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Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sara. I'm Councilmember Ranga. I had some in Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Bush and Kerry. Speaker 0: Item 32. Speaker 1: Item 32 Communication from Councilwoman Mongeau Former Councilmember Pearce Councilwoman Price Recommendation to Declare Ordinance Amending and restating Chapter 5.77 relating to short term rental and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately and adopt it as Read City one day. Speaker 0: There is no public comment. I have a motion by Councilman Manga. Can I get a second please? Speaker 2: Mr. Mayor. Price Second, I apologize. My queue is not working. Speaker 0: Okay, sure. Councilman Price is the second roll call vote. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sandy has. Speaker 2: Made. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Allen. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Sabina. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Ciro. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Council Member Rangel. Speaker 3: May. Speaker 1: Councilman Alston. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson, I motion kay. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. Next up, we're going to do item 23.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending and restating Chapter 5.77, related to short-term rentals; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. Next up, we're going to do item 23. Speaker 1: Item 23 Communication from Council Vice Mayor Richardson. Recommendation two referred to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Housing and Neighborhood Committee for considerations of the renaming of South Street Parkway. The Kreisberg Parkway. Speaker 0: Rosemary Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you. Tonight, we're recognizing one of our communities, our uptown community's icons. Dan Press. Burt Dan's lived in the Forest Park neighborhood for more than 35 years, where he's worked to support our neighborhood beautification, enhanced civic engagement. And then he certainly fostered a lot of community in the neighborhood. He has a number of accomplishments, including a one day Christmas store. This this is a grant program that happens every year. It provides gifts to over 30,000 Long Beach residents in need. The back, back to the Future North Long Beach History Project is another. He's been a member of a number of organizations in the north, in North Beach, past and present. The North North Project Area Committee for Redevelopment. He was an original member of the Veterans Day parade. One of his greatest, proudest accomplishments is having partnered with former council member Jerry Schulz to really take this patch of land that we see here that really was, you know, just that underutilized patch and work together with the community to beautify it. And he he helps to maintain it even today, the South Street Parkway. So as you can see, it was a random vacant lot, but he's really turned it into a beautiful space in the community. You know, I was fortunate to officiate he and Holly's renewal of their vows. And we had a we had a great celebration right there in that space. It's really an example of placemaking. And it's and it's the city's first ever pocket pocket park. So I wanted to personally say thank you, recognize Dan for his contributions. And certainly it's my my distinct honor to make this motion tonight to name rename the South Street Parkway into the Pressburger Parkway in honor in honor of them and and the press Berg's contribution to South Street, to the to Forest Park community and to the community. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. There's a second by Councilman Ringo. Is there any I don't think there's any public comment on this item. Speaker 1: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: Okay. Thanks for your comments. Speaker 3: Yeah, I just want a few words on behalf of the motion. Dan Pressburger has been an icon in Long Beach and has as part of the history. He also worked for you as a chief of staff for a council member. Oh, jeez, I had a brain fart right now. Your predecessor, Richard Burton, lurches. Staff member. Exactly. So, I mean, he has a long history with Long Beach and he put a lot of work and it's well-deserved. I totally support this. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilman Mongo. Speaker 2: Thank you. I too want to recognize Mr. For has always been just a friendly face in the eighth district and you see him throughout the city contributing and I'm a. Very excited to support this. Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Walk over, please. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 2: High. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Helen by Councilwoman Price. I councilman's subpoena. Speaker 3: Right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mango. Councilwoman Mango. Councilwoman Ciro. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Franco. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. All right. Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to consider renaming the South Street Parkway as the "Pressburg Parkway”, and forward this item to the City Council for approval.

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Item 25. Speaker 3: Please. Speaker 1: Item 25 Report from Parks, Recreation and Marine and Public Works. Recommendations to accept and expend grant funds from the State of California in an amount not to exceed one point million. The Davenport Park Expansion Project. District eight. Speaker 0: Councilmember Austin. Speaker 3: Thank you. Is there staff report? Speaker 5: Yes. We have a brief staff report by Eric Lopez and Brant Dennis. Speaker 3: Yeah. Thank you. Mr. City Manager, Honorable Mayor and members of City Council. I've asked our Parks Planning and Partnership Bureau Manager Meredith Reynolds to provide a brief presentation to support the project. Thank you to. Speaker 2: Greeting members of mayors. The City Council wanted to provide a brief overview of the Davenport Park expansion. And next slide, please. This has been a long time coming. The history on the Davenport Park expansion began long before many of us were around when the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency acquired the six acre land, which is a former landfill in 2006. Since that point in time, the redevelopment agency has been dissolved, and so the property sat without the final design or any construction happening on it until 2014, where a community survey effort was begun. So since that survey provided some initial feedback in 2015, the concept plan was developed in partnership with the Community and Council District eight that took the survey information and started to create those concepts. From there in 2016. The concept plan was completed and the Department of Parks Recreation, Marine submitted a grant application that eventually led to what is being proposed in front of you today. During that time, we were working with the grant agency. Some initial work began and was completed to cap and close the landfill and to construct the walking path that is installed there today. The initial study and sequel was completed in 2019 and Site Plan, Review and Planning Commission approval was secured in January of 2020. Next slide, please. This additional acres of land just under six acres, together with the existing Davenport Park, will total approximately 12 acres. The amenities proposed include a multisport turf playing field and bleacher seating, outdoor fitness equipment that will be placed along a perimeter exercise walking loop shaded picnic area, drought tolerant landscaping and entry plaza on Paramount Boulevard . Additional parking along 55th way and many site furnishings throughout, including trash receptacles, benches, pedestrian lighting and bike racks. Probably most importantly, to make sure that the park feels like a holistic park is a connection to the existing developed part of Davenport, which will help us provide those pedestrian connections and make the park that total 12 acres feel very usable for the community. Next slide, please. This is the initial site layout that we have been working with the designer on. So you can see here the predominant amenity is that multisport turf field. And so this will have the opportunity to play a myriad of field sports. And the parking along 55th way along the Northern Access Point shows where people will access the park. And then you see the meandering walking loop surrounding the sports field. So you start to begin to see in this rendering how the new acreage will connect to the existing park and how the park begins to have a holistic feel from the user perspective. Next slide, please. So the project budget available for the project is just over 5.7 million. And tonight the item in front of you is to accept and appropriate the grant received from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. And there's additional measure, a funding that is set aside for this project along with 1.4 million and park impact fees. And the anticipated project timeline is here on the right section of your slide. And we're still in the design phase, which is anticipated to continue through July of 2021. Subsequent to that, a bid for the construction of the project is anticipated in November 2021, with the award in January of 2022. The construction is to follow, which is anticipated to happen between April and December of 2022. During that time, that section of the park will be fenced and under construction. And with that, that concludes my staff report. Myself, our director Brant Dennis and Public Works Director Erik Lopez are available for any questions. Thanks so much. Speaker 3: You are, Mr. Reynolds, for the Great Staff Report. I can tell you that as a councilor for a district, somebody who has been working very hard with your department and staff to get this project moving, it has. This is this is welcome news, particularly this grant from the Water Conservation Fund. We'll actually put this project over the top. And I really think it's important to to point out what it takes to develop a park. Right. You went through a timeline there. That is, I think, very, very illustrative, where it shows that it takes several years and several different types of funding just to get a active recreation field or park developed. And so it's no small undertaking to do that. And so I do want to appreciate all of the dedication from our city staff that has gone into making this vision a reality, taking the former dump site, transforming it into a park that will be enjoyed for it for generations to come, for by, by youth and families, not Long Beach community. And so this is this is a project that I'm very, very proud of. I'm happy to make a motion to accept this this item and recommendation and ask my colleagues to fully support this as well. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. Next up is comes from India. Speaker 2: I just wanted to second the motion and say that I absolutely support this. Congratulations, Councilmember Austin. I think that this is going to be great in your district. I'm very passionate about any time that we have an opportunity to increase green space and opportunities for families to enjoy, the outdoors is something that I'm always going to be supportive of, so I'm happy to support. And second, in your motion. Speaker 0: Thank you. Come to my very Ringo. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. And I, too, want to extend my congratulations to cast member Austin. Projects like these. We'll take a peek a lot of time. As if not for the tenacity and the perseverance of the council officer in this case, Councilmember Austin. To keep this project moving along and looking for the money to make it happen is is a quite an accomplishment. I want to congratulate you on that. And I also support any kind of any kind of just an opportunity for open space. We're going to go for it. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilman Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you. I want to also chime in. This is a great project. You know, it was a beautiful park before the second phase, but it's going to be completely transform space. So congratulations to Councilman Austin. This is I mean, this this is an area that has no parks actually no parks on that on that small area. It's very close to my home. It's used to be in the ninth district. And it's a see, this level of investment here is is incredible and it's certainly welcome and needed. So congratulations on this transformative, transformational project. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Speaker 2: Thank you. I want to congratulate Councilmember Austin. This is a fantastic project that has been years in the making. I cannot say enough how excited I am for this exciting project. Great work, great community input, and most especially great on bringing in outside funding. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Sara. Speaker 2: Yes. I too want to thank Council member Austin for being such a strong advocate to ensure that there is expanded, open and green space in in North Arm region for the city overall. And so I want to congratulate you and and just appreciate that that that you continued to ensure that we do do have opportunities to create parks. And it's a lot of work. So thank you very much. Speaker 0: Thank you. Before we vote, I just want to add, for as long as I've known Councilman Austin, we've been talking about this park and he has pushed and pushed and pushed staff and pushed me and has really been the champion on ensuring that this park gets finished. And, you know, if you haven't been out there and I have a few times, you just look at it and this the potential is just right there. It's an incredible space. It's just right next to the neighborhoods that really need access to open space. And I just want to also thank the staff for their creativity and making sure that this park never fell off the radar and that you guys kept pushing and pushing until we got it completed. And so thank you again to Councilman Austin for your leadership on this. I'm very excited for the opening of this park. I think I think, Councilman, you and I have done, I think, some similar openings when some of the trails were open and some of the other kind of smaller elements of the park, that this will be something really special when it's done. And so congrats again. And with that, we will go to a vote. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Zendejas. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Ellen. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilman, supra. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Mango. I am a woman. Sara. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: Councilmember Waronker. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. That concludes the item on the agenda. Would you have any closing remarks? I do have one from comes from Ringo.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to accept and expend grant funds from the State of California Department of Parks and Recreation Land and Water Conservation Fund, in an amount not to exceed $2,016,000, for the Davenport Park Expansion Project; Increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group in the Public Works Department by $1,975,680, offset by grant revenue; Increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group in the Public Works Department by $1,975,680, offset by a transfer of Land and Water Conservation Grant Funds from the State of California Department of Parks and Recreation from the Capital Grants Fund; and Increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group in the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department by $40,320, offset by grant revenue. (District 8)

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Speaker 1: Thank you. We have item 11 that was pulled by Councilmember Supernova. And then I'm going to have some comments as well. Councilman Juvenile. Thank you, Mayor. I just have one question regarding one sentence in the discussion section of this item, so city staff could try to respond to this. My question is how the right to counsel, how the right to counsel program will result in more landlords accessing mortgage assistance, as stated in the Agenda Housing Memo. Speaker 5: The purpose of the program is. Speaker 1: To provide our right to counsel. But in any litigation, part of that litigation is attempting to settle that dispute outside of court. Part of what the legal counsel would provide is a potential solution with the tenant, as well as making sure the landlord is aware of all the resources that are available. That's something that we do here at the city, but the county in their program would be able to provide greater and better information as part of those dispute resolution measures that are always a precursor to the litigation hearing. Okay. Thank you. Christopher. Thank you. I'm going to make just some comments and then we're going to I think I have Councilmember Mungo cued up. So then we'll go to her and then go go to a vote. I just want to just be clear that this program was a. I was happy to include it in the budget proposal. The council also unanimously adopted the budget proposal and has already passed this item that is now in front of us. The staff has worked on how to bring forward and also just to me and I appreciate all the comments that folks said, the different opinions. But let's be clear what this program is. It's a right to counsel for tenants. It's an opportunity for for folks that need access to legal services to have those. These are people that are lower income that need assistance and free legal services. Is is a bedrock of of of of good justice programs within a community, myself included. I can I can recall moments when my own family has had to access free legal services because of not having the same resources to attorneys and to other programs. And so I think there was a comment about it's only going to help a certain amount of families. Every single family that will be helped by this program needs that help and support. And so I'm proud to support this program. I'm not sure. I'm obviously this is surprise to me that it's come up so this way. But I look forward to the program passing tonight and being implemented as well. And then with that, I'm going to turn this over to Councilman Mongo. Councilman Bongo. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm going to start my comments with letting everyone know that I do plan to vote yes on the item. But I think that there are some things that need to be outlined and discussed. So, first of all, my mom is someone who retired from providing free legal aid at the self-help center. I know and understand the components of how a lot of this works together. I've been present at and thankful for the many free workshops, limited legal services, full legal services that are available at these centers. They are critical to the community and I get all of that. What's difficult for me is that multiple times during our time on the council, we come up with an idea and we approve funding for it. And then luckily it's a great idea and other agencies are entities approved funding for it as well. Not just this item. I can speak to others. And then. We are not fully leveraging the regional resource before using the Long Beach funds. So I'll give you an example. When we did rental assistance up to $3,000, we had the ability to tap the L.A. CDA funding and see the funding put forward $100 million. They still haven't been able to spend all of that money by the end of December. They have 22 days, 23 days to finish spending that money to provide rental assistance throughout the region. As a part of that, we approved rental assistance and people were applying through us. And what we want to do is we want to make sure to leverage as much of that $100 million. And then the county of Los Angeles put forward $2 million of rental assistance. So then we want our residents to be eligible for that $2 million. And then anyone who didn't get part of the 100 million or the 2 million, then we want to use Long Beach funds to find the people who fell through the cracks. That is the most effective way to use resources. So when I called the County of Los Angeles Executive Office of Department of Business and Consumer Affairs today, I drew down a report from their website that showed that at the Long Beach Legal Center, they'd served 1800 people at the last report. And I said to him, Does it differentiate from a person or are they turned away if they're a Long Beach resident because we have our own program, are they counted differently? Are we going to then, bill all these people to our $250,000 first before the $8 million of Measure H funds and general funds that were set aside specifically for outreach on this specific thing through 17 agencies across the region. The workshops, the limited legal services. And in September, the Board of Supervisors approved another pot of money for the full blown legal services that this $250,000 is also going to provide. And so for me, what I want to make sure is that Mr. Koonce, is it Chris Coons, who's the staff on this, works with L.A. County to make these funds available once the other funds have been utilized. We don't want Measure H funds to be available for use for a Long Beach resident. And then instead of using that, this person's legal services gets pinged against our $250,000 and then our 250,000 dries up. The county money dries up and it's not available anymore. We should use the money in the most restrictive way, in the least restrictive way first. So the least restrictive resource is county wide funds, general fund and Measure H. Once they've expended their funds, we should release our funds to make sure that we can continue to provide those services to Long Beach residents. So I just think it's really important that from a strategy perspective of where money is coming from, going to and being utilized for. That the most money is being leveraged. So it did take some time to get a hold of the director. I only started trying to get hold of them today when someone had told me about the $8 million. And so I just think that it's really critical. And I know I only got to tell Linda today that staff go forward with this, not pigeonholing me presidents to only be able to access the $250,000, but to access the $250,000 once the other money dries up. Remember that some of these programs didn't even get into effect until March on the limited legal services and September on the full blown legal services. So I think that it's critical that those kinds of things are included. And I hope that there's no I mean, I'm open to hearing from my colleagues if they think that our money should be used first, but that actually limits how much money is accessible to let me president. So I hope that that these ideas are taken with the heart that is behind it. As I said, I'll be supporting item. Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilwoman. There's a motion to approve by Councilmember Richardson and seconded by Councilmember Pearce. There are a couple other councilmembers on the list, but I don't know if they were cued up to speak or if they were cued up to make a motion. So customary ringer where you queued up to make a motion or to speak. But you'd have to make the motion. But I supported Councilwoman Pryce where you could actually make a motion or to speak. Speaker 2: It was earlier to make a motion. Speaker 1: There's a motion and a second. I see no other public comment. So the motion is as presented. Roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. District two. I District three. Speaker 2: District three. I. Did you hear me? Yes. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: District five. I District six. Speaker 1: II. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: Thank you. Now we have the next consent calendar item, please. And I think that that was pulled by Councilman Austin. I think the councilmember wanted a report from staff. Is that right? Councilmember. Correct. I just thought that this was a notable item.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with the County of Los Angeles Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, to provide Right-to-Counsel services for people facing eviction, in an amount of $250,000, for a period of one year, commencing upon the execution date, with the option to renew annually for up to three years, at the discretion of the City Manager. (Citywide)

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Speaker 1: Thank you. Now we have the next consent calendar item, please. And I think that that was pulled by Councilman Austin. I think the councilmember wanted a report from staff. Is that right? Councilmember. Correct. I just thought that this was a notable item. There are actually a few items on the consent calendar that I would love to have the opportunity to have a full council discussion on, but I would love to have a staff report on number 18 that is dealing with actually improving our homeless services outreach to veterans. Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of cool if you can give the staff report. Speaker 6: Good evening, Honorable Mayor and Council Members. Thank you for the opportunity to share the Homeless Veterans Initiative, our Veterans Outreach Program. The Homeless Veteran Initiative has been funded through an investment by Los Angeles County for over ten years. This year's funding is for $225,000 for one year of service at its highest Long Beach, HUD over 1110 veterans experiencing homelessness during the 2013 point in time count. And over the past seven years, this is where we've been reduced by 84% by 935. And our most recent 2020 point in time count, we had 175 veterans experiencing homelessness. This program funds is actually two full time employees, but three staff members because they split a little bit focused on veteran homelessness. Their role is to conduct outreach to veterans, to provide case management services, link them to support services in their families, and connect them to permanent housing. In the past year, we were able to house 329 veterans with this award of this program and other multi-service center services. The success in partnership is with due to the Long Beach as the success is in is really related to partnership with the Long Beach VA and with our nonprofit service providers, including the 1736 Family Crisis Center, Mental Health America of Los Angeles and US vets. We are at a point where all veterans experiencing homelessness can be offered interim housing solutions and be ranked with permanent, supportive or sorry, permanent housing solutions. So I'd like to thank Supervisor Hines office for its ongoing support of this for this program. It's very important, and we've had a lot of success with that in the city of Long Beach. With that, I'm open for questions. Speaker 1: Councilman Roston, thank you so much for that report. And I've said on many occasions, I think the success of our homeless outreach are helping to mitigate or minimize homelessness is our ability to outreach. And so expanding capacity in that regard is great and I'm happy to move to support this item or approve. Thank you. Thank you. I have a second, but Councilman Pierce comes from the Germany comments also. Speaker 2: No comments. Fully support. Thank you. Speaker 1: Okay. And we'll do a roll call. Speaker 0: District one. I restrict to. I District three. High District four. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: District five. By District six. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: District seven. District eight. High District nine. A motion carries. Speaker 1: Thank you very much. I think the motion is carried there. That concludes the Senate calendar items. We're now going to switch over to our Corbett related items, which have a time certain, and then we'll go into our hearings and then and then the regular agenda, which is probably general public comment and we do have a significant amount of items. So we'll go through all of those items. So let's go ahead and get our COVID 19 study session started. And if we can please get that set up, I'm going to start off the presentation, but I'm going to give the staff just a minute to get set up.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement, and all necessary documents including subcontracts, any subsequent amendments including any change to the amount of the grant, with the County of Los Angeles, to accept and expend grant funding in the amount not to exceed $225,000, for Veteran Outreach Services, for a one-year period estimated to begin in December 2020, with the option to extend the agreement for three additional one-year periods at the discretion of the City Manager. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Mayor, did you want to go to item 32 as the next item? Speaker 1: Item item 30, we'll do item 3248. I think it's 65 and 68 or all equipment related. And hopefully we can try to get through these. And we had a lot of comment. I'll try to get to these pretty quick. Let's start with item 32. Speaker 0: Communication from Mayor Garcia, Councilman Price, Councilman Super or not. Councilman Mongo Recommendation to request city manager to create a 5 million restaurant brewery and Bar Resiliency Fund from the next federal COVID 19 stimulus fund package. Speaker 1: Great. I'm going to be just just very brief. I think obviously our restaurants, bars and the industry are in great need of additional financial support and obviously not just in Long Beach, but statewide. So there is a big movement in trying to get that support in place. I think especially in this moment where you've seen that big county take action. Here we are. I'm very confident in the conversations I'm having with the Biden administration that there is going to be a strong relief package on its way. There may even be an interim package here in the next couple of weeks, but there will be a significant package come January. And so we're really focused on on that. Looking forward to partnering with our restaurants, have been talking to the Restaurant Association and others, and we will try to get as big of a package put together as possible. And if we're able to do more than 5 million, that would be great as well. So we're going to work hard as best we can. With that, I will pass it on to Councilman Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'm happy to sign on in support of this this item. As chair of the Federal Lands Committee, you have my and the council in the city has my full support. The committee will certainly make this a part of our agenda and work to provide as much of economic support for all of those industries, including restaurants, breweries , bars, bars. The employees have been impacted by these unfortunate. Pandemic. So as my full support, I encourage the City Council to support unanimously. Thank you, Councilman. Councilmember Mongo. And they're countering often with that emotion also. Can we get a okay. And a second, councilman. Speaker 2: Second? Yep. Thank you. I'm really glad that we did this. I know that when Mayor and I discussed this item, I also brought up the item that he's already put forward for next week. So if you only read this to restaurants, it's just one piece of a big puzzle. There's lots of industries that need help, and we will work tirelessly to make sure that we are in a better position when the next CARES Act funding or whatever it will be named at that time. The next relief package comes forward that we really know and understand the needs of each industry. I recognize that this will not be a quick turnaround. We are really talking about strategies that are going to take 36, 48 or even 60 months to really implement and make sure that we get people back to where they were. So, I mean, the reality is we'll never be exactly where we were, but we want to put people back on their feet and and restore where we are, prosperity as a city. And this will get us there because we are built on small businesses and the workers that work for them. So thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you. Customer your income. I'd like them to take an emotion, but I'm fully supportive thinking. Few Council members in Dallas. Councilmembers in the House. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I was talking on mute. Thank you very much, Mayor Burslem. Very happy to have been signed on to this item. I, I really am excited to see this coming forward from. From you, Mayor. I think that this is very, very much needed right about now. So I am I just wanted to say thank you. Let me. Just once again. Yes. So I just want to say thank you again, Mayor, for this item. I think that it's very important that we be very clear in the situation. Long Beach residents and businesses are needlessly suffering due to COVID and without the action of our federal government. We as a city only have so much ability to provide assistance as we try to prevent the spread from this deadly virus. I'm I'm hopeful that the Senate will take immediate action to provide this relief before the end of the year, or else that the incoming administration will act swiftly to allocate these funds to the cities across the country, because we are in dire, dire need of them at the moment. So it gives me hope to hear that maybe there might be something in between now and then to come as a relief aid for our businesses here in Long Beach. So again, thank you, Maria, for leading this effort. And I'm so glad for the work that is being done and for the relationships that you have fostered to ensure that Long Beach has a voice in the state and in the federal and settled leadership. So thank you again for advocating for us and for our businesses here in Long Beach. Speaker 1: The good councilwoman, Councilmember Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just just quickly, obviously, I support this, and we are certainly looking forward to whatever relief is is coming down. And we've had good conversation about that. I want to I want to make sure that. You know, like we said earlier, we should be intentional about, you know, our plans and how we measure expectations connected with strategy. And so the Economic Development Committee has been working on and so has staff has been working on some strategies around around restaurant retention. We're hear about that a little bit later, and we're really proud of the progress that we've already done. But I think it's important that whatever resources come down, whether it's 5 million, whether it's 2 million, whether it's $20 million that we we spend it in a way with the greatest impact based on strategy and key performance indicators and data. And staff is already putting together strategy for that. So I want to make sure that that is the best prioritized and connected. So, you know, to Mr. Mayor, you know, as you wrap up, maybe you can speak to that or or maybe even Mr. Modica. You know, I would want to hear what your plan would be. Should, you know, as well as he used to say, manna come from far from heaven. Should man come down, you know, are we going to connect it to the strategies that we're putting in place? And so I think that is the question. Thank you. Thank you. All in all, I'm happy to answer to that, Councilman. Just I think that's right. I think there's there's a restaurant retention plan. I know that the current plans put forward also and we've been discussing and we'll be comfortable will be coming up. And so this is just a tool for on the funding side that absolutely look forward to the council wrapping together as part of a larger, larger strategy. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 2: Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you, too, for this item and for allowing me to sign on to this item. And I really do hope that our federal government, under the new administration and I'm very hopeful that they'll be able to come up with a bipartisan plan. And I'm I'm really hoping that to the extent that our federal legislative committee advocacy team can focus on on this is that sometimes these grant dollars come with significant restrictions. And it's very difficult to understand as a business owner how they can be spent and what the limitations are. I really am concerned about the workers, many of whom are out of jobs and no longer receiving unemployment at a level that can sustain the current expenses that they have. So I'm really hoping that there could be really special attention paid when the relief package is is crafted to allow business owners to have clarity on how those those dollars can be spent and what portion of those should be going directly to employees. So thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and I look forward to the item, and I thank you for bringing it. Speaker 1: Thank you. You can go to public comment, please, Madam Quirk, if there is any. Our first speakers, Alex sharing. Thank you, Mayor. Members of the city council, obviously on behalf of the Long Beach Restaurant Association, were supportive of the item. We want to work with city staff and others to make sure that we've got the infrastructure in place ahead of time. As was alluded to, I think, in Councilwoman Price's comments, so that when the tranche of funding is received, hopefully in the second wave of the CARES Act money that we're prepared to deploy, and then we've got those criteria set up so that we can expedite getting that money to the people that it's intended to go to. So very much supportive and appreciate this. I want to thank on behalf of the area in particular Councilwoman Price, Councilwoman Mongo and Councilmember Supernormal for engaging early with the group. I know that we've done a lot of outreach in the last couple of weeks and it's been fluid and I want to thank them in particular. I also want to thank the other city council members who either have been to one of our events or will be upcoming, including Councilman Richardson. I also want to thank City Staff Tom Modica for making himself available last week for an engaged dialog with the Elvira and the board members. And again, look forward to serving as a resource to help set up the criteria for this funding when it comes. So thank you. We're supportive of the item also because I was not able to speak under general public comment. Just want to indulge me for 2 seconds. I want to thank Councilman Andrews for his service and working with him. Speaker 3: I think your next speaker is Christine Barth. Speaker 4: Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Christine Bos and I serve as the government affairs manager for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. I'm speaking today on behalf of our 678 members, representative and representatives and community stakeholders. The funding package is vital to our restaurants and bars, and we appreciate that the fund has been brought forward to council. However, despite our support for this fund, we ask that you please consider consider additional options to help our most vulnerable industries now. Immediate action is needed to save our restaurants and protect the. Speaker 2: Financial well-being of our workers. Speaker 4: We ask that you also consider financial assistance for personal care services who have been shut down for the. Speaker 2: Duration of the regional stay at home order. Speaker 4: Like restaurants and bars. The personal care service industry has made significant investments to adapt to the state, county and local health orders despite decreased earnings and limited staff. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is Dave Shukla. Dave Chappelle on file. Two quick things. One of the largest recipients of SBA loans to date have had very little to do with keeping the local economy afloat. Workers employed. More people at home. Second troublingly at the federal level. There is a concerted push to put. Liability waivers. Immunity. Pretend we didn't keep spreading the virus when we knew otherwise. And we're making up for it. Whatever the language is, the idea that the people who are responsible for a set of completely failed public policies for over six months now want to skirt responsibility for those actions when they claim to be working in the service of the people of this country who are dying at a rate of, you know, thousands of people a day. That is a bit concerning. And hopefully that can be addressed through the federal legislative committee, not to include any kind of immunity for employers that willingly to start over by EPA regulations, for instance, on COVID. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 1: Thank you. And I'll just close by saying to the one speaker we had. Yes, personal care services is coming next week is another front for that. And as well as we know, there's a lot of work ahead of us for recovery. And so thank you to everyone that was involved. I was going to take a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. At District two and District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District five i. Speaker 2: District six. Speaker 0: District seven. District eight. District nine. High motion carries. Speaker 1: Thank you. Item number 48, please. Speaker 0: Communication from Council on Mongo Council. Speaker 1: Let's do 68 since it's restaurant related and then we'll go back to the dashboard and the health order issue and COVID. So the 68. Then, then 48 and 65.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to create a $5 million Restaurant, Brewery & Bar 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 1: Let's do 68 since it's restaurant related and then we'll go back to the dashboard and the health order issue and COVID. So the 68. Then, then 48 and 65. Speaker 0: Report from Economic Development Recommendation Receive and file a report on the restaurant retention strategy citywide. Speaker 1: Mr. Modica. Speaker 3: Here. Mr. Keisler can give a brief staff report of the committee's recommendations. Speaker 5: Excellent honorable mayor and members of the city council. Thanks so much. As you know, the Economic Development and Finance Committee of the council takes items from the council to review and recently had a meeting on December 1st. Went through some of the background of actions taken by council since August 18th to support the restaurant sector in Long Beach. Of course, there's a lot of survey data that we presented to the Economic Development and Finance Committee. We recently had an economic forum as well to see just how hard this industry in particular has been hit, both businesses and workers, and how it's impacted employment. In L.A. County. Almost 200,000 jobs lost in just the last few months. Know in Long Beach, of course, over 25,000 of our unemployment claims are from accommodation and food services. This is our largest group by far in terms of raw numbers and percent of total claims. And so we know that both business owners and workers are suffering in this industry. Now, the core components of our restaurant retention strategy, we looked at eight different core components that we've seen and plans ranging from research to technical assistance and some of the other things that we've already implemented as a city. But the committee really wanted the council to focus on key performance measures, things like the percent of restaurants retained, the percent of jobs preserved, promoting equity across the city, improving the actual business and sector resilience, assessing of an individual business, health and strength, and then improving outreach and education so that we have a better ongoing communication with business owners. And then in terms of the committee recommendations, adding to those core components I just mentioned, there were seven key areas that have to do with developing a really comprehensive and equitable restaurant retention strategy, not just a reactive one full of activities, expediting application and approval processes, approving an urgency ordinance related to delivery fees. Adopting a resolution to prioritize restaurants in our next round of federal stimulus. Providing regular public reporting on the distribution of federal stimulus funds like the CARES Act, and specifically identifying any available funding that we might reallocate to the industries like restaurants that are experiencing the greatest impacts. Expediting and simplifying the business grant application that businesses have to go through to access those funds and reduce the documentation that's needed just to apply, and then having shovel ready projects in anticipation of future federal funding. We know that we've got to have a strategy that has projects ready to go to be funded the moment those dollars are ready. So finally, in terms of next steps for a restaurant retention strategy discussed with the committee will be starting tonight just incorporating those city council priorities that you would like as a staff to add to this this plan and identifying available funding at the local level, taking action now on urgent items and things we can do either at the administrative level or with city council approval in the coming weeks. We need to complete a research report using an industry expert that knows the restaurant industry. Continuing our community outreach in our industry input. Adapting our emergency policies and urgency ordinances. And advocating for policies and funding from state and local or federal government. So our hope is, is that we can do things right now while we're developing this strategy. With that, I'll turn it back over to the mayor and city council for your input. Speaker 1: Constable Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thanks. Thanks, John, for the presentation. Thanks for the many members that Economic Development Finance Council member Mongo Guzman Turanga. Not a healthy amount of discussion. You know, some themes that were were brought up during the committee meeting I think needs to be highlighted here. It was a lot of discussion about scope, accountability, transparency and expectations. We know that there are significant losses the restaurants are doing. And the reality is a lot of the programs we put forward there, we've done as best, the best we can. But it's not going to make hold all the losses the residents, the restaurants have taken. However, when we think about the policy changes we can make, for example, the committee made a recommendation to you know, we made a motion back in the committee, talked about third party platforms, delivery fees back in May and June. Still hasn't happened, but in the committee meeting we came back and made a recommendation, bring the council to say, let's do this with urgency now with delivery fees of 15%. Those are some of the things that can make a difference in terms of the bottom line now. So with the restaurant retention strategy, what we're really interested in are short term, immediate term and long term things that we can do to help make make the, you know, how actually have a plan to make our make our survivability, our survival rate of restaurants a bit higher. And so the first thing I want to do is obviously, I'm going to make make a motion to accept all the recommendations here. But I want to ask about specifically one of the parts related to the the third party platforms. The committee made a recommendation to council to give direction to create an ordinance with urgency capped at 15 at 15%. Mr. Chrisler, can you speak to that? Speaker 5: Absolutely so. So we have actually taken this up as part of the Economic Development Commission. That was the initial review in in our July agenda. And we actually talked with restaurant owners who are experiencing this challenge to understand, you know, what the what the costs are, how it impacts their business and their bottom line. So we now have some research. We're going to be sharing that with the city attorney and to to identify what would be in a similar ordinance in some of the other cities nearby. And then if we can bring that back to council, our goal would be in the the first part of January. Of course, we will need to review that and put some language together. The city attorney obviously would need direction from council. So we would have to just sequence that process in a way that is acceptable. So we're ready to go with our research and we'll we'll communicate to you what those next steps are. Speaker 1: Fantastic. And and so, you know, as I wrap up with with my motion as two things, it's one, I think this fits very well with the motion we just received from the mayor. We talked about that. These are the strategies you've done the research. We looked at the National Restaurant Best Practices Plan. We've engaged healthy lobbies. We engage with our businesses and we have a plan that we can stand behind. And so I move these recommendations, and I also, within that motion, am requesting that the city attorney work with the with the Economic Development Department to come back with an ordinance that caps restaurant fees and urgency ordinance, having restaurant fees at 15%. And so that would be my motion and and thank. Thank you. I think I have a second by councilman. Mango. Mango. Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you. I just wanted to kind of speak again to how important the outdoor small business infrastructure relief will be that I discussed in an early item when I was spoken to the mayor, Mr. Chrysler. Mr. MODICA. And I guess my question to Mr. Heisler is now that you are. Headed in that direction. What kind of timeline do you see before businesses can apply for and receive this relief? Speaker 5: Council member. So last week's meeting with the committee was really helpful in advancing some of these recommendations, which we've now brought back with some potential options for the city manager to take a look at. Of course, we need to coordinate across our different departments to make sure that we identify which funds are available in the existing Appropriation for CARES Act. And so we should have something available for City Council in writing over the next couple of days, and I hope would be that we would be able to make sure that those funds are committed by December 30th, given that this is CARES Act funding. So we believe that that timeline is is possible. We also believe that we have a regular communication with the businesses in the restaurants that have outdoor commerce going on right now and have the permits in place and have also already incurred costs related to those improvements. So we believe this could be a program that could move very quickly. We just need to get all the technicalities in writing for city leadership to to review. Speaker 2: Wonderful. Thank you. And when will we be receiving the financial report requested at last Tuesday's meeting? Speaker 5: Absolutely. So we we have it for the economic support programs. We obviously track all of our our financial information. That's the same on the same timeline. In a matter of days, we will pull that in, likely communicate that information also in a memo format and provide that to the city manager. So that's available for for council review. But we have that information and we're happy to provide it. Speaker 2: And what steps were taken when the request was made to ensure that that information was provided timely. Because it seems like it's been seven days that we don't have that information yet. And it seems like from a position of a budget manager that and again, I know this is not just your division, but if we have $40 million that it needs to be committed and extended by December 31st. We approved this in May, and one would think that we would have budget status reports and updates on a regular basis so that this council could have made decisions at this meeting. I'm related to. Underutilization or underspending by some of our contract providers so that we could have made sure to put that money into the hands of others. I was glad to hear from Mr. Modica and we've had several conversations. I just think it's important to to kind of have this dialog again that. But that we won't be leaving any money on the table. I think that that's important. I think that when there's any dollar available, the Long Beach workers and Long Beach businesses, we need to make sure we have it. But I would just strongly encourage and I wanted to make the statement publicly that whenever we receive funding, that there should be at least monthly updates available, not necessarily published to the Council, but available upon request. Should there be a need to make a pivot and I know we're in a a new economic time, but I just want to make sure as the next set of funding comes down, that those those controls are in place. Because businesses and workers are counting on us. And then lastly, I spoke with a member of the press who asked about some of the. Ideas that are brought forward in this recommendation. But it's my understanding in talking to Mr. Keisler that the strategy as a whole would really be part of what we're asking the contractor to do. Speaker 5: Your council member, too. So the the we're asking an industry expert to to review our our economic data related to to restaurant activity. So the consultant will provide an economic analysis of how we compare as Long Beach to maybe some of the regional and national standards, those retention rates, which the percentage of of these businesses that are at risk. So we'll really be looking for guidance on the economic information. But then when it comes to developing the strategy, the staff will actually be taking the lead on that. That's something we can do in-house with the input that's being provided, of course, by the consultant, but also by our industry experts, our local businesses. We've been meeting with them regularly and ultimately receiving their feedback as well. So that that report, the strategy itself, will be prepared in-house. Speaker 2: And that will be back to us in January. February. What's our timeline? Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely. So so our expectation is that we can have our our or outline our draft report in in January. And our goal is, of course, we're going to be talking about the economic recovery strategy. We want to have that that done and ready to go as soon as the the second quarter of 2021, because, as you know, we move forward with health orders and in the COVID situation being stabilized to have shovel ready projects as soon as business can resume or as soon as federal dollars are available means we've got to move quickly. So that doesn't mean that we can't bring you one off items, urgency items like the cap on delivery fees or like the restructuring of a grant program. Those we'll bring to you as soon as those ideas are available and we can get them on the agenda. The overall strategy that's waiting for some of this economic information, some of the economic equity studies that we'll talk about it next council meeting on Tuesday. Next Tuesday, that that just is going to take a little bit more time for that data to arrive. Speaker 0: Councilwoman, your 5 minutes is. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you. Next up, I have. Who is here. This is Councilwoman. I'm sorry. Councilmember Aranda. And then councilmembers in the House. Thank you, Eric. And I want to commend the economic model for bringing this forward. We had a great meeting last week. A lot of great ideas are out there and they're really working hard and trying to deal with this COVID 19 pandemic and getting projects ready for implementation once we are over this. So I want to thank John and his staff for all the work that you've been doing. It's been creative, somewhat frustrating. I can understand that because they are there are limits to what they can bring forward and the council to consider. So I'm fully supportive of Councilmember Retreat into motion. Thank you and good. Get support on the rest of the city council. Thank you. Country councilmember, actually councilwoman in the House. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I also would like to thank the Economic Development Department. Thank you, John, for all that you and your team are doing to help our businesses. I know that the businesses in my district have benefited greatly from all the programs that that you've been putting forward. So I'm really excited about this. This restaurant retention recommendation that you guys are making on this program, I think is going to be very important moving forward. One of the things that I wanted to ask Councilmember Rex Richardson is if with your motion, maybe you could if it would be okay to include maybe what the feasibility would be of those 33/3 party charges that are being made through delivery services and what the feasibility could be if the city could actually subsidize those. That 15% cap for our, you know, maybe getting some funds down to us. Would that be something that maybe we can include in in that? Speaker 1: Council member. I've become unclear on on what it is. Let me tell you what I think I heard and said. We're going to direct staff to come back with the cap of 15%, but also create a program to subsidize restaurants so that we. Speaker 2: May not necessarily like create a program, but maybe bring back information on the feasibility if it's even possible to be able to help out the restaurants with that 15% cap. Because I know that even even the big restaurants, but also including the smaller restaurants, that fee can be really hard on them, especially right now when we're in this economic credit crisis. So I was wondering if maybe. Speaker 1: I think I think I think staff in. Look at that. So I think it's what I'm hearing is, you know, because what we're talking about is the fees that the restaurants are charged by the third party platforms for instituting a cap simply because, one, they're they're dependent on those now they don't have indoor or outdoor dining. So, yes, we should cap it. But if you're talking about relief for that, I that that exists. I think that to be within the realm of how, you know, whatever support funding we have, you know, we can put that in the mix. I agree. So I think so. I'm I'm okay with accepting accepting that feasibility that question before born feasibility on it. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. I think that it's very important moving forward. Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Pierce. Speaker 2: Thank you. I think most of the comments were were said before me that I wanted to make. I fully support putting a cap on that third party platform. I know in Long Beach we've got a lot of local places that are trying to to do those deliveries for our restaurants. And being able to see more of that during this difficult time would be great. Thank you. Speaker 1: Councilmember. Councilmember. Speaker 2: Did you guys not hear my comments? Speaker 1: That's right. No, I did. I did. I'm just waiting. I wasn't sure you continue. Our staff was waiting on something else. Speaker 2: No, I didn't ask any questions. I just gave my input and said thank you. Okay. Speaker 1: Let me I don't I don't have any other councilmembers lined up yet, so why don't we just go ahead and do another public comment on this? Yes, we have De Shukla. However, if you go on file just like the stuff my support for, which should hopefully become a model program. Thank you all very much for working on this. Thank you. That concludes public comment. Okay. Richard Clarke. Yes. That concludes public comment. They had somebody else. And I guess there there's no. Okay. So that we'll we'll close then do the roll call, please. Speaker 5: And the woman's in the house. I had to remember Pierce. And to remember Pierce. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 5: COUNTERMAN Supernanny. Speaker 1: All right. That's one manga. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 5: I saw Anders. Speaker 1: I. That's Miranda. I come from an Austin. I can't remember Richardson. All right, ocean cares. Okay. Thank you. We've had a request from our vice mayor who has to head out soon here to move up his item, which is 64, and then we'll go back to the agenda.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a report on the Restaurant Retention Strategy and provide input and policy direction to staff on economic relief strategies for independent, full-service restaurants, with an emphasis on equity, designed to improve the economic survival of restaurants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic across Long Beach. (Citywide)

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Speaker 1: I. That's Miranda. I come from an Austin. I can't remember Richardson. All right, ocean cares. Okay. Thank you. We've had a request from our vice mayor who has to head out soon here to move up his item, which is 64, and then we'll go back to the agenda. So he just let me know that. So we're going to go ahead and do item 64 and then we'll do item 48. Speaker 5: Communication from Vice Miranda's recommendation to increase appropriations in the city manager department by 147,400 to provide contributions to various. Speaker 1: Organizations and increase appropriations in the Economic Development Department by $25,000. Speaker 5: To bilingual workforce. Speaker 1: And economic development. Speaker 5: Development support in. Speaker 1: Response to COVID 19. Okay. I've got it. Vice Mayor Andrews and I got a. Is that a motion, vice mayor? Yes, it is. Okay. And then I got I got a second, I think, by customers and dance reps. I mean, thank you, man. Thank you very much. I would first I'd like to thank my council colleagues, you know, thank God for this kind of condensed item to get their place on the agenda. You know, as I leave office, I want to ensure that nonprofit organizations that are doing the work with that community of color are being supported in the same way. Know many of the organizations I am listed tonight. Either need extra technical assistance in applying for grants and proposed proposals we are rolling out as sitting for that reason. Sometimes you not successfully complete applications to compete. So I am hopefully that these contributions have kick start some of the ongoing efforts and they continue to reach out to the city for assistance because nonprofit organizations has been at the core of providing resources during this pandemic. As far as the total contributions amount, I know it looks like a large sum, but these are all onetime dollars that are accumulated over 13 years. I was in office. We have invested in critical infrastructure. But we are wishing. We wish. On. We are we're we're on spending. You know, I'm scuse me, we're wise on spending from our infrastructure program. These dollars are going to stay in the city and serve. Our constituents. The incoming council person will still have an average of $80,000 to allocate to critical needs. $80,000 is around what each of our council offices has occurred as well. Therefore, I would appreciate all of your support in approving this recommendation. Thank you very much. Thank you. Vice Mayor councilman's in the house. Speaker 2: A judge wanted to second his motion, and I support it. Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman Ringer. Like you. I stare at the Andrews for the generosity and showing the great work that you've done in your district and for supporting these great organizations. And I wish you well. Thank you. Any public comment on this? Yes, we have our first sales. Author sales. Speaker 5: Okay. We'll go to the next person. Speaker 1: Althea McMurray in. Speaker 4: Hi. This is Marion. Can you hear me? Yes. Please begin. Okay. Sorry. My name help you? Marion, a long beach and currently serve on the board of Transformational Living Home. Our mission is to provide affordable housing, permanent supportive housing and substance abuse, free environment to adult safe and homeless. Housing is open to everyone, especially members of marginalized communities, including reentry and LGBTQ. Plus, I go out the press. I've been involved with your life as a volunteer since 2008, and I continued to volunteer and serve on the board because to provide housing and connect clients to social services so they can rebuild their lives, gain employment and participate in the Long Beach community. I like to thank the council members for considering each one of these donations. Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you. ALFA sales. Okay. We'll go to Carolyn Bell. Carolyn Bill. Speaker 4: Hi. Yes, my name is out of sales. I was trying to speak on behalf of my. Of Sharon Gonder. Yeah, go ahead. Hi. Yes, my name is Arthur Sellers and I'm calling in in support of Sharon Gonder. I am hoping that you guys will find it in your heart to award her the monastery. Um, gift. She has been a staple in the district for over ten years, and I know me myself have depended on her for Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving. She just gave out 200 and something turkeys to the stays district in our families toys that Christmas. She don't go blank and she gave all types of stuff. It would just be really, really nice if she would get some support so she could continue to do the work that she'd do. She'd do all this unselfishly. She'd do all this as a single parent. And she don't she don't show. She don't gripe about it or anything like that. We come across a difficult task. She find a way, she don't fuss or anything. I just super, super appreciate her. She offered me and my family and a lot of families in Jersey a lot of times and are really, really super, super. Appreciate her. I really, really do. And I hope you guys find it in your heart to give her the monastery award because she really, really do deserve and and we really, really appreciate her help. Thank you so much. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Constance Gilkey. Speaker 1: Constance Gilkey. Our next speaker is Dee Williams. Speaker 4: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Dee Williams and I'm with the National Council of Negro Women. And I just want to take this opportunity to thank the Andrews in the sixth. Speaker 1: District for what they've done. Speaker 4: For us and for even considering that. Speaker 1: And. Speaker 4: For this recommendation for this of number. Speaker 1: Four, this of support. Speaker 4: The National Council of Negro Women have been around for years. I've been an active member for 23 years. Speaker 1: And. Speaker 4: We have done. Speaker 1: So much. Speaker 4: In the community. We I didn't want to say too much because I know that my president is going to be coming on the Senate border and she has prepared a speech for you. But I'm just hoping and praying that you all consider this. Oh, I'm sorry. Consider us for, uh, for this. Speaker 1: There's been this award. Really appreciate it. Our our our. Speaker 4: Support is just to, uh, empower women to. So that they can empower their families and or empower their community. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Helen Thomas. Speaker 4: Good evening and thank you so much for this opportunity and good luck to all of us for staying up this late. Very important to that discussion today. I want to start off by saying my thanks to Councilmember De Andrews and his chief of staff, Isabela, Areva, for their support of Hope Hispano organize for political equality. As the CEO of Hispanic Organized Policy Quality. I have experienced firsthand as a graduate of our program, as well as working now for 20 years as the CEO, which we support and promote the political and economic parity for Latinas through leadership, advocacy and education to benefit all communities and the status of women. Latinas today develop their personal and professional growth and prosperity and political clout through the hopes. Training this monetary award to our organization will further our efforts to help communities of color in the Sixth District community, especially when it relates to our Latina empowerment days that we hold in Long Beach. And for the last three years, we have served over 600 Latinas through this training, with a projected another 200 participants in the winter of 2021. And it provides it provides a day of education on the importance of civic engagement, energy, environmental issues and financial literacy. I thank you all for your support of. Yes, hopefully. And thank you again to all the council members who have been very supportive in our mayor of Hope. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Your next speaker is J.J. Hardy. Speaker 1: Yes. My name is Joe Girardi. I want to thank the entries and I want to thank the mayor and all the city council members for allowing me to speak today. I'm going to speak on. Speaker 4: Behalf of Transformation Living Homes. Speaker 1: I'm the outreach communications director for Transformation Living Homes. And we provide permanent supportive housing and a substance abuse free environment to adults facing challenges, finding affordable living arrangements in greater Long Beach. Speaker 4: Transformation living homes. Speaker 1: This started over 13 years ago by Constance Gilkey out of the trunk of her car to help those in need of housing our residents, our veterans, single mothers, the mentally disabled. Those coming out of domestic violence relationships. Treatment centers and others who are homeless due to the loss of employment or other economic crisis or housing is open to everyone. Everyone in our goal is to provide a stable home environment, to allow Long Beach residents to improve the quality of life, thereby strengthening the Long Beach community. Here is a representation of the principle that ordinary people. Speaker 4: Can transform into. Speaker 1: Extraordinary and turn. Speaker 4: Impossible dreams. Speaker 1: Into reality by supporting one another and living lives of purpose and integrity. Transformational living home. Speaker 4: Mission is to provide structured living environments conducive. Speaker 1: To sober, drug free, independent living. And these healthy environments allow Long Beach residents in need to focus on their individual recovery as they prepare for a new way of life. We here at Transformational Living Homes believe our homes work well for those who face the most complex challenges, no matter the circumstances. Everyone. Speaker 3: Thank you to our next speakers, Dr. Glen Windham. Speaker 1: Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Dr. Glenn Windham. I'm calling in support of item number 64. I have engaged with member of Grace Memorial in an effort to collaborate with business and community based organizations within the sixth District to enhance the overall well-being of its residents. First activities included the European Community. Job, cultural and healthcare. The Harvest Festival, which is an alternative to increasingly dangerous trick or treat activities and fostering sports teams of all ages in the same spirit. Grace will educate community on the hazards of COVID 19 and provide safety tools to help local members of the First District thrive. Therefore, I respectfully encourage you to vote yes on item 64. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Keith Whitley. The evening mayor and council members my name is deeply represent the district with Mr. Adams. Culture Alliance of Long Beach has been around for the last seven years, working with Mr. Andrew, supplying knowledge in backpacks and food giveaways, health issues in the community. We would like to hope that you would vote to consider it called your alliance, which is going to be continued to help out the district no matter what, with the help with the gangs and other agencies in the community to support October 19. So we can get people on board and educate them about wearing masks and continue to support with the seniors in the community. We will wish you vote yes, but 64. Thanks. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mikayla kris. Mallika. Chris, sorry. Speaker 4: Hello. Speaker 1: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 4: Okay. Hello, Mayor. And City Council members. My name is Malika Chris and I'm the founder and executive director of Live Beyond Limits. We're a mentoring program that teaches life skills to kids and parents. We work with families in the district. We've done a lot of workshops at Signal Hill Elementary. We work with families and Nelson Academy proudly. Wilson Milligan And we just do a variety of community service events. We're big on whole families, so we're not only mentoring youth, we also support the parents with mentoring and life coaching. We pass out food for Thanksgiving and we adopt them for Christmas and we continue to do the work and be an asset in the community. So we hope that you would support well beyond limits with this monetary award. It would help support our efforts. We are not a large organization and we don't have. Speaker 1: Grant writers and we don't have other. Speaker 4: Ways to get funding to continue our efforts. So this will be a major issue for us and we would greatly appreciate it. And actually to vote yes on 64. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 3: Our next speaker is Michael Baker. Speaker 1: Mr. Kirk. Michael Baker. Pity the mayor and council members. I thank you for the opportunity to speak on the behalf of 64 and congratulation, Councilman de Andrew. Through all your years of service through the Sixth District. And counsel to Andrew. I thank you for your service. Throughout the year through my business. Until you begin to give everybody your number and then your hairstyle, your hair cells, trades. I am Michael Baker, owner of Baker's Bell Center, located at 1008 Especificos Highway. This business has been operating in the district. Since 1980. I am also a deacon at Grace Memorial Baptist Church. And I have personally been a part of many community service activities at the church, and I support the motion and urge the Council to approve 64. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 3: Our next speaker is Michael Bates. Speaker 1: Hello, Mayor and city council members. My name is Michael Biggs and I'm calling also in support of item number 64. We agree it's memorial. We really agree with the recommendation to provide this funding support for continued COVID 19 program and efforts. Over the years, Grayson Moore has collaborated with other nonprofit groups to provide resources and inform the community to be able to sustain itself during this COVID 19 pandemic. We intend to distribute PPE items such as face coverings and sanitizer, hygiene packs, and also provide referrals to other city and council resources. To do this. We plan to continue to use our bi weekly food bank as the platform to provide and distribute these much needed items. So we thank you for your support in advance for item number 64. Thank you. Speaker 3: I think your next speaker is, you know, a border. Speaker 1: Mr. Kirk. Zena Borda. Speaker 3: Okay. That concludes public comment. Speaker 1: Okay. We would go back to the item by senior members. Jeff, Germany, closing comments. Yes. I want to thank everyone, you know, for my company and I hope they will support because I think it's well, well worth it in our community. And we're trying to do for those who really doesn't have the assets and to be able to compete for some of those grants that we're trying to give out today for nonprofit organizations. And thank everyone on the diocese for this. Thank you. We'll cover. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District two. I. District three. Speaker 2: District four. Speaker 0: District five. District five. Speaker 2: I. I. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 1: The current. Speaker 0: District. Speaker 2: 7i8i. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $147,400, offset by the Sixth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide contributions to various organizations; Increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Economic Development Department by $25,000, offset by the Sixth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to fund bilingual workforce and economic development support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic emergency; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $172,400 to offset transfers to the City Manager and Economic Development Departments for donations to various organizations.

