker 2: No. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate. As I mentioned earlier tonight, I brought forward this item before the city staff agenda as the vaccination rollout. I think that the information was valuable. All our colleagues have an opportunity to pose their questions and bring forward questions from the community. And I want you to know how important that has been. But we've really crossed a couple of great barriers in the last year in terms of being able to look at and understand how we can communicate better with the community. As a lot of families have cut the cord, we hadn't had the opportunity to. Speaker 3: Reach. Speaker 2: Those individuals through Channel 13, through a council meeting. But now with council meetings on YouTube, it makes it for a wide range of people to see and play back what has happened at city council meetings. And so I feel that it's really important to have presentations like the one we had tonight. So with that, I'm comfortable with this item as it is moving forward without any additional staff presentation, but I hope that we will have regular briefings so that we won't have to consolidate so much information in a two hour presentation, but perhaps more regular short updates as changes occur. Thank you. Speaker 4: There's a second by Councilwoman Price to everything. Speaker 2: Councilman Price I did just want to acknowledge one thing that wasn't covered in the study session earlier, and that is when the governor lifted the regional stay at home order, the city had the opportunity to prepare its own health orders, and I wanted to acknowledge that our city did that. It made its very specific health orders very swiftly and did so independently, of course, in collaboration and consultation with other cities and health jurisdictions in the county. But I really appreciate that we made it our own and that we followed the state. I thought that really showed a lot of independence as a city with our own health jurisdiction. And I thought it really showed that our health department was listening and trying very, very hard to do the difficult balance of maintaining the public health concerns at the forefront of their health orders, but also acknowledging some of the small business impacts and job impacts that residents were facing. So I just wanted to acknowledge that it's not lost on me that our health department acted swiftly and did so independently while still collaborating with other jurisdictions in the region. So thank you for that. Speaker 4: Councilman Mongo. Speaker 2: Thank you. And then I just had I know that a lot of businesses have reached out to the Forbes line to provide some feedback and some suggestions related to some recent updates that they've had some challenges with either being able to implement and or needing support. Do you anticipate that any adjustments will be made in the next week or two weeks? What is that timeline looking like in terms of being able to receive the feedback from the community and for the Health Department to take into consideration these additional ideas that have come forward? Speaker 4: Mr. Modica. Speaker 6: Yeah. So health orders don't really have a time. We don't update them like every week or so we update them as the need persists. So if we do have tweaks that need to be done to our health order, our attorney helps to draft those and put those out. We are looking right now about how to get information out to businesses about how to do Superbowl safely, for example. So we'll be communicating on that to make sure that we've got as few crowds and gatherings as possible. We have established in contact with the Restaurant Association and are in discussions with them about just how to make sure that we have the appropriate distance between people and any kind of nuances there that we can do within the state to to implement that. But we do need to follow state state guidance. We can't be any less permissive than what the state allows. Speaker 2: And do we still have a direct communication with the state? So for example, I know there was some discussions related to, okay, six feet apart tables versus eight feet apart tables and what other things could be valued like partitions that wouldn't make eight feet apart, tables necessary floor to ceiling, glass or plastic, things like that that have come forward. Are those being considered and what is the the strategy on communicating that back to the community? Speaker 6: Yeah, so we do have the ability to ask questions of the state. They have also changed some of their own regulations. So where before they had said plexiglass was, you know, allowed, especially indoors as a suitable barrier, they don't say that anymore. And as we did the research, we are not finding that they have the but we do have the ability to use plexiglass as a alternative to the six feet. The eight foot is our way to ensure that we're meeting the six feet. We often see tables that are six feet apart, but when you put chairs on either side, then that makes it four feet apart because you push your take your chair away two feet. So that is our own local interpretation of achieving that six foot distance if there's different ways to phrase it or work on that. What we're really trying to accomplish is keeping people the minimum six feet away from other tables and other people, just as we do in every other industry. Speaker 2: That's great. And then my last question also comes from the community related to waivers for school reopening. Is there been any progress or update on that? Speaker 6: So Kelly covered this. She would do it better than I would. But we I believe in the presentation. It says we do not have any more waivers. So in purple. The waivers go away, but you have to be below 25 per thousand in order to open up school. So it is now that program has ended. We now you have to get down to 25 cases per hundred thousand for five consecutive days and then school districts can submit that safety plan and it goes through both local and state approval and it's only for K through six where you can still have the Cohorting and all those different guidances as well. That still remains. Speaker 2: I appreciate that. I know you and I have talked about that one on one. There's a concentration of schools and church based schools in my district, and I really appreciate you providing that. And we will, of course, provide a link to this information in our newsletter, as always. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. District two i. District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District seven. I. District eight. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Motion carries. Speaker 4: Okay. Thank you. That concludes the meeting. We do have, I think maybe two members that have a closing comment, Councilor Murray, Ringo.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager and Health Department to provide a receive and file update on the latest changes to the state and local health orders, the status of our vaccine rollout and ER/ICU capacity, and how residents and businesses may be impacted.

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Speaker 1: Okay, thank you. Then we will adjourn into closed session and counsel will start. We'll give everybody a minute to get over to closed session and we will go ahead and get started. Thank you. Okay. We are in open session at the city council. I'm going to wait till everyone transfers over from the closed session. So we'll just wait a minute and we'll start. And. Madam Court, can you hear me? Okay? Speaker 0: Yes. We can hear you. Speaker 1: Madam Crooke, are you on the line already? Speaker 0: Yes, we're here. Can you hear us? Speaker 1: Maybe not yet. Okay, we'll just. We'll just wait for another minute or so. Speaker 0: Mayor. Can you hear us? Speaker 2: I can hear you. This is the city attorney. Speaker 1: This is our country. If you have a sound check, please. Speaker 0: Councilmember. We can hear you. Charlie. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 0: You're there as well. Speaker 2: I am here. Can you hear me? Speaker 0: Yes. Speaker 1: Okay. I think we have the caller on the line. Can you hear me okay, Mr. Kirk? Speaker 0: Yes. Can you hear us? Mayor Garcia. Speaker 1: Mr. City Attorney, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Speaker 2: Mayor. I can hear the clerk and I can hear you. Yes. Speaker 0: Mayor Garcia, can you confirm? There you can hear the city attorney. Speaker 1: Mr. City attorney. Speaker 2: I am on and I can hear it sounds like the mayor, but I'm not for the American. Speaker 0: We're going to check on the sound. Currently the is unable to hear the rest of the meeting. Speaker 1: All. Okay. Can you guys hear me okay? I think some of the connection issue there. Speaker 0: Yes. Mayor, can you hear us? Mayor Garcia, please confirm. You can hear the city clerk. Speaker 1: I'm going to go ahead and log back on if I'm not able to hear anyone. If you can hear me but I can't hear. And you want to just give me 1/2. I'm to log back on. Okay. Can folks hear me now? Speaker 0: Yes, we can hear you. Mayor, can you confirm you can hear the city clerk. Speaker 1: I can hear you now. We're having some sort of connection issue there. That was weird. Think you guys could hear me, but I couldn't hear you. Okay, so let's go ahead and open up the meeting. And if we can just please, we'll do the Pledge of Allegiance first, and we'll begin with that. Ready. Begin. I pledge allegiance. Okay. Thank you for that. Our zero copies Madam. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sunday has. President. Councilwoman Ellen. Present. Councilman Price. Present. Councilman Supernanny. Speaker 1: Here. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mongo here. Councilwoman Sara present. Councilmember Arango. Speaker 1: Presented. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Your Vice mayor, Richardson?

Agenda Item

Existing Litigation - closed session conference with legal counsel relating to existing litigation pursuant to Paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9 of the California Government Code. a. California Grocers Association v. City of Long Beach, United States District Court, Case Number 2:21-cv-00524.

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Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Your Vice mayor, Richardson? Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 0: Mayor Garcia. Speaker 1: And I'm here. Thank you. Let's go ahead and read the. We have one item on the agenda. So. Madam. Speaker 0: Report from City Attorney. Recommendation to declare the ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code. Establishing premium pay for grocery workers. Read the first time and laid over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for final reading, declaring the urgency thereof and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately citywide. Speaker 1: Okay, Mr. City, Attorney. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor, and members of the Council. Thank you. This item was presented to the City Council and voted on unanimously on the second on January 9th and Tuesday. It has been brought to our attention that the intention and the staff item was a mandate and to adopt this as an urgency item. When the item was voted on, on Tuesday evening. We only took one vote. I apologize for that. I should have caught that. They, in order to adopt as an urgency and as a ordinance, regular ordinance, we take two votes, one on the urgency and one on the adoption of the ordinance. The city also adopts this as a regular ordinance out of an abundance of caution. So today we are asking you to confirm and ratify that it was your intention to adopt this as an urgency ordinance effective the 19th of January 2021. And we would ask you to, if that's your intention, and to ratify that by a motion and a second on an urgency vote. And we will take a second motion in a second and a vote on the ordinance itself. I apologize for bringing this back to you, but I think if we can clear up this ministerial mistake, we will have more clarity on the ordinance. And with that, I'm open to question. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. City Attorney, and don't have any questions. We will be taking two separate votes. And is your public comment on either of the two votes on this item before we move forward? Yes. We have Derek Smith. Derek Smith. Speaker 3: Oh, yes. Good afternoon. Mayor and City Council. My name is Derek Smith and I represent us. UAW Local 324 and I want to speak to the necessity of urgency and the requirement of hazard pay. We have 1350 members who work in the grocery industry in Long Beach now estimates that this is roughly 50 to 60% of all grocery workers eligible to receive hazard pay under the ordinance passed by this council. I think it would be safe to assume that that's around 2500 total workers that will be affected. Currently, 152 of our members have tested positive for coal since the beginning of this pandemic. That's 11.6% of our Long Beach grocery membership. I think it's reasonable to assume that this number is representative of the industry at large and Long Beach. Since December 1st, we've had 113 new positive cases. So roughly 75% of our total cases have come after the winter surge. And so it's clear to me that urgent action by this council was needed by mandating hazard pay urgently. This council has given workers some financial flexibility in this pandemic. This is important for working families who have childcare issues. Urgent hazard pay is critical for nonunion workers who don't have access to affordable health care. This will help ensure that workers make the best decisions possible if they are experiencing symptoms. Urgent hazard pay will help maintain a steady workforce during the next four months. Given the recent spike and the unknowns with respect to the success of vaccination. The city should have confidence that the food supply line will not be compromised by illness by requiring this action to take effect immediately. You're giving hardworking men and women who desperately need and deserve this hazard pay the means to put that money to the most effective and responsible uses possible. Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Thank you. So, Mr. City Attorney, just read the first item we are voting on, which is the urgency. Correct? Speaker 2: That is correct. We need a motion in a second to move on the urgency necessary for disorder. Speaker 1: I have a motion. Can I get a second, please? Kevin motioned by Vice Mayor Richardson any second by councilman that day has a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. A district to. All. District three. I. District four. All right, District five. I District six. I. District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: Hi. Hi. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: Thank you. And Mr. City Attorney. I want to read the second vote we're taking now. Speaker 2: The second item will be a vote on the ordinance itself. Speaker 1: Okay. I need a motion any second to please. Kevin. Motion by Councilman and I need a second, please. And second by Vice Mayor Richardson. Let's go ahead and do a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. I'm district to my district three. I district four. District five. Hi. District six. I. District seven. District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District eight. District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: Okay. That concludes both of those votes. And that is the only item on the agenda. And so, Mr. City Attorney, I believe that there's nothing else needed for this meeting. Correct. Thank you. Okay. Thank you all for attending the special meeting.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 5.91, relating to grocery workers in Long Beach, and establishing labor standards requirements for premium pay for grocery workers working in Long Beach; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide) (Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-21-0004)

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Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Let me do 15 and 16 together briefly. Speaker 0: I am 15 is communication from Councilwoman Sunday has Councilwoman Allen recommendation to increase appropriation in by $576 for the 2020 DIA de los Muertos celebration and item 16 is a communication from Councilwoman Sunday has Councilwoman Sara. Recommendation to increase appropriation by twins for the 2020 holiday Posada virtual celebration. Speaker 3: Okay. I have a most of my concerns that they have since second by Councilman Allen. I don't think there's any public comment on this. Correct? Speaker 0: No public comment. Speaker 3: Okay. Unless the objection will go to a roll call, vote on these items. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sun has. Hi, Councilman Allen. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price. Councilman Sabina. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman. Mongo. I turned to them in zero. Speaker 1: Nine. Speaker 0: Council Member Ranga. Speaker 6: Yeah. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. That's when Austin Vice Mayor Richardson All right. Washing cars. Speaker 3: Thank you very much. Let's go ahead and do item 29, please, briefly.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the Special Advertising and Promotion Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $576, offset by First Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department for the 2020 Día De Los Muertos Celebration; and Decrease appropriations in the Special Advertising and Promotion Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $576 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much. Let's go ahead and do item 29, please, briefly. Speaker 0: Item 29 is a communication from Vice Mayor Richardson. Chair of the State Legislation Committee recommendation to approve the 2021 state legislative agenda as recommended by the State Legislation Committee. Speaker 3: Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson. I have a motion I have a second about Councilman Price. Just quick remarks. Vice Mayor, briefly, chair is updated. Speaker 2: Our State Pledge Committee agenda to reflect two things. Notably, if you folks probably remember the State Lands Commission came down during measure us and talked about the legality of state lands when we take action and we committed to engaging in a discussion with them and you'll see that reflected here that we're going to continue that that discussion with state lands and try to find some resolution to some of the discussions have been positive, but we're going to try to try to continue to ensure that staff has the ability to continue those discussions. And it also just updates recommendations from the Racial Equity Reconciliation Initiative, which is just a big theme of the city council meeting . So those are two things to note. Thank you. Speaker 3: Councilman Price, anything? Speaker 1: Yes. I do have something I'm trying to find the exact language for. I believe it is on page three. There is a reference here or somewhere in there. I saw it in regards to the Tidelands Fund. I was wondering if maybe Councilman Richardson or the city manager, whoever has been involved in this conversation, could talk a little bit more about that. Speaker 2: Sure. Sure. This is vice mayor. So so there's there were questions about supporting ongoing collaboration with state lands. And so we just wanted to make sure we reflected so. So there's a link, a line to support ongoing collaboration with State Lands Commission and the state legislature to support new funding options and supports the priorities. It also is intentionally vague because it keeps it keeps it doesn't call out titles. It talks about state lands, pipelines, port, upland, all of those state lands. And so we just, you know, it's intentionally vague and offers an opportunity for our government affairs team to engage with state lands who brought forward this issue and continue discussions. But that's generally what it is. Speaker 1: Okay, that sounds good. Thank you for that clarification. My only request would be as part of this motion that it is city staff that's engaging in those discussions. And to the extent that any of the enterprise funds uses the limitations of those funds as discussed, the council members from those districts be included in those discussions. So that's my only request. Speaker 2: But I'm not sure that the state lands agenda dictates who's a part of it. I know they're changing who the committee members are, so I would just have that conversation with the mayor about making sure that I'm sure you'd have a seat at the table. But also, I would just say that staff is very good at making sure they protect the city's interests, parklands, all of those things. And so as they continue discussions, that's always the priority. So perhaps just say, you know, make sure that our interests are protected and stakeholders are engaged or something like that. That's I think that's. Speaker 1: Really great, really great suggestion on what language I could use. Maybe I can just turn to the city manager. So let me ask the city manager. Have the discussions with state lands thus far included council members, specifically our city staff? Speaker 4: So this is just in its infancy. This was an idea that was kind of floated and discussed as part of Measure U.S.. That kind of started with some council discussion and staff are getting plugged into that. So there has not been any type of formal negotiations or discussion on this. This is really something that we're asking for your direction on. And then staff would be taking that lead role in having that discussion. Speaker 1: Okay. And when you say it started with council and staff was looped in, what does that mean? Speaker 4: I think the vice mayor was speaking to that, that this is an item that he had had some initial discussion with on state lands, and then that he asked staff to, you know, start taking it over. So that's kind of the process that we're in place. Speaker 1: And staff would be taking it over at this point. Not even the State Lodge Committee, but staff, correct? Speaker 4: Yes. Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 3: Great. Thank you. I think just just to add to that, too, I think all of our pledge committee at the end of the day, the state led committee and our positions are managed by the staff. And so I think that the staff will be able to regularly update the full council as to the progress of the committee . And I know there's a lot of members, so I appreciate the conversations and of course everyone is interested in the outcome of all these issues. So thank you for that. And please do a roll call vote unless there's any to. I don't I don't have any public comment to you. Speaker 4: Yes, we have. Dave Shukla. Speaker 2: Good evening. Despite the expressed support for this item and for the update of many of the changes that were made over the past few weeks, including to me to get more precise about the states obligation for future cleanups with the olive oil. And just as a general point, as we saw earlier this afternoon from the study session on reconciliation initiatives that went wrong, a lot of these issues that are local control, that are economic development, that are sustainable and livable and predictable or whatever city reduce down to the same sex relationships between the same handful of players. And to what degree the public does or does not have access to the implications of those decisions. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the roll call. Speaker 3: But please. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Ellen. I cancel them in price. I had some insurance. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mongo. I as a woman. Speaker 1: Zero I. Speaker 0: Council member muranga. Speaker 5: High. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to respectfully request City Council approval of the 2021 State Legislative Agenda as recommended by the State Legislation Committee.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's in place. Speaker 1: Item 18 is a. Speaker 0: Report from Economic Development. Recommendation to authorize final reconciliations payment to SMG s m global for operational expenses for fiscal year 2020 at the Convention Center due to COVID 19 pandemic impacts district to. Speaker 3: I got a motion in the second place. Motion by your anger is taken by customers and they have a very public comment. Speaker 0: No pop a common. Speaker 3: Okay. Without any objection, we'll go ahead and go to a roll call vote. Speaker 0: Councilman Sun has. Speaker 1: All right, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 0: All right. Councilwoman Pryce, I sentiments have been asked. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Council Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 5: By. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. And Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: All right.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize final reconciliation payment to SMG/ASM Global under Management Agreement No. 21667 for operational expenses for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY 20) at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center (Convention Center), due to COVID-19 pandemic impacts; Authorize an advance of payment expected to be owed under Management Agreement No. 21667 to SMG/ASM Global for operational expenses for FY 21 at Convention Center, due to COVID-19 pandemic impacts; and Increase appropriations in the Tidelands Operating Fund Group in the Economic Development Department in the amount of $3,900,000, offset by funds available and/or reserves to cover the FY 21 operational deficiency of the Convention Center. (District 2)

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Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you. Item 19, please. Speaker 0: Item 19 is a report from financial management. Recommendation to approve the fiscal year 20/23. Departmental and Fund Budgeted Appropriation Adjustments. CDI. Speaker 3: I get a motion in a second place. Motion by Councilman Zero, second by Councilwoman Price. Is there any public comment on this item? Speaker 0: No public comment. Speaker 3: Rock over, please. Speaker 0: And so Vinson Day has. Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price. An announcement webinar by Councilwoman Mongo. I am two women zero. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Council member muranga. Speaker 6: I. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. All right, Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Ocean carries. Speaker 3: Thank you very much. 21. Speaker 0: Item 21 is a report on Parks, Recreation and Marine recommendation to receive and file report on the Hamilton Loop Vision Plan District nine. Speaker 3: Actually, there's a prize there, a presentation on this. If there is, we're going to go to another item. Speaker 4: There is, if you'd like to see it. Speaker 3: I think I think I'm sure Vice Mayor Richardson probably wants to see the presentation. So why don't we just go back to the ones about presentations? I didn't want it to. Please. Speaker 0: Item 22 is a report from Parks, Recreation and Marine. Recommendation to increase appropriations contingent upon executed grant agreements in the Public Works Department and Parks, Recreation and Marine Department for various park improvement project. And for grant administration and decrease appropriation in the Parks Recreation Submarine Department as a technical correction for grant administration cause citywide. Speaker 3: He comes home, is in the house. Can I get a second, please? Second baseman Richardson. Is there any public comment on item 2022?

Agenda Item

Recommendation to approve the Fiscal Year 2020 third departmental and fund budget appropriation adjustments in accordance with existing City Council policy. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Vice Mayor Richardson, motion carries. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Item 25, please. Speaker 0: Item 25 is a communication from city attorney. Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code related to temporary enforcement of Long Beach health orders regarding COVID 19, declaring the urgency thereof. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading Citywide. Speaker 3: I have a motion that comes to me. Ranga, can I get a second, please? Second Vice Mayor Richardson. I think there might be one public comment. Speaker 4: Yes, we have two public comment for this item. Tiffany DAVIES, the first speaker. Tiffany Davey. Speaker 6: Good evening of the American City Council and Tiffany David, District four residents. I'm just calling to voice my support of this amendment to the language we use. The Code Chapter eight 120 as it relates to the temporary enforcement of the health orders regarding COVID 19. The amendments concerning length of time understanding the monster ordinance were to expire tomorrow on January 20th. Allowing for enforcement beyond the most recent promulgation of the order seems consistent with ultimate goal to preserve life during this ongoing pandemic. As for the amendments to enforcement and penalties, I also support that in light of recent events wherein a business within the food and beverage sector openly defied this health order publicly and on multiple counts, in addition to organizing like minded business owners to meet, to find ways to continue to defy, to defy the health order. I find this and the aforementioned amendments to be urgent. The fact remains that the health orders are promulgated in an effort to ensure all members of the community are safe and the orders should not be subject to an individual feeling or law. That is what I said with that empathy for all affected, but for concerns of the safety and health of every member of our community. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Dave Shukla. Speaker 2: Good evening. I like this to express my support for this item. And briefly, I would just like to separate the utility shut off for bad actors from the overall extension of the health of these health of the city has made tremendous efforts in its vaccination program. With the options that are currently available on the market, the widespread availability and adoption of vaccination will likely have to include more accessible and affordable options like the not yet FDA approved AstraZeneca one. And it simply may take longer than hundred and 80 days, especially if there are complications from new variants of COVID 19 that have already been documented in California. But continued education and public outreach are other basic behavioral interventions that one can take are crucial for wearing masks, handwashing, distancing, ventilating people, and so on. No. There are tremendous opportunities with the incoming administration to expand support for these basic behavioral interventions, along with expanding testing, tracing and other communication on COVID. People like to make a difference, along with a lot of the increased enforcement that we. We're considering claiming but I think the health department and for every. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the final. Speaker 2: Roll call vote. Speaker 0: Please note Councilwoman Sandy has. I'm Councilwoman Cindy Allen. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 1: And. Speaker 0: Councilman Spinner. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mongo. Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilmember Arango. Speaker 5: All right. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Vice Mayor Richardson, I motion case. Speaker 3: Thank you. Okay. I think we have gotten through a lot of the a lot of the items. We're going to go back now. We do have some other some other items. You're going to have reports and so forth. So we're going to start going through those. And before we do that, let's go ahead and have the clerk just go through the public comment, the open public comment. We'll get through that and then we'll start the rest of the agenda. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our first speaker is Joni Ricks O.D..

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Subsections 8.120.010.D, 8.120.020.B, and 8.120.040; and amending and restating Section 8.120.030; all relating to temporary enforcement of Long Beach Health Orders related to COVID-19; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide) (Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-21-0003)

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Speaker 3: Okay. Excellent. Well, let's go ahead and then move on now to our hearings work. Let's do item actually 14, which is the the big Asian hearing. First, please. Speaker 0: Item 14 is report from Public Works. Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record. Conclude the public hearing and Adobe resolution ordering the vacation. District eight. Speaker 1: I'd like to introduce Josh Hickman of Public Works staff who will make the presentation for this item. Speaker 6: Hello. Speaker 3: Mr. Mayor. Yes, I'm here. Speaker 2: Point of order. Speaker 3: Would it be possible to make a motion to continue this item? If that's what you would like, I would of heard from a few stakeholders, and I think we need to. Speaker 2: To meet with them, have an opportunity to meet with them over the next couple of weeks. And so I'd like to postpone this item to a date certain of February 16th. Speaker 5: If that's okay with the council. Speaker 3: Staff, are we okay with that? Are there any issues with that? Speaker 4: Yes, we think we think that'll be a good thing. Okay. But you have one change, Mayor, that we do want to read into the record. I'd like to turn it over to the city attorney or public works. Mayor, this city attorney, I understand that there was a an error on the on the number for the secure document . And if the public works could correct that so that on the notice and the continuance to the date certain, we have the right number. Thank you. Speaker 3: This is Lopez. We can we. Speaker 2: Can correct this, but. Speaker 6: I need to. Speaker 4: Work with the internal team to get the right number so I don't have it readily available. Can. I can. Is this something we can fix with the city attorney? Yes, you have to. We'll have to send out the revised notice, then with the correct number on the secret document. Understood. And will do. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Let's go ahead. And we have a motion by Councilmember Austin and second, by your anger to the date certain that it was lifted. This was any objection. We will go ahead and do a roll call vote and nothing. We have public comment on that. Correct. On the change. Speaker 4: Do you have two speakers? Okay. Speaker 3: Sure. Just make sure that we understand that the the motion is to is to postpone to a date. Certain of the speakers need to speak on that if they haven't been to say thank you. Speaker 4: Our first speakers, Andy Levine. Andy Levine. Andy Levine, if you could press star six to yourself. All right. We'll move on to Jeff Smart. Speaker 6: Hi. Speaker 4: Everybody hear me? Yes. Please begin. Speaker 6: Yes. Yeah. My name's Jeff Smart. I'm an executive vice president with Colliers International. I've worked for over 30 years in and around the Long Beach market. I specialize in warehouses and selling and leasing those buildings. Speaker 2: I, I love industrial developments. I love warehouses. Speaker 6: I work with a couple of property. Speaker 2: Owners in the. Speaker 6: Project that I know is the Freeway Business Center. So having said that, I love warehouses. I, I have some concerns about my clients and their buildings. With the massive increase in truck traffic in this project. You know, it's it's primarily a suburban office and. Speaker 2: Corporate headquarters location. Speaker 6: It's one of the first, you know, truly, I think it might be the only master planned business park in Long Beach outside of the. Speaker 2: Airport that Douglas Park. Speaker 6: And that attracted, you know, a who's who of corporate occupiers, Mercedes Benz, AT&T, Northrop. Speaker 2: Grumman, Fluor. Speaker 6: The contemplated buildings will have more truck doors in every building in that project combined. And you know what? Speaker 3: I just could not. Let me. Thank you. I just want to make sure that the comments have to be to the motion which is moving the item. So just want to make sure that the speaker can. Speaker 6: Okay. Then I'll pass, then I'll wait. I'm not speaking to the motion, so. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Mike Murchison. Speaker 6: Greedy mayor and city council members. Speaker 2: I appreciate Councilmember. Speaker 6: Austin taking the. Speaker 4: Time to look further. Speaker 6: Into this project and getting more stakeholder input from the surrounding businesses. So speaking to the item, appreciate you continuing to February 16. Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment. Speaker 3: Thank you. So with that, we have moved that item. Actually, we need to do the roll call. Vote for that. I'm sorry. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Zendejas. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Pryce. Councilwoman Pryce. Councilman Sabina. Councilwoman, Monday. Speaker 1: Night I. Speaker 0: Sent a woman. Sara. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilmember Muranga. Speaker 4: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. I Vice Mayor Richardson, I motion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you. We are now going to go on to the rest of the agenda. So let's do item 26, please.