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Speaker 1: Actually, actually, you know what, Madam Court, let me do I have a request from Councilmember Pearce, and it is it is her last meeting. So we're going to we're going to take items 31 and 34. Speaker 0: Next item 31 recommendation to receive and file presentation from Catapult. Speaker 1: Councilor Pearce. Speaker 2: Thank you so very much. This is an item that was brought over from the last meeting that we had. So Catapult is a new organization that does livestreaming concerts for artists and creators in the city of Long Beach. They are new, newly formed and particular focus on these difficult times with COVID and trying to give a platform and be able to support artists all the way around. And so if they are here, I believe you have a location. Speaker 1: That's correct. Yeah, I have a presentation on foot. Unfortunately, I'm not able to share my screen so I don't have a PowerPoint, but I will go into a brief overview of what we're doing. First, I'd like to offer my thanks to the Council and to Mayor Garcia for allowing me to speak today. I know we're all really tired and we've talked a lot, but I'll keep this as brief as I can. So my name is Donovan Brown, and I really miss live music. I miss the feeling of being on stage, the feeling of connecting a roomful of strangers in that profoundly temporary experience we call a concert. I grew up on the border of Compton and North Long Beach. I'm a District one resident, and I'm proud to call the city my home. I've been a working musician here for over a decade and it's led me to some of the most transformative experiences of my life. I like playing live after five at the Legendary Breakers Hotel before it closed down or putting on a Pink Floyd tribute with the late, great Josh Fishell. If you remember him back in 2016 or more recently competing in Busker Fest for the first time. And we did win that my band when that sounds kind of cool so those those names and places might not mean anything to you but to me they remind me that Long Beach has a rich history shaped by our diversity and our creativity, and I'm fortunate to be a part of it. First off, I'd like to thank the Health and Human Services Department for making the difficult decisions in the interest of public safety that save lives but often negatively impact our local businesses. It's a difficult position to be in, and I do not envy you, but my heart goes out to all of you and all the medical workers that are keeping us safe. COVID 19 has undeniably devastated the US economy and with it the live music industry. The harsh reality is that 90% of music venues nationwide will shut their doors for good within the next two months without a government stimulus. And Long Beach is no exception. As you know, bars and music venues are among those designated lowest priority, these reopening phases. And most don't have any idea when they'll be able to reopen or for how long. So as COVID cases continue to spike, venues all over the country are faced with an uncertain future, and the touring industry is at a standstill. On December 27th, all music workers receiving unemployment insurance will get their last check for pandemic unemployment assistance. And without an extension over 12 million, 1099 workers will be unable to survive. Now, there's already a strong national push to get the save our stages and restart bills through Congress to get much needed funds to these dying venues. But with PARTIZAN politics impeding the progress, a bailout is unlikely, leaving musicians with between a rock and a hard place pretty much once since a million streams on Spotify nets you about 30 $200, and opportunities for publishing and placements are very limited. In the absence of a government bailout, artists have been forced to find innovative ways to monetize their art and in some cases, increase their brand values by selling merch, partnering with brands, hosting virtual concerts. Artists are finding ways to weather the pandemic, whether signed or independent. All artists will ultimately need to find a pandemic proof way to translate their live shows into engaging virtual content that they can monetize. The unfortunate reality is that most don't have the funds or resources to do that effectively. I started researching this about six months ago when I realized that I'd lost all my gigs and a half of my income to COVID 19. I realized that the industry was changing and that I had to change with it. Catapult is both the answer and the future. What we're providing is a subscription based streaming platform for the creators, curators and consumers of live music. Visually stunning, highly curated virtual concerts will be filmed at traditional and nontraditional venues in both indoor and outdoor spaces and then streamed on the Catapult platform. Let's say my band, Black Boys, wanted to play a kind of full concert. We would choose our subscription level based on our venue needs and our budget, and we'd register a date for one of our quarterly concerts. We set our own ticket prices and we would split the ticket and streaming revenue with the catapult platform 70% to us, 30% to the platform. We could get access to free resources and workshops on how to learn how to grow our fanbase. We get additional perks as we hit different metrics. For example, we get $100 in Google ad credits for reaching a thousand subscribers or for referring a friend. After all, our after all our costs are covered, that 30% of profit will be right back into the catapult platform, will expand to new venues, add more artists and crew to the roster at cool new features to the platform, and add community driven outreach programs to provide support to the underserved. Because we're not profit driven, but people driven. Each concert we host in the platform will include a donation link so the viewers can directly support the venues and the artists that they love at the same time. If a venue is nontraditional, like a park or a public space, a portion of the proceeds would go to a local charity or community organization in need of support. Music has always been the great connector. It's the universal language unites us in a way that no other medium can. And that's why we love it. And that's. Spirit. We are going to build this platform to make every Catapult concert as interactive as possible. Artists will perform live and their fans will be offered unique ways to engage with those shows in real time. When venues reopen will stream socially distanced concerts and eventually full blown festivals to music lovers all over the world when things reopen. So far, we've partnered with Shannon's Corner to bring Its Lonely at the Top, which is an immersive virtual showcase series to the heart of downtown Long Beach. We've also linked up with Rand Foster, who owns Fingerprints Record Shop. So we're launching a tiny desk style series focused on stripped down performances and deejay sets. And as you might guess, we'll be shooting at Fingerprints Record Shop. Our biggest production would be a monthly drive in concert with the. So I've been talking with my friend Craig Hutchison, the president of the Beehive, and he's helped me to get the parking lot at the Long Beach Convention Center to do drive in concerts. So we have three flagship events that we're ready to launch, and we have a talented team of engineers, curators, set designers, and some Grammy Award winning artists who have expressed interest in helping out this platform to bring stunning virtual concerts. The Olympics will showcase venues like Alex's Bar and Piazza, along with parks and public spaces like Highland Park and the Museum of Latin American Art. We're going to continue to activate spaces all over the city new location based matching system to connect qualified engineers, stylists, set designers, session musicians and more with nearby Catapult Productions. All prospective crew would need to do is upload their resume a list of gear that they own and the equipment they're familiar with. And we'll find productions that master skillset will be able to get the people that make the touring industry run back to work in their own communities. The cost of operating and maintaining a platform like Catapult are significant, but we're taking a measured approach to our rollout, and we've set incremental crowdfunding goals to reach each milestone as we continue to activate Long Beach landmarks and generate buzz around the platform to unveil new features to the platform and introduce our first featured artists. Now, we've already got a few of these organizations that pledge their support, and I'm asking each of your offices to do the same. Any financial contribution you can give would be a huge help, and we'll gladly accept the contributions. But the average cost shoot one catapult concert at our current scale is about $2,000, and that's with all the staff and artists working on a pro-rated basis. We're asking each of your offices to sponsor just one catapult concert using funds from your divided by nine budgets to help ensure that live music lives on in Long Beach. If you're able to contribute more, we're glad they appreciate it and your generosity will have a tremendous impact. I'd also humbly ask that each of your offices reach out to your constituents via email, sharing our message and our mission to the residents of Long Beach. We love live music. I have a newsletter drafted and we can send it out and we really do have an opportunity to come together and show the world that Long Beach is a place where we innovate, the place we build sustainably and we take care of our own. It's a place where we hold each other accountable. We value our differences, and we know that we're stronger together than we could ever be apart. I believe the catapult is the future of live music in the face of a global pandemic. This initiative can and will revitalize the music scene in Long Beach and usher in a new standard in commerce and community building. With your support, we can not only save our stages, we can do a lot of good for a lot of people. So let's make the most of this moment in time and give the people a reason to hope again. Thank you so much for listening. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to take them. Thank you, Councilor Pearce. Speaker 2: I just wanted to say thank you so very much. I know that music is important to so many of us on this council and we've all supported different music events. There is a PowerPoint that we will email out to each of the council members. I'm sorry that that didn't get up. But I encourage all of you to reach out to them and think about them. I know. Council Member Richardson. You always do your uptown, so possibly there's some partnership there. I ask for everybody's support for this presentation. Thank you. Speaker 1: Control rooms and a house. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. And I am just so grateful to Councilwoman Pearce for bringing this item forward. Mr. Brown, I am so excited to hear about your catapult and so excited to hopefully partner with you and support your efforts. Like one of my nieces says, who who is also an artist, little Mary. She says that medicine. I'm sorry. That music is the medicine to our mental health. And right now we need that kind of medicine more than ever before. And so I thank you for your creativity and for your passion to be able to support our artists who are most definitely suffering and struggling more than ever during this pandemic. I just want you to know that I am absolutely committed to any effort by this council that can help those who are struggling. And I'm glad that we're looking for innovative solutions to meet our needs right now. So thank you again. Council Pierce Thank you, Mr. Brown, for that wonderful, uplifting presentation at almost midnight. I needed that lift. Thank you very much again. And I'm so very supportive of this. Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Does your any public comment on that item? Yes. Our first speakers j u you sent us. Hello. Yes. Please begin. Is that. Speaker 4: Right? Hello and good evening. Speaker 1: Council members and Mayor Garcia. Speaker 4: My name is Jamie Santos and I am a. Speaker 1: Resident of Council District eight and I would like to express my support for catapult. The already fragile. Speaker 4: Ecosystem of live music and entertainment venues are in even more. Speaker 1: Peril. Speaker 4: The opportunities for venues and artists to pivot into a sustainable. Speaker 1: Business model to endure the pandemic are few and far between. Speaker 4: The Catapult team is focused, focusing in on an overlooked section of Long Beach growing up in Long Beach. Speaker 1: Are growing up in an. Speaker 4: Artistic city like Long Beach. There are many venues that showcase the amazing. Speaker 1: Talent that Long Beach has raised. What catapults will provide is a way to. Speaker 4: Keep live music going. Speaker 1: By utilizing technology with Catapult. Speaker 4: Focusing in on this specific. Speaker 1: Aspect of Long Beach. Speaker 4: The city will be able to focus on other aspects of rebuilding and healing after the COVID 19 crisis. Speaker 1: We must do what we can to catapult. Speaker 4: These venues and artists in a position to. Speaker 1: Live and thrive post-pandemic. Thank you for your time and I yield my time. Speaker 3: Think your next speaker is Danielle Brown. Speaker 1: Danielle Brown. Speaker 4: Good people. Yes, I'm here. Good evening. I would also like to fully endorse the catapult. I think it's just an innovative solution to a very difficult and challenging problem as we enter the 10th month of the pandemic. We are still not quite seeing an end and the impacts are untold. I am an educator here in Long Beach and I grew up here as well. I just know that an initiative like this will have untold benefits for the youth as well as for the artists right now. And I think that we desperately need some support and some solutions for them right now. And I artists are just one small overlooked or one large overlooked portion of the the essential makeup and fabric of our city. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the Senate. Speaker 1: Roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. I district to. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District three. District four, District five. District seven. District seven. Hi. Speaker 1: District eight to get it. Speaker 0: Yes. Speaker 1: Taking. Speaker 0: We recorded District seven, District eight. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: Thank you. And item 34. Well.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from Catapult, a live-streamed concert for artists and creators in Long Beach.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. And item 34. Well. Speaker 0: Council Member Communication from Council Member Pearce. Councilman Super North Council Member. Speaker 1: Council. Speaker 0: Member Richardson Recommendation received a final presentation from Waste not Ozone Coalition. Speaker 1: Never again. Speaker 2: Sorry the system broke up a little bit. Yes. Thank you. This is a great item that I'm really excited about. As many of you guys know, I've been taking some classes and I had a presentation by this organization was really inspired by their mission to be able to use logistics to ensure that no food is going wasted from restaurants in different locations, and ensuring that food is getting either repurposed or getting donated to the appropriate places so that we can help with our people that are food insecure. Tom and I have had many conversations about how great all the work has been during COVID to ensure that our seniors and different people are getting access to food. But we know that that's an issue that doesn't just happen in the middle of a pandemic that goes beyond that. And so I had asked him to come and give a brief presentation. My hope is that after this presentation that this organization could partner with the city, have some conversations, and maybe there's a good way to work together moving forward. So with that, I do believe that our staff has a presentation. Thank you. And Mike, take it away. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for waiting so long to both you and the other organization. Appreciate it. Speaker 1: No, that's quite all right. Thank you very much, Mayor. Council members, thank you for allowing me to be the first one to say good morning to everybody. We're going to make this quick in large part because it's been a long night and because I've pounded four cups of coffee since 6:00. So we're going to go pretty quickly. My name is Mike Lee, Iraq. I serve as the executive director of Waste, Not Our Communities. I'm also a 35 year food industry lifer and for the last 28 years, a restaurateur. So if we could go to the next slide, I would like to share with you a regional solution I think is ideal for Long Beach. It is the waste sea model for food recovery to assist in ending food insecurity formed in 2012 by the public health officer for the County of Orange. We created the food recovery model in 2014. It is now widely regarded as the most effective food recovery and food waste reduction model in the country, recognized by calorie cycle last year as a model practice. And unfortunately, due to COVID this year, it proved to be a pretty effective emergency food management tool. So let's go to the next slide. In essence, we are the food recovery conductor. We are a public, private, nonprofit coalition. We do not compete with anyone. We act on behalf of the municipality, on behalf of the food donors and all of the various partners. We consider ourselves the conductor of an orchestra. As you see by the graphic, you'll see waste haulers, nonprofit organizations that do the heavy lifting on the ground. Municipalities, logistics providers. Food industry, county governments. They're all players. We connect those dots. We get everybody singing on the same sheet of music. Next slide. Basically we connect the entire food supply chain. We fill in the gaps that exist naturally in all of those existing efforts. From a food insecurity standpoint. We work with food health care providers to provide food or food insecurity screening questions. We provide food mapping so that those that screen positive have a place to go, an action plan. We also provide medically tailored meals for those who are food insecure, that have healthy dietary restrictions. From the recycling standpoint, we make sure there's an effective food rescue program in place. We have developed food recovery kitchens to repurpose existing large scale donations from processors and manufacturers and distributors, and we provide, most importantly, compliance data along the line. We elevate support services, and most importantly, we have provided innovative tools such as routines, recovery kitchens, solar powered cold storage and an emergency meal program. Next slide. Our outcomes so far in just Orange County alone, over £64 million of excess edible food recovered since 2015. And that is food that's been recovered and has actually fed people not recovered. It diverted to pantries where it is then wasted. In that second column, you'll see what we're very proud of. The waste rate at these nonprofit pantries who are serving as receptacles oftentimes for donors has dropped dramatically. Our goal is to get it in the single digits and it can it's easily obtainable. The last two columns you'll see that the food insecurity screening has yielded 185,000 families screened, 9000 patients identified as food insecure, have sent and directed to nonprofit pantries. Next slide. As you know, SB 1383 looms large. It is in effect, the fines and penalties will start in 2024, but it's in 2022 that we have to show that we are compliant, meaning the municipalities. And unfortunately for municipalities, the onus is on you to comply. There are no good faith considerations. And if you look at that last bullet point, there are 2025 requiring a 20% increase in recovery of currently disposed edible food. Doesn't seem like a daunting number, but what makes it more difficult? It is a moving target. As the food industry makes adjustments due to higher waste hauling costs, that target gets harder to hit. Next slide, please. The consequences, aside from just the daily fines and penalties. Most importantly, and I think the city manager will concur that potential litigation is what keeps most people up at night in noncompliance. You can bet that there will be suitors lined up to pursue litigation. Next slide, please. What we do to comply, provide compliance for municipalities is we track and record all the excess edible food donations from all of the organizations. It's a difficult task, but we're uniquely qualified because we are a coalition. We're including all of the local efforts that are already in place. We do not compete with any of them. We augment. We provide them with resources. We provide all of these nonprofit pantries, several of which I've heard from tonight. We provide them with the ability to participate in a buying program. So they get volume discount purchasing on some of those things they buy all the time. We provide a customer relation management platform to be able to provide a shared outreach touchpoint so we can track the city's outreach, the haulers outreach, and then our own outreach. And then we help by conducting peer to peer outreach, where food industry individuals, we're all professionals. We speak the food industry language. Next slide, please. This is just a smattering of some of the entities that work with us. You're going to recognize a lot of them. They're a combination of retail, grocery chains, restaurant companies, food service distributors, sports and entertainment. You're going to see health care providers, food recovery organizations, food banks, and then waste haulers. And this is just an idea. This is how we bring people together for a common goal. Go to the next slide, please. And how we do this is through a comprehensive municipal approach. And again, we tie up all the loose ends. We work with the city's waste recycling department, also building and planning, because any restaurant that wants to open in your city, it has to go to the planning and building department. It's a great opportunity to make them aware of SB 1383 arrangements for food donation, how to store food and also food waste diversion parks and recreations. Because once we get past COVID, we're going to return, hopefully to events being held at parks that often feature food service, school districts, medical care providers, and then, of course, service industry organizations similar to the restaurant associations and then also trade organizations. So the next slide, please. The innovation I discussed earlier. Pantry Mapping. We provide an up to date pantry map that shows hours of operations locations where people can go for access to food in the city of Long Beach. Next is food insecurity, screening, working with medical care providers. These two simple screening questions are now part of the American Academy of Pediatrics Toolkit, and hunger originated with waste not only implemented throughout Orange County. So the next slide. Using technology to identify available food with donors or matching donors with recipients, and most importantly, mitigating food safety concerns by tracking the time and temperature of the product when it's picked up and delivered. This will give a comfort level to food donors. It allows restaurants, hotels, grocery stores the opportunity to donate and feel safe. That food has been handled the same as it's being handled for profit. Next slide. Food Recovery Kitchen Network in Orange County. We are now producing 60,000 individually packaged meals each week through our network of food recovery kitchens that also provide culinary job training, all utilizing excess edible food donated from distributors, manufacturers and processors. And then finally, the last link of the chain was the ability to provide additional portable cold storage. In our case, we see them all the time in the port of Long Beach, the shipping containers used to move food back and forth across the ocean. We have successfully converted the first one to fully solar powered. It's a tremendous cold storage and logistics solution. It's a great way to get food out in the community and also a component of an emergency meal plan. Next slide, please. Now, as you know, charitable feeding tends to be disjointed just because it's difficult to to really be able to connect all the dots. What we do is we work with the public, private nonprofit efforts, do a needs assessment, provide a strategic plan, bring all the partners together and successfully manage food recovery in the city. Next slide. Again, COVID has taught us this is an emergency meal program. The slide you're seeing is all packaged meals prepared with food that is recovered as part of an inventory of in Orange County. We're building to a 1 million meal inventory so that in case of an earthquake in, there's a loss of power. The solar powered freezers keep this food frozen. It's ready to distribute in the community that these freezers are located. And these are providing ready to heat and eat meals to the community for at least the first 24, 48 hours until aid can get into the neighborhood. Next next slide, please. The bottom line is edible. Food recovery has caused benefits. Cost benefits to the food donor. Cost benefits to the waste hauler. Because it's a lot easier and cheaper to recover excess edible food than it is to divert it according to state law. Once it becomes a food waste, it's cost benefits to the city and also cost benefits to the health care industry. Next slide. You're going to start to see a couple or a few comments from those who we've worked with. Again, we are now working not only in Orange County but all throughout the country. The state of Mississippi has adopted the model. Ramsey County, Minnesota, King County, Washington. And let's go to the next slide. See the last two. But you'll see that this is a comprehensive program. It is definitely a regional effort. It is not simply a municipal effort. The food industry does not comprehend county border city lines. They understand regions and portfolios are going to have to present the presentation. Time is up. So thank you. No problem. Councilmember Pierce, is that a motion to receive and file the report? Speaker 2: Yes, it is. Thank you. Speaker 1: Is there any public comment on this? Speaker 0: There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 1: Okay. Then we will have a vote, please. And this is a motion by counsel appears in the second by councilors in the house. Speaker 0: District one. I'm District two. I District three. Speaker 2: Oh. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: District five. District seven. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: District eight. District nine. I ocean carries. Speaker 1: Good. Thank you. We're going to take a couple items. We have 55 and 56, I think are the audiences that need our readings. So let's do it. Let's do those. I know some folks are starting to I'm going to start losing folks.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a presentation Waste Not OC Coalition, a food recovery program for an effective and cost-efficient food recovery model for City Manager to decide at a later date if partnership with Waste Not OC is an effective model for Long Beach.

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Speaker 1: Good. Thank you. We're going to take a couple items. We have 55 and 56, I think are the audiences that need our readings. So let's do it. Let's do those. I know some folks are starting to I'm going to start losing folks. Here I am 55. Speaker 0: Communication from city attorney. Councilwoman Mango Councilman Prepares Councilwoman Price Recommendation to adopt an ordinance or an urgency ordinance amending Title five of the Long Beach Municipal Code related to short term rentals and adopt a resolution to submit the ordinance amendments to the California Coastal Commission citywide. Speaker 1: Is there any public comment? Yes. Our first speaker is Diane Reed. Diane Reed. Diane. Please be in. Oh. Can you hear me? Yes. Please begin. Okay. Hi. My name is Deanne Read. Um, my wife and I have been living in Long Beach for 26 years. We purchase up to you in a property here in Long Beach a year and a half ago, we rent the back unit out and the front unit, we we rent out Airbnb. Very successfully. I never had a problem. I do sympathize with those homeowners who are experiencing or manage Airbnbs in their community. But however, our Airbnb is being maintained in a very, very professional manner before we allow anyone to rent and would contact us and indicate the reason why they're coming to Long Beach. And if it's approved, my wife and I, we meet them at the house, we give them a call and then we give them a tour of our property. We make it very, very clear that they need to be spent sitting in the back and they have to respect the left and the right side. We also let them know that all of the people on the left side and the back unit have our phone numbers of anything wrong. They can call us. We only live 5 minutes away from our property, right around the corner, right next to Hughes Middle School. After we give them the tour. We tell them our power, couple of our rules and our main rule is no smoking in the home and no parties. Speaker 3: We think you're an ex speaker's. Gail Sheppard. Speaker 1: Gail Sheppard. Speaker 4: Hello? Yes. This is Gail Shepard. Speaker 1: Please begin. Speaker 4: Okay. I'm a long time resident of the third district. Second District. Excuse me. I'm asking council to vote against yours as an urgent issue or emergency, if anything, as the stars are creating more risk to our city. As far as COVID goes, please vote to allow city staff more time, at least the 45 days to be prepared . There's no lottery in place for the 800 Airbnbs coming. There's no way for buildings to about. There's nowhere for neighbors or residents to call in case of problems except the police department. I've spoken to jail cell Scott Baldwin at District two regarding the house next door that's become and hosted Airbnb for over a year now. Even with the owner's phone number, we have to act as managers out of necessity. We can't. We have to call the owners. It's also a nuisance to have to call them constantly. There's plumbing issues. There's some other issues, noise issue. We have no recourse at this time except for to call the owners. There are limited partnerships. They own three stores in Long Beach. These are 100 year old homes. Infrastructures can't take this traffic. We're having backups with plumbing. And I'm hoping that if you have to vote on this today, at least you can give the city time to be able to have a number for residents to call and to think. Speaker 3: Your next speaker is Jean Young. Speaker 1: Jinyoung. Speaker 4: Good morning. Good morning. Makati City Council Members. My name is Jinyoung. I'm a 30 year resident of District eight and I serve on the leadership team of the Long Beach Hosting Club. I'm calling in support of item 55, the short term rental ordinance. It is fair and balanced, and it's the product of four years of public input. The ordinance establishes standards for a responsible operation of both home sharing and vacation rentals. Your approval tonight grows the economy and an economically empowered small neighborhood and entrepreneurs and Long Beach. It gives the city much needed revenue that has been impacted by COVID. This ordinance does so much right. It limits short term rentals to one hosted primary residence and one vacation rental per owner. Fending off large corporate interests, it preserves neighborhoods and protects housing with percentage caps. It holds the host, the guests and the platform accountable, and it provides the mechanism to identify and site bad actors. With this ordinance, the controls are in place to legalize all short term rentals. Thank you to Janine Paris and to the price for your hard work and listening to all sides of the issue and crafting this fair and balanced ordinance. We hope they. Speaker 3: Thank your next speakers, Jennifer Walton. Jennifer Walton. Speaker 4: Hello? Speaker 1: Yes, please begin. Speaker 4: Hi. If you can hear me. My name's Jennifer Walton. And I hold on. I'm trying to get to a place like, okay, I'm a super host with Airbnb in Virgo here in Long Beach with guests from all over the world. For five and a half years, my property has generated a significant amount of revenue for our local businesses and our city, which benefits everyone. My property's unhosted, which makes it easy for during the pandemic for both my guests and myself. I rely on this income even more heavily now due to COVID restrictions on my other income streams. I'm very motivated to be a great host. I live just 20 minutes away and my manager lives just 10 minutes away. Here in Long Beach, we have installed noise sensors and have changed many of our house rules to accommodate. Fewer guests require longer stays and outdoor activity comes inside by 10 p.m.. Lately I've been, let's see, c one, which has ordinances in place addressing noise, parking and cost for every household, whether it's owner occupied a short term rental or a long term tenant. There's no excuse for anyone, whether a neighbor or city council member, to treat certain properties differently than others, when we must all abide by the city ordinances already in place. I just wanted to stop the scapegoating by some people of our fears and petty nonsense that goes on in some neighborhoods of a deep love and respect for my neighborhood. We have also hosted guests for of our residents of our own block numerous times, providing a service to our local community. Speaker 3: Thank you. Your next speakers, Krosnick. Speaker 1: The goalie. Question. Hello. I please begin. Hello? Well. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak in front of city council members. Technically, I do research at Irvine. I study learning happens on how to make learning landscapes that I teach kids. Although here I'm talking as an Airbnb host who I wouldn't have been able to really support my education on the beaches of Long Beach and imagine for many years of the topic, because I really wouldn't have been able to pay rent if there was an Airbnb, I wouldn't have been able to pay rent for. I would imagine, Professor, I wouldn't have been able to support my family. I wouldn't have been able to support my schooling. And right now, I probably wouldn't have been able to support myself if there wasn't going to be me. I think we like some of the previous comments. As I said, we have worked really hard for this and I think it is time to look up this ordinance, so please adopt this ordinance. That's my concern. Speaker 3: I think your next speaker is Susan Bailey. Susan Bailey. Speaker 4: Yes. Good morning, Mayor, and members of city council. My name is Susan Bailey and I have owned a home in District three for 35 years. My husband and I split our time between Denver and Long Beach. We're retirees. And when we are not in Long Beach. My family members and neighbors meet our guests. Long Beach is a place I love. It's where I grew up and the source of revenue that we use from our properties supports my 88 year old mother, who lives about 5 minutes from our Belmont Shore property. I am here this evening in support of Unhosted stays to be included in the ordinance. I think, as others have said, countless hours of public input have been considered over several years and there is unequivocally a very strong value not only to host but to businesses and the local Long Beach economy, which we know is inordinately suffering and the thoughtful consideration of the Council around limiting unhosted to be able to have a proper study of the impact and most importantly, to ensure compliance. I would tell you that we consider Long Beach our home, even though we spend six months a year there, and if our home was not unhosted, it would simply sit vacant and would not generate tax revenue for the city. Thank you very much. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 1: Okay. Let me let me go back to the council. Just as a reminder, we've I know we've had a opportunity to debate this extensively, so let me just hope we can go through quickly. Council Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 2: A motion to approve. Speaker 1: Thank you. Just a second. About Councilman. Mongo. Anything? Councilman. Mongo. Speaker 2: I think it's all been said in many, many meetings before. Speaker 1: Councilman's in house. Speaker 2: Thank you. There. I so appreciate all of the work that has been done to get this item to where it is now. And while I feel that our city is moving in the right direction, I do still have concerns about the unintended consequences this could have on our local housing market. After further discussion with stakeholders in my district and in the community. I still worry that we are incentivizing property owners in our city to market their units as short term rentals rather than housing units for our local residents. We are in the midst of two very difficult and different crisis of affordable housing and COVID, both of which are central to our discussion on short term rentals. Thank you for the time. Speaker 1: Thank you. Remember, she's Castro's mayor. Mayor? Speaker 3: This is a turning point in the motion, as I understand. The motion by Councilmember Pearce and second by Councilmember Mongo will be to declare this ordinance as an urgency ordinance. Speaker 1: Is that correct? Speaker 2: Yes. Sorry about. Speaker 1: That yet. And therefore. Speaker 3: Therefore, we will need two votes. The first vote will be on the urgency and the second vote will be on the ordinance. Speaker 1: Thank you. The roll call vote on the first one. Speaker 0: CD one. Speaker 2: Nine. Speaker 0: CD to. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: CD three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: CD for. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Council district five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Council District six seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Council. District eight. District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Ocean carries. Speaker 1: Kit. And I'm in second row, please. Speaker 0: District one, ne district two. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: I District three. High district for. Speaker 1: My. Speaker 0: District five. I. District seven. Speaker 2: I ate. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending and restating Chapter 5.77, related to short-term rentals; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 1: I'm 56. Please. Speaker 0: Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to tenant harassment and declaring the urgency thereof. Read the first time and later the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading. Speaker 1: Is there any public comment on this? Speaker 0: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 1: Okay. Can I get a motion in a second, please? Mostly Councilmember Pearce. Can I get a second, please? Councilor. Can I get a second on the motion? Okay. Second back, Councilwoman Pryce, please cast your votes. Rourke over. Speaker 0: District one. Any district to. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 0: District three. I district for my district five. I. District seven. District eight. District nine. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: Okay, great. We'll go back to the regular agenda. I think just the rest of the remaining items should go fairly quickly. Councilman woman pearce had a motion. Frightened 52. Do you want to go and make that?

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)

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Speaker 1: Okay, great. We're going to go back to the agenda. We have two hearings. One side is to hearing tape. Speaker 0: Please report from economic development recommendations, receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing and adopt a resolution continuing the Fourth Street Parking and Business Improvement Area Assessment Levee District two. Speaker 1: Mr. Modica. Speaker 2: Good evening, Mayor. I'd like to introduce Eric Romero, project manager, Economic Development Department. He'll make the staff presentation for this item. Speaker 1: And Eric, just give us a quick overview. Sure. The fourth Street parking and business improvement area was established by the City Council in 27, allowing for the live even annual assessment to be paid by businesses located in the district. The city contracts with the Fourth Street Business Improvement Association to manage the district. State law requires that a public hearing be held on the proposed program, an assessment at its November 17, 2020, meeting. The City Council approved a resolution granting approval to any report declaring the intention of the City Council to levy the assessment and sets a day of the data public hearing. So the Council shaheer and consider all protest from area businesses against the settlement program are boundaries and proposed in any report. That concludes my staff report. Any public comment, Madam Clerk? Speaker 0: No public comment on this item. Speaker 1: Council member Pearce made the motion. Let's go to a rock. There's a second bike. Who's got the second Sunday house. Okay. And please walk over. Speaker 0: District 1. Speaker 2: A.m.. Speaker 0: District two. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District three. I District four, district five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District eight. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. Hearing 29 please.

Resolution

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, adopt resolution continuing the Fourth Street Parking and Business Improvement Area assessment levy for the period of October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021; and authorize City Manager, or designee, to extend the agreement with the Fourth Street Business Improvement Association for a one-year term. (District 2)

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Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. Hearing 29 please. Speaker 0: Report from economic development recommendation to receive supporting documentation under the record. Conclude the public hearing. Adopt a resolution continuing the Bixby Note Parking and Business Improvement Area Assessment Levy District seven and eight. Speaker 1: Counter Miranda makes the motion staff report a short report on this. Speaker 2: Yes. I'd like to introduce Eric Romero, project manager, who will also make this staff presentation. Speaker 1: Thank you. The city contract with the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association to manage the Bixby North Parking and Business Improvement Area, and the Association's Board of Directors serve as advisory board to the City Council on matters related to the District. State law requires that a public hearing be held on the proposed program and assessment. At its November 17, 2020 meeting, the City Council approved a resolution granting approval of the annual report, declaring the intention of the City Council to levy the assessment and set today as the date a public hearing. City Council should hear and consider all protests from area businesses against the assessment programs and boundaries of the area as proposed in the report. That concludes my staff report is any public comment. Speaker 0: There. No public comment on this item. Speaker 1: Okay. The motion that comes from your rank and comparable to Austin, and unless one of them wants to say anything, I'm going to do a roll call vote. So a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. District two. I've District three. First District three, District four. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: District five. District seven. I District eight. District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Ocean cares. Speaker 1: Okay. Let's let's blast through these last ones here. 33.

Resolution

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, adopt resolution continuing the Bixby Knolls Parking and Business Improvement Area assessment levy for the period of October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021; and authorize City Manager, or designee, to extend the agreement with the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association for a one-year term. (Districts 7,8)

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Speaker 1: I'm 35. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilmember Pearce, Councilwoman Price, Councilmember Younger Councilmember Richardson recommendation to receive and file a presentation on the Giving Heart Tree Project. Speaker 1: Catherine Pearce. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I had a presentation with this, but I did not expect it to be almost 1:00. So this is our last gift to the second district. It is my attempt to ensure that we are addressing our climate change issues, our beautification of our neighborhoods, and really building a community structure and network that is going to give back to the district for a long time. Every tree that is planted consumes about 50% of their carbon dioxide, their weight in carbon dioxide. This is something that greatly impacts our health, including issues like COVID, something that I've talked about many times with this council. So we agenda is previously $2.50 thousand to plant trees in the second district. We've got 2300 empty tree wells in the second district. Our goal is to raise the rest of that money to plant these trees. The majority of them are in neighborhoods probably in front of your yard or the park that you go to. And so we're asking for community members to join us on Thursday at 7 p.m.. Myself, our mayor, will be there briefly. The incoming council member for the second District will be joining us, Cindy Allen, which I'm very thankful of and many more. We've got three bands. We'll be raising these funds to make sure that we can not only plant these trees, but that the jobs stay locally. If we reach our goal of planting 2300 trees, we'll actually create about 6000 work hours right here in the second District. So it's something that we thought was appropriate given the state of our budget, but also given the state of our climate. And so I'll save you guys the PowerPoint, but expect each of the council members and staff. There's an activity book that goes along with this item. We will have these activity books at Second District restaurants. If you order from them on Thursday, you'll be able to get a second district activity book with your meal delivery. Right now we've got the socialist, the ordinary, and I believe Alley's on board. Anybody else that wants to reach out, we'd love to drop some of these off with you. It includes a coloring page that actually opens up into a poster. So we're encouraging everybody to color that with their families safely and put that up in your window so that you can continue to build that community with the residents and your neighbors. So with that, I ask for the council to vote yes on this item. Speaker 1: Is there any public comment? Speaker 0: No public comment on this item. Speaker 1: Okay. World control, please. Speaker 0: District one. District two. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 2: By District seven. By District eight. Speaker 0: Rye District nine. My motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on the Giving Heart Tree Project, a gift from Council District 2 and from Councilwoman Pearce.

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Speaker 1: Next item, please, which is 36. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilmember Pearce recommendation to increase appropriations in the Public Works Department by 5600 to install speed cushions on Florida Street from Cherry Avenue to One Opera Avenue in the Second District. Speaker 1: Councilor Beers. Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I just want to say how much I appreciate our public works really working with us. We have been trying to slow traffic down on the street since literally my first month in office. And it's it's very much wanted by the constituents there. So hopefully I can get everybody support. Thank you. Speaker 1: Any public comment? Speaker 0: No public comment on this item. Speaker 1: Roll call vote please. Speaker 0: District one. High District two. I District three. District Court. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: District five by district seven i. District eight. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District ninth. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: Okay. 49, please.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Public Works Department by $5,600, offset by the Second Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to install speed cushions on Florida Street from Cherry Avenue to Junipero Avenue in the Second District; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $5,600 to offset a transfer to the Public Works Department.

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Speaker 0: District nine. Ocean carries. Speaker 1: 50. Speaker 0: Report from Human Resources recommendation to adopt a resolution approving to appoint John GROSS as interim appointment to a vacant position during recruitment for a permanent replacement in the financial management department citywide. Speaker 1: And in a motion in a second place. Came motion by cancer, a piercing, a concern for Austin. Is there any public comment on this item? Yes, we have issue Shukla. Hello, kids. One question. Do we know in rough dollar terms how much money was left on the table over the past two and a half years by not having a community choice aggregation program in place? I think. Thank you. That concludes further comment. Carol called out this. Speaker 0: District one district to. Speaker 2: I was sorry. Speaker 0: District two, Sergeant. Councilmember Pearce, District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. District five. II District seven. II District. Speaker 2: Eight. Speaker 0: By District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. Item 52 is moved at 53. Speaker 0: Item 51 is remaining. 5151 Report from Human Resources Recommendation to adopt a resolution of intention to amend the city's contract with CalPERS to include a mandatory employee contribution of 3% of compensation earner bill towards the city's required employer.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution approving to appoint John Gross, retired annuitant, as an interim appointment to a vacant position during recruitment for a permanent replacement in the Financial Management Department pursuant to Government Code 21221(h) and an exception to the 180-day waiting period for Public Agencies pursuant to Government Code 7522.56 and 21224. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Item 51 is remaining. 5151 Report from Human Resources Recommendation to adopt a resolution of intention to amend the city's contract with CalPERS to include a mandatory employee contribution of 3% of compensation earner bill towards the city's required employer. Contribution to CalPERS applicable to Long Beach Police Officers Association, Classic Public Safety CalPERS members and declare an ordinance to amend the city's contract with CalPERS. Read the first time and later the next regular meeting of City Council for Final Reading Citywide. Speaker 1: And in motion. In a second, please. I don't have any public comment because the motion by Councilmember Austin and in a second, please. Speaker 2: Send the. Speaker 1: Second my customer. Your anger broke over. Speaker 0: District one I, District two. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District three i. District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District eight. District nine. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt Resolution of Intention to amend the City’s contract with the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) to include a mandatory employee contribution of 3 percent of compensation earnable toward the City's required employer contribution to CalPERS (in addition to the 9 percent statutory employee contribution) pursuant to Government Code Section 20516(a), applicable to Long Beach Police Officers Association Classic Public Safety CalPERS Members; and

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Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: Item 53. Speaker 0: Report from Public Works. Recommendation to execute a Third Amendment to contract with L.A. Z Parking California for parking operation and management services to increase the contract amount by $3,761,076 citywide. Speaker 1: Is there any public comment? Speaker 0: No public comment. Speaker 1: I need a motion in a second, please. Mozambique Council among those taken by Ringa. Roll call votes. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 0: District two. I. District three. I. District four. By District five. By seven. By District eight. District nine. A motion carries. Speaker 1: Okay, great. We're going to I had a request to move up item 67. So we're going to be 67 next.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute a third amendment to Contract No. 34895 with LAZ Parking California, LLC, of Los Angeles, CA, for parking operations and management services, to increase the contract amount by $3,761,076 for a revised total amount not to exceed $18,904,751, for a one-year term, at the discretion of the City Manager. (Citywide)

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Speaker 1: Okay. Now we're back to item 54. Speaker 0: Report from Public Works, Park Record Recreation and Marine recommendation to award a contract to Byram Davey for the construction of an artificial turf field for a total contract amount not to exceed 1,455,427. And adopt a resolution to execute contracts with Field Turf USA for the purchase and installation of artificial turf for the project for a total contract amount not to exceed 583,387 District five. Speaker 1: Councilwoman Margo. Speaker 2: Thank you. I have a couple questions for Steph, please. Can someone please speak to the current field conditions and the water delivery system of the field currently at Eldorado Park? Speaker 3: Yes. Brian, Dennis and Eric Lopez can work on that question. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 3: We're getting set up. Stand by. Speaker 2: No problem. I'll make some comments while we wait. Year over year, since I've been elected since 2014, during each season, my office receives dozens and dozens of calls and emails from concerned parents regarding the poor field conditions in Eldorado Park. This project was approved before I was on the City Council with its initial allotment of funding. However, through the years, the project has changed significantly and so I think it's important to speak to a couple of those issues. Brant there. Speaker 1: That good. Good evening or good morning. Speaker 5: Honorable Mayor and council members. Council woman mango. Yes. So the current conditions of the field right now, we see about 40 to 45 hours per week that's utilized at least during normal times with permitted use, although during COVID times we do see some teams out. This was prior to the current health orders just doing conditioning and skills training. Speaker 1: But we also. Speaker 5: Experienced about 12 to 16 weeks of seasonal downtime for the field to recover and for annual maintenance and restoration work. I think it's probably widely known that the irrigation system or infrastructure in a lot of our older parks, Eldorado Park included. Speaker 1: Isn't quite as reliable. Speaker 5: So that. Speaker 1: From time to time. Speaker 5: Caused us some disruption in field usage. Also, just some of the other natural conditions we do have in certain areas are gopher. Speaker 1: Problems that cause some of, you know, tunneling and holes. And I know a lot of. Speaker 5: Soccer coaches are often concerned about that additional condition for for the current. Speaker 1: Fields at Eldorado. Speaker 2: Thank you. One of the things that we explored together and with two previous Parks and Rec directors was the possibility of maintaining a field at a higher quality, similar to, say, Long Beach State and the costs associated. Ideally, we would have been able to go with grass, but it's my understanding that while each state spends more than 50,000 a year to maintain just one field, one natural grass club, club, soccer fields, it looks like the building cost of 144,000 is for eight years of maintenance, and that would be a significant reduction compared to what it could cost if we were to try to maintain natural and a natural grass field at the same level. And do you have any additional comments related to the quality of the maintenance provided? I know we have two other fields in the city and I've received some questions related to and you've been on the calls, I'm just ensuring that we're not putting in a field and then forgetting about it. Speaker 5: No, that's a that's a excellent follow up question. I know Director Lopez probably has some other experience, but my understanding of our field that Admiral Kidd and the other synthetic soccer fields of head, they've had some minimal but but actually welcomed ongoing maintenance coverage which I think is important and this is a valuable consideration for the proposal before council this evening. Speaker 1: I would like to make an. Speaker 5: Additional comment and it is about the watering for a. Speaker 1: Quality field. And I think in terms of ongoing costs. Speaker 5: It is clear that, you know, the costs of water will continue to go up. And it seems like our experience recently is that the the length of our droughts that sometimes hit Southern. Speaker 1: California and in our area, in Long. Speaker 5: Beach in particular, would be something else that can be seen as a benefit with a synthetic soccer field, which, you know, during drought times could certainly, definitely be a budget asset for us. Speaker 2: Great point. That 50,000 number from Long Beach State did not include their water costs. Another consideration for this field is environmental considerations that came up early on in the discussions. It's important to note that we will not be using crumb rubber for this field. We're using natural substances and that we do have an end of life plan for the project, as you did when you proposed the other turf fields for our city spaces. Do you want to speak to any additional environmental considerations you feel are important as a part of this project? Recyclability. You already mentioned water usage. Even the carbon offsets. I know you designed a bunch of trees surrounding this project so that we could retain and provide a natural barrier. Speaker 5: Yeah, I do know that. And this was prior to my arrival, but I knew there was a lot of valuable community input regarding the original proposed project. So I know the. The deletion of perimeter fencing, I think for both esthetic reasons and just to maintain the open accessibility for the community was an important and I also originally there were led. Speaker 1: Lighting proposed and I think that was removed again just. Speaker 5: To make it, I think a more conducive project of considering the history of it being more or less a passive. Speaker 1: Natural environment for the park. Speaker 2: Well, thank you for that information. I was glad to see that the field improvement has come in significantly under budget at 1.85 million. Originally, this project was estimated at an inflated cost of 3.1 million when a bunch of considerations were taken in. But I know that market conditions have changed. And at a time when people need jobs, this is a job generator. And we're really proud to be able to have a project labor agreement for this and it is supported by those unions. Additionally, if approved, this would be the final of the three tariffs that were originally approved in 2014. As I mentioned before I was elected, like the other two extremely popular fields at ADM Kid and Seaside Park's Eldorado, Westfield would serve tens of thousands of kids and their families for 15 years of of play. Additionally, this field will not have a fence around it. It will be accessible to the community, including when people attend concerts in the park in that area. It has always been a staple and last year my daughter really enjoyed playing on the fields. But I will say that by the third week of play, huge dust piles and mud puddles and once a rain or sprinklers had been on. So I think the parents will really appreciate the new cleaner environment for their kids to play. And additionally, I have no doubt that the field will host future athletes that would have fond memories of playing at Eldorado Park and go on to great levels. We are very fortunate to have a partner in our nonprofit organization, Partners of Parks. They do provide scholarships for sports. And as many know in trying to achieve equity and helping kids get into programing. Soccer is one of the more affordable sports available for kids in our community. And so scholarships go further when there are more available spaces for soccer, no matter what side of the aisle you're on. Regarding synthetic turf, it's apparent that people care deeply about Eldorado Park, and I'm really proud of that. We all think of it as our park. I know. I think of it as my park. I'm there all the time. We all want to be proud of the things that we value and care about most. And it's important that we maintain safe outdoor spaces for healthy, active play for our children. Given the current conditions of the field, this project's been way overdue and it only just begins to address the needs of our city wide field spaces. I'm I'm very thankful and we've received a lot of communication in my office and through the several years, many know that I'm in the park almost daily and out in the community. And while I have talked to hundreds and hundreds of people about this project and there's been a lot of posting on social media both for and against in the. Speaker 0: Councilman, your 5 minutes is up. Speaker 2: Wonderful. I have one last statement. As of today, 246 people have contacted my office on this item with interest in support of 129 individuals. Despite the online communications that there's more opposed, there were 117 individuals opposed. And I know that that is just a microcosm of our city. There are hundreds of individuals represented by some of these emails that really do support the project. And so it has taken a long time to get to this point and I hope that everyone will support this item. And we did take a long time to consider alternatives and make adjustments to support the concerns of the community. Thank you. Speaker 1: The second mic comes from Boston, roll call vote of mayor. Speaker 3: We have one public comment. Speaker 1: Oh, okay. Go ahead and control. Speaker 3: And Cantrell. And control if you're there. Could you yourself please begin? Speaker 1: Okay. We will go ahead and go to a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one, district two. I District three. High District for. Speaker 1: NE. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District six. District seven. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: District eight. District nine. I know she carries three identities. Speaker 1: Let's read 50, 78 and 59 and then we'll do it all together. This read each item.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt Plans and Specifications No. R-7167 for the El Dorado Park West Artificial Turf Soccer Field Project (Project) and award a contract to Byrom-Davey, Inc. of San Diego, CA, for the construction of the artificial turf field, in the amount of $1,323,115, with a 10 percent contingency in the amount of $132,312, for a total contract amount not to exceed $1,455,427, and authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract, including any necessary amendments; and Adopt resolution authorizing City Manager, or designee, to execute contracts, and any necessary amendments, with FieldTurf USA, of Calhoun, GA, on the same terms and conditions afforded to Region 4 Education Service Center Contract No. R162203, through Omnia Partners, for the purchase and installation of artificial turf for the Project, in the amount of $530,352, with a 10 percent contingency in the amount of $53,035, for a total contract amount not to exceed $583,387; and, for eight years of maintenance of the artificial turf field following the completion of

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Speaker 1: Let's read 50, 78 and 59 and then we'll do it all together. This read each item. Speaker 0: I don't 57 Communication from City Attorney Recommendation Declare an ordinance designating 262 Newport Avenue as a historic landmark. Read for the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of City Council for Final Reading and adopt a resolution establishing a historic resource designation for the property. Item 58 Communication from City Attorney Recommendation Declare Ordinance Designating two for four Miramar Avenue as a historic landmark. Read the first time and letter of the next regular meeting of City Council for Final Reading and adopt a resolution establishing a historic resource designation for the property. An Item 59 Communication from City Attorney Recommendation declared an ordinance designating 40 zero four Cedar Avenue as a historic landmark. Read it for the first time and lead over the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading and adopt a resolution establishing a historic resource designation for the property. Speaker 1: Give a motion in a second by Councilman Price and Councilman Austin. Is there any public comment? Speaker 0: There's no public comment on these items. Speaker 1: All right. So we'll cover. Speaker 0: District one. My district to. I. District three. District Court. I thank you. District Court. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Hi. District nine. I motion carries.

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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Speaker 1: Okay. Item 60. Speaker 0: Communication from city attorney recommendation declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Title 22 read and adopted as read citywide. Speaker 1: Can I get a motion in a second, please? I got emotional accounts from Roxanne. Can I get a second, please? Take away Councilman Price. Any public comment? Speaker 0: No public comment on this item. Speaker 1: Okay. We'll Congress. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 2: I am. Speaker 0: District two. I District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. District five. District five. District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District eight. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding title 22 (UPLAN Zoning Code) which adds new zoning districts and regulations to implement the 2019 long beach general plan land use element update and adoption, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 1: I think, item 66 as our last item. Is that right, Madam Burke? Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 0: Item 66 Communication from Councilmember Pearce, Councilwoman Zendejas, Councilmember, your UNGA recommendation to direct city manager to provide a status update on the progress of the city auditor recommendations for human resources. Speaker 1: Councilman Pearce. Speaker 2: Sorry, I didn't text. Motion to move forward. I talked to staff and we'd just like a public recap of where we are with our H.R. changes whenever staff is ready. Should be available in the next 90 days. Thank you. Speaker 1: Okay, Griffith, there's a motion and a motion in the second about that. They have ask, is there any public comment? Yes, we have. Tiffany, D.V.. If any TV. Speaker 4: Yeah. Okay. Last comment for the morning. Would like to see this as a continued discussion in the Human Relations Commission as they begin to. Speaker 1: Approach in discussion with. Speaker 4: The Families for Reconciliation and how those recommendations from that process report. Speaker 1: On the impact. Speaker 4: This. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes part of the comment. Speaker 1: Okay. Roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. I talked to. I. District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four i. District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 1: Are. Speaker 0: District nine. Motion carries. Speaker 1: Okay. That concludes the agenda. I don't think I have anyone that's making any announcements on this. I don't see anyone plugged in for announcements. I'll just start again. Congratulations again to Councilmember Pearce and Vice Mayor Andrews. And with that, we will adjourn the meeting.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to provide a status update on the progress of the City Auditor recommendations for Human Resources including hiring, onboarding practices, drug test policy, and tools for employees, commissioners and interns to file anonymously harassment claims in the next 90 days.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. We're going to hear the two items from consent that were pulled. Starting with item 3031, please. Speaker 0: Report from Health and Human Services recommendation to execute all necessary documents with the Board of State and Community Corrections to accept and expend grant funding for the Long Beach Act. Activating Safe Communities Program in the Washington Neighborhood District one. Speaker 2: Councilman's and Day House. Speaker 5: You, Mayor. I know that we have a lot on the calendar tonight, and I would love to pull this off as a consent calendar and say it was incredibly important and worthy of being highlighted for the community members. Turning tuning in to today's meeting, something that has been incredibly important. If you're ever since I took office, has become even more critical over the last few months. And that has been our violence. Violent crimes in central and west Long Beach. That's been mostly impacting my Washington neighborhood. This is why this is one of my top priorities. And I think that it's critical for our residents to know that we are prioritizing their safety and well-being in our communities where it's most needed. I'm excited for the impact that these resources are going to have in addressing the issues that my residents bring to me each day. And I'm so grateful to the staff that have worked and secured this front on behalf of the Washington residents. Thank you very much. Speaker 2: Thank you. Can I get a second on the motion, please? Have a second backcountry ranger. I don't see any public comment on item 31. So called up. Speaker 0: District one. I. District two. I. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. All right. District five. I. District six. And in District seven. By District eight. Hi. District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all necessary documents, any subcontracts, and any necessary amendments, including any amendments to the award amount, with the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC), to accept and expend grant funding in the amount of $1,102,698, for the Long Beach Activating Safe Communities Program in the Washington Neighborhood, for the period of October 1, 2020 through December 31, 2023, with the option to extend the agreement for one additional year, at the discretion of the City Manager; and Increase appropriations in the Health Fund Group in the Health and Human Services Department by $1,102,698, offset by grant revenue. (District 1)

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Now we're going on to 45, please, from. Speaker 0: Recommendation to award a contract to G HD Inc Design Service for Design Services for the Artesia Great Boulevard Project, District nine. Speaker 2: Councilman Richardson. Speaker 1: Thank you. It's a great project. The artists art is a great boulevard, and I'd like to highlight it. So I've asked staff a short staff presentation. Speaker 4: Oh, I'd like to ask Eric Lopez if he can give a quick stop report. Speaker 2: Thank you, Tom. Honorable Mayor, members of the city council. This is a project that we have been working on. We're we're seeking authorization to enter into a contract with DHT of Long Beach, California, for our engineering design services so that they can help us design the project, develop the bid package, and get this project ready for construction . The project will implement a series of complete street improvements along a three mile stretch of our T.J. Boulevard. It is a regionally significant east west arterial street that carries high volumes of through traffic, as well as traffic fronts and surrounding neighborhoods and large trip generators. The improvements are comprehensive. This will be a major project that will not only improve pavement, street and sidewalks and but will also improve signals and landscaping and and other initiatives consistent with our different master plans, including the bike master plan. This concludes our staff's report. Not to make your. Speaker 1: Thank you. This is a great project. I want to highlight it. $17 million in investment. It's Artesia Boulevard, a major corridor, and it's important for North Harbor. Thank you. Speaker 2: Can I get a second, please? Okay. We were talking about customer your income over. Speaker 0: District one i. District two i. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. All right. District five. I. District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. District eight. Speaker 1: II. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. Now we're going to hear items 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 61 and 78. These are all funds transfers from council offices. So, Madam Court, please read those items.

Contract

Recommendation to adopt Plans and Specifications No. RFP PW20-004 and award a contract to GHD, Inc., of Long Beach, CA, for engineering design services for the Artesia Great Boulevard Project, in a total amount not to exceed $2,269,451, and authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter the contract, including any necessary amendments; Increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group by $7,977,118, offset by Measure R and Proposition C funds from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) (MR315.70); and Increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group in the Public Works Department by $7,977,118, offset by a transfer of Metro Measure R and Proposition C funds from the Capital Grants Fund. (District 9)

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Speaker 0: Item 53 recommendation to increase appropriations by 3500 to provide a contribution to CSU Albi for producing a firework PSA. Item 54 Communication from Councilwoman Price Recommendation to Request City Manager to provide a donation of 2500 to Long Beach Organic and not the Community Action Team, as was previously approved by City Council on August 4th, 2020. Item 55 Communication from Councilman Super Not recommendation increase appropriations by 2500 to provide a donation to the United Cambodian community in support of an upcoming community mural project. Item 56 Communication from Councilwoman Price Recommendation to increase appropriations by $650 to provide a contribution to Community Action Team for their annual Turkey Trot 10-K. Item 57 Communication with Councilmember Pearce. Recommendation to increase appropriations by 3637 to provide a donation to AOC seven for the second District Annual Turkey Giveaway Event on November 23rd, 2020. Item 61 Communication from Councilmember Pierce, Councilwoman Price Councilmember Turanga Councilmember Richardson recommend recommendation to increase appropriations by 50,000 to provide a donation to Partners of Parkes to support a giving heart tree project in the second District. And item 78. Communication from Council Member Richardson. Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund in City Manager Department by 32,500 to support 3590805 Initiative and the Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion and Increase Appropriations in the special advertising and Promotion Fund Group and the City Manager Department by 13,000 1111. Speaker 2: Thank you. Do you have any. Do we have a motion in a second by Councilmember Richardson and Councilmember Pearce? I'm going to go back to them in a second and have another councilmember. Do we have any public comment on these items? Speaker 0: No public comment on these items. Speaker 2: Governor Richardson gave any comments. Speaker 1: Well, sir. Thank you. Speaker 2: Customer Pearce. Speaker 0: Yes, I need to make one adjustment to item 57 for the turkey giveaway. It reads It should provide a donation to AC seven. It needs to be changed to, say, transfer to provide a donation to Long Beach. Forward to be used by AOC seven. And that is it. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay. And Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Pryce, are you there? I have a cute and. Okay. I don't have Councilman Price. So we are going to go in and go and do a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. I district to. I District three. District four. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. I. District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District eight. By District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Madam Court. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Mayor, can you hear me? Speaker 2: I couldn't hear you there for a minute. Okay. Thank you very much. So that takes care of all of those items. When I go back now to the hearings, which are on the agenda. So let's go ahead and go.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriation in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $32,500, offset by the Ninth Council District One-time Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to support Thrive 90805 Initiative at $22,500 and support for the Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion at $10,000; and Decrease appropriation in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $32,500 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department; Increase appropriations in the Special Advertising and Promotion Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $13,111, offset by the Ninth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide support for the Creative Corridor Challenge at $10,035 and fund advertising for the 9th Annual Virtual Uptown Jazz Festival at $3,076; and Decrease appropriations in the Special Advertising and Promotion Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $13,111 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

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Speaker 2: We have three hearings. We're going to start. We're going to start with 49. Speaker 5: I'd like to introduce our development services director. Speaker 0: Oscar Orsi to introduce staff for this presentation. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor, and members of the City Council. This is the first phase of our implementation of the land use element vis a vis the zoning code. And I'm happy to introduce our new planning manager, Patricia. Patricia Defender for who will give you a brief presentation. Speaker 5: Good evening, Mayor and council members Patricia defend Darfur. The item before you is the establishment of new zoning districts and rezoning of Artesia and Atlantic, Artesia Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue. That is part of the uptown planning, land use and neighborhood strategies or new plan process. Next slide. Speaker 3: Please. Speaker 5: This item has three main components. Thank you, sir. The establishment involves the establishment of a new Title three Municipal Code, Title 22 to facilitate the update of the zoning code with new zoning districts that will implement the 2019 General Plan Land Use Element Update and transition from existing the existing Zoning Code Title 21 two to the new zoning code. It also involves the adoption of 12 new zoning tools, specifically that implement three place types within the journal that were established by the general plan. I'll go into that in more detail. The 12 zones are comprised of six primary citywide zones and six series zones, which are tailored to the north Long Beach area. And then finally, the rezoning of properties on Artesian Atlantic to one of the six new acreage zones. This diagram just briefly just illustrates the relationship between the general plan and the new zones. So the city, of course, has a general plan in 2019. The land use element was updated and the City Council adopted an urban design element. The land use element established 14 place types. The zoning code implements the general plan. However, the current zoning code is does not have the range of tools that are necessary to implement the new general plan, taste type, place types. And therefore that is why the new zoning code is the Title 22 is being proposed as an update. And this the diagram kind of on the radar shows the 12 new zones and the fact that there are six that are tailored for North Long Beach. The planning process was a collaborative effort between the city and the community that resulted in the proposed zoning tools that you that are before the council today and that help implement the community's goals and vision for an area that is a thriving, livable and equitable community where existing residents benefit from the future investment and change in the area. This map shows the area that has been under study there. As our director noted, the plan process planning process is divided into two phases. The first phase is indicated by the orange on the map here, the two corridors that we've been discussing, the phase two, all that is currently in process and is expected to wrap up next year. It will address zoning and other considerations in the rest of the area on this map. This is just a timeline that kind of really is intended to communicate the level and extent of outreach that was done for this project. This project has had extensive outreach in the form of advisory committee meetings, workshops. Work audits, demonstration projects. The next couple of slides, kind of give more detail on the timeline. I'm not going to go into that in there in a lot of detail, but just highlight some of the more near term milestones. The zoning districts, the zoning code, draft zoning code that is before the council was first released to the public in May of last year, and it went to the Planning Commission in November, sorry, in June, and is now here before the City Council in November. This is just a division statement that was developed in conjunction with the community, with the community. A number of technical studies were prepared in order to inform the zoning recommendations, including an extensive parking parking study and feasibility testing of different development standards. This slide shows the map of the general plan place types that were adopted as part of the land use element. And you can see the three different place types represented on these corridors and the heights that are permitted per the general plan, which range vary between three and four stories. So the next slide, this is the zoning map itself and you can see how those place types were translated into these zones. The two kind of orange colored zone zones represent primarily residential but mixed use zones that also allow commercial. The three blue shades of blue represent different mixed use zones that allow both commercial, residential and combinations thereof at various types of uses and intensities. And the the pink indicates the area that is zoned for solely commercial use. So no residential is allowed there. To characterize the nature of these zone changes. These are limited to the corridors and involve minimal single family. They implement changes are already established in the general plan in terms of allowable uses and heights. The new zones limit new uses of certain types that are concentrated in the area, that are existing uses, are grandfathered in and are permitted to remain. The expanded use is allowed by these zones. Zoning tools are designed to encourage housing and a wider range of commercial uses to address existing needs for housing, services and jobs. The next few slides I'll try to go through very quickly. Just summarize the rezoning recommendations. In general, the uses are broader use categories that allow flexibility for new and evolving businesses. The use regulations support desired uses in the in the neighborhoods such as grocery stores and institutional educational uses. And it generally expands allowances for mixed use and residential development in areas that previously would only allow commercial. In terms of land use. There's incentives for, as I noted, desirable uses that were expressed as desirable uses by the community. And it places limitations on new uses that are concentrated in the area, such as motels, drive thrus, off site, alcohol and the like. Okay. So development standards, generally speaking, the new zones are form based and design oriented. They encourage buildings that are oriented to the street and that activate street frontages. There are new tailored open space regulations that scale with the size of the lots. In response to the shallow ness of some lots on commercial corridors and other physical site constraints. Okay. All right. I'm having trouble advancing the slide here. Let's see. Almost done. Okay. There we go. Parking in general has been modified to standardize requirements across a wide range of commercial. Commercial uses to facilitate building re-use and parking reductions are used as an incentive. So this find that this slide is just a recap that reminds the council and mayor of the different components of this project . And that includes, I think, that our civil deputy director wants to kind of summarize here in the slide. Speaker 4: Sure. Thank you, Petra. So so tonight is very much about Councilman Austin and Councilman Richardson and these changes to their district. But I just wanted to place into context what this means for land use in the city and the tools that we're developing. Once they're in the toolbox, once they're in our municipal code, they may be able to, in the future, address issues elsewhere in the city. So the parking issue that we're addressing in this area is not totally dissimilar from the parking district that you find in Belmarsh or in Naples, in Councilmember Price's district. It's not that different from area south of here, south of the project area and in Bixby Knolls and in areas throughout the city. What's also similar is this is about context sensitive new development. This is about what is new development look like that's less dense, less intense than what you find downtown, but still brings new housing into our city and still transforms our commercial corridors, you know, whether they're in central Long Beach, north Long Beach or elsewhere. And it's really about being able to have a framework and then customize for every single neighborhood. So here you have a series of zones which address issues in North Long Beach. But at some point in the future, when we're addressing land use in central Long Beach or coastal Long Beach, we could have that same level of customization with whatever the community desires are in that particular location. So I just wanted to give you that preview because this is the first of many efforts we'll be doing over the next several years, and that concludes our presentation. Speaker 2: Thank you. Are there any public comment on this? Speaker 4: Yes. Our first speaker is carelessly. Carelessly. Our next speaker is Paul Babcock. Speaker 3: Hello. Hi. Well, my. Speaker 4: Cordless. Speaker 3: Go ahead. Hello? Please begin. Hi, this is CALLER. All right. Okay. I'm concerned with adopting title 22 on zoning without public outreach meetings that include the whole city. Whatever is being adopted in the ninth district will undoubtedly be used throughout the city. I have never received an invitation to a first outreach session on this. The staff report is 325 pages long. I believe this is a complex topic. It is of interest to residents. It may be a great plan, but we haven't had the opportunity to learn about it. When you purchase a piece of real estate, you purchase the zoning. It is a key facet of a property description. Changing the zoning definitions is a major move. You're affecting each homeowner's personal real estate investment. It has been said that the American dream is to have a home with a front yard backyard and a white picket fence . And while I acknowledge there are other choices and opportunities out there, the group, the Work Picket Fence Group, is normally concerned with density. I'm told the new zoning document has made changes such as defining, set back or now the amount of setback required as measured from the sidewalk. In the future it will be measured from the street. What we'd like to have is the opportunities that the ninth district has. We would like to have the opportunity to understand the proposed building changes before there are certain. Speaker 4: Thank you. The next speaker is Paul Babcock. Speaker 1: Hello. Hello, this is Paul Babcock. I'm a resident of the fifth District, and I also provide, uh, housing in the third district. I'm very concerned about this, uh, measure and that there's been no participation from the third or the fifth District residents. And for the rest of the city, besides North Long Beach, as far as I know, the ninth District. This would be applied across the city. And I'm concerned about the far reaching effects of this and how it would affect my property and other properties within the city and how how it would affect my life and my quality of life for my family and for my residents and my rental units. Additionally, density is a big issue and they'll make sure, as you know, it's very dense and we don't want it any denser than it is. And we also don't want this density to pervade in the fourth District, and we'd like to have that taken into consideration. And lastly, remove the language that applies to the the whole city and give an opportunity for neighborhood outreach and discussion and understanding of the. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you, Governor Richardson. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and I certainly appreciate the comments that folks have given out. I support this. This project was planned. I will start with based on these these comments, that this is a phased in approach. We began this process well before the Louie process conducted with the focus on North Long Beach, really addressing some longstanding issues and setting a vision for the next 30 years that pull away from motels, liquor stores and move toward healthy food and things like that. And it became a great opportunity to test out new zoning that's really creative, innovative, some and the things that they've achieved. But as a phased in approach, that means we're starting here. But if there's any additional zoning takes place in other areas of town. They'll have to go through their own planning and outreach process. So this is not affecting anything in the fifth District of the third District. But we are really excited for what it does here in the ninth District. A few more reasons why I'm excited for it is that it's anywhere or it is only north. Bobby It limits the liquor store, something that I focused on, something that our predecessors focused on, something that Councilman Alston is focused on. Eliminate it. Make it more difficult to prioritize drive thrus and motels and automotive uses. But it's now prioritized healthy food options and housing and sit down restaurants, grocery store, the medical institution, institutional uses like a new beach city college. It also encourages safe pedestrian activity that incentivizes local employment through some really innovative steps and features. It incentivizes features that minimize future greenhouse gas emissions, such as tree planting and cool roofs and solar installations and bike infrastructure. So we're really we're really proud of this. One thing I do want to mention is that there's a lot of innovation in this plant. And one issue that's really been an issue for us is the overabundance of overconcentration of off sale liquor, liquor stores. And what this does is it moves away from the formulaic, you know, entities. You know, looking at how many you have in a census tract to determine whether it's appropriate and moves to something that's more contextual and emphasizes mixed use and good design principles and things like that. So we're making decisions around around liquor that prioritizes, you know, establishing sit down restaurants as opposed to more liquor stores in North Lombard . It's it's as you mentioned, it's designed to address housing issues is incredibly important. And at the same time, it's incentivizing things that we mean fitness uses, medical uses, things like that. One thing I do want to acknowledge is together, put together. We just adopted we just voted on the design of Radar Boulevard front. That's incredibly important because that is the public right of your medians, your lighting, your pedestrian environment, your bikes and all of these things. Your signal. And then this updates the zoning priorities of Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue. So together, comprehensively, it's just that a new sort of a comprehensive new vision, RTG Boulevard, a public right away and the private the private side of the house. So that's incredibly important. I want to thank all the staff has worked on this. Christopher Koch remembers our first conversations. My first term, when we talked about doing some sort of a masterplan. He partnered with us to go to tag Early Service President's Gang for that. And I was a regional council member and I put forward $250,000 based on the initial work that we did in-house with Alisyn and Christopher with the Guiding Principles. A number of staples up at the table for that. And we're in a really good place. So I really want to thank and I want to thank all the city staff and all the community partners who contributed to this plan. And this is really important for. Thank you for both. Speaker 2: Councilman Austin. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I see this this item, this plan is an important step and milestone for implementing a new vision for North Long Beach. We have worked for several years to get to this point. The planning process started as in early 2018. It has involved a number of community meetings, visioning exercises and different community events, including walk audits that I've participated in with the community, with community members along the corridors in a demonstrated demonstration project that actually happened in the North Village on Atlantic Avenue. So so to the point that it hasn't been a community input. These were all public meetings. They were well advertised, and we encouraged a lot of public participation in this process. The I believe that the zoning changes and recommended zoning changes before us, and this document will help the Atlantic Corridor, as well as the Artesia Corridor, facilitate the new development that will help us realize this vision. It's so important for our economic development, but our housing needs, as well as many of the points raised by Councilmember Rich, said that, you know, there is a vision, there's a clear direction in terms of where we are going. It looks like mixed use is going to be in our future, particularly along these corridors in North Long Beach. And as the staff report indicated, the new zoning calls not only address what types of uses are allowed, but for the first time it helps address the look of our corridors. This is especially relevant for a portion of Atlantic Avenue that's in the eighth District. And I want to remind everybody that this is there's two two council districts involved in this plan, a district as well as a ninth district. But the there's an area of the district that is designated as an opportunity zone. And so this type of plan only helps with investment and interest in our community. I'd like to thank the residents who participated in the planning process, as well as the development services staff who worked extensively on this effort, as well as engaging up North Long Beach residents and stakeholders. And tonight is completion of phase one of this plan. And I encourage residents to continue to be involved in Phase two, which is currently underway. I will address zoning and land uses throughout the rest of North Long Beach, and so there's opportunity still for community involvement. I support this wholeheartedly and ask for my council colleagues support as well. Speaker 2: Great Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. We did receive. Speaker 3: Some calls on this item and an email. I wanted to just clarify for the public and have it on the public record. Speaker 5: That. Speaker 0: Implementation of any. Speaker 3: Of these new zoning, these new zones that are being. Speaker 5: Created through the vote. Speaker 3: Tonight, would have an additional community input process in the communities where those zones would potentially. Speaker 0: Be added currently there are no plans to add those. Speaker 5: Anywhere else but the uptown. Speaker 3: Area. But if I could get a confirmation from city staff that before. Speaker 0: They would be rolled into any additional community, there would be a. Speaker 3: Community input process? Speaker 4: Councilmember That is correct. This is tailored for the North Palm Beach area and subsequent phases will include public comment and public meetings. Speaker 0: Wonderful. Thank you. That was their concern. And I wanted to make sure that they knew that that was correct. We weren't able to get a hold of them before the meeting. Speaker 3: So thank you for that. I hope they're listening. Speaker 2: Thank you. A roll call, please. Speaker 0: District one. I district to. I am district three i. District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District five. I just got six, I think District seven. I District eight. District nine. Speaker 1: All. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. Next. Next hearing is turning 50. I'm sorry. I'm 50. Please.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding title 22 (UPLAN Zoning Code) which adds new zoning districts and regulations to implement the 2019 long beach general plan land use element update and adoption, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. Next. Next hearing is turning 50. I'm sorry. I'm 50. Please. Speaker 0: Report from Development Services recommendation to receive supporting documentation under the record, conclude the public hearing and declare an ordinance creating a pilot program to allow up to a maximum of 500 micro unit housing units. Read the first time and later the next regular meeting of City Council for Final Reading Citywide. Oscar Orsi. Speaker 5: Development Services Director, will. Speaker 0: Introduce the staff for this. Speaker 5: Presentation. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. Council members. This is a great, exciting opportunity to bring this pilot program to your attention for your review and approval. This is a new housing type that will hopefully be affordable and provide another option to our community. And with that, Patricia will provide you a presentation. Speaker 5: Good evening again, Mayor and council members. I'll be very brief for this item. This is a zoning code amendment to allow a micro unit pilot project for up to 500 units. These units would be permitted in the in the eligible area is the midtown area specific plan area and the Downtown Plan Development District. This will help implement the housing element and help us reach our new housing, our main goal of 2600 units that are required by 2029. It implements many different policies of previous studies and reports prepared on housing. It is a pathway to affordable homeownership, these micro units, and they are typically, in terms of rents, they're typically 20 to 30% lower than rent for a studio. So it's a market based, affordable housing solution. This will be a program to allow units and take away some of the barriers that exist towards those units, including open space requirements that are on a per unit basis. It will define what a micro unit is and allow adaptive reuse of michael micro units and but it will prohibit them in buildings that are already developed with residential uses to limit any displacement potential. So there was no outreach done on this ordinance as part of the housing element update process and next steps are to report back to the Council on the Pilot Program and to recommend permanent zoning code changes upon understanding how this is received by prospective developers. So with that, the recommendations are to determine that the zoning code amendment is categorically exempt from secure and to adopt the amendment to establish the micro unit program. That concludes my report and I'm happy to answer any questions. Speaker 2: Thank you. There's no public comment. I got a motion and a second, please. I just want to add as we get those motions in, this is something that I remember for sure talking about with then Vice Mayor Susan Lowenthal. It's something that I've always supported. Our Workforce Study Group, Housing Group also put it in their report. This is really exciting. Thank you to the staff. I know I've been pushing you guys on this. Just we got to support all types of new housing. And I think you heard a little bit in the last conversation how important housing is, how important growth is going to be. These are these units are not white picket fence units. They are units that are affordable, that are dense and that have a different type of person that can afford to live there. And so we want to be a city that welcomes and supports all people and all types of folks in these units. And so with that, I have a motion to approve 1/2. But Councilman Sun House and Councilmember Pearce with that roll call, please. Speaker 0: District one, district two. I. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. District seven. I District eight. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 21.15.1756 and Section 21.45.600, relating to micro-units, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. And our last hearing is 51. Speaker 0: Report from Economic Development Recommendation to receive supporting documentation in the record, conclude the public hearing and adopt a resolution considering the Long Beach Tourism Business Improvement Area Assessment Levy for the period of October one, 2020 through September 30th, 2021, districts one, two, four and five. Speaker 5: Will introduce John Keisler, Economic Development. Speaker 0: Director, to present the staff that will make this presentation. Speaker 4: Thank you. Members of the mayor and members of the city council. I want to introduce Eric Romero, our business development program manager, to conduct the hearing. Thank you. Speaker 1: Good evening, Mayor, and members of the City Council. The Long Beach Tourism Business Improvement Area was established by the City Council in 2005, allowing for the levy of an annual assessment to be paid by hotels with greater than 30 rooms located in the tourism and business improvement area. The city contracts with the Convention and Visitors Bureau to manage the Tourism and Business Improvement Area and the Convention Visitors Bureau Board of Directors serves as advisory board to the City Council on matters related to the area. State law governing the district requires an annual report be approved by the City Council on September 2nd, 2020. The Advisory Board voted to recommend to the City Council approval of the 2020 2021 annual report. The annual report describes boundaries, proposed activities and budgetary information, as well as the method and basis for continuation of the assessment. The annual report proposes no change to the area boundaries or the method of living assessment. The proposed activities will focus on promoting and marketing Long Beach as a destination for tourists and conventions. Speaker 2: To continue to levy the assessments. Speaker 1: State law requires that a public hearing be held on the proposed program and assessment. At its October 30th, 2020 meeting, the City Council approved a resolution granting approval and or declaring the intention of the City. Speaker 2: Council to levy. Speaker 1: The assessment and set today as the date of public hearing. City Council should hear and consider all protests from hotel operators against the assessment program and boundaries of the area as proposed and report. This concludes my staff report. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. I have one public comment, I think, Madam Clerk. Speaker 4: The ID in Colin. Speaker 2: Okay. I have a motion, but councilman's in the house in a second by Councilmember Andrews will call the police. Speaker 0: District one by district to. By District three. District four. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. By District eight. District nine. All right. Motion carries. Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. Next, we're going to do. I think I've got four items I've been requested to move up. I will do those four, and then we'll we'll do general public comment and then the rest of the agenda.

Resolution

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, and adopt resolution continuing the Long Beach Tourism Business Improvement Area assessment levy for the period of October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to extend the agreement with the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau for a one-year term. (Districts 1,2,4,5)

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Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. Next, we're going to do. I think I've got four items I've been requested to move up. I will do those four, and then we'll we'll do general public comment and then the rest of the agenda. Item 52, please. Speaker 0: Recommendation to direct city manager to report back to the City Council on establishing an artist fund for qualifying artists who live in Long Beach and have been impacted by COVID 19. Speaker 2: Thank you. I want to just first start by thanking Councilwoman Mary's and de Haas, Councilwoman Janine Pearce, Vice Mayor Andrews and Councilman Austin for for supporting this and to their work. I also want to just begin by saying this is we know that we are living in a very difficult time with COVID. Ever since March and the major shutdowns, the industry that has been just one of the most impacted has been the arts and cultural workers, in fact. You think about performances in a theater. You think about our municipal band, the symphony, the playhouse, people that play gigs, you know, at a restaurant or a guitarist. It has been a huge impact to artists, and in fact, it's the most constant request. And what we hear is just the need for to help these people. The other piece of it, which is critical, is as a city, our artists and our cultural workers are the lifeblood of our community. They make our city strong, diverse. They already are. Many of them are already lower income folks who are, you know, who do the work because they love it, not because it's highly paid. And so anything we can do to bridge their ability to stay in our city during this difficult time is really important. This is this is a proposal that will go to the staff. Mr. Modica with them, prepare a program to come back to the city council, hopefully soon, for final approval. There will be final approval on that. But I want to also just think I asked them not to speak tonight because of the time constraints, but I want to thank all of the arts organizations that have been working on this, the musical theater, West Long Beach Opera, Long Beach Symphony, the Playhouse. Some of the musicians from the municipal band and really all of the arts organizations across the city A.C.T., the Museum of Art, Moala they've all been involved and been working on this. And of course, the Arts Council, Long Beach. I'm we're looking at these these are would be cares act community block grant funds. So it's already part of the CARES program. And again, it would be and also a great way of supporting this kind of guaranteed income work that is happening all across the country. And it's really an extension of the tenant assistance program that this council already adopted. And so with that, I'm going to turn this over. There's no public comment, and I'm going to turn this over to any comments from Councilwoman and the House. Speaker 5: Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor, for this. This is something I'm very, very excited about. I'm so glad that this is something that we as a city can look forward to. Our entire city has been impacted by COVID health crisis, and I'm supportive of any and all assistance we can get to our residents at this time of extreme need. This type of assistance would target artists that call Long Beach home. So that's why I am especially excited for this. So thank you very much. And I hope that everyone can support this. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilmember Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Speaker 1: I just wanted to just give my short comments on this. I certainly fully support this. Our our artist artist community has been devastated by the impacts of COVID 19, like every many other sectors of our economy. This item here is a creative initiative for a creative culture that is very important to the identity of our city. These are human lives individuals who will need to pay rent and pay their bills. And so I fully support this item because it will help provide economic assistance to another group that has been very, very negatively impacted by this pandemic. So I encourage everyone else to support it as well. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilmember and Councilmember Richardson. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and congratulations to the artists. We still have to develop the program, but they certainly have reached out in over email and demonstrated their enthusiasm. I just. Just a note for staff. I know that if you could just speak to this quickly, I know that you identified a staff position and do some research. I'm interested and I certainly understand the connection between the tenant assistance. I know that we're going to expand the tenant assistance to include payments to help people get out of back payments. And then we have this program for artists. But I'd love to see a comprehensive or hear what you're thinking about in terms of a comprehensive strategy for this. We talked about outside dollars. You know, what's the strategy to bring in outside dollars? So I'd love to just hear from staff if they're uncomfortable about where this could go in the future. And that doesn't have to you can speak to it briefly, but that doesn't have to come back today. I'm hoping that you could do some work and come back to us. Speaker 4: Yes. Thank you very much. Richardson, Councilmember Richardson. So when passed in the budget, the council did provide about $100,000. That was the recommendation from the mayor to provide some staffing to really start to dove into universal basic income for us to, you know, do some best practice research to help support some of that. And then, of course, as part of that motion, it was going to be some outside dollars that were going to be able to hopefully leverage to for that program. So we're at the beginning of that process. We're going to be bringing on that person, and that would certainly come back to the council for some of, you know , as we learn more to talk through that kind of program and what that could look like. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 2: Councilmember. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to share my support for this. I think it's a great stamp on the work that we've already been doing on guaranteed income. So I look forward to seeing that comprehensive work that staff is working on. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. And actually, we may have one person for public comment. I apologize for that. Is there a public comment? Speaker 4: Yes. Tiffany Davey. Speaker 3: Yes. Good evening. Me a baby address. Speaker 1: On. Speaker 3: File. I just wanted to state my support for this item. Speaker 1: And its prime request for a feasibility study from the city manager to assist those within the arts community who are facing devastating impacts of the coronavirus. Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Roll call. Roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 0: District one, district two I. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four I. District five. I. District six. Speaker 2: And. Speaker 0: District seven. By District eight. District nine. High motion carries. Speaker 2: Great. Thank you very much. Next item we have that was asked to be moved up. Sorry, we're going to do item 66.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to report back to the City Council on establishing an Artists Fund that would provide emergency $500 direct or other financial support for a period of six months to cover cost of basic needs, for qualifying artists who live in Long Beach and have been impacted by COVID-19. These funds would be paid through CARES Act Community Block Grant Funds. We should look towards funding up to 150 artists who qualify across the city.

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Speaker 2: Great. Thank you very much. Next item we have that was asked to be moved up. Sorry, we're going to do item 66. Speaker 0: Report from developed and services recommendation directed staff to work with the City Attorney to amend Title five of the Long Beach Municipal Code to allow Unhosted short term rentals citywide. Speaker 2: Okay. I'm going to turn over to staff. Speaker 0: We will have the development services director, Oscar Orsi introduce the staff to present this item. Speaker 4: Thank your members and members of the City Council as requested by the City Council. We are bringing this matter back to you for your consideration as well as additional information that you had requested concerning our short term rental hosted versus Unhosted, as well as a few other items. With that, Lisa Farr will give you a brief presentation. Speaker 0: Good evening, Mayor and Council. But you're looking at a timeline just to provide context on where we're at in the short term rental process. The ordinance was adopted in June. We had 120 days to establish registration. Registration did start on 120th day, October 24th per the ordinance operators have 180 days to register after the registration enforcement begins . Currently, we are enforcing the quality of life provisions included in the ordinance. At the council meeting, certain items were requested that we bring back. I'm going to go through the individual slides and call those out. The first item is cleaning and sanitizing protocols. We were asked to speak with the platforms. They submitted their protocols. Both the platforms that submitted Airbnb and VR bio direct their hosts to follow local guidelines and provide guidance consistent with the city's health order. Both the city's health order and the state health order only allow unoccupied units to be rented. While the operator is not physically present or has an exterior entrance and exit that does not require the use of a shared facility or is otherwise unoccupied. This since the city health order cannot be less restrictive than the state. Only unoccupied staffers for the state's definition can be operated within the city or. In terms of the economic impact of COVID 19 on tourism, there has been a. A direct impact. I think the most telling of those is the fact that revenue per available room, which is a combination of occupancy and room rate, has declined 52% from $142 to $68. Totti collection reflects this decline. Approximately 30% decline has occurred from 1419 to f y 20. You'll notice that for starters, there actually shows an increase. However, this is deceptive in the fact that for Fy19 we only collected for six months of the year, April to September. Well, at fy20 we were able to collect for the whole year. We were also asked to look at rental housing vacancy rates. The vacancy rate was approximately 4 to 5% from the beginning of the first quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2020. That rate has now increased to about 6%. This appears to be sort of a combination of two things. Presumably COVID, as well as the fact that there were 236 new rental units added to the market right as the pandemic hit. In terms of registration. It has been slow and the three weeks that we have been accepting them, there have been 33 applications received and 26 have been approved. We're working on the 27 gaining additional information from the applicants. Just real briefly, current ordinance highlights it established an annual city registration and fee includes enforcement provisions and a pardon me and mechanisms to remove bad actors. There's a 24 hour contact to respond to a nuisance complaints within an hour. Requires a limited event permit to exceed occupancy limits. The occupancy limits are two guests per bedroom, plus two with a maximum of ten guests. In addition, stars are prohibited and deed restricted, affordable housing units and dormitories and 80 use. In addition, landlord consent is required if a unit is subject to a rental agreement. Staff is recommending that Unhosted stars be allowed to operate, specifically that operators be allowed to operate to non primary residences and their primary residence. This is consistent to a version of the ordinance that was brought to you in May of this year. Other provisions that were in this version of the ordinance that we're still recommending is to limit the number of non primary staffers to a thousand, as well as to provide for a petition process for people within a residence, specifically within census block groups to opt out. In terms of allowing unhosted staffers within their census group. There have been questions about why we don't have the opt out process now, and that's because this was specific to unhosted stars and we're only allowing hosted. The process would be a mail in process and would be conducted by by staff. Our next steps are to receive direction from the City Council regarding unhosted stars as well as to if we are asked to look at Unhosted, we would return to City Council with a revised ordinance and then we would submit a revised application to the Coastal Commission. That concludes my presentation and we're available for questions. Thank you. Speaker 2: Think you have a motion by Councilmember Pearce on a second by Councilman Price. Let's do the public comment first. Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Audrey Luna. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor Garcia and city council members and I am speaking on behalf of my neighborhood and district to Rose Park in particular with regards to and hosted Airbnbs. I actually live in a four unit apartment complex and there are two units that are currently unhosted. And the reason why I am asking that you do not lift the ban is because there have been several large gatherings, parties, noise after the event after the 10 p.m. curfew. It's unfortunately at this point, I'm feeling a little unsafe in the complex that I live in because the gates are left open to the guests that arrive are not using the private entrance. They're coming through the back door gate and interrupting the other tenants that actually pay rent. So. There's I know that the cleaning folks are not following the COVID sanitation protocol and the amount of garbage that has increased has caused a rodent infestation. So it's just there's quite a few negatives about unhosted. I really, really hope that this ban is not lifted because I feel as though. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Alex Bland. Speaker 1: Hello. My name is Alex Bland with Airbnb. The staff recommendation in front of you is the product of years of negotiations with this council and hours upon hours of public input and debate. The city held multiple community based public input hearings beginning in 2018 where there was overwhelming support for the legalization of first year and UNHOSTED stays in particular. The City Council has discussed this issue at multiple hearings throughout 2019 and 2020 and taken hours and hours of public testimony on the matter. This item is not new. There are no amendments, and support for this compromise approach is broad. These regulations protect housing by limiting the number of vacation rentals that can operate within the city, while ensuring that the local Long Beach residents and small business community still continue to benefit from the tourism economy and also look to address the coronavirus. Now, in response to the pandemic, Airbnb issued a mandatory enhanced cleaning protocol based on the latest guidance from the W.H.O., NCDC. Enhanced cleaning protocol was developed in consultation with Dr. Bruce Murthy, the former U.S. Surgeon General under President Obama and recently named co-chair to President Biden's coronavirus task force. It goes into extensive detail regarding how to disinfect between guests, including the types of cleaning products to use and requires us to attest to complying as well as to pass acquittals to ensure they reviewed the materials. We've shared and reviewed this protocol with your staff and they've advised us that they're comfortable with the steps we're taking. And recently, the CDC has also recommended that stars are a safer option for travel over hotels because it limits contact in public spaces. Thank you so much for your time. Speaker 4: I think your next speaker is Andy Passage. And the passage. Our next speaker is Audrey Luna. Speaker 3: I already spoke. You can move on to the next. Speaker 4: Sorry. I think our next speaker is Charlie Quijano. Charlie Cano. Mr. Califano. Our next speaker is Ed Campbell. Speaker 1: Hi, my. My name's Campbell. This is Andy Page. I want to be on. Speaker 4: Please begin any. Speaker 1: Okay. The City Council will just vote yes to city wide on host this year. Unlike most of the speakers, the presence of unhosted cards violate your city council agenda for number one medical health of the community. You know, we can't believe that a landlord would be as good as as a well versed a well versed worker in a hotel downtown. And number two, the mental health of the community families, some raising young children should not have to tolerate unhosted stars becoming one of the following a party, as you know. And the problem there is that those places sometimes evolve into into having violence, even on vacation business locations. Again, downtown hotels, hotels are a best place for this activity. Agents making deals on cell phones in front of other people's houses. It should not have to be tolerated. And Unhosted. You are supposed to give rise to unprecedented businesses such as the filming of photography. And this this has happened to us. So I'm sorry to to have to add that a three the economy and poverty hospital, hospitality workers of all sorts are dependent on hotels and local restaurants to for a living they enter and feed the economy by. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Charlie Cano. Charlie Cano. Our next speaker is Heather Roseman. At their Roseman. Speaker 3: Good evening, council members. My name is Heather Roseman, executive director for the Long Beach Hospitality Alliance. I'd like to start by saying that homes are for families and hotels are for guests. And as such, we urge you to ban the vacation rentals in Long Beach, as other cities have already set precedent for successful policy regarding short term rentals. This new ordinance will only undermine the hotels, the hotel industry's ability to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. I ask that you consider the many mom and pop hotels with excellent and affordable rooms that will surely be impacted by this ordinance. Taking homes away from Long Beach residents for short term rental use will surely decrease the available housing stock, displace hotel workers from their homes, will taking much needed business away from hotels. I'm calling on you to protect your hotel community and our workers, as are one of your greatest assets in economic recovery and one of your biggest partners in protecting Long Beach jobs in the wake of COVID 19. Hotel occupancy levels are at historic lows and will not likely recover for many years. Please remember, as you consider this ordinance, Long Beach families need homes and hotels need guests. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is John Choi. Speaker 1: Hi. John Choi, Public Policy Airbnb. I just wanted to add a few comments regarding the pandemic impact, the tremendous impact it's had on travel. But what we've seen since the early onset of the pandemic is a rebound, with a focus on local and regional travel within a few hundred miles. For many who are just looking for a change of scene or a safe, clean place to work for a few days, a vacation rental in Long Beach has been a lifeline. And I want to echo the comments my previous colleague Alex made about CDC recommendation, preferring short term rentals over hotels, specifically for the reason of being able to avoid public spaces. So even during a pandemic, when visitors stay in Long Beach, Long Beach vacation rental, they are supporting a local property owner as well as local small businesses who don't typically benefit from tourism as well as the city's general fund. Erin B signed a voluntary collections agreement to collect and remit the city's total in April 2019. As a staff report indicated in fiscal year 2019, we remitted 1.4 million and in fiscal year 2020, a year heavily impacted by COVID, we still remitted $2.2 million and approximately 50% of this revenue will be lost if the city does not legalize Unhosted rentals before the April 2021 enforcement date. In conclusion, the regulations for Unhosted stays have been thoroughly discussed by the City Council and as a reasonable compromise that protects housing while allowing an important part of the tourism economy, the tourism industry to contribute to the local economy. Short term rentals have not been shown to have any negative impact on hotel industry jobs. And this proposal ensure that local residents. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Charlie Cano. Speaker 3: Help. Hello? Hello? Speaker 4: Yes, we. Can you hear me again? Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. This is Charlie Cano with Unite Here Local 11. I'm calling to strongly oppose this motion, as was alluded to by the previous caller who lives in a in a 40 minute building where two are being used for unhosted rentals. This is this is going to to help take more housing off the market at a time when we need it, at a time. Speaker 3: When we're. Speaker 1: Facing an eviction crisis. I think it's really important. Speaker 3: And that's, by the way, that's happening right now when it's illegal. Speaker 1: Imagine that the the amount of abuse that could happen when there is this loophole created that will make all short term financial regulation more difficult to enforce. Just to put this in perspective, the limit of a thousand homes is about three times what a Long Beach produces in terms of housing each year. So I think it's important for city council to ask, who are they going to side with? The majority. Speaker 3: Of people in the city that rent. Speaker 1: That are that are facing terrible economic circumstances because of the pandemic. And we're facing huge we're facing rent increases even before this. Homeowners who just want to use their homes as homes or to provide an opportunity for somebody else to rent from them long term. Speaker 3: Or, you know, a. Speaker 1: Big company like Airbnb. And I think it's and folks lucky enough to have, you know, property that they can be somewhere else for a significant portion of the year. So I would just suggest please keep keep the current regulations. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ed Campbell. Speaker 1: Hi. Hi. Speaking. Thank you. Did Campbell. And when the pandemic began this last spring, we noticed some changes in our neighborhood. The property directly across street began having some remodeling. When the work was complete, we learned that they plan to operate to one hosted yard. Once renters started showing up at these hosted actors, there were parties, loud music, drug use and even possible human trafficking. Going on parking has been a big problem in the neighborhood. It's already stretched thin for parking spots. The UNHOSTED SDR has changed the character of the neighborhood by having a, quote, mini hotel in a quiet residential neighborhood . It has removed at least two long term rental housing stock from the city and has become a nuisance. It threatens the public health, safety and welfare of neighboring property through careless actions, especially during the pandemic. Now I feel that the Unhosted SDR should not be allowed because they encourage runners to have parties and be loud when there is anyone there, stop them. These unhosted only take away quality, long term rental possibilities for the residents of Long Beach. They are also very unfair to the long term tenants at the building to have to put up with the constant traffic of new renters coming in and out. Some of the tenants have even been offered money to move out to the owners for renovate their units as well. The long term tenants are forced to use the same laundry room as the SDR during this pandemic. The SDR is also create an unusually large amount of trash filling the camp to the point that the long term renters do not have room for their trash. And it overflows into the street. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jonah Breslow. Jono Brazil. Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Jonah Breslau and I am a research analyst at Lane, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. I urge you to reject this proposal. We're in the midst of an enormous housing crisis to lose a thousand homes. The commercial de facto hotel use is a profound misuse of energy when we should be fighting to preserve every unit of housing and build more. And the timing is inappropriate in another sense as well. The city has barely begun to issue permits for home shares, and it is far too soon to expand the cities program when we have scarcely had a chance to assess the effectiveness of the existing ordinance. You've also heard from tenants expressing their personal experience with currently existing illegal coal home rentals. It would be a terrible and cruel irony if the city launched a pilot program to potentially allow 500 tiny homes at the same time that it removes twice that number from the housing market. I urge you to vote down this ordinance. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is one cruise. One cruise. Speaker 1: Good evening. My name is Frank Rules. I am a member of United 11. I am hotel worker for 17 years. I live in District six in Long Beach. I work for Queen Mary Lambert Convention Center and for the Maya. I have worked on both. Sure the short term growth of. Please do not let 1000 home truly interrupt my house when we are in the middle of housing crisis in the middle of a pandemic. Please consider this petition. Please vote no on ordinance 60. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Kelly Hartwick. Kelly Hartwick. Speaker 3: Hi. This is Kelly. And we own a triplex. Bayshore in Belmont Shores. We bought it as a existing vacation rental over 16 years ago. We're in in favor of the homestead as our guests. Yes. Utilize Kayak Corner and the restaurants and the shop on. Down in Belmont Shores. We live 5 minutes away. Our neighbors have our cell phone numbers in case there's an issue. I confirm with all guests that there will be no parties, no pets, no smoking or vaping on property. We court we follow all the COVID cleaning protocols that have been set forth. I post quiet hours between ten and eight. I've bought signs for the exterior patio as well to have those posted. We've hosted the US Women's Olympic team for sailing to practice in Long Beach. We've hosted the men's Russian team. We employ a full time housekeeper that lives in Belmont Shores. We own also a property on the East Coast that is ACR. And every year that city has a protocol that inspects every SDR. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Maria Misa. Speaker 3: Hello. Good evening. Speaker 4: Please begin. Speaker 3: Hello? Okay. Thank you. Hi. My name is Marianne Lisa. I work in Long Beach and I'm a member of the United Locally Living. In the hospitality industry. I'm very angry to hear that the city council is considering to open up Body Farm in the middle of this funding drive on the part of our sector festival have been crucial. We haven't seen a city. I'm also affected my job and my coworkers. This will take all your wholesale away. I urge you to box in this item for Federal Housing. Prime Minister. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Melissa, so-called trigger. Speaker 3: Hello. Hello. Speaker 5: Thank you for having me. I'm calling because I. Speaker 3: Live next to an on hosted SDR, and I'm also here to ask you to not allow. Speaker 5: Them to. Speaker 3: Continue and has protesters put the burden of safety and regulation on residents? We have to walk over and explain that it's not okay to park on the sidewalk. We have to show that one of our neighbors uses a wheelchair and that he needs access to the sidewalk. One guest asked me why a gentleman couldn't go into the street to go around his vehicle. I guess as invested in our community, he is on vacation and no one is here to keep him accountable. No one has explained parking or anything else to these guests. No one is suggesting that they're clearly signing up for a party. And the reason that they just behave this way, because the Astros understood what the owner had told me to discuss. They would be more cautious about who they like, and one would guess. But even that, I wish that the person that own the property next to me was considerate of the woman who spoke. I think people before me. But the fact of the matter is, that woman is an exception. The person that owns the property must meet the inevitable. That is what will happen if you allow this to pass. Please do not pass this. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is next. So do. Speaker 3: Hi. My name is Max DeSoto. I live in Long Beach District nine. I also work at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where we have been closed since March. Lifting the ban will make it a lot harder for my coworkers and I to return back to work. I am so angry and appalled to find out that our very own city council has decided to hurt working families. But we are trying to survive this pandemic. I am asking you to stop short term rentals now. Short term rentals hurt, short term rentals will hurt and take away hotel jobs and will also take away affordable housing . It is time for our city council to put residents and workers first. I find it alarming how comfortable these Airbnb hosts are saying that they have on hold said hours even right now when it's not allowed. They are really not following the law. I am. I really urge you to vote no on 66 and stop unhosted short term rentals now. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Sylvia Salcedo. Speaker 3: Hello. Speaker 4: Yes. We can hear you. Please begin. Speaker 3: Okay. Good evening, Mayor and council members. I would like to speak to the negative impact that Unhosted cards have had on my once peaceful neighborhood in the Second District. I respectfully implore the city to not allow Unhosted escorts to operate in the city illegal and host to the cars that have operated across the street from my home since June 2020 have violated every one of the protections. The ordinance was set up to provide our neighborhoods. We've had to deal with constant party celebrations day and night, loud noise into the early morning hours, no masks, no social distancing, and guests routinely smoking marijuana in the front yard throughout the day, which permeates our home. Parking is another issue, with guests constantly parking on the sidewalk, blocking our driveway and guests with multiple vehicles on our street exacerbates the lack of parking in our neighborhood. We were not provided with any contact information of a local person should problems arise. Our complaints to super hosts who don't reside in Long Beach took the platform completely ignored, and now we're having to call the hotline almost daily. During this pandemic, we all have to witness new guests arriving after the unit was clean only 20 to 30 minutes beforehand. It's rare that a 24 hour wait period is followed. This recommendation will incentivize transforming rentals into LCR, then will have a huge negative impact on housing. The burden of responsibility has been put on the neighbors. It has been our responsibility to monitor the city hours on a daily basis and report violations. The owner host has no vested interest in maintaining the character of our neighborhood because they do not. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Valerie Luna. Speaker 5: Hi. Speaker 3: I am against the ordinance and I am begging and respectfully requesting the Council to continue upholding Unhosted as a staff. I'm not going to say anything other than every one else has already said. But there is one thing I'd like to add that there is a division in management. I'm currently a resident in a four plex and two of the units are being utilized as unhosted short term rentals. Speaker 5: And whenever we have. Speaker 3: Issues with the. Speaker 5: Property management company. Speaker 3: We're told to contact the owners and the owners never respond. So not only is there that division that we are not getting what we should be getting as far as property management, but there's nothing for anyone to do about the issues that we have with the short term rental. Everybody is saying the same thing, especially for those that are living in these types of communities. It's very disturbing. They're constantly they're the short term rental. People are constantly asking us for coats, knocking on our doors at all hours of the night at. Speaker 5: 2 a.m. in the morning. Speaker 3: There's constantly drug use being used within the complex. And it's very disturbing. Not to mention the hygiene issues that everyone has already discussed before about. Speaker 5: Not wearing masks. Speaker 4: And I think your next speaker is Victor Sanchez. Speaker 1: In Samarra. Council members Victor Sanchez of the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and Healthy Community. We respectfully ask that you not support this item. We simply do not have the information needed to make an informed decision on the dias this evening. Title five of the new missile code, which outlines the rules and regulations on short term rentals in the city, only began taking registration of short term rentals on October 24. 33 applications and 26 approvals just mentioned in the report. Is this enough data to justify an expansion to give one host up to three units to put on short term rentals? I believe it's unreasonable to justify the removal of a 1000 housing units simply because we want to put this issue to rest after four years of debating it. We are clinging on to an analysis that was done pre-COVID. We are in the middle of a pandemic which has changed everything. And as much as we want to ignore the impact COVID had on this item, we cannot ignore the impact it's had on working families and think that we've done enough for workers, especially those in the hospitality sector, a sector which has been decimated and will further be threatened because of this expansion. I ask that the Council take stock of the moment and air on the side of public health and on the side of working families. Protect our housing. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the sun. Speaker 0: Mayor. We've concluded public comment on this item. Mayor Garcia. Speaker 2: Can you hear me? Speaker 0: Yes. We can hear you. Speaker 1: Okay. Gosh. Speaker 2: Okay. Sorry about that. I'm trying to. All right. I'm sorry, I. Madam Court, did you? I was. I was trying to call you there. Sorry about that. Did you get my message? Speaker 0: Yes. We've concluded public comment for item 66. Speaker 2: I got kicked off here, so. Thank you very much. So I want to go back to Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to all the speakers. Thank you to staff for the brief presentation and everybody that's been engaged in this process. Billy This is our fourth or fifth time actually taking a vote on short term rentals. And each time we make substantive changes to try to make it the best fit for our community. I know that many of our constituents have called in tonight and said that they currently have issues with illegal Airbnbs right now, and that's actually why we brought this item to the Council over four years ago. We brought it because there was a black market essentially happening where these Airbnbs were operating and they weren't legal in the city. And when we talked to staff they came back and said we don't have the resources. So what happens is city prosecutor, city attorney, they send a letter out a cease and desist. Then, you know, they wait to hear back. They might send one more letter, but that's it. The city hasn't had any ability to hold accountable the bad operators in our town. That is why this item was brought forward, so that we could make sure that we allowed for people that wanted to host in their own home to do that legally and that the city could collect revenue on it because they are operating like a hotel and that non hosted could also operate in a way where we're able to collect revenue but hold those accountable for those big parties that tend to happen. So I'd like to ask staff a couple of questions because this is our fourth or fifth time to actually take a vote on this. I had hoped to try to move kind of quickly tonight. I know that there is a lot of division and you hear it in the public comments, homeowners versus renters and hotels versus Airbnb . The fact is, is that there's not one model that fits everything. And this policy has tried to take into account protecting our housing stock. That's why it comes back with the housing vacancy number in there, and that's why we've tried to limit that number as well. So I'd like to ask staff right now for non hosted. Can you walk through the process for what happens and then can you walk through what would happen if we voted tonight to do this? How do we hold accountable the bad actors? So Councilmember Pearce, are you talking about the process for the host ID that's currently in place? No, I'm talking about the UNHOSTED right now on hosts that are not currently legal. What happens whenever a community member files a complaint on that? Yes. Thank you. I'm going to ask Scott Baldwin, who's working directly on the enforcement to respond to this question. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 4: This for hosted or unhosted only. What we're doing right now is. Speaker 1: Due to the ordinance. We have a 180 day period after enforcement began to allow everyone to be in compliance. So currently, you know, we're only three weeks removed from the effective date, so we're still in the 180 day period, giving operators time. Speaker 4: Essentially to either comply or to. Speaker 1: Remove their listings and in or change their operations. Speaker 4: Councilmember. Let me add to that, that response. So currently we have no mechanism for enforcement because unhosted or not regulated what the as you indicated our ability to regulate unhosted short term rentals will allow us more significantly significantly to work with Airbnb and other hosting platforms to be able to limit and prevent the marketing of that unit , to take reservations, to move that project forward as well as additional enforcement. That's what we currently don't have and this process will allow us to enforce those things. Speaker 0: And there are fines that are included in this ordinance, correct? Speaker 4: That is correct. Speaker 0: That we don't currently have. Speaker 4: That is correct. Speaker 0: So I walk through that because every time I have a conversation with one of my constituents that's upset about a party house, as I remind them that regulating it is the way that we get the tools in the toolbox to actually hold them accountable to the standards that we deserve to have in our community. And so I agree. I don't like you know, I'm hosted party houses next door, but for too long we've done this in a Wild West way. And so that is why we brought this item forward. I believe that, you know, we are in uncertain times, but aligning ourselves with the state. I believe it was mentioned in the in the PowerPoint, being able to say that the state says that we should have unhosted as the safest way instead of hosted. We did six months ago asked staff to work with the hosting platforms on cleaning requirements. I heard it in public comment. But staff, can you speak to that? Have you worked with the hosting platforms to ensure that the cleaning guidelines is up to CDC recommendations? Speaker 4: Councilmember We have worked with the hosting platforms as well as Dr. Davis and the Health Department, and we have provisions currently in our order to regulate the the short term rentals with language that is similar to the state order. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. And then I wanted to there's another comment that was made in public comment that said, we are taking a thousand units off of the market right now. Can you clarify how many staffers have been active before COVID? Because I know we had those numbers in the report. That's Councilmember Pearce. Right now, within the last year, there's been approximately 670 and hosted stars that are active and approximately 170 and hosted stars. So that was a hosted I'm sorry, pardon me. That was 170 hosted and 700 and hosted. Okay. So I it's pretty clear for the. Speaker 3: Record that the. Speaker 0: Comment that we are taking units off the market is not happening. These units are have already been in use. This is part of this new economy that's emerged that we're all trying to grapple with and find a rocky balance policy. Councilmember Pearce. Yeah. I'm sorry. Your 5 minutes is expired. Oh, I forgot about 5 minutes. Okay. Well, I will close out with saying that I believe that we should vote tonight to move forward. We've been doing this for four years, and I'd like to end with saying that this vote is not a vote against a hotel worker or a hotel. This is a vote to try to make sure that we have a balanced city that is really taking into account all the different models and ways that people want to stay at places and have their business and do it in a way that we can hold people accountable. So with that, I urge my colleagues to pass this agenda tonight. Thank you. Speaker 2: That's the motion. The second is about Councilman Price. Councilman Price. Speaker 5: Thank you. You're Mr. Mayor. So I want to ask a lot of those comments. Biggest one for me. I know that the second and third district have the highest number of staffers and the number one unpermitted staffers. And the number one complaint that we get from residents is that there's really no enforcement mechanism right now for resident complaints because they think a house in the neighborhood is being used as a short term rental. They actually have to work with the city attorney's office and provide the evidence that the city attorney would need to issue some sort of a letter to the property owner. And it really puts neighbors in a bad position because they're trying to collect evidence on property owners within an adjacent home. And it's just it's not where we want our residents to be. So I know that these operations are happening, and I believe we need to have an enforcement mechanism so that we can hold people accountable for the requirements to operate these stars. Right now, we have nothing to hold people accountable, and it's almost impossible to prove that they're operating it as an SDR without the neighbors testifying against. Speaker 3: The property owners. Speaker 5: So as much as I understand a lot of the comments today, I think finding an enforcement arm to be able to regulate this activity that's already happening is very important. I would like I am interested in limiting the SDR from the recommendation that we received. So Councilmember Pearce, my question would be, would you accept a friendly to change the proposed ordinance that allows for a total of three to change it to a total of two, one being the primary and one being the unhosted. Speaker 0: Yes, I would. Speaker 5: Okay. Thank you. And then the other question that I had for city staff was there remain concerns from constituents regarding the large scale event aspect of the ordinance. Can you please talk to that? Because what we don't want is to have residential neighborhoods that are having up to six large scale events in a residential neighborhood. And how can we limit or prohibit that? Speaker 0: Councilmember Price. Well, what we do have in the ordinance is what we call a limited event permit. That is to allow, on a infrequent basis, people to have more than the maximum occupancy limit at that place. It's very similar to an occasional event permit that the special permit, special events office regulates. The host or operator would have to prepare the same information that goes into the occasional event permit. How many people are going to be there? Is there going to be music? These types of things and going through this process will be able to in the future deny people that are bad actors and don't conform to those permits Speaker 5: . We're allowing six per year. Speaker 0: Correct. Thank you for reminding me that we're recommending that maximum of six be allowed per year at each individual short term rental. Speaker 5: I would like to make a friendly to limit that or reduce that to four. If Council member Pearce is open to that and I also want to make sure that there is a process in place where neighbors will be able to weigh in like we do with the occasional that permit. Speaker 0: I guess I don't see a problem with that. Speaker 5: Is there a process in place where neighbors can oppose such a permit? Speaker 4: Yes, they can. They could. They. Well, let me circle back with you. There is no public process to a review process for any time. They're issuing an occasional event permit. We can consider what we can do to inform the community about these permits. Speaker 5: Like staff to please look into that. But I don't want to hold up the process this evening. And then finally, can you just speak to the opt out process in terms of who initiate who needs to initiate that for neighborhoods that are interested in that process? Speaker 0: Certainly. So it is a resident that will contact the city and say that they would like their census block group to opt out of the unhosted short term rentals. What will then happen is that the city will initiate a mail mail in balloting process for all the residential property owners within that census block group. Speaker 5: Great. Thank you very much. I have nothing further. Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilman Day has. Speaker 5: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Councilmember Pearson Price for this item. I know that you guys have been working on this item far, far beyond when I came on to the council. So I know how invested you are on short term rentals. I wanted to see if maybe I could, you know, make a friendly I know that coming from a district to where I house a lot of of workers that work in our hotels and and have seen a lot of them lose their jobs during this pandemic. Really, really touches my heart and breaks my heart for what they're going through. So I know that short term rentals could devastate them even more, but I understand that there has to be some kind of balance. And I'd like to offer a friendly to see if maybe we could limit the amount of unhosted rentals to be permitted from 1000 to 700. Is that something that you would accept? Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 0: I know that we've had this discussion before with this council, so I'd like to see where the discussion is. I know that right now we're at 640 and know that there's been some other discussion around coming back. So let's see where the council colleagues are. Speaker 5: Okay. And I'll come back up then. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay. Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. I appreciate the discussion today. I'm interested in. Speaker 5: A couple of things. One, I'll just say that I know that the. Speaker 0: Original there are lots of cities that have unlimited number of. Speaker 3: Ideas. I know the staff came forward with an initial number and a chart for us, and I just wanted to remind everyone that a thousand. Speaker 5: Was the number. Speaker 0: We compromised too. And so during this time we were only allowing hosted to register. So 640 of those spots is already. Speaker 3: Are already taken. So there's really only 260 available for the and hosted. Speaker 0: I was interested in asking a point of clarification for Councilman Price. You had mentioned you wanted to go. Speaker 3: From one primary and two. Speaker 0: I couldn't hear. That was one primary and two. What, three total where one had to be their primary and now the friendly was to make it so that it was to. One their primary. Speaker 3: And one additional. Are you open to making it. Speaker 0: Or I guess it would be to Janine. Speaker 3: Councilman Pearce, are you open to having it be just. Speaker 0: To general and they can decide if it's their primary or not? I'd like to stick with Councilmember Price's motion, because we've done so much work over the last four years on saying that if somebody was going to have an additional one, that they needed to live in one, that, too. That is too big of a shift to make tonight. Okay. So they could still just have one that is not their primary. That was Councilmember Price's motion. Yes. Okay. Speaker 3: Thank you. No additional comments. Speaker 2: Okay. Councilman Ranga, then councilman is in Dallas. Speaker 4: Mr. Mayor, can we correct something? I think that was just quickly in the stated. Elisa, can you answer a question on that, please? Speaker 0: Yeah, sure. What I wanted to say is that the limit on Unhosted is currently a thousand. Right now operating in the city. Within the past year has been at 700 unhosted and currently we have 170 hosted. Those 170 hosted do not apply to the limit. And of those, 173 have actually registered with us. Thank you. That's a very important point of clarification. Thank you, Mr. Modica. Speaker 2: I've got some Ringo and councilmen and they ask. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I have a couple of questions, but I just wanted to make sure that I'm. Listening correctly. So we're talking about the debt limits. We talked about limit of 1000. That is up to 1000 and where I currently had 700. Is that correct? Speaker 0: I'm sorry, Councilmember. Could you repeat that? I had trouble hearing you. Speaker 1: The number of stories we have on hosted the discussion right now is to have a total number of 1000. That's a top level. And from what I heard, or even if I'm wrong, is that there are currently 700 unhosted stores currently in use at the present time. So there are 300 more that we can allow at this point. Speaker 0: There would be 300 additional that we are not currently operating between. The 700 that we know of operated within the last year and the 1000 limit that we have discussed in the past. Speaker 1: That is being proposed. Okay. So consequently, there are the discussions that we're having here. Then it's not necessarily that we want to lower the number of on host approach to keep it at a maximum of a thousand. It's another way of putting it. Would that be correct? Speaker 0: Yes. Speaker 1: The other aspect of this, and I'm trying to get a clarification on and I haven't seen anything, is that the number of days that a host is? Speaker 0: So in terms of the unhosted str, there is no limit on the number of days that they can operate during the year where. Speaker 1: They enter the aforesaid. I got I got a call right in the middle when you just started. I'm sorry. Can you start over with that? Speaker 0: Sure. So presently or what had been discussed for the unhosted that there would be no limit on the number of days that they could operate during the year when there was a discussion of a potential limit. That was when we were discussing a primary, a STR, which is where the individual lived, that they could operate that home as an on hosted for up to 90 days during a year. That was that limit. Speaker 1: So we're not that is not part of this discussion at all in terms of what number of days a person can stay the unless year. Posted around. Speaker 0: Yeah. That would be for further consideration. Speaker 1: Well, the reason I'm bringing this up is because obviously sometimes it starts functionally rental units when there are no limits placed on the number of days that a guest can stay at a short term rental. And that's my concern at this point, especially glad to see that there was a adjustment being proposed and a friendly and being accepted from going from a to a non primary and one primary to one primary and one not in terms of residence. So that that's that's good. But I'm still having concerns that even that one unhosted would function as a. Mentioned before being a bad actor where an individual will have a star there, and that would be basically an apartment rental. Not unless you are still concerned about that. The other aspect of it is that we're talking about removal, removal of affordable housing, especially when I'm talking about along the coasts. As you may know, I'm a member of the California Coastal Commission, and one of the biggest concerns that we always have up and down the coast is affordable housing along the coast. Has there been an average done in terms of what the cost of these streets are in Long Beach in regards to Austin or other hosted units ? Where do they sit with the with the rental market here in Long Beach? Speaker 0: Councilmember. We do not have any current information regarding what the what the rates are. I'm happy to come back to you after we have some time to research that item. Speaker 1: And I'm saying that now because that will be a concern once this issue comes before the Commission. And affordability for housing along the coast is very important to the commission, and it would be something that would be seriously considered as to whether or not the city would be able to modify its LCP in that regard. And this allows. Speaker 4: Council member this is Christopher Koonce. That is absolutely a concern for lower cost housing to the degree that it is occupied as a rental today. But in our discussions with the Coastal Commission staff, they're also very concerned with lower cost visitor accommodations, which is a specific reference in the Coastal Act statute. And we do know from Coastal Commission data that Airbnb or BRP, these type of units are typically more affordable, particularly to families, than full service hotel rooms. And it's for that reason that a coastal commission, at least at the staff level, has advised us that they see these types of units as a tool to meet their lower cost visitor accommodation goal. And they have expressed some concern just that the staff, the staff level about the council's previous action to allow only that hosted because they were concerned that it may not provide sufficient lower cost visitor accommodations within the coastal zone. Speaker 0: Councilmember Urunga. Your time has expired. Speaker 1: Okay. Well, that would be my major concern at the present time, but I'll continue the discussion. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Next up is Consumers in house. Speaker 5: Mr. Mayor. And after hearing some more on this from staff, I was wondering, council member Pearce said maybe we could consider lowering the Unhosted max to maybe 800. Is that something that you would accept as a friendly. Speaker 0: Mayor. Do we have other people queued up to speak? Speaker 2: No. This is from the after this. We're going to a vote. Speaker 0: Okay. Well, I will accept your motion. You're a friendly. Speaker 5: A agree. And also, might you be able to accept that we that we have city staff come back to us in 6 to 9 months to reevaluate, you know, and see where we are with, especially since we're in a health crisis right now. Speaker 0: I think that in the original ordinance there's a staff supposed to come back annually with the vacancy rate. Is that correct stuff? Yes, that is correct. Okay. So since we're lowering the number, giving us, you know, I think 12 months to come back is a reasonable amount of time. Speaker 3: Okay. Speaker 5: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 3: Remember? Okay. Speaker 2: Thank you. That can actually count for a. Just check it. Speaker 1: Thank you, Eric Garcia. I just have a point of clarification and I think possibly a lot of residents are confused. I mean, basically, it's counterintuitive to think that we have to allow Unhosted in order to regulate them. But specifically, I'd like to ask Councilman Price to clarify what the 6 to 4 party's friendly means and and whether there is an annual unhosted limit for a house. Speaker 5: So I can I can talk about the the for the from six to force a staff was recommending six large scale events be permitted per ACR per year. And I ask that to be reduced to four with a request that staff look into a notification process for neighbors in the area. So that was my my friendly which Councilmember Pearce accepted. I don't know that I could speak with any expertize on the other item. That might be a better for staff question. Speaker 1: Well, yeah. And I think if I could ask staff, how how would the word get out to the public or how would there be notification on the policies? Speaker 4: Well, we need to come back to you with to provide you additional information. But the ideas that we provide on our website, an opportunity to notice the community about pending applications for events. Speaker 1: Okay. Great. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay. That concludes our council comment. Go ahead. Yes. Did you just did you are you did you cued up again? Okay, customer. Pierce. Speaker 0: Sorry, I just wanted to clarify. In the past, when we've talked about the vacancy rate, we've talked about the number of units being able to go up when the vacancy rate is above 8%. So I just wanted to confirm that that is still in the ordinance. And I know that it was in the report that the vacancy rate was variable. I just wanted to confirm. Oh. Yes. It was in the in the ordinance. That's right. So with that, you know, support the motion that's on the floor. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay. Roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 0: District one, district two I. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. I. District five. I. District six. AM District seven. Speaker 1: II. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Let me go to go back to some of the items that have been asked to move up. Next one item, I think 73 and 75 have to be taken together or one after another. Is that right, Mr. City Attorney? I think you could take it.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct staff to work with the City Attorney to amend Title 5 of the Long Municipal Code to allow un-hosted short-term rentals. (Citywide)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_11172020_20-1053