Resolution

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, find that the area to be vacated is not needed for present or prospective public use; and adopt resolution ordering the vacation of the portion of Via Alcalde Avenue, between Via Plata Street and Carson Street, based on the findings and memorializing the conditions imposed on the right-of-way vacation. (District 8)

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Speaker 3: Okay. And now we're doing item hearing 13, please. Speaker 0: Item 13 is reported from development services. Recommendation to determine that the project is categorically exempt from CEQA declared ordinance, amending the zoning code to add maintenance of low income housing in the coastal zone. Read the first time and lead over. To the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading and Adobe resolution authorizing to submit amendments to the Coastal Commission districts one, two and three. Speaker 3: Great customers in the house. Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I want to start off by mentioning how grateful I am to be able to hear these two these items. I think it's very important that we address the issue of affordable housing. With this in mind, I would like to offer a motion for staff to bring this item back in 90 days to ensure that it is consistent with our city, with our inclusionary housing, and not net loss policies that we just discussed. So I would like to. To make that motion. Speaker 3: Okay. And I have a second by Councilman Price. Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I don't think we did this already, but I wanted to hear the staff report, if there is one. I know we have a long meeting, but it's kind of an important item. So I was wondering if we could just do a quick staff report. Mr. MODICA I'd like to introduce planning manager Patricia Defender for, for this a brief staff presentation on this item. Good evening, Mayor. Council Members. Patricia Defender. This is a presentation on the Zoning Code amendment to amend the ACT ordinance. Just some background on this ordinance. The state legislature adopted no act in 1981. It requires replacement of affordable housing demolished in the coastal zone. It allows payment of an in lieu fee as an alternative to providing the housing. In 1988, the city adopted a local No Act ordinance and established the in lieu fee schedule that exists on the books today. The city's adopted housing element requires an update to the MOT Act in lieu fee to bring it up to date. Since 2014, no affordable housing demolition has triggered collection of the Marlowe Act in lieu fee. The Mello Act in lieu fee schedule has not been updated since the since it was established in 1988. The proposed ordinance would update the in lieu fees based on a market study of current development costs. The update removes an exemption for single family houses, duplexes and accessory dwelling units, as those are commonly development projects that are proposed. Demolition and redevelopment of those types of housing units. The Planning Commission did approve or recommend recommended approval of this ordinance on October 1st, 2020. This slide just shows you the in lieu fee schedule that will be proposed as a part of this project. You can see these numbers are substantial. If you're familiar with the existing fee schedule, these are substantial increases in the fees, more commensurate with what it would actually cost to provide the units. There is public outreach done on this ordinance in the form of the planning hearing, planning commission, hearing and publication in the press, telegram and link LV email blast. This is the environmental clearance on this is. Exempt from secure. Consistent with Class five exemption. And finally, the recommendations on this is to receive the supporting documentation to the record and conclude the public hearing and determine that the project is categorically exempt from having to declare an ordinance amending Title 21 Zoning Regulations of the Code Chapter 2161 to limit exceptions to the requirements to replace affordable units and to modify the in lieu fees for the coastal zone. And finally, to adopt a resolution authorizing the Director of Development Services to submit amendments to the Zoning Code to the Coastal Commission for review, approval and Certification. That concludes the staff report and we are here to answer any questions that you might have. Speaker 3: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So just the one question that I had is I know we're adjusting the fees. So if we adjust the fees, are we making sure that our figures are consistent with other coastal communities in the region? Speaker 4: Well, Councilmember, we're required under law to make our fees based on development and rents here in Long Beach. So there's two different ways of thinking about it. These increases are order of magnitude, huge increases from the status quo. And as Patricia explained, this is not these fees have not come into play one way or another since 2014 and are anticipated to come into play. But to keep the incentive to not demolish these fees do need to be as high as is legally justified. But they are lower than some other coastal communities. So property values are higher in Newport Beach, for example, than they are in Long Beach. So you can't compare the two and an apples to apples sort of way because the next study is based on Long Beach properties and Long Beach rents and not those in other cities. Each city in California is required if they have a miller ordinance to update their fees based on their local circumstance. Speaker 1: Okay. I appreciate that. That's helps a lot. Thank you very much. I have no additional questions, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman Allen, I think. Did you Q back up? Speaker 1: Yeah, I did. Yeah. I just wanted to say one thing. I just just in my opinion, this I think this piece requires further discussion and analysis, and I would be open to postponing tonight's discussion until February. As it stands now, this could be strengthened and the number of ways and a number of ways keep including how the and low fees are used where affordable housing units can be replaced and their construction timelines. Overall, I would like to see this legislation mirror and follow our inclusionary housing ordinance more closely. Thank you. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you very much. Let me go back to I have a motion in a second by councilman in the House and Councilwoman Price. Is your public comment on this? Speaker 4: Yes. Speaker 5: Sir. Mr. Mayor, it's Mike May. I would understand the motion a little bit better is the motion to put the entire matter over for nine days so that it can be consistent with the inclusionary zoning ordinance? Or is the motion to pass the ordinance tonight and bring back a report in 90 days? Regarding the consistency with the inclusionary zoning ordinance. Speaker 3: Councilman's in the. Speaker 1: House. Thank you. I mike again. I think that the first one is the correct one. So I'm hoping that we can come back in in 90 days or less so that we can we can make it stronger then and be able to have some concerted instances across the board. Please. And thank you for making that clear, because I wanted to make that clear that that was the motion on the floor. Speaker 5: Great. Thank you so much. Speaker 3: It's good. A public comment, please. Speaker 4: Our first speakers also tongue. Speaker 6: Hi. Good evening. Speaker 1: Mayor and council members. Speaker 6: Again. This is Alyssa Tung with Long Beach Forward. Thank you for this discussion thus far. It is absolutely true that the Mello ordinance is a really critical anti displacement policy. However, it needs a lot of work to be consistent and conforming with the. Speaker 1: Inclusionary housing and no net loss. Speaker 6: Ordinances. So specifically, there are several points to change. Number one, replacement determination, replacement housing obligation should be. Speaker 1: Determined by. Speaker 6: Looking at both the rent and income levels of tenants, not just the rent. We have to look at both rent and income level number two, onsite and new units. So consistent with the inclusionary ordinance, we need the affordable housing obligations to be met by providing units on site or paying an in lieu fee. So off site units should not be allowed, nor should rehab or subsidy of existing units. In regards to the fee. Again, consistent with the inclusionary. Speaker 1: Ordinance. Speaker 6: The in lieu fees must be set at the economic equivalent of providing the units on site and tied to an objective annual index. The replacement units should be replaced at the same or lower affordability level that they are replacing. So, for instance, a unit that's occupied by or affordable to a very low income household should be replaced by a very low income unit. Like for like. Speaker 1: One for one. Speaker 6: Not like a moderate income unit. And finally, as we mentioned multiple times with the inclusionary ordinance, the affordability covenant should be the life of the project. Speaker 1: Or in perpetuity. Speaker 6: L.A. County recently did this in inclusionary housing. We must do this for consistency and conformity with inclusionary housing so that we can meet the most extraordinary. Speaker 1: Housing needs of. Speaker 6: Our most vulnerable neighbors. Thank you. Speaker 4: Oh, thank you. Your next speaker is Jordan Wynne. Speaker 6: You have the other remote. Hi there. Speaker 4: This is Jordan Wynn speaking on behalf of everyone in Long Beach. I want to echo what my colleagues have previously shared regarding the Mello Act. We want to make sure that the Melo Act conforms with the inclusionary housing ordinance within our city and that it also conforms with other good policy that has been established. Speaker 2: Across the region. Speaker 4: As was mentioned earlier, when it comes to in place replacement housing obligations, we must be looking at both rent and income levels. It is important that we are paying attention to the income classifications in addition to just what is reported by landlords as it is currently constructed, it conflicts with SB 330, the city's proposed no net loss ordinance and density bonus law, all of which consider income already within their factors. On the best practice used by the city of L.A. and the County of L.A. is that the Housing Department in the city would conduct rent income surveys to make affordability determinations for replacing replacement housing obligations. We also want to make sure that we are providing affordable units on site or paying an in lieu fee, making sure that offsite construction of affordable units is not allowed, and that in lieu fees are set of the economic equivalent of providing the affordable units on site. All of tonight's points where it comes to the Mello Act are meant to align with inclusionary housing, no net loss, which are obviously major milestones in our city's housing policies. We need to continue to do strong work and do as much as we can to meet the obligations set by the Regional Housing Needs Assessment. There are over 11,000 more units of affordable housing that need to be constructed, and by strengthening the Mello Act, you can help pave that way. Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next speaker is Norberto Lopez. Speaker 6: Hello once again, city council mayor. And just once again, just echoing what some of my colleagues have said, we want this Mello Act policy to be reflective of the inclusionary housing policy. And we want to make sure that, you know, the new fees are reflective as well. You know, no more no more cut outs or, you know, no more special privileges to anybody. Let's ramp up our production on affordable housing units and let's preserve the ones that we already have. We can no longer continue to lose residents regardless of where they're located. I understand that. Well, at the Olympics, they're coming. And that's also going to bring in new development. And we have to ensure that these new developments, as they come to the city, they provide the affordable housing units that are going to be mandated by these policies, and they've done right. We will be increasing our affordability, housing stock and taking away units, which is currently the situation. And so thank you so much for your time and I hope that we can get this right and come back to it. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Suzanne Brown. Speaker 1: Good evening. My name is Suzanne Brown, and I'm an attorney with the Legal Aid. Speaker 6: Foundation of Los Angeles in our Long Beach office. We applaud the city's effort to update its smell ordinance. But we are concerned, as you've heard from other speakers and council members. Speaker 1: That the update is not aligned with the inclusionary housing and no net loss ordinances. I want to thank. Speaker 6: The council members who have acknowledged this and been open to continuing this so. Speaker 1: That we can get it right. Speaker 6: We are requesting the City Council to direct staff to revise. Speaker 1: And align the Mello ordinance. Speaker 6: So that it is consistent with the land use principles. Speaker 1: That we've been working on in the inclusionary housing and no net loss. Speaker 6: Ordinances for. Speaker 1: Years. Speaker 6: In particular, we request that. Speaker 1: The Mello. Speaker 6: Ordinance be revised in five ways. First, replacement housing determinations need to consider more than just rent levels. Rent levels do not capture who's living in a unit. Two incomes should also be considered. If for some reason that is. Speaker 1: Not something the city can do. Speaker 6: At a minimum, the city should use the process. Speaker 1: Included in its no net loss. Speaker 6: Ordinance, which is based on state density bonus law that lays out a process for making determinations of. Speaker 1: Affordable units. Speaker 6: Second, I say construction of affordable units should not be allowed. Third, providing affordable units through the rehabilitation or subsidy of existing. Speaker 1: Market. Speaker 6: Rate units should not be permitted because this does not add to our housing stock. Fourth, affordable units should be replaced in a like for like manner, which means they should be replaced at the same. Speaker 1: Or lower affordability levels. Speaker 6: And fifth. Speaker 1: Affordability covenants. Speaker 6: Again for this should be set for the life of the project or in perpetuity to prevent expiring affordable units and displacement of low income tenants. Thank you for your consideration of our comments. We urge you to bring this ordinance back as soon as possible with these revisions. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Can you guys hear me? Speaker 1: Now we can. Speaker 5: Okay. Speaker 3: Thank you. Work has been concluded. So we will go back now. We have the motion and the second on the floor. So let's go ahead to a roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sunday has. Speaker 1: Hired. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Allen. I answer? Woman Price. Councilwoman Price. Councilman Sabina. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 1: Prices. Speaker 0: And I think you count on having a woman mango. Councilwoman Sarah. I Council member Tauranga. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: And Simon Austin. Speaker 2: Uh. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson, I motion carries. Speaker 6: On bongos, and I. Speaker 0: Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. And now we're going to be doing item number. 27.

Ordinance

Recommendation to determine that the project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15305 (Class 5 - Minor Alterations to Land Use Limitations) of the CEQA Guidelines and none of the exceptions in 15300.2 apply, and that it is further exempt pursuant to Section 15308 (Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of the Environment) and Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption), as it will not result directly or indirectly in significant environmental impacts (CE20-090); Declare ordinance amending Title 21, Zoning Regulations (Zoning Code), of the Long Beach Municipal Code to add Chapter 21.61 (Maintenance of Low Income Housing in the Coastal Zone) to limit exceptions to the requirements to replace affordable units and to increase the in-lieu fees for Coastal Zone areas of Long Beach, read the first time and laid over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for final reading; and

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Speaker 3: Thank you. And now we're going to be doing item number. 27. Speaker 0: Item 27 is communication from City Attorney. Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code. Establishing premium pay for grocery workers. Read the first time and laid over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for final reading, declaring the urgency thereof and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately. City y. Speaker 3: Okay. We're going to go out and go to public comment. I'm not sure of any objection to that. First, to get through that. Madam Clerk, please keep up a comment. Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Victor Sanchez. Speaker 6: Council members. Honorable Mayor Garcia My name's Victor Sanchez, director of the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs in a Healthy Community. I urge you to vote in support of this item. Grocery workers are the unsung heroes of this pandemic and have been risking their lives and been on the front lines for months, providing a lifeline for our communities and keeping us fed. We owe them our strong support to ensure they are fairly compensated for the risks they have undertaken, as well as able to adequately provide for their families during this uncertain time. Long Beach is well within its power to take the recommended action tonight. It's an authority and a responsibility that is extremely urgent given the severity of this current surge in the virus. We vote in support of this item does not negate other workers from other sectors being able to benefit from similar action in the future. This has to be viewed as a first step in providing direct relief to frontline workers, not a last one. The rational basis for supporting this item is clear. Your support will help protect public health, support stable incomes, and promote job retention. At a critical time for the city to protect and support grocery workers is to protect and support all residents during this emergency. We commend your leadership, especially council members and the House, for bringing this forward in recognizing the challenges workers are facing at this moment. Long Beach was the first in proposing this kind of relief for grocery workers. Let's finish the job and get these workers the support they need. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank your next speakers. Anthony Campanella. Anthony Campanella. Our next speaker is Christine Boss. Speaker 1: Hello. My name is Christine Banks and I serve as government affairs manager for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. I'm speaking on behalf of our 678 members, representatives and community stakeholders. We're in opposition of this item and ask the Council to. Speaker 6: Consider the. Speaker 1: Following. Though well-intentioned, this ordinance has been rushed and inadequately studied. An economic impact. Speaker 6: Survey has not taken place, so the Council would. Speaker 1: Be creating policy without proper understanding of the impacts on our grocers, the workforce and our community. Furthermore, is our understanding that the grocers. Speaker 6: Were not given a seat at the table when this ordinance was proposed. This item was placed as an emergency ordinance on the supplemental agenda. Speaker 1: Friday before Council not once. Speaker 6: But twice. This is not how policy should be created. We urge the City Council to pass. Speaker 1: A vote on any wage increase ordinance that. Speaker 6: Has the potential to create unintentional consequences and possible inequity. Speaker 1: Across our city. Until an economic impact study is completed. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Cody Walsh. Speaker 6: Hi. My name was. Speaker 2: I will give. Speaker 6: People this in Long Beach. Speaker 2: And on. Speaker 6: The dairy court. And afterwards the night grew. And when you first read, you have to put in all these hours with the workload getting. Speaker 2: Heavier and heavier with. Speaker 6: Everybody in the palace and everything. And yeah, it's frustrating finally that I was at the cutting of the people at sanitizer school. So I'm afraid to, you know. Never to work at night without, you know. Speaker 2: Catching the virus again. Speaker 6: Yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah. Right. But. Yeah. Oh, well. Speaker 6: Pretty much. Speaker 2: I'm sorry. Speaker 4: Well. Thank you. Our next speaker is Christina Min here. Huh? Speaker 1: Yes. Hello. Speaker 4: I please begin. Speaker 6: Okay. Speaker 1: Oh. Hi. My name is Christine. I'm here. I work out food for less, and I'm an essential worker during this pandemic we're currently living through. I believe me and my coworkers. Speaker 6: Deserve hazard. Speaker 1: Pay. After almost a year of enduring these hard times where this violent, deadly virus is among us. We don't know who is carrying the virus. When? Just last week alone, my store had 18,927 customers. Speaker 6: Many of those. Speaker 1: Customers can be carrying the virus a lot of the time. Social distancing nor face masks are being enforced. How they should be. We are risking our health and our family's health when all the company is concerned. Speaker 6: About is profit. Speaker 1: Having a record year in sales throughout this time Hazard pays. Speaker 6: Shouldn't be a question or a debate. This is something we deserve. Speaker 1: From the start. I believe during this. Speaker 6: Time it should be people over profit, not profits over people. Speaker 1: I'd like to thank you for your time and. Speaker 6: Appreciate the opportunity. Speaker 1: To be heard. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank. Think your next speaker is Derrick Smith. Speaker 6: Good evening. My name is Derek Smith. I'm the political director for S.W. 324. And on behalf of my union, I want to extend our appreciation to the mayor and each city council member for their support for restoring zero pay for grocery workers back in December, and particularly to council members in Dallas, Richardson and Ranga and the city staff for their hard work necessary to bring this to a final vote. Speaker 2: Tonight. Speaker 6: Up and down the state of California, city councils and Board of Supervisors are beginning the process of mandating hazard pay for grocery workers. I know 13 already. Speaker 2: And many more are going to follow. Speaker 6: The significance of this is enormous. It's given workers the opportunity to talk about conditions on the job and the necessity of restoring hazard pay. It's giving elected and community leaders a chance to express appreciation for the local clerks. And it's a clear message to the grocery industry that it's not enough to call the men and women who have spent the better part of the year keeping families fed heroes. You actually have to treat them like heroes tonight. My hope is that the city of Long Beach will do just that and that your action will be the catalyst for other cities across the country to follow suit. Thanks. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Doreen Bonner. Speaker 2: Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. Speaker 4: My name is Doreen Bonner and I am a resident. Speaker 2: Of District one. I first wish to thank you all for voting to bring this ordinance to the table in support of our great work here in the city. Speaker 6: As a conscientious citizen. Speaker 2: And former service industry worker, and furthermore urge you to finish the process and declare the ordinance immediately. Speaker 6: This pandemic has devastated lives. Speaker 2: Across our communities for nearly a year now, and many of our grocery workers have not only been exposed to or infected. Speaker 6: With COVID 19, but have also. Speaker 2: Dealt with many cases of people denying the reality of this pandemic and thus compounding the challenges they already endured. Considering that many grocery workers are black and brown people, this becomes an issue of racial equity as well, because they are already the most disproportionately affected groups by this pandemic. We are all relying on the bravery of our essential workers. Speaker 6: And especially our grocery workers, to keep our fridges. Speaker 2: Full and our families said. So please. Speaker 6: Recognize the urgency of the situation and show. Speaker 2: Them that we value them enough to make sure they can do the same for their own families by giving them the hero care they deserve. Speaker 4: Thank you very much for your time. Think your next speaker is Elizabeth Leone. Speaker 1: Hi. My name is Elizabeth Leon. I work at the facilities and. Speaker 6: I am in Redondo. I have been at this store for about five years. I have work record for last for six years. I would like to start also by thanking the mayor and all of the council members for taking the time to listen to my concerns. And have our backs on. Speaker 1: These very uncertain times. Speaker 6: Take the last. Speaker 1: Council meeting that. Speaker 6: Took place in December. I spoke about the fear of getting COVID 19. On December 27 was the last day that I work due to COVID 19. I was out for three weeks. I was ill. I was stressed out. It was around the time that I needed to make a decision. I was told that I would get emergency COVID pay, and when I spoke to my boss, she said it was going to take a little time. I then took the time to think of what I was going to do, and I decided that I would not pay my rent. I would feed my kids. It took 19 days for food for us to pay the emergency pay. We are so overworked, exposed ourselves to thousands of people. The committee is essential, so nobody should ever have to choose between feeding their kids. Thank you. And having any. Speaker 4: Your next speaker is Anthony Campanella. Speaker 6: Yup. I'm Anthony. Speaker 4: Please begin. Speaker 6: Yeah. I worked for Ross for 43 years, lived in this city for 55. And I just wanted to say that. I've never gone to work in so much fear in my life and my coworkers all said the same. I'm their shop steward. It's it's just phenomenal how this company. Has decided that they do not consider us a risk factor. So I just wanted to really emphasize. How much this would mean to us if you reinstated our hazard pay. That's kind of it. That's all I wanted to say. Speaker 4: Think your next speaker is Jan Michelle. Speaker 6: Carl. Speaker 1: My name is Tony Michelle and I'm a proud at Long Beach City resident and a Long Beach essential worker. Speaker 6: I work for Gelson's. Speaker 1: In Long Beach. I have been in this. Speaker 6: Business for. Speaker 1: 25 years. Speaker 6: But these times are the scariest. Speaker 1: And while granted, I am so incredibly grateful for my job. These are the scariest times for us. And at this point, we are all worked eight, ten, 12. Speaker 6: 15 hours a day. Speaker 1: Six days a week. I see my customers and my coworkers more than I see my own family. And at this point, we're all telling. Speaker 6: Ourselves, just one more day. Speaker 1: One more day. Are we going to make it one more day? Speaker 6: Will we get it? Will we. Speaker 1: Make it this one last day if we are making. Speaker 6: Ourselves available to our communities? It's so critical for us to do this work and to keep our our people fed. Speaker 1: And with every place being closed right. Speaker 6: Now. Speaker 1: People are eating breakfast. Speaker 6: Lunch and dinner at home, which I'm here to tell you that these grocery jobs. Speaker 1: Continue to be busier and busier, which means more. Speaker 6: Hazardous by the day. Speaker 1: My coworkers and I have been at this for the last. Speaker 4: Thank you to our next speakers, Marcus Williams. Speaker 2: Hello. Thank you, Mayor and Council, for allowing me to speak. My name is Marcus Williams. I've been working for Albertsons platforms for about 12 years. I'm a front end cashier. I'm also a father of four, and I caught COVID late November, which changed me from hugging and kissing my kids. I don't go anywhere. I go to work and go straight home every day. So. There's no mistake that. Okay, I got it from work. They come in contact with more people than the medical facilities right now. And we don't know if these people are taking precautions, you know, washing their hands and things of that nature. And in this pandemic, the grocery stores have never closed. They've been open through the whole pandemic. So business is booming. So I feel that every day somebody is dying. And literally one of our coworkers that caught the disease has actually passed away. And. In the last couple of months like. It's a numerous amount of people that are just catching the virus and there's no way that we can stop it. We don't know who's touching what in the stores, and it's impossible for them to sanitize everything in the store. So. I just want to say that life is priceless. And this $4, it is going to help. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mary Dong. Speaker 1: Good evening, council members. Honorable Mayorga. S.M. is Mary Jung Am, a faith organizer with clergy only at United for Economic Justice, also known as crew. COVID Outbreaks Skyrocket at SoCal supermarkets in NBC News the other day reported that there were 146 outbreaks in supermarkets in December alone, in L.A. County, in Orange County. So, of course, you workers are at the front now facing the risk of being contracted with COVID daily to ensure all of our children, families and community members have food on the table. And so if we call them heroes, we need to show that with our actions, it is the right ethical theme for our city to ensure the grocery workers are fairly compensated for their dangerous work and. Speaker 6: Sustainably take care of their families. Speaker 1: And I believe that supporting social workers is supporting our whole city to survive and move forward in this health crisis. And as people of faith, we believe all labor contributing. Speaker 6: To the building. Speaker 1: Of community has dignity and worth. So vote in support of this item is a vote to support community health, community safety and community sustainability. Speaker 6: This is the first step to provide. Speaker 1: Direct relief from those workers. So I want to say thank you for the council's leadership, especially council members, and for moving this item forward. And I. Speaker 6: Urge you to finish this. Speaker 1: Job and provide support for our workers. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker speakers Terry Mulder. Terry Mander. Terri mander if you're there please and yourself by hitting star six. Gerrymander. Right. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and go back now to the city council. And let me just begin with, Councilman, is that that's. Speaker 1: Thank you, man. I just huge, huge thank you to our city staff, especially our city attorney and his team for bringing this is doing this amazing work and bringing it back so quickly. It is absolutely a matter of urgency that we reestablish these benefits for our heroic grocery store workers during this incredibly difficult and dangerous time. They are doing essential work and are entitled to basic benefits so that they can provide for their families and have the financial security they need and deserve for working in a high risk environment. And as our frontline workers during this pandemic, I think we can all unite behind celebrating the work being done by the essential workers right now. And it's absolutely necessary that we take action to make sure that our workers are not only receiving our praises, but the essential benefits that that that represent the very least at these at these times. I know that during this time I views this industry is bringing in enormous profits, profits even to the point of 100% for last year in some cases. And and they're doing so on the shoulders of all of our grocery workers who are risking their lives every single day. This is why this was brought urgently, because we don't have time. There are some lives that are depending on this. And it's it's it's very hard and it's very emotional to hear all of the public comments, all of the workers that have spoken here today, and to know that they are risking their lives for us so that we all can have food on our tables. And so with that, I just hope that that my colleagues support this item and that we can vote on this item and make sure that we that we. That we really consider our heroes who are our frontline workers in our grocery stores. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman's in the house. Customary Ringo. Speaker 4: Thank you. And I. Speaker 5: Want to say that Councilmember Senate has some comments who are spot on. Speaker 1: And they split. Speaker 3: THOMPSON We ran. I think we lost two. Okay. Let me go. Speaker 5: To out here for some reason. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 5: What I basically said was that I agree. Speaker 2: With the. Speaker 5: Comments made by governments and then. Speaker 2: You would read it. They were spot on. And I'm going to. Speaker 5: Give you. Speaker 6: That. You hear. Speaker 3: Richardson. Speaker 2: Thanks, Mary Garcia. Just wanted to chime in and say, I think this is the right thing to do. I know that. And I want to acknowledge councilmembers and Bay has and Durango for their leadership on this issue. I know that these are unprecedented times. It's not the type of measure the lobby city council has done historically. There are some examples. I mean, we did support 50 miles an hour, you know, our voter supported measure. And there are some examples. But I think this is even this is different. Hero pay, we know, was established, you know, on the private side during the summertime. And it was certainly the right thing to do. But we're all sort of concerned about the greater economic condition of our economy and low wage workers. And we know that, again, it's a k-shaped recovery. People that make under $27,000 a year are showing that unemployment rates are increasing and they're having economic burdens and just trying to hold on. So I think that makes I think it makes sense. I don't think we need to change it. Change it. I think we need to stick with what's in front of us, adopt it, move forward, and also watch and see what the region, how the region responds to react. So no West Hollywood adopted hero just tonight. So so I'm happy to support this and I encourage and I wrote thank you. Speaker 3: Q a Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank the staff for getting back so quickly. This is an important ordinance. And I also want to thank Councilwoman Sun Hoss for her leadership on this. Some of the highest rates of COVID 19 transmission are seen in grocery store workers, and so many of the courses to our workers have already had COVID. And I just pray for everyone's safe recovery. These heroes don't have a choice to work from home, and largely they can't control the actions of members of the public that are in their personal space. They, like the gentleman said earlier, they just faced so much fear just to go to work. But they do it day after day to make sure that all of us get fed. I support them. I'm with them, and I think I'm all for their service to our community. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes council comment. I'm going to make some comments just to wrap us up. I want to just start by thanking the city attorney team. I know in my conversations with him and the team, they worked really hard to get this out as soon as possible. And I just want to thank them. I know that it was it was really a really tight schedule for them. So I appreciate their work. And of course, to our our city team and really all the advocacy on this issue, I just want to just say that I, of course, absolutely have supported this initiative from from day one. These folks that are working at these at these markets and these these grocery stores are heroes. This is nothing new. They have received this type of additional pay in the past. And if they deserved it in the past, I deserve it. Today there are if you look do you think about all the essential workers that are out there? It is hard to name a group of folks that have as much contact with different individuals in that level of proximity that that these folks have. So it is unique. I mean, there's a lot of essential work, but this work is also very unique. And on top of that, unfortunately, a lot of these workers are harassed and they have to deal with folks who don't want to comply with the rules, and they're trying to protect themselves and their family. And they don't have the choice to not work or to work from home. These are these these folks make up the backbone and working class community of our city. And I'm really, really proud of them. They they are they are our neighbors. I, I there was a worker on here who said I believe she said she was from Gelson's and I was just there. Maybe a week or two ago I was doing some shopping and I actually had a chance to talk to some of the workers and workers who came up to me and words just honestly, they just they were so grateful and they just said, hey, thank you so much for this proposal. And you have no idea how much it means to us. And it's just great to know that there is there are folks that are watching out for us and understand how difficult these jobs are. And so, you know, just to the workers at Gelson's, that that I that I love so much and across the city and all the other great supermarkets where we are, we got your back and we're really proud of this tonight. And I especially want to thank Councilman's and De Haas who really led this this issue. And, you know, she continues just to be such a champion for working people. So congratulations to her and the whole council. And what that was a roll call vote. Speaker 0: Councilwoman, City Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Pryce, I councilman's opener. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 6: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Councilman Alston. I Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you very much. Vice Mayor Richardson, I think you have the last couple of items here. Speaker 2: Sure. Let's take a moment to so I can reset. So let's start off. Madam Clerk, I believe the final items we have are 17, 21, 24 and 28. Is that correct? Speaker 0: 17, 20, 21. 24. And 28. Speaker 2: Okay. So we're going to go in that order and and for the council, we're going to do voice motions. But the clerk has the Q for the order of of comments. So I'll recognize the motions. And then as we proceed through the debate, the clerk will cue to the next speaker. And that's how I will proceed, since I don't have access to the Q system. So we'll start with item 17 and I'll make the motion on that one. Let's hear item 17, please.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 5.91, relating to grocery workers in Long Beach, and establishing labor standards requirements for premium pay for grocery workers working in Long Beach; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide) (Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-21-0004)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_01192021_21-0053

Speaker 2: And that's how I will proceed, since I don't have access to the Q system. So we'll start with item 17 and I'll make the motion on that one. Let's hear item 17, please. Speaker 0: Item 17 is the communication from Vice Mayor Richardson. Councilwoman Van de has Councilwoman Allen, Councilwoman Sara recommendation to direct city manager to work with the Human Relations Commission to update and expand its mission and scope and change its title to the Long Equity Commission. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'll go ahead and get started. So this is a recommendation from my office, and it's consistent with two recommendations in the Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initiative report. The Human Relations Commission has a long history. It began in the sixties with the civil rights movement was disbanded in 1981 and was revived in 1989 in response to calls from community groups and local ministers in response to an issue of police misconduct and police brutality within the city. Very same issue that led to the creation of the Citizen's Police Complaints Commission over the past few years has been discussions at the Human Relations Commission, and even more so now about aligning with a lot of the work that's happening here within the city to date. And by aligning the Human Relations Commission with work that's directly in line with the Office of Equity, the implementation of Racial Equity Reconciliation Initiative. Some of the important work that the City Council is doing, what we do is ultimately expand civic participation, transparency, oversight into some of this work . And so a citizen commission is is certainly something we're interested in. The motion initially says change the Office of Equity. In talking with the Equity Commission, I certainly support that. That's what's in the reconciliation report. But, you know, in talking to the commission and and community groups, there is an interest in having maybe a combination of equity and human rights. I think it's all fine. I think what's most important to me is alignment. I also want to just acknowledge the letters of support that have come in. We've received letters, support from Jessica Suma, from the Economic Development Commission, Walter Larkins, the Chair of the Economic Development Commission, the Lobbies Ministers Alliance, CCG, the LGBTQ center , Long Beach Forward Lobby, Center for Economic Inclusion, Success and Challenges and others. And so I wanted to thank everyone who participated in this, I think in alignment with all the steps we've done today, this is a good step the city council can take. The idea would be the commission is going to work with staff, come back to city council the next 90 days with the plan. And at that point we can vote to update and modernize our commission. And again, I think it makes sense. 30 year old, you know, this commission has been in place for 30 years. So has the PCC. They both sort of came out of the same moment and PCC has been modernized. I think it's time for the Office of Equity to be I mean, the excuse me, the Human Relations Commission to also be modernized. So those are my comments. I'll open up for a second and then we'll go to public comment. Is there a second? Speaker 1: Second. Speaker 2: Who's that? Speaker 1: Sara. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Okay. Let's go to public comment and then we'll come back for council comment. I'm Clark. Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Alyssa Gutierrez. Speaker 1: Getting me Mayor and City Council. My name is Lester Gutierrez and I serve as chair of our city's Human Relations Commission. I'd like to thank Vice Mayor Richardson and the co-sponsors of this item for bringing this forward. The HRC strongly supports the proposal before you and is looking forward to working with the city manager's office to develop recommendations on modernizing the HRC role and updating our name to better. Speaker 6: Reflect the core. Speaker 1: Of our work. For decades, the HRC has been an ally and advocate in the fight for a more. Speaker 6: Just and equitable on beach. Speaker 1: Uplifting the experiences and needs of all marginalized communities. The very communities we've been talking about all evening low income residents, communities of color, rent burdened families, grocery store workers, members of the LGBTQ plus community women. Our current ordinance, written over 30 years ago, does not fully capture the realities of how injustice and inequity show up and more importantly, where they originate and how to address them. We know today that in order to create a more equitable city, we must go upstream and address inequity at the root in all its forms. As the city works to institutionalize equity, it's critical that an independent citizen commission has the ability to advise city staff and council on. Speaker 6: Both practices. Speaker 1: And be on hand to provide accountability and partnership. Speaker 6: Throughout the process. Speaker 1: We look forward to engaging our community partners over the next few months to identify what changes to our purview is needed in order to be a more effective advocate for all of our communities experiencing inequity. It's time to update the Human Relations Commission ordinance to reflect modern approaches to addressing inequity and human rights issues. Please vote in support today. Thank you, Mayor Richardson, and thank you to our fellow co-sponsors. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Amy Erickson. Speaker 1: Good evening, Mayor. City Council, thank you so much for having this item on the docket tonight. I'm here as a. Speaker 6: Lifelong resident. Speaker 1: Of District two here in Long Beach and also been on the commission for over four years now. And I think it's really important that we make these. Speaker 6: Steps to. Speaker 1: Work. Speaker 6: Alongside the work that is happening. Speaker 1: With the framework for reconciliation. Speaker 6: I would like to speak to a couple of those pieces, one of one being what we heard tonight. Every time we have public comment tonight. Speaker 1: We've been hearing about how important equity is in our city and in in the systems that we have in the city government. And it came up over and over again that we that the city. Speaker 6: Is dealing with issues of equity. At the Human. Speaker 1: Relations Commission level, we would like to be able to not only. Speaker 6: Be on public comment and give recommendations to you as council. Speaker 1: Members. Speaker 6: But be able to work with city staff. Speaker 1: Who are doing amazing work in the Office of Equity City Manager's. Speaker 6: Office, the Health Department, to make sure that every system. Speaker 1: Throughout the city is looked at with an equity lens and can work towards doing the work that needs to happen alongside. Speaker 6: The almost. Speaker 1: 200 items in the framework for reconciliation. I just think it's so important that there be an opportunity to update the ordinance as this commission was formed over. Speaker 6: 30 years ago, and I'm sure you'll hear. Speaker 1: More about tonight. Speaker 6: But it's so important. Speaker 1: Right now to take a look and see what we can do. I also appreciate Vice Mayor Richardson for thinking about the title of this commission. I think titles are very important, and so making sure that over the next 90 days, as. Speaker 6: We go through staff work to and to look at this and really look at what we do as a commission. Speaker 1: I hope that we can take a look at what other council members want and what other commissioners want to see what this title could be. I think human rights is very. Speaker 6: Important, and some people might think that if we think only about equity, we're not thinking about. Speaker 1: The other items that really take care of our human needs and our community and those needs. Speaker 6: Of marginalized groups. Speaker 1: Not only including those that are being referenced. Speaker 6: In the framework, but also. Speaker 1: Our queer community, our community of women here in the city. And so we really want to take a look about how we can handle taking care of our community in a way that other commissions don't have the purview for. Speaker 6: So we want to make sure we handle that. Speaker 1: As past chair of this commission, we did a lot of work around our mission, and the mission is to inspire and support social justice and equity in the city of. Speaker 6: Long Beach and to foster mutual. Speaker 1: Understanding and respect for all. That's very important at this time in our. Speaker 6: In our city's life. And I think it's really important to work alongside the framework. Speaker 1: For reconciliation as well. I look forward to hearing what the next steps are. And thank you so. Speaker 6: Much for this item. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Corey Allen. Speaker 6: Hi. Vice Mayor and council, this is Corey Allen. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be before you today. I serve as the District four Commissioner for the Human Relations Commission. Speaker 4: And I want to thank you for. Speaker 6: Your leadership on this item, as well as the co-sponsors for. Speaker 2: This. Speaker 6: The Human Relations Commission, as the vice mayor mentioned, has. Speaker 4: Been at the forefront of a lot of these. Speaker 2: Issues around equity. Speaker 4: Around. Speaker 6: Supporting the community and making sure that we are responding to. Speaker 4: The work that's happening on the ground. You heard the vice mayor. Speaker 6: Mentioned several of the iterations of this commission. And one. Speaker 4: Of the other things that in. Speaker 6: Its previous life this commission really championed was the human dignity. Speaker 2: Program and. Speaker 4: Really working on hate crime. Speaker 6: Statistics and understanding how to de-escalate issues around hate crimes and make sure that. Speaker 4: We were really working. Speaker 6: In communities of color and in our LGBTQ communities to ensure that we were providing those resources as well. And I certainly. Speaker 2: Would be remiss if I didn't. Speaker 6: Acknowledge and call out Teresa. Speaker 2: Gomez. Speaker 6: Who is our amazing staff member who has been with this commission for several years, as well as Katy Balderas, who who has joined us every single week or every single month for our commission meetings. Just know you have. Speaker 2: A dedicated crew of community leaders, a diverse crew of community leaders who are. Speaker 6: Fighting hard alongside you as counsel to do this work. And we're excited to join you in this new iteration of our commission. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Eduardo Lora. Speaker 6: Good evening. My name is Dr. Eduardo Lara, a professor in the department at Cal State Long Beach. My areas of expertize, for context purposes include social justice and intersectionality. I'm calling tonight to lend my support to this progressive change in the Human Relations Commission. I'm going to applaud the city council sponsors and mayor for bringing this item forward. It is an inflection point for the city to shift from a human relations model to equity is a modernization of this commission, bringing it up to speed to both the framing and best practices for advancing equal opportunities for our city's residents. To be clear, this item is aligned with the spirit of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that have swept non-profits, businesses, universities and now government institutions. Adhering to diversity implies there's representation across various identities. But with attention to historically marginalized groups, a commitment to equity ensures that fair treatment to all, while recognizing that each person and community has different circumstances and may require different resources to bring about equality and inclusion. The steadfast commitment to Building a culture of belonging. In other words, if you're a resident in Long Beach, you belong and are entitled to a seat at the table. Whatever language you speak, regardless of documentation status, you belong at the heart of these three pillars of justice that braids them all together. In other words, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are brought together by a common vision to distribute resource equitably aligned with social justice, preferably through a lens of intersectionality. It's important to note that intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal scholar and black woman. She came up with the framework in the late eighties to help convince legal community that just because we bring about further equality for black people and women, it doesn't necessarily advantage black women. An intersectional approach remedies that. As a queer Chicano researcher, I've seen the benefits of intersectionality as an approach for equity and also the empowerment of Latino communities. This item will help operationalize the recommendations from the reconciliation report. This will also help close three institutional gaps at the municipal level. Community voice, empowering community residents and crystallizing a formal structure for this. Empowerment is going to be lost on anyone tonight. This item is sandwiched on a day in between the celebration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And the inauguration of the first woman, a woman of color. As vice president kamala harris. It is equity policies like this one that can create opportunities for the next king and Harris. I look forward to seeing where this inflection point takes the city of Long Beach. Thank you very much. City council and mayor. Speaker 4: Think your next speaker is Gregory Sanders. Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and thank you. I actually applaud the genesis of the original human resource lease with the Human Relations Commission. However, 2020 was the alarm clock that has awakened us to the fact that names do matter. We've seen the replacement and even the removal of names on things as small as retail products to the evolution of massive fan based organizations like the Washington Redskins to the Washington football team. So moving forward with expanding the role of and a shift from being identified as a Human Relations Commission could not be more timely and even more relevant. The core values that actually underpants, sustainable community development, interdependence, empathy, equity and intergenerational justice are the pillars of the city's reconciliation efforts. So if we build this correctly, the Equity Commission is a viable vision towards an even better Long Beach being constructed. A lot of people want to skip ahead to the finish line of racial harmony. They want to get past all of this tension and unpleasantness to place to a place where wounds are healed and everyone sings Kumbaya and the past is laid to rest. But Benjamin Franklin said justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are. The Equity Commission can gently disturb the comfort of those unaffected while actually encouraging and empower those that are. Thank you so much. I appreciate you all. Talk to you later. Speaker 4: I think your next speaker is James Sweitzer. Speaker 6: Good evening, honorable man. Members of the City Council. My name is James Wilder and I'm a third district president and executive director of Long Beach Forward. Before I jump in the comments, I'd be remiss to say that I hope that we can be together in person soon, or at least on video in these digital meetings. Because I too was wondering what colorful bow tie and glasses that Pastor Sanders were. So I wish I could see that sometime in the near future. Nonetheless, I'm here tonight to talk to you and ask for your support and our organization asking for your support on this item. Our organization, Long Beach Forward submitted a letter of support in this item and asked for your affirmative vote to expand the purview and scope of the Human Relations Commission. So whether we're black, indigenous, Latino, Cambodian, Filipino, LGBTQ young people or seniors, it is vital that we all see the diversity and culture of Long Beach prioritized within our local government. And that means moving from equity from pages in a report to tangible policy recommendations and decision making is the next bold step that the City of Long Beach must take to build on that foundational work that has come from so many, so much community driven activism, the absence of equity and, of course, the framework for racial equity and reconciliation. The Human Relations Commission has consistently played a strong role within our local government for a more just and equitable Long Beach, uplifting the experiences and needs of marginalized communities, and also translating this into tangible change for people's lives. So expanding the official purview of the commission will aid the Commission in fulfilling its mission to inspire and implement equity in the city of Long Beach and also foster a mutual understanding and respect for all. And I want to be clear that working towards equity is not an easy process. Equity requires that we understand the path without being trapped in it, embrace the present, without being constrained by it, and look to the future guided by the hopes and courage of those who have fought before and beside us. And as city leadership continues to work towards advancing Long Beach into the new decade. We must also plan for a just and fair inclusion into a society where we can all participate, prosper, and people can reach their full potential. Committing to that equity commission is a solid step in that direction. I thank you for your commitment to advancing racial equity, and please vote yes on this item. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jesse Needham. Speaker 1: Hello, Mayor and city council members. Speaker 6: And all these. Speaker 1: Great people I've been listening to on the call. My name is Jesse Needham. My pronouns are she and her. I'm here representing the California Conference for Equality and Justice CCJ. Speaker 6: I'm also a Long Beach resident. Speaker 1: Thank you to Vice Mayor Richardson for putting forth this agenda item. Speaker 6: CCJ enthusiastically supports the expansion of the scope of the Human Relations Commission and the name update outlined in Agenda Item 17. Speaker 1: In the 1990 and 2000. Speaker 6: The Commission and CCJ or CCJ, as we. Speaker 1: Were then known, work together to. Speaker 6: Respond to and prevent hate crimes in our community. And we look forward to working with the Equity and Human Relations Commission. Speaker 1: Sorry, Equality and Human Rights Commission. Speaker 6: To address ongoing needs to uplift values of equity and inclusion in our. Speaker 1: City and address the racism, bias. Speaker 6: And bigotry that harm people in our communities. Speaker 1: We also ask Council to call. Speaker 6: On the city manager and other budget. Speaker 1: Decision makers to. Speaker 6: Ensure that the Office of Equity in the Health Department have adequate funding and staffing to support the Commission's work. A name change that focuses our attention on the need for equity in our city is important. But Long Beach must put our. Speaker 1: Proverbial money where our mouth. Speaker 6: Is when it comes to supporting the commissioners and city staff to put ideas into practice. Long Beach residents must be able to trust that when concerns about inequity are brought to the commissioners, that they have. Speaker 1: Sufficient resources to do further research and make policy. Speaker 6: Recommendations and take action to with the city based on their findings. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Our next speaker is Suleyman Gonzalez. Speaker 1: Thank you both, Mayor Richardson and City Council. My name is Selene Gonzalez. I'm human relations commissioner representing District nine. So the Human Relations Commission has been a strong ally and advocate in the fight for a more just and equitable Long Beach. Expanding the purview of the Commission will aid the Commission in fulfilling its mission to inspire and support social justice and equity in the city of Long Beach and foster a mutual understanding and respect for the city of Long Beach engages in efforts to institutionalize equity and infuse an equity lens through our practices, policies and decision making. It is critical that an Independent Citizen Commission has the ability to advise city staff, city manager and City Council on best practices and be on hand to provide accountability through. Through partnerships. In the process. I love Blondie and it is time for us to update the Human Relations Commission's ordinance to reflect the modern approaches to addressing inequality and human rights issues. Speaker 6: Thank you. Speaker 4: Your next speaker is Tiffany Davey. Speaker 6: Good evening, Honorable Mayor Bryson, City Council Tiffany and David, District four residents. I am in support of this item which aims to go beyond simply renaming the Human Relations Commission to the Long Beach Equity Commission. I particularly look forward to seeing amendments to the purpose members functions and most importantly, to the authority the Commission has, as it currently outlined in the Long Beach Municipal Code, Chapter two, Section 44, which was last amended in 1989. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: So now we'll go back to the Madam Clerk if there are any council members queued up. Speaker 0: Yes, we have. As Woman Sun has. Speaker 1: Thank you, Madam Cook. I just wanted to say thank you to Vice Mayor Richardson for bringing forward this item. I think that, you know, this is very important going forward, especially in the times that we are living in right now. I think that, you know, one of the things I've always advocated for was a commission for quality of health of our residents. And I think that this is the perfect commission to implement that into. And I think that it is very important to be equitable when dispersing whatever resources we have from the city. So I think that it's very fitting right now for this commission, and I really do thank you for your leadership on this and for your vision. And I'm happy to support you. And if somebody has not yet taken the motion, I would like to. September 15. Speaker 2: I believe. Councilmember Councilmember. Okay. And I should have gone to her to comment. Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. And again, thank you for your leadership on this. Speaker 2: Certainly. Thank you, Councilmember Ciro. Speaker 1: Yes. And I, too, want to thank Vice Mayor Richardson for bringing this item forward and his leadership in ensuring that we're making alignments and modernizing the way that we address inequities in our city as it relates to the framework for reconciliation. And we have made a lot of changes to the Office of Equity, such as moving it to the city manager's office, expanding it in staff size. And I think it's also important that we also do that at a commission level to ensure that there is an alignment on the human relations side and making sure it's relevant to the time and the current environment we're in. And, you know, human relations is a lot about addressing and improving interpersonal relations among individuals and groups. And a lot of the causes are of of it are racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism that's been you know, that causes these differences and challenges we face in ensuring that our communities are united . And so it makes so much sense to me to ensure that we also have residents and leaders that are that can speak to these issues and address it and give us feedback and that are representing our residents at the commission level. So that's why I'm so supportive of this item. And, and I and so thank you very much for all of the community members that committed and gave your feedback. And thank you very much. Speaker 2: Thank you. Is there any further further council comment, Madam Court. Speaker 0: That concludes Council comments for this item. Speaker 1: I also have a Councilwoman Allen. I have a comment as well. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 1: I also want to thank Vice Mayor Richardson for his leadership on equity and conservation and to all the community and for their input as well. I signed on to this item because I too believe in equity, just like my predecessors who took timely action last year relating to reconciliation. And I want to be respectful to all the valuable work that was done prior to my joining the body. I would also be open to alternative names and look forward to seeing the proposed mission statement and scope of responsibility that ensures that the body continues to be fully inclusive to all of our communities and advocate for the protected classes. I do look forward to hearing back in 90 days from the Commission. What's the best way to represent and serve all the diverse communities that have suffered from inequity? Thank you. Speaker 2: Fantastic. Thank you. Let's have a roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: And so a woman Sunday has. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman, Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Pryce. I councilman's a bona. Speaker 2: Fide. Speaker 0: Councilwoman, Mongo. Speaker 6: Right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sara. I'm Councilmember Granger. Speaker 5: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with the Human Relations Commission to update and expand its mission and scope, and change its title to the Long Beach Equity Commission, in line with recommendations from the Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initial Report, and return to the City Council within 90 days.