Speaker 4: However you'd like to take them there. Speaker 2: Okay, so let's do 73, which is the second reading, and then we'll do the modification in order. So. Item 73. Can we do that one, please? Speaker 0: Recommendation to declare an ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to tenant harassment, declaring the urgency thereof, and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately. Read and adopted as read. Speaker 2: I have a motion going to get a second to the motion in a second. Is there any public comment on 73? Speaker 4: Yes. Our first speaker is Tiffany Davey. Speaker 3: Good evening. Speaker 1: Tiffany and I are going to shoot this very short. I submit this item with no amendment. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Hollis Stewart. Speaker 1: Hello counseling there. I am speaking and I am 67 here. I do want to work 73 so I can. Oh, okay. I'm on that second thing of this. I am in favor of the ordinance to protect tenants. I don't want to see a weakened because I think that at this particular time in our city, with COVID and with so many other problems, we have got to make sure that people have a place to live. And to be putting people out would be a terrible thing for our city. I live downtown. I see many homeless people sleeping analogies under the rug underneath them, just any kind of thing. So let's keep this thing so we can stop harassment, so we can make sure people are safe. Okay. So thank you very much for your time. It's good to keep this and make it good and take care of our all of our citizens. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Lianna Noble. Vienna, Nobel. Our next speaker is Jordan Wynn. Speaker 3: This is Lana. I live downtown. Speaker 1: I'm. Speaker 4: Go ahead. The end of over. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Smartphones are difficult with this process. Our access is an ongoing adventure. I guess I am in strong favor of the anti harassment ordinance to protect tenants. I hope that the Council is aware of the fact that in order to protect their rights, including with this particular ordinance, tenants are forced to go to court. And it is important that we have an ordinance that has language that is clear and does not allow for a loophole. All of the language in this current ordinance is very clear, and we do not want, as residents here, to have it watered down or made difficult for the tenants to then exercise their rights when they have to go to court. We are an 80% tenant neighborhood downtown and most of the surrounding neighborhoods are way more than majority tenants. We desperately need our neighbors to have this protection against harassment. We need. Speaker 1: To. Speaker 3: Keep our neighborhoods as stable. Speaker 1: As. Speaker 3: Possible. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jordan Wynn. Speaker 1: Hi, this is Jordan win with District two. I also feel director for everyone in Long Beach. I'm speaking in strong support of the Tenant Anti Harassment Ordinance as it was passed on November 2nd. I don't think the city should be making any amendments to this at this particular time. This is important legislation that we've been working for months on and that need in order to not be illegally retaliated against or affected or harassed by landlords that continue to pursue that. Let's be clear here. This is mostly bad actor corporate landlords that are doing this in our neighborhoods. And this is exactly what the policy is meant to certify in the first place. All of these actors are already acting in bad faith that is assumed. Don't make it more legally difficult for tenants to assert their rights and pass item 73 as is. Thank you. I yield the rest of my time. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speakers, Andrew Mann to honor. Speaker 1: Hello. My name is Angela, the one to a community organizer with lobbies forward. Over this past year, countless constituents of yours have demonstrated their resiliency and built tenant power across the city. They've shown up to action to demand tenants rights. They've made public comments and ultimately want to keep their families safe from displacement. This ordinance is more than just a policy change. It is a testament to the countless hours they put in to protect their families. The Andrews You chose to champion this policy and with that you chose to defend it in its purest form. This bad faith language is an undermining of communities hard fight to protect their families and is just meant to provide slumlords with coverage. And like you said, if you're a good landlord, nothing to worry about. You've known these tenants for years. You've broken bread with them, you've watched their kids grow, and those very same children are the ones up at night. You said something to me that's been sticking. The system is called, you've experienced it yourself, and now you must prevent it from happening to others or council members or agendas in the renaming of civic school sports facility in your name so that your legacy lives on. And I hope they aren't holding the vote on item 75 against you. Rest assured the community knows you and will ensure your legacy lives on. But No. 175 and don't allow any changes to the anti-harassment ordinance. Lastly, Mr. Mayor, you said we want to be a city that supports all types of housing. Let's also support the tenants who live in the. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is also tongue. Speaker 3: Honorable Mayor and city council members. Hi, my name is Alpha Tung, District seven, resident and member of the Long Beach Housing Justice Coalition. In solidarity with Long Beach's renter majority who deserve dignity, safety and health, especially during the raging pandemic, we thank you for adopting the Tenant Anti-Harassment Urgency Ordinance on November 2nd and urge you to keep it as is with no amendments. Council Members. This is not a controversial issue. If you are a good landlord, this ordinance does not apply to you. If you are a kind landlord, this ordinance does not apply to you. If you are a landlord who treats your tenants with basic decency and respect, this ordinance does not apply to you. So to the good, kind, decent landlords, in the words of Bobby McFerrin. Don't worry, be happy. This ordinance only applies to bad actor landlords who abuse their power to abuse their tenants. City Council has the responsibility to legislate against abuse. Council members preserve the ordinance as adopted on November 2nd and reject any amendments like item 75 to weaken this ordinance by adding the words bad faith, which puts an impossible burden of proof on tenants and effectively erases the adopted protections from landlord abuse. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Melody Ozuna. Speaker 3: Mayor, members of the City Council. My name is Melody Osuna. I am a homeowner in the eighth District. I'm also an attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Long Beach. I run a medical legal partnership at a county run medical facility in District one, which means I provide free legal assistance to low income tenants here . Long Beach. I am thankful to the Council for passing this anti-harassment ordinance for recognizing that we are in unprecedented times. Adding a blanket bad faith requirement would ruin the protections you provided your residents. You took an important step and what was needed for the tenants in our city to be free from harassment. I also want you to recognize that it's ordinances like this that bring race equity to Long Beach. As we continue into month nine of the pandemic. Study after study show that people of color are the hardest hit by COVID 19, both in health and economic impacts. When working with medical patients here in Long Beach, I hear story after story about how stressful it is when a landlord threatens them. One of the biggest issues I see now is landlords using their power to misrepresent the law to tenants. They provide false information in documents requiring tenants to sign contracts not needed for the legal protections provided by the Long Bay, Long Beach, the county and the state for tenants who are scared of losing their housing but have no control over their economic situation during this pandemic. They're forced into a bad situation. As their attorney, I can now affirmatively, affirmatively enforce their rights. A blanket ban would be. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Natalie Diaz. Speaker 3: Mr. Mayor. Members of the council. My name's Natalie Diaz, and I'm a tenant in the third district and a nonprofit attorney. I'm urging the council to keep the ordinance as is written. As a nonprofit attorney, I've seen firsthand how important strong protections are for tenants. This ordinance, as it's written now, is especially important because it doesn't force tenants to prove that their landlord acted in bad faith, which is impossible to do. I understand that there's another item on today's agenda, item 75, which moves out of bad faith requirement and the ordinance, which is absurd. How would a tenant prove what is going on in the mind of their landlord when they are harassing them? This is actually something that you believe a tenant can do. This is an impossible requirement. This anti tenant harassment ordinance was meant to protect vulnerable people during an unprecedented pandemic where black and brown communities have been disproportionately impacted . I know that at this point my 90 seconds and comment is probably not going to sway the council members that are truly against this anti tenant harassment ordinance. All I hope that the council members hear that this ordinance is important, should be left there as is. And changing it to bad faith means that protecting vulnerable communities in Long Beach in the midst of a pandemic is just not something that is. Speaker 1: Valued that. Speaker 3: You think. Speaker 4: Thank you. And give us a moment while we transition to the Spanish portion of public comment. Our first speakers are Velasco. Is the translator online. See our first pictures are of Alaska. Speaker 0: Senora Aura Velasco documentary about power. Speaker 3: I see. It's $1,000,000,000 festival claiming the lack of control and global. The most fun was this kind of weather. You know, you're so lucky you're in the neighborhood. What a normal life has been facing. Speaker 0: Okay. So I'm asking to approve the ordinance as it was presented, and I ask you to please vote no on 75. Speaker 3: Hello. Think of oh, hockey. Speaker 0: Okay. Grasses. Okay. That was my comment. Thank you. Speaker 3: That's just. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ariella Quintana Ortega. Speaker 0: Si Senora Aurelio Quintana. Sympathetic Documentary. Speaker 3: Supplementary Power. Emma. Good to see you. Good to see. All of you know, when a father would say, how is the ego so that that your. Let's be look at the dramatic get a good idea what it looks like to keep us out of Natal in November. Look at the end of the. You might get a lot of support of that. You get a business. You can work in. Well know that they think of. Get the hang of it just feeling miserable. But they have a sore throat. They cannot seem to get. Well, you know. Speaker 0: I would promote them and say good on someone. Hi, my name is Aurelia Quintana. First of all, I just want to say thank you, thank you for the r for approving the ordinance. And like I said, I want to thank everyone. I thank you for approving number 75. And I would like to ask you to leave it as is and so that we can be protected. Alabamans quickly agree garcinia. Speaker 3: If the. I must say, most of the people, for the most part, are not. I. With the hands of Assad. The bodies of. It's common to see Musketeer on General Mills. I also. Speaker 0: Yeah. We want to be protected when we are harassed by the rent, by the renters. I'm sorry about the owners of their properties. It feels as if they want to humiliate us. And that is not fair. Speaker 1: Whoo hoo! Speaker 0: Erato Look at us. Speaker 3: Well, let me see if I walk away. And I think Mr. Campbell will forget none of the lessons, which I can say. Yes. Well, for wages important for. Speaker 0: Okay? Yes. I just want to live it as is. Honestly, it's not a good situation when the way they treat us. And it's not only my situation, but a lot of people are in the same situation. Speaker 3: They saw as a. Speaker 0: Yes a letter penalty imposed on your gracious. Speaker 3: Of. Okay, good offense, which is aggressive. That's all. Thank you, everyone. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Maribel Marin, Mary Ellis. Speaker 3: He went through. This is number one ridiculous season. Speaker 0: You know, this documentary about power. Speaker 3: If the government is not going to help you, Andrew Kemp can get a laugh out of things like this. Well, good then. And we'll go to a coastal city. Improve your life a lot worse. Improve your visa is enough to send some city back. This is some of the concerns, of course. Want to see more rain, that there's something that's in place that he can not carry on communicating. The political landscape. Speaker 0: You're going to. Speaker 3: See. You know, I think. Yes. Speaker 0: Okay. Nina, this is for council member Andrew. I just want to ask you to don change anything to article 73. I can talk from personal experience. We are constantly harassed or water and or gas is turned off without prior notice. If you modify it, it's something that will affect us in a negative way and also don't make any changes. 25. Album. I said, You know what I thought? Well. Speaker 3: My. Speaker 0: That was it. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Porfirio de la Rosa. Speaker 0: Susan, your principal has said it's a commentary about power. Speaker 1: Why not. Speaker 0: See the supplementary. Speaker 1: Premium over popular offer? You're looking at lots of current deals. DC Avenue is looking at a few more vehicles that are looking for you for care and those of us with an LA. Hello in Burma. Sorry, I never thought I get this done. We will rebuild the family in which a lot of people care. What them. All of it that they think single. Speaker 0: They c us. Speaker 1: But it was a mistake. They think of. Speaker 0: Okay when you interpret that. Speaker 1: People. Speaker 0: Hi, my name is Poppy de la la Rosa. I would like to ask you to leave the ordinance as is. We are constantly harassed. Trash is thrown near our windows. This has caused a roach infestation. I would like you to vote no on number 75 and leave. Leave it as it is. Album. I said, You're right. I thought. Speaker 1: This is it. The mink is the bouquet that you're gonna throw. How to give this a girl, a little fella, you know, by a lawyer that is brought up all our security there. But if you look at them, it'll be like of taken. Images of the animal character forever migrated from the opera before. Speaker 0: Grass is ahead of them. Yes. Also, they are constantly coming. They're doing the work. They turn up the water. They turn up the electricity work prior notice. They throw their trash or their dirty water. And this has caused an infestation. Thank you for listening. And I would like you to just leave number 75, as is. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rosa VILLASENOR. Speaker 0: Senora Rosa. Zero seven U.S.A.. C.S. Lewis and the commentary apocalypse. Speaker 3: When an artist's concept is also. Yes. And your your outlook. But what if I work and I'll see you end up with all. Well no in love with them, I think in the other things, I think. But if you set it up also, I think, you know, I mean, they come in. So if they have also some impact on the pandemia embedded on this. Is this what media? Isn't war beyond war? Both and no. Know it's up in the. Maybe, but I could comment that I didn't have all this. Of course, I didn't get that honest with much of the appointed. But only if they both get out of it. You see, if you. I. Then you're gonna see. I knew that. I think. Speaker 0: Grass doesn't get interpreted. Hi. My name is Rosa. Um, I would like to say, first of all night council members and Mayor, I would like to ask you to please vote no on Amendment 75 to avoid harassment. It all started with the pandemic. It has been an agony. Council Member Andrew, please vote no. They took the doors away. They turned off the lights for eight days on the street. There's a lot of homeless. Please, Mayor, please help us. Please vote no on 73 and 75. That is. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Silvia de la Rosa. Speaker 0: Senora Silvia dela rosa. Speaker 3: Thing when I started you the la rosa senora regarding equal time is better for five or. Get Egan Mulligan, Lester Barela, Cosmo Ebert and Lasseter, Julianne Moore, Murray Campbell, any potential? Gwendolyn, you really concern me. Equal man all together. Yummy. Yuck. I'm Lucas Murray. Sequel Acusado. Beetle, but they're more alike than they think of you. Speaker 0: GRASSLEY Senator, good afternoon. My name is Sylvia La Rosa. Mr. Mayor, council members, I would like to ask you to please vote no on 75. I am a mother and I cannot tell you how frustrated I feel. Speaker 5: When. Speaker 0: My son and I are harassed. There is nothing that I can do. So please, I ask you to vote no. Getty Aggregate albums, signora or anything that was said. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. We we have a motion us again. I was going to do a roll call. Speaker 0: Mayor, can you please share who the motion in the second. Speaker 2: Motion by Councilmember Ringa and a second by Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 0: Thank you. District one I. District two. I. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six and District seven. By District eight. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Ocean carries.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 8.101, relating to tenant harassment; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_11172020_20-1142

Speaker 2: Item 75, which is related. Speaker 0: Item 75 recommendation to direct City Attorney to modify the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance passed November 2nd, 2020, with the addition of In Bad Faith. Speaker 2: Okay. I have Councilman Pryce. Speaker 5: You. Mr. Mayor, can I maybe start with having Rich Anthony? I'm not sure if he's on the call, but if he can maybe explain what the bad faith component does and what other cities that have meant. Policies have bad faith language. And before he does that, I just want to I want to thank all the tenants for calling in. And I realize sometimes we're not in a position to really hear what another person is saying, especially if we think they're not with us on something. But I just I'm not sure how much I can underscore this. So if anyone is listening and willing to hear this modification isn't at all about taking away any tenants rights. Tenants can sue for every single one of those perceived violations. The bad faith element. What that does, and that's included my understanding this in every city that has a tenant harassment ordinance, even cities like Oakland that a lot of times we look to for direction on landlord tenant policies includes a bad faith element. It's there because it sets forth an objective standard to really go after the bad actors, which is what everybody wants. And I think that's a fair process. And so if Mr. Anthony, if you can just kind of expand on that and I realize we're not going to. Speaker 3: Really hear what another person is saying, especially if we think they're not. Speaker 5: With us on something. But I just I'm not sure how much I can underscore there. So anyone is listening and willing. Speaker 0: Someone has a live mic. Can you please mute yourself? Speaker 1: This is Deputy City Attorney Anthony. I assume that with that live mike being turned off, the floor is mine. Thank you. Councilmember Price. So so as you well, let me make one minor correction and that is I can't recall exactly which jurisdiction in the state this is true of, but there are at least one, maybe two others that do not include a bad faith requirement. However, most of them do, as you noted, Oakland, West Hollywood and Santa monica, among others that come to mind, do require that the tenant prove bad faith on the part of the landlord in order to find a landlord, in order for a court to find a landlord guilty of tenant harassment. I think the addition of of bad faith, of the bad faith requirement is pretty straightforward. I've heard some of the speakers say that that would make it more difficult, at least in some instances, to for a tenant to prove that they are being harassed. And I think that's that's true. On the other side of the coin, of course, is that it would provide landlords who are acting in good faith but may make a mistake in the way they characterize eviction moratoriums or the law or in if they are forgetful about cashing a check. Both of those things, you know, would constitute harassment. And I think the addition of the word bad faith and the reason why other jurisdictions have included it is probably to ensure that landlords, when they make mistakes but are acting in good faith, are not the subject of a lawsuit from a tenant. So with that, I'm happy to answer any further questions. I think you were item was pretty much pretty straightforward. Councilmember Press. Speaker 5: Q And I have no additional comments. Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. We're going to go ahead and just go a Councilman Austin, did you have any and are you seconded if you have any comments or. Speaker 1: I have no comments. I just I think this is. Straightforward language that obviously has been adopted in cities that we would look to for similar policies. San Francisco. Berkeley, Oakland. Santa monica. I think this policy, teen harassment policy, provides a great protections and increased protections for tenants in our city. I don't think that that language would take away from that in any way. It just would add some clarity. And and then the thing, as I understand back bad faith, it's willful intent to to violate laws. And so if a bad landlord is bad acting in bad faith that they're they're mistreating their tenants, they would be acting in bad faith. So I don't see a problem with the language. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Before we go on, we're going to do public comment and then we'll we'll start with Councilman Richardson. Public comment, Madam Court. Speaker 4: Our first commenter is Christine Buss. Speaker 3: Hi. This is Christine, Boss. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I serve as the government affairs manager for the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. I'm speaking today on behalf of our 678 members, representatives and community stakeholders. We support the revision for tonight, including a bad faith requirement into the harassment policy. It will provide a balanced approach to the tenant landlord relations and other cities in California are including this as well, including Oakland, San Francisco, West Hollywood and Santa monica. This will allow for an objective and fair assessment of allegations made under the ordinance. So thank you. And we support this revision. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Darla McAllister. Speaker 3: Good evening, Mayor. Ma'am. Speaker 4: Yes. Please continue. Speaker 3: Okay. Council members. My name is Darla McAllister. I am a housing provider and undamaged apartments in the second, third and sixth districts. I have a very good relationship with all my tenants, some for over 20 years. I support I am 75 and I'm asking you to support the ordinance by adding that language as it provides a fair and balanced approach to the harassment policy. Three other major cities have it in their ordinance. This is important to our industry and to the relationships that we have built with our tenants. And B, I have a very visible apartment building in your district helping many otherwise at risk tenants. I work very hard building good relationships and keeping rents way below market. Please understand how critical this issue is. Without that language, we will be impacted with sometimes false accusations that do not have to be substantiated. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is David Hendler. Speaker 1: Good evening. Mayor and City Council. I just want to let you know that I agree with adding in the bad faith language and I hope the Council will support it. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Elaine Hutchinson. Speaker 3: Good evening, Mayor Garcia and Vice Mayor Andrews and members of the City Council. My name is Elaine Hutchison and I have been a housing provider and manager in all districts of the city here in Long Beach. I am here this evening in support of item 75. Thank you for this evening. This opportunity to address the Council on this item. Adding The Bad Faith Cause allows housing for housing providers fair protection when the entire ordinance is considered and is, as has been stated in keeping with other California cities, which also have this clause. I thank you specifically, Vice Mayor Andrews, for your support, and I appreciate the support of the Council for this item. Thank you for your consideration. I urge your vote to approve this item. Thank you very much. Speaker 4: And your next speaker is Fred Sutton. Speaker 1: Hello? Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: Hello, Honorable Mayor and City Council. My name is Fred Sutton, calling on behalf of the California Apartment Association. Thank you. Council members Price Supernova and Andrews for bringing this item forward. The harassment ordinance that was just voted on was done an urgency. There was zero stakeholder feedback and zero input from housing providers without reasonable amendments. This ordinance will remain deeply flawed. Frankly, there should be more amendments. Adding This small faith clause helps ensure housing providers do not fall victim to frivolous lawsuits or predatory dwelling tactics. As an original ordinance, there should have been a different process. Councilmember Andrews. You owe it to all residents to ensure the laws are fair, balanced and protective of all of your residences. We urge you to please support item 75 A Common Sense and Reasonable Amendment. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Janet Leigh. Janet Leigh. Our next speaker is Keith Kennedy. Oh, sorry. Janet Leigh. Speaker 3: Hi, this is Janet Leigh. This is Janet doing? Hi. My name is Janet Lee. Mayor, Vice Mayor Andrew's Council. I ask that you support adding the bad faith clause to item 75. The way the ordinance is written, a tenant can make any accusation and it would be deemed to be true. My request is that you add the bad faith element to the ordinance. Thank you for your time. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Keith Kennedy. Speaker 1: Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: Thank you. My name is Keith Kennedy of the Small Property Owners Alliance, also known as BOA and I support Item 75 as it provides a fair and balanced approach for harassment policy. Three other major cities in California included in their ordinance. It's critical to the health of our industry to include the bad faith clause. Without the bad faith clause, housing providers will be unfairly targeted with frivolous harassment accusations that would not have to be substantiated during a pandemic. This will make things very difficult for people to rent housing, be very difficult for landlords to be able to successfully run their businesses. We ask that you include the bad faith clause in your in your vote tonight. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Kristi Pabst. Speaker 3: Hello. Good evening. Mayor and City Council. My name is Christie Peltz and I have been a housing provider and property manager for over 35 years. Tonight, all I'm asking is for your your support to add three words to the harassment policy that Vice Mayor De Andrews brought forward back in November 2nd. It is really very simple. Please add bad faith language into the ordinance to give protection to our 7500 landlord. So tenants cannot take advantage and file frivolous lawsuit lawsuits. We need factual information on this issue because a lot of tenants I have over 3000 tenants that we manage property. That we have landlords, that we manage property and it is imperative that. If they bring an accusation that it is factual, will you support the addition of the bad faith language support by the 75? Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mike Murchison. Speaker 1: Good evening, Mayor and council members. My name is Mike Murchison. I'm asking that you support item 75 tonight on the amendment of the harassment ordinance with the adding of bad faith language. There's not one group that's been severely impacted by the pandemic. We've all been impacted. It's not just tenants. It's also housing providers. It's everybody. Some of the mom and pops that are out there in Long Beach that you all know, they've been here for years providing quality housing, are very concerned about laws that are open ended and don't require any proof by adding bad faith. Much like three very large cities in California has already been mentioned San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland. You're giving a fair and balanced approach with tenants and landlords, and that's what you want to do when you're making policy is give a fair and balanced approach. I'm asking you, support 75. We need protection for all. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ray Miller. Speaker 1: Hello? Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: Hello. Okay. My name is Ray NAYLOR of Long Beach and I support agenda item 75. It brings balance and fairness to harassment policy. There are. There's provision in there similar ordinances. Mr. Andrews I recall your address to a group of small property owners in 2019, and I thought you had a good understanding of housing providers relationship. But it is important, Mr. Andrews, that you understand this modification to. Three. The curtain ornament. The current ordinance enables parties to present unsubstantiated accusations. The providers with their guest's best interests in mind. Council members, I urge your vote on the agenda item. This concludes my comments. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rich Ratcliffe. Speaker 1: Good evening, council members and mayor and mayor. My name is Richard Kalis and I'm a housing provider in the third district. I support the insertion of the bad faith language into the harassment ordinance and urge your support. The reason is simple doing so is fair to both sides, leaving tenants with the right to simply make unsubstantiated claims that can adversely affect women or. Is simply not right. Someone before me regarding item 73 said If you're a good landlord, this does not apply to you. While the reverse is also true, if you are a good tenant, 75 does not apply to you. The bad faith language is fair and provides an equal playing field for both landlords and tenants. Someone also said, please leave it as it is so we remain protected. Adding fairness language does not limit their protection. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Sylvana Rayola. Speaker 3: Good evening. My name is Silvana Viola. I live in District three and I have been an active real estate agent for 59 years a property owner, a housing provider and a property manager. Speaker 1: I support. Speaker 3: The harassment policy based May or the Andrew. Speaker 1: Proposed by inserting the bad faith. Speaker 3: Language into. Speaker 1: The ordinance. Please Support Item 75. Speaker 3: Landlord Tenant legislation should be fair and equitable to both housing providers and tenants. Speaker 1: Both parties should. Speaker 3: Be held to honest communications and fair dealings with one another. Speaker 1: The interests of both are best served by by adding. Speaker 3: Language, encouraging. Speaker 1: Parties to act. Speaker 3: Honorably and to dissuade either party from taking advantage of the other in bad peace. Fairness eliminates hostility and encourages housing providers and tenants both to resolve problems without aggressive legal involvement. A well-written ordinance will. Speaker 1: Foster. Speaker 3: A respectful, open, honest dialog and. Speaker 1: Resolution of conflicts. Speaker 3: I appreciate the support of the Council and making the suggested changes supporting 75 by adding the bad faith language. Speaker 1: Which will protect both tenants and housing providers in life. Please vote in support of 75. Thank you for your consideration. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Steve Walker. Steve Warshaw. Speaker 1: Honorable Mayor and council members. My name is Steve Warshaw. I've lived in Long Beach since 1969, and I've been a housing provider in the cities since the mid-seventies. I strongly support the insertion of bad language in this ordinance. Several other speakers have pointed out the reasons why. The most important one, I think, is it provides protection for good landlords against false accusations. I strongly support the insertion of this language and I implore you to please vote in favor of item 75. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Wendy Henning. Speaker 3: Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 3: Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Wendy Henning and I have been a housing provider and manager for over 40 years. I would like all of your support regarding the harassment policy that Vice Mayor De Andrews. Speaker 1: Brought. Speaker 3: Forward on. Speaker 1: November the second. Speaker 3: By adding the bad faith clause to the ordinance. Adding the bad faith clause to the ordinance. Speaker 1: Allows housing. Speaker 3: Providers their protection against any tenants that might want to take advantage of the system by not providing factual evidence that a housing provider may have acted. Speaker 1: In. Speaker 3: Bad faith. It's only fair and correct that housing providers should be protected as well. I thank you specifically, Vice Mayor Anderson, who brought the policy forward. And I would appreciate the support of a council with the change I suggested. I thank you all for your consider and I truly wish you a very happy holiday. Coming. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilmember Richardson. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for the speakers. The speakers we just heard, as well as speakers from the last item, I know that we have a limit of 20, so folks may have wanted to speak on this one. Ended up on that one. So thank you. I've paid attention to this. I know that there's been some back and forth whether to have it's an interesting policy or not, whether to include bad faith, language or not. I think there's there's a way, I think, to accomplish what we want to accomplish, which is expand dignity for for tenants, but also to make sure that we have clarity, balance and fairness about the process. You know, find some middle ground. So so I know that, you know, there are some some areas here where I think removing bad faith from the from the beginning, where it applies to all of the enumerated prohibited acts, but really placing them where they are placing the bad faith language, where it adds clarity. I think it's more helpful, for example, in a number of these they already have elements of bad faith is required insofar as they have references to abuse, intimidation or threats. I'm not sure how you can engage in abuse, intimidation or threats in good faith, though it's already implied in some of those. So I want to I want to ask a question, offer a friendly amendment to the councilmember price. Are you open to are you open to shifting where you have the bad faith language to apply to some areas where we have where I think it needs that clarity. Are you open to that? If so, I'll outline, I think, four places to identify and I think makes that absolutely. Speaker 5: And I agree with you that there are several of the enumerated provisions that have some sort of mental state encompassed in the language, like threatening physical harm and things of that nature. Speaker 1: Great. Fantastic. So I'm going to list I have four here. So one of them is B, where it talks about failing to timely perform repairs and maintenance and so forth. Eight is provide false written verbal information regarding protections I related to refusing to acknowledge or accept receipt of tenants law for rent payment and K which is communicate with a tenant in a language other than the tenants priority language. I think on those, those are the ones where you want. We, I think want to be clear. Be clear on the on on on good faith or bad faith. But on the rest of them, I don't think that we need to just just have a, you know, payment with a broad brush. So if you accept those, I'm happy to support this motion. Speaker 5: Happy to accept that. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 2: Q Thank you, Councilmember. Councilwoman Pierce. Speaker 0: Thank you. Council members. Good to hear the changes that were made. I wasn't sure where I was going to be on this, so I definitely appreciate this. I want to get one clarifying question. For. Information that's provided to the tenants. If the landlord provides some information that does not align with state law, what are the provisions? Where does that fall in line with all of the the ordinance that's written? I can give you an example, if that helps. And I'm asking the city attorney. Speaker 1: Oh, sorry. Councilmember Pierce, this is. This is Deputy City Attorney Rich Anthony. If I understand your question correctly, each subsection is it would be 8.101.030 of the existing ordinance, subsection eight. That is the one that makes it that is the subsection that makes it harassment for a landlord to provide or to misrepresent the status of eviction moratoriums or landlord tenant law in in California or federally or locally. And that that is that's one of them that I heard the friendly which Councilmember Price accepted, which would now specifically require that mischaracterization would have to be made in bad faith in order for it to constitute harassment. Speaker 0: Okay. I know that I'm I don't want to try to make tonight long. I feel like there's been from hearing Councilmember Richardson negotiations. I just want to make sure, you know, as a tenant myself who's experienced continual harassment and had rent increases after trying to get things done, maybe it's not right in this item, but I know that everybody with the apartment association is listening. I know that small landlords are listening. One of the biggest challenges that we have is that landlords might claim that they do not know that the law. So I got a letter from my landlord and he said, I got it from the apartment association. It didn't mention one thing about the California law, and it included a bunch of documents that he tried to get me to sign. This is an urgent issue that I hope that the apartment association will figure out how to work with their members in a more transparent way with the least amount of paperwork as possible. So it's very clear for landlords what the law is because as you as the membership organization, I'm looking to you guys to do a better job of that so that these situations don't happen. So I'll support the motion tonight. I appreciate the efforts that were made. We consistently try to find a way to work with landlords in respect that maybe they might not have all the information or might not intend to be. Speaker 3: Acting in bad faith. Speaker 0: But I think that I'm asking the apartment association locally and statewide to step it up and support your your members a little bit better. So with that, I'll support this motion. Thank you. Speaker 2: Councilman's in the house. Speaker 5: Vice Mayor, just a quick question for city attorney, if you would please clarify. What what do the what does the burden of proof on tenants in these circumstances after the recommendations by Councilmember Richardson. Speaker 1: In the House. That's a difficult one to answer, as has been stated by some of the speakers and I think by some of the council members, the no doubt it will make it a bit harder on a tenant to prove harassment because now in certain instances, they are going to have to prove of bad faith. Exactly what that proof will prove in bad faith requires. I can't really speak to it's going to be very, I think, factually dependent. It's going to be very much up to the superior court judge who hears the case. So it's very hard for me to give you an answer on exactly how much more difficult this would make it for the average tenant to prove harassment. And I also don't know the experience that other jurisdictions have had. You know, I don't know if the bad faith requirement in other jurisdictions, which have it significantly tamps down the successful harassment cases or not. My guess is that it does not. But but I don't really know that that's just a gut feel. And I'm sorry I can't give you a more factually based answer, but it's tough. Speaker 5: Oh, yes, it's understandable at the same time. And of course, I'm having a hard time because a lot of my residents are going through harassment by their landlords. And so it makes it tough. But I'm happy to see the amendments that were made to to this ordinance. So thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Vice Mayor Andrews. Yes. Thank you. You know, I've been listening to everyone speak on the side of Alan Reed very clear that, you know, supporting, you know, tenants, especially those on Orange Avenue, because I think I know that this is between a landlord and a slumlord and that one avenue should've been unacceptable. And those individuals, I myself would even go to court with them because I know that was total, total harassment. Anyone take down security bars and lights and fences to the back? That was harassment. But if our city attorney agrees, we need to be a little more clear on language avoidance, then we should do this. But, you know, other cities have bad faith language in the ordinance, and we want to model what other cities are doing. That was the point of threatening the owners. And so we should follow through. And I want to thank you, Councilman Richardson, on some of the changes that can be made this work for everyone. And that's what I'm really trying to do. I know everyone would not be happy, but there comes a point in these. Speaker 1: Then, like you say, if you are in good faith. Speaker 2: Or bad faith, someone is going to have to be held accountable on both ends. You have a landlord that is so in bad faith that that individual has to be held accountable for that and they should be taken to court. And I know the judge to ensure fair play in that situation. So I'm just hoping that there's a way that Councilman Richardson clarified this and we can lease, but most of us are on an even keel. I want to thank you very much. Speaker 1: All my tennis resident. Everyone will join me in tonight. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Thank you, customary ringa. Speaker 1: Thank you very, very quickly. We practiced ordinance disposal. We debated this issue and it was shot down. So I'm not very I'm at the point in the motion. Speaker 2: And then we have Councilman Price. Speaker 5: Mr. Mayor. So just for just a little bit of clarification here, because I'm rereading the language here and it looks like. Speaker 0: We the. Speaker 5: I want to ask for some clarification from Councilman Richardson. I know we're going to be amending I'll start in alphabetical order, B, subsection B of 8.1 or 1.03 of subsection B to add in bad faith. At the start of that section, which was in bad faith, failed to timely perform repairs and maintenance required by a rental agreement . That's right. And then okay. And then J. I don't know if you mentioned the. Speaker 1: Assets agents that are J. J. J is the one on one. Speaker 5: Okay. That's good, because I think I feel like H has some protections in it. All right. So I, K, B and J or what I have written down. Does that sound right? Speaker 1: Yes, that's absolutely right. Speaker 5: Okay. Thank you. And I appreciate hearing from my colleagues tonight. And again, hopefully there's there's a will to just at least hear what I'm saying and what I'm what I what this is about is, you know, we live in a country where our system, our court system is designed so that everybody can have an opportunity to have their day in court. And in talking with elected officials and attorneys representing some of these other jurisdictions that adopted kind of harassment policies, there's oftentimes and I know several cities have been cited, there is a mental state component, because the intent of this legislation is is not to give everybody, you know, not to deny anybody their day in court, but to have some sort of objective standard, a burden of proof, so to speak, to be met to determine if someone violated the law. So in the example, for example, somebody made a comment about someone providing maybe information that's inaccurate law. I'll tell you guys, every single year the legislature passes new laws and the law books that attorneys rely on change every single year. And so if you're relying on an old book of statutes, for example, you may miss some change that's not included in your version because you're looking at A to night 2019 edition of the Code and not the 2020 edition. But that may mean that you just made a mistake, that you're not you're not operating based on the current laws that include current legislation. And so we want to make sure that people have an opportunity to go into court and say, I'm so sorry that was a mistake, and have a judge be able to determine, based on all the evidence, if that person is acting in bad faith or if they genuinely made a mistake. Every single example we heard tonight from those who called in on 73 are absolutely examples of people who are bad actors repeated harassment, retaliation, intentional confusion. The evidence there is I could just tell from some of the accounts that we were told just during public comment that there's more than one incident, that there's more than one failure to act. There's more one act more than one act of negligence. Those that's all evidence that a tenant will have the right to present so that the tenants don't lose any rights by this modification. They can still sue whoever they want. But the the landlord now has an opportunity to be able to present their case, and the judge now has the burden of proof. And the burden of proof is what is the standard. It's did this person act with a bad intent? Because I don't think any of us here believe that anyone should be wrongfully accused and not have an opportunity to present their own case in a court of law. And I know we all fundamentally believe that in our justice system, and that's what this is about. It's not to take away any rights. It's to allow everybody to have a meaningful opportunity to present their case in court. And I do believe that our judicial officers, when listening to all the evidence, will make the right call. Our system works as long as we set up laws that allow everyone to have their day in court. So I want to thank my counsel colleagues that are open and willing. And Councilman Richardson is absolutely right. There are portions of the provisions that don't need the bad language because they sufficiently cover a mental state. Some of them don't, and they're too ambiguous. So thank you very much for your consideration of supporting this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. Well, that will do a. Speaker 1: Roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. No. District two. Yes. District three. Yes. District four. I District five. I. District six. District seven. Speaker 1: They? Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: Yes. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. We're going to go to general public comment, please.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Attorney to modify the Tenant Anti-Harassment ordinance passed November 2, 2020 to reflect the following: Addition of “in bad faith” to line one of Section 8.101.030.

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Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. We're going to go through we're going to quickly go through some other items that are that are faster. And we can just hear those really quick. Let's go ahead in here. Item 67, please. Speaker 0: Report from Economic Development Recommendation to execute all documents necessary with jasmine hospitality for purchase of certain real property located at 1725 Long Beach Boulevard and an amount not to exceed 21,720,000 District one. Speaker 2: I got a motion in a second place. Can I get a motion in a second? Kevin Most of it comes from us. And they ask second by Councilmember. Councilmember Austin. I do not. I have public comments on the public comment. Please. Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Lianna Knobel. Liana Noble. Our next speaker is Jordan Wynn. Speaker 1: Hi there. Before you start my time. We keep getting shifted back and forth between holding rooms, so there's like a minute delay. Are we an item 67 right now? Speaker 4: Yes, 67. Speaker 1: Great. Thank you very much. My name's stored in wind and everyone in Long Beach Feel director. And I'm just here to speak in strong support of approving the Project Homekey site at the best Western site, this addition of 100 more units takes us close to 270 new supportive housing units that will be coming online from Project Homekey alone next year, which is really exciting news. This is in addition to other sites like Link Housing Market, Midtown and some of the other Clifford Beard's sites that are going to be opening up for more supportive housing to help support people experiencing chronic homelessness. I want to thank the Council for doing this kind of work, and I also want to remind them that with the recent hotel conversion package and also the county passage of Measure J, there will become more funds available for projects like this in the near future. And I implore Council to continue pursuing the right methods of helping end homelessness within our communities and investing deeply in affordable and supportive housing. Thank you so much. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Great. I have a motion by Councilmember Austin and a second vote actually may make the motion by councilwoman. I think this is in the first district. Is that correct? I think the motion by Councilwoman Zendejas and second by Councilmember Austin. A roll call, please. Speaker 0: District one. They? District by district three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. District five by district six. Speaker 2: Five. Speaker 0: District seven. District eight. Speaker 1: II. Speaker 0: District nine. Motion carries.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute any and all documents necessary, including an Agreement for Acquisition of Real Property and Escrow Instructions (Agreement), with Jasman Hospitality, Incorporated, a California corporation (Seller), for the purchase of certain real property located at 1725 Long Beach Boulevard, Assessor Parcel Number 7269-019-049 (Subject Property), in an amount not to exceed $21,720,000; Accept the Categorical Exemption SE-20-092; Increase appropriations in the Health Fund Group in the Health and Human Services Department by $15,337,400, offset by grant revenues; and Increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Economic Development Department by $21,720,000, offset by a transfer of grant revenues from the Health Fund Group and Community Development Grants Fund Group. (District 1)

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Speaker 2: Motion carries makes up 74. Speaker 0: Recommendation declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding temporary enforcement of the Long Beach Health Order. Health orders related to COVID 19 declaring the urgency thereof and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately. Read and adapted as read citywide. Speaker 2: I have a motion by Councilor appear second by Councilman Ringa. No public comment. Please cast your vote. Speaker 4: Mr. Mayor, we have one public comment. Speaker 2: You okay? It's not on my sheet, so. All right, go ahead. Speaker 4: Tiffany. Davey. Speaker 3: Hi and good evening. And keep this short and sweet. Speaker 1: Obviously, we're going to see, I mean, the council amendment to determine I'm 41. And then I was looking for further clarification on where the emergency order actually ends during the 20/31. Speaker 3: Due to the. Speaker 1: Continuously ever expanding nature of this pandemic. I would have liked to have seen this before in the future. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the sun. Speaker 2: 76, please. Speaker 0: We need to take a vote. District one. District one. I district to. I. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 0: District seven. District eight. District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Item 76 recommendation to direct city manager and all appropriate departments to seek approval, access and reimbursement from Caltrans so that the city can perform needed maintenance and cleanup. Speaker 2: I have a motion by council member Eureka second black councilman Mongo. I don't think I see any public comment. Is that correct? Speaker 4: We have one person, Elizabeth Magnusson. Elizabeth Magnusson. Speaker 3: Yes. I'm here. Speaker 4: Let's begin. Speaker 3: Hello. My name is Elizabeth Magnuson. The freeway intersection at Willow and Lakewood serves thousands of residents and serves the Long Beach Airport. This intersection is currently the worst reflection of Long Beach. It is unsafe to use the crosswalk and drive around with debris of trash overflowing onto the onramp and off ramp and onto the street.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 8.120, 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)

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Speaker 3: Hello. My name is Elizabeth Magnuson. The freeway intersection at Willow and Lakewood serves thousands of residents and serves the Long Beach Airport. This intersection is currently the worst reflection of Long Beach. It is unsafe to use the crosswalk and drive around with debris of trash overflowing onto the onramp and off ramp and onto the street. The city must take actions not just at this intersection, but at every intersection, and Caltrans must be aware of this cleanup crisis and held accountable. I applaud Councilwoman Stacey Mungle, who is in touch with the community and gave an update on her newsletter. I support this recommendation that trash needs to be cleaned up regularly and care needs to be taken before it turns into a crisis. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the. Speaker 2: Council on Mango. Speaker 3: Thank you. I drafted and brought forward this item because on a continuous basis, the requirements related to Caltrans, they just keep not coming forward or city manager has done everything that he can and that is the power, including several meetings of managers all over the region. And we have to come up with a solution. They will not clean it up. We must clean it up. And they must provide the means to to reimburse us. So thank you to all the staff for contributing on this. I think it's critical for our communities and neighborhoods to stay safe. Speaker 2: Q Thank you. I need a second on that, please. Speaker 1: May I give you. Speaker 2: My okay second by Councilman Ringo. Roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District two. I. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District five. I District six. I District seven. District eight. By District nine. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. We're going to go ahead and get that item. Great. So now we're going to go we're going to go back and do item 63 and then we're doing 62.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager and all appropriate departments to seek approval, access and reimbursement from Caltrans and all other appropriate agencies so that the City can perform needed maintenance and clean-up of these areas in the most efficient, cost effective, and expeditious way possible.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. We're going to go ahead and get that item. Great. So now we're going to go we're going to go back and do item 63 and then we're doing 62. Speaker 0: Item 63 recommendation to refer to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Housing and Neighborhood Committee for consideration of naming the athletic complex at Shattuck Field for Vice Mayor de Andrews. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilmember, for. Oh, is it. Who's, who's the lead author on this? I'm sorry. Austin Carson Ross. And that's what I thought. I wanna make sure that you're cued up first. So, Guzman Russell. Speaker 1: Good evening. And thank you, Mr. Mayor, for recognition. This is a, I will admit, an unusual item, but one that is, I think, fitting and and long overdue. Obviously, Vice Mayor De Andrews, our colleague, is completing his service on the city council after more than 13 years representing the sixth District. Obviously, he was first elected in 2007. We have some history with that election. But he has been involved in his community for over six, 60 years in the central Long Beach area. He's worked obviously on the city council for the last 13 years, but also decades. Working with youth and mentoring youth has impacted the lives of many in the community and throughout this city as a public servant for both the city and the school district. Dee Andrews has been described as a scholar, as a champion, as a local hero, and the council member or vice mayor. And with this item, we will solidify him as a legend of the city to the field. The sports complex was an impact project for the central area. He championed it through when it was nothing and just a vision. This happened during his tenure on the city council. And to be quite frank, I wanted to and I thought the council should have done something a long time ago. I know we have a policy that somebody should be deceased before we named items after them or parks or buildings after them. But we believe this council has departed from that policy because I think it's important for and I think our colleagues recognize that it's important for us to allow individuals to smell the roses and to be honored why they are among us. I've had the pleasure of speaking with the newly elected sixth District Council member, Sally Sara, who has pledged her support for this this item. This is a beginning of the process, and she will carry this through to the finish line. And I believe once we are done, this will be a unifying event for all the residents of the sixth District to show the appreciation for the their council member of Vice Mayor de Andres and the service that he has provided over the years and his commitment to the community. And so with that, I would like to just move the item and ask for your unanimous support. Speaker 2: Thank you. Do the public comment and then we'll go back. So I'm. Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Isabel Avia. Speaker 3: Evening, everyone. My name is Obama and I am a lifetime sixth district president and vice mayor. And. I am calling in support of this item and am very grateful to the authors of such recommendations. He has earned his accolades based on his service contributions to the city and as an individual. I have seen firsthand his kind heart advocacy for the community. And I know youth athletics and progress have always been among the top priorities. I started my career in public service and debut Summer Youth Programs in partnership with Workforce Development 13 years ago when I was 15. Fast forward to now, I must tell you my journey in programing efforts in our neighborhood, Inglewood he at risk youth and he has worked tremendously hard to create programs that help with violence prevention. And most importantly, he encourages you to be the bright future of tomorrow. I hope this item can get a nine vote tonight and we press forward to the Healthy Neighborhoods Committee, along with the Parks and Recreation. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is truly thorough. Sue Lee. Thorough. Speaker 3: Yes. Good evening, Mayor Garcia, members of the city council as the councilwoman elect of the sixth district. I would like to thank Councilmember Austin for introducing this item to initiate the process to rename, to feel to the vice mayor and to honor him for his years of services and contribution to the city of Long Beach. So I'm committed and I look forward to in following through on this item said it has Park and Recreation Commission and the Housing and Neighborhood Committee. Thank you very much. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. Let me go and go back then to the council consultant Price. Speaker 5: Fair and very, very classy public comment by our newest colleague Sally Sara. So thank you so much for that. That just was an immense showing of your character and I was really pleased to hear it. So thank you for that. Councilman Austin, thank you so much for bringing this item forward. You know, I tell people often that we get to work with one another as colleagues and over the course of time we develop admiration for one another, even though we don't always agree with one another. And through the process, we also develop, I hope, lifetime friendships with at least some of our colleagues. And I know that Vice Mayor Andrews is somebody who will be a friend and someone that my family and I respect for for decades and generations to come. He's made such an impact on the youth and our community. He has definitely shown me how much determination and standing up and doing the right thing can do in terms of shaping your future. He hasn't always had an easy route in life. He hasn't had the simplest journey. He's made it through, through life, through sheer hard work and learning from his lessons and and just being a model human being and very human in every way, which means he carries his strengths and he carries his weaknesses and he's not shy about them. And I think that's what we need in leaders. He charts his own course, and I really appreciate that about him. I've learned a lot from him, and I'm really proud to live in a city that honors him and honors his work today and for generations to come. And if there were ever a time for us to waive our policy in regards to naming city assets, this would be one of them. Thank you for your service. Vice Mayor Andrews and I so look forward to being there on the day that we celebrate the renaming of this site with you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Council Member Superdome. Speaker 1: Thank you. Bear with him having a little trouble with my voice tonight. I'll try to speak up. And if staff could get my media ready and appreciate that, it's an honor to sign on to this item. And thanks for Councilman Austin for bringing it forward. My admiration for Vice Mayor Andrews includes his legacy of leadership as Polish high school's first African-American student body president. Tonight's item, however, is about the naming of an athletic field. So I'll stick to the topic. The agenda is the memo refers to Andrews as a poly high school athletics legend. To put that statement into perspective, I'd like to quote these high school coach Dave Levy, who went on from poly to coach at USC and in the NFL for 16 years. Coach Levy stated I've coached Heisman Award winning backs in college, all pro and Hall of Fame backs and AFL. Andy Andrews was the best running back I ever coached. I'd also like to mention another school where DH was an athletic legend. Long Beach City College. To put that statement in perspective, we have a video of this 1960 junior Roosevelt kickoff return against Tyler, Texas. So staff, if you're able to run that video, we'd love to see it. Bobby Pryce kicks off with the cheering Apache still whooping it up. It's a long one clear to the goal line where Martin gathers it in. Willie starts to his left but is mad at the 50. Roy hands off to De Andrews. A burst of speed takes him by two Apaches a great block by flank. Roy Whiteside, another one. And Jim Smith takes the rest. Andrews oh 14 flag high hurdler and long gone 85 yards and an electrifying touchdown that's completely shatters the Texans enthusiasm. Vice Chair Andrews from a young fan who watched you in the Rose Bowl in 1962, got the privilege to call you colleague 35 years later. Thank you for your incredible contributions and service to our city. I wholeheartedly support this agenda item. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilman Richardson. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. What a what a heartwarming, heartfelt tribute to Vice Mayor. Andrews. Rosemary Andrews is a living legend. I've said it. Most of us will say it. And and and I appreciate the fact that our young people that grow up in the community will learn history, will understand that, you know, he grew up. He's always broken barriers and demonstrated excellence and leadership and all the way through his from his time as an athlete, all the way through to its time as a retiring as the vice mayor of our city, which is a tremendous accomplishment. I, I stand in support of this. I want to congratulate my Vice Mayor, Andrews. I look forward to supporting it. I also want to acknowledge and thank council member, incoming council member Sauro. Those were incredibly. I'll use gasoline prices words that were incredibly classy comments. And it really shows how we can come together after difficult elections and heal and put the community first and move forward. So this is a great moment and I'm happy to support it. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilwoman Zendejas. Speaker 5: You, Mayor? I just wanted to congratulate Vice Mayor de Andrews for all of his work that he's done on council in the last 13 years. As as we all know on council, it's not easy. It's not an easy job to do. But when you know that you're doing it for your residents, for your community, then it's all worthwhile. So I just wanted to say thank you for all your years of service and thank you for all your lessons. And we look forward to that day when they name this special place after you. So thank you. Speaker 2: Something very wrong. Speaker 1: Like you. I'm sure that there's going to be a lot more between now and then that we all celebrate together with the with the vice mayor Andrews. When we dedicate this part, some of it the real short. Thank you for your service. We will be speaking more about you. It's great to be here with you and we will certainly support you. Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm going to wrap up and then I'll turn over to the vice mayor. I'm going to save most of my comments to the vice mayor for when we have our our farewell. But I just want, you know, vice mayor. Did you actually Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: I want to go there. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to lend my support to this item. I think it's been fantastic. I know that we've talked about putting down this policy in the past for some specific examples, but I think this is. Speaker 1: A worthy one. Speaker 2: And just again, vice mayor, I completely support this. Thank you to everyone that introduced this. And I know you and I have been talking about this and I've mentioned, you know, there's very few people that have the four years of service and commitment that you have to our community and absolutely well deserved. And I'm really, really heartened that your colleagues are supporting you and I'm doing this for you. I think it's a great legacy for you and it's great for the city. So very supportive. And with that, we will turn it over to Mr. Andrews and then go to a vote. Thank you, Mark. First of all, I want to thank Councilman Austin to praise Councilman Councilman now and Mrs. Cynthia to bring this item forward. You know, I was just wondering, how long is it going to take? You know how I'm 80 years old. You know, with all of that, you guys, I really want to let you know I'm truly humbled and I appreciate all of my colleagues on this council. It's been a great experience over the years, and I'm going to say much, much more because, you know, I don't see that much in the guys anyway. We've had a great work in this community and I can only say that's a. Speaker 1: Good long piece. And thank you guys again. Speaker 2: I will be talking to you some. Speaker 1: More after. Speaker 2: The big ceremony. Have a great day and evening. Thank you, guys, again. Thank you. And with that, we'll take a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District two. I District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District five. By District six. All right. District seven. District eight. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: District nine. I motion carries. Mary Garcia.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to refer to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Housing and Neighborhood Committee for consideration of naming the athletic complex at Chittick Field for Vice Mayor Dee Andrews.

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Speaker 2: Item 62, please. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Prices and House Pierce and Vice Mayor Andrew's recommendation to request an ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code to write the closing of the boathouse lane parking lot from one hour after sunset until 8 a.m. daily. Speaker 2: Councilman Price. Speaker 5: Mayor. So I want to make a few modifications to this ordinance before we open it up for public comment. The first is I'd like the modification to be that access to the lots is limited between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. because we do have a rowing facility located right there and we want to make sure that we accommodate the hours and the programing that takes place by the tenants that occupy that facility in terms of access to the water and access to recreation. So I'd like to direct that. And then I also want to point out that earlier today, this afternoon, we received a letter from the Coastal Commission with some recommendations in terms of things for us to keep in mind as we're drafting the ordinance. So I would like to make sure that the city attorney through this motion drafts an ordinance that's consistent with the timelines indicated in my motion and is consistent with the Coastal Commission recommendations, and that they have the conversations with Coastal Commission staff to ensure that access to this area is not restricted and that the ordinance come back to council so that we can start the process. I do want to highlight for my council colleagues where this request is coming from, as some of my colleagues may or may not be aware. We do have different operating hours in various coastal areas in the city of Long Beach and we want to make sure that we modify the hours of operations for the parking lots adjacent to Boathouse Lane to be consistent with some of the others along Marine Stadium. Boathouse Lane is located immediately adjacent to a residential community called Spinnaker Bay. And based on the calls for service that we've seen with the police department and the increase in the calls for service that we have seen there, the nuisance activity and the instances of criminal activity have really seen an increase in recent times. And that has a lot to do with people congregating late night in those parking lots. And so we want to make sure that people continue to have both bike and pedestrian access 24 hours a day to that coastal area. But that just like we do in many of our other beach lots, that the hours of operation for the parking lots are limited to reflect what we have available now at Marine Stadium and similar areas. So that's the background. I know there's a number of residents who want to residents and and members of the community who use the recreational facility who want to speak. And I just I want to make sure that the residents and the members of the rowing community understand that we're trying to balance the concerns regarding recent uptick in criminal activity, but also understand the importance of allowing access to the recreational facilities and to the water, as that's a very, very important function and part of our city. And we want to make sure that we don't restrict access and we'll do everything we can to allow our tenants to continue to have access at that location. So with that, Mr. Mayor, I think if it's okay with you, I'd like to comment unless the city attorney needs any clarification from me. Speaker 2: This is Mike Mays from the city attorney's office. That's perfectly clear. Thank you. Councilman Price. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and go to public comment, please. Speaker 4: Our first speaker is Bill Beder. Speaker 1: Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Bill Boner and I'm a current member of the Board of Directors as well as an active member of the club since 1980. Marine Stadium in the following areas and ride facility are landmarks not only to the city of Long Beach, but worldwide. The facilities used by juniors, collegians, Olympic hopeful master rowers, recreational rowers and people with different abilities, including veterans from Long Beach Bay. Why the watering is not new to this area. I think that the current environmental conditions with COVID has exasperated the issue, and I'm not so sure that the proposed ordinances will stop these actions. In fact, I'm a little concerned because I think the only people who would be impacted by this the most are the actual members of the club. I'm also kind of disappointed that Albury board was not included in the discussions regarding this ordinance and therefore I would propose that the ordinance be tabled until all parties can discuss the resolution and present and revise equitable remedy to City Council. Thank you for your consideration. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Brian McGuinness. Ryan McGuinness. Our next speaker is Charles Griffin. Speaker 1: Oh. City Council. Mayor, my name is Charles Griffin. I'm also a member of the Board of Trade Association. And I just wanted to echo most of what Mr. Boehner said, that we really appreciate the wonderful facility that we have at the Archer Rowing Center, and that the recent change in or the recent nuisance that has developed along Boathouse Lane seems to have developed because of COVID 19 restrictions and people deciding to loiter there. And we wish that we had been more included in discussion. But certainly Councilman Price's trying to accommodate all elements as she and trying certainly as she changes. Was trying to ensure that everyone has appropriate access to all the facilities. And we want to applaud those motions and hope that she continues to make certain that everyone has appropriate access to the facilities and that the facilities don't come under excessive restrictions. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ellen Kirk. Speaker 3: Hi. Thank you, everyone, for allowing. Speaker 1: Us this evening. Bill Baiter and our. Speaker 3: Club president, Mr. Griffin spoke. Speaker 1: On the issue. It's important to. Speaker 3: Emphasize that during. Speaker 1: The war. Speaker 3: We bring honor and. Speaker 1: Respect to this city for homeowners and business owners in the city. Speaker 3: And that is. Speaker 1: To say, it is important that our concerns. Speaker 3: Be considered, although we're not doing the complaining quite often. We've had issues. Speaker 1: With the Santa Fe population, with the homeowners there. Speaker 3: But I've. Speaker 1: Been there long before homes were going. Speaker 3: To do. Speaker 1: It again. We've had spikes in the road. Those things have all gone. Speaker 3: Away over time because they haven't been deemed necessary. So now, in addition to reconsidering this, I think it's very important to think about. Speaker 1: How why this. Speaker 3: Money is being asked to be spent. Right now, the city budgets are tight and it's kind of hard to. Speaker 1: Justify spending money on something that was. Speaker 3: There was taken down. So in addition to expanding the hours to include when I was actually show up when it's not likely to be evangelistic. Speaker 1: Opportunity to the home. Speaker 3: I just feel really emotional about this because we weren't asked to be involved. Speaker 1: The solutions being proposed are expensive. Speaker 3: At a time when expenses are really questionable and they've been done before and they were taken away because they weren't deemed necessary. Maybe there's a less expensive, temporary way we can get. Speaker 1: Through this problem. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Henny Kubik. Speaker 3: Hi. My name is Hannah. Terrific. I'm on the Long Beach Rowing Association board and a long time member. It it's been brought to our attention. There has been some loitering in the parking lots on both land, possibly related to public gathering limitations brought on by COVID 19 restrictions. Part of the immediate response has been to expand the number of webcams covering all of the area around the boathouse, including the parking lot. The proposal to lock a gate at the boat base of about half an hour after dusk was made without notifying or consulting the community in any formal way. Currently, this gate is locked at 10 p.m. and open at 5 a.m. We really have to avoid the gate, but if that is not negotiable, it is imperative that we are given a written agreement for what has been confirmed to us in the last couple of days that the gate will be open at 5 a.m. and our preference is to remain open until our classes are completed or an hour after sunset, whichever is later. All LBO remember tenants will get access at all times. The city is offering to pay for this and to find a city that works for all parties. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jack Nunn. Speaker 1: Uh. Hello. Uh, Honorable Mayor Garcia and City Councilman. Um, yeah, my name is Jack, and I'm currently run the Rail Works Facility, the Rail Works Program. We are indoor now outdoor fitness program where we do group rowing classes. I'm a former junior rower as well, a high school rower that went on to row at Berkeley a scholarship, three national titles, and then went on to the U.S. national team and then came around and coached for the Long Beach Juniors and also coached for Loyola marymount. Um, kind of full circle. This really this audience that just is kind of brought up on a strike so quickly, um, really affect not only the junior program but also rowers and in a really negative way. And I just ask that you guys think about the full spectrum of what you're asking the juniors right now. The kids need time for the parents to pick them up after practice. Uber parents, you know, all these negotiations that are taking place to get them picked up and to have them take care of them is really important. And also for my classes, Long Beach at night, they end at 730. And so that would impact my business as well, which we're already really suffering because of COVID. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is John Nunn. Speaker 1: Hi. My name's John. And, uh, I'm a long time rower at Long Beach. I started, uh, in 1966, and I've been rowing there ever since. So I'm Olympic medal winner, Olympic coach, and I've been closely involved with the Long, Long Beach. Actually, I was I was the expansion director for expanding the boathouse back and we finished that in the eighties and excuse me in the nineties. But anyway, what's really critical is that we, uh, we have some kind of a ability to access the water because early in the morning, because we have people on the coast, Long Beach , people have to get the 8:00 classes, people at work have to get to work. And then on the other end, the juniors have to be able to get to get to practice after school and then be able to have parents pick them up in, you know, whatever, whatever degree of darkness it is because the school day doesn't change, because the the sun sets earlier and when the time changes, it's a real problem. So I think it would be better. Most of these problems have been happening are COVID related because there's people that don't don't having to do so. This is sort of a place they can go and they don't you know, they don't have to they they can get there without being hassled. So it's just, uh. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is John Van Blom. Speaker 1: Hello. My name is John Van Blom. I'm a four time Olympic rower. I started I learned a role in Long Beach and have been running here for almost six years. I can appreciate the concerns of the neighbors at Spinnaker Bay. However, I want to express my concerns over the school closing time. That is closing one hour after dusk and not opening until 8 a.m.. Early morning is the best time for rowing due to the calm water and less traffic from other boaters. The Bay and at the time when people can row before work. Also we can run the Marine Stadium early in the morning, but we have to be out of the stadium by 8 a.m. to accommodate water skiers. And in the winter, one hour after dusk is about 6:00 when people coming to row after work are just arriving and young rumors of the junior program haven't yet left. I'm asking to maintain the current hours of access to the boathouse while addressing the needs of residents. I know Councilwoman Price is looking out for our interests at the Rowing Center and has said you work to get access. We need and I trust you will do that. I just want to emphasize to the council how important that continuing access is to the rowing community. Thank you very much. Speaker 4: Thank you. The next speaker is Christina Dugan. Speaker 3: Mr. Mayor and council members. Hello, my name is Christina Dugan. I'm a third district homeowner and business owner and have lived in Long Beach since 1999. I'm so thankful for the Peter Archer Rowing Center because 13 years ago I attended a learn to roll class offered annually by the Rowing Center and fell in love with rowing both on and off the water. I'm a 13 year member and the club's regatta director and we welcome rowing clubs from all over the U.S. to participate in regattas and hopefully we will welcome rowers in the 2020 Olympics. I'm speaking this evening to convey my desire for the city to continue to accommodate the tenants of the Peter O'Toole Rowing Center at the hours we have previously had, which has been discussed and it sounds like 5 p.m. is going to be the time the Rowing Center and Spinnaker Bay residents are neighbors. I can appreciate the balance the councilwoman is working on to find a solution to mitigate nuisances experienced by residents, as well as accommodate rowers access to the water. Attleboro there don't master's program does a majority of the rowing from 5 to 8 a.m. for work. Long Beach Junior Crew. The high school program uses the water before seven on the weekends. See all being beach crew is on the water at five m to finish before classes. Each of the tenants uses the boat house early on a regular basis and all of us wish to continue our access as well as work with a solution with the city because they know nefarious activity on boathouse lane has made it a problem for the residents. We're grateful for the most beautiful. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Laura Payson. Speaker 3: Hi. This is Laura Barzan. I'm a deputy district attorney and a resident of Spinnaker Bay. My backyard sits adjacent to Boathouse Lane. So my family and I are privy to what is quickly becoming a hotbed of illicit activity after dark. Every day, for the last several months around, sunset cards of young adults arrive to what they apparently see as a haven for their bad behavior. This behavior includes underage drinking, public use of marijuana and other narcotic sexual activity incredibly fast, loud and dangerous street racing and illegal fireworks. These individuals seem to know that it is virtually impossible for them to get caught as they have quickly, as they have a quick and easy escape route. And nuisance calls to this area are an extremely low priority. Accordingly, there simply are no repercussions for their criminal behavior. And they know this. Despite that, in an effort to fight the deterioration of this area of Long Beach, I personally have called the police several times when I've witnessed any semblance of illicit activity, whether that be racing trucks, nearly mowing down children and killing them, or marijuana wafting into the backyard when my kids are playing. That these people on whom we call the police may somehow try to retaliate is another fear shared by many neighbors, and it presents yet another problem with their presence. After dark, it's come to our attention that there is a concern by some that the new hours for gate closure would deprive growers of access to growing activities. We are not in any way trying to limit access to the growing community and we believe their concerns can be addressed simply by allowing specific access to Rolling Thunder representatives at all times. Marine Stadium is a beautiful place for all to enjoy. The community of Spinnaker Bay is asking only for a simple measure to help keep it that way. This measure will without a doubt send a clear message to those looking for a safe place to break the law. That is, your criminal activity will not be tolerated. And you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mary Perot. Speaker 3: Good evening. I'm Mary Perot. My husband and I have been Long Beach Rowing Association members since 1984. In the past 36 years, I've actively participated in our efforts to keep boathouse lane area. Free of disruptive behavior, drugs and solicitation, largely through the observation and reporting. By elbow members in early morning hours and post 6 p.m.. The presence of LV remembers entering and leaving Boathouse Lane has acted as a deterrent in these hours. I urge you to reject the proposed ordinance to restrict ours. You would have many other. An unintended consequences, such as increased parking and traffic congestion. In the Spinnaker Bay development. As a long time Albury member. I also know that verbal promises are not worth much. Therefore, I urge you, do not change access hours as it is the letter of the law that will govern govern future access. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Michelle Mallory. Speaker 3: Good evening. I've lived here in the third and seventh Council District for 40 years. I began rowing in 1979 as a member of the Cal State Long Beach crew in the late 1970s. We met at 5:30 a.m. for our morning workouts, and each day the lifeguards reported for duty at 8 a.m.. For the last 25 years as a transportation professional, I rode most mornings at 5 a.m. before riding my bike to work or catching transit to my workplace. Naples Island, the Marine Stable Stadium, were initially developed by rowers in order to create a rowing venue. And indeed, the Marine Stadium has been host to the 1932 Olympics, as well as the 1968 Olympic trials. Long Beach Rowing Association, Beach Crew and the junior crew of all produce a number of Olympic national team and multiple university men and women throughout the nation. While I understand there is an ongoing problem in the parking lots associated with the Marine Stadium, and I support the city's efforts to rectify these problems. I want to be sure all the council members understand the need for the Long Beach Rowing Association, Beach crew and the junior crew members to have ongoing access to the boathouse at the end of Boathouse Lane. This access is needed every day at 5 p.m. and in the early evening, no matter when the sun sets, as has been the case for well over 40 years, the need to continue to allow this access for the foreseeable future is critical for the health and survival, the current programs and the future of the production of West Coast Rowing Champions, as well as for the fitness and pleasure of everyday rowers such as myself. Thank you for your consideration. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rob Glidden. Speaker 1: Good evening. I'm Rob. Good. I'm the past president of Libera, and I am troubled by two aspects of the proposed action to restrict hours of access. The first is the potentially devastating effect this proposal can have on each of the five separate growing programs that operate out of the PDX Rowing Center. These programs comprise hundreds of athletes that range in age from 14 to 86. We come from every corner of the city, making this a matter not limited to District three. Throughout the 88 years that rowing has been a part of the fabric of Long Beach, we have depended on early morning and after work afterschool access to the waterways and our athletic facilities. Given the marginal effectiveness of existing enforcement measures, the sacrifices being asked of us are likely to be in vain. Plus, I have reason to believe that the recent miscreant activity is a combination of factors that have made 2020 special, namely organized political disobedience and restlessness from COVID induced boredom. These will in time pass, but our activities may be collateral damage in the process. A good faith effort is being made to mitigate these consequences, such as by issuing gate keys to users of the boathouse. This is my second concern at the devil is in the details. Many of us have put our heads to the problem, and we continue to identify shortcomings in terms of cost, complexity, security and effectiveness. If a special accommodation for the boat. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ron Harvey. Speaker 1: Hi. My name is Ron Harvey. I started working at the Long Beach Rowing Association in 1996, and the boat club was the reason I moved to and bought a home in Long Beach in 2001 after a sustained spinal cord injury and became a paraplegic and thankful that they were continuing with the California Adaptive Drilling Program, or Carbon , which is based in Gary Hope, is open to people with any type ability and we welcome anyone who shows up at one of our parks is a positive and supportive environment for people with disabilities to come together and encourage one another to work to the best of our individual ability sport that we enjoy. We take pride in basically getting everyone who wants to go out on the water. We hold several regular practice sessions on weekday evenings from 630 to about 830 or 9:00. The reason for this time slot is that both our members and volunteers add their jobs during the day and then afterwards we can meet in the evening to get some exercise. It also allows us to have the protected water, the Marine Stadium after sunset out of the ground. The traffic. Please consider keeping the access to health clean from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.. Speaker 3: We can continue to take advantage of the. Speaker 1: Wonderful water and weather that allows us to be around the town beach. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is Terry Glidden. Speaker 3: Hello. My name is Terry Glidden. I'm the secretary of the Long Beach Rowing Association. In her email announcement, Councilmember Price has described Boathouse Lane as an access road to a parking lot that leads to a dead end. In contrast, the city's Parks and Recreation Web page proudly shows the same boathouse lane as a named road running parallel to the historic 1932 Olympic Marine Stadium venue ending at the Pete Archer Rowing Center, which Parks and Rec describes as a city asset home of national champions and one of the most competitive junior rowing teams in the country. Council members from other districts should know that the Rowing Center at the end of Boathouse Lane serves hundreds of athletes of all ages from all over Long Beach and beyond. This is not merely a District three concern. The Boathouse community has been excluded from providing formal input on the matter of new restrictions on hours of access to the Rowing Center that we leased from the city. I ask that the council delay or table action on this item because boathouse lane has been mischaracterized and there has been no opportunity for fair, coordinated input from constituents who comprise the rowing community directly affected by the proposed ordinance. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank. Think your next speaker is Ron Harvey. Speaker 1: I. I've already spoken. Thank you. Speaker 4: All right. Thank you. Our next speaker is Veronica Wagner. Speaker 5: Good evening. I'm Veronica waggoner. Speaker 3: At this time. The city council should move to table item number 62 until council more than Price's office in the Marine bureau. Contact and receive input from all the concerned party. The Marine Bureau and Councilwoman Price's office, who initiated this ordinance change, are well aware of our operations at the end of Boathouse Lane. They failed to inform Bilbray. They were putting forth an ordinance that would change and impact our operation. I do sympathize that there is a criminal element that is creating problems for the homeowners of Spinnaker Bay. But the solution is supporting and funding our police, not catering to a small group of homeowners. Speaker 5: That. Speaker 3: Want the coastal access near their property restricted. There are five organizations, four of them nonprofit at the Boathouse Lane. Speaker 5: With hundreds of. Speaker 3: Members that will be affected by this change. The IOC has sent people down to El Rey to look at Marine Stadium venue as a potential rowing site for the 2028 Olympics. To my knowledge, we are still a contender for that possibility. But how do we stay a viable consideration when our boathouse access to the best water time is now under threat? This ordinance change has been pushed forward without proper notification to all concerned parties and without any interest in gathering all of the data necessary to make an informed decision. I ask that you table this item until due diligence has been done. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Our next speaker is William Eldon. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor Garcia, and members of the council. I would just like to echo what my compatriots at the Romney Center has said previously. I've been involved with various rowing programs at the boathouse since about 2001, and I'm also a US rowing referee and I've been chief referee for a number of the regattas that we've held here . We've already been told about how affecting the opening hours of Boathouse Lane will basically put the rowing operation out of business. I welcome council members price change to the opening hours of boathouse lane to 8 a.m. But as my compatriots have stated, I'm concerned about the evening closing hours. We do have things that operate until late in the evening and there has to be a different solution. I hope that this resolution or this recommendation can be tabled until all stakeholders have a chance to get together and figure out what is the best solution for what is admittedly a difficult situation with the recent uptick in criminal activity. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Your next speaker is Stephen Hui. Stephen Hawking. Speaker 1: Yeah. My apologies there. Thank you to Councilwoman Price for listening to us and taking our concerns seriously as the residents of the Bay were located immediately adjacent to the ruins that are parking lots. Our location gives us a prime seat to witness what's become at times nearly a nightly display of pot smoking, drinking, reckless driving and other nuisance type behaviors that are well documented on the police logs and include a horrific personal assault of one of our residents. Contrary to the concerns and sentiments being expressed tonight, the residents nor the ordinance are looking to impair front and center operations. There simply will not be a lost tidal stroke or any loss to exercise programs. As I sit here tonight, the lot was completely vacated at 730, as it is most every night, and the proposed change would simply not impact that timing. My biggest concern is the limit is not limited to the parking lot. The reckless driving down boathouse lane pass speed constantly after smoking, pot drinking and are going to kill somebody coming out of our two access points that have significant blind slot entering onto boathouse lane. This tragic result can easily be remedied by cutting off access in the late evening hours that are unaffected by the boathouse. The reality is we're losing more officers with budget cuts without limiting access as problems are only going to get worse, not better. And we need to act before it's too late. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. Kotsenburg Ringa. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mary. I just want to say that the other speakers who came on and me about this item, I initially had some concerns about the coastal access portion of IT city on the Coastal Commission. I know that I'll probably be reviewing this again as part of their. So I'm glad to hear that the Councilwoman Price has made it a point to ensure that staff does contact the Coastal Commission and works with them in terms of creating something that's going to be workable for not only in Long Beach, but to ensure that coastal access remains intact for city residents. So I will be reserving all my comments from here on out until it goes back to conservation. But I do have one question in regards to process. Does the Council, this ordinance that we're requesting the city attorney to put together will come to the city council and then, of course, the commission, or is a proposal coast to coast commission first before that city council decides to make it on its side. I just want some clarification on that. Speaker 2: Councilman, your anger. This is Mike Mays. Speaker 1: In a situation. Speaker 2: Like this. Speaker 3: Typically council. Speaker 2: Would we have an. Speaker 0: Existing. Speaker 3: Ordinance. Speaker 2: That governs the current hours of operations. Speaker 3: There? And typically we. Speaker 1: Would amend that ordinance adopted by council and then. Speaker 2: We would send it. Speaker 0: To the Coastal. Speaker 2: Commission for its. Speaker 1: Review and approval. Okay. So basically it's we send it over the lesson and then we get. But that's the normal route. Yes. Okay. All right. Well, like I say, I hope that we are able to work something out with the course committed to ensure, again, that access to the beach is maintained. Thank you. Speaker 2: Councilman's and day house, please. Speaker 5: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Councilmember Price, for this item. One of the things that I was concerned about is definitely the access. I know that I have one of my very good friends now who has been rowing for almost as long as I've known him over almost ten years. And he's been part of the adaptive rowing, a group that uses this facility on a, you know, on a regular basis, especially after sunset, when everybody, all the volunteers come out to help and they they help prepare, you know, everything for the night's activities. And they help everyone out of their wheelchairs and into the boats. And so, you know, that's very important to me. And, you know, that's something that you know, it's a program that I'm very proud that we have here in Long Beach to have an actual really good establish adaptive rowing program. So I really hope that we can look at giving access and continuing giving access to the ones that are doing these kind of activities. And just for clarification. Councilmember Price, you were right now, the the recommendations that you added right now is to allow more access. Yes. So just so my recommendation and I think a lot of the speakers maybe in anxiety or anticipation of speaking, didn't hear my comments. The proposal is that the audience would access would be from 5 a.m. until 8 p.m. that's what the ordinance would read. But of course, we would work with the tenants of the building to make sure that they have access to the additional times, which I'll I'll talk about a little bit further when you're done with your comments. Council members in the House. Okay. Because I think that that's very important that that they know that we're trying to kind of extend and be able to provide access. So I thank you for that, Councilwoman. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 2: Gentlemen. Mongo. And then we're going to go back to Councilman Price for a close up. Speaker 0: Thank you. How do we currently restrict the access? Speaker 3: Is there a fence or a gate. Speaker 0: That I. Speaker 3: Guess some of the comments confuse me a. Speaker 0: Bit because I was just down there last weekend and it seems as though maybe Councilmember Price could provide some clarity. In her comments on it sounds like it's going to be 8 p.m.. It cut out again. Speaker 5: Right. So. So, just by way of background, in 1993, the city entered into an agreement with Coastal Commission. That boathouse lane would close at the same time as Marine Stadium, which is an hour after dusk. For whatever reason, the ordinance that was passed by the City Council in 1994 excluded boathouse lane. And so even though Boathouse Lane was contemplated to be included and treated the same as Marine Stadium, it was not. We try to identify why that change was made at council, whether it was inadvertent or for some other reason, and we just couldn't find the backup material to support that. So it's been closed at 10 p.m. for a number of years, and so since 1994 and actually before then, according to Alveda Hallinan, who manages our our Marine operations. And so the requests from the residents and this is a really a resident initiated request was that we consider closing it. They definitely didn't want to interfere with rowing operations, but around 8 p.m. and so the city staff actually reached out to Eldora and I personally talked with BJC and it looks like Sarah McKenzie, the facility manager at Eldora, provided the list of activities at the center and identified the times that would be appropriate to accommodate all the members. And that's where the recommendation that I made tonight at the start of my comments came from in terms of the hours of operation. But we've made it very, very clear to all Eldora and all BJC members, I've been dealing with this now for three full days of contact with members that we will do everything we can to accommodate our tenants in that facility. Now, I did hear from some folks this evening that are saying they're there operating some sort of classes out of the facility. I'm not sure that they're legally or officially a tenant in our lease, so we'll have to look into that. But in terms of the tenants with whom we have an official legal relationship at that city asset, we will accommodate the hours to make sure that they have access to the recreational facilities. Speaker 0: Wonderful, as long as everyone's been considered and consulted. I know that there's always work that can still be done after. Speaker 3: And I know that you'll work towards. Speaker 0: Making sure that happens. Thank you, Councilman Price. Speaker 2: And then, Councilman Price, did you want to add anything else before we go to a vote? Speaker 5: Yes. Yes, Mr. Mayor, I do. I want to thank everybody who called. Then again, I started off my comments by saying that we're going to maintain that. Speaker 3: They point. Speaker 5: Out hours. The evening hours. We're asking for a reduction until 8 p.m. not at us to accommodate the ten operational facilities. And so we have the tenants that we have and subleases, we'll do every canned fixture we'll have in regards to the activities that the residents are concerned about. First of all, the residents, it was very, very important for them because this is going to be about a six month long process before it goes to Coastal. So the residents wanted us to get the process started before we got the process started, before we filed our item. Parks Rec and Marine reached out to the facility manager, informed them that we were looking at changes and got a list of programing. I also specifically spoke with one of the up lessees, LBJ D and made sure that they knew we would accommodate the programs the residents have called the police on on numerous occasions. And so I know we have Long Beach PD on the call. I'm not sure if they can weigh in to share with us what some of the calls for service data looks like in this area. Speaker 1: Good evening, Mayor and city council. This is Commander McGuire and the council tonight. With respect to calls for service on the boathouse lane in 2018, we have a total of 13, 2019, we had 23. And so far this year we've had 34. So we definitely are seeing an increase. Most of the calls reckless driving, loud noises, groups, parties, illegal drug use, that type of thing. In addition to that, this year we've had over 800 what we would consider officer initiated calls where the officers were just out there trying to be visible. It is a very remote area, relatively speaking, but they're trying to be visible. They're trying to be out in the area to kind of mitigate some of the things that we have been seeing and hearing about. But for our perspective, we have there definitely has been an uptick in the calls for service and the amount of activity that the officers are engaging in in that area. I hope that helps. Speaker 5: Very much. I really appreciate that report. With that, I would ask my colleagues to support this item again. It's going to be a six month long process about hopefully sooner than that. We're going to ask the city attorneys to work with coastal staff to do a little bit more research. We did receive a letter from Coastal this afternoon. Staff is going to have to follow up on that and make sure that we are aligned in terms of the issues of access, which as everyone heard tonight, are very, very important. And I just want to thank everyone for calling in and to the rowing community. My boys row for LBJ. See, I'm on your team. We will provide access. We will accommodate. We want the adaptive rowing programs and diverse programs that bring the region and residents from all over the city and introduce them to the water. We want those programs to continue. We appreciate having that partnership with all of you. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. District two. District three. District three. I district for my district five. I District six. District seven. By District eight. District eight. Speaker 5: I think you may have gotten disconnected, said Mr. King was trying to get back on. All right. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay, motion carries. I just got a few more items here left. Just get through these. Thank you very much, Counsel. A few items.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to work with the City Attorney to prepare and present to the City Council an Ordinance amending Section 10.30.080 of the Long Beach Municipal Code to permit the closing of the Boathouse Lane parking lot from one hour after sunset until 8:00 A.M. daily, instead of the current hours of closing from 10:00 P.M. to 8:00 A.M. daily.

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Speaker 0: I'm sorry. Can you repeat that number? Speaker 2: Item 79. Speaker 0: Report from City Manager, a recommendation to cancel the December 1st first 2020 city council meeting or layover certain items from November 17th meeting to the December 31st 2020 meeting citywide. Speaker 2: And I'm going to change it. Of course, we've just got a few items we'll after we've actually done a really solid job of getting through the meeting we're going to and we're going to get through, it looks like, pretty quickly after that. So we'll go ahead and do the cancelation of motion in a second, please. In a motion in a second floor council on Wednesday. House and customary ringa with no public comment. Or is there any public comment on this? Speaker 4: Yes, we have public comment for item 79. Tiffany Davey. Speaker 3: Good evening to you. Speaker 1: I just want to thank everyone for doing I mean, countless amount of hours that went into this meeting and the discussion on all the really, truly important matters. Just know that yesterday. Speaker 3: We had a significant. Speaker 1: Mark in our COVID response and we're putting the brakes on and. I want to thank everyone for moving item 77 from the committee on together. And I know that. Speaker 3: We all look forward to the day. Speaker 1: We were able to put this all behind us. Speaker 3: But knowing that that day is not here. Speaker 1: Yet and we need to listen to the new day, new administration possible. I mean, just the possibility of a national plan to combat the coronavirus that would ensure the safety of all Americans and make everyone's job easier in managing this crisis. My heart remains with the family and loved ones of the 246,232 Americans who lost their lives. To this violence killing. Speaker 3: Thank you, everyone. Have a good evening. Speaker 1: Stay safe and wear a mask. Speaker 4: Your next speaker is Dave Shukla. Speaker 1: Hello. I can't believe I made it this far. And today's meeting? I was expecting it to go so much later that efficiently. It is drawing to a close. And I suppose the mood, unless you actually want to have more than one meeting in a month. Um. There's a lot at. Decisions that frankly the public. You some. You know, maybe. You know. Contact and representation from their elected. Official forum. But, you know, I believe in the name. We all want it. Move on with whatever our plans are, right. It's disappointing that a lot of the major decisions in this city continually are made by, you know. Small facts in the minority rule, but whatever. I mean, your children are going to pay for it, right? Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: That concludes public comment. Before we go to Councilman Pearce. Speaker 0: I guess we had spoken to staff earlier and I was under the assumption that we did have some items that were going for December the first. So I'd like to. Make sure that item number 59 because we told them not to present tonight to present on December one, that we move that to December eight. So I know that that's not this item, but it's. Speaker 2: Yeah. Councilor, I was just going to announce that that's been withdrawn. All you have to do is just reschedule it for that day. Speaker 0: Yeah. I don't love listening. More meetings, but. Okay. Speaker 2: Get roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. I District two. I am district three i. District four, i. District five. By District 6i7. District eight. I mean. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Just a couple more items. 58, please.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to cancel the December 1, 2020 City Council meeting, or to receive direction from the City Council to lay over certain items from the November 17 meeting to the December 1, 2020 meeting. (Citywide)

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Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Just a couple more items. 58, please. Speaker 0: Recommendation of direct city manager to work with development services and the city attorney to study the benefits of CCD, a middle income workforce housing program. Speaker 1: At County Pierce. Speaker 0: Thank you very much for bringing this item. We thank you for my colleagues for joining me on this item. As we know, we have renal numbers that we're trying to meet and what's been missing has been our middle income workforce housing. So I encourage my colleagues to support this with one change that we push it out for 60 days so staff doesn't need to return for 60 days. So with that, I. Speaker 3: Urge your support. Speaker 2: These are second second accounts from Richardson. Councilmember Richardson. Speaker 1: I support the motion. Speaker 2: Okay. I'll just. I'm just going to go out and add also, I think this councilman I think this is actually interesting. So I know it's it's kind of a new model. And so I look forward to hearing back from staff here in the weeks ahead about about this model of financing and housing. So any anytime we can get more workforce housing. That's a that's a great thing. So let's go ahead. I don't see there's any public comments or to a roll call vote. Speaker 4: Mr. Mayor, we have one public comment from election. Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sorry about that. Go ahead. Speaker 1: I think city council members, just very quickly. Very much appreciate your engagement on this on this item. I'm here tonight on behalf of a number of affordable and middle income housing developers. As you know, in the last several days, city of Oakland, San Jose and Carson have adopted similar programs to help meet their respective numbers, as Councilmember Pierce pointed out. I also want to appreciate staff's engagement. I know that there's been some dialog going on between a number of developers, including Waterford and city staff, and in particular wanted to thank Tom Modica, Lynda Tatum, Christopher Coons and Rick Champion, the city attorney's office for their engagement. I both want to apologize for the urgency in sort of our discussions with city staff in in bringing this to light, but also provide some context. You know, the target of these of this new financing structure is to take class-A buildings and convert them to affordable and middle income housing. And the longer that cities wait, the more right they are for market rate developers to come in and take that housing stock out of the the potential for this program. So, again, very much appreciate everyone's interest. You have a lot of interest from the development community. Thank. You're going to sell. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Well, we'll call back, please. Speaker 0: District one i. District two, i. District three. District four. District five. District six. District six. District seven. I District eight. District nine. Speaker 2: At this stretch. Five, six, six, I think you. Okay. I'm 60. And in 60.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with Development Services and the City Attorney to study the benefits of the CSCDA Middle Income Workforce Housing Program, analyze the process enacted by other California cities for adoption, and return at the next City Council meeting with a proposed draft resolution authorizing the same.