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Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Wishing Karis. Speaker 2: Thank you. Will have 21 please. Speaker 0: Item 21 is a report from Parks Recreation Submarine recommendation to receive and file a report on the Hamilton Loop Vision Plan District nine. Speaker 2: Thank you. Will have a brief staff report. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Brendan Dennis and Meredith Reynolds are we get the staff report for staff. Thank you, city manager Monica. Good evening, Vice Mayor Richard and members of Council. It's always an exciting moment in the life of a vibrant park system. Speaker 2: When. Speaker 4: We can bring together community through engagement. And and really for tonight's presentation show you, I think, a really exciting shared vision. So I'd like to introduce Meredith Reynolds, who's our bureau manager for Urban Planning and Partnerships. Meredith. Speaker 1: Thank you, Brian. Good evening, ma'am. Mayor and members of city council. I'm here this evening to walk you through the Hamilton vision plan. And that will include. Sorry about that. That will include the overview of the vision plan. Existing conditions are include the process of community engagement, the vision plan concepts and next steps. The Hamilton loop is a greenbelt connector that includes the embankment on the north and south sides of the 91 Freeway and provide an opportunity for this area to be connected through this greenbelt on those two neighborhoods on the north and south. This community driven effort was really a creative way to attempt to use landscape to re-envision the very infrastructure that has long divided and isolated these communities. And in particular, this area of North Long Beach has approximately 8.9 acres of open space per 1000 residents, comparatively to the 5.6 average acres per thousand city wide. This is a project that was derived from the Uptown Open Space Vision Plan, which was previously presented to the City Council in 2018. It is a part of that project. The Hamilton Group was the top prioritized project that came out of that effort, and that effort was predominantly driven by the Coalition for Helping to Reform Beach, which we thank for their participation in prioritizing this project and was also the recipient of a Health Department Kaiser Healing Zone grant that funded this vision plan. So with the boundaries of the full project would take you on the West from Atlantic East all the way to cherry. And the first phase of this project is focused on Myrtle to Walnut on the north and south side of the 91 Freeway. A lot of existing conditions here that we're taking into consideration and a park assessment. Some include some of the demonstration projects that the neighborhood groups and the Coalition for Helping on Beach have installed. And so this concept is to further build out some of that open space that is walkable, that provides carbon sequestering plants and trees, and really provides that connection. The opportunities and constraints were identified through this community process and certainly this is able area to improve with open space. However, the property is owned by California Department of Transportation and has some limitations as to what you can do there. So as you will see as we get through the presentation, this vision planners is really focused on what neighborhoods serving moneys could be walked to from the adjacent neighborhood to get sort of free, healthy outdoor access. Here's the timeline from when we started the project in November of 2019 and went through a series of site analysis, multiple workshops producing the final the final vision plan, and having some discussions and negotiation with Caltrans and Metro. I related to access to the property and the project was all our vision plan was also presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission in November of 2020 as it was forwarded to you all this evening. I'm going to go through a lot of these slides very quickly, but just to demonstrate sort of the effort that the community went through on this and look at the existing conditions analysis from a variety of other plans, including L.A. County needs assessment and park score. And the park need map is directly from the Los Angeles County Parks Needs Assessment from 2016. We take a look at demographics when we do these mission plans as well from population age as a vehicle access, language, isolation and diversity. And we go through a series of co-created, community led, inclusive engagements. We had eight public workshops and stakeholder meetings. We received 62 community surveys, and the project generated 12 ideas for park elements, which we will show you here today. We prototyped this project with the Uptown Open Space Vision Plan, with the color block walk. For those who remember, this was sort of a mashup of a community planning charrette and a color run. So this is a very interesting way to get the community out and about. That is sort of more more creative than your typical park planning charrette. We had a community survey that we started off our process that asked about desired amenities and the look and feel of the space and the community. Survey results really helped guide the final vision plan from where the amenities should be distributed, what kind of walkway and pathway and landscaping. Folks wanted to see what the primary goals were for the freeway underpasses in terms of making them safe and welcoming, as well as rethinking the public right of way adjacent to the embankment, including bike lanes and traffic configurations. TV as well as smaller and larger amenities folks wanted to see. There's an open space activity which then allowed people to design their own kind of loop connector and use precedent images to display people's desires in terms of amenities and look and feel of the space. Here you will see the cross-section of what the community proposed for the roadway configuration to generate some additional space for amenities. So we took a look at the actual six feet of embankment, the four feet that would be dedicated for some form of ADA compliant sidewalk. The other additional square footage of or linear feet of the right of way resulted in the community wanting to see the roadway going one way with an adjacent bike lane that connected to the existing orange and proposed bike lanes in North Long Beach. They the community was able then to see everyone's proposal and refine those ideas. And those refined ideas were presented as part of one of the evening events at the Michelle Obama Library. We had 58 participants come out and share their information with us, and that really helped us to refine the final idea. We had a lot of participation from community members and we asked for some of their quotes. And you can even see one here from one of the leaders from the Hamilton Neighborhood Association. Here is the list of the community amenities as desired and located even by the community being very cognizant of adjacent neighbors and the age groups and abilities of the different community members. Even placing things like picnics, picnic areas in areas where families congregate. Playgrounds next to multifamily buildings where there's not a lot of open space for children. And being really cognizant about the connection, the North and South connection under Myrtle, Orange and Walnut in a way that is safe and welcoming and accessible and did include all of the design plans from public works for the Orange Avenue Bikeway. Here is a rendering of some of the baseline elements in the larger image on your right, and the smaller images on your left are precedent images from a similar space along the 91 freeway in other cities to the west of Long Beach and to the east of Long Beach. So there is a precedent for Caltrans and Metro allowing and even helping with these types of projects in those areas, which is helpful for us. Here's another rendering as well, which shows a different view of what could be possible. And so you see in the larger image on the left hand side of the drive aisle, a parking lane, a one way traffic aisle, a buffered bikeway, a bilingual parkway, as well as then trees, carbon sequestering trees, drought tolerant landscape, and a little neighborhood plaza. If you look at across all of the project elements, there are a variety of things here that can be phased in over time. And so we are estimating all in this project that over the years could cost upwards of $9 million, but certainly something that would be eligible for county state funding for parks and open space, as well as some potential opportunities from the Port of Long Beach Community Grants Program and other sources like Measure County, Measure W, local measure A or cultural philanthropy and foundation funding. Finally, for next steps. The first thing we need to do to get permission to access the property is to apply for a Caltrans permit as we work through design and seek funding for construction for the project. Project funding is going to be critical. We don't have any funding at the moment, but as I mentioned, this is likely eligible and competitive for a variety of grant grant dollars moving forward. And we have already begun those discussions with Caltrans and Metro related to what would be needed for that access permit to make the project successful in their engineering and design, would make the project shovel ready and be able to go out to bid with the associated project funding. And then finally constructing the Hamilton Loop project itself would be the final step. So with that, I conclude the presentation and myself and director Brant Dennis are available for any questions. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you for the presentation, Meredith. I don't have any questions or some brief comments. First, thank you for acknowledging the community's work on this. You know, it started with the conversation about how in part that expanded to a larger conversation about the lack of open space in the north lobbies area. And then that turned into a vision plan. And from that vision plan, multiple efforts have spun off to the force vision plan we just brought to council the Hamilton Loop, and we'll look forward to continue with those. The plan sets the stage for the funding and to members of the council. I've seen, you know, different areas of town do the very same thing. Drake Park, the Drake Chavez expansion started with the vision plan still has to work out and he was there and that ultimately turned to that grand vision. And we need to continue to do these things. One note I know there's a I know there's a discussion about freeway modernization on 91. We know that that may create opportunities here, but that is separate and distinct from this. We're going to move forward and pursue funding for this project, whether there's a freeway modernization or not. That's an important point for me to for me to raise. And so I'm excited for this. I look forward to the future of this project, and I'm happy to make make the motion on this item. Is there a second? Speaker 1: Second sorrow. Speaker 2: Thank you. Second sorrow. Does any council comment on this? Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sandy has. Speaker 1: Yes. Thank you, madam. Madam, quick. I just wanted to say how excited I am for this. And thank you to Meredith for that great presentation and for Director Denis. I think that it's very important, like we said, vice mayor, to have these kind of visions and it's very important to bring this kind of open and green space to our communities. So I wholeheartedly support this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. Any other any additional comment that Councilman Austin. Yeah, I'm. Speaker 6: Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see the presentation. Speaker 2: Because my phone. Speaker 6: WebEx is. Speaker 2: The app is acting up. But I did read the item and and this is good work by. Speaker 6: Parks and Rec Department. Speaker 2: Meredith Windsor is the best. Speaker 6: She's going through park planning processes. Speaker 2: With us in the North Long Beach area, Davenport Park, which was screen another seven acres, as well as our 51st Street greenbelt that is along the lower L.A. River. Speaker 6: I had a question for. Speaker 2: Parks regarding the. Speaker 6: Point. Speaker 2: Nine parks per 100,000 residents. Wasn't that that number? Part of a. Speaker 6: Study in. Speaker 2: 2005? Is that the most recent update in terms of acreage per resident? Speaker 1: Councilmember Alston, this is Meredith. The point nine acres per thousand is the number that comes from the uptown open space vision plan. That number varies by the type of land area that we include, whether it's by a district or a census tract. So if there is a more specific neighborhood or census tract you would like to look into, we're happy to provide that. But the point nine acres is from the uptown open space mission. Speaker 6: Okay. Speaker 2: So I know that that was a number that was quoted quite, quite frequently recently. And so I'm just I want some clarity on that because I know we've added quite a bit of open space within the last few years. Well, actually, last ten years or so, since a lot of that, when was the uptown open space plan developed? Can remind me. Speaker 1: Yes. The Uptown Open Space Vision Plan was presented to the Council in 2018, summer of 2018. And so the number that number is several years old, but likely wouldn't have increased significantly given the landmass and the amount of park acreage added. So for instance, that already included the forest wetlands. In that particular district. What if you if we wanted to do another number citywide, if we look to update that every year in the winter when we provide our updated numbers to the trust for public land for their park score study. Speaker 2: Okay. And do we know our citywide number yet? Speaker 6: Whereas our. Speaker 1: City wide. Sure. Citywide average as of last last calendar year. Report for test for public lands which was 2019 was 5.6 acres on average per 1000 residents. That's a city wide number. And then just as a reminder, our open space element has a goal of eight acres per thousand. Speaker 6: All right. Thank you. Speaker 2: And in terms of this this project, this is great visioning. Speaker 6: There's a plan in place, and. Speaker 2: We know we've done it during a lot of planning. Is there any idea as to what this will cost, to what it's actually developed? And the reason I ask. Speaker 6: Is because. Speaker 2: I know that there there are a number of competing projects along the L.A. River. Right. Consistent with the lower L.A. River Task Force plan. And now we have the L.A. County River Master. Speaker 6: Plan, and we have our own North Long Beach plan in place. Speaker 2: What what what what does it what. Speaker 6: Would it cost to to to. Speaker 2: Develop a site like this? And where would we get the resources? Speaker 1: Councilmember Alston. The proposed anticipated cost of the full project for the Hamilton loop at buildout is approximately $9.3 million in today's dollars. The multiple sources that could potentially be available for a project like this that would be eligible and competitive include a local measure, a county measure, a county measure W, which is a stormwater measure along with state parks funding under Prop 68. That includes a variety of parks and open space funding in addition to any other agency that receives funding for elements of the L.A. River Master Plan, such as the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, California Coastal Conservancy, etc.. So this is one project on the list with many others that we prioritize and evaluate for what would be most eligible and competitive and what is timely and shovel ready as those opportunities come forward. Speaker 2: Thank you so much, data that answers my questions for now. Appreciate it. Good work. In addition, any additional comments from the Council? Speaker 0: No council comment. Speaker 2: Thank you. How about public comment? Speaker 4: Yes. We have Hilda Gaytan. Speaker 1: Hi. Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Speaker 6: Council member and TV staff. Speaker 1: My name is Hubert, very bent. And Hamid, resident. Speaker 6: And the chair of the Coalition for General on this. Five years ago, as a. Speaker 1: Member of the coalition and as a president of the. Speaker 6: Coming from Mubarak reconciliation. Speaker 1: I presented for the first time the coming from Leucadia I the on of this idea. I want to think by. Speaker 6: Reach out from serious stuff and to. Speaker 1: Actually what I cannot be more pleased. Speaker 6: With the defense. Speaker 1: Document you are receiving today. Speaker 6: My concern, our building was included in the third paragraph. Speaker 1: On the second page. Speaker 6: From the Civil Report. Speaker 1: And the. Speaker 6: Comments from previous staff. Speaker 1: And a board member from the Hamilton. Speaker 6: Neighborhood Association. During an interview with The Longest Path on January 15th. Speaker 1: That is my understanding. Speaker 6: Imply. Speaker 1: That. Speaker 6: The. Speaker 1: Hamilton goal is tied to the 91. Speaker 6: Freeway expansion project. I have seen a copy of a petition. Speaker 1: Signed by many of the Huntington. Speaker 6: Residents providing that Richardson City clear. Speaker 1: And on their. Speaker 6: Behalf. I'm here to ensure, you know, our position. Speaker 1: On this item. There is no coming from neighborhood support. Speaker 6: The homicidal passive acidification project. The project will provide a sense of happiness. Speaker 1: And feel good about their environment. Speaker 6: It will promote pride. Speaker 1: And sense of love and sense of well-being. Speaker 6: For the residents. Speaker 1: Of the area. We oppose the 91 city rate expansion. Expanding the freeway will bring more health problems to a. Speaker 6: Community that is already suffering for its high levels of obesity, asthma and heart problem. We are plus four. Speaker 1: Because that's where they come from. Besides, so the Navy wants. Speaker 6: To be where you spend here. We are asking the council to approve the Hamilton law. Speaker 1: I sent along. Speaker 6: Projects with. Speaker 1: No ties to the Navy. One year. Speaker 6: Suspension because no. Speaker 1: Determination has been made about. Speaker 6: The. Speaker 1: Expansion and the. Speaker 6: Alternate possibility of a no deal option. Speaker 1: That concludes my comment, and thank you very much. Speaker 4: Think your next speaker is Kirk Davis. Speaker 6: Good evening, Vice Mayor Richardson. City Council, City Staff. My name's Kurt Davis. I'm a ninth District resident. I'm also a past co-chair of the Coalition for Healthy North Long Beach. I've been in conversations with Meredith today, and I'm very happy for the replies she sent back to me. But my concerns will always lean towards the health and welfare of the community. Speaker 4: I've been in. Speaker 6: Favor of the loop since it was proposed successfully at the L.A. County Parks Assessment over five years ago. But I'm also concerned with the second page, paragraph three, that's being set to be filed today, accepted and filed because of the language in it, talking about the freeway expansion. And also, as Hilda brought up the article in the Long Beach Post on the 16th where where we're net mesa from Hamilton Labor Association and Meredith Reynolds noted that Caltrans upcoming plan to expand the 91 freeway could benefit the development of the park. And Mesa also said that while there is some pushback from nearby residents against the freeway expansion, she believes the benefits are worth it. Speaker 4: Although no one. Speaker 6: Wants to see the freeway expansion, the tradeoff is worth it. Well, I don't agree that the tradeoff is worth it. And I know that Councilmember Richardson also brought up the fact that this park space will not be tied in to the expansion. But on a letter we received dated December 11th, 2020 from Caltrans, it's a notice of availability of a draft, initial study, environmental assessment, not some attempt to adopt a mitigated negative declaration, which I guess they want to seek exemption to do this project. Speaker 4: On the 91 freeway. Speaker 6: There are two alternatives under consideration, and I know that they have to have these two alternatives, but there is a no build alternative. Speaker 4: And a one build alternative. And we're hoping when it comes down. Speaker 6: To it that the city can support the Hamilton neighborhood for a no build alternative for this project and. Speaker 2: Also the ability to get this part done in our neighborhood. Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. So just address a few of these things, then we'll go to the boat. So first, the 91 freeway modernization project has been in the works for for for over a decade. And this project was proposed as a part of the Uptown Open Space Plan. Two separate efforts. And the reason why there was an open space plan is because of the statistic that was just debated, whether it's 0.9% or 1.1% for 10,000 residents. The fact is there's no open space, particularly in that area, is bisected by freeways dividing the community. It's been the freeway has been there for four decades and the community has already. The Hamilton neighborhood has already began doing guerrilla sort of guerilla modernization and, you know, doing pocket parks themselves on this embankment. If we have to live with the freeway, we might as well take ownership over the landscaping and the walkability of there. And so this was presented there. Now, that outreach around the 91 freeway modernization is led by Caltrans. The city is not formed. A decision on where we stand on that, that's a separate project. What we're voting on today is simply on the city council received filing this presentation from the Parks and Rec Commission on the Vision Plan , and I think there will be more conversation about the 91 freeway modernization. The reference in the report is to early action. That is very different. There's funding set aside for early action. This project cannot be unlinked from the freeway. It is a part of the freeway embankment and therefore is eligible for lots of funding, including 91 modernization. That's important to say. The second thing I'll say is whether the park space is 0.9% or 1.1%. The last message I would want to send out to the public is to discourage conducting these visioning plans simply because of budgetary concerns. One of the reasons why we don't have very much open space in these areas is because budget is a barrier. But what we found is by conducting these vision plans and engaging the community in getting projects shovel ready, it makes us more competitive to change the name, change the narrative. And these approaches have been successful in North Long Beach. They've been successful downtown. And we will hope to see a more comprehensive plan that ties the West Side livability plan to the L.A. River, to the Uptown Open Space Plan, so we can think more comprehensively about the plan. And so that's it. We'll go ahead and go to a roll call vote on this. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Zendaya's. Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 6: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 6: My. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilmember Muranga. Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. I think we have one more item, Madam Clerk. Speaker 0: Um. We have two more items.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a report on the Hamilton Loop Vision Plan; and, accept Statutory Exemption SE-20-126. (District 9)

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Speaker 0: Um. We have two more items. Speaker 2: Two more. What's your next. Speaker 0: Item? 24 is a communication from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance amending Title five of the Long Beach Municipal Code related to third party food delivery service fees and declaring the urgency thereof. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading Citywide. Speaker 2: Thank you. Let's hear from staff. Speaker 4: Thank you. Mayor Monica Kalita from the city attorney's office from present Monica. Speaker 1: Good evening, City Council. For your request, we've prepared an emergency ordinance to add Chapter 5.95 third party food delivery service fees to the Long Beach Municipal Code. This ordinance would prohibit a third party food delivery service from doing the following charging a retail food establishment a delivery fee totaling to more than 15% of the total purchase price of each online order, charging a retail food establishment any amount designated as a delivery fee for an online order that does not involve the delivery of food or beverages. Charging a customer any purchase price for a food or beverage item that is higher than the price set by the retail food establishment and or reducing the compensation rates paid to drivers or garnishing gratuities due to these limitations. This ordinance would also require third party food delivery services to disclose, in plain conspicuous language, any amount charged to a customer at the time a final price is disclosed. A violation of the ordinance could result in civil and or criminal penalties. And lastly, this ordinance would be reported on every 90 days by the city manager or designee to determine whether the chapter is still necessary based on the city's recovery from the health and economic impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic, at which point in time the city council will determine the chapter's expiration date. Thank you. And that concludes my report. Speaker 4: Vice mayor, this city attorney on this item, we will require two votes. The first vote would be on the urgency of the ordinance that would go into effect this evening or today. And then the second vote on the ordinance itself, you will see the ordinance come back at your next meeting on February 2nd for the second reading , as we will pass it both as an urgency ordinance and as a regular ordinance, and with that staff and the city attorney's office. Stand by for questions. Speaker 2: Thank you. Let's go to let's go to public comment on this. Is there any public comment? Speaker 4: Yes. Our first speaker is Karen Goh. You're in. Go. Speaker 6: Yes. Hey, that's. Speaker 2: The killer on the 908 and Stacey's district. I'm also a member of the board on the Long Beach Restaurant Association. So we're in support of this item 24. Speaker 6: Reducing delivery fees to 15%. A big reason is, for example, if. Speaker 2: We sell a burger for $10, the delivery companies take $3. That leaves you with $7. Speaker 6: Most restaurants in California. Speaker 2: Make about 6% profitability. So they're already eating into a lot of the profitability. And one would ask, why use those delivery services? Well, the reason why you have to is because they have a monopoly on that delivery service and they have the platforms where people. Speaker 6: Can order from from their phones. So it's no. Speaker 2: Choice. So we support it. It favors quick serve pizza places, places that are big on delivery. Speaker 6: Doesn't do much for full service, sit down restaurants. So we really. Speaker 2: Need to move at some point to getting patios reopened again. Speaker 6: But we support this motion. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 4: Think your next speaker is Jeff Roe. Jeff Brown. Speaker 6: Hi. My name is Jeff from the owner of the Hideaway Restaurant and Ponzu. And rounding third all here in Long Beach. As Kiran said, I'll make this short. It's it's almost impossible with doing take out to make a profit as it is. In fact, it is impossible. We're mostly doing it for our staff with these 30%. We actually lose a significant amount of money, at least on these transactions. You know, and the fact that you're not allowing third party services to raise prices above our prices or take it out is another substantial win for not only us, but for the customers that use our food. We just ask that if we do pass this and we get into a point where we are open at full, that you consider keeping it on as in the city of Los Angeles, so that we can work towards getting back to some sort of profitability or or breaking even. Last comment. Difference between takeout and outdoor dining between November and December, $27,000 to the bottom line. That should say it all. Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. Speaker 4: Think your next speaker is Stephanie Calo. Speaker 1: Hi. Good evening. Council members and Mayor Garcia. My name is Stephanie. I am the owner of Plunge Restaurant in the second district. I also live here as well. As you know, restaurants are in a really bad way. There has been a lot of activity in our industry about. Speaker 6: What we. Speaker 1: Can and can't do legally right now. Item 24 is something that can be. Speaker 6: Done right now. Speaker 1: To help my industry and my. Speaker 6: Colleagues in a quick and painless way. Speaker 1: I'm asking that you pass item 24. It's limiting the amount of third party. Speaker 6: Vendors such as DoorDash, Postmates, GrubHub. Speaker 1: That can charge our restaurants. Some of our restaurants are currently being. Speaker 6: Charged up to 30%. Speaker 1: Of the sale. And, you know, we're suffering quite a bit. So while it might not seem like a lot, this extra percentage can be the. Speaker 6: Difference between it costing us money to serve that meal, meaning actually. Speaker 1: Losing money by. Speaker 6: Working or. Speaker 1: Making it a. Speaker 6: Sustainable sale. Capping the third party fees for at least. Speaker 1: One year. Speaker 6: After the health order is lifted. Speaker 1: Will help our community owned restaurants stay open. During this time, as you know, tons of them are closing. Our businesses and our community really need all. Speaker 6: Of the assistance that you can offer us immediately. I'm really. Speaker 1: Urging. Speaker 6: That you pass this tonight. Speaker 1: In the hopes that we can experience a small win and a little relief in our industry. Speaker 6: I really thank you all for the work that you're doing. Speaker 1: For us all. I know it. Speaker 6: Is a really rough. Speaker 1: Time with everything going on. And and I appreciate your time and your consideration. Speaker 6: Thank. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. Just a few comments. First, I'm happy to talk. So there's a this was brought up initially at the Economic Development Finance Committee meeting where we discussed the first round of reopening after the initial shutdown. Right. Luis Navarro of Lola's who brought up this this discussion staff has done a good job researching this. They've engaged with the industry and the restaurant sector to make these recommendations. You have a quick question. How do we resolve the issue on of where this when this policy would sunset? Speaker 5: Yeah. Hi, Councilmember, this is John Keisler. So in this is similar to the worker protection ordinances the council passed earlier this this past year. And essentially, if the conditions. Speaker 4: Still exist as that that warranted this urgency ordinance, then staff will come back to council every 90 days in writing to either confirm or recommend a change. Speaker 2: Great. I think that I think that makes sense. I'm happy to make this motion. Who's who is there a second on the motion? Speaker 1: To her long. Speaker 6: Ago. Speaker 2: Okay. I know Mungo's a member of the committee. I'm going to recognize Mongo as the second on this motion. Mango, would you like to speak to the motion council member? Speaker 6: Yes. I'm very supportive of this item. And I really appreciate all the restaurant owners that have reached out and the council for supporting this. I know it's taken a bit of time, but it's important and I'm proud to be supporting it now. Speaker 2: And that's it. Thank you. Council Members and Day House. Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Councilmember Mongo, for this and that and the committee for actually acknowledging and working really hard with city staff to bring something like this forward. I think this is this really is urgent right now. As you know, our small businesses or restaurants are suffering greatly during this pandemic. And even though this is a tiny, tiny fix and it is and it brings me a little bit of hope for restaurants. And I, you know, just hearing from from the restaurant owners right now. And I was really compelled by their stories. I'm seeing how some of them have gone up to even 30% of their sales. And I think it's it's a really hard time for small restaurants as it is right now. And anything that we could do as a council to help and support our our small businesses, our restaurants, I think is essential. So, again, thank you to your to the committee, to both you vice mayor and Councilwoman Mango for bringing this very important item forward. Speaker 2: Fantastic. Is there an additional council comment? Speaker 0: Yes. Councilwoman Allen? Speaker 1: Yes. Thank you, Vice Mayor and Councilwoman Mongo and all of the restaurants that that spoke. I know this has been really a hard time for everyone and I strongly support this p e because we'll provide that economic relief to food establishments, including our small, independent family owned and minority owned businesses. And as we all know, this pandemic has hit our economy hard and lots of folks are just struggling to get by and they're more likely to order food and even order more items from the restaurants if they're not being being charged. And I also want to say that many of our residents are depending on these delivery services. I received a letter from the Dolby in support of this item, and I also want to thank them for their continuous civic engagement. And overall, oh, this is just a strong business and consumer protection piece, and it has my full support. Speaker 2: Thank you. Any additional? Speaker 0: No council comments. Speaker 2: Fantastic. We already took public comment on this, so I think it's pretty straightforward. Council gave direction. We know the situation with our restaurants. We know this is something we can do this in alignment with our inclusive recovery that the city's charting. So that's it. Let's go ahead with the roll call. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilman Spinner. I Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 1: Hi. Councilwoman Sarah I. Speaker 0: Councilmember Aranda. Councilmember Muranga. Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Fantastic. Speaker 4: Let's have our panel. I'm sorry, Vice Mayor. That was the first vote on the urgency. We need a roll call vote on the ordinance itself. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 4: Same maker in second year of the motion. Speaker 2: Same maker and secondary. Speaker 0: Roll call vote for the ordinance. Councilwoman said they have. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilman sapna. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mango. Speaker 6: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sarah. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Council Member Ranga. Speaker 5: Eye. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: I.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 5.95, related to third-party food delivery service fees; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide) (Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-21-0005)

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Speaker 0: Bush and Kerry's. Speaker 2: Thank you. Our final item, please. Speaker 0: Item 28 is communication from Councilmember Ranga. Councilwoman Sunday has Councilwoman Allen Vice Mayor Richardson recommendation to request city attorney to prepare a resolution condemning the insurrection and violence that occurred at the United States Capitol on January six, 2021. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm going to recognize Councilmember Arango from the motion. Who's the second? Sun has company in Tauranga. Speaker 5: Your comments take us back. Richardson. First of all, I want to thank my colleagues for staying with me. I also want to thank Congressman, but also Congresswoman Nancy Levitt of Oregon State Senator Dina Gonzalez for sending their letters of support of the sale. This unit since November 3rd, 2020 124. President Trump spreading misinformation about the 2020 election. He has claimed without evidence that he won the election. Courts around the country have debunked these claims. 61 campaign lawsuits have been filed. And none of these lawsuits found evidence of widespread voter fraud. January six was meant to be. Speaker 2: A day when the. Speaker 5: Routine procedure of counting intellectual ballots and certifying the election of President elect Joe Biden was to take place. It was anything but routine. Earlier that day at the urging of President Trump and with the help of his enablers, rioters stormed the Capitol in hopes of stopping the count, changing the vote and declaring Trump the winner of the election. What we have learned over the period of the last two weeks is that the event was planned and orchestrated and an insurrection that threatened the very lives of members of Congress and the president and the vice president of the United States, and that it resulted in the loss of five souls. Consequently, I mean, courageously, Vice President Pence and the United States legislature were not intimidated by the violence. I reconvened later that evening to ensure that the votes of the Electoral College were counted. When these insurgents stormed the United States Capitol, they were attacking the very idea of democracy. It is important that we stand united in defense of democracy. I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning the violence and desecration of the United States Capitol building that took place on January six, 2021. And I also urge you to join me in condemning. The actions and inactions of President Donald J. Trump that led to the lawlessness in the United States Capitol. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilmember Gringa, I mean, council members. And they have. Speaker 1: Thank you, Vice Mayor. I really want to thank Councilmember Otunga for bringing this item to council today. I know I'm speaking for each of us and expressing how horrific it was to watch the events on January six unfold before our eyes. The act with this act of terrorism was just a horrible, horrible, horrible attack on the values of our democracy and the peaceful transfer of power. And the only thing that that's more difficult to me is, is to the understanding on just how horrible this attack was, just watching it on TV. I was I was broke and I felt helpless. And I am sure that a lot of our residents felt the same way. It was such an invasion to all of us. It was such a horrific hit to all of us. We are a country that as a group that has great gratitude to our to those who step up and become lawmakers and to be who become the press and who are officially working to protect our nation, our nation's capitol. And that day was just horrified to see everybody scramble and everybody fear for their lives. I will never be able to shake off the fear in their faces of our of our elected officials that were on in that floor that day. And with that, I just want to say thank you again. And I join Councilmember Rotunda. And in condemning that day for what happened, that horrific terror terrorist act that happened against our capital. Speaker 2: Thank you. Any city council comments? Madam. Madam Clerk. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you, Madam Clerk. I want to thank Councilman Ranga as well for bringing this item forward. I know some of my colleagues, I that I've shared this personal story with know this, but some probably don't. And some members of the public may not know it at all. But when I was seven years old, I was living in the country of Iran, and we were going through a political revolution. And I remember the day right before my mother and I left the country, when my mother and father were late picking me up from school and I was hiding under the desk of the school principal with the principal waiting for my parents to pick me up. And when wait, when they got there and we went through the streets, the streets were just crowded with people we could barely get our car through. There were trash cans filled with fire. There were burning books related to the existing government trying to bring in a new government. And watching what I was watching on the sixth was the first time since I was seven years old. That's 41 years that I recall the vivid scenes from that day, the way that I did. I mean, it was just to me, it just was a reminder of an unstable government. And that made me so sad. And I know that a lot of Americans felt that way, and I know a lot of Persians felt that way because that's exactly the environment that we all fled. And there's no doubt in my mind that if the people who were climbing the walls of that building looked anything like me or some of my male relatives. There is no doubt in my mind it would be called terrorism or in the mind of anyone from my community. And so what happened to our nation on that day was horrific. It was unbelievable and completely unacceptable, regardless of what political party you're in or who you supported for president. And I'm grateful for Congressman Lowenthal and Congresswoman Barragan, who have kept in communication with me since that happened, because my very first thoughts went to them when I was seeing all of this unfold because they were there and I was safe here. So. I appreciate Councilman Ranga bringing this forward. This is not a partizan issue. This is an American issue. And countries that are unstable politically and are fractured go through things like that. America should never go through a thing like that. That's why those of us who fled unstable governments worked so hard to make this government, our government, great and strong. So thank you so much for bringing this forward. Speaker 2: Thank you. Is there any additional comment? Speaker 0: That concludes council comment. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'll add my comments here. First, I want to thank Councilman Turanga for bringing this forward. I know and I want to thank the city council members for their for their comments. Speaker 1: Are. Speaker 2: Certainly. Speaker 1: Going to do it now. Speaker 2: Councilmember Okay. All right. I'll get my comments. And I think Councilmember Alan Watts wants to speak. So to be brief, I certainly agree with the sentiments of our city council members. I think this is this is, you know, this this transcends politics. This was a moment for American unity. And it was a and it really put things in perspective. The scenes were were were they weren't pretty. They were very disturbing to see the Confederate flag flying inside the United States Capitol, particularly now. And it just reminds us all that, you know, it may be convenient to turn the cheek on racism or to, you know, be neutral or, you know, these things are I'm not racist and so on and so forth. But it's not about whether individuals are are neutral on racism. It's about acknowledging the existence of a violent white supremacist movement that that was put on display for national for the entire world that day. And we need to make sure that we're all on the right side of this thing. And we we are clear as a city council that, you know, politics aside, we took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, United States and Constitution in California. And that's why I think this was was appropriate. A lot of times we focus on, you know, the politics in our own backyards, and that's important. But this is one of those moments of significance that we need to stand up and say what is right and wrong is wrong. And we have work to do as a country to bring everyone together. I want to acknowledge our our congresspeople for staying in communication with us constantly through this process. And I have to say, you know, we you know, the 20 that Wednesday's inauguration can't come soon enough. And we'll look forward to marching together as one community, as one country starting tomorrow. So. So thank you so much. Councilmember Allen, were you trying to get in to the conversation? Speaker 1: Yeah. Just real quickly, I just want to say, you know, I signed on to this item because I believe that in every community and in every corner of our country, we have to speak up against the violence that was perpetrated on our nation's capital. In this country, we settle our disagreements peacefully through the democratic and the legal processes. I, i, too, want to thank Councilmember Turanga for taking the lead on this. Him and I had long conversations about this, and it was just a horribly sad day for our country. And the inauguration can't come soon enough. I also want to thank Congressmembers Lowenthal and Berrigan and Senator Lena Gonzalez for their support on this item. Speaker 2: It's fantastic. Is there any public comment on this item? Speaker 4: Yes, we have Tiffany Deeb. Tiffany Davey. Speaker 6: Good evening, Mayor. City Councilman Tiffany Daly, District four resident. I'd like to thank Councilmember Ranga and others for bringing this item forward. I support this item in which the city condemns violence and desecration on the Capitol that took place on January six, as defined in the US government community awareness briefing. Violent extremism refers to violence committed in the name of an idea ideology to further political social agenda. The ideologies protected force of violence on its behalf is not within the United States. On a local, state and federal level, individuals and communities will face the challenges of violent extremism going forward as a result of ignoring the building extremist movement over recent decades. And though much can be said of the role of the individual in the role and engage in forming a resilient community can and must aid in preventing violent extremism, it is imperative we build community capacity to respond and prevent type. Encourages city and community members to embark upon this important work, which is also necessary. Creating a local prevention framework in conjunction with the local intervention framework for preventing violent extremism. It can happen anywhere. It is possible that the city may seek similar funding that was available to Callaway. USA is preventing violent extremism program Iran in the past three years, funded under Homeland Security Goal ten, which was preventing violent extremism in multi-jurisdictional jurisdiction and the collaboration coordination. Now that programs start to create these plans, which were aimed at preventing violent extremism. A community effort. In 2016, white supremacist crimes rose 67% in L.A. County, and over the past six years, hate crimes rose 36% across the county. Now. Tomorrow, we're going to welcome a new administration that's tasked with some of the most grave problems and crises we've seen at such a scale in our lifetime. Our collective focus is not yet on healing, but rather addressing this crisis. I look forward. To speaking up when I see him and expecting the same of my community members. Dalton went on to report hate crimes. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment. Speaker 2: Thank you for several, probably. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Sunday has. Speaker 1: High. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Allen. High Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 0: Councilwoman. Mongo. By Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Councilmember Oranga. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: Councilman Austin. Speaker 6: Hi. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Hi. Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. That satisfies our agenda. We'll now we'll move to new business. Any announcements from the city council? Just jump in if you have an announcement. All right. Well, hearing done. Thank you all and have a great night.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Attorney prepare a resolution condemning the insurrection and violence that occurred at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.

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Speaker 0: Thank you. And let's read item number two, please. Speaker 1: Communication from Mayor Garcia recommendation to approve a new list of City Council standing committees and requests city attorney to draft a resolution reflecting the changes. Speaker 0: Thank you. I just want to first thank the city manager's office and the city attorney's office for their help in putting this item together. We have been talking as a as a body in the past that at different meetings and council meetings about just the need to kind of clean up our our council committees. And so what this document in front of you essentially does is it really just consolidates some of the committees that we already have. It moves around some of the the committee names and really kind of focuses on nine major committees. That will be our standing committees moving forward as well as, of course, does some consolidation work around these? And so briefly, I know you have an extensive memo in front of you, but I just want to just kind of briefly go over what will be the new nine standing committees of the city council. And you'll notice, of course, some things have been combined as a part of this. In addition, I just want to add that one of the things that we'd like to see moving forward, I think some council members have even discussed this is we really want to empower our new committees to really take on issues and really become experts in those areas. We oftentimes items and agenda items come up before the council, oftentimes with little time to do a really strong analysis by the body. And so this gives us an opportunity to really hopefully get items to these committees, have them do some analysis, have the public an opportunity to really delve into community participation and then come back to our council with recommendations. Well, while at this time there is no proposed changes or council rules as far as how committees work or might work. We I know I know some have discussed this. We can look at that certainly in the weeks ahead. But for now, I just want to go over those committees. So we have of course, we retained the Budget Oversight Committee, which, as we all know, explores our public policy positions as it relates to the budget and is an important committee every single year. The second committee is a new Port Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that, of course, combines some of our of our efforts around Tidelands, but also around the CHP, major street and road improvements and all of the infrastructure around the port. So this becomes a real critical committee on port, on the harbor and all the transportation across the city, including infrastructure. When we're talking about the next phase of measuring street investments and all the great work, I think this is going to be a really critical committee for us in the years ahead. The next committee is Economic Development and Finance. This committee, of course, will continue to do some of the work it's been doing around around financing and around possible bonds and revenues. But also, most importantly, the broad work of economic development, particularly as we look at economic recovery. So that is going to be that new committee. Then, of course, we have two committees that really aren't changing much. Those are going to be the federal legislation and state legislation committee. Those are those stay in place. Again, public safety committee also just stays in place. Then we have our new Climate Action and Environmental Committee, which is a little bit of an expansion of our former environmental committee. And again, that's a critical issue, particularly as we have the cap in front of us and then we have a new public health and housing committee. I think we all know that public health is the challenge of our time. We didn't have a committee specifically focused on that. And this combines public health and housing, which really are linked into a new committee to look at our our housing and homelessness crisis that that exists. And finally, we have combined different pieces of different committees into the new government personnel and Elections Oversight Committee. This committee takes pieces of the former personnel and Civil Service Commission. It takes pieces of the Elections Oversight Committee. And it takes even pieces of the Economic Development Finance Committee as it relates to smaller litigation, settlements and charter committee appointments into one new committee that really looks internally at the way our government functions. So those are the new committees. All the other kind of, you know, different smaller authorities or committees still exist, of course. But I wanted to go ahead and put these forward for all of you and and get these adopted. I think it's an exciting time for us to rethink our our committees. So with that, let me first get a motion and a second. We do have the cue system now working. So. Let me check really quick. If I can get a motion and a second, please. Speaker 1: So moved. Speaker 0: I have a motion by Councilwoman Price and a second by Councilwoman Zendejas. Is there any public comment? Speaker 1: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: Okay. Councilwoman Price, any comments? Speaker 1: No comment, Mr. Mayor, I support the item. Speaker 0: Councilman's and has any comments. Speaker 1: No comments. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for. Speaker 0: And Councilman Richardson. Speaker 2: I certainly support this. I'd love to take a deeper dove on the Environmental Committee conversation. I know that when it relates to infrastructure and tidelands, all that there there's sometimes two conversations. It's you know, it's an infrastructure conversation. Then it's your policy around oil and climate and all that. And I want to I want to make sure that, you know, it's clear that the Climate Action Committee can think about oil and policy around oil and those things, which a lot of times will be connected to. Traditionally, they're connected to pipelines and things like that. So, you know, moving forward, I mean, I think some of someone's results tonight, but I'm really certainly interested in how that how that all will work together from a policy standpoint that really anticipate what the next couple of years. A lot of focus on air quality operations and oil policy are going to confront that are. But I support I support this motion I think is the right. Speaker 0: Is there any problem? And you said there's no public comment, Madam Clerk. Speaker 1: Not on this item. Speaker 2: Okay. Real call, but please. Speaker 1: District one. My District two, i district three. I district for. Speaker 2: My. Speaker 1: District five. District six. High District seven. District eight. High District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Chris. Speaker 0: Thank you. And now I'm going to turn this over to Vice Mayor Richardson. I'm going to go and get ready for the state of the city. So I will see you all later tonight. And Vice Mayor Richardson, if you want to do just the few items that are left with a lot.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to approve a new list of City Council Standing Committees and request City Attorney to draft a resolution reflecting the changes as approved by the City Council.

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Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for Denise me. Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Now we're on to item four. Audience. Speaker 1: Item for a report from Development Services recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to an UNpermitted Dwelling Unit Amnesty Program read and adopted as read citywide. Motion face sun has. Speaker 2: Motion and they have their second. Second Richardson. Okay. Sorry. The second is very public comment on the site. Yes, we have Tiffany Davey. Thank you. Hi. Good afternoon. Animal Vice Mayor and City Council Chairman Davie, District four resident. I am in support of this ordinance as it proposes an adequate and timely policy solution to a myriad of issues in an effort to not. Speaker 1: Only meet. Speaker 2: State origin requirements, but also city goals and plans such as the Have Home Recommendation and the Mayor's Affordable Workforce Housing Study Group. As a creation of Chapter 21.66 of the Long Beach Municipal Code seeks to bring to code these units already occupied. That does a great disservice to previously mentioned state and city goal by expanding the breadth of the housing qualified to be formally legalized in the voting code, which previously only applied to units created prior to 1964. As far as procedural mechanisms of implementation pass application submission, I find it to be great benefit for all seeking such amnesty , which, by building health and safety standards goes further to include their tenants as well. The affordability covenant that is outlined is a service to not only meeting those same goals, but also ensuring a just and equitable recovery from this ongoing crisis, which the city also address the conjunction of multiple crises such as the COVID 19 crisis. Housing crisis and racism as a public health crisis which are occurring at the same time, and for which policies such as this ultimately seeks to benefit all residents of the city. This element is also critical in Future City plans as it pertains to emergency preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. In closing, I believe support of this item is timely to address directly those factors that align with a true just and equitable recovery from these terrible crises. Having served as a field representative for the United States Census Bureau for the 2020 decennial count, I can attest that this ordinance would do more than simply remove from visibility, but allow our city to enact policy, which would aid Census Bureau efforts in the future to achieve an accurate count and thus ensure we, city and residents alike, have the adequate federal support needed in disasters such as this one. We're still gathering and those to come. Thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you. Speaker 1: District one. I'm District two, district three, I District four. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: District five. District six. Can you hear me? Yes. Received. Thank you. District six by district seven. By District eight. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: District nine. All right. Motion carries. Speaker 2: Well, that satisfies our agenda. Is there any new business from the city council announcements?

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 21.66 relating to an Unpermitted Dwelling Unit Amnesty Program, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Let's begin hearing it in 13. Speaker 1: Report from Development Services recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing and determine that the project is categorically exempt from CEQA. Declare ordinance amending the zoning code or related to unpermitted dwelling unit amnesty program. Read the first time lead over to the next regular meeting of City Council for final reading and adopt a resolution to submit amendments to the Coastal Commission citywide. Speaker 0: Turn this over to staff. Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Mayor. I'd like to introduce the Development. Speaker 3: Services new planning manager, Patricia Defender, and she. Speaker 1: Will give some overview, comments and introduce the staff making this presentation. Speaker 4: Good evening, Mayor and council members. Hello and happy New Year. This is Patricia Devendorf here. I'm actually going to be giving this presentation, so I'll go ahead and start. This item is a code amendment to introduce an ordinance that would create a pathway for legalization of existing, unpermitted dwelling units. This this ordinance creates a pathway that doesn't exist currently, but only in a very limited circumstance. And it's a way to preserve existing housing units and preserve existing housing stock. Similar other cities have similar ordinances. Some of the cities that have a similar have adopted a similar ordinance recently include Los Angeles, West Hollywood and San Francisco. A couple of those cities have had them for some time. The proposed program implements previous policy direction that was adopted by the City Council, and I'll talk a little bit more about that. The program will help the city meet its 26,000 unit regional housing need assessment requirement, which is through the year 2029 and will be part of the upcoming housing element that the city is working on currently. The Planning Commission did hear this item back in September of last year and did recommend approval that the City Council approve this item. So some of the goals, some of the policies that have already been adopted that this ordinance helps implement are the Everyone Home recommendation to expand the number of rent stabilized units. And it also implements policy 1.1 of the revenue tools and incentives for the production of Affordable and Workforce Housing Study, which is to encourage the preservation of existing housing stock. One of the benefits to the city of this ordinance will be that it will ensure that through the legalization process, that the units are brought up to building code and safety standards and just ensure that we have safe and habitable units. So currently I mentioned there is a very limited provision of the zoning code that allows through an independent zoning administrator process legalization of such existing units. They have to have been built prior to 1964. This is does it really provide a very big kind of opportunity to legalize, again, units that already exist that were perhaps carved out of existing spaces within multi-family buildings? The proposed ordinance would allow for these units to be legalized through a ministerial site plan review process. It would allow appeals, but only by the applicant to the Planning Commission. Some of the particulars of this ordinance is that it targets those units that cannot qualify for legalization through the accessory dwelling unit regulations. So there's a pathway for the garage conversions in those kinds of units. But this is targeting a group of units that would not qualify through those regulations. These would be eligible in most any zone other than heavy industrial zones. The date of occupancy you have to the applicant would have to prove that the residence was in occupied prior to December 31st of 2016. So the idea is these are existing and it's not a pathway to create new units. One of the other benefits to the city is that there's a requirement to have an affordable affordability covenant for a period of ten years. So an applicant who seeks to legalize such units would have to record a covenant on the property, retaining that property for a period of ten years for income levels of moderate income or below. If it's if the unit is occupied by someone of a lower income level and it effectively waives zoning requirements of it waives requirements of the zoning code like density limitations, parking, other such standards. It does not wave, of course, building code, fire life safety standards. So just a quick overview. There was a public outreach conducted on this consisted of a study session with the Planning Commission and it was composed in some outreach that was done on the housing element update. And we did the usual and required notification for hearings before the Council. Some of the kinds of comments that were received were just largely inquiries about the ordinance in general and what it was attempting to do. There were some concerns expressed about that. This ordinance would encourage illegal construction of units, which I addressed previously, and just concerns about ensuring safety of the units and that the rent restrictions are adhered to. So with that, the environmental this project is or the ordinance is exempt from secure and basically the recommendation is to declare the ordinance and establish this or adopt this ordinance and the resolution that would allow the director to refer this to the Coastal Commission for review and approval in the at the appropriate time. Thank you. That concludes the staff report. I am happy to answer any questions. Speaker 0: Is there any public comments for the hearing? Speaker 2: Yes. Our first speaker is Jim Cook. Hello? Yes, please begin. Hello. Yes. Speaker 0: I guess I'm coming into this pretty late since the ordinance is already written. But I see a lot of hurdles that a lot of people that would be interested in this probably will not be able to. Speaker 2: Comply or get involved. Speaker 0: Because it doesn't seem to address the fact that most of the people that. Speaker 2: Like. Speaker 0: Fixed income seniors that. Speaker 2: Might have a room or something that they did in a while ago, they need that. Speaker 0: Income to pay taxes or insurance or whatever. It seems that adhering to law. Speaker 2: More than to have. Speaker 0: Flexibility. Speaker 2: For humans, and. Speaker 0: I would encourage amendments that. Speaker 2: Create. Speaker 0: Easy to obtain variances. The big developers got massive variances downtown. Let's have some for the humans. Speaker 2: I mean, the people. Speaker 0: No sense, say one, that some code infractions could be. Speaker 2: As small as not being. Speaker 0: Far enough from a law with a toilet or shower or too small. Those are things that should be overlooked so. Speaker 2: That people can. Speaker 0: Maintain their businesses. Speaker 2: And. Speaker 0: People have access to. Speaker 2: Non-Corporate. Speaker 0: Rentals because people are going to have to get out of the business. Speaker 2: Of renting. Speaker 0: Rooms because people aren't paying and we can't afford to carry people that don't pay. That's part of the problem, of course, from COVID, but also long term. Speaker 2: When things stabilize, people need. Speaker 0: Variances. Speaker 2: And not more. Speaker 0: And more hoops because it costs money to tear out things and put them back. For instance, they might want to, but as long as it's safe. And any kind. Speaker 2: Of. Speaker 0: Variances go into maybe a written statement on the sale of the house. Speaker 2: Another stumbling block might. Speaker 0: Be ten years. That's a long time for an elderly person to commit to a covenant. So good luck with that. I hope we can get something together. And I appreciate your time. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the sun. Speaker 0: Thank you. Let me go and go through the council councilman's and house. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. I actually want to make a motion to. To set this. Speaker 0: Perfect. I see a second that. A second by Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 3: Yes. Speaker 0: Okay. Did they have to have any comment? Speaker 3: Yes. I actually went, first of all. Thank you, Patricia. Congratulations and welcome. I look forward to working with you. I wanted to say thank you to the staff for working hard on this. I think that this is this is exactly what is needed at the time. And I think that anything any obligation we have to improve our housing stock is a great thing for our city. I know that this report has been a long time coming and that it has that lately, as has caught up speed. So I'm really excited about that. I also want to say that I know that when talking to staff, I did ask a couple questions on this beforehand. And one of the things that I was concerned about is making sure that that we make it. That we make it not a tough process for this to for everybody to be able to come up to code. I think that that's very important, especially for those that might have financial constraints. I think that that definitely is important. But I do think having this and providing an avenue or a way for those who are already existing units that that could become part of their property legally is a great opportunity. So thank you again for everything and I'm very happy to be able to support this. So I just look forward to to this coming this coming before us he on council TV and I hope that my colleagues will support this as well. Thank you, Mayor. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilman Allen, please. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. I, too, want to thank the staff for putting this together. And I do believe like councilmen, member as and has, that this is an opportunity to keep housing units on the market that are currently being occupied. And this is going to be especially critical during a housing crisis. And also, I like the fact that the program the program will offer a clear pathway to bring units into the safe. And I have a will condition and also bringing the dwellings up to code, which is going to be really important. I do also have some questions and I think what I'm going to do here is just I'll just ask them. You can just ask all three and then if you if you can answer those. So my first question is how do we work with what the owners whose units are not up to code and they may have challenges bringing the dwellings up to code. If they join the program. And also, I want to also understand how do we ensure that landlords are in compliance with the affordability cabinet? And also my last question is what happens to a current tenant if they do not qualify for the affordability element, like if they're planning on staying there five, six, seven, eight more years. So if you could answer those for me, I would appreciate it. Speaker 4: I'd be happy to. Councilmember And thank you. Councilmember Sanders. So the first question about how to work with the owners, so one of the things that staff is working on in conjunction with other bureaus in the Development Services Department is an advisory bulletin that will guide applicants and help them understand how to go through the process and what to expect in the process. So one of those features is likely to be a a, you know, an income. They will be encouraged to retain a third party in inspection. So contractors, architects, engineering firms can be hired to perform an inspection and issue an inspection report, essentially, that tells people what repairs will be needed in order to make the unit up to code and what that cost will be. It's at that point, this whole program is also a voluntary program. I think it's important to understand that. But at that point, once they have that in hand, it's really up to the owner to decide whether they want to take the next step and come to the city. But that helps the city kind of safeguard, you know, the any its position in terms of knowing about a unit. And then also it helps the applicant know what they're going to be in for in terms of process and expense before actually coming to the city. As far as ensuring compliance through that would happen, obviously through the process, the formal process of legalizing the unit, it's at that time that the applicant will have to get a building permit and then ensure that the the unit will meet building code standards. And then as far as if a current tenant is not of a moderate or lower income to the ordinance is written in such a way that there would have to be a covenant and recorded on the property that would essentially defer that tenure for affordability restriction period until a time when a tenant is in the unit that that does meet the affordable that is of a lower moderate or lower income. I hope that answers that your questions. Speaker 3: Yes. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Speaker 0: Thank you. Next up is council member Ringo Ryan. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. And I want to thank staff and customers in then home for bringing this forward. I was bringing it to the questions that I had with several brought up my path from reality and spread to some of the conditions. Speaker 3: That are. Speaker 2: Put out there in regards to these dwellings. As you probably know, sometimes it's easier to ask for forgiveness and permission. And so my concerns would be in terms of some of these dwellings that already exist, that might not be qualified to bid under this program. So I was wondering what the the safeguards were in there, but I think they were somewhat addressed by the questions that Councilmember Allardice. So I'm good with it and supportive of it. However, I'm just a little leery about the some individuals who would have again, rather asked for forgiveness and permission. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Mongeau. Speaker 3: Thank you. I had a couple of additional questions on slide four. It talked about a process through the Planning Commission. So I think that at least in my briefing, we talked about they'd fill out a form. They would have had an independent inspection from a private inspector that they would provide when submitting to the department. What is a step that it goes to? Speaker 5: Yeah, so that's correct. This is a staff level approval. This is Christopher Kuntz, Deputy Director. But because it is a staff level decision, we need to provide the applicant due process if they disagree with the decision that's made by staff. So the applicant only has the ability to appeal, for example, a denial to the Planning Commission. That's the only role that the Planning Commission has on this process. Speaker 3: Okay. I just wanted to make sure it was an easy process that didn't require the Planning Commission's approval, because I thought I understood in our briefing that it was an administrative or an administrative change, so that that's perfect. What if the unit is in a historical district? Speaker 4: This is Patricia Defender for. I think the same rules would apply. I mean, these are, you know, existing units already. So presumably whatever construction happened has happened and happened quite some time ago. So it would be treated similar to other, you know, examples that would come that would come before the city because it wouldn't be wouldn't involve any new construction. It would be construction that already occurred. Speaker 3: So it would not require any additional hurdles for a unit that already exists in a historical district. Correct. Correct. Excellent. And then my last question was on Slide five, which Councilman Allen kind of touched upon, which was the affordability covenant. So it's based on the tenant at the time and not on the amount charged for rent, correct? Speaker 4: It is. It is based on the income of the tenant at the time. But a moderate unit is is defined as a rent that is affordable to a person of moderate income. So there's a rent level and there's an income level. And that's how you determine what the income level of that person is and what the rent should be. Speaker 3: So if, for example, you had a zip code 9081. Renovate 136 district and bring to the housing standard. The the in the. I'm sorry I'm tongue tied. The rent that would be deemed affordable for low income in that area is let's say, 1300 a month if the rent being charged is 1000 a month. But the renter is. It's not low income. Then the years that that unit is at a low rent would not qualify. I just wanted to clarify. Is that accurate? Speaker 4: That is correct, yes. Speaker 3: Okay. However, if the current renter is paying 1500 a month, but they are low income, then. The unit would qualify because a low income renter is there? Or would the tenant then need to reduce the rent to the affordability standard through the Housing Authority matrix? Speaker 5: So there's some items go in the ordinance and some items are implementation regulations that are done at the state level. It's hard to answer that question. So conceivably, what would happen is the owner would know that situation going in and if they chose to apply to the city to legalize the unit, once they recorded the covenant, they would need to adjust the rents to the amounts required under the affordability covenant. We would work with them such that if it's encumbered by some kind of a lease arrangement that expires on a specific date, the rent would not change until that specific date because I don't think the city can abrogate the lease. Right. But at some point in time, they would be receiving the benefit of legalization. So the cost to that or the responsibility of that is to adhere to the conditions of the covenant which would occur at that future date. Speaker 3: Great. Okay. That answers my questions and I am in support of the item. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. My next step is. Who is the vice mayor? Richardson and then Councilwoman Sorrell. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think this program is a good, meaningful approach to try to take a problem and turn it into an opportunity. And so to be clear with residents, I think what what should be noted that if you're concerned about this program being used or abused, that sort of go around or avoid quality of life considerations. Two points should be highlight, highlight. So one, this is really for most of these units are already built out, occupied and are substandard. They're not safe. So this is not amnesty for health and building code. This this actually brings these units out of the shadows and makes them safe. And we have, you know, our 80 ordinance did that for illegally for the garage and things like that. This is for everything else. And I think that's a good distinction for people to know multifamily units like that. This creates the pathway for these substandard units that are commonly already occupied for them to come out of the shadows and become stable and actually count toward our. And for those reasons, I think it's a great program and it has my support. Thanks. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 3: Good evening. I want to thank Patricia for the presentation and staff for their hard work on this. And I think that this comes at a great time, as my colleagues have shared and in a time when affordable housing is in demand. And I think it's also a great example of efforts to preserve existing affordable housing. And I and I am curious, though, I know that we've heard about ways to make it easier, but I'm also curious about hearing how do we make it as punitive as possible, knowing that this is a voluntary program. I'm just wondering if my question is how what would be the incentive for owners to come out to apply for this? Speaker 4: Councilmember. This is Patricia. So I one of the incentives really, as we discussed, is the fact that currently these units don't have they're not they don't have a valid building permit or a certificate of occupancy. So if a property owner owns a and a unit apartment building, but the certificate of occupancy actually says it's seven units, then they technically, you know, have to sell and that property is probably valued at the seven units versus the eight units. So this enables the property owner to kind of take full advantage of their, you know, of their asset in that way. Speaker 3: How can you be sure that it's not a punitive approach if they do come out? It's harder is just knowing that they've been this program is in place for that much easier path. But how can we assure owners that there is protection in place so that there is an easy, a safe way to to come to compliance Speaker 5: ? So, council member we tried to strike the balance between what what is as flexible as we can be while still protecting public safety. So we have to have our building code provisions in there because we don't want to legalize a unit that then has a fire or has some kind of life safety issue. So we've tried to structure as much flexibility as possible. But in addition, Petros had talked about before the applicant ever comes to the city and lodges their formal application, they're going to be required or encouraged to work with a contractor, architect or engineer to give them an estimate of what's going to be involved in this legalization process . And if that estimate, let's say it's $25,000 worth of work and they only have $5,000, they will then have the opportunity at that point to say, no, this is not going to be the year that I applied to the city. I might come back in two years. The city continues to not know of that particular unit and won't be taking enforcement action because we don't have the information regarding that unit. But the process has still been positive for the owner because now they know what's involved and maybe it is a possibility for them in a future year . The other piece that we haven't talked about here is we do find these units. We find them through the code enforcement process sometimes as a result of an unrelated inspection and sometimes as a result of a complaint. And then it is punitive because that is the way the current law reads. So our inspectors have no discretion other than to write the citation. The way to clear the citation is to vacate the unit and convert it to no longer be a unit anymore. That's not a good public policy outcome for anyone. That's not desirable for the city, for the owner or the tenant. So we do feel that one of the benefits of this program will be in those enforcement situations where we're already in an enforcement situation. This gives us a relief well, this gives the owner a way out, a way to legalize that unit that doesn't exist today . So there is going to be some process, there is some expense. We have to protect building safety. But at the same time, compared to the status quo, it's a it's a quite market improvement. And we think it'll be valuable. We think some owners will come in voluntarily, but we know it will be especially valuable when we're already in an enforcement situation and this gives them additional options. Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I appreciate that. And I'm in support of this item. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman Austin. Speaker 2: Yes, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank my colleagues for some very good questions. Actually, I've been checking them off as they been as they were and asked by my colleagues. I was specifically interested in understanding the incentive for property owners to participate. I think the question was answered. I think, you know, that it actually adds value to the property, maybe more property taxes as well. But I'm also interested in the the impact of the decision on this particular item. Do we have any idea how many units or what what we will what we could potentially gain? I mean, how many of these units actually exist currently in the city? Do you have any any estimation whatsoever? Speaker 4: Council members. This is Patricia. Defend her for that. We really don't know because, you know, these are units that are unpermitted. We did make an inquiry of the code enforcement group and we learned that there were 157 code enforcement cases where building permits were required to remedy the issue over the last eight months or so. But those represent many different kinds of code enforcement issues. So it's not very easy to extrapolate, like how many of these units would actually come forward. And it's likely the experience of the accessory dwelling unit regulations also has sort of proven that people don't come out necessarily right away and they they that there might be more people that are willing to come through the process after it's been in place for some time. And there's more certainty about the process. Speaker 2: Thank you for for answering that question. And I would I would just say that that makes sense. I am certainly a supporter of this. We all are experiencing and have witnessed that. We know that in our districts that people are getting creative with housing and we have to understand the climate that we are dealing with, with the housing crisis. And so I think this is a this is a policy that that makes a lot of sense. And so it has my full support. Thank you. Speaker 0: Next I go back to Councilwoman Mongo and then councilwoman in the house and then we'll go to a vote. Speaker 3: Thank you. I really appreciated the comments from Councilman Sorrow and thought I might ask the staff when additional units are brought online by developers. There are funds available from the Housing Authority. Is there any possibility that there could be funds available to bring units up to code if necessary? As I believe a unit could already be up to code and they would just need to file a permit fee. Has the discussion taken place of how much it would cost to purchase assets from the city side, not the construction side, but the application fee? Those would be my two items. Speaker 5: Councilmember taking them in reverse order. The application fee is cost recovery, so it won't be zero, but we're looking in the neighborhood of a couple hundred dollars, so we don't expect it to be prohibitive in terms of assistance there. There may be assistance available to some owners, but not to all owners. So with our CDBG and home programs, some of those dollars are geographically restricted. So there might be a building in Councilmember Sorrells district that could be eligible for housing rehabilitation. But an owner in your district may not necessarily be available for those same programs. So I can tell you that there are funds available through our federal housing dollars. We do today support rehabilitation of existing housing, but it depends on a number of factors. So it be available to some building owners, but not necessarily to all. Speaker 3: Excellent. I would just hope that we look for additional opportunities for that kind of funding because as the person who called in for public comment mentioned. There may be a person in my district or any other district that has a desirable unit that they would be willing to rent to a low income renter for ten years or longer. And that would be an ideal place for them to live and an ideal place to add the unit. And there's often criticism that units are not added in these parts of town. So we might want to look at that, especially because, as the caller mentioned, a lot of the individuals who own these units, especially in my district, may have once lived in them. And they have a single family house that had a back unit that they themselves may have lived in or their children. Now they live in senior care and that unit could be available to a low income person. So I look forward to also exploring funding opportunities that can help throughout the city because I know that the burden of additional housing cannot just lie in areas with CDBG funds. Thank you. Speaker 0: And customers and they had. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to all of my colleagues for all of their questions and comments and support of this item. I think there are a lot of good things we brought up that made me question. Have a couple more questions for you. One, that one is definitely to to look for more funding or funding for those that don't have the means to be able to bring their unit up to code. And who actually would really like to do that? Because I do believe that there are a lot of people who have already these units in their buildings and would like to bring them up to code. And maybe it is financial restraint that's keeping them from this. But another thing that I was realizing is that when looking into affordable housing and the covenants, that most of the things that we have in place right now as the city I know we have, but some of the ones I've been looking at recently that have a covenant of like 50 years for affordable housing. So I was wondering, you know, I think that ten years that may be too little. So I wanted to to see if we could probably bring it up. I'm not saying 50 years, maybe that would be great, but I would at least try to double it. So I would like to see it, but I would like to add to the motion that we add make it for 20 years if possible. And also so with in. In the motion to. To try to. Seek funds that would allow those people with limited incomes to be able to do these upgrades and make their units legal. Speaker 2: Councilwoman Zendejas, this is Mike Mayes from the race office. If part of. Speaker 3: Your motion is to increase the. Speaker 2: Affordability period from 10 to 20 years, we'd have to bring this back for a new first reading because that would be a significant change from the ordinance. Speaker 3: Hmm. Speaker 2: And I'm sure Christopher Patricia. Speaker 1: Can wait here. I think. Speaker 2: The the thought process on the ten years was they were trying to develop again, as Christopher and Patricia both mentioned, an incentive to get people to come. Speaker 1: Forward and legalize. Speaker 2: These units. And I think. Speaker 0: If it were. Speaker 1: Made 20, 40, 50. Speaker 3: Years ago. Speaker 2: Fewer and fewer people that would be willing to come forward. Sure. Speaker 5: Council member it is council's prerogative. But as Mike mentioned, we're trying to design a program that incentivize people to bring these units out of the shadows. So the ten years was determined by us to be appropriate. Incentive wise counsel can consider a different number, but another option would be to try the ten, and we can come back in a year and tell you how many people participated in the program and make adjustments at that time. It is very different than the 50 year because in the 50 year scenario, typically the city is investing funds in those affordable housing projects and there are not funds contemplated to be contributed to these individual units that will be legalized. And on the funding side, we certainly can come back. That's part of our housing element discussion and our housing action plan discussion, which are on a little bit different track than this zoning code amendment. But we hear your comments loud and clear, and we share the goals not only of funding, but being able to have that funding access throughout the city. As Councilmember Mongo alluded to. So again, it's council's pleasure, but just want the full council to be aware of the downside to increasing the period of affordability could be that fewer applicants utilize the program. And unless applicants utilize the program, we don't achieve any level of affordability because we don't bring the units forward. Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you both very much for your comments. And that helps me sort out the thoughts in my mind and most definitely want this to be an incentive rather than a disincentive. And that's why this whole ordinance was proposed to be an incentive. But I do like the idea of coming back in a year so that we can see how it's going in it and if indeed it is being an incentive, I would really like that. So thank you again for clarifying that. And and we can we can if we could just add the funding source to the motion, that would be great. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. We have now a motion in a second on the floor. Let's go ahead and take a roll call vote. Speaker 3: I. I was. I'm too excited. Speaker 1: All right. Council District one is an I. It's District two. Now I'm an AI. District three. AI District four. AI District five. Yeah. District five. I. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. District six. I'm District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District eight. All right. District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 21.66 relating to an Unpermitted Dwelling Unit Amnesty Program, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Let's go to a hearing. Item 14, which I know is a short one. Speaker 1: Report from financial management. Recommendation Receive supporting documentation under the record. Conclude the public hearing and grant an entertainment permit with conditions on the application of TGI Fridays at seven 2 to 1 Carson Street for Entertainment Without Dancing District five. This hearing does have an oath required. Any of the witnesses. After the statement, please say I do. You and each of you solemnly state that the testimony you may give in the course now in pending before this body shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Speaker 2: I do. I. Speaker 0: Okay. Let's go ahead and go. We have a motion by Councilwoman Mongo. Let me go to Councilwoman Mongo. Do you want to hear a quick just staff update or. Speaker 1: I heard the staff report at. Speaker 3: My briefing this week. I'm happy to hear additional for the full council. It's a generic permit, no dancing. And they've they're currently closed, but they have in the past had temporary permits for music and. Speaker 1: We've had no complaints. Speaker 0: Okay. And there's the second back, Councilwoman Price. So it's not like there's no other additional comments. Councilwoman Price, do you have anything? Nope. Okay, then we have a motion of a second. Is there any public comment, Madam Court? Speaker 1: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: Roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: District one. Right. District two. Speaker 3: By. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 3: By. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: District five by District six. Speaker 3: And. Speaker 1: District seven. By District eight. By District nine. A motion carries. Speaker 0: Okay. Let's do general public comment. Speaker 2: It was one moment when we moved into the meeting.