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Speaker 2: At this stretch. Five, six, six, I think you. Okay. I'm 60. And in 60. Speaker 0: Recommendation direct city manager to report back within 90 days on the potential use of revenue bonds that would accelerate our street and alley improvements. Speaker 2: Councilman Mungo. Speaker 0: Thank you. With the passage of Measure A, we have been able to accomplish great. Speaker 3: Things and fortunately. Speaker 0: Not enough has been done. And residents who live on streets that are poor and. Speaker 3: Very poor. Speaker 0: And have alleys that are poor and very poor, have just not gotten the repairs that are necessary. Repairing the number of streets a year at the rate we are repairing them now will not get it done. So I'm asking my council colleagues to support some research by staff to come back to us with some options related to bonding against the revenue that we would use to fix those streets in future years. Being able to pull it all forward and be able to save money because the worse the street gets, the more it costs in the future. And so trying to figure out that tradeoff between the cost of money and the cost of not repairing those streets is critical. I hope that I will have unanimous support of my colleagues on this very important item. Speaker 2: Coulson wasn't asked. Speaker 5: You, Mayor. A big, big, huge thank you to Councilwoman Mongo for bringing this item forward. This is something that I very, very much looking forward to hearing back from city staff. There's a number of streets and alleys in my district that are in much need of serious maintenance. And I know that my colleagues feel similar about their districts as well. It also makes sense to me to be directed on resources and priorities and to really focus on those streets that are causing a lot of damage. And my council councilwoman Mango said it, you know, we by doing this, we can prevent from spending a lot of money in the future if we are able to correct some of these streets right now. Because the more that we neglect them, the more the the more that they need the repairs. So thank you again, Councilwoman Mongo, for bringing this forward. Speaker 2: Councilmember Austin. Speaker 1: Thank you. Certainly support this item and thank Councilmember Mongo for taking the lead in bringing this forward. We have been talking about this as a possibility for for quite some time. Obviously, with the recent passage of Measure A in the primary election and a little deployment. Yeah, but recent past is a Measure A, it was important to to now look at our long term possibilities. And I would just add that, you know, obviously, Measure eight has been utilized to restore paramedics and public and public safety services to promote the promise for Measure A was also for infrastructure repairs. And so if we can leverage, you know, our future revenue that we know, we'll be guaranteed to fast track infrastructure with streets and sidewalks and alleys and also our public safety infrastructure investments like fire station might it would be a win win for our city. Obviously, we just had an election process. And I can tell you that every candidate, just about every conversation and every door of, you know, infrastructure street repairs came up as an issue in the center on the minds of our constituents. So I support this item 100% as everyone else to do this that. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilmember Richardson and Councilman Pearce. Councilman Richardson. Speaker 1: Oh, thank you. So so I certainly appreciate the motion to look into this. There are certainly infrastructure needs. I want to I want to I want to say that borrowing against general fund dollars. You know, it's it's expensive. You know, we're dealing with I think we have to diversify the funding stream. But I think we should, as a part of this study, also look into new revenue sources or future general fund through enhanced infrastructure, finance and districts and careers. So there's a number of programs that look at, you know, a much smaller version of redevelopment which didn't, you know, didn't touch our current revenue. But we looked at future projections and brought that money forward in order to raise property values and ultimately generate more, more property taxes. So I'm going to ask Councilmember Mongo. I think it be a good idea for them to look at not just municipal bonds, but also look at bonds against the state infrastructure bank and new revenue through enhanced infrastructure finance districts and special districts as well for infrastructure. Speaker 2: Catwoman. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilmember Richardson. I know we've discussed that before. And what I would say is I will take it on as a friendly. Speaker 0: As the staff are clear that from the first part, as the item is written, does not need to wait for the second part to come back. They can come back separately as long as they both come back in a timely manner. Thank you. Speaker 2: Councilmember Pearce and then I have a comment in the beginning about. Speaker 0: I don't have a comment. Speaker 2: I'm just going to my my comment is just that I'm supportive of this Councilman Mongo. And I've talked about this kind of approach for I think for a couple of years now. And now having now that measuring has become permanent, I think it's the right time to have this discussion with the council and see what's possible. There are, of course, I mean, there are challenges when you do bonding, of course. But I think the benefit is one we have to explore and I'm very supportive of that. So thank you, Councilman Mongo. And do a roll call vote. Roll call vote, please. Speaker 0: District one, district two. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: District five. District by district size. Just seven. I yesterday. District nine. Speaker 1: Yes. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Item 64.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager and all appropriate departments to report back within 90 days on the potential use of revenue bonds or any other instrument that would accelerate our street and alley improvements with a plan to tackle the list of worst streets and alleys in the City.

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Speaker 2: It would please item seven in place. Speaker 0: Report from Financial Management Recommendation to receive and file a report on recommendations on business license, taxes and business fees with regard to COVID 19 pandemic citywide. Speaker 5: So moved by some the. Speaker 1: Anybody come in on the side. Speaker 0: There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 2: Okay. Do we have a first and. Speaker 1: Second, please? Yeah. And I'd like to speak to the make or break. Okay. I think so. And I'll be brief. So, first of all, I know that. So I know that a number of council members contributed to this. I know Council Member Suber now contributed this. Council member price contributed to this. And I love what staff has brought back and I may just want to tailor it just a bit. I love structuring this. We talked about ways to support struggling businesses and it led with you started with the conversation on restaurants and what came back is a grant program and I am just question for staff who designed this. Speaker 4: Tom This is mostly designed by financial management and by economic development. Speaker 1: They did a really good job. I like what I see here and I want to ask if there's some room. I'd like to. So it looks like it's 1.3 million in grants. It seems like that may do we anticipate that that money will. I remember last time we did the 800,000, it went by really, really quickly. I think I think I may want to suggest that we sort of stagger and prioritize since the conversation started with the restaurants. We prioritize restaurants here, particularly full service, full service, independent restaurants across the city. And so I want to hear staff's reaction to that. And if they're good with it, I'd like to make that structure. That is the motion. Speaker 4: So can you give us a little more information on how you'd like to structure? Are you saying that they should have a certain percentage of the funds, or do you just want us to monitor that as we do our kind of criteria? If you can talk a little bit about that and Jan GROSS can also weigh in with some ideas. Speaker 1: Oh, so so two things. Let me be more clear. Here's the way I want to go with this motion. So, one, I think we should prioritize the fire, the health and the alarm feeds. And then we talked about, you know, some challenges with the business license fee. And that's a small component of this. The ones that people are concerned about mostly are fire health and a lot of these platforms. And I think that will spread the pot, make it go a lot farther. Secondly, I think we should target full service independent restaurant operators. I sense it's a limited amount of funding. That's why I'd like to see targeted assets is a small amount of money. And so if you could respond to that, then I'll I'll make a motion. Speaker 4: So, yes, the way the program set up is that it's essentially on an impact basis. So it looks at who if you've been closed for more than 30 days, you are pro-rated at a certain amount and then it goes all the way up to if you've been closed for 90 days. We have certain businesses in there that are exempt. So this doesn't apply to retail. It doesn't apply to fast food restaurants. So restaurants in full service are definitely in there, but so are other types of services that have been impacted by the health orders. It's really up to the council if you want to keep the 1.3 million, but you want to focus it by eliminating the business license fee, part of it, which is the smaller amount and go with the other fees. That's an option. And you can also give us direction on whether I'd like just to know, when you say prioritize restaurants, you mean only restaurants or more, more. The money should go to restaurants, less to others. That's what we're the direction we would need. Speaker 1: Yeah, I, I'd like to see restaurants. I'm open. If the council says, hey, let's include everyone. I think we should just at least make sure, like, 75% of this is restaurants. I'm sure the rest of the council members are hearing what I'm hearing, that there certainly a lot of anxiety among the restaurants. I think we should focus on trying to get whatever support we can to them, particularly until we see whether there's going to be relief in terms of Heroes Act or something like that. I'd love to make sure that these dollars have as great of an impact as possible to the votes. But my motion would be we target this, the restaurant, so so I would make the motion the way that we discussed. So this is all service independent restaurants for the fire, the health and the alarm fees. Speaker 4: At the 75% or higher than that? Speaker 1: I think we do 100%. But if the council wants to negotiate that, I'm fine with that. I think we go 100%. We just target restaurant. Speaker 4: Yeah, understood. Speaker 2: Fine. There's a second accept councilman reticence to. Who's the second? Speaker 0: Who's in the house? Speaker 5: Yes. Speaker 2: But this is in Chad. Speaker 5: Yes. Speaker 2: Okay, fine. Does anyone else wish to speak on this side? Could we please go vote? Speaker 0: District one. I District two. I. District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. I District eight. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. Item 159. I know. Councilman Pearce. Well rescheduled for the eighth. Do we need a motion in a second to withdraw that vote tonight?

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a report on recommendations on business license taxes and business fees with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic; Approve recommendation to allow deferral of payment of business license taxes and fees until March 31, 2021; and Approve a recommendation to provide for grants to businesses to offset business license taxes and fees for those businesses closed or materially restricted and impacted for an extended period of time due to the City Health Orders, with an estimated and maximum cost of $1.3 million plus administrative costs of $75,000. (Citywide)

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Item 159. I know. Councilman Pearce. Well rescheduled for the eighth. Do we need a motion in a second to withdraw that vote tonight? Speaker 0: Yes. I can't remember. Operators make the motion. Speaker 5: They have seconds. Speaker 2: Okay, let's mark late. Speaker 0: We do have a public comment for this item. Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 0: Needs to be on the pulling it. Speaker 1: She says she. Speaker 0: Just one moment. We're getting the caller on the line. Speaker 4: Tiffany Davey. Speaker 3: Yes. Which and which item is this? Speaker 4: This is for laying over item 59 to December eight. On the phone I had. Speaker 3: Right. I'm going to support that and request possibly more documents for that meeting. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment. Speaker 2: Thanks. Not only. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District two I, District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District five i. District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. If anyone have any closing comments for tonight. Speaker 0: And this is Councilmember Pearce. I'd like to go ahead. Okay. I just wanted to recognize that Friday is the trans day of remembrance. And we know that this is the day that we typically would honor and recognize those people that have contributed to our community, but also to the lives that have been lost.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from Catapult, a live-streamed concert for artists and creators in Long Beach.

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Speaker 2: huge thank you on behalf of the city. Again, it was it was really special to be there last night. So thank you again. Let me go ahead. We have two items we're going to hear. Item 2/1. Madam Clerk. Speaker 0: Item two recommendations Declare Ordinance Amending the Long Beach Municipal Code Chapter 8.120 to extend the effective date of the ordinance to January 20, 2021. Speaker 2: Can I have a motion by Councilor Murang'a, seconded by Councilwoman Pearce? I don't have any public comment on this item. Is that correct? Speaker 0: Correct. Speaker 2: Okay. Roll call. Vote, please. Mayor. Speaker 3: This is City Attorney Park. And just a one note on a correction on the ordinance. The date is set for January 20th, 2021. We're asking that line on page three, lines ten, 11 and 12 be deleted. That was placed in error. That was extending it for 180 days. It was placed in there as a typo. So with that change, we would move forward on the motion. There's two votes necessary. One is on the urgency, and then the other would be on the motion itself. So the first motion is on the urgency and the first vote. Speaker 2: We're taking it we're taking the urgency vote right now. Speaker 3: And Mayor, this is the city manager. If I can make a quick comment on that. We we chose to do January 20th is that we have the ability to have this for discussion of the ordinance in front of a full city council. And so we would expect to bring that to you on January 19th to have kind of a decision so that we didn't, but we had to put it on today. It's time sensitive because the current ordinance does run out November six. So that's the reason it's on the agenda. Thanks. Speaker 2: Sure thing. Go ahead and cast your vote, please. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Cindy has. I can't remember Pierce and Councilman Price Council membership in all. Councilwoman Mango. Vice Mayor Andrews and Council Member Miranda I. Councilman Austin. Councilmember Richardson, I motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. And now, please read item number two. Actually. I'm sorry. Please, please, please read the second part of the vote, which is a second vote for for the audience. So I just want to just one more time, just read the second vote again. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. Yes. We need a second vote on item two. The first vote was the adoption of the urgency, and the second item will be the adoption of the ordinance. Speaker 2: Thank you, Madam Clerk. Speaker 0: And so District one. Canto District one. I'm down to district two. I can sadistic for three. I was a District four councilor. District five. Council. District six. II Council District seven. I Council District eight. Council District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Russian case. Speaker 2: Thank you. And now read item number one, please. Speaker 0: Item one is recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 8.101 relating to tenant harassment and declaring the urgency thereof. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 8.120, 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)

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Speaker 0: Item one is recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 8.101 relating to tenant harassment and declaring the urgency thereof. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading. Speaker 2: I thank you. I know we do have some public comment. I do have a motion and the seconder, and I'm not sure if Mr. or if attorney of our attorney, Mr. Anthony, had any comments. Mr.. Anthony, before. Did you make any comments before we went to public comment on this? Speaker 1: Sure. I'll be real. Speaker 2: Quick. Can you hear me, Mayor? Yes. Speaker 1: This is Rich Anthony, deputy city attorney, as instructed about two weeks ago. I guess it was 13 days ago. As everyone will recall, there were. The motion included some additive elements. It included some elements. Delete this, remove that, if you find it, that it might be illegal. What I'm proposing before you is almost verbatim. I think I captured all those in the motion and it's just about verbatim what we were instructed to do two weeks ago. So hopefully it's pretty straightforward. I look forward to public comment and any questions from the council members. Thanks. Speaker 2: Thank you. And before we go to public comment, I do have a motion by Vice Mayor Andrews and a second by Councilmember Ranga Banks. Mr. Andrews, do you have any comments before I go to public comment or should you do public comment first? Speaker 4: I would love to do a public comment first. Yeah. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Then I will turn this over to the city clerk for public comment. Speaker 5: Our first speaker is Andrew. Do you know? Speaker 1: Honorable Mayor and city council members. My name is Angela Darnell, and I'm a community organizer with the Lumbee Tenants Union in Long Beach, Florida. On behalf of the dozens of low income black and brown tenants and families, we organize across the city. We truly thank you for your leadership in bringing forth this anti-harassment ordinance. Special thanks to Vice Mayor De Andrews and Councilman Roberto Ortega for championing this issue. Also, thank you to Deputy City Attorney Rich Anthony for bringing this ordinance back so quickly. Imagine in the middle of the COVID 19 pandemic, on top of the many stresses you're already dealing with, you also have to endure water leaks, black mold and a rat infestation in your own home. You've asked your landlord to fix these problems, but instead the landlord illegally doubles the rent and threatens you with eviction and other lawsuits if you don't pay. This exact scenario has been playing out for months between vulnerable tenants and slumlords across the city. As a housing rights organizer, I know firsthand of countless families experiencing ruthless harassment from their that their landlords, including unlawful eviction attempts and lockouts, verbal and physical intimidation and threats, failure to make timely repairs, entering into homes without notice, and intentional distribution of false information about COVID 19 emergency housing policies. When a tenant behaves badly or violates their lease, the landlord can evict or take other legal action. But when a landlord behaves badly, in Harris's opinion, the tenant can't do anything about it because they'll just be handed an eviction notice or be told, If you don't like it here, you can leave. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Brian Matheson. Brian Matheson. We'll come back to him. Our next speaker is David Clement. Speaker 1: So my turn to talk? Speaker 5: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: Thank you. This is David Clement, and I oppose the proposed tenant harassment ordinance. We believe that harassment of any sort is already illegal. And we, as good housing providers, do not do not condone tenant harassment. And tenants are already protected under California tenant protection laws. This creates a lot of problems that adds more bureaucracy to our city. We should all work together to solve these issues. However, this is not. This is not a good path to take. If if this does become an ordinance, I recommend that we add some language, some bad faith verbiage to this ordinance. But we we definitely oppose this ordinance, as there are already California protections for tenants. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Brian Matheson. Brian Matheson. Please limit yourself. We'll try again. We'll go to Elaine Hutchinson. Speaker 1: Good morning. Mayor and City Council. My name is Elaine Hutchison and I want to register and oppose on this ordinance, potential ordinance, as it is now stated. I have been a responsible and caring rental property owner and manager for many years. More than I would like to probably say right now. If this proposed ordinance language remains the same without any changes. Speaker 0: My company. Speaker 1: Myself and all other owners in this city will be harmed harmed going forward. I am asking respectfully that you insert bad faith language into the ordinance to give all the providers a balanced approach. Thank you very kindly for allowing me to speak. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Fred Sutton. Speaker 1: Can you hear me? Speaker 5: Yes. Speaker 1: Please begin on the mayor and City Council. My name is Fred Sutton, speaking on behalf of the California Apartment Association. The political and rush nature of this important item is wrong. Vice Mayor Andrews, as the maker of this motion, I urge you to allow a modification. There is no intent or bad faith clause. Like other jurisdictions, there should be a right to cure a violation like emergency ordinance. The language requirements should be based on the language the lease was negotiated in as it's presently written. It should be struck. It should be struck in from the ordinance. Posting them notices and items in common areas is an absolute control of the property owner. The aspects related to this are likely illegal and need to be reviewed further. All guests should be invited. Anyone can invite guests, but there should be no allowance of someone. Just come in and saying, Hey, we're here on behalf of somebody if someone's invited. That makes total sense. But this needs reform in that section. There are other major issues, but we only have 90 seconds. There was zero outreach to housing providers prior to this has written. This ordinance is unacceptable and I urge changes immediately before this moves forward. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jesse Howard. Speaker 1: My name is Jesse Howard. Mayor and Councilmember can hear me. Speaker 5: Yes, we can. Speaker 1: I would just like to state that I also oppose this ordinance. And, you know, as a landlord here in Long Beach, we already have harassment clauses in laws. We don't need another ordinance created by local city officials and council members. Ordinance only creates more problems between the tenants and landlords. We already have housing problems and this is not going to help or solve what we need to get done. At the very least, I recommend and encourage Mr. De Andreas to consider bad faith language. You know, as I read it right now, it's totally unacceptable. And I just urge to modify. The ordinance moving forward. I think that a balanced approach is kind of the key approach. Landlords and tenants really need to work together. This only kind of creates additional problems and we got to look at the legality of the situation before we move forward. So I request everybody to take a second look and. Hopefully get a better understanding of legally how this is supposed to happen. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Joshua Christian. Speaker 1: Yeah. Good morning, counsel. This is Joshua Christian, the eviction defense attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation or Long Beach Office. I cannot stress enough that Wendy and Jesse and good landlords have nothing to worry about here. The people who do are serious, egregious offenders, and they know that a blanket bad faith requirement protects them. It's not just counterproductive, it's unnecessary. The ordinance provides appropriate local penalties for violating already established civil and criminal law. Their provisions were bad. Faith is already an element, or where bad faith has been added in recognition of landlords concerns and provisions that address the most common and egregious forms of harassment like abuse of the right of access , like lying about tenants. Right. And these are the most serious issues that are driving tenants from their homes, particularly in communities of color, driving them from their homes while the pandemic is surging right now. So this ordinance was proposed last spring. It was 12 months ago, and we cannot afford to wait until November 17th to bring it back. Please, please pass it as friends. So thank you, everyone. Thank you, staff. I appreciate it. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mike Mitchinson. Speaker 1: In here. Can you hear me? Speaker 5: Please begin. Speaker 1: Good morning, Mayor and council members. These comments are directed specifically to Vice Mayor Andrews. You have a chance to help out landlords. 7500 of them that are here in Long Beach. Many of them that you've known for years. They're responsible and caring. Landlords have never had any harassment complaints. Contrary to the legal representation that said bad faith was in their bad faith is not in the language. You have three extremely liberal cities in California, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley that have harassment policies. All three of them have bad language in there. You need to do right by these people and put the bad faith language in there. These these this not having that is going to be paramount to impacting landlords financially for years to come. 7500 landlords are doing right by their tenants. Just because one or two don't don't do it the right way doesn't mean you do a citywide policy. They're going to do it and put in the bad faith language. I am asking you to do that to help out landlords. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ray Mailer. Speaker 1: Hello? Can you hear me? Speaker 5: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: Okay. Yes. My name is Ray Mailer. I'm a small business housing provider of five units in Long Beach, as well as a resident of Long Beach. I oppose the proposed investment ordinance. I understand this issue concerns a single landlord. If you believe this ordinance must be considered, please and bad faith language. This has been included in similar legislation in other jurisdictions. As a housing provider since 1988, my wife and I have conducted ourselves in good faith. By the way, I'm not seeing a minute and a half here, so please reset my clock. My wife and I have conducted ourselves in good faith with all of our tenants. Given the infrequent situation of tenants who have acted in bad faith. We have always been fair to the people who choose our residences being consistently upfront, prompt, with responsive and timely, and resolving repairs and bothersome neighbors. Being a small business housing provider is a personal business, and it is easier on the conscience and simply good business to conduct ourselves in good faith, even in the face of a tenant's bad faith. We've conducted ourselves in good faith and will certainly continue to do so. Vice Mayor Andrews request that you add language requiring that a tenant intended to deceive the tenant the bad faith language. Thank you. And that is all over. Finish my comments. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Wendy Henning. Speaker 1: Can you hear me? Speaker 5: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: Thank you. My name is Wendy Henning. I oppose the change and the adding of any harassment, additional harassment, personal policies. I want to say sincerely, for over 40 years, my husband and I have been. Property providers, housing providers for the Long Beach area. It's been a very pleasurable experience and I would like everyone to know that we've never had a difficulty at all. In fact, just the opposite. We've tried to nurture relationships with Kevin, being that we're fairly intelligent people. We don't want change of tenancy for obvious reasons. We have never had conflicts with any tenant. And like I'd like to say, like anyone accused of any wrongdoing, I think it's only fair that the accuser can prove in court any type of accusation. That's basically all I want to say. Thank you for your time and consideration. Mayor and Vice. Mayor and Council. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Brian Matheson. Speaker 1: This is why Matheson. Speaker 5: Please begin. Speaker 1: Your report. Okay. Thank you. Your proposal states the city has a responsibility to protect renters from unwarranted harassment. What is your responsibility to protect property owners from tenant harassment? Are you naive enough to think that some tenants don't yell and scream or otherwise harass owners, especially in a time when they know they cannot be evicted? Where is our equal protection under the law? The proposed anti-harassment law will also duplicate laws already in place. In fact, your proposed ordinance even references the current codes and it overlaps the responsibility for resolving complaints on habitability. Most importantly, the ordinance does nothing for parity, bad states complaints or obtain justice, since the state and federal government laws are already in place for harassment. Why not consider mediation as a requirement for a resolution prior to starting a lawsuit or passing this ordinance? Working towards dispute resolution to mediation can improve understanding between tenants and owners and provide an alternative to costly, time consuming legal procedures. The California Association of Realtors requires mediation on all of the purchased contracts because the mediation can be a workable and fair alternative to traditional civil litigation and reduction in frivolous complaints. Please forget this ordinance duplicating current laws and concentrate on real help with a program for mediation. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Keith Kennedy. Speaker 1: This is Keith Kennedy, and I'm president of the Small Property Owners Alliance. And we oppose this ordinance as written. As written and it excludes bad faith. Language does not apply to both tenants and landlords. It's being passed as an emergency bill with little to no community outreach or study to determine the need and does not appear to require that the agreements and notices be written in English. The vast majority of landlords in this city are responsible landlords and are aware that harassment of any kind from either party is wrong and unnecessary. At the very least, we encourage Vice Mayor Andrews to recommend the inclusion of the bad faith language, among other critical items mentioned that were uncovered during our conversations with Pacific Legal Foundation. Regarding this particular ordinance, we respectfully ask that you reconsider this ordinance. And includes some of those languages if you're going to pass the ordinance. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Tanya Jimenez. Speaker 0: Good morning, Mayor and Council. Speaker 1: I'm not with you to make any concessions and say that if landlords are good landlords, they will have nothing to worry about if this ordinance is adopted. And this isn't to disparage the previous speaker Familia, or your foundation. This is directly to the so-called good landlords that spoke earlier and will likely speak after me. The landlord tenant relationship is inherently parasitic and rife with power differentials, whereas landlords and property owners do housing as a commodity. It is a human right. I stooping on mongo. We all know where you stand. You are, which is to leave tenants unprotected and at the mercy of greedy, exploitative landlords. Then adopt an ordinance you perceive is unfair for whatever reason. B It comes with wording. The applicable state regulations exists or other reasons. Folks have been coming to you for some time now, demanding increased protections, demonstrating that current regulations are not sufficient, and that when given the opportunity, landlords and property owners will prioritize profit and property over people. Counsel. I urge you all to keep watching these families in their homes and vote to adopt the proposed entertainment professional ordinance, ensuring that it is appropriately enforceable and be adopted with urgency. So the ordinance goes into effect immediately. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Speaker 2: Can that conclude public comment? I think we have. Speaker 5: One more speaker. Speaker 2: Go ahead, please. Speaker 5: Thank. Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Bruce Mackey. Speaker 5: Please begin. Speaker 2: Do we have? Is there. Is there a speaker? Speaker 1: This is Bruce McGee. Can you hear me? Speaker 5: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 1: Hi, this is Bruce Mackey. I'm an attorney here in Long Beach, and I represent a number of property owners, most of whom are very small property owners. The concern of my clients, frankly, is that there is no emergency and are a bit concerned about this matter being rushed through. They are also concerned about a lack of a notice period and opportunity to cure. Prior to being held responsible for any perceived misdeeds. And there's also lacking in the proposed ordinance a bad faith recommend requirement. And this, in my experience, is very likely to lead to unnecessary litigation. And we've got enough litigation that we don't need any more. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 4: Yes. Thank you, man. You know, I've listened to all the speakers and every point and I realize the situation we're under. But I want to thank my colleagues and the media for being here today. I know it's a busy time for a lot of us. But with my God's in my prayers that this type of situation will there be an I tell it myself and I see that one of those individuals spoke about, you know, bad faith. You know, I know if anybody you are good landlord. You don't have to worry about this anyway. And I would like to move to approve this item because I want to see once again and thank the Orange Avenue tenants. And it's a banner for this Lewis Avenue for reaching out and bringing these issues to my attention. And I'm hoping by today we will be able to have those bad tenants, you know, landlords, you know, to stop this tenant harassment, because this is not even necessary. We know the good ones, and I hope we will find out the bad ones so they will pay attention to these individuals. And thank you very much. Speaker 2: Thank you. I have a motion in a second by Andrew's customary ranga. Do I need to vote on this, Mr. Anthony, or just one? Speaker 1: Yes, that's right. Just like the emergency vote today. To to vote. Speaker 2: Okay. So a roll call, please, on the first emergency vote. Speaker 0: Has a district one by district two. District three. District four, District five, District six, Fire District seven, District eight, District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 0: Motion case. Speaker 2: Thank you. And then we'll take the second vote, please. I have a motion by Vice Mayor Andrews and Councilman your ranga. Speaker 0: District one. All District two I just three. District four. District five. District six. All right. District seven by district eight. District nine. Speaker 1: Hi. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. That concludes our meeting as we close comes from a range of safety remarks as we close the meeting as well. So thank you very much. And of course, from your income. Thank you, Mary.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 8.101, relating to tenant harassment; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 4: Okay. Then we're going to go to move on to a first hearing, which is hearing the Belmont for parking hearing. Please, let's begin that. Speaker 0: Report from Economic Development Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing and adopt a resolution continuing the Belmont Shore Parking and Business Improvement Area Assessment Levee District three. Speaker 4: Can't turn this over to staff. Speaker 3: Good evening, honorable members of the City Council in Sacramento. Speaker 4: City of Economic Development Department. The Belmont Shore Parking and Business Improvement. Speaker 3: Area, also known as a business improvement district, was established by the City Council in 1983, allowing for the levy of an annual. Speaker 4: Assessment to be paid by businesses. Speaker 3: Located in the district. The city contracts with the Belmont. Speaker 4: Shore Business Association. Speaker 3: To manage the Business Improvement District. Speaker 4: And the Belmont Shore Business Association's Board of. Speaker 2: Directors. Speaker 3: Serves as the advisory board to the City Council on matters. Speaker 2: Related to the district. Speaker 4: State law governing this district. Speaker 3: Requires that an annual report be approved by the City Council. The annual report describes the boundaries. Speaker 4: Proposed activities and. Speaker 3: Budgetary information, as well as the method and basis for the continuation of the assessment. The annual report proposes no change to the district boundaries or the method of leaving the assessment. Speaker 4: The proposed activities will focus on marketing. Speaker 3: Business assistance and special events. State law requires that a public hearing be held on a proposed program and assessment at. Speaker 2: Its October six. Speaker 4: 2020 meeting. The City Council approved a resolution. Speaker 3: Granting approval of the annual report, declaring the. Speaker 4: Attention of the City Council to levy the assessment and set today. Speaker 3: As a. Speaker 4: Date of the public hearing. City Council shall hear and consider. Speaker 3: All protest from. Speaker 4: Area businesses against the assessment. The program and. Speaker 3: Boundaries of the area as proposed in the annual report. This concludes my staff report and I'm happy to answer any questions. Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you very much. And we do have an early public. I'm trying to look, I don't see any public comment on this item, so I will go to Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have no comments. I just want to thank staff for that report. Speaker 4: Then let's go ahead and go to a roll call and have a first and a second buy price and then cancel a month. 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. District six. By District seven. District nine. I motion carries. Speaker 4: Great. Thank you very much. That concludes the hearing. So let's continue on the E on the agenda. We're going to go ahead and do item number nine is next.

Resolution

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, and adopt resolution continuing the Belmont Shore Parking and Business Improvement Area assessment levy for the period of October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021; and, authorize City Manager, or designee, to extend the agreement with the Belmont Shore Business Association for a one-year term. (District 3)