Public Hearing

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, and grant an Entertainment Permit with conditions on the application of TGI Friday’s, Inc. dba TGI Fridays, at 7221 Carson Street, for Entertainment without Dancing. (District 5)

LongBeachCC

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Speaker 0: Well, moving on for public comment. Item 15, please. Speaker 1: Communication from Councilwoman Mongeau recommendation to increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group and the Public Works Department in the amount of 20,000 to support sidewalk repairs in the Fifth Council District. Speaker 0: Okay. I have a motion in the second by Councilwoman Mongo and Councilwoman Price. Councilman Mongo. Any comments? Speaker 3: Yes. This list of sidewalk repairs and repairs in Long Beach is a dramatic need. There are multiple houses that cannot get in and out of their driveway and the repairs are extensive. I appreciate Councilman Price's second on this motion. I know she's seen the photos of what I'm discussing. And these have been on the list for far too long. And they must need they must be repaired. Speaker 0: Councilman Price. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I support this motion. I know that Councilwoman Mongo is always very, very passionate about our investment in sidewalks, and I know this particular issue. She became really engaged with the community on it, and I'm happy to support this item. Speaker 0: Okay. Great. With that, we have a motion in a second. Is there any public comment or. Speaker 1: Not on any? Speaker 0: Okay. We're all covered. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 3: Right. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District three I. District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District five. I. District six. I. District seven. I. District eight. Speaker 2: II. Speaker 1: District nine. II motion carries. Speaker 0: Kate, thank you. We are going to go to item. We're going to skip around a little bit. We only have four more items left. I'm going to save Cap for the end with two items 18 and 19. And then we'll go back to 16 and 17.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group in the Public Works Department in the amount of $20,000, offset by the Fifth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department to support sidewalk repairs in the Fifth Council District.

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LongBeachCC_01052021_21-0017

Speaker 0: Thank you. And we have two items left, 16 and 17. So we'll do item 16. Speaker 1: Or from city manager recommendation to receive and file a report on the cannabis equity program. Direct City Attorney to prepare an ordinance to allow shared use cannabis manufacturing and direct staff to prepare a feasibility analysis on licensing and regulating delivery only cannabis retail facilities citywide. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Moto culture in this. Over to you. Look, I know we have a very large cap presentation, so obviously we want to get through this presentation. Let's just do it expeditiously and I'll turn it over to you. Speaker 6: Sir. I will turn it over to Kevin Jackson, RW City Manager and AJ Callery, our assistant to the city manager, to go through the presentation. Speaker 2: Thank you. Tom J. Cleary will conduct a presentation. Speaker 7: Thank you. Again, my name is Jake Cleary. I work for the Office of Cannabis Oversight and the City Manager's Office. On July 7th, 2020, the City Council directed staff to explore ways to strengthen the cannabis social equity program and expand equitable ownership opportunities. In Long Beach on August 5th, 2020, staff released a memorandum in response to City Council's request. The memorandum identified three policy options for the City Council to improve cannabis business ownership opportunities in the city. On December 1st, 2020, staff presented these policy options to the Economic Development and Finance Committee. The committee then voted to refer two of those three options to the City Council for consideration. In this presentation, I will go through those options referred by the Committee before turning it back to the City Council for Input and Policy Direction. Before discussing policy options, I'd first like to provide some background on the cannabis equity program. The program was first adopted by the City Council in July 2018 as part of the Adult Use Cannabis Ordinance. The purpose of the program is to promote opportunity in the industry for individuals negatively impacted by the prior criminalization of cannabis. Numerous studies have shown that before legalization, low income minority groups were disproportionately arrested and convicted for cannabis offenses. Despite similar cannabis usage rates, one of the great challenges of cannabis legalization is the fact that low income minority owned businesses have been significantly underrepresented in the newly regulated cannabis market. Recognizing this trend, the city council voted to create a cannabis equity program. To qualify for the program, an individual must have a family income below 80% of the area. Median income, which is about $90,000 for a family of four, have a net worth below $250,000 and satisfy at least one of three criteria having to do with residency , arrest, history or unemployment status. Program benefits include access to application workshops hosted by city staff fee waivers and expedited application approvals. In addition, the city was awarded funds from the state of California to provide direct grants to equity applicants. A portion of those funds will also be used to build a technical assistance program. It is important to note, however, that these benefits by no means guarantee a license as currently designed. These benefits are meant to act as an incentive for equity applicants to move through the licensing process. And as it turns out, those incentives have not been enough to push the vast majority of equity applicants through the licensing process. To date, the city has issued one license to an equity owned business, with a total of five pending business license applications from equity applicants. By comparison, the city has had 79 residents qualify for the program. The main reason for the discrepancy between interest and success within the program is the significant barriers that exist to business ownership in the cannabis industry. Those barriers include access to capital, access to Green Zone, real estate, access to banking, construction and equipment costs, access to professional services, restrictions on the license types currently available in the city. The fact that those license types operated operate within a saturated and competitive marketplace. And finally, a restrictive statewide regulatory system. To be blunt, most of these factors are beyond the city's control. Collectively, these barriers highlight the fundamental challenge of cannabis equity programs, not just in Long Beach, but really across the state and country. That is, that the cannabis industry is fundamentally one of the more challenging industries to promote equitable small business ownership. To demonstrate this point, I have prepared a sample list of startup costs for a cannabis manufacturing facility. These costs are at the lower end of the spectrum for what it would take to build a manufacturing business and can easily grow into the millions of dollars depending on the scale of operation. Specifically, startup costs include lease payments for a minimum of one year while the facility is built out. Construction machinery installation which can include extraction infusion printing and packaging equipment. Initial cannabis inventory. Staffing costs prior to opening. Professional services, including brokers, attorneys and architects. And other startup costs, including security equipment, vehicles, insurance marketing and other expenses. The city has received funds from the state to help with these costs, but grant funds are only enough to cover a portion of the expenses you see on the slide. In light of these significant barriers to entry into the market, staff works to identify three policy options for the City Council to consider for strengthening equity ownership opportunities in Long Beach. The options identified include shared use, manufacturing, delivery, only retail and additional dispensary licenses. These three business types represent more realistic pathways to cannabis business ownership for individuals with limited resources by offering licenses with a lower startup cost, reduced facility footprint, fewer technical requirements, and a less saturated marketplace. However, it is important to emphasize once more that these options do not guarantee success for equity applicants, and that significant challenges remain for anyone seeking to enter the competitive cannabis market. The first option is to allow cannabis shared use manufacturing in the city, also known as Type S licenses. Shared use manufacturers were first authorized by the California Department of Public Health in 2018, but is currently prohibited in Long Beach per the municipal code. Type S licenses allow multiple businesses to produce cannabis products within a single facility. The closest comparison to this would be a shared commercial kitchen where multiple businesses are able to rent space to produce food products for consumers. It should be noted that Long Beach already licenses cannabis manufacturers locally, with 25 businesses currently operating in the city under this business type. Under existing regulations, however, these businesses must operate out of separate facilities, which can require hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to build. This has had the effect of restricting access to the license types to individuals with significant startup capital. The advantage of type s licenses is that it provides small businesses the opportunity to manufacture cannabis products without necessarily having to invest 100% of the startup costs within the facility. Businesses can either partner together to build a shared space, or they can rent space within an existing license facility. One disadvantage to this license type is the fact that initial investment to build a new shared use facility can still be significant. Cities that currently license shared use manufacturing include Sacramento, Santa Ana and Oakland, as well as the county of Santa Cruz. This slide shows some of the recent examples of shared use facilities currently under development in two of those jurisdictions. The second option is to issue licenses for delivery only retail, also known as non storefront retailers. Delivery only retailers are authorized to conduct cannabis sales exclusively by delivery. They must remain closed to the public at all times and therefore expected to have less impact on neighborhoods than do storefront retailers. This is not a new concept. Long Beach already allows its existing storefront retailers to deliver cannabis to residents in the city. However, many of these businesses choose not to deliver, given their primary focus on storefront sales. As a result, delivery only licenses represent an opportunity for equity owned businesses to participate in the regulated cannabis market. Cities that currently licensed delivery only retail include the cities of Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento. The city of Los Angeles also recently announced that they will begin accepting applications for delivery only licenses. The third option is to make available more dispensary licenses in Long Beach for equity applicants. Dispensaries are businesses that sell cannabis goods to customers on site within licensed business premises. This third option is not part of the recommendation before the city council tonight. Instead, the Economic Development and Finance Committee requested staff to return to the committee in six months for further discussion on this topic. The city of Sacramento is one example of a jurisdiction that voted to move forward with ten additional dispensary licenses after initially approving 30 dispensary licenses. However, Sacramento is still in the initial phases of implementing this new program, and therefore more time will be needed to report back on results. To summarize, there are two recommendations before the city council today has referred by the Economic Development and Finance Committee. Recommendation number one is to direct the city attorney's office, city attorney's office to prepare an ordinance to allow for shared use manufacturing in Long Beach. Recommendation number two is to direct staff to prepare a feasibility analysis for licensing and regulating non storefront, also known as delivery only cannabis retail facilities, and refer those findings to the City Council for Input and Policy Direction. That concludes my presentation and I am available for questions. Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Let me first do any public comment that we have and then we'll go to the Council. Speaker 6: Our first speaker is Carlos Zepeda. Carlos Zepeda. Speaker 2: Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Speaker 0: My name is Peter. Speaker 2: And I have been verified as a social equity applicant in the city of Long Beach since 2018. The Times are half measures regarding the kind of social equity program in the city of Long Beach should be over. We should be leading the way, in example, for other California. Speaker 0: Cities to. Speaker 2: Follow. Originally, when the City of Long Beach created and implemented the licensing process for recreational cannabis, there was very little consideration of social equity applicants. The Lobby social equity program from July 2018 through July 2020 was halfhearted, to say the least. The current social equity program has made some improvements, but there's still significant progress that needs to be made. Recognize the errors in the social IP program thus far and dedicate the time and energy to resolve these issues. The City of Long Beach said that the city ordinance that would give priority to already existing social equity applicants to apply for delivery licenses by the city of Los Angeles is currently trying to do. This will allow us the opportunity to create generational wealth and equity in the cannabis industry for those who have been in the program for several years. My older brother rest in peace and my uncle both spent time in jail for selling the same plant that's creating. Speaker 0: Additional wealth. Speaker 2: For current cannabis operators. I think it's very safe to assume that a majority, majority of the current cannabis operators in the city of Long Beach have not been directly affected by the war on drugs. Again, creating and implementing a city ordinance that will allow social equity applicants an opportunity to obtain delivery licenses as part of the solution Speaker 0: . To this problem. Speaker 2: Thank you for your time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jade S. Jade S. Speaker 1: Hello. Hello. City Council members. My name is page three Marseille. I'm just wanting to talk a little bit about the way that this current system is set up such that social equity applicants do not have an opportunity to obtain licenses that allow them to sell direct to consumers. If delivery licenses are awarded, then social equity applicants will not have to rely on the relationships with non social equity applicants to sell our product and in this way it provides. Speaker 3: Social equity and applicants. Speaker 1: A fair chance of success by allowing them to apply for either dispensary or delivery licenses. We should really learn from other social equity programs that have failed in the past, such as the City of Los Angeles, that had numerous issues with social equity applicants in which they were taken advantage of by non social equity applicants. Non social equity applicants who happen to be dispensary owners have control over the market right now and can determine both prices and make deals that eat into the profit margins of social equity applicants. If Long Beach can allow for social equity, applicants have licenses that are both currently available in addition to dispensary delivery licenses that will really give us a chance to truly compete and gain equity in the cannabis market. After all, it's not just about getting socially equitable and started, but it's also about allowing an operative to succeed in the long term. Thank you so much for your time. Speaker 2: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Thank you. I'm going to go back to the council. I have a motion by Vice Mayor Richardson and a second by Councilwoman Allen. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Just a little bit of background on this discussion. You know, after unrest in our city and in alignment with the discussions, the framework for reconciliation, community meeting process, we made a we made a recommendation at City Council to go and take a look at this program to see how we can targeted and look for additional opportunities for ownership and to hone the program that we have that we have in place. Staff conducted a high level study submitted a memo. That memo came to our economic development committee where we had a great deal of discussion on this and public comment and forwarded these three recommendations to the City Council. And I say three because we recommended to move forward with an ordinance on shared use. Secondly, two, to go ahead and take the next step, next step of study on delivery, to prepare, put us in a position to create an ordinance for delivery industry. And then thirdly, it wasn't just to not move forward, but rather we want to send the right signal here that there is there are more immediate opportunities right now with fair use and delivery and delivery only, and to create an immediate economic impact. And then once that's done well, we'll look at the next phase, which could be defense, but that's not what we're doing today. So. That's right. So we're. So it wasn't a recommendation to not move forward. The recommendation was we want to start with these and staff recommend that the advise that these two were the most based and ready to go. So that went to the Economic Development Committee and that is now here before us at city council. And I want to move this recommendation now to give a little bit further direction. It's important to understand the landscape of this equity discussion. Not many jurisdictions have gotten this right. It's a difficult thing to land. It's a nail. But jurisdictions that continue to work at it make progress. For example, they just highlighted Sacramento is continuing to work at it and other jurisdictions continue to work on it. I want staff to feel comfortable. You know, cannabis historically has been a hey hesitate at every step of direction from the council. I think when you're creating an industry, you really want to give staff some creativity and some flexibility, you know, to meet with industry and, you know, work out the kinks and come back as needed to the city council when they need additional direction. And so within within my motion, I want to really express that sentiment. And I've talked with I've expressed the sentiment of staff and with the city manager, and they understand that the sentiment here is that this should be a living, breathing process and as needed, bring it back to the City Council for Refinement. And that's my hope of what we can accomplish here today is move forward these two and leave some flexibility. The last thing I'll say is. You know, regulation of an industry can actually create industry and create demand and create, you know, create opportunity and where our economy is going to transition. Right now, we're in a transitioning economy. And, you know, with with you know, if we look at regulations related to air quality, other things, an entire sort of industry of new technology and and supply chain and all these things come out of regulation at time. And we're in a moment right now where there is an opportunity to create new industry with delivery only. Let's make sure that we target that to have as great of an impact as possible on moving the needle on equity. We know that. We know that we have a k-shaped recovery, meaning most folks of middle income, high income. They're going to they're already on the path to recovery. But folks there in a very low income sector, they are continuing to show low unemployment rates and they're continuing to decline. They have not turned around yet. That's a k-shaped recovery. That is the fact. And we have and this is one of many tools that we have to align with our recovery strategy. So that's it. That's my motion. And I look forward to hearing from the health. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 3: Yeah. Thank you for that. And I think this proposal is just a great way to, you know, expand business ownership opportunities to individuals in the city that have been disenfranchized by prior cannabis laws. And I want to congratulate Carlos, who was one of our first speakers on the approval to the program. I am super excited for you regarding the delivery only cannabis business feasibility study. I do look forward to seeing those findings. I feel like this is a great way to grow the industry without council action on more storefronts, which I believe right now are capped at around 32. And I do believe that also that a lot of the delivery that's happening currently in the city is from the illicit market. So regulating and sanctioning this may curtail some of those activities. One of the things I want to ask, I know in the presentation I saw that you're recommending that the delivery industry be cap the uncapped . And I don't truly I don't understand that. It seems like to me that it's better to be capped. You know, too many businesses that are doing delivery only may hurt the folks that we are helping getting you know, get into the industry. And this is, like you said, this is a very challenging industry to get into. So I am concerned with over saturating the market and I want to see all these folks who are getting into this thrive. So just a couple of questions that I have is, first of all, how large is the state grant? That we have to assist equity applicants. How much do we have left and do you know how much has been exhausted? And then my second question is how many applicants have applied for that? And the reason I'm asking that question and how many get through, because if we have, you know, 100 Apple kids and only ones getting through, then perhaps we need to go back and reexamine our process for getting these approved. And then also another question that just came up as I was watching your presentation is you said that a portion of the fees could be covered. And depending on how much grant money we have, is there an opportunity to cover all of those fees? So those are my questions. Speaker 7: Thank you for for those questions. So to answer your first question. The state awarded us two grant funds, one through the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the other through the governor's office called Cannabis. The BTC grant was for approximately $960,000. The Go Bears Award was for $2.6 million. Of that amounts, approximately 580,000 has been granted out to equity applicants to date. We continue to have grant funds available, and our hope is that by expanding access to new business opportunities, we'll be able to utilize all of the grant funds. However, if throughout grant implementation, it turns out that we're not on pace to use all the grant funds. We will work with equity applicants to determine if there are other ways or new milestones that we can come up with to allocate all the funds within the deadline that the state created. In terms of the number of equity applicants that have applied and received funds, I do not have that number in front of me right now. So we will have to follow up with you on on that statistic for your third question. Four for fees. We are currently waiving all fees for equity applicants. So that includes application fees, administrative use permit or conditional use permit fees, building plant check fees, inspection fees. They are all currently waived using the grant funds that were awarded by the state. Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 2: All right. So the mayor stepped away. So the next speaker is council member Sarah. Speaker 3: So I want to thank the Economic Development and Finance Committee and staff for bringing this up for the committee for bringing foreign staff on the work on this. And given the historic criminalization of cannabis, the consequences have been devastating on communities, low income communities of color, which is why I strongly support this cannabis social equity program. I think that it largely impacts a lot of the residents in my district. You know how, however, though, I think the criteria needs to to be targeted specifically to low income disadvantaged communities. And so I do agree with the qualifying factors are criteria of having a family income below 80% of the area median income and have a were a net worth below $250,000. And to satisfy at least one of the following, which is lived in a limited census tract for a minimum of three years, where at least 51% of current residents have a household income at or below 80% of the am-I, and also was arrested or convicted for a crime relating to the sales possession. Use our cultivation of cannabis in Long Beach prior to November eight, 2016 that would have been prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a citation under California law. And and but but I would like to, if you will, take this, Vice Mayor Richardson, since you made the motion to remove, is a Long Beach resident currently receiving unemployment benefits Speaker 2: . Thank you, Councilmember. Is that all your comment? Or did you have additional comment? Speaker 3: No, that is it. I'll say that. That is it. Speaker 2: Thank you. I think it. I certainly think it makes sense. I mean, that was staff's original recommendation. And it doesn't mean that someone who's unemployed can't receive a job or apply for a job in the industry, that those jobs or establish a new business within the industry, you know, but people can still apply. But that wouldn't count toward equity credit unless you meet those criteria. So I think what you're describing makes sense given sort of the intent of the program. So absolutely that is accepted. Next is council members and they have. Speaker 3: Thank you, Vice Mayor. I'm having trouble with my meeting. And I'm meeting today. Please excuse me. But I think I think that, first of all, I just wanted to say thank you to the staff and thank you to Jay for your great presentation to me. I think that, you know, this is very important going forward, especially in this industry and especially in these times. But I think Councilmember Sara just asked my question that I had. So thank you council member for for beating me to it. I just wanted to to get a little bit more clarification. I know that. You know, this industry is very new. So I know that, you know, we're still working everything out. And I think that this is a really great way to do that. I know that there was a specific mention about, you know, about how these requirements, the requirements are towards people who have been criminalized in the past. So I'm really happy to see that we're taking that into consideration. So that was actually that was my question to get a little bit more clarification on that. So Councilmember Sorrell actually posed the question and it was answered by Steph, but I just also wanted to say thank you. Speaker 2: Fantastic. Thank you. Next up, we have Councilmember Price. Speaker 3: Thank you. So I want to thank staff for the presentation. Just a few comments. I know that when we were talking about the brick and mortar operations several years ago, one of the concerns that came up when I think I think I was mentioning the idea of the not having brick and mortar at first phasing into it with a delivery only model. And the concern at that time was that there would be no enforcement mechanism in place to distinguish between licensed Long Beach businesses and those that might be servicing through weed maps and other third party connecting entities. So we've had several years of best practices now, so. A-J Could you maybe speak to that a little bit? Are there different enforcement mechanisms that are now available or operational models that are available that can help alleviate the concern of the illicit market? Taking over the delivery model. Speaker 7: Of the illicit delivery market continues to be a challenge. It is incredibly difficult to enforce against. It's a challenge that nearly every city in the state faces. We do have an enforcement program. It's a tax task force model. It's a complaint driven model. It's one that relies on staff from business licensing, code enforcement, health departments, city attorney's office, fire department. We have enforce against illegal delivery businesses, but it has been and continues to be a Whac-A-Mole approach where they they pop up at various locations. That part of what drives the illicit market, though, however, is a lack of access to the legal market. So one effective approach to dealing with the illegal delivery services is to provide consumers at least access to a legal source and allowing for licensed legal delivery services because it gives consumers a choice and it gives them a choice to purchase tested products, regulated products, more reliable cannabis products. And it actually ends up being an effective enforcement program. Implicitly by allowing for illegal delivery services. Speaker 3: Yeah, I can. I could see that. I wonder, and I know it's not the perfect analogy, but looking at how we're working with our short term rental, know the third party sites that are posting the availability of registered short term rentals. Is there some way that we can work with the third party vendors like We Maps and others so that there's like a registration number or something available for these delivery businesses where the consumer can know that they're a licensed entity in the city? Speaker 7: Yes, the state has begun requiring that we maps. And so you will find more businesses on that site that have state licenses referenced on their pages. We also have a city website that includes a map of all of our legal dispensaries in the city, and we've been surprised to see how many hits that website gets. A lot of people use that as a resource to determine where to to purchase cannabis. We can continue to update that site. Should the city council ultimately decide to allow for legal delivery services to identify the legal services in the city as well? But it's also something that is going to take time for consumers to fully shift to the legal market. And so it is these incremental steps that we're taking are helpful, but they're not going to fully address the problem, which will will be a longer fix. Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I agree. So I know that you guys are going to do a feasibility study and come back. So perhaps you can include in there some sort of a marketing program to encourage residents to utilize our city data resources regarding the established businesses, because I think consumer protections in terms of the product and the safety of the product is a pretty critical thing right now. And I think that consumer protection angle and how we can market that could be something that we could really invest in as a city. So if hopefully when you come back of the study, it can include that that marketing component for a site to legitimate businesses, that would be good. And then the other question that I had. What's really about the issue is, oh, no, it's not a question, it's a comment. I agree with Vice Mayor Richardson that we should encourage staff to have creativity. But I think it's creativity within the policies that we'd set. Right. So from a policy standpoint, we want staff to have tremendous creativity in coming up with ways that we can implement our policies in creative ways. But we do have, you know, nine representatives on people who may not all agree with staff at any time on certain policies. And since all of our residents deserve to be heard, we want to make sure that we're showcasing a lot of the policy considerations at council and talking through those ideas together with staff in a public setting. So with that, I want to thank staff for this excellent report. And I think the the efficiencies that can be found in joint use facilities is a fantastic opportunity to get people to enter the market. So thank you very much. Speaker 2: Thank you. Next is Councilman Austin. Thank you very much. And I appreciate all of your comments and questions thus far. Obviously, I am a big supporter of US social equity with cannabis in our city. We've been working toward this and on this for quite some time and and we still have work to go. A lot of work to do. I just wanted to focus on the intent of the policies we're looking to create here. And I just need a little bit more clarification from staff, certainly in general in spirit, I support the direction that we're headed in. But I want to just ensure that that we are we are. And as Councilmember Cheryl mentioned, we are impacting the targeted groups that we want to target with what these policies. And so so first out, how do we ensure that or I guess, question number one is shared use manufacturing. Is that permitted in the city of Long Beach now? Speaker 7: Charges. Manufacturing is currently prohibited in the city due to our premises requirements, which restrict one licensee from operating in a given premises. Speaker 2: Okay, I understand the ideal of expanding, but how do we ensure that these shared use manufacturing facilities are not just expanding the businesses of existing operators as opposed to expanding opportunity for for equity targets? Speaker 7: So the recommendation to allow for the license type would expand opportunities for anyone so both equity and non-equity business owners. That's something, however, that we would seek direction from City Council. On if you wanted to restrict licenses in any way. Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I guess I guess I need to know what we we need to study and understand what our options are to actually ensure that we are delivering a policy. And carrying out its full intent. Right. Because I don't want the unintended consequence to be, oh, well, the big guy just came in and took advantage of our policy and now they're manufacturing and they've got storefronts and deliveries going on and they're saturating the market. Right. The ideal is to give the individuals with the least amount of advantage, some advantage. And I don't see that here. And so council, with all due respect, I think we we have work to do still. If we want to make this policy work the way we want it to work. And to the point earlier stated, I think it's I support more expanding dispensary options if that means expanding opportunities. And I think Steph actually mentioned earlier by expanding opportunities, we do have a have a greater impact in reducing being the illicit market in our city. And so, you know, the I guess the the conversation about cannabis equity has always been about are we looking to create, you know, equity jobs or equity ownership or both? And I think we need to be on both jobs and ownership. And but we need to put some some assurances in to the policy. And I'm not exactly sure how that how we do that right now. I would love for, you know, before any sort of, you know, anything comes back, the staff be able to provide some some recommendations or some best practices in which we can can can put that into any sort of policy moving forward. Thank you. The next speaker is council member. Speaker 3: Thank you. I have several questions. We did hear this before. The Development Finance Committee, of which I at the time was vice chair. And several questions did come up at that time. And I had not been able to form all of my questions because so much that was learned at that time. I'm disappointed that the commitment to an additional meeting in December didn't take place, but I know we were all very busy and and COVID and the holidays and all of those things. But I do have several questions, so I apologize if I have to reach you after the 5 minutes. I want to echo the comments from Councilmember Sotto and Austin that we really are looking to help the communities that were most impacted by this. And so and I think that paired with the comments from Councilwoman Allen related to wanting these businesses to be successful really leads me to believe that this ordinance could be most valuable if we picked a certain number of licenses in each category and restricted it to equity candidates only. I think that the fact that there was $3.86 million available in grants and only 560,000 have been utilized to date demonstrates that there is funding available to get these equity candidates to the front of the line. And so I would hope that the maker of the motion would consider restricting the ordinance at this time to be for equity candidates. Then what we can do is we can see what barriers are still there, despite the available funding of $3.3 million, and then kind of work backwards and say, okay, now that we have X number of shared use manufacturing and we have X number of delivery, then we can say, okay. Let's talk to those businesses that are equity candidates and are being successful and figure out if they are just flooded with demand or if the demand that they have is just enough to keep them in a profitable status. Because, like Councilman Allen said, we don't want to have 70 of these businesses, equity candidates putting their lifeblood into it. But then the market being so saturated by individuals who do this all up and down the state that they're not successful and then those businesses don't have a fighting chance. So I have a series of questions that go to that. Can the grant funds be used for lease payment, construction costs and purchases of vehicles and equipment for equity candidates? Speaker 7: Yes. The grant funds can be used for that purpose. Speaker 3: Great. You mentioned that there were lots of hits to our legal cannabis business web page. What is lots to you in terms of number of hits per month? Speaker 7: I don't have a statistic for how many per month, but the number of hits was in the thousands. The last time that we checked, I would need to go back to I give you an exact number. Speaker 3: Is it thousands of individuals or thousands of hits to the site and was cumulative? Speaker 7: It was cumulative. I rechecked months ago, so I would need to revisit it for an update. It wasn't unique individuals. It was based off of total hits to the website. Speaker 3: Yes. So that concerns me when I look at website statistics and the number of individuals who are purchasing cannabis in our city. I've talked to cannabis business owners. We have certain business owners that I've spoken with since our meeting about enough because I asked specifically, Hey, you're a really successful cannabis business in our city and you don't do delivery. Why is that? And he kind of talked to the fact that the profitability of the delivery market is so difficult because of the additional costs related to insurance. And we're not just talking about one time set up costs that the grant can work with, but the ongoing costs and risks of a delivery business are just higher. And so I also I mean, he even said it so far as that Amazon has a a small business incubator that an individual could go to and start their own delivery business for Amazon. And he said that the numbers in his perspective would be significantly more profitable. However, I recognize that you have to be passionate about what you do, and if individuals are passionate about the cannabis industry and they want to get into it, we do want them to have a pathway to being successful. And to do that, we I feel like it sounds like phase one of this plan should really be to reserve those licenses for equity candidates and that we should see what the market bears. A Jay is weed maps a licensed business in our city. Speaker 7: And no weed maps is not a licensed cannabis business. I don't understand the intricacies of it, but they don't touch the cannabis plant in any way, so they're more of a marketing company. Speaker 3: Do they have any license in our city? Speaker 7: Not that I'm aware of. Speaker 3: Does Airbnb or any of those types of platforms have a license in our city now that we have, or will they be required to have a license in our city? Now that we've changed the short term rental market. Speaker 6: Christopher Coons is going to answer that question. Speaker 3: Great. Speaker 5: So if council. Council member. It's not a license like a business license, but we do have a written agreement with Airbnb and other platforms regarding the sharing of tax information and lodging information, and that's part of our short term rentals regulation program. Speaker 2: If your 5 minutes are up. Speaker 3: Thank you. I will you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Have anyone else queued up so you don't remember? Speaker 3: Oh, wonderful things. Speaker 2: If you think you can get it done the next few minutes, I'll just suspend the rule and just finish your question. Speaker 3: Great. Thank you. AJ Do you believe that Weed Maps is the number one tool utilized for finding. Speaker 1: Cannabis related businesses? Speaker 7: I don't think I'm in a position to comment on that. I have read a number of articles that point to weed maps as one of the larger marketing firms in this industry. But I don't know if they're the largest or if people use other means now of finding cannabis businesses in the state. Speaker 3: Perhaps we should, similar to how we reached out and had a partnership with Airbnb. Perhaps we should reach out to weed maps and discuss with them the importance of only including licensed businesses on their platform and what we could do to. Work with them to to focus the efforts into our license businesses. That might be able to support these businesses. Let me see my last few questions on. So I guess if if this is really focused towards social equity. AJ What is the limit per applicant? For utilization of the grants. Is there a limit? Is it 200,000? Speaker 7: Currently the total amount available per equity applicants for reaching all of the milestones in the application process is approximately $250,000. Speaker 3: And what do we believe the start up costs of a. Non storefront delivery. Business would be. You had that chart. Speaker 7: Yeah. The the chart that we showed in the presentation was for manufacturing facility. The total cost can range, but we tried to identify something on the lower range of the spectrum for a manufacturer, and that was about $500,000. We were using that as an example for how, even with the significant resources that we've received from the States, there are still major hurdles for equity applicants that include access to capital. To see a project through delivery only services have much less capital requirements. They're able to have a much smaller footprint and therefore a lower square footage space for their business. They have fewer, fewer technical requirements. The construction that's required within the facility is much less. I don't have an exact figure for you today, but we do believe that the grants that are currently available would be enough for equity applicants to go through the process to secure a delivery only license as opposed to the current licenses that we have available. Speaker 3: So I guess I would say that there's $3.3 million left approximately based on your assessment. I'm going to do a quick math problem here on my calculator. Divide it by 250,000. That would be 13 additional licenses. So I would request the maker of the motion to. Start the program with authorization of the staff recommendation for first items one into shared use manufacturing licenses and. Non storefront delivery licenses for, let's say, 15 equity applicants. At least then the equity applicants will have a head start in the process and not have to compete. It also provides you'd mentioned that of the 32 licenses in the city, only one of them is an approved equity applicant. And so technically, unless we restricted these licenses, there would be potentially a 31 additional non equity applicants at the front of the line to do the shared manufacturing licenses. Now I recognize that multiple businesses are often owned by one entity and so they might not have a need for putting manufacturing onsite at all of their facilities. But I would say that if we want to be true to what we say is our intention, then I would ask the maker of the motion to approve the recommendation with the modification reserving. Phase one for equity candidates up to 19 license. What did I say? What was the number? Only 13. So up to 15 licenses. Speaker 2: So I have two things I wanna respond to. But before I do, I want to make sure we have everything, all your comments, and I'll respond when you're done as your last week. I'll just respond to it before anything else. Speaker 3: I did have one other thing. I'm going through my work. I went through my notes and I don't see what that last comment was, so hopefully I already got it. If not, I'll kill again. Thanks. Speaker 2: Okay, great. Okay, so just a few things. So there's been a number of members who who expressed some of the common themes. The point here when the committee recommendations come forward is to get feedback from the whole council, and that's what's taking place tonight. So Sorrel, Alan, Austin and Mongo all expressed interest in starting this with equity candidates only, and I support that in terms of the cap. I want to ask staff to respond about is a cap legally of a legal considerations on a cap. If that we need to know about. Speaker 7: We we do have concerns for how we would administer a cap and determine who has access to a license and who does not. We went through a process like that for dispensaries in the medical ordinance, and there were some challenges associated with that and maintaining the overall integrity of that program. Having said that, though, if the City Council is interested in having staff explore a cap within the framework of delivery only, we're more than happy to include that in our feasibility analysis and look at other models that other jurisdictions have followed and identify the pros and cons to the various approaches for for shared use manufacturing. The challenge is that cannabis at this point in the state of California is a borderless market. So any attempt to restrict the number of licenses in one city doesn't have that necessarily the effect that was anticipated, because manufacturers can locate in other cities that may or may not have a cap and that product can go across borders very easily. So we're also happy to explore that as a policy option if the city council wants to pursue a cap for that license type as well. However, we would need some time to to consider it because that was not included or considered for this recommendation. So we would need to discuss internally within our policy group and also with the city attorney's office to determine if there are any legal concerns or other concerns associated with it, specifically in regards to shared use. Speaker 2: Okay. Great. So. So that makes sense. So what I'm going to accept is I think we go forward with with equity only on both. We will explore. We are going to ask staff to explore the feasibility of the cap on on delivery since you have some evaluation to do there. So that is an amendment to this motion. And then secondly, I just want to acknowledge Councilman Soros, her amendment earlier, her friendly amendment, that we're accepting that and we're going to apply that to business, new business opportunities and employment opportunities, as echoed by a couple of the council members as well. So those are the two additions and that is the motion. And let's go to the roll call. Speaker 1: District one. I district to. Speaker 3: High. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 2: High. Speaker 1: District five. High. District six. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 3: District eight. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Ocean Cares. Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Let me go ahead and go to the last item, which is item 17.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a report on the Cannabis Equity Program; direct City Attorney to prepare an ordinance to allow shared-use cannabis manufacturing in Long Beach; and, direct staff from the City Manager Department to prepare a feasibility analysis on licensing and regulating non-storefront (delivery-only) cannabis retail facilities in Long Beach. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. And now we're going to take item 17 from content. Speaker 1: Item 17 support to a recommendation to receive and file the application of Prince Market and Deli for an original application of an ABC license at 640123 Avenue determined the application serves the public convenience and necessity. Submit a protest to ABC and directly to manager to withdraw the protest if a conditional use permit is granted. District nine. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: Yes. Thank you. So with respect to this this license, I'm I'm not supportive of moving forward. And I want to talk with staff about our options. I mean, it's an area that that has an overconcentration of this specific type license. We've done a lot of work, particularly with this operator, around the alcohol abatement ordinance. And so the community is is very sensitive now to the issue of they've communicated with our office that they they are the grant neighborhood is not supportive of moving forward. We also know that it is within 600 feet of a church and within 150 feet of residences. So my question for staff is what our options here are, because I know they have beer and wine currently and I'm okay with status quo. But elevating this to an off sale hard alcohol license is troublesome. What options do we have to protect these and and keep the operation as it is? Speaker 5: I can have the police department respond. Speaker 3: Honorable Mayor and City Council. Item 17 is an application for a Type 21 off sale General ABC license for a convenience store. This license will authorize the furnishing of beer, wine and distilled spirits to patrons for consumption off the premises. Where saw the police department has conducted our investigation and does not anticipate any adverse impact to the issuance of this license. Speaker 0: However, a conditional use. Speaker 3: Permit is required for this location. As a result, the police department recommends that a conditional use by a conditional public notice or protest be submitted until the conditional use permit is granted, at which time the protest would be withdrawn. That concludes my report. Speaker 0: But to answer the question. Speaker 3: Well, if you can then get the question again, sorry. I guess the question is I want the store to not receive the part alcohol license. But what motion should I make not to do that? In order to do it. It would. So the public convenience would be necessary. Public convenience necessary would be required for the establishment. So I believe it would it would be a vote to make a motion for a vote to to deny the application by the council. So far in this in this particular case. Speaker 0: This fella, as you mentioned. Speaker 3: Councilmember, has a take 20 license for off beer, wine and sales packaging. They, however, are grandfathered in to sell single servings of alcohol for consumption off premises. The condition for this type 21 would be that they would lose that that form or condition that they have that they were allowed to sell the single serving. Speaker 0: So there's a number of. Speaker 3: Conditions that would be on this new license with the type 21, one of which would be that they would no longer be able to sell the single serve servings of alcohol, which they're currently grandfathered into. DO. Okay. I think I understand what you're saying. So so I understand what I need to do with my motion. So I do not think that we should exchange the condition to no longer sell single singles in exchange for expanding license include up part alcohol. So my motion is that is to deny the application and and claim that this does not serve the public convenience and necessity based on high crime, overconcentration of light of licenses, residences within 100 feet and a church within 600 feet. And so that would be my motion. Speaker 0: Okay. Can I get a second on that motion, please? If someone can queue up on a second for the motion, please. Okay. Councilman sorrow. Is there any public comment? Speaker 5: There's no public comment for this item. Speaker 0: We'll call that, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman sandy has i. Councilwoman ellen. I. Councilman Price. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 3: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilmember Whitaker. Speaker 3: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Bush and Kerry. Speaker 0: Okay. That concludes all the campaign items. We will now go to general public comment. And Madam Kirk, I'll let you take it away and go to the public comment. Thank you.