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Speaker 4: Great. Thank you very much. That concludes the hearing. So let's continue on the E on the agenda. We're going to go ahead and do item number nine is next. Speaker 0: Communication from Vice Mayor Andrew's council member Urunga. Recommendation to direct City Attorney to prepare an ordinance to address tenant harassment within the city of Long Beach. Speaker 4: Okay. I have a motion by Vice Drews and a second by Councilmember Ranger of Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. You know, first of all, I'd like to thank the Orange Avenue residents for bringing these types of items and issues into the district to my attention. I want to thank, first of all, Councilman, your response in this item with me. And residents came to your you know, when you have residents come to your door about 8 p.m. when it grew, even because their security lighting on the second storey apartment complex is removed. You must take action. Imagine your safety fences being removed in retaliation for not signing a lease that increased your rent by $800. Worse than that, being threatened to be evicted if you did not sign a document, not in your native language or having no idea what you were signing. These kinds of actions. A one we are facing and a sixth district. It is unfortunate that a few bad apples and the landlord sector faces us to create citywide policies, which should be just a human decency. I am a renter. I've always considered tenant landlord relationships to be a moat or a mutual benefit and respect. Bringing this item forward with relief recommendations is needed because it is time that as a city we start taking tenants seriously. This situation is what a lot of, you know, anger and unfortunate situations that I have found because of this individual, which made it bad for a whole lot of landlords. And I know better because they are much, much better individuals and the city of Long Beach and they do better. But I'm just thinking by going through this, can you imagine a group of individuals who have lived in their place for 24 years, never missed a day of rent? And then you get a new owner once they raise the rent, $800 more. That is a state ordinance that you can't do. This is the type of thing that I think we should really take serious issues to, because this individual is blatantly overlooking what is a state mandated audit. These individuals were landlords have really overlooked. And this is a serious situation because the fact that I'm just thinking if in a situation during that time, if those little young kids who live in this apartment would have gotten hurt. We wouldn't be here talking about this right now. So I'm just hoping that maybe somehow I see the attorney, prosecutors or anyone in our department and really let these individuals know that this is not acceptable in the city of Long Beach or shouldn't be accepted anywhere just to come and make money. You know, our landlord and everything set a very precedent going along with most of the things that the state and the local city has asked them to do. But this is unacceptable. This individual had another piece of land in the first district and now with mine just to make money and raise the rent, $800 more than what it should be. Individuals have lived there, probably have bought that piece of land. But this should be unacceptable. And I am hoping that I can get my colleagues to support me on this item. I'm looking forward to a robust discussion. And thank you very much. Speaker 4: Thank you. I do have a second by councilmember your ringa company Ringa. We we do have significant comment. Would you mind if I go through all the public comment and then have you begin the discussion? Speaker 3: Not at all. Okay. Speaker 4: Madam, quick. If you want to go through all the public comment. Four out of nine, please. Speaker 5: Our first speaker is Andrew Men, Dujana. Speaker 3: Hello. My name is Angela. Do I know a community organizer with Long Beach Forward? Over the past year, I've had the honor to organize alongside the most powerful people I've ever known. It started in District nine when a tenant union of 16 families was formed to fight against illegal rent increases, harassment and displacement at the hands of their property management company West Stark. Then in District one, another tenant union of 12 families formed to fight against unjust evictions and escalating levels of harassment, which include waking children up from their sleep to translate documents and threaten to pull permits and evict if rent increases up to 90% were not paid. Lastly, in District six, the Tenant Union of eight families formed to fight against illegal rent increases and escalating levels of harassment, such as shut off utilities and taking off security doors. In District three, a tenants family was threatened to be killed, and in District four, a building was served involving 60 day notices. Adopt this item as emergency ordinance and on or before October 27th. Let's be clear that this is a growing movement of individuals who are fighting for their rights. These injustices are only examples of a much wider problem. The adoption of this policy doesn't mean we stop here. We work together and adopt more protections. I look forward to speaking with you all. Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Eduardo. Obvious. Speaker 3: Well, good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Eduardo Olivas. I'm a senior at Cal State Long Beach, and I live in council district for me and my family have been renters for ten years in our current apartment and gratefully our landlord has been have have been has been a decent landlord. We have no experience in the housing boom. So he and other landlords like him won't be impacted by this ordinance. However, I've been in contact with some tenants and some are experiencing harassment from their landlord and they have told me things like they've reported mold and rats in their unit but have not been addressed or fixed by the landlord. Other tenants have told me that the landlord have tried to force illegal rent increases ranging from 66% to 90%, then threatening eviction if they can't pay the rent increase. Some of these tenants are immigrant families, which means that they have trouble speaking English, and it makes it a lot more difficult for them to deal with this. I simply can't imagine my own family, which is also an immigrant family. I can't speak a lot of English experience the stress of being harassed by a landlord, especially during times like these. This ordinance is to protect tenants from the landlords who abuse their position of power and ruthlessly harass or tenants. This is about basic human decency. Everybody deserves a safe home, especially during a pandemic. I urge the City Council to vote yes on itemizing and adopt the anti-harassment urgency ordinance at a special meeting on or before October 27. Thank. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ailsa Chang. Speaker 1: Hi. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Elsa Tongue, resident of District seven and program manager at Long Beach Forward and member of the Housing Justice Coalition. Tenant harassment is real and it's happening all across the city. You will hear firsthand stories tonight. Long Beach needs a local tenant anti-harassment urgency ordinance such as those adopted by Santa monica, West Hollywood, Oakland, San Francisco and Berkeley. That will create real, substantial penalties for specific abuses without requiring tenants to prove landlords motives or move out first and sue later. This is a matter of basic human decency. If you are a kind of decent landlord, you have nothing to worry about. This ordinance will not impact you. I will repeat that if you are a kind, decent landlord, you have nothing to worry about. This ordinance will not impact you. But if you are a landlord who harasses and intimidates to squeeze your tenants, then your opposition to this ordinance is more a reflection of your shameful character than anything else. It is your responsibility. City Council to legislate protections against egregious abuse. Please show your leadership and your humanity tonight. Pass Item nine and adopt a tenant anti-harassment urgency ordinance at a special meeting on or before October 27. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rob Velasco. Aura Velazco. Prison yourself. Moving on to our next speaker is Fred Sutton. Brett Sutton. Speaker 3: Can you hear me? Speaker 5: Yes. Please begin. Speaker 3: Hello, Honorable Mayor and City Council. My name is Fred Sutton. I'm calling on behalf of the California Apartment Association. We strive to uphold the highest standards in the rental housing industry, promote fairness, equality and the availability of housing throughout California. We do not tolerate any forms of harassment. It is our members who house Long Beach and that is the business oriented housing people. California state law regarding this issue is incredibly robust. Residents are protected from harassment and wrongful evictions. Meaningful protection this law can impose have already been imposed, but some of the prohibitions that are in this proposed ordinance are vague, which create the ability for an individual to create their own definition of harassment. There are references to annoying a tenant in here and a previous caller said there's someone had illegal utility shut off or threatened to kill somebody invalid. 60 day notices, illegal rent increases. All of those items mentioned are already illegal. No outreach was done to discuss these issues with rental housing providers. Like any other policy the city visits, a formal stakeholder process should be established, receive feedback, input and considerations. There are nuances that must be considered to avoid unnecessary legal pitfalls and frivolous lawsuits. The motion does not display a single point of down of communications received, which would justify the fast track nature of this proposal. The best way to resolve disputes is through communication. Speaker 5: We. Thank you. Our next speaker is Ana Velasco. Aura Velazco. Our next speaker is Joshua Christian. Speaker 3: Hello, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council. My name is Joshua Christian, eviction, defense attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation and our Long Beach Office. This ordinance can put a stop to startling levels of harassment that are going on right now in Long Beach. It is an emergency situation. State law in these cases is actually very limited. Harassment is only outlawed in the extreme cases. And even then, a tenant has to impossibly prove a landlord's intent to actually drive them from their homes. And damages under state law are not a sufficient deterrent. So tenants need a local law that specifically lays out what constitutes harassment, makes it illegal regardless of landlord's intent, and imposes damages for landlords who abuse their power. And that's why so many other jurisdictions have passed laws very similar to this one. The landlords who violate these ordinances, they are serial offenders. They have seen cease and desist letters from people like me dozens of times. They crumple them up, throw them away. They know that in the rare case they pay, the damages will be negligible compared to profits. 95% of landlords have nothing to worry about here. This item will only deter bad actors. So it's been seven months since the policy was proposed. This is at least the third time it's been on the council's agenda. This issue is urgent and needs to be addressed now. My clients are scared and they are hurting. Thank you, counsel. Thank you, Staff. Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Karen Reside. Speaker 1: Hi. This is Karen Reside. I'm a resident of the First District and a member of the Long Beach Gray Panthers, which is also a member of the Housing Justice Coalition. And I have a I have rented in the city of Long Beach for over 20 years now, and I've had a variety of landlords, some good and some not so good. I actually rented an apartment one time that didn't have any hot water and that was not revealed to me at all in the lease. And then when the condo I was renting, I complained about it for the landlord to do something. They tried to say that they were going to make me pay for it through my rent. Landlords do many abusive things to tenants. We've had all the control in the power for too long. The relationship should be one of mutual respect and with ability to communicate. I live in a subsidized building. The property managers that are hired don't often know the rules. We had dog inspections to come through for bedbugs. Speaker 3: And. Speaker 1: They get the notices at 5:00 in the evening and the inspection is the next morning. When I pointed out to them that it's not 24 hours, they got angry and threatened me, but I knew they couldn't do anything. It's time we put a stop to this harassing behavior. And for the apartment association. I wish that you would help landlords to understand what the law is and that it's very intimidating to go to people that don't speak English and demand that they sign documents and. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Maria Lopez. Speaker 1: Good evening, Honorable Council Members and Mayor. My name is Maria. I am a District One resident employee of Housing Beach and a member of the Housing Justice Coalition. I have been in the field of renters rights protections and affordable housing for four and a half years here in the city. And I have seen over 600 cases of tenants varying and different amounts of harassment, micromanagement and just complete degradation of persona on behalf of the person they rent from. You know, harassment is not ideal, especially when it comes from your landlord. You know, you are put in jeopardy almost your whole life to try to really create a safe, healthy relationship that can flourish, hopefully with the fact that you can keep your home at the very least, and that that's not necessarily happening. There are various cases of harassment that we tell tenants to go ahead and, you know, detail in a tenant journal. And even with all that evidence, there is still fear of losing one's home, loses one security and stable needs. And so I urge you to support the stability of our families because when renters rise and thrive. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Melody Osuna. Speaker 3: You. Speaker 1: Good evening. My name is Melody Osuna. I'm a home owner in the eighth District. I support this ordinance because the health of Long Beach tenants is at stake and no good landlord should be opposed to it. I work at a medical facility in District one and see a lot of tenants who come into the clinic with landlord harassment issues. Their landlords are demanding rent now, even though the law protects the tenants from paying if they cannot and they are threatening eviction even though there is no legal way to do it at the moment. This is causing a lot of anxiety and toxic stress for the tenant patients at the clinic, which could harm their health . Studies have shown that housing stability can significantly affect health care outcomes. Today's ordinance would be a real deterrence for bad landlords and could keep tenants safe from toxic stress. While there are laws in place that protect tenants, there is no real remedy for the individual. To pursue this ordinance would put tenants on an even playing field with landlords. Finally, there is no reason for landlords to be opposed to this ordinance. If they follow the laws and stay away from the abuse that this ordinance protects against. No additional conversations need to be had said don't force domestic violence victims to talk it out with their abusers and tenants should not have to talk it out with their bad landlords to remain safe and free of harassment. I urge you to adopt this ordinance and bring it back on or before October 27th for adoption. Thank you for considering my comments. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Cindy Quintana. Speaker 1: Hi. Good evening, everyone. My name is Sandy in Dallas and I'm from District six. I urge you to please vote yes. To keep vulnerable families from experiencing harassment at the hands of their landlord. Landlords use harassment to pressure, intimidate tenants into leaving their homes, paying illegal rent increases and signing documentation they say they don't understand. The city council must declare the item an emergency ordinance to return on or before October 27 to prevent further harassment from escalating. Just last week, landlords shut off utility lights from our apartment in serving legal 60 day notices and threatening to evict tenants if they don't pay legal rent increases, which is up to 90%. Please. Please declare this item number nine and urgency ordinance and vote yes. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Tanya Jimenez. Speaker 1: Good evening. My name is Tom Jimenez, lifelong seventh District resident and DSA language member. First, I would like to thank Andrews and Aranda for being the only two council members out of nine to do right by the city center by bringing this item forward. The narrative that merchants and others propagate even members on this council, that most landlords are good and only some are bad. Apples is a false narrative because in an exploitative system where profit and property are valued over human life, one cannot be a good, morally upright landlord in an ongoing pandemic. Homes are not just places that we live in. There are places of refuge and safety. All tenants, especially tenants that are experiencing job insecurity, those that do not speak English, those that are older, those with disabilities, etc., cannot wait for the protections they rightly deserve, such as those outlined in the proposed tenant harassment ordinance. Council members, I urge you all to vote in favor of adopting an emergency and harassment ordinance and protect Long Beach families do right by these tenants and make it just a bit easier for them to stay in their safe haven. Lastly, landlords, I urge you all to look for new jobs because being a, quote, housing provider, unquote, and exploiting others is not a legitimate job. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Tiffany, D.V.. Tiffany Davey. Speaker 1: Yes. Good evening. Speaker 3: Honorable Mayor and City Council. I strongly support this item as well as a passing of an ordinance to protect tenants. In my case, I have actually assisted a member who has both underlying conditions and part of a vulnerable population. And during some of the most impactful stressors during the COVID 19 pandemic, who was given a 48 hour notice to move out? This senior citizen who resided in the affected district really was threatened just because she was going for a walk. She had a shared residence with friends and there are a lot of gray areas. We know that there have been illegal actions taken. We know that individuals have been unhoused. We know that individuals have been threatened during an ongoing crisis, unlike the Northridge Northridge earthquake that lasted 35 seconds and had lasting economic impacts for the past 25 years. This is ongoing. This is not over. There are many things we are not able to control and there are many protections that need to be in place. The CAA has issued many enticements to their landlords and it's not quite in the equity lens nor the emergency response lens of the complete, unfathomable ramifications of whatever. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jordan Wynn. Speaker 3: Ken. Evening, City Council and Honorable Mayor. My name is Jordan Wynn, District three resident, also a member of everyone in which is a part of the Housing Justice Coalition. In spring, our city council passed an eviction moratorium, which was a common sense policy given the COVID 19 crisis that faced our city. And since then, most landlords have followed this policy. It has been recognized by the city and the state. And good acting landlords. At a time when things are so unstable, people deserve to stay in their homes. It's unfortunate now that we have ended up in a situation in which item nine has become necessary. But unfortunately, the bad actor landlords will not stop. There are cases of harassment across the city, but the pandemic going on. I can only imagine how heartless those are who decide to harass and harangue their own tenants and threaten them with eviction and homelessness, taking advantage of tenants with false information and deliberately obfuscating the legal rights of ten. We need real remedies for. Speaker 6: Families against landlord. Speaker 3: Harassment, and it is why I speak in support of item nine tonight. As was stated earlier, everything that is being engaged by the bad actor landlords is illegal already, and we need a backbone to that. We need enforcement against these bad actors who continue to get away with illegal harassment. This policy has come up for over seven months at this point and has almost been the council appearance twice before today's appearance. Today, I urge you all the City Council members to support the bill in your city. Speaker 5: Thank you. Give us a moment when we transition to the Spanish portion of the public comment. Our first speaker is Ora Velasco. Speaker 7: Premiere Pro Sona is our local. Speaker 1: Hello. Speaker 7: All. Speaker 3: Which of. Speaker 1: So to me is so simple, saying we are comfortable and love for your whole family. Speaker 7: You know, my name is not my name. My name is out of Alaska. I'm from District six. And I asked the council please to support the adoption, to adopt these in article to protect tenants. Speaker 3: Continuing to see. Speaker 1: Her day care for you. You then return to the familiar. More vulnerable. And so from a causal part of the study. Speaker 7: And I asked them for them to add support and help families that are vulnerable at this moment continue. What? Speaker 1: She would that you in a court opera. Of course you are not prissy or not e intimidated I think in the. Speaker 7: And they use harassment in order to pressure put pressure on their tenants lumped in with. Speaker 1: The domain name so that it's a settlement of their illegality. And I feel good compassion and most importantly, you know, in seeing them going to another level and I've seen them document them. Speaker 7: And and they tried to do that in order to push us out of our homes. And they do that in order to make us pay higher rents, illegal higher rents. And they also present documents that we had to sign that we do not understand. When we had you sign. Continuing to buy. Speaker 1: Saltpeter for your outdoor content. Boiling hot little things not familiar with. Speaker 3: Some of this. And almost. Speaker 1: Almost 180. Speaker 7: Days honorable counsel to please support all these tenants. He's not only tenants these are families and he's not only one person. We are many families facing this situation. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Aurelia Ortega. Speaker 7: Las personas. Aurelio Ortega. Speaker 1: They go. Speaker 7: A long Selectwoman Saniora. Speaker 1: In the future. Speaker 7: Of the culture. Speaker 1: Although when I started in mid-November, several of. Speaker 3: The. Speaker 1: Yo yo yo quiero is to give up in a sequel. Also, I Don't Think Anymore. Speaker 7: In L.A., Ortega and I would like for this honorable council to pass these Article nine in order to support a continuing. Speaker 1: Forget walking the streets or saying so in a reciprocal safe zone, your son. And they're safe. They live on the coastal communities that other people know, etc.. What about the story that one loses to? Speaker 7: If I am from I mean, I am from different sticks. And then the owners came requesting for more money. They asked. They increased their rent. They also had a harassment against us. They removed all the safety equipment for safety. They took the laundry away and they took all the outside lightning from us. Continuing. Speaker 1: Uh huh. Is that your single training? You should be able to win the singles off winner you stole of the 1 million. I guess you get my husband. I mean it. I said so. Nah, not with my commentary then with the. But I'm one of those positive commentary. You some. Me and. Speaker 7: And we. I had three kids in my home and they took all the the lights outside. So the children for like eight, eight days and the children were asking, can we go out and what is going to happen tomorrow and what about the day after and what about the day after? So it is a very stressful light, a life not only for parents but also for the children. Continue it. Speaker 1: I mean, it's not that I endorse conservatism and get most of your money for them and then. I don't know. No, no, not remotely. To Mark Vaile. They sent me to tell them that I used them up and. No, no, not that I wasn't looking. Look, I just trying to scribble. Speaker 7: And they bring contracts for us to sign. But it is in another language that we cannot understand. So when we don't want to sign that contract, they tell us that they're going to translate it themselves. But then when they translate the documents themselves, they translate whatever is convenient for them. They do not translate the whole document as it should continue. Speaker 5: Thank you. The next speaker is Jose Luis Gonzalez. Speaker 3: All over the place for some reason. Somebody there just to say. Speaker 7: Good afternoon my name is wholesale Gonzalez from District six. Continue with. Speaker 3: But a lot of people more than the delay in controlling the possibility to be more jokey. You kill a person until they'll be defeated in the future. Speaker 7: I asked the council member and the honorable the honorable council and and the mayor to please to adopt Article nine and two, which is a law to protect tenants against harassment. And also if it could be passed before October 27, continuing. Speaker 3: Yet the most obvious, one of the most egregious. They include a stellar rental wedding, a single person. Speaker 7: Because we tenants are under harassment by some property owners and sometimes their rent is increased by a 45%. Continue with. Speaker 3: And it's total direction from the Malaysian. Speaker 7: And that is so. And I ask you, please, to support Article nine. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Porfirio de la Rosa. Speaker 7: Perfidia Rosa. Speaker 3: Well, I mean, a lot of people are looking into entitled Lazy in the street. Speaker 7: My name is Porfirio Rosa and I live on 432 A Daisy Avenue A and I am here for a continuing. Speaker 3: See if you put a subway in the lake. Okay. But then I'm also going to. With the temple. Speaker 7: And I am here to to ask you to please support the law that would prevent donors from harassing us all the time. Speaker 3: Continue a simple listening level as he look, you get a little rental only. Okay not for anybody to. Speaker 7: And yes, because this has come up with paperwork and they tell us that the rent is going to increase, even double from what we're paying right now. Continuing. Speaker 3: CEO, Barbara Morello, my mentor and the man who is connected to every animal successfully needs it. All of the other levels of power. Speaker 7: And besides, there are many pests around and there are cockroaches and they don't fix things. All their piping is all blocked and clogged. Continue with. Speaker 3: The purpose of communism is also for gay couples and we only want security given the long sleeve e, which is stress. Speaker 7: And also the children. They're very scared because we receive papers are going to we're going to have to move out. And that creates a lot of stress to the children as well. Continuing. Speaker 3: Therefore. Look, again, I see the point for. Speaker 7: And that's all I want to tell you is please support us. Please. Speaker 3: Garcia. Speaker 7: Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rosa VILLASENOR. Speaker 7: The persona rose above us. And you. Speaker 1: But when I started my. No. Speaker 7: What evening? My name is Ros. Obvious and your continua. Speaker 1: Get their help on safely, baby. And let's not have four young people on the web. But I love a little stigma. And so I think, you know. Speaker 7: And I want you to thank these honorable counsel for the opportunity. And I ask you, please, to support Article nine for the law to protect the tenants from harassment. Continue with. Speaker 1: If I were passing on the bill. Thank you. Sit there. But I did not. And most of these guys or whatever is like I thought there was like capital of the law bill. So then the spirit will say. Speaker 7: And please to pass this law before the 27th of October so we are not harassed again. I am a neighbor from 54th Street, 1454 Orange and District number six continue. Speaker 1: Well, that ultimately Avril gets on top of this. You know what? Do I know this like on the store? He was scared. Okay, but a lot of things this year for your support. Yeah. I gave have a spicy product and he sat up also on North Carolina. Speaker 7: And that since April the first when I a it I have a new owner a I been under severe stress and I had to go to the doctor again and again. A And I speak not only for me, but for all tenants. Please pass these law in order to protect us from harassment. What? Speaker 1: By, uh, studying El Sindicato in Chile knows they'd love to have a long beach. And I will maintain a continuing. WALLACE But I'm also appointed, so they'll call and say, okay, if I approve it. But every battle in the course of my son. Speaker 7: SLAUGHTER And we're hoping for the support from the entire council for all from all the council members in order for us to not to suffer any more harassment. Speaker 1: Um. Not the sense of the end though. When I went back a bit with Mutual, not with him. Bhagat Singh is still the La Pandemia Mucho. They're still sick. And I don't seem it was sort of our thing, but I gave it everything. I've gotten myself looking cleaner. Speaker 7: And the rent is increasing a lot and we cannot pay that kind of increase, particularly during the pandemic. And many of us do not have a job right now. So please, I ask you, please vote and support these law to protect tenants from harassment. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item, which. Speaker 7: Addresses Edelman in a commentary, but I don't think so. Speaker 4: Okay. Thank you very much. We will now go back to the council. I have the second year of the Motion Council member hearing. Speaker 3: Thank you. But even if they get it out to the polls, a lot of money if they're super, super cynical. But it's good to look at what they notice of this. First of all, I want to give people thanks for coming forward to speak on behalf of attendance rates and their situations like Councilmember, like Vice Mayor Andrews . I, too, have had visits from renters who have let me into their homes or to their apartments. They showed me for the conditions that they live under. Some of them are very horrific. There's not too much, but they're all suffering from some kind of negligence from land owners or apartment owners who have chosen not to fix their apartments. So this ordinance we're trying to look at today basically provides guidelines for land owners in terms of what they can and cannot do when you're coming to your tenants. And it also provides an opportunity for tenants to look at what landlords can and cannot do when their rights are being violated and what they can do in terms of getting any kind of compensation or corrections when it comes down to their their living conditions or their rent. So I'm bringing this forward with a council, with a Vice Mayor Andrews, to assist our clients, to provide them with guidance so that when and if there is a violation, there are what I call 13 different conditions that we are moving forward that the tenants can use when they go to court or when they need to get compensation for any kind of violations that they are facing, including eviction. The importance of bringing this now and bringing this up and bringing it back to the city council as soon as possible, is that. We we have an urgency. We have a pandemic that is horrifically affecting our populations, especially those in dire need of assistance. And bringing this back as quick as possible provides them with additional help to address this. So I want to thank the Vice Mayor for bringing this forward, and I hope that we can bring him back as quickly as possible, hopefully before the end of the month looking if we can bring it back on on the 27th, sometime that week, maybe the 30th. So I'm if you don't mind my saying, like to amend that motion that we create that by the end of the month. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 3: Thank you. Vice-Chair And thank you, City Council. I hope that we could get the support of our council members to support this and push it forward so that tenants can have a pathway towards getting to really. Thank you very. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilmember. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I want to thank Vice Mayor Andrews and Councilman Karenga for bringing this back or bringing this item to council. I really appreciate the comments and the testimony that we heard from so many tenants. And I wholeheartedly, absolutely agree that nobody should live under the situations and the circumstances that we heard tonight from so many of the speakers. And so I really think that some of the concerns are very valid. And I want to go through some of the items that are listed in the proposed ordinance that Council Vice Mayor Andrews has asked the city attorney to bring forth. So I had a chance to and I understand there are state laws in place right now. I also understand that there's. Nuances and different burdens of proof and different factors when we have a local ordinance. So I'm not opposed to having a local ordinance, although I do have some concerns about the way this one is worded. So I want to talk to Vice Mayor Andrews about that. A couple of the speakers talked about similar jurisdictions that have adopted local anti tenant harassment ordinances. And I know that I have reviewed those in the past when we've talked about this item. The particular item that Vice Mayor Andrews has brought forth, I think, misses some of the verbiage that was included in other city ordinances. That to me is kind of pivotal. I think it's really important when you have any sort of law or regulation that it's very clear and there is due process and as much effort to avoid ambiguity as possible. I mean, some of the callers talked about domestic violence cases and things of that nature. And I think we can all agree that while there's a lot of room for improvement of the law, the law, at least the criminal law, is written in such a way to avoid ambiguity so that people know exactly under what circumstances they'd be violating it and under what circumstances they would not. And so there's got to be kind of a mental state requirement. Any time there's an allegation that someone is violating another person's rights. And so one of the things that I noted is in the ordinance, the proposed language of the ordinance vice mayor that you bring. There's nothing requiring any bad faith or ill will on behalf of the landlord. So technically, if you look at many of these items here, many of these provisions, they could technically, technically and legally be violated by someone who has no ill intent at all. So someone could inadvertently annoy a tenant. By the way, they're asking a question or the type of question they could also inadvertently confuse someone, whether someone's confused or annoyed. Are very much subjective terms. And so I don't think the what we're astha and that's not present by the way, in any of the local ordinances. So whether we're talking about Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, you know, they all require some sort of a specific intent or mental state on behalf of the landlord, which we don't have. So, Vice Mayor Andrus, I'm wondering if you're willing to. Consider this friendly. I have a couple of friendlies I wanted to ask that would allow me to support this item tonight. But the first sentence that you list here, it would say No landlord shall. And I'd like to offer a friendly that says no landlord shall comma in bad faith comma. Commit the following colon and then it would go to number one. Is that something you're open to? Speaker 2: All right, I accept your opening. Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. And then there's a couple other ones that I wanted to ask about. On number 11. English is my second language, and it's the second language for my family. So I'm very. Cognizant of the situation where someone is being asked to sign a legal document in a language that's not their own. My mother and I certainly had to do that quite a bit in the apartments that we lived in when I was growing up. But I think that sometimes, you know, we're attributing to number 11, for example, a violation that may be inadvertent. So what I would like to add as a friendly is number 11, communicate with the tenant in a language other than the tenant's primary language. And I would like to cross out for the purpose of two with a specific intent of intimidating, confusing, deceiving or annoying the tenant. And then I'd like to add language barriers that arise in good faith and without the intent to intimidate, confuse, deceive or annoy do not constitute a violation. Is that something you'd be open to? Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. Speaker 1: Okay. And that way it's just it's really the people that are intentionally, you know, they've been advised and they ignore it. The other one that I had is number. Okay. The last paragraph. What I'd like to include is an opportunity for the landlords to be able to correct the defect. So what I wanted to propose is the last paragraph. If a landlord violates the terms of this ordinance, an aggrieved residential tenant, and then I'd like to insert must provide the landlord with a reasonable time to cure the defect. If the landlord fails to cure the defect within 7 to 10 business days, the tenant may and then continue the rest of your paragraph, which is institute a civil proceeding. Are you open to that? Speaker 2: First of all, I heard that. But, you know, you know, I'm not an attorney and this is not a it's this is not perfect. But I would like to do you know, I city attorney to help write the ordinance similar to other cities because the point of this item is to help us stop harassment in general. And I, of course, you know, and I think, you know, general treatment, you should you know, you don't need to move like the offenses and increase, you know, rent it is that's not okay. So this is what I would really like to see what's going to happen with this, right? Because, you know, like I said, it's not perfect. Least, you know, we need to make sure that, you know, our people are, you know, communicating, you know, in their own native language. Speaker 1: And I appreciate that, Mr. Vice Mayor. And I certainly don't want to rewrite the ordinance. You know, I'm a council member. I'm not the city attorney here. But those are areas where I would. I mean, I'd love to. I'd love to. If you're open to those topics being included in the first draft of the ordinance that comes back, and the city attorney can write them up using whatever verbiage they like. Speaker 2: I'm going to throw this to the city attorney. Would that be okay? Because I'd like to hear, you know, some of their comments on it, because, first of all, I understood with the last I have a little you know. Concerned about that. I would like to write to the city attorney. Speaker 3: Before you do that there today for a second. Speaker 4: Well, hold up. Hold on 1/2. So I just wanna make sure we're clear about where we are. So. So I think I'm wrong. I think Vice Mayor, I think. Were you just what just what you just said was that you were open to the first two friendlies, but the last friendly. You would prefer that the city attorney handle all in when he writes the ordinance. Is that is that what I got that you got. Mr. City also. Speaker 2: Yes. Yes. Speaker 3: Yeah. That's what. That's what I got. This is Rick Anthony. I assume everyone can hear me. Thank you. Speaker 4: Okay. Okay, great. And then. And then I think the next person that spoke was that Councilmember Gringa. I don't. That you. Councilmember. Speaker 3: Yes, it was. And that's to as a part of the second year of the motion. And the friendly desk. Speaker 4: I'm sure it's just really customary. Just 1/2, please. Just from a procedure perspective, I do have a speakers list. Should you try it? Does the second order of the motion also have? Can he speak now or do I need to keep going down the queue? Speaker 6: If if I understand the council members he may be asking is the as the second hour of the motion, is he also accepting the friendly? And I think the answer to that is yes, he needs to or it needs to be a substitute motion. Speaker 4: Okay. It's customary, Ringo. Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I basically agree with Vice Premier Andrews in the sense that I think it would be better if we get a read from the city attorney in regards to the to the substitute motion for the amendment for the amendments that were made to this. Because, again, he is not a divisive attorney. I am not an attorney. The the amendments, the friendlies that are being pushed forward are difficult to understand in the sense of what effect it would have on the current motion that's on the table. So I would rather we have a read from the city attorney on this before we move forward with any kind of presence. Is that okay with you? That. Speaker 2: Yes, it is. That's the way. Yes. By all. Speaker 3: Wyoming. Okay. This is this is Rich Anthony, again, deputy city attorney. I can. I'm taking careful notes, trying to we can have as many friendly amendments as the council. Direct. I I've so far I think I clearly understood the first friendly that Councilmember Price made having to do with in bad faith. Commit the following. I understand the second in section 11. If Councilmember Price wouldn't mind reminding me I didn't get it all down what her third friendly was, which I'm calling the third friendly, also a change to section 11. It had to do with language barriers. Could you repeat that language a little more slowly? Speaker 1: Sure, sure. The second friendly was on item 11. It was it to read communicate with the tenant in a language other than the tenants primary language with the specific intent of intimidating, confusing, deceiving or annoying the tenant. Moving on, the second sentence would say Language barriers that arise in good faith and without the intent to intimidate, confuse , deceive or annoy do not constitute a violation. That was the second one. The third one does not. The third friendly that I proposed does not have to do with item 11. Speaker 3: Right. But. Okay. Thank you. I have that. And so then let me continue with the third one. The provision of of a reasonable time for a landlord to cure. I understand that without too much more detail, because my read of similar ordinances adopted in Oakland, San Francisco and Berkeley, at least two of them, maybe all three of them, I can't quite recall due do include a provision similar however in those. However, I'm not sure that every violation enumerated in the first 12 paragraphs is reasonably susceptible to being cured. Like if you're abusing someone or harassing someone or annoying them or threatening them, there's no real way to cure a threat that's already been made. Other other violations I think are could clearly be cured, like a failure to maintain the property or make a fix or a failure to provide a tenant with a valid address at which to stand rent, among others. I have not gone through to check all 12 to see which ones might be cured. I guess I should say 13. Which ones might be cured and which ones may not? And I think I can do that. But I do think that it's it's something that I would prefer to have direct and specific direction from the council on. And I know that maybe not everyone wants to hear that, but I think a fair number of questions are going to arise tonight. And I would love to have direction from the Council on on several of these issues that that this item raises. Speaker 1: Well, Mr. Anthony, on that note, can I just ask you, since you've looked at the other ordinances, how is this proposed ordinance different from the other ordinance ordinances in terms of bad faith and the ability to cure a defect? And could we align them so that the language is consistent with other cities? That's really all I'm trying to get to here. Speaker 3: Yeah. The answer to your second question first is, you know, clearly we could align them, I think, with other ordinances that other cities have adopted. The answer to the first question is, I have not done an exhaustive comparison line by line or, you know, substantive provision to substantive provision there. I think this item is is it's off to it gets us off to a very good start. It clearly is inspired by other provisions that other cities have adopted and have been in place for several years, if not decades. But that said, there are some things in here that I did not see in other ordinances, which is okay. That doesn't necessarily mean this ordinance couldn't adopt them, but it's something that I would want to confirm the legality of. And I have I also have several questions of my own and points of clarification that I think I would like council input on. Okay. So I can bring back an ordinance that I know reflects what the council wants to see. Speaker 4: So, Mr. Anthony I know, I know that comes from your anger and Vice Mayor Andrew's and we're still accepting we're in the process of accepting those friendlies and have a full council list. So did you, Mr. City Attorney, did you get everything you needed at this time on the motion that's on the floor? Speaker 3: Yes, I think I'm good for now. Thank you, Mayor. Speaker 4: Okay, so before we, uh, and that and count from your anger that's reflective of, of then the motion and the second. Correct. Could I have one clarification before we move on? Are we good? Okay. Speaker 3: Actually, no. But I'm going to let my colleague to speak. And I'm not I'm not in total agreement with the friends. Speaker 4: Okay. Well, you have to actually accept the friendlies for them to move forward. If the city attorney just said, is that right? Speaker 3: I'm correct. I think I have to I have to disagree because of the emotion on the floor. It's emotional on the floor. I don't really. Speaker 4: Hold on a second. I just want to make sure that that we're doing this correctly so. Mr. City Attorney, the reason we went back to free range is because he wanted to comment on the friendlies. And so it sounds like counter me, Ringo, you don't accept the friendlies. And so that does not allow the friendlies to go into the into them into Vice Miranda's main motion. Is that right? Is that right? I'm a city attorney. Speaker 6: That's correct. Speaker 2: Real quickly, to make this easy, let's go ahead and let the councilwoman price make their own substitute. Speaker 4: Okay. Well, then you're not. So are you saying you don't accept the friendly face that you're saying? Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Speaker 3: Okay. Yeah. Speaker 4: Okay. Now, let me get a. Okay, so let's just have everyone's queued up. So let me let me go through this whole thing before we move on. I'm sorry. Speaker 2: Yeah, but not accepting and putting. I wanted to go, and so. Councilwoman. Okay. All right. Okay. Speaker 4: All right. So you're not accepting the friendlies. Okay, so let me let me get one clarification point before we move on. And I have customers and they have snacks. Was was part of the motion. I thought I think I heard that the councilmember wanted this to come back before the end of the month, I think is what I heard. I just want to clarify that, because the next council meeting is not until the 17th of November. I mean, we the council actually we have Election Day and council meeting. So I just want to clarify that. And I think there is no council meeting to the 17th of November. Speaker 6: And Mayor, this is city attorney. I just also want to interject this motion. I don't think we can physically bring it back on the 27th. We need a couple of weeks at least, and I haven't heard all of the councilmembers comments and direction. But three days is not enough to write this motion and try and bring it back next week. So we're going to need at least two weeks to do this. So just we're trying to factor that. Speaker 4: My concern about my concern about next week is there is there is no next week, so there's no meeting next week. The next meeting is November 17th. So I just want to clarify that I think part of the motion said to bring this back to the council. So I don't know if that meant like, like, like send the council a memo or on the item back. But there is no meeting till the 17th, just to be very clear. And so they can't come back in two weeks. And I think the city attorney has just said that, you know, he would need more time anyway. So. So, Vice Mayor, I just want to make sure and clarify on that. Are we or with whatever the motion is? I'm under the assumption then that it would come back at the next meeting. But I want to clarify that it comes from your rank because I think you said end of the month. Yeah. So are we. Are we fine with that, vice mayor? Speaker 2: Yes. Yes, that was what we decided on. Speaker 4: Which which was what, but that it would be the next meeting or try to make sure. Speaker 2: It would be like as quick as you can bring it back. And that's what it is. That's what I would like to see is that hopefully before the end of the month, but it just seemed like he said he can't do it. So that's the that would be a problem for all of us. That's sort of set up as because it's an emergency situation. But you said that he can't. So we're going to have to go back. What's. Speaker 4: Okay. Let me cut some of your anger. Speaker 3: Well, actually, I asked for it at the end of the month, the 30th. We were we were not able to do it on the last Tuesday of the month at a special meeting, which is when it's ready to go. Speaker 4: Ah. Okay, I'm. I'm just trying to get clarification. I don't understand. So you want it by the end of the month? On the 30th? You want it to come back at the next possible meeting or are you scheduling as part of your motion of meeting. Speaker 3: The bill before that, before the next council meeting. Speaker 4: Which is the 17th? Speaker 3: Right. I'll bring him back before then. Exactly. But did it help? Would it help? If this were to be, we could work on the main motion, but bringing it back. Would it help if we made that a separate motion? Just to make a clarification. Speaker 4: Okay. Why don't I think I guess what I just want to be clear on before we move forward is I think part of your motion, you said to bring it back on the 30th or the end of the month. I'm just letting you know that there's no council meeting to the 17th. And I think the city attorney has said that he can't have it ready on the 30th or the end of the month. So we can continue moving forward. But I just want to make I want to make sure those two notes at some point in this discussion, we need to clarify one, if part of your motion you're calling a special meeting or what's happening there before the 17th and two, the city attorney has to be able to actually physically bring it back. So I just want to those are two things that we got it clarified as we as we move forward. All right. So let me keep going and count concerns and things. Councilman Sun has. Speaker 1: Sorry. Thank you, Mayor. I thought I was. I didn't know what I was on mute. Thank you very much, Mayor, for this. This time on this, I know that we have a very complex item in front of us, but also a very, very important one. I'm so excited to see a version of this policy come before us today here at council. As my colleagues know, this is a this is a very important and incredible, incredible item of importance for me. I'm grateful for my staff and our community partners, like Legal Aid Foundation and now Vice Mayor Andrew for choosing to back this very important policy. And thank you so much to Vice Mayor Andrus for bringing this forward and listening to our residents who are going through a lot at this time. I myself have been a renter and have struggled with with housing and afford when it comes to being able to afford housing. And I've been a renter for over 25 years and I see myself continuing to be a renter for many of our neighbors, especially our neighbors of color. We have we see a lot of harassment going on, especially in our in immigrant communities and undocumented families that we have, especially in here in the first District. Well, I can imagine that circumstances that make this pause, this policy sadly necessary, are unimaginable to to most of Long Beach residents but me. Each week I hear from my residents on how they are being harassed by their landlords, mostly because they don't either speak the language or they don't know the law. And in in most instances, if a landlord says something to attend, a tenant usually takes that as it must be law. And that's why it's so conflicting. And it puts a lot of our tenants, you know, in very insecure positions. As I said, I understand how difficult this year has been on so many of us, on so many levels, including our small property owners. But there is no excuse for this kind of treatment to our tenants. And a policy like this would limit the ability of doing or continuing the harassment of our of our tenants. Unfortunately, there is only so much we can do as a councilperson to defend our most vulnerable among us. You know, there's times when I. I just break down in tears when I'm hearing the stories of my tenants. And I I'm frustrated because I feel that my hands are tied. And I, you know, as a council person, there's only so much we can do. But these stories really tug at my heartstrings. And, you know, and I really bothers me to see families going through a lot of undue stress and unnecessary stress, especially when they have younger children who are already suffering by the changes that COVID has brought upon us. You know, so there's stress already on the family and on top of that, being harassed by the by your landlord who who is, you know, something that, you know, can can really bring down a family. So I really urge my colleagues to really take a good, good look at this and really support this item. I'm so grateful to all of our community partners that have been advocating for our residents in and out every day, you know, trying to find ways to assure them that, you know, they're not going to be out on the street. But it's easy for us to say it's okay, things are going to be okay when it's us that you know, when it's not us. That fear that tomorrow we will be homeless and that that could be a real possibility for that. Again, I want to thank Mayor Vice Mayor Andrews for bringing this forward. I also want to thank Councilmember Otunga for for signing onto this item. And I hope that we can together come up with a. Good. A good resolution so that we can protect those most vulnerable, those renters that need our help now more than ever. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Next up is Councilwoman Pierce. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I want to sincerely, sincerely thank Vice Mayor Dantas for bringing this item forward together with Councilmember Yarrawonga. We have been trying to figure out how to tackle this issue, not, you know, not just in COVID, but before COVID. And I think we all hear these stories every single council Tuesday, and you guys have heard me share my story and I want to share a little bit more. And then I want to specifically clarify that it seems like council member, Urunga, council member Marizanne de Vos and Vice Mayor de Andrews have all asked for this item to come back earlier. I recognize that that means having a special meeting. I think the date was the 30th. We have two meetings that were canceled in November, one of them because of the election. And honestly, I'm not sure why the other ones canceled. So I would hope that we could do what's best for tenants right now and put their interest in front of anything else at this moment. So I've shared with folks and you've heard the testimony about my landlord, the fact that I'm a renter. My landlord is the sweetest man. He's like in his eighties, this is his only property his son used to be on. The city council is very nice, kind, smiling guy. When COVID happened and I lost my contract, I sent him a letter that said, Here is what my payment plan is going to be. Here is me telling you that I've been impacted by COVID. I have texted him. I have emailed him. I have kept him up to date with the income that I get and how much I can pay. Currently, right now, I am one month behind rent. He showed up at my door at seven in the morning, knocking on my door and he gave me a list, ten pages of papers, and he says, You need to sign this in three days. And I said, What is this? And he said, Well, you need to sign it in three days. It's because you haven't paid your rent. And, you know, I just woke up, I hadn't had coffee. I had to get my kid up, get ready for school. I look at them and I can't read them. They're printed on vague paper. But what I can put through is that there's a letter, there's a new lease agreement. There's papers from the city of L.A., nothing from Long Beach and nothing about the state law. The last page was the only page that I legally was required to sign. And he's doing this to me. A councilwoman who he knows knows the law in that was a letter. I'm not going to read you the entire letter. I've shared it with many people. It says, While no eviction actions will be taken at this time, there is an expectation and a requirement that your outstanding rent be paid in the near future. There are temporary bans on evictions, but those do not waive financial obligations. You need to pay as much as your rent as you possibly can to avoid legal actions, period. That is a threat. That is harassment. That is not transparency with the state law. I am a college educated, elected official that have been threatened by my landlord. I text him and tell him that I want to understand what he's sending me. So he knocks on my door again while I'm trying to feed my daughter and get her ready for school. Mind you, I have a meeting at 9:00. He says if you can't read it, I'll just read it to you. You don't need to read it. No, I need to be able to read the document you sent me. So I know firsthand what harassment means. Did he intend to, quote unquote, to harass me? Did he intend to make my heart race, to set my day off, to make it one of the worst days I've had in the last month? Probably not. She probably wouldn't stand in front of a judge and say, I intended to go and bully her. She's scared too. But we all have to understand how we treat people and what the law is. When I asked him where he got the documents from, he said the apartment association and that they were required. I informed him they were not required. I gave him the only page that was required by law and I informed my other tenants that live in this building of their same rights. This is something that's happening every single day. He asked me to sign a new lease with a new payment agreement on that lease. I still don't quite know if legally if I had signed that if I would have to be upheld to that standard. This is why we have to do something sooner rather than later. So I know that there is an urgency ordinance that the city attorney reads it as an urgency ordinance. I know that there is a extensive two from for that stuff is done. I know that these things can seem complicated to us who aren't attorneys, but it should be pretty simple in my mind from having drafted other policies and recognizing that when we focus on something and it's urgent, we get it done. So I'm asking the city attorney, Rich Anthony, which date is the soonest date that you can bring this back? If there was a special meeting. Speaker 3: Councilmember Pearce, thank you. I know you know this. I'm not the city attorney. Speaker 1: You are any attorney within our city. Thank you. Speaker 3: Yes, I am. I would like to defer that to to Charlie, Mr. Parker. And if he'd like me to speak to that, I'm happy to do so. Speaker 6: This is Charlie Parker, and I think the earliest we can commit to bringing this back would be November 2nd, the first week. And we certainly I hear the urgency, I hear the desire to to move quickly on this bill. But we want to do a good job for you. And we would bring it back as an urgency ordinance so that you could, at the discretion of the council, adopted that night and have it go into effect if you chose to have a special meeting on that week. Speaker 1: Okay. And can you clarify for me if it's an emergency ordinance, you bring it back on the second. Does that protect people that might experience harassment in between now and the second? Is that what I remember from other emergency ordinances? Speaker 6: That is not correct. If you'd adopted it on the week and I'm saying the week of the second, we would bring it back to you. It would it would go into effect that evening and be proactive from that date and would not be retroactive. Speaker 1: Okay. So with that, you know, in the statements that my colleagues have made, I wholeheartedly you know, I recognize that we have an election on the third. I also recognize that we don't want to play politics with people's lives. I would hope that we could get a special meeting scheduled as soon as possible. You know, if not the 30th and then the second, I know that's up to you guys and the mayor should decide how to do that, but I really hope we can get something done before the election. Thank you. Speaker 4: Great. And before we move on to the next speaker, which is controversial or not. Just to clarify, I know I'm not available on I'm the second. So please, when you make the motion, you guys will need to schedule this. Please schedule the meeting with the motion. So it's very clear, perfectly, very difficult to get it scheduled right around that time because people's calendars, people are already have the commitments. So please, if we can before this this conversation ends, if the makers of the motion will include the special election or the special meeting date. So it's very clear when that will be that that would be very helpful, I think, for for the city attorney and the staff as well. So let's get this continue controversy for not. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor Garcia. Yeah. I'm going to try to go a little different direction here because I think we're fighting the calendar and we're actually rushing an ordinance that would be incredibly important. So what I'd like to ask and I'm going to direct this to the city manager, but I understand that it might take development services and possibly the city attorney to answer. Speaker 2: But how much are. Speaker 3: Included in this new ordinance would would there be crossover for items we already have on on the. Speaker 2: Books? And what. Speaker 3: Are your enforcement. Speaker 2: Capabilities? Speaker 3: That is. Speaker 2: What the city. Speaker 3: Staff have that we could address these issues immediately. Even if we were to bring this forward on a second, on November 2nd, we have units who have expressed that they need help immediately. Is there anything that could begin tomorrow to address these issues? Speaker 6: So I'll take the best crack at that that I can. This is not an area where the city has a law. In the past, most cities don't really get into this business to, you know, this type of business in the past. So this is clearly something that has been in the last couple of years of interest. And so there are city programs on the books, but there are state laws and state law protections that already exist that people can avail themselves of. We were not planning that this would be a city enforced ordinance. It would be a city ordinance which would then be handled in the civil court system. So otherwise we would be needing to add a number of staff and putting staff in the position to put themselves between their landlord and the tenant. And so the way that we understand the ordinance to be written is it would be regulated in the courts. And so if there's people who are experiencing harassment that they may already qualify under certain amounts of or certain provisions under state law. But this clearly is an attempt to add additional items and provide clarity at the local level. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Then I'll just have one follow up. So the idea of of having this ordinance enacted at the earliest date, November 2nd, that's provided, we can have a quorum on that date, which I'm not sure of. Speaker 2: Then how about the implementation? I think the city manager. Speaker 3: Was saying that that that is something that might be time consuming. Speaker 2: And I'm making that a question. Well. Speaker 6: Yes. As as the city manager was saying, the implementation of the ordinance would be, it would provide, as I understand it, enriches on the line, too, and he can jump in here that it would give the tenant or the person who is aggrieved under the ordinance the right to bring the action and for the damages. Richard, you want to add to that? Speaker 3: Sure. Sure. Thanks. I think that's right. I don't think there'd be much in the way of implementation on the part of the city as soon as it became effective. The tenants would have the opportunity to avail themselves of the of the rights of action that they have. So because we don't intend and I don't I don't think the makers of the motion intend that this would be city enforced. There's not much to do as far as implementation on the part of the city. I would imagine there would be some sort of notice post notice posted to a city website and that may be it . Okay. Thanks for that. Speaker 2: Clarification. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilmember. Next up is Councilman Richard. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I think this is, you know, certainly an important issue. And and, you know, I tend to believe that we should certainly certainly look at this from a standpoint of if we can get this done the week before the election, that's fine. But doing a meeting the day before the election, that doesn't sound that doesn't sound like a good proposition to me. If we know that there's going to be number one, there's going to be a it's going to be pressured decision making and more and more discussion. And I don't think is the environment to shape policy. I think we should just get it done on the on the 30th. And if we can't get it done on the 30th, and it could be immediately after the election, we you know, we as a city attorney can get it done. We call the special meeting. So I don't I don't know if this makes sense to do it on the second day of you know, on the day before the election. Secondly, you know, this is special. It's a stressful time for everybody right now in general. It's confusing environment for for renters. We know that it's also for small property owners, this confusing environment. Like what? What is harassment and what is not? I think all of us have a general idea of what harassment is, but we have a very, very specific laws that that call that out. If you're a large property owner, you should know those rules. And if you break those rules, there should be penalties. Very small guy will say you have one property, you have one renter, and the rules change. Well, there's no local resource for you to find out what you should or shouldn't say, what language you should or shouldn't use. There's there's no real resource for you have to pay $300 to join the apartment association and they will have the updated documents and they'll have the trainings for you. But we don't have anything local for we're talking about small property owners here, which is which is, you know, what a lot of people in the city are . Those are the ones where you want to make sure you create an environment where there's no harassment intentionally or unintentionally. So this is directly connected to our whole conversation about establishing a rental housing division. If we if we establish a rental housing division, the whole point is to have notices that are available to both sides. Resources, trainings locally that we can make sure that's a that's a service that we should provide in our city. And so this is directly connected to that. So here's so, so, so and not just look at the calendar. It looks like the 30th is a furlough day anyway. So. Mr.. Mrs. City Attorney, is it at all possible to get it done the week before the election? Speaker 6: And I, I cannot commit to that. I haven't heard the rest of the Council discussion on this, but there's already been several issues. And I know Rich has a series of questions for additional direction. I would like to be able to promise that, but I would say no. I would say the week of the second is the earliest. If you're asking me for a commitment that we could commit to, I agree with you that November 2nd is a bad day. We would like it later in that week, if possible, but we will support it. Speaker 2: Well, I certainly appreciate your honesty about your ability to get it done. I think if you can't get it done that week, then you plan for the following week and do it after the election. And, you know, we set a goal we agenda item, and then we get it. We get it done. The reality is this is a shifting legislative environment. And, you know, and there's going to be a lot that takes place on on that Tuesday. If if if the city attorney is telling us clearly he cannot get it done on the 29th, then we as a council need to say, bring it back on the third or bring it back on the fourth in a special meeting to get it done. I understand the urgency. This is an important issue, but I also think we need to have some common sense about how we go about this. I there's you know, the window of time I think is closing. It needs to happen. If he if it couldn't happen on the 29th, the citizenry saying it shouldn't then do it on the fourth or the fifth. So that would be that would be my suggestion. I'm going to keep listening to this conversation. But again, I think I think, you know, that makes a lot more sense hosting it after, you know, bringing this back in a special afterward and ensuring that we have we have quorum for the meeting. So those are those are my general thoughts. Thank you. Speaker 4: Becky Council member. I mean, look at the queue next to us, Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I don't think I queued up again, but sorry about that. It's okay. Let me just chime in that, you know, I support what my colleagues are saying. This is really important policy. I understand there's a rush to get this done. But honestly, if you if people read it, there is no mens rea or state of mind whatsoever attributed to the landlord. So it's very much subjective in terms of what someone might view as annoying or in fact the word confusing. I mean, there is a lot of times where my council colleagues are talking and I'm sure it's the same with you guys when I'm talking, or you might be confused. Does that alone mean that there's been a violation? I just feel like we need to make sure that we I'm willing to do it any time you guys want to do it if you want to do it tonight. But I made some friendlies to try to move this forward and they were rejected. So with that, I'm going to support what Councilman Richardson said. I was hoping that some of my friendlies would be accepted and we could move forward. But it sounds like that's not going to happen. So if that's the case, then I think we do need to talk about it further. So thank you. Speaker 4: Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 2: A lot of it. My problem with this is we need to have our city attorney. Out. Got what bad faith or intent is. You know, also I understand and our landlords, you know, our landlords are bilingual. But we need to understand that you can't get someone to agree a sign on something that they do not understand because . It. It it is like, you know, we've had a code enforcement system and that allowed us to repair things in seven days. So this is also a problem. You know, my problem with this is because in the tenets that I have on Orange Avenue, that was inspection made two months ago, the owner was just mailed a letter by code enforcement today. So clearly something is broken. And if we can't get this ordinance in place sooner or later. It can't hopefully deter bad apples. You know, they they have been living with no interior lives, no security doors. No one should have to live like that. So this is where I feel about the whole situation. Thank you. Speaker 4: Next up is Councilman Mongo. Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you for that statement. Both Mayor Andrews, I guess in kind of leaning to. Solve issues today. Along the lines of Councilman Supernova. Is there a. I guess. I don't know. Across all the cities, I'd like to see a chart that shows what different cities have put in place as it compares to the state law , as it compares to what we're talking about today. I think that that would be helpful. And then are there things that we could do? Like we were talking about the administrative housing division is there. What processes are expensive? So we're going to create an ordinance where tenants who, according to Councilman Pearce, don't know that what their landlord is saying isn't true, which means that they wouldn't know that this ordinance is true. But hopefully we can figure out something bigger than that. But there has to be a cheaper, more expedited process than going through the courts. Is there are there cities who do administrative hearings or. I don't know. Something on a more. Quick and resolute level that Mr. Anthony or both Marie Andrews could speak to. Speaker 3: Councilmember Mungo, this is Rich Anthony. I think there are. I'm not an expert on the subject, but just by perusing some of the other anti tenant harassment ordinances from the cities that have already been mentioned, some of those cities, one comes to mind, already has a rent control board in place. So that city already has infrastructure in place in order to bring administrative hearings and determine possible landlord harassment. Long Beach doesn't have such a thing at the moment, so I'm not certain. I see what you're saying, but I think trying to address the accessibility and the speed with which a tenant could get some redress, I don't know that the city is set up to do that without a much heavier lift and a lot more changes. Speaker 1: Is there a possibility for on a local level for us to adopt the state ordinance as it's written with a financial commitment of, I don't know, $200,000 to pilot an administrative officer? To be brought on on a contract basis to make it possible that. That individual could do administrative duties. And then we because I have big concerns, I don't think I completely understand. In listening to the testimony of the community, there were things that were said that were in conflict that make me concerned about the language that we are proposing. When we talk about the different excerpts that come to an end, price is kind of addressed. I want to make sure that we're doing it right because we put policy in the place. We often do it and we don't look back for a long time. And so I almost feel like. Even this policy, I don't think, would help Councilman Pierce's situation where the small property owner doesn't know or understand. The components of what he's doing and she talks about how he's nice and all these things. And then I guess my bigger question is. How many cases are brought forward to the court system as it is today? I mean, in looking through some data that was submitted and I can't verify the information provided by the community member, they thought there were four cases. In the past 220 days. That means once every 30 days out of our. 65,000 units. One person starts this process, so I'm not sure if an ordinance really resolve the issue. It kind of goes to a bigger issue of knowledge, understanding, education. I guess I would ask Vice Mayor Andrews if your intent is to give immediate. Support. Would you be of the mind that perhaps some kind of pilot program for immediate support would be a good alternative? I don't have one in mind. I'm just trying to listen to what I'm hearing and. Solve issues. Speaker 2: And I just want to say one thing about four incidents. You know, a lot of times, especially in our areas that know how to go and report various incidents. I know it's more than four, but those are the individuals who just came forward, you know, to let individuals know why they were being treated so. Right. Speaker 1: I get. Speaker 2: That. Yeah. So that's but I hear what you're saying. I think that would probably be a good idea. You know, we have that type of, you know, finance to be able to put something like that together. Speaker 1: Not just the finances, but I guess, I mean, it seems like there's like this massive sense of urgency to get something done. We're doing it now. I don't know what. You're 5 minutes. Speaker 4: Longer. Okay, so let me just I mean, just at the meeting back. So, Councilman Mongo, I'm going to gather anything else that you have. Speaker 1: I just. I'm looking for a solution that gives. If we have a law in place of the state that no one's utilizing, I'm not sure a law at the local level is going to solve that problem. So I'm just looking to figure out what's the issue. There's a perception that people are being harassed. How do we stop people from being harassed? We either need something more immediate because court processes take a long time. So just looking for some solutions. Speaker 4: Okay, Mayor, I'm going to go ahead and hold on 1/2. Okay. I just want to I wanted to get back on track. And this is as this is all over the place. So just to be very clear, before we move on to we have another councilmember just queued up. So just be very clear. There is a motion on the floor by Vice Mayor Andrews and comes from your anger. And I want to get clarification. I'm I'm not exactly sure what it what it is right now. So I believe the motion is to have the city attorney draft this ordinance and to bring it back at its earliest possible. A date, which, according to the city attorney, would be November. That would be November 2nd. That is the motion on the floor. Am I right? Vice Mayor Andrews am I correct so far? I want to assure that for the motion has now you'll change. Okay. Okay. Councilman Ranga. Is that correct? Where the motion is as of now. Speaker 3: Yes. Speaker 4: Okay. So we've agreed that the motion on the floor. I'll be back as soon as it can. November 2nd. That's the motion on the floor. We'll continue. Councilman Pearce. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor, for getting us back on track. I won't speak too much. I just want to clarify that there was a two from four done in July that actually has a chart of all the other city ordinances. So a lot of work has already been done on this. I hope that we can call the question and vote on this. It seems like staff has a lot of work to do in the coming weeks, so thank you. Speaker 4: Okay. Thank you. There is no more. There are no more cues pushing the talk. Actually, Councilman, we just came up right now. Councilman Mongo. Speaker 1: Councilman Pearce, I've read that the thing is that that chart doesn't compare to what is currently state law. It only addresses Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Santa monica and Berkeley. There is a state law anti-harassment policy. That's why we need to do something locally. So I called the question please. But within. Thank you. I have the floor. But within that there is protections against harassment at the state level at least. Many people have testified to that today. And so that's why I just don't know. Also, this chart doesn't show which ones of these boxes the Long Beach ordinance is trying to address is the Long Beach ordinance trying to address all of them for eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 were all a mix of them when a city attorney question actually work. Speaker 4: So we have that. There's nobody else cued up. So we're all we're going to go. All right. So I think we may. Speaker 6: Or members of the council, Rich Anthony, has said we have some questions that we need clarification on before votes taken. Speaker 4: But I will I will I will have the Mr. Anthony make the questions of the maker of the motion. Go ahead. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you, Mayor. First, I want to make a clarification. The state law does not include anti-harassment provisions. It does include anti retaliation provisions. And I think a lot of people seem to think that's a distinction without a difference. But but in fact, it's not the what. What you are have in front of you tonight would provide tenants with more protections and more tools than what state law currently does. First, second, it's a I think it's an administrative issue that I just want to bring to everyone's attention. I have several questions about the ordinance as written. I think there may be some issues with it that I don't want to wait until the first hearing to bring up, because what I'm afraid is going to happen is I'm going to get direction to change certain provisions on the floor at whenever the next hearing is, which will require another first hearing. So I don't know that it's that efficient to move forward right now and to direct me to prepare an ordinance based on what I know right now without having a further discussion. And I'm prepared to do that tonight. I don't know that others are, but I am. I'm also prepared to put my concerns and the specific points of direction that I think I need in in a memo to forum from which would be public. And we could get further input from the public and council members and hopefully it would be directed and specific at a future meeting. That would necessarily mean that this ordinance won't be adopted until after November 2nd, but I'm not sure that that's not going to happen anyway unless we want to continue this discussion right now, which I am prepared to do. Speaker 4: Okay. Mr. Anthony, it sounds like you have some questions that you want to ask, or we can just take a motion and then what you come back with. The counsel can then give you additional direction. Speaker 3: Exactly. Thank you. Speaker 4: So just I just I think that, you know, Mr. Anthony makes a good point and so he will bring something back. But there might be obviously changes to that. It sounds like the motion is to have the city attorney come up with the policy per, you know, part of the agenda item. And then you guys would then go ahead and go through that. Is that correct? Mr. Vice Mayor? Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 4: Okay. Councilman Franco. Speaker 3: I was to about. Speaker 4: Okay. Okay. We're going to before we go to a I have another cue up Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Okay. So we are about to take a vote to have the city attorney draft an ordinance on an item that he has lots of remaining questions on. And we're all comfortable with that. Is that just for clarification? Is that what I'm hearing, that the city attorney is being asked to draft an ordinance and he himself is not clear on the policy direction. Is that where we're at? Speaker 4: If you're asking me, I think that's where we're at. Speaker 1: Okay. Well, I think that's I'm sorry to say, but a pretty sad state for policy. But if that's where we're at, then that's where we're at. Let me just remind everyone that there was an effort to offer some friendlies to be able to move that item forward. And I guess now we're just going to ask the city attorney to do his best to try to understand where we're all coming from and come up with some language for us to vote on. That's what we're voting on. So awesome. Let's do it. Speaker 2: You know? And what do you do with that respect? You know, we have a week to act. And so, you know, Mitch, you have a chance to put in memo. Okay. Speaker 6: But if this is a city attorney, I'm not sure I just understood the vice mayor. But does he want is the direction now you want a memo instead of a draft ordinance? Because what Richard's talking about is we're going to have to make several assumptions without further clarification from the council, and we're going to do our best job to do that. But it may not be or meet the requirements and the intent of this body. And if you make some substantive changes, when we bring this back as an urgency ordinance, we'll have to bring it back another time. So further delaying the implementation. So I just want to be clear that we're going to do the best we can, but without these questions answered, it's going to be very difficult to mine. Read what everybody wants and have an ordinance that is going to be meet your your needs. Thank you. Speaker 4: Okay. I have I have four councilmembers cued up again. So let me go ahead and go through that council. Councilman Mongo. Speaker 1: I just want to iterate that. I want to be supportive of a tenant policy, but I can't be supportive of a policy that I don't know what I'm voting on. If the city attorney is mind reading, then it doesn't surprise me that I'm confused about where we are or what we're voting on because he's not clear on what he would be writing. So I understood that the possibility that Mr. Anthony said and maybe I misunderstood because what Mr. Perkins said is a little bit different. Mr. Anthony, you were saying you would potentially bring back a memo, send it out to the council without a meeting. We'd have it immediately or whenever you're able to get to it. Then the community and the council could provide input to your office, but then we would probably need to vote on what that input was because no one member of the council can. Provide direction to city staff on how to write an ordinance. But then there'd be at least the opportunity for the community to help weigh in on that, and then the item would come back at a future council meeting. So perhaps, Vice Mayor, you could provide some guidance on what you're looking for or Mr. Mayor, tell us where we are, what we're voting on. Speaker 2: Yes. Okay. Yes, very good. Wayne, back a draft ordinance. We'll go from there. If the memo was suggested, we should have had that conversation early. We can discuss the details later on what the ordinance is going to look like based on that draft ordinance. Speaker 4: Okay. So what I'm just to be clear. So what I'm hearing is that it's clear that the maker of the motion wants the city attorney to bring back the draft ordinance. And then at that point, the council will discuss that. That's at least what the what the maker of the motion said. So that's where the motion is at. Speaker 3: At the second day of the motion today? Speaker 4: Yes. Speaker 3: Get out. I think the vice mayor may also be a little. Confused as well. But I think based on the. Testimony that we just received right now from the attorney. I think we go ahead and listen to the questions because this is so important that I think that if the city attorney has questions, they want to proceed with questioning the the emotion makers and the counsel as to how they should proceed to get clarification. And let's offer that opportunity as we think we need to go ahead and get a clarification tonight so that when and if we do come back with this, it's pretty much what what the intent of the council is. So, Mr. Vice Mayor, are you okay with that? Speaker 2: I am okay with it. But like I said, I think we've put in a lot of time and will we can get this moving and everyone will have a chance to discuss it even so that it. I'm okay with that. Speaker 4: Okay. So I think okay, so I think I think where we're at now is the the maker of the motion. And the second of the motion are fine with getting the questions answered by the city attorney to develop the ordinance. Believe that's where we are right now. And I think that. Mr.. Mr.. Parkin, I think that's what you heard as well, right? Speaker 6: That's correct. Mr.. Anthony, go ahead. Speaker 3: Okay. Will do. Thank you. My first question and probably the one that's most important are other ordinances exempt, certain residences, certain units from the application of the anti tenant harassment, their anti tenant harassment ordinance units such as halfway houses, drug rehab facilities, university owned housing, health care facilities, housing that is owned by non-profits. The proposed ordinance does not. I have not had time to go through and determine whether the exemptions of those types of units is a policy decision made by each one of those cities, or whether it's actually illegal to regulate those types of units. I don't know the answer, but it makes me nervous bringing back an ordinance which hasn't fully contemplated all of those exemptions. And I want everyone to know I'm not trying to delay for the sake of delay. I'm trying to delay to ensure that we've addressed all these issues and that once an ordinance does pass, assuming that it does, that it is strong and not subject to challenge, and we haven't overlooked anything. And in four or five days, it's it's tough to get that done. I have another six questions or so that I think are threshold questions. I don't know if we should be taking a motion, if they should all be in one amended motion or a friendly or further direction, or if we have five or six different motions, I'm happy to do it either way. But the first issue I have is do we intend to exempt any sorts of units and if so, which. And I understand that the Council may not be ready to speak to that right now, but I think it's something that we have to consider and discuss. And maybe the answer is no. We're not interested in exempting any units whatsoever and I can continue on through with various other questions. We can take them one at a time. And I leave it to you, Mayor. Speaker 1: Can we just hear all the questions? Speaker 4: Hold on. I can hold on a second. So I'm having some council members that are calling the question and asking for a vote. So I just want on the on the motion. So I just want to make sure that, you know, I'm also following Robert's rules the best way we can, you know, electronically here. So, Mr. Turner, if I have a councilmember calling the question, do we have to unless there is an objection, do we have to take a vote on that. Speaker 6: Call for the question? We need a second on the call for the question. It's not debatable. It needs a two thirds vote to pass. And then you would vote on the on the actual item if there's a second, and then you take a roll. Speaker 1: So it's called the question. Speaker 4: All right, guys, I'm in the meeting. I have a call for the question and I have a second for the call on the question. So I have a call for the question on from from price. I have a call from the question on Mongo second call for the question. So just so I'm. Speaker 1: D two and called to the question and it was already seconded by the second call for the. Speaker 3: Question. Speaker 4: Why? Okay, I don't have that. I have a cooler. I'd have no one calling. The question except for Stacy Mungo called the question and Price called the question. Speaker 1: Kels woman Pierce called the question verbally. What I was speaking is what I was addressing. But yeah, let's call the question then. I don't know. I'm just trying to follow the rules I got. Speaker 4: Thank you. All right. We're going to take a vote on calling the question to just vote on the motion on the floor. And. And that's correct. Right. City Attorney. So what. Speaker 3: About. Speaker 4: To go directly to a vote. Mr. Parkin, is that right? Speaker 6: That's correct. You need a two thirds you need six votes to end debate. Speaker 4: Okay. Six votes and debate real companies. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: Name. Speaker 0: District two. Speaker 1: Nay. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 1: I guess even I was confused. The person who called the question with a name. Yeah. I tried to take it back, but I was cut off. I tried to clarify that when the city attorney. Speaker 4: There's no debate. We're in the middle district. We're in the middle of a main district. Speaker 0: Seven. District eight or nine May. Speaker 4: Great work going on now. Okay. So the vote with the question did not have the the the two thirds majority. So we're going back to where we were. I believe the person that has the floor next is councilman's in Dallas. Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, Mayor. Speaker 4: Actually, I'm sorry, Councilman. Before I get to that, before I go to you. So, Mr. City Attorney. Mr. Anthony, did you want to go ahead and continue? I know you were actually you were actually speaking on some questions you had. Did you want to continue that part first? Speaker 3: Sure. I'm happy to. Speaker 4: And then, Councilman, I'll go to you next. Speaker 3: Hopefully, I've described the possibility of exempting certain units. I'm sorry that I can't give you more guidance right now about what actually needs to be exempt and what doesn't. Next question is whether this ordinance is meant to apply to commercial tenancies as well as residential tenancies. My suspicion is that it is not, but it's not clear on that matter. So I would need to make her the motion to clarify that. Is it commercial or and residential or simply residential? There is a provision in section. I think it is Section nine, sorry, it's section ten, which says that the request on the part of a landlord for a tenant's Social Security number can constitute harassment. I think we need to clarify that, that that requesting a Social Security number in advance of a tenancy is acceptable. It seems to me that that is the industry standard for determining someone's creditworthiness. You need to have their say. And every other ordinance that I reviewed included such a provision allowing for a landlord to require a Social Security number in advance of executing a lease. The next point of clarification that I have is with respect to Section eight. I want to make it clear that my reading of Section eight says that it would constitute harassment if a landlord requested a tenant to sign a new lease. That is not in the tenant's native language. I'm not certain that would be enforceable. I have not found any provision of state law which requires a lease to be written under all circumstances in the tenant's native language. And I think to ensure the legality of whatever ordinance we bring forward, I would probably eliminate that. But I don't know that it's illegal yet. So if the maker of the motion wants to keep it in, I'll do that. It gives me some pause. The following are see also in section nine. I want to make it clear and every other anti tenant harassment ordinance does this in my research. That is, failure to accept rent by a landlord payable by the tenant is okay provided that. The number of days. Usually it's 3 to 3 days have expired under a validly issued notice to pay or quit. Refusing to accept rent after the expiration of that statutory period does not constitute harassment. I suspect that might be okay with the maker of the motion and maybe that's what was intended in Section nine, but it's not as clear as I'd like it to be. Also in Section nine. The way I read this is that it would constitute harassment by a landlord if the landlord fails to allow for online payment portals or fund transfers at all times. I'm not currently aware of any law which says that a landlord can't simply require cash or a check or a credit card, but that a online payment portal is required under all circumstances. But I feel like Section nine would effectively require that in Long Beach. It wouldn't require it, but it would. Failure to provide such a thing would constitute harassment. The way that I read Section nine. I think there's also I think it's very important that there be a clarification on the penalty provisions at the which is the last paragraph before the conclusion. First thing it says, there is that under it for a violation, there would be an award of a civil penalty, no less than $2,000 per violation, depending on the severity. But that effectively means that the top amount of the violation is open ended. You know, in theory, it could be millions and millions of dollars if that's what a judge imposed. And I don't think anyone intends to give a judge that kind of leeway for a violation of this ordinance. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think maybe that should say up to or should say no less than 2000 and no more than 5000 or whatever the case may be. But I'm going to be guessing at that. If we move forward as is. And there are other. Those are things that I need direction on. I think there are other best practices that maybe haven't been considered, just based on my several hours of review of similar ordinances in other cities . And like I say, I think I'm willing to take direction on all these tonight, if you would rather a memo and we put this off. I could do that, too. But right now I'm moving forward, assuming I'm going to do the best I can tonight with the direction that I'm hopefully will be given right now. Thanks. Speaker 4: Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 2: Okay. Are we ready? Are you ready? Yes. Speaker 4: We're ready. Speaker 2: Okay, fine. I'm going to give you Justin's and then I won't cost you anything that's on it. I'm going back to recommendations for our city compared with other cities. I don't think we should exempt any of. Not for commercial tenants this week at the part of Social Security numbers, a lemonade part on number eight about the native language. In number nine, about three days. Accepting or refusing payment. You're right. If three days have expired, it should not be considered harassment unless they have a court related agreement in place already. But remind us, I will leave the dollar amount for you. The draft based on what other cities have done. Thank you. Okay. Speaker 4: I think you would ask the customary gringa to weigh in on that as well. Speaker 3: I'm just waiting for the vice mayor to. Speaker 2: Answer and provide. Speaker 3: Okay. That's very. You said it well. I agree with you on that. And just for correction purposes, this is not about commercial properties. These are about tenants. So thank you. Speaker 4: Okay. Let me I do have folks cued up. So let me go ahead and go through the people that are queued up. Councilman's in Dallas. Speaker 1: Thank you. May I think what I wanted to say has already been said. I had been queued up for a while and my queue was the purpose of my queue was to listen to what our city attorney, deputy city attorney had to say in regards to this. So I'm right now processing all his questions. So thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate the opportunity to hear the questions. I think we're so used to hearing staff reports at the beginning and perhaps that's where we kind of everyone got flipped around. So, you know, having no exemptions is, as the vice mayor said, is something that I support, that it doesn't you know, it's not meant for commercial tenants, which was already recited trying to keep native language in the ordinance if it's legal. And I know you've got to verify that, but I believe from other ordinances that it is and penalties, I know that we change those penalties from the first time when we tried to bring this to council, trying to make sure that those aren't to be capped, that that's up to the the judge. That's not for us to really decide is what I think is the best practice, making sure that that's up to them. So, you know, Rich, I think we all believe that you you need some direction from us. So I appreciate the questions and the intent. From what I've heard tonight is drafting an anti-harassment policy that falls in line with some other policies and ensures that we have the best protection for our tenants. And we hope and believe that you can deliver that for us. So those are all my comments tonight. I think you think of. Speaker 4: Vice mayor have you in the queue. I'm not sure if you acute or this. Do you have additional comments? Speaker 2: No, I'm fine. Speaker 4: Okay. Councilman Richardson. Speaker 2: I didn't know I was cute. I'm good. Speaker 4: You're good. Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Mr. Mayor, I'm not queued up. And to be honest, I really have no idea what we're voting on, because what Vice Mayor Andrew said and what Councilman Roberto said were not the same thing. But I'm just I I'm a no, I don't even understand what we're voting on. Speaker 4: Okay. And I just so you know, I do have you guys queued up. So Councilman Richardson, Councilman Price and Councilman Mongo, you're on the Q side, so I'm not sure if it is such a long time ago, but Councilman Mongo. Speaker 1: I would like some clarity on the variance between Mr. Ringo's comment and Mr.. Vice Mayor Andrew's comment and my understanding that Vice Mayor Andrews asked Mr. Anthony to do his best to mimic the other cities. And then Councilmember Ortega added, Except don't add commercial properties and include all other types of properties. That could nullify the ordinance. Mr. Anthony, is that what you heard? Speaker 3: I can. Speaker 1: We are going to. Speaker 3: Attempt to clarify the motion if the mayor is okay with that. I can tell you what I have. Yep. Speaker 4: Yep. Speaker 3: Let's do that. Okay. So I think the motion on the floor is to adopt the ordinance as written in item nine in the council letter with the following changes or clarifications and changes. We confirmed that there will be no city enforcement arm will simply be civil matter. No properties will be exempt from the application of this ordinance, including university owned housing and the other stuff that I mentioned that they will all be subject to the anti tenant harassment. It will. I heard it as residential only, not commercial. It will not apply to commercial. The Social Security number can be removed, or at least it can be clarified that requiring a SSN prior to tenancy is okay, not anti tenant harassment. The preferred language. I think I heard the vice mayor say he doesn't require that. But but then I heard other people say, well, it's only not required. It should only be removed if it's if it's illegal. So I'm not quite clear on that. But I'm going to say that the motion on the floor is we're going to remove the requirement that future leases be in the language, the tenants preferred language. That's the way I heard the motion. And also, we're going to clarify that the three day notice, once the three days is up, it's clear that failure to accept rent thereafter is not harassment. Then we also have the penalty clarification. I think I have clear direction to come up with something reasonable, propose something reasonable based on other cities ordinances. I can do that. The last question. So that's where I stand on how I heard the motion. However, I do have a clarification question for the maker of the motion for the vice mayor. I didn't hear anything. Maybe I missed it. Regarding my question about whether online payment is going to be required. It cannot be removed. Mr. Vice Mayor. You want to keep it? Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Hello? Are you there? Speaker 4: We're here. Yes, we're here. Speaker 2: Remove. Remove the part about the online payment. And can I. Okay. Number eight, eliminate item number eight about the native language. Unless you find it legal to enforce. Speaker 3: Okay. Then I think I'm clear on the motion on the floor. Everything else. Thank you. Speaker 2: Everything else is good. Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Anthony. I think we have a motion on the floor and a second. And so I have no one else cued up. So we will go ahead and vote on the motion. So if I can please turn it over to the clerk for a roll call, vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two, I. District three? Speaker 1: No. Speaker 0: District four. Ney District five. Speaker 1: No. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 0: District seven. District nine. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Okay. Thank you. Just to clarify that question then, welcome back to the Council. Mr. Anthony, if I heard correctly as part of the motion at a special meeting on November the second that we had as well. Mr. Anthony. Speaker 3: I think that was part of a motion on the floor. If if Charlie would like to China and otherwise or if we want to take a specific vote on that, I mean. Speaker 6: I think we need some direction. I heard discussion. We said we we're going to try to bring this back on the week of November 11th. That's a monday. As everyone knows, Election Day is the following day. There was some discussion of of having to come back either on the fourth or fifth or sixth and and depending on when we could get a quorum. So some directive to be helpful. Speaker 4: Okay. I thought part of the combat weekend. Ice Mary Andrews. Speaker 2: Yes. That was deferred to Alberto. I think he made that. Second. Please get that for me. Speaker 4: Okay. Got some ringa that wasn't for me. What was your interpretation of the motion? Speaker 3: Well, my interpretation that I received that I understand was for the second. And I'm okay with that. Speaker 2: Okay. That's. Speaker 4: It was my understanding that we never got off the set of off November 2nd and as a as a question. But that's I could be wrong. You know, there was a lot of back and forth there. So. So, Mr. Anthony, do we need to take a vote on this or is that part of the motion? Speaker 6: This the city of Frankfurt, and we'll take that as part of the motion. We will work with the city clerk to try and have a special meeting on November 2nd, assuming we can get everything done. Speaker 4: Okay. That concludes the item. We are now moving on to the next item and that will be item number. Ten.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Attorney to prepare an ordinance to address tenant harassment within the City of Long Beach; and, direct City Attorney to bring this back to the City Council for consideration at its next scheduled meeting, or as soon thereafter as reasonably possible.