ABC License

Recommendation to receive and file the application of Binny Shah, dba Prince Market and Deli, for an original application of an Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) License at 6401 Cherry Avenue; and, determine the application serves the Public Convenience and Necessity; submit a Public Notice of Protest to ABC; and, direct City Manager to withdraw the protest if a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) is granted. (District 9)

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Speaker 0: Okay, well, look who we're going to. We're moving on to the regular agenda item 22. Speaker 1: Item 22 Communications from Mia Garcia, Councilmember Muranga Councilman Austin Vice Mayor Richardson Recommendation to request City Manager to create a 5 million Personal Services and Fitness Resiliency Fund from the next federal COVID 19 stimulus fund package. Speaker 0: Thank you. I just want to first thank the the staff and just the team for working on this. We, again, are very optimistic. And in conversations that I'm having with the Biden administration and the transition team at looking at a really robust federal package that will be coming to two cities and states very soon, obviously, in a matter of weeks. Now, we want to make sure that we have this program in place and ready to go the day that we receive resources from our hopefully next large stimulus package. We think it's going to be large. We think there's going to be significant support to help small businesses and other priorities that we will have as it relates to health. And so this fund matches the fund that we did for restaurants at the last meeting. And again, it is $5 million that we are setting aside for personal care services and fitness. And again, the dollar amount, of course, if we end up receiving a lot more, then we're looking forward to even providing hopefully additional resources. But we want to do is have these two funds developed and the process really ironed out. We know that, you know, whether you're have a barber shop or whether you're an institution or whether you're one of the many personal services, your industry has been hit very hard. Obviously, there were some shutdowns that happened earlier in the summer. But now, of course, we're back to a place where there is just no support coming in because of the additional closures that we've had to make. And so this will give this industry, which is very large in Long Beach, an opportunity to to get by. We want to keep these small businesses in our community. There's so many particularly independent and small gyms and trainers. They're doing amazing work and we want to be sure that they're supported as well. And so I ask for your support on this and look forward to the staff developing these programs and then bringing them back, hopefully together so we can get this thing adopted and move forward. And with that comes Murray Ranga. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. I think the proposal that you put on the table is an excellent one. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting the needed relief from the Biden administration. And they strongly support this. And I make the motion to. Speaker 0: Thank you. There's a second by Councilwoman Mango. Councilman Mango. Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate the mayor for all of his work on this in dialogs related to industries that needed support. This was one of those that was top of the list. I appreciate working with those in the industry and the many calls that we've received over the last several months. I especially appreciate those who have gotten together with me in a small working group, and I hope that that will be revitalized again. And finally, I know there are more industries that need help. We need to continue to work through the list and find solutions for each of them that really match their business needs. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilman's in the house. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you very much for this this item. I think that it is very important, especially right now, we're seeing that some of these businesses have kind of been feeling neglected. And so they also need that our support very, very much so. I'm happy to support this item. And thank you very much for bringing this forward. Speaker 0: Thank you. With that, that concludes the council comment. We will go ahead and go to any public comment, please. Speaker 5: Our first speaker is actually Richardson. Speaker 4: Hi. My name is Ashley Richardson. I'm the owner of the 9 a.m. kickboxing studio next to the high school in the fifth District. As you're aware, fitness studios have been hit extremely hard. So thank you for finally addressing this. But I'm really talking about the brick and mortar gyms. I recently listened to this piece where Mary Garcia talks about how successful his personal trainer is and the Zoom classes and all these at home virtual gyms that are coming about. But those don't grow the local economy. Those are also not the people who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and the indoor gym faces jumping through hoops to get business permits and licenses, paying property taxes, sales tax while hiring and employing residents to keep the economy going. My story is not unique, but one that I hope helps you understand why we in the fitness studio space are going through. I have my gym just four months before the closure of March a lot and had added five new jobs, had 138 members were growing. I had to lay off lay off all of my five employees. We were able to pivot, offer online classes, but I still lost 85% of my best monthly income. June came, July closed again, and all of this fall just hitting only 40% of my monthly income. Building that on top of that, we moved out to a part brand workout when we could only have earned back a mere 50% of our monthly revenue month over month. Some of you may feel that outdoor workouts are great and I don't disagree. However, from a business owner standpoint, we have to pay our employees a shuttle equipment that we can move outdoors, set it up, break it down to size hours and for payroll expenses. Then we have to buy outdoor systems, outdoor lighting, flooring, cell phone, iPad hotspot, additional insurance that covers outside all of this while we're still paying rent cans, property taxes and insurance and business licensing fees, office space that we can't use. And it's just not sustainable. We never ask restaurants to move their complete operation outdoors. We never said Your custom chef has to move your kitchens outside. But effectively, that's what we said for fitness studios, plain and simple. How long can gyms endure this while every other personal service has been allowed open? We keep getting pushed to the end of the line. There's no data showing gyms or any more dangerous or deadly. The mental and physical health benefits that gym offer far outweigh those of any other personal service that's been allowed open. And according to several medical journals, exercise boost immunity by immobilizing or infection fighting immune cells. And those activated during and after exercise are the best friends we have. Even more so after speaking to multiple pediatricians and doctors here in Long Beach. The biggest issues we face after COVID has come and gone is the true and silent pandemic our children are falling victim to, and that's obesity. We have to keep the gym industry going here in Long Beach, not only with the idea of a popular brand, but we need to have a plan to allow gyms to open as essential businesses, whether through application permit process that we all know so well. We need a path to opening, sustaining and in order to offer the mental and physical health we all need right now, if our Long Beach Health Department can determine who gets the vaccine and when they get it. All of this outside of L.A. County's jurisdiction, then I'm confident the Long Beach Health Department can determine how and when . Long Beach. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Christine Bass. Speaker 4: Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Christine Bass and I serve as the government affairs manager for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. I'm speaking today on behalf of our 670 members, representatives and community stakeholders. We applaud the Mayor for deepening the response to the pandemic and supporting our most vulnerable industries and our small businesses. Our cities, business, community and local workforce face unimaginable challenges during this unprecedented time, and we must do everything that we can to keep these industries afloat. Initially, it was predicted that the pandemic would have had the largest impact on the hospitality industry. But recent findings show that the pandemic has negatively impacted the personal care services, restaurant and fitness fitness industry. For this reason, we respectfully ask the Council to approve this fund for personal service and fitness centers. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Speaker 5: Think your next speaker is Mike Murchison. Speaker 3: Good evening, Mayor and council members as a resident, a lifelong resident of Long Beach in the eighth District. Now, I appreciate the mayor's comments on the Resiliency Fund and his support for local businesses. I noted that there was 5 million for restaurants predicated upon the CARES Act funding. It's a bit concerning for the following reasons for me, not because the mayor is pushing for it. I applaud that. It's more about the fact that there are over 300 full service independent restaurants in Long Beach. So if they all apply for funding, that's only $12,500 each and that's not going to cut it. That amount goes down if you expand that list to the entire food service industry. In reality, mayor and council members, these independent restaurants to survive, to get through the next several months, they need about $50,000 to really make a difference. The other problem with receiving federal funding that goes through the city, through economic development. When you apply for a grant. You go through a process with the city. That process takes 2 to 2 and a half months to actually physically get a check. So while we talk about getting the money to the restaurants and all that through the grant process, the economic development staff is terrific. In reality, it's taking too long. The city needs to find a way to expedite that process, to get the money in the hands of these independent restaurant owners who basically have poured their lives into their restaurants and their businesses. Finally, I would also add the hotels have been impacted by this, not just the hotels in terms of ownership, but the employees, the tenants that live in Long Beach. They need some cares act money. So I would respectfully ask that the mayor and council look at the hotels in Long Beach along with their employees, and come up with some funding for them too through the CARES Act. Thank you very much for your consideration. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Thank you. I think, Councilman Austin, I think you queued up for this item. I'm assuming not for the next one. Speaker 3: Yes. And I just wanted to obviously express my support for this item. Thank you, Mayor, for your work, lobbying and working with the administration in advance to try to secure all this. The floor. It's a relief for that that will help many of our residents, business owners. I just want to just just highlight the intent here or get some some clarification, as I understand it, because I think one of the public commenters made a very good point. So the personal services and total. What would be the applicant had to tie or somehow show some nexus to brick and mortar business, as opposed to just being an independent personal service. Speaker 0: Trainer or something like that. Well, let me add to that. I think now I think that's a good question. So I think the staff is going to come back with both of the programs because that is going to be a consideration when we look at the amount of personal services, the amount of brick and mortar versus those that are more, you know, do work not to a brick and mortar is substantially different. And so that's something that staff will look at. And one of the reasons why we're bringing this program and the restaurant program forward now, instead of waiting for the money to come in, is for the exact reason that one of the commenters mentioned that we don't want to wait like we did for the Last Cares Act money right then to create the program. We want it done now. We want the council to approve the programs. When the money's here, everyone's giving their input and we have a good system going. So I think those are good questions and hopefully staff will address those when those come back in January. Speaker 3: Yeah, I just want to make sure that is going to the individuals that are that are hit the most, make those individuals whole, particularly those who have been impacted by the stay at home orders and an inability to utilize their facilities. Great. Speaker 0: I think that concludes public comment and the item comment. Right, Madam Clerk. And so with that, we'll go to roll call. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Cindy, House right. Councilman Allen. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pryce. Councilman subpoena. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mango. I as a woman, Sara. I Council member Oranga. I am Simon Austin. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Well, in case.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to create a $5 million Personal Services and Fitness Resiliency Fund from the next federal COVID-19 stimulus fund package. This fund could be increased depending on demand and final federal stimulus bill.

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Speaker 0: Thank you. We have two other items that are related to economic recovery. I want to get to those. I do have an item with Ford City Auditor Laura Dow, which we'll do right after those two items. So let's let's try to get to 33 and 26 as expeditiously as possible. Item 33. Speaker 1: Item 33 is a report from economic development. Recommendation to receive and file a report on the development of an economic recovery trajectory citywide. Speaker 0: Okay. Mr. Motueka? Speaker 5: Yes. Jenkins, there has a brief report from the Economic Development Finance Committee. Speaker 0: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, and members of the city council. As as we covered last week, the Economic Development and Finance Committee met on December 1st to discuss a few of these important items related to the economic recovery and recommended this item in particular to the Council for further consideration. Just as quick background, the Council has passed a number of of historic economic relief packages related to the hardships of COVID 19. Back in March, as you'll recall, when the emergency was declared, the council directed the city manager and attorney and came back with a package of 24 individual recommendations covering worker protections, tenant protections, regulatory reforms, some of which we've talked about tonight in the transition phase, which really kicked in in August of this year. We saw the council also take some some historic action on appropriating CARES Act grant funds, millions of dollars related to economic support programs to help our businesses as they were fighting off the continued push and pull of COVID 19 and restrictions that the virus has caused to businesses. But now, as we are starting to enter a new phase of this economic crisis, we really feel that an economic recovery strategy is needed. And the Economic Development and Finance Committee covered a number of different items that they wanted to be included to to create an inclusive economic recovery . This slide, actually, which was highlighted earlier tonight, is from our economic forum where Cal State Long Beach has been unpacking our economic data to see how COVID 19 has impacted different workforce. You can see, of course, that the economic recovery has been uneven. They call it a k-shaped recovery because those on the lower income legs of the K are actually not experiencing any changes, whereas those in the higher earning areas have experienced greater recovery at a quicker rate. And so the committee was recommending to the council that we develop a comprehensive economic strategy that really is based on on economic data and conducting economic equity studies, identifying key measures, and having shovel ready projects available for for when funding becomes available. Number two is to really work with our community partners, our community based organizations, nonprofit economic development corporations to solicit input and conduct a robust community outreach program to help develop these recommendations. Additionally, the committee wants the Council to consider adding goals from the framework for racial reconciliation to promote a more racially inclusive and equitable economic recovery strategy. And number four, to identify and implement a legislative agenda, to advocate to the state and federal government, advocate for funding so that once this recovery strategy is developed, we have the funds to implement. And finally, in terms of timing, to have this back to council before April 1st, because as we see the strategies to to prevent COVID 19 vaccination and other things arrive, the hope is, is that the health orders can be lifted and people can get back to business. But in terms of the studies, I just want to finish on. We covered at the committee the research that is already underway, which will become the foundation of baseline economic, social and demographic information. There are actually five economic equity studies that are underway now funded by the City Council, this appropriation of Cares Act money, and that includes the trends, analysis and impact analysis on on high need populations and ethnographic impacts, study on individuals and how they've survived COVID 19, financially and otherwise. To refresh our small business survey and ultimately to conduct a restaurant retention study, we'll be partnering with community based organizations, providing incentives to participants. And ultimately, we will bring the results of these studies back in late January and early February as we work with the council and the community to build this economic recovery strategy. So just a couple of next steps. I covered some of the the Economic Development and Finance Committee meeting. This city council kick off the studies that are underway, of course, the community outreach legislative strategy and hopefully have a final report back to the city council in March or sometime prior to April 1st. We'll also need a plan for marketing and promotion, business and implementation, planning and of course, funding. So with that, I'll conclude my report and turn it back over to the Council. Thank you. I have a motion by Councilwoman Mango and a second by Councilmember Richardson. Councilman Mango. Speaker 2: Thank you. I had a couple questions for Mr. Keisler. At the meeting, we discussed a memo which I see came out today at 415. So I did a little bit of studying of that in between the swearing in and the first council meeting. And I had some questions on that. And then I wanted to also follow up on specifically the request I made related to the remaining funds for small businesses that would be available to launch the support of reimbursement related to outdoor extensions that small businesses made to continue to conduct business outdoors. And if you would be open to adding a component that if over the next several weeks, if there are additional. Requirements levied upon these businesses that have outdoor spaces based on becoming compliant that those too could be eligible expenses. And when the world watch. I know we were hoping that it would launch this week or able to make that happen. Speaker 0: That's certainly a council member. That was part of the discussion last Tuesday night. We heard loud and clear from the city council that we needed to take a look at what CARES ACT funding we had possibly available to put together to address the restaurants and the particularly those that that have invested a lot of money to deal with COVID related costs and outdoor business activities. So we have put together a recommendation for the city council and the city manager is has been working with us to get that ready to go this week. We believe we will have a program ready to launch by the end of this week. It will allow for grants up to $10,000, depending on the costs that these individual businesses have incurred specifically related to outdoor business activities. So that would be food services and otherwise we will have that information available in, of course, a website, a press release and written communication to council within a matter of days. And we hope that we can start accepting applications by the end of this week. Speaker 2: Thank you. And I know I specifically discussed a very simple and easy process for these businesses to make sure that those funds are put out quickly. What does that look like? Speaker 0: Yeah, that actually has been a conversation the first two days of this week between our different staff and departments about how we can make that as simple but also as accountable and provide the documentation in the event that we have a follow up audit. And so we do a we're keeping this this initial interest form simple. You also have to have an existing approved permit for outdoor dining or food services. So that already provides some really important information from those businesses that have provided that for the permitting process. And then finally, we want to keep the documentation process very simple in terms of demonstrating which costs have have occurred for eligible expenses. So we've taken that to heart and we think we've designed something that will be very, very streamlined. Speaker 2: And you mentioned outdoor dining, but any business that's pulled an outdoor permit to conduct business outdoors because of COVID would be eligible. Speaker 0: Yeah. So we have to do primary business permits for, for these outdoor activities. We have the parklets in the right of way and then we have these, these occasional event or, or apps that have been issued. So this would be either public or private property. And ultimately we're focusing primarily on food services, and that would include restaurants and bars and other businesses that have received permits for that purpose. Our goal, of course, is to target those first, because that was the direction that we received. Speaker 2: Thank you. My next question is regarding the CARES Act update memo that was released. I think my question is for Mr. Parkin. Mr. Parkin, the city council approves a budget every year before the October 1st deadline, and during that approval process, the Council approved specificity of okay, this department is receiving. This much revenue in measure a this much revenue in general fund this much these projects are specifically designated to measure A or measure C funds and so on and so forth. But when I look at the CARES Act update pages 11 and 12, I notice that some of the programs are concluding after the deadline. And so it would be my understanding that we then as a city chose to utilize Care Act funds for eligible expenses, and then we would be freeing up general fund money to then fund these programs that were originally funded with CARES Act funding into the New Year. Would that need an approval of the City Council in a similar way when we would move funding of a particular kind of revenue, funding a project that was approved by the council and then change that. Speaker 5: Councilmember I'm going to defer to John Grosso on the finance director. I think he's been looking at how they can utilize these Care Act funds in the most efficient manner in order to continue some of the projects that we know are going to be necessary beyond the end of December. Speaker 2: And then thank you for that. And Mr. GROSS, you know, I'm a big fan of yours, and I know that there are a lot of. Movement needs of money to make things available with the intention of the original plan. I just from a transparency point of view, have felt that every year when you bring forward these budget adjustments, even though they don't get a lot of scrutiny from the community because they are pretty complex, I do appreciate reading them and I think they are important for the transparency of the finances of the city. And do you believe that those are required and will that be coming forward in a future budget adjustment for a retroactive approval, or do you believe that's not necessary? Speaker 5: I believe Mr. GROSS is on the line. Mr. GROSS either. We may have missed him. We will try to get him back on the line to be able to answer that question. So in summary, the way that we have outlined our CARES Act and we have put that in the memo today and we also put it in the requirement and when we came to council in July is we have some reporting mechanisms for the federal government to be able to meet all of the CARES Act deadline. So it's a process that was reviewed with, you know, and checked on other jurisdictions and what they were doing. And it's called administrative convenience. And it basically does a reporting mechanism to the state on how we're going to be spending our funds. And then we wanted to make sure that we are delivering what we brought to the council to be to be implemented, which is the full plan that was implemented in in July. So that's essentially what we're doing. It is using the funding source. Nothing is not a net impact. It's still the exact same funding source and that is just the way for us to deliver the CARES Act program. Speaker 2: But I can tell you that. Speaker 3: So there are a. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Council member or Vice Mayor Richardson? Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And at the end of this, I'll talk a little bit about procedure, but I want to I want to thank staff for this. This presentation. I think the intent here is to really be very high level about where we are in this moment. So you have it's a great opportunity to use a fresh palette, new counsel, new presidential administration, vaccine conversations are happening. Now is a time where the stars are aligning to really focus all the work that we already have to do around one strategy to best position our city for recovery. We know that the recovery would need to be balanced and inclusive. That means, you know, we look at economics and how economics impacts everyone, but also we look at the social aspects of recovery and the health aspects of recovery, how to make sure that over the next few months, the administer the vaccine is administered in a way that that is equitable. How do we make sure that, you know, we're concerned about the public health of our art? We maintain our concern, but also really are strategic about the things that are going to be important to the recovery, like the reopening process. We've been through that process before. We know what we learn from that process. That's going to have to be factored into this, how we how we strategically figure out reopening. We also know some industries are going to going to be different. They're going to change and never be the same. So now's the time to really think strategically about how we build back in a way that's strategic and investing. And in industries, for example, we know that there's equality mandates coming down from the state in terms of, you know, meeting the sort of automotive, the electric car sort of mandates. And that's going to create demand to produce new technology and new vehicles. Where we have the history here in Long Beach, we have the ABC. The only Toyota body, Toyota manufacturer on the West Coast is in North Palm Beach. We know we have the history of Boeing. We have, you know, in our aviation sector, there's been some construction and capacity to think about manufacturing. Well, how do we factor that in? We know there's going to be a federal package, multiple federal package, as well as a broader transportation moving forward act. What are shovel ready projects that we can start putting forward right now and maximizing the impact? We know that we have more capacity now than we have before. We have both lobbies Economic Partnership, Lumbee Center for Economic Inclusion, a lot of capacity around racial equity, community groups that are doing doing this work on the ground today that are would be ready in the new year to begin to have a discussion about whether whether an inclusive recovery recovery would look like. We also know that in the new year, we beginning to implement some of the work that took place over the summer around selecting a reconciliation initiative. That should dovetail into the idea here is this is an opportunity really to send a very clear message to staff that as we go into the new year, our economic recovery is our top priority. And, you know, the region is focused on recovery, the federal government is focused on recovery. And we should have a plan that really aligns with the region's plan and aligns with our federal plan on recovery. This should be delivered to our city council and by April 1st. So we're ready to go. And we should be working in partnership with Long Beach, with Long Beach, City State, as well as our partners. I want to thank the LBA, the nonprofit partnership in Long Beach Economic Partnership for submitting letters and committing to work with the city. Also want to thank the Economic Development Commission also for stepping up and talking with us about making sure that the update to the blueprint really is coordinated with this to where, you know, our top priorities are economic and social recovery, but it informs the long term and sort of where we go as a city. The last thing is a share of economic development. I know the council committee is going to change. This will be my last motion coming out of the eye of the committee. I'd like to. Councilman, Vice Chairman, go. I want to make sure that I know you cued up and I want to make sure that I'm able to make this motion. You're okay with that? Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 3: Councilmember Richardson. Thank you. So those are those are my comments. I want you know, I want to I think, again, this is a great opportunity for us as a city to to focus on our comprehensive recovery. This is what people expect from us. And the timing is right. And I think we really can position our city for a robust recovery. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. So I have a motion by Vice Premier concerning the second by Councilman Mongo customary ringa. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mary. And I think it's very important that we support this report in regard to our recovery. And that's and that's what it's all about. We want to get people back to work. We want to get businesses open again. But we want to do it in a manner that is going to address the issues of. That I brought forward with the pandemic, and we want to do it safe. So I want to point that we see all of this report making. Speaker 0: Count Women's and Day has. Speaker 3: Actually, it's. Speaker 2: They're having trouble meeting here. And first of all, I want to give a big thanks to our economic and economic development team and to our economic development committee for bringing this forward. I think that this is this is something that is very needed. And this has been an incredibly difficult few months for city staff and for the economic development department, especially, has stepped up this whole year, not just on this item, but this whole year in a huge way to help our local and small businesses throughout this these incredible challenges. As we heard in our study session last week and has and has been reflected by our continued spike in COVID 19 infections, protecting the health and safety of our residents must continue to be a top priority. And just as low income neighborhoods and zip codes representing communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by COVID 19 are nonwhite . Business owners in the city have also been hit especially hard by this crisis. Just yesterday I had a conversation with John about the work that's been happening to connect the the black and Latino owned businesses with resources. And it's important to me that it's important to me that we continue and that we expand these efforts as additional federal aid is received and we begin to move forward towards our recovery. We can't just talk about equity. It has to be something that we devote the time and money to support. One of the primary messages I like staff to receive from this discussion is that we must continue to determine what are not white owned businesses need to survive and then do all that we can to get them the resources that they that they have. Of course, everyone needs help during this big economic crisis, but there's certain things that these communities are lacking. And so we need to really look at it in through the equity lens. The Latino community is especially important to me. And I hear and I hear and see the way that our business is and struggled disproportionately to others. What we cannot afford to see as a city is for this pandemic to permanently close all small businesses that are so important to our community while others survive that that any of the businesses are forced to close is a tragedy no matter what it is, because people have poured their hearts and not only their hearts, but their life savings into their businesses. But it will be so, so devastating for the overwhelming burden of the hardship to continue falling on our entrepreneurs of color. I know that these are sentiments that are shared by our staff, and I look forward to continuing to hear about the efforts around economic equity moving forward towards an economic recovery. And we we must we must make a plan today so that when we do get funding for this, we know exactly when and where it's going to . So with that, I thank you for all the work that you've been doing. And I think, you know that the work is is also coming. The harder work is coming. So I look forward to supporting this item. Thank you. Thank you all for working on this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. I believe that the mayor stepped away so I don't have the phone. So guess what? We're just going to have to queue up. If you have any other comments, speak up and we're going to recognize you by voice until we until the mayor gets back there. Any other comments on this item? Speaker 2: Yes. This is Councilwoman Zoro. Speaker 3: Oh, you are recognized. Speaker 2: Okay. Can I make my comment now? Speaker 3: Sure. Speaker 2: Okay. And I, too, want to thank the Economic Development Team and committee for your hard work in getting us to this point. For myself as an incoming new council member. So that so we're able to continue to put people first. Economic recovery is a very top priority for me, and it's something that I've mentioned time and time again that is important to my district, that we ensure that it's inclusive and it's just an equitable. You know, the people and the small immigrant and people of color owned business in my district have really suffered prior to the pandemic and ensuring that they're able to grow and thrive. And the pandemic has exacerbated their situation. And so for that reason, you know, many other businesses in different parts of the city were able to set up Parklets for their restaurant and, you know, use technology to shift their business and to somewhat survive it. And I know that everybody has had challenges in this pandemic, but I do want to make sure to recognize that it's been so much harder for the businesses in my district to adjust and even to survive and recover. And so I just want to make sure that staff know it's a top priority for me and that it's very important that I heard the goals and objective from the framework for racial reconciliation that's going to be incorporated. So I just wanted to share that and thank you so much again and then I. Speaker 3: Certainly thank you. And is there any are there any further council comments? Okay. Hearing. Let's go to public comments and make public public comment on the item. Speaker 5: Yes. Our first speaker is Tiffany, D.V.. Speaker 3: Thank you. Recognize? Speaker 4: Good evening. 15 David address on file. I just want to thank. Speaker 3: The development services and all other departments that have been involved. Speaker 4: In this work. Speaker 3: Leading up and ahead as we tackle. Well, it's. Speaker 4: Definitely one. Speaker 3: Of the largest challenges I think we've all collectively faced. Speaker 4: That being said, I wanted to. Speaker 3: Share this quote from John Hanmer. Economic recovery from disaster is about the resilience of local economies, but it is. Speaker 4: Also about the. Speaker 3: Scale in space and time, the magnitude and distribution of the losses and benefits flowing from the disaster. The impacts on assets and on flows of goods and services, adoption of new technologies, marketing of recovery and ships and local power is the aim of economic recovery simply to restore the pre-disaster state? Or should disasters be embraced as opportunities. Speaker 4: To make local. Speaker 3: Economies more resilient? There are many that are facing a myriad of different challenges, whether that's economic, social, mental. This will take some time. Speaker 4: I believe. And prior comments, I. Speaker 3: Did suggest possibly. Speaker 4: Looking at the creation. Speaker 3: Of appointing a local disaster recovery manager, someone to liaise on with state, federal and other regional. Basically actors that we would need to tackle this behemoth together with. There is. Speaker 4: I know there has been also quite a bit of. Speaker 3: Discussion in terms of what do we expect the federal government to deliver? How quickly is it going to get to the people? How can we. Speaker 4: Make sure. Speaker 3: That everyone. Speaker 4: Who has need. Speaker 3: At this time is met and addressed? Speaker 4: I think eventually you're hearing our. Speaker 3: Grocery store workers and the. Really the despair. I mean, one of the callers is in complete tears. Speaker 4: Every day that we are living through this together. Speaker 3: Is one in which we're still not able to completely assess the community needs and concerns. Speaker 4: And so I thank you because this will take. Speaker 3: Exceptional leadership. This will take. Equity. This will take. Speaker 4: Thinking about things in. Speaker 3: Ways we have not done before. Speaker 4: Because we cannot go back. Businesses may open, but those who have been. Speaker 3: Harmed and felt the harm throughout this time. They're going to need more. And I look forward to the continued leadership and those taking those difficult stances to speak up for those that don't get a chance to call their. And those we. Speaker 4: Know that are hurting. Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Dave Shukla. Speaker 3: Was. Hello. The issue, quote unquote, I like to think, starts with a presentation. And for much of the work over this past month on trying to figure out how to chart our economic recovery. And I on the data work for some of these economic studies. A couple of points. These studies should, of course, include an equity lens. This be a concerted effort at data collection for indicators coming out of the framework for reconciliation process, along with some of the recommendations that the community is making on them. We also need to identify strategic opportunities for attracting new industry, specifically manufacturing jobs, high quality jobs and career ladder ladder that'll help move families in place. The economic recovery strategy has to also confront the reality of the carbon intensity of many of our. Highest performing industry sectors. Intel. Aviation. Shipping. Tourism. The rental market. And also, how structurally reliant are municipal budgets on heavily polluting industries? A new economic recovery strategy or update to the economic blueprint coming out of this COVID 19 pandemic would be complete without recognizing already existing, effective public health interventions. For until we have widespread distribution adoption of the vaccine probably through the end of 2020. One of the existing things that we've known have worked in other countries as well as in the state of California, for limiting the kind of chain of transmission of this virus or things that wouldn't have continued to do. And hopefully the strategy will incorporate some of the key kind of aspects of the two quick requests. Specific to priority number five of the report dated on the third day, the initial report to be presented early next month along with the final report presented in April. I should include I would like to request that they include the possibility of creating a community choice aggregation program, specifically to Joint Powers Authority led by the city for the Greater Long Beach area as. The Southern California Association of Government recently voted in May. This is a priority for governments in the region to explore for equipment. And then the second request would be that only fines for clean energy be included in the process for developing some of these relevant economic indicators and also help in the drafting of the economic blueprint, specifically from science based, equity focused climate stabilization. Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Karen Jimenez. Karen Jimenez. Speaker 4: Hi. Yes, hi. Good evening, Mayor and city council members. My name is Karen Jimenez, and I'm the director of small business support for Ronnie's house. For the past few months, we've been supporting our barbershops and her salons for the COVID 19 shutdowns. And what we've seen is just really heartbreaking. I support a recovery package for all businesses and as the city council and staff to work together to ensure our beauty industry. Which is the heart of many of our communities. We. We urge you to. To create a recovery package so that they don't shut down. In addition, many of our barbershops and hair salons on a month to month lease, which means that when they when the protections are lifted, they will be easily evicted. Moreover, many undocumented owners are four and five months behind, and they're facing harassment. And during this uncertain time, because they are not able to tap into any funding, including they weren't able to fund into any funding, including the latest small business grant. I originally asked the City Council and the Mayor to ensure that a recovery package is created for the beauty industry. And then you take into consideration the undocumented community. When creating this package. Thank you for your time and consideration. Speaker 5: Think your next speaker is Manny Navarro. Annie Navarro. Speaker 3: Yes. How are you? Good evening. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. How are you today? My name is Manuel Navarro. I am the owner of Manny's Barber Shop in the ninth district. I've been a business owner for about 15 years in Long Beach. I am in support of the economic recovery package and I appreciate City Council for taking steps towards the recovery. Towards recovery. However, I ask that you packages created for our industry to help us navigate through Covi 19. It's been a very, very tough year for us barbers and the industry. I ensure we keep our businesses open. Hopefully, you know, we want to continue giving the best service outside community. We have been closed for about seven, seven months this year. I just want you to imagine the position we are in, you know, trying to pay the rent or mortgage and keep our families afloat. It's been very, very tough. You know, without generating any type of revenue. Many of our shops are behind on rent and some have closed. It's very sad to see that, you know, we can do better. The city, I believe I think we're we can do better and just for our beauty and barber industry and our city council and do this just that, you know, do more and do better so that to do better. And so, you know, our business can make it through this very, very difficult time. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Have a blessed night. God bless. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Sharon Sinegal. Speaker 4: Good evening. City Council Mayor Robert Garcia. Vice Mayor Rex Richardson. Congratulations to council members Sally Sara and Cindy Allen. My name is Sharon Cynical, and I'm the executive director of Rodney's house and the co-founder of the Long Beach Beauty and Barber Association. We cannot possibly talk about racial reconciliation without addressing the needs of our beauty and barber industry that employs many of our minority communities as well as women. We are here on behalf of the members to request a recovery package of $5 million to the industry, including our documented businesses, legal support for our shops that are facing eviction and harassment, and funding for small nonprofits that are currently on the ground supporting the beauty industry and other small businesses. We have been asking support from the city to support our small businesses as a nonprofit for many months. But the funding has been moved to larger organizations for business support who are usually not on the ground with our small businesses, but rather at the table with the city. And that concerns me. As for the CARES Act, funding the application process was very disappointing. Many of our small businesses did not know about the available funding and we were with our small businesses up until the last minute on December 11th, making sure they get their applications in. I urge City Council to support our beauty industry that is the heart and soul of our communities. And that has been a part of the civil rights movement and the disbursement of education on health, finance and politics. Thank you so much for your consideration and for your work towards racial reconciliation. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 3: Thank you. Let's go ahead and have our roll call vote. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun. Speaker 2: Has. Speaker 1: I'm Councilwoman Ellen. I am Councilwoman Price. I am councilman owner. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mango. Councilwoman Sarah. I as a member of Ranga. I can in Austin. Speaker 3: Hi. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Motion. Kay. Speaker 0: Before I go to the next item, which is going to be for us item 34, and we'll jump back. Mr. City Attorney General, make an announcement about closed session also. Speaker 5: Yes. Thank you, Mayor. This evening, in closed session by a vote of 9 to 0, the city council authorized the city attorney to join in amicus participation in the case of RV versus motion. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Let's take item 34. Item 34.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a report on the development of an Economic Recovery Strategy and provide input and policy direction to staff on economic recovery priorities to address the economic impacts of COVID-19, with an emphasis on equity, to promote the recovery of businesses and jobs across all sectors of the Long Beach economy following the COVID-19 emergency. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Let's take item 34. Item 34. Speaker 1: Item 34 is a communications from city or a recommendation to receive and file the quarterly report of cash and investment for the quarter ending March 31st, 2020. Speaker 0: Thank you. I'll turn this over to City Auditor Dowd. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Can you hear me okay? Speaker 3: Yes. Speaker 4: Okay, great. Thank you, Mayor. The Council. And welcome to the new city council members Allen and Sarno. I wanted to also thank Councilmember Austin for pulling this item last week. I think most of you have seen that our office submits this audit on the council agenda on a quarterly basis as a requirement of the city charter. And Councilman Austin had some questions last week. And so I appreciate him asking me to come back this week to give a little presentation on what this item is that you see each quarter and that the new council members will see on the council agenda every quarter. And it's an often it's an unimportant audit that our office does and oversees on a quarterly basis. And if the if I could have the next slide, please. So our office oversees the performance audit of the cash and investment balances of the city of Long Beach. And as of May 31st, this particular quarter, the city's cash and investments portfolio totaled approximately $2.1 billion. And we perform these audits. They're all conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Next slide. And as I mentioned, the city charter requires the office of the City Auditor to verify the cash and investment balances every quarter in the city Treasurer's office and provide a written report to the City Council. Next slide. The purpose of the audit is the audit and cash investment balances of the city of Long Beach include verifying cash and investments with the outside depositories and evaluating the City Treasurer's compliance with the California Government Code and the city investment policy, which is adopted by the City Council. Next slide. There are pooled cash and investments and the city's pooled cash. It's a grouping of the city's available cash for investments. And this larger amount of money involved allows the city to earn a higher rate of return than if each fund were by itself. These pooled funds are not needed for operations and are invested by the Treasury Bureau. Thus, the interest income earned from the pooled cash investments is apportioned to the funds based on the ratio of daily cash balances to the total of pooled cash and investments. Next slide. The audit objectives are to reconcile cash and investments to the amount and description recorded on the city's books with the outside depositories, and to evaluate the city's compliance with the provisions in the California Government Code and the city's investment policy. Next slide. An example. Speaker 2: Of. Speaker 4: I should back it up for a second. The scope of this particular audit, just like to clarify, was for the quarter ended March 31st, 2020, and a sample of the following procedures that are performed are to obtain an understanding of the internal controls surrounding the city's cash and investment process to obtain confirmation of cash held by banks and investments held by the city planners, city treasurer's safekeeping agent and other custodians as of March 31st, 2020, and reconcile them to the city's books. Additionally, to compare the investments listed on the City Treasurer's Investment Activity Report and at March 31st to the types of investments authorized for the city in accordance with the city's investment policy and the relevant precisions provisions of the California Government Code. Next slide. And then there's always a section in the report that talks about the results and conclusions and gives an opinion that, based on the results of the audit procedures performed and adjustments made, cash and investment balances recorded on the city's books materially agree to the amount and description with the outside depositories, and that the city was found to be in compliance with all other relevant provisions of the California Government Code and the city's investment policy. And that completes my report. Speaker 0: Thank you. There's a motion to receive and filed from Councilman Austin, the second by Councilwoman Mango. Councilman Austin, any comment? Speaker 3: I just want to just thank our city auditor for for giving the report. I think it's her office plays a very important function, a vital role in terms of checks and balances in our local city government. And I just wanted to pull the item in and point that out. It's a very good report. Thank you very much for all the work that you're doing in your office does. Speaker 4: Thank you. Speaker 3: Is now. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 0: And there's a second by councilman mongo. Any comments, councilwoman? Speaker 2: No. I just appreciate our city auditor and the excellent work that she does. And I think it was great that we had an opportunity for a presentation at this directory meeting of our new council members. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. With that rock over. Speaker 1: Councilwoman sandy has. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Ellen I. Councilwoman Price. Councilman Sabina. Hi, councilwoman mongo. Councilwoman Mango. Councilwoman Sarah. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Council member Oranga Azam and Austin. Speaker 2: Order. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Motion. Cade. Speaker 2: Councilman. Mongo, I thank you.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file the Quarterly Report of Cash and Investments for the quarter ending March 31, 2020.

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Speaker 2: Councilman. Mongo, I thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Item 26, please. 26. Speaker 1: Item 26 Report from Public Works. Recommendation to extend the Open Streets Initiative program, including outdoor dining through Parklet and Outdoor Activity Permit authorized city traffic engineer to review and address identified neighborhood street boundaries and closure hours as necessary and adopt a resolution authorizing the temporary closure of Pine Avenue from first to Fifth Street City Way. Speaker 0: Okay. I have a motion in a second or any public comment on this item. Speaker 5: Yes, we have. Alex Sharon. Speaker 3: I thank you, Mayor, and members of the City Council and thank you to staff for bringing this item forward. Speaking tonight on behalf of the Long Beach Restaurant Association, we want to signal our strong support for the item in particular. Thank you to John Keisler and his team for engaging the borough in developing this and other measures. The Bureau looks forward to working with the city in deploying us and making sure that it's a success citywide and agree with the discussion on one of the last items about making sure that as we go forth in these recovery efforts attached to or related to COVID impacts and we make sure we're doing it holistically, the borough has been tasked and has test me with making sure that we grow the membership so that it represents the entire city of Long Beach. And so if there are restaurants in the council members neighborhoods that they would like us to engage with, we stand ready and will do outreach as necessary and look forward to supporting this item and making sure that all restaurants in Long Beach can take advantage of it. Thank you very much. Speaker 0: Thank you. With that, I have a motion to second count your anger. Any comment? Speaker 3: I think we need to continue. Thank you. Speaker 0: Okay. Councilman Austin. Speaker 3: Okay. I stand in support. I'd love to see this continued and possibly after we we are we are back and healthy as a society, as a city, post-COVID. I'd like to see these. These street closures and open streets concepts expanded to other areas of the city. And when we talk about economic equity, this is one of those areas that we need to be looking at as well. So but it does have my support. I'm happy to support. Thank you. Speaker 0: Okay. We have councilman's in Dallas and then we'll go to a vote. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I am so glad that we are taking this step and our Open Streets initiative. I think it has been a great help for a lot of our restaurants in our city. I get so happy to see that so many people have been able to take advantage of this. This is something I've been passionate about for four years, and someone as someone who represents a part of Long Beach where residents have much less access to open and public space. I'm so glad that we have looked at this part of as a solution this year for this pandemic. I know that personally. It's been so nice for me to have space on time just a few blocks away from my home, to be able to be outdoors safely and physically, at least at the time that that was permitted. So I'm hoping that after this this time, we are able to go back to that. The Open Streets Initiative has given our downtown neighbors the space for art and amazing ways to activate our community and draw foot traffic to our north playing businesses. I hope that we'll continue to pursue these kinds of pedestrian friendly projects as a city, and I'm excited to see this one remain in place while we are under this health order. So thank you to two public works and thank you for everyone. Also the city staff that worked on this and continues to work every day on this. So thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Let's go to roll call. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sandy has i. Councilwoman Allen, i. Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman. I. I. Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 3: All. Speaker 1: Councilwoman. Mango. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilmember Oranga. Hi, Councilman Austin. Speaker 3: Hi. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. High motion carries.

Resolution

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to extend the Open Streets Initiative program including outdoor dining through parklet and outdoor activity permits, in compliance with applicable Safer at Home Health Order for Control of COVID-19 (Health Order); and, extend the intermittent closure of certain non-arterial, neighborhood streets as identified, to through vehicular traffic, beginning January 1, 2021 and assess and extend quarterly as need and funding allows, through any point of the Health Order; Authorize City Traffic Engineer to review and adjust identified neighborhood street boundaries and closure hours, as necessary, for the purpose of increasing outdoor activities, and strengthening economic recovery, while maintaining appropriate physical distancing and adherence to the current Health Order, beginning January 1, 2021 and assess and extend quarterly as need and funding allows, through any point of the Health Order; and Adopt resolution authorizing the temporary closure of Pine Avenue from First to Fifth Street, to through vehicular traffic for increase

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Speaker 0: Great. We're going to be 27, 28 and 29 together. They're all historic landmarks. Madam Clerk, please read all three items. Speaker 1: Item 27 Communication from City Attorney Recommendations to Declare Ordinance Designating the property located at 262 Newport Avenue as a historic landmark. Rather than adopted as read District three Item 28 Recommendation to declare an ordinance designating the property located at 244 Miramar Avenue as a historic landmark Red and adopted as Red District three and Item 29 recommendation to declare ordinance designating the property located at 40 040 Avenue as a historic landmark red and adopted as Red District eight. Speaker 0: Okay, I have no public comment. I have a motion and a second Councilwoman Price and any comments. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 0: Customers and their house. Any comments? Speaker 2: Oh. Speaker 0: Okay. Speaker 3: Cover it, please. Speaker 1: Because Councilwoman Cindy has I. Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Price. Councilman. Councilman Sabrina. Hi, Councilwoman. Mango. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sarah. I Council member Oranga. I also met Austin Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Bush and Kerry. Speaker 0: Okay. These are, I think, just wrapping up ordnances we have with do item 30 and 32. Item 30, please.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 16.52.2370 relating to the designation of the property located at 4204 Cedar Avenue as a historic landmark, read and adopted as read. (District 8)

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LongBeachCC_12152020_20-1202

Speaker 0: Okay. These are, I think, just wrapping up ordnances we have with do item 30 and 32. Item 30, please. Speaker 1: I am 30. Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance relating to tenant harassment, declaring the urgency thereof and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately. Read and adopt as read citywide. Item 32 Communication from Councilwoman Mango Former Councilmember Pierce. Speaker 0: Oh, no, I'm sorry. I didn't. I didn't mean to take them together. They're very separate issue. So I'm item 30 we'll do first is really we I think we have one public comment on 30, correct? Speaker 3: Yes. Tiffany Davey. Speaker 4: Good evening. I'm just looking forward to the publication of this information. Speaker 3: In. Speaker 4: All languages. Speaker 3: To be accessed by residents. Speaker 4: And clear guidelines for. Speaker 3: Residents and landlords. Speaker 4: Alike. And I'm really. Speaker 3: Looking forward to what type of enforcement measures perhaps we can discuss in the recovery process that we are beginning to tackle, specifically addressing equity. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you. I have a motion and a second by Councilmember your rangan, councilwoman mongo. Unless somebody wants to comment, let's go and go to a vote. Please welcome. Speaker 1: Councilwoman is I Councilwoman Ellen? Hi, Councilwoman Price. I am Councilman Sabrina. Speaker 3: I am. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mongeau. Speaker 2: I am. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara. I'm Councilmember Ranga. I had some in Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Section 8.101.030, relating to tenant harassment; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

LongBeachCC