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Speaker 4: Okay. That concludes the item. We are now moving on to the next item and that will be item number. Ten. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilmember Richardson. Recommendation to increase the F 20 appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $1,046 to provide a contribution to the Dracula's Forum mural painted at Howden Park. Speaker 4: Can I have a motion in a can by Councilman Richardson and Councilwoman Pierce? Unless there's not any any there's no public comment that I have listed here. So. Constant Richardson can we go and go to a vote? Is there any comment. Speaker 2: Straight to a vote? Speaker 4: Okay, roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: Pick one I. Speaker 0: District two. Speaker 1: I'm an I and I love the district three. I. Speaker 0: District four. District four. Speaker 2: II. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. Speaker 2: So I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 0: Is that an I? Councilman Richland. Speaker 2: Yes, it was. And I. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase the FY 20 appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $1,046, offset by the Ninth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to the Draculas for a mural painted at Houghton Park prior to the grand opening of the expanded Houghton Park Community Center on June 30, 2020; and Decrease the FY 20 appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $1,046 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

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Speaker 4: Thank you. Next up is item 11, please. Speaker 0: The poor from Development Services and Health and Human Services recommendation to adopt a resolution to accept and expand grant funding from the California Department of Housing and Community Development in an amount not to exceed 36 million citywide. Speaker 4: Can I get a motion in the second, please? I have a motion by Councilman Ranga. Can I get a second, please? Second my counsel was in. They have I see no public comment. Actually, I have one member public. Go ahead. Speaker 5: Jordan win. Speaker 3: Hi there. Can you hear me? Speaker 5: Yes, please. Speaker 3: Great. Thank you very much. I just wanted to comment. First of all, a thank you to the city for doing such much needed work in funding this public key project. I did want to bring up one thing. I read the report that the city prepared. I noticed that the full grant was up to $36 million. The expected amount is around 15 to 16 million, which covers the city of Long Beach as burden for the best Western. But I wanted to emphasize that if there is additional funding that comes back from this grant, if we do end up getting closer to the full 36 million that Lumbee continue to pursue, acquiring motels and hotels that may be suitable candidate for supportive and interim housing for those who are experiencing homelessness, particularly chronic homelessness during this time. I just wanted to bring that to the attention of the city. I thank you all for the very dedicated actions that you've been taking recently to make sure that we can get people off of the streets and into safe and affordable housing. Thank you very much. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 4: Okay. Roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 0: District one. District two. I. District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District nine. I motion carries.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution to accept and expend grant funding from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), in an amount not to exceed $36,000,000; and Authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all necessary documents and any subsequent amendments, including amending the terms, or changing the amount of the award, with HCD relating to the grant application and award to the Long Beach Development Services and Health and Human Services Departments, for acquisition and operation of an existing hotel and conversion into interim housing options for persons experiencing homelessness. (Citywide)

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Speaker 2: I am 13 years. You didn't hear me come into the stadium. No no comments on the rest of these as we are collecting please media. I am please. Speaker 0: Report from Parks Recreation Marine Recommendation to execute a new right of entry permit to Conservation Corps of Long Beach for the construction of an Environmental Stewardship Center. District nine. Speaker 2: For any public comment. Speaker 0: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 2: What you're saying, do you have any? No, sir. I just move the item. Would you please call for the vote? Speaker 0: It was the second year on the item. Vice Mayor. Speaker 3: 87 of our building. Speaker 0: Thank you. District one. I'm District two and district three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. By District seven. District nine. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to issue and administer a new Right-of-Entry Permit to Conservation Corps of Long Beach, a nonprofit 501c3, for the construction for an Environmental Stewardship Center, for a period of two years, from September 1, 2020 through August 30, 2022, with the option to renew for one year; and, the approval of an Environmental Stewardship Center for public recreation at DeForest Park, which meets a recreational need within the City. (District 9)

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Speaker 2: I am too pleased when I am 14. Speaker 0: Pleased clear eyed in 14. Report from Parks, Recreation and Marine Recommendation to execute a new right of entry permit to Campfire Angeles for the construction of Discovery Trails at the Forest Park District nine. Speaker 2: Councilor Richardson was about to comment on this. Just move it. Just move the item. All right. Speaker 1: Secondly, Sun has. Speaker 2: Thank you. Any public comment on this item? Speaker 0: No public comment on item 14. Speaker 2: Would you please call for the Bell District one? Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District to. I'm District three. District three. District by district for. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District five. I District six. All right. District seven. I District nine. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary for a new Right-of-Entry Permit to Camp Fire Angeles, a nonprofit 501c3, for the construction of Discovery Trails at DeForest Park, for a period of two years from September 1, 2020 through August 30, 2022, with the option to renew for one year; and, the approval of the Discovery Trails for public recreation, which meets a recreational need within the City. (District 9)

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Speaker 1: Yes. Much better. Thank you. Vice Mayor. Speaker 2: Thank you for telling me that. Okay, fine. Item 16, please. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilwoman Price. Councilwoman Zendejas, Councilmember Pierce. Councilwoman Mango. Recommendation to direct City Manager and City Attorney to provide a report on the role of the Council as a legislative body in the implementation and interpretation of the State of California's health orders in response to COVID 19. Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilwoman Pryce, would you like to comment? Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Yes, I want to thank the colleagues of mine who signed on to this item. This is an item that I've actually been thinking about for quite a bit of time now. We have been told since day one of this pandemic in mid-March that the city council really has no standing. To weigh in on the issues regarding the openings and the closures of our small businesses, the conduct prohibitions of our residents in terms of social distancing and mask wearing at that, and that those issues are within the exclusive sovereign purview of the health department. Now we've been told that, and I think as a council we have heeded that guidance and we have all been extremely respectful of that directive. However, all around us, we have seen cities and other legislative bodies take action on issues related to the health orders, whether it be mask wearing requirements, whether it be the opening and closure of certain business sectors. Or whether it be the opening and closure of certain recreational opportunities. Now, while I understand the importance and the need for us to make sure that the pandemic is at the forefront of our thoughts and our policy making, and the public safety and and public health of our residents is at the forefront of our decision making. I brought this item because I want further clarification on why it is that the Long Beach City Council cannot weigh in on issues which seem to be issues that other city councils and legislative bodies are weighing in on. And so I'm asking for a report back from the city attorney with a legal clarification of why it is that the city council cannot be at the table when we're talking about openings, closures, mask requirements and other such things that we are seeing other legislative bodies throughout the region weigh in on. And so that's the background of this item. And really it's more of an educational item than anything else. I think all of us on the city council want to defer to our city manager, want to defer to our city attorney and our health department to lead us. But we are in a situation where we have businesses that are literally having to shut their doors forever, incurring major debt in order to be able to pay their bills. And we are not in any position to help them. We are powerless, according to the city manager and the city attorney, to help them in any way. And if that is truly the case, then I'd like to understand why other legislative bodies are able to take some actions that we cannot. So that's kind of where this comes from. And I look forward to our report back and hearing from my colleagues and any public comment there might be on this item. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilwoman Rice. First of all, we do counsel phone. So I want you to queue up. It's so good to hear from someone. Speaker 1: Let's come here. Councilman Mongo. Speaker 2: Yes. Go ahead. Speaker 1: Thank you. I appreciate Councilman Pryce joining on this item. And I know that this is something that I brought up repeatedly at our COVID briefings and I brought up twice that council. I don't believe that it is our responsibility to only follow the leadership of the city manager. We are to lead. And quite frankly, I don't believe that the citizens of Long Beach feel as though certain individuals who have no accountability to the residents should be making these types of decisions. I also feel as though the scope of what needs to be brought back needs to include the amount of resources that we as a council have authorized for enforcement of policies. We may not agree with that have no bearing on the health of our community or our, and actually may have even more detrimental help to the health of our. Three. And therefore, I would love to know more about what discretion we have in terms of what resources, local resources are being used to enforce policies that I believe are unfairly applied across the region. Thank you. Speaker 2: To. Speaker 1: Thank you, Vice Mayor. Yeah, I think I'm on this item because I agree that we need to have something in writing. I know that we've gotten lots of memos and lots of discussion. I know as a council member, the second district, we have tons of small businesses. I know it's been extremely tough on them, but I also know that, you know that our death rate is a death rate and that we are trying to balance the health and well-being of every single resident before anything else. And I think that from what I've heard from places like L.A. and people that have visited Long Beach from L.A. during this time is that language has actually done more and done it quicker than some of these other areas. So, you know, I've heard from them. I've also read a couple of letters from our Board of Health. I forget the proper name of it, but I know that they've issued a letter to us as council members asking us to strengthen the mask law. And so I you know, I just wanted to speak and say that I signed on to this item so that we can get something in writing. I do know that our city charter is different from other cities. I know that this is not an easy task or job that anybody wants. None of our city staff wants to tell a business that they can't open. It impacts all of our bottom line. So with that, I look forward to seeing that report. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you very much. So anyone else like to speak on this item is. Speaker 1: Thank you, vice mayor. This is Councilwoman Sunday has I too wanted to say that thank you to Councilmember Price for bringing this item forward. I think it's very, very important that we have a presentation on exactly what it is that, you know, us as as a group can can do and cannot do. I think that, you know, there's certain orders that are in place. And I do believe that those orders are in place to protect our residents and the health of our residents and actually the life of each individual that is living here in the city of Long Beach. I also know that there are so many businesses that are closing down and not being able to afford to pay their bills or to stay open, or who cannot who cannot open because they cannot rely on only the 25% capacity that that is allowed. But I think that, you know, I think that having a presentation and having something in front of us to give us guidelines of what what is happening and who is, you know, who has the authority to implement or dictate certain rules, I think is important. So I look forward to hearing report back from the city, the city staff. And thank you again for for this item and for those that signed on. Thank you also. Speaker 2: Thank you. I want to mention that is there anyone else like I speak on this of. Is he in there? No one else wants to speak on it. Do I have a second for this afternoon? Price. Speaker 1: I believe we might have some public comment. Speaker 2: Excuse me. I was going to go check in that. I was going to get a second and go to any further comment. Speaker 1: On the targets that they have queued up. Speaker 2: Okay. Do I have a second on this? Yes. Speaker 6: CD five as a second go. Speaker 2: Okay, fine. Okay. Good. Is it now? Is there any public comment on this site? Speaker 5: Yes. Our first speaker is Clarissa Bauer. Speaker 1: Good evening. My name is Clarissa Bower. I'm a resident living in the third district and I am the owner of Nine around Long Beach, a small 1600 square foot kickboxing studio on Naples Island in the third district. We have been in business for almost three years and have been voted the best gym in Long Beach two years in a row. We are an active supporter of the Long Beach community and sponsor Special Olympics, Southern California and other charitable causes in the local community every year. Due to the COVID 19 restrictions placed on gyms, our revenue has decreased by 60% since the same time last year in 2019. I've lost half of my team of trainers in order to cut expenses. I'm losing my manager at the end of this month because he's going to work in Orange County where he can get more hours. Our PBP loans, loan funds were extended in June. That was four months ago. The idle advance wasn't even enough to cover one month's rent here on Naples Island, and the multiple shutdowns of the gyms this year has helped me tens of thousands of dollars in membership refunds. We have tried virtual zoom workout and outdoor workouts, but neither of these options provide the workout experience and equipment our members originally signed a membership agreement for. As a result, we have lost 40% of our membership since March, with daylight hours dwindling and weather turning cooler as fall approaches. We continue to receive more and more member cancelations every day. The nine round franchise is the largest kickboxing franchise in the world, with more than 700 locations globally. The franchise has established COVID 19 operational adjustments to our business model to provide a safe and clean workout environment for everyone. As the sole owner for the sole sole owner for the nine round Naples Island location, I am prepared to implement these safety guidelines and any protocols put forth by the city of Long Beach in order to reopen my small business. It is well known through research that exercise strengthens the immune system and supports mental health. These benefits are essential to help protect the people of Long Beach from the health risks of the COVID 19 virus and to counter the mental stress often experienced due to isolation and confinement conditions with which we are currently faced with no planned reopening of Long Beach Fitness Studios. In the near term, the sustainability of our business is in serious doubt and the city of Long Beach risks losing the positive contribution that many small fitness studios are making towards the health and wellness of our community. For these reasons, I assert that the benefits fitness studios provide to help protect against the potential harm of COVID 19 far outweigh the risk that gyms will contribute disproportionately to COVID 19 infections compared to other businesses that have been allowed to reopen today. As a small business owner, a health and fitness advocate and an active supporter of our Long Beach community, I ask the city council to approve this recommendation. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Your next speaker is Dave Shukla. Speaker 3: So how about the Dodgers? Shukla, third district. I appreciate the councilwoman who brought this forward. It is important to have specificity. I think something that might be able to add in specificity is a lot of the work to be done. Examining the impact. Also who's spreading the virus. Which politics are directly responsible. For community spread. I mean, a lot of people have put a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of sacrifice in addiction, you know, making sure they inadvertently don't, you know, kill someone they love. All that effort. I mean, in other countries, you know, it's kind of amazing that, you know, like Vietnam, uh, completely outperformed us on dealing with the virus. New Zealand, Singapore. I mean, name of police. Name a place. Why is it that this business run autocratic, increasingly authoritarian society just happened to decide right before Mayday? Oh, let's just support people back to work before, you know. They have a chance to decide. They don't even really need this economic system in the first place. We don't need a permanent world economy, and we don't need all the climate forcing activities that we know are responsible for the uptick in respiratory virus. Through through an transmission, through the land use and through choices that we make or we force other people to think that's the way to be American. I mean, who do you think the ultimate. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is David Rosette. Speaker 3: Yes. Good evening, Mayor and City Council of Long Beach. My name is David Rosette and I am the owner of Naples Fitness Private Training Studio, located in just District three on Second Street. We currently have two leased storefronts that we are unable to open and operate. We have been in business for 14 years and we have always been an appointment based business. We focus on clinical style, personal training, mobility and therapy. We work very closely with orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, chiropractors to successfully continue rehabilitation programs for patients that are pre and post OP. This closure has negatively affected many of our members and clients who rely on us to help them feel better physically, mentally and emotionally. With regard to PPE, we have spent thousands of dollars on our PPE supplies, remodeling, plexiglass partitions, signage, air purification systems, sanitizer for the equipment, as well as touchless dispensers throughout the studio. We were open successfully for three weeks in June, and then we were then shut down again by the mandate. I personally visited physical therapy and chiropractic clinics in Long Beach to see how they are operating. They are not even doing half of the things that I just mentioned above which we were doing prior to the second shutdown . They have more people and less square footage, and some are not even using antibacterial soap in their bathrooms, distancing protocol and or allowing ample time for the disinfectants to set on surfaces to be effective. But they are deemed essential and we are not. Therefore, they are safe and we are not. There needs to be a clear plan that sets studios like mine apart from big box gyms that would allow 1500 to 2000 members in each and every day. Our normal operation would allow for 30 to 40 people maximum per day to be in the studio and to be in there safely. We are not a large membership based gym. We are a private one and one facility that can easily open up at 25% capacity with 2 to 3 clients and trainer's maximum at a time, allowing for 25 feet of space minimum between clients and allowing trainers to keep a safe distance. All people inside of my facility would be distance and mask on machines and touch surfaces disinfected after use from every client, and appointments would be staggered by 15 minutes to ensure ample time to clean and maintain six people or less within the studio. With our appointment based scenario, which we've always operated by, we can control the flow of clients as well as the narrative within the studio. There has been so much harm to the industry, to individuals and to businesses alike. Due to these shutdowns, we've acquired personally tens of thousands of dollars in debt, in leasehold payments that cannot be paid back at this time. And believe me, our landlords want their money now. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Lisa Campbell. Speaker 1: Honorable Mayor and City Council. Thank you for this opportunity and thank you, Councilwoman Price, for bringing this agenda item to light. Collectively, I invite you all to pause, take a nice, deep breath with me. Inhale. And that's how. My business has been closed since March 17th and yes, we are still closed. That marked seven months. We are Lisa and Casey Campbell. And for 25 years, 25 years. We have proudly served our community as small business owners, as residents, and now as a landlord. We are Executive Fitness, a private fitness studio located in the third district in Naples. We offer one on one private personal training by appointment only. Even prior to COVID, we always have. We always will. I echo David's sentiments. We are not a big box gym. During the very brief three weeks we were allowed to reopen, our clients returned with sheer jubilation. It was amazing. And no one got sick. We followed the mandate. We invested thousands of dollars in providing a safe, clean environment for everybody. We followed states, L.A. County and Long Beach City mandates. In fact, we had a surprise inspection by the Health Department on a Saturday, and they checked us off as a safe facility, only to have the state shut us down three days later. It was devastating again. The loss of business revenue, personal income, payroll and jobs due to the shutdown in our industry are irreparable. One mile away from my brick and mortar studio, fitness facilities are open one mile away. We have lost many clients to Orange County due to this. Orange County is reaping the benefits financially. Due to this demand. The rapid decline in mental health and wellness of the clients we serve is devastating. Site's cleanliness. A healthy body is the best defense against COVID. Yes. Yet the state has stopped this essential business. And I feel, as do my colleagues in our industry, we are essential. We do not have outdoor space to provide services adjacent to our facility and asking our physically challenged client one, which is who my husband as a physically challenged athlete and business owner and seniors to train in the park is completely unsafe, discriminatory and a huge liability risk. City Council member. As I know you can make a difference. We're shot down like amusement parks. And trust me, nobody says I'm a sign of the small world, but I guarantee it's a great ride. Our Health Department has the ability to provide mandates for our industry to reopen. If our city can do things differently than the state and even L.A. County, the results would be dramatically different. So please send on over those health orders. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Michael Neufeld. Speaker 3: Thank you. This is Mike Neufeld. Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm the owner of the Gaslamp Restaurant over in the third district, and I'm also a founding member of the Long Beach Restaurant Association, comprised of restaurants throughout the city. And I just have to say, it just continues to break my heart, hearing all these stories from from all of these fellow business owners here on this particular item. And I think the focus of this item, as I understand it, is really to create an all hands on deck sense of urgency to resolving the issues that really pertain to the city of Long Beach and our response to the COVID 19 pandemic. It's critical, I think, that our city council members have access to all of the information that is available out there and also have a strong voice in the policy making and decision making as pertains to, in our particular case, the small businesses and the community as a whole. That seems like, you know, obvious to me. All of the council members. And I know whenever the opportunity in the pleasure of meeting most of them, they have their feet on the ground, they have the ear to the ground. They speak to the small business owners regularly. They know what we're going through. And to learn how powerless they really are in terms of helping the city make decisions and getting us open, getting the gyms open, getting the restaurants back on track here, getting us inside is very disheartening, and I think it's a great opportunity to fix that. And it's an all hands on deck crisis we are facing right now. Everybody's as someone informed earlier, everybody's cheap money has run out. Not all businesses have the opportunity to be partially open and the ones that are partially open like mine are all in the red, have incurred enormous losses. There are 48 people in the hospital. As of the latest weekly stat on COVID, the numbers never exceeded, from what I understand, 110 to 120 and Long Beach at a 460,000 people. We have to get open and we have to save our city and we have to save our economy. So please empower the city council members to help us do that. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Tiffany Davey. Speaker 3: Good evening, Honorable. Speaker 1: Vice Mayor. Speaker 3: City Council. I'm glad that this item is coming before council. Speaker 1: It's my belief that we are in. Speaker 3: A national emergency. I definitely empathize with all of the business owners who have spoken before. But I know pursuant to California Government Code Section 8625, the governor may proclaim a state of emergency in the area affected by a natural and intentional disaster when he's requested to do so. I'm also aware that the City of Los Angeles published the resilient Los Angeles in March 2018, a booklet with 96 action for combatting pending disasters of various scale, including pandemics. Also, the role of a City Council officer and public safety emergency coordinator is also a document that governs City Council to operate within a continuity of government continued operations, district, field operations, office operations, recovery planning, the notification system. It's also my understanding that Section 85, 58, Section C, Chapter seven, Division one, Title two, Government Code also kind of outlines this. I know that in the case of disaster communication, there is a national incident management system. And we, I believe since the eighties have the state emergency management system. There are going to be uncomfortable moments during crisis. And I my heart is with everyone during this time. But I do again, I look forward to this report coming back. I also look at 2013 covering government code for the emergency operations board as well, and the MDA established the city ordinance in 2000. That really led to a comprehensive role for a city council office. So I look forward to the next discussion. Thank you very much. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Thank you. Any comments on this, Mrs. Price? Speaker 1: I, Mr. Vice Mayor? I mean, the only thing that I would add is hopefully the report can include some sort of guidance for the council, because we're seeing a lot of disparity in the types of businesses that we're allowing to open. We started the conversation last week and hopefully the city manager and city attorney got a flavor of what some of our concerns are. If it's the conduct that we're prohibiting because we're concerned about the threat of the pandemic being spread between individuals, and that conduct should be evaluated across all sectors. The sectors that are allowed to open should not be determined based on the power of their lobbying or advocacy efforts, but rather the kinds of conduct that's engaged in and the threat of spread of the virus. In that conduct, if the conduct is dangerous, then precautions should be taken to limit the spread in that conduct, but not where that conduct can take place, because it's the conduct that we're trying to limit because of a public health crisis. So if the city attorney and city manager can please weigh that into the report that comes back, we very much appreciate it. It's getting increasingly more difficult to explain to our businesses why certain conduct is allowed in one setting and not in another. It seems incredibly unfair. And so we want to make sure that as a council we have the words, the verbiage, the justification, the legal parameters that allow us to either weigh in or not weigh in. So thank you very much. Speaker 6: And yes, we'll certainly include that. I do agree. I think this will be very helpful. There's a lot of things that may not make sense to somebody who's just, you know, trying to understand what it is that is allowed and not allowed. There's things that the city regulates, but a lot of it is based on state law and what we're allowed to even consider or not under our health orders. So we welcome that opportunity to help provide some clarity on that and try to explain some of the thinking that is coming down from the state health officials. Speaker 1: May just add, Mr. Vice Mayor, to that point, I'd love the report to include what options we have as a council to advocate with the state, because now we're going to be allowing tattoo parlors. Which is great. I think that's great. I want to allow them to open. They've reached out to us, but it's very, very difficult to justify to people how a conduct that might involve piercing of skin, for example, is more dangerous than other conduct that's prohibited. So if we can advocate and get some understanding from the state on how those determinations are made and perhaps advocate for different industries, I'd like to know what tools we have as a council. So thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Counselor Price. Okay. Is there any kind of. Could we please call for the vote, please? Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District two. District two. District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: I'm urging you. Speaker 2: Thank you. There's any does anybody have any closing remarks? We can't person has any closing remarks. Okay. Fine, I do. Tonight I would like to welcome. Delicious. 1909. Ice is spicy. Ice spicy and nice into the sixth district.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to direct City Manager and City Attorney to provide a report to the City Council on the role of the Council as a legislative body in the implementation and interpretation of the State of California’s health orders in response to COVID-19.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_10132020_20-1003

Speaker 3: Thank you. Then Councilman Mungo wanted to pull the health order item. Can we read that, please, Madam Clerk? And then I don't know if we just can go right into Councilman Mango. Thank you. Speaker 0: Report from City Manager Recommendation to confirm city manager's. Promulgation of the revised Safer Home Health Order issued on October one, 2020, by the City of Long Beach Health Officer as a regulation citywide. Speaker 1: Thank you. I know that there are lots of different aspects of the health order that are currently. Supporting and challenging to our local businesses and in meeting with local businesses throughout the district. I've heard from the community how great development services has been in their education and outreach. However, the Department of Development Services is limited in the flexibility that they can provide to any of these businesses because of the way that the health order is written at the state level. There are some things that I've discussed with development services staff over the last several weeks, including up to even earlier today, related to some specifics of the health order that are disproportionately impacting certain businesses, while not impacting other businesses that provide the exact same service. And so for that reason, I cannot support that certain businesses are able to be open and available and providing certain services, while other businesses who provide the exact same services, but in a different context, are not able to provide that same service. I've met with and gotten an opinion from the city attorney that was forwarded. Thank you, Linda Tatum. But at this time, I will once again be voting no on the enforcement of this, particularly for those businesses that are providing exact same services as other businesses that are allowed to be open while certain businesses are not because of the the specifics of how the health orders is written. So I'll continue to advocate for the health of our community and the health of those residents that are not being able to participate in certain health related services in a non health environment because costs are lower. And I will continue to work with development services on any potential changes that can be made that are within our authority. Though I am very aware, as are our businesses, that we have very little flexibility on this matter. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. And Councilwoman Rice. Speaker 1: Thank you. So I'm a little bit confused. I'm not sure if that's what this item calls for. I mean, as a business owner, I disagree with many of the orders. So I certainly hope that by voting for this item, we're not endorsing the health orders and the types of businesses that have been deemed safe while other businesses have been deemed unsafe. So if I could get a clarification from the city attorney or perhaps the city manager, is that what we're voting on? Because I don't believe the health order is written in a manner that's fair to businesses, and I don't want to imply that through my vote. Speaker 5: So, no, the way that it has been set up in the emergency powers that you've delegated the city manager, and then you subsequently change that ordinance, what you vote on now every time as we bring you the promulgation of the health order. So the health officer has the official responsibility under state law and they make those decisions in their medical opinion on how to craft a health order in alignment with the state order. Then I, I implement that and so I implement it and then I bring it to you. So what this is a vote on is the enforcement ability of the city manager. So if the whole council were to not approve this, the health order would remain. There just would not be a enforcement mechanism for the health order. Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman Price. Councilman. No. Speaker 1: Exactly. Thank you, Mr. Modica. And so my concern is that we can enforce in certain businesses and we would not. Be in any mechanism to enforce and other businesses that provide a same service in a health environment versus a non health environment. And so for those reasons, I am voting no on the enforcement component because of these types of specific nuances. And so in my mind, if those types of services are available in our city, then they should be available by any business that can meet the requirements despite what their classification is. So that that's why I asked it to be pulled, so that I could voice that specific concern as the businesses have asked me to do. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So just for clarification and I get where Councilmember Mongo is coming from. I actually 100% wholeheartedly agree with her on this because the way the health orders are written, it's really difficult to fathom how certain activities are being considered. Not risky and other activities are being designated as risky. And so I agree with you. I really don't think the the city or the state, frankly, should be picking winners and losers in terms of businesses. My only concern and I think councilmember member and I might be the only ones who feel this way and I appreciate you sharing that because I agree with you. But if all nine of us were to not approve this, does that mean then movie theaters could open or concert venues could open in Long Beach and we wouldn't be able to enforce. Speaker 5: The answer to that. The city. Tony Perkins The answer to that is no. The state is regulating it. This would if every councilmember or there's a majority voted against this, the city would lack the ability to enforce it. Speaker 1: Enforce any violation of the state order. Speaker 5: Of the city's. Speaker 2: Health order. Yes. Speaker 1: The city's health order. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 1: Did you call me Mr. Mayor? I can't hear you now. Speaker 3: I count. Compliments of the house. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted a little bit more clarification here. I know that one of the things that my constituents are really concerned about is the safety and the health of the families of residents that live in the district. I'm coming from a district representing a district where the majority well, not the majority, but we have very high, high positivity rates in in this district. You know, this makes me nervous. I think that it's important that we have enforcement. But, you know, for for these businesses. But I would like a little bit more clarification, if possible, on I don't understand how they say that some businesses are, you know, are able to operate under a health order and some that do the exact same thing are not. So if I could get clarification on that, please. Speaker 3: Mr. Modica. Speaker 5: So I believe one of the examples might be medical massage. So under the state order, from the very beginning of if there are certain medical uses, like a massage that's happening in a medical office that has been considered an essential service, there are groups that make the argument that the same types of services can be done in a in an office building. That's not a medical. The state has basically said those are considered personal care and those need to be closed. But if it were in a medical situation, that might be an example of those services. There's not that many of those. There are some. But I also just want to add that, you know, our approach to enforcement has really been education. We do lots of inspections. We talk to a lot of people. To date, we've done 11,628 inspections and issued 72 citations so that we're getting compliance without having to do a lot of enforcement. But we are making sure that people are operating safely and in alignment with the state order. Speaker 4: Thank you for for that, Tom. I really appreciate that clarification. And one of the things that I have seen is that I have seen you being very active in the First District. And I think that if we really want to get to a point that we move forward and and open up as a city, we really have to have enforcement for the reasons that we don't want this pandemic to continue. We don't want this spread to continue. And I think that that's the the important thing is that we don't want our businesses to continue to have to be closed. But if we if we don't enforce them, we are most likely going to be seeing those businesses continue to be closed and maybe even take us to a deeper shutdown. So thank you for that clarification. Speaker 3: Thank you. I'm going to go back to the council on Mongo and then Councilwoman Brice. Speaker 1: Thank you. I think that comes from Mr. Moto because examples exemplary. So to miss that they has this point. If a community member goes to a chiropractic office and gets a massage or goes to a massage facility, or if a person a great example is my my godfather, he is in Orange County. So he's not in a position like this. But it was brought to my attention that he's in physical therapy and his physical therapist can choose to work out of a medical facility, but that same physical therapist works out of a small gym. And so if he were to get the cash rate of going to a small gym for that physical therapy, then he that's not eligible right now. But in Long Beach, we could not do that unless there were certain conditions met. Some gyms are able to move outside, but some have not. And then in this particular case, to Councilman's and day house's point, the activity is no more risky. And so in my mind, I'd like to vote no that the city manager not enforce fines on businesses that are providing services that somewhere under the health order are allowed as long as those businesses are providing them in a healthy manner, if they are not providing them in a healthy manner in alignment with the other business that's able to do it, then absolutely. Yes, we should follow through on that type of enforcement. But the way that the the current enforcement order is written, the city attorney and the city manager isn't the one picking winners or losers, losers he's enforcing across the board. It's the governor's order. And so I would love to see some kind of specificity where if the activity is already deemed appropriate in some place, in the order that it be a lower focus level of our department, and so that those businesses could work through what would be possible. Similar to we worked really hard for four bars and breweries when they were not allowed to be open, and yet in some cases they felt as though they were in the exact or similar situations as restaurants . Then you have the medical marijuana versus regular marijuana. Why is it that an individual who may have a medical need for marijuana but chooses not to go through the inconvenience of getting a card, would not be able to get their medicine. The actual process of getting the product in alignment with what Councilman Sunday has said is no more risky and therefore provides no additional risk or safety to our community. And so for those reasons, on the current order, I will be voting no. And if I hope there are enough councilmembers that feel similarly that we in Long Beach could potentially set an example on how to enforce in the most egregious ways and other egregious acts that are completely forbidden under the order and provide health risks versus these other types of reasons that we potentially wouldn't want to do as much enforcement. I think that we could be an example because again, as stated in the health order, those specific services do not. Seem to constitute a risk under that methodology. Thank you. Speaker 3: That's bigger than our last or last communism. I'm impressed. Speaker 1: Thank you. Very well stated. Councilmember Mongo, I'm going to be supporting your position on this and perhaps we can consider fashioning a friendly down the road or if someone has one tonight that articulates that. Here's there's a lots of categories of businesses that fall into the exact situation that the city manager and council member Mungo mentioned. If it's done under the operation, under the direction of a doctor, for example, anything is is allowed. So if we have a dermatologist, for example, people can go in and get facials, they can get wax treatments, they can get, you know, all manner of treatments that you don't have to have a dermatologist give that and they're available by us dieticians, but they can't get them done because there's no doctor on site. And even then I don't even think there needs to be a doctor on site, but the facility is a medical facility. So I think there's a lot and you know, we I just spent 45 minutes the other day on the phone with these small business owners who own a very small Pilates studio where they help a lot of people that have sports injuries. They're not chiropractors, but they they're not physical therapists, but they're thinking about re categorizing because they can't pay their rent. Their landlord isn't helping them at all. They were in tears, frustrated, because if they were categorized as physical therapists and associated with a physical therapist, then they would be able to do exactly what it is. It's being done at physical therapy studios that have parties, machines. And so I agree with Council member Mungo. I realize that we haven't been instituting a lot of fines and I get that. But I think it's the optics and it's just a fairness issue. If it's done under the umbrella of a doctor, then how is the contact that's considered risky allowed? And that contact outside a medical scenario, the same exact combat contact with the same precautions is considered more risky. It just seems to me that and I get it, it's the way the health order is written, which is probably why most jurisdictions aren't filing any criminal sanctions associated with violations of the state order. But it's the way the order is written. It's not the way the city has implemented the order. So I agree with Councilmember Mungo and I think there's just a lot of equities at play here. We talk a lot about equity and I really think it's important for us to think about how these orders are affecting individual business owners who are engaged in behavior and conduct that the state has deemed actually totally acceptable in certain settings and not in others. So thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Richardson. Thank you. So I don't. Speaker 2: I hear one motion on the floor. Is that correct? Speaker 3: Actually, I don't think there is. I don't think I actually heard a motion, actually. Speaker 2: Okay. It sounds like. Speaker 3: I took the number. I took this off consent calendar, so we had a motion to approve the item. Speaker 2: Okay. It sounded like a few people just want the opportunity to vote no. I'm going to make the staff recommendation of the motion to approve the staff recommendation. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Okay. Speaker 2: Before but let me let me say this. Let me say this, Mr. Mayor. I actually think that there there should be more discussion on this in the future and that we should revisit revisit this. I think as we move forward, we should be able to understand fully the, you know, where we are with the health orders and these changes. So we should think about making some back on consent to get up to speed on where we are on some of these things. So but I do move staff recommendation right now. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. We're going to go ahead. And Councilwoman Price, did you two back up? Speaker 1: I did. I did have one question. I wasn't expecting to be talking about it tonight. But I just out of curiosity, I know that we've been called since day one, but the council, as the legislative body, really has no say whatsoever in the state orders. But then I was curious, because I know the L.A. Board of Supervisors weighed in on the state health order when it decided to open certain businesses that were allowed to be opened under state directives. And so their legislative body, which which would be analogous to our legislative body for our jurisdiction, did weigh in on the state health order and open up categories of businesses that the state had deemed okay for statewide openings. Why? Can you can someone explain that to me? Because I've been told from day one that the legislative body has no jurisdiction to weigh in at all on what business sectors we open. But it sounds like a different legislative body did. So I'm not sure if they have something specific in their articles that allows them to do it. And we can't. Speaker 3: Mr. Modica. Speaker 5: So we wonder that as well, we actually don't believe they do have that authority, that they are essentially doing that. And then their CEO and their health order health officer needs to make a decision on whether they're going to support what the board wants to do or not. So that is not how they have operated in the past. That has been a fairly recent occurrence. And that we believe, at least I'm looking at the city attorney. We believe that the in the state law, it is the health officer in their sole discretion that has the ability to put in a health order. And again, even if the board wants to change things, they cannot change things that you know or get that direction to the health officer. The health officer is still bound by the state health order and cannot go beyond that. Speaker 1: Right. But they're able to operate within the state health order, even though we haven't advanced to the next tier to move us forward in certain business sectors. Or at least that's what they did. Speaker 5: So I think they our interpretation is they asked their health officer to go, you know, within the purple tier to open certain things up in the purple tier that had not been opened up before. I do want to point out, we believe as Long Beach, we have opened everything in the purple tier that applies to us. So we are essentially have everything open. And again, we can't move forward into the red tier, into L.A. County as numbers hit the red tier. Speaker 1: Okay. So. So nail salons and breweries and wineries were in the purple tier. And indoor shopping malls and card rooms. Those were specifically called out in the purple tier. Speaker 5: I believe so. Speaker 1: If it was. Speaker 5: I believe so. Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 5: And so L.A. County has in certain areas been stricter than what the state has allowed, you know, in and in order to, you know, basically try to keep the numbers down as low as possible. And part of their philosophy is they can get more businesses open if they can get the numbers down. So trying to to keep things to a point where the case loads go down, the positivity rates go down so that they can actually make it into red to be able to open more things. Speaker 1: Okay. So I guess my question should be then how are those specific businesses called out in the purple tier? Like how does a card room, for example, get in the purple tier and. I don't know. A facial doesn't like. How does that is there someone lobbying for that? That seems to me like kind of a random, you know, card room or winery or brewery. So is it because someone's lobbying for those things? How's that. Speaker 5: Happen? Yes, that was definitely a lobbying thing. I think that was done over the objection of the public health department. And again, it's not all done in indoors. That's all outdoors only. So none of those things were allowed to be brought indoors. They have to be outdoors. And the health officer is still enforcing that. They have to be open on three sides. I think some of the card rooms I read tried to open up and just put a tent outside and that was enclosed. And so the health order health officer is still enforcing those things. So, yes, we do believe that was a number of cities that were asking for the ability to operate outdoors like a massage parlor can or any type of personal services. Speaker 1: Right. Except for nail salons, which someone has deemed that digging into someone's nails with sharp objects is less risky than giving them a facial. Speaker 5: Yes, that came from the state. So that's not a local decision that the state allowed, did not originally allow nail salons in purple and then they allowed nail salons in purple. Speaker 1: Okay. But the but the card room designation and purple that came from the state, not the county. Speaker 5: I believe so. So the county I believe the state allowed and we haven't followed courtrooms that much because we don't have card room. So. But I do believe that that was allowed in purple. But the county was not allowing it to open even because they have that discretion. So they then allowed card rooms to open outdoors. Speaker 1: Okay. All right. Well, I mean, I guess my my whole point in all of this is that there's some lobbying efforts going on somewhere. And my concern is that, you know, the small mom and pop businesses who don't have a lobbyist or aren't in an industry that has lobbyists are maybe getting forgotten. And I realize our numbers are going up. I get that. But I think it should be a shared burden by every business. So I get it. And I understand. I'm just I'm just trying to maybe point out that. Speaker 2: Councilwoman Price, your time expired. Speaker 1: Okay, thank you. I have nothing further. Speaker 5: And if I can just add, this council is very good at passing on information from businesses and asking questions, and we do everything we can to try to accommodate them where we can within the state health order. So I don't want anyone listening to think that their council is not, you know, passing those on. And they certainly are. And we address those as best as we can. Speaker 3: Thank you. I exhausted the council comments. I want to make a few comments and then we'll go to the vote. There's a motion on the floor. Just more broadly speaking, I think it's just important to note that we are in the purple category, which is the most widespread category, as is, of course, most of the larger counties in the state of California. And everything that is open right now in Long Beach, as is things that are open in the county, are all allowed within that purple tier. And so there aren't business sectors that are allowed by the state that somehow the city of Long Beach, along with the county, have an open. I think, Tom, you mentioned that it's more of a kind of clarify that point. Obviously. In addition, I want to obviously, I think people can have different opinions on this issue and different thoughts. I think we've heard some some tonight as well. Some there's a lot of all of us have concerns for small businesses and how these decisions are being made. Obviously, the decisions from the tier category and what goes where are decisions made essentially in the Department of Health and Dr. Ghaly his team. And then, of course, they go through their process in meeting with all of the affinity groups and get input, of course, from from the, the hospitals and all the folks that are involved in those decisions as that data is being collected from from the ground. I think it's also safe to say that this is not a perfect science and in no way is are we getting every decision the right way? I think the governors even said so. You know that there's a lot that we are learning and have learned in the past. The last thing I'll say is that I do strongly support this motion. I think the more cautious that we can be, the better. Speaker 2: The. Speaker 3: Time needs to have. The ability, Mr. America, to enforce enforcement is important. And at a moment in the state where we are beginning to see cases and particularly this country rise in 20 to 23 states in the nation, this is going to impact us as we go into the fall with flu season. And so I worry about where we're going to be if we don't continue to take this incredibly seriously. And I know everyone on this council takes this very seriously, but I do support this motion, and I think it should be adopted. And so with that, we will call the roll call vote. Speaker 0: We have a second year on this motion, Mayor. Councilman Diaz in the house. Thank you. District one, district two. I. District three. Speaker 1: They? Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 1: No. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 0: District seven, District eight. District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to confirm City Manager’s promulgation of the revised Safer at Home Health Order, issued on October 1, 2020, by the City of Long Beach Health Officer as a regulation. (Citywide)

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Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is item nine, please. Speaker 0: Communication from Councilman Price, Councilman Super nor Councilman Austin recommendation to receive and file a report from the Third Council District Committee on Illegal Fireworks Mitigation Recommendations. Speaker 3: Are we going to turn this over to Mr. Mayor? Councilman Price. Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. So I want to thank the third district fireworks committee who is here with us this evening to make a presentation. This group was formed about three years ago, and during that time, they've done a tremendous amount of work in terms of researching fireworks of enforcement efforts throughout the region, and they've done it all voluntarily . And so I'm going to turn it over to them to give us a report of what they've worked on this year and some of the recommendations. Speaker 2: Mr. Mayor and council members, I have to thank you for allowing us to present our our report tonight. We feel that we're pretty excited about what we've done this last year. We've had a lot of inclusions from the different council districts and. I see that we have our Facebook page up and somebody's going to move the slides. There is a process or guide. We need to do that. Okay. This is a list of all our committee members. And we have five committee members on this list who represent or I should say at this point, we have five districts represented on this list and possibly six that we have unqualified out of nine council districts that participated in the formation of our recommendations this year. And we're very close to where were asked to try on what we're trying to accomplish. The next slide. Which is our community outreach side and what we accomplish this year. We work very closely with with Cal State, Long Beach in developing PSA both last year and this year and and also additionally with the Long Beach Veterans Association and the random VA hospital. And they were just amazing to work with. And you've seen the appearances. A month or so ago on present, at that time, we actually had an individual from the community come to us and and volunteer money to to do bumper stickers, which we did this year and did 5000 bumper stickers. And they just went like hotcakes. It was a very successful program where you we have a group of distributional partners and our list of partners this year grew by 10%. And it's a little bit a little deceptive in that you think it's only 143 distribution partners. But there are organizations and I, Boy Scouts of America, there's churches, there's homeowners associations. So it is really represented by a factor of X, which there's no real way to put a number to it. But we firmly believe that, you know, it could be as many as almost 100,000 people are are indirectly supporting what we're doing. We based the the static art on the convention center billboard again this year which is it was the art that you see on the slide here called Cal State Long Beach had to mind wanted on their billboard. The VA had language on their billboard. The League of Women Voters supported us. We worked well. None of us on our own on the committee are proficient at social media. But we, you know, tried the best we could to get the messaging up on social media. And and we believe that we did a fairly good job running. Gazette wrote several articles about what we doing and in the Long Beach Post ran an article. The Parks and Rec, to whatever degree they could used, are animations in both with movies and in their recreational programs. Our committee reached out to the news networks and we had some exposure there. There was very nice. I think one of the things that probably everybody on our committee is most proud of is, is the work we did with the homage to the Army Unified School District on that thing. And the pieces are now in the school district, district wide, and I've had discussions with them and they are willing to do that again next year. And one side benefit that we received late in the game was the school districts who had the chronic markings actually put a language up on our marquees that ran roughly from middle of June to about August 1st, which was a very nice thing. The Army private library system had to have the PSA and our are distributing them to young people in the library. We also this year experimented with putting the static art at the Catalina Express terminal in a lab in Long Beach, and both without outward bound passengers and in or around passengers had the opportunity to view that we were we were victims just like everybody else in the city with COVID virus crisis and that we had been talking to AMC theaters and we had struck agreement with them to have the static art and one or two of the pieces on the movie screens in Long Beach. And we all know what happened with with the movie theaters. And it was kind of too bad because that really kind of pushes over the top. With that, I'd like to introduce Jeff Davidson, one of our audience, and rather one of our one of our board members. And he's going to call out he's going to talk about our recommendations. Thank you for having us on their district. I request your committee would like to present the following recommendations. Add a fee to fireworks shows, block parties and special events to fund outreach and education. Increase messaging in and on Long Beach busses and bus stops. Partner with CSU. All the veterans services display messaging on Cal Worthington's electric billboard along the four or five freeway. Include a flier with the utility bill. Youth, street and neighborhood associations to spread messaging and distribute lawn funds. Place magnetic placards on city vehicles. Increase penalties to $5,000 and mandatory community service. Limit the decibel level of firework shows to 100 decibels. Provide long times for veterans. Partner with how to create an art project. Rap City trash cans with messaging. We've already talked with the Belmont Business Association and they will be providing messaging and all the big daily trash cans along Second Street. We're working with Susie Price right now to also include the ones that would be in Colorado Lagoon and and along that Marine Stadium. And then the last one is our committee, along with Councilwoman Price will be partnering with Chelsea Long Beach's animation department to create another animation for the coming year. Thank you. Oh. Speaker 1: Thank you. Eric, would you like I believe there's a time limit on this, Eric, but if you wanted to quickly summarize your portion, please go ahead and do so. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price, there's one minute left on your presentation. Speaker 1: Okay. Well, Eric, I'm going to take it over, if that's okay. So I want to thank the fireworks advisory committee from the third district for one, integrating with other volunteers throughout the city, and two, for the recommendations, which I believe many of them are actually feasible, affordable and something that we can implement. I know that this year we funded a fireworks task force, and I've already talked with the city manager to make sure that the work that you all have done over the last three years is included and incorporated and that you're integrated into our efforts moving forward. I really appreciate the commitment that you guys have made to this project, the immense amount of outreach that you have engaged in, and all the pieces that we've paid for our city property now. So any council office can use those. The city can use those in terms of messaging and outreach, and that's a great first place to start. So thank you, everyone, for the presentation. I appreciate it. And I hope that my colleagues enjoyed the presentation and the recommendations as well. Speaker 3: Thank you. That's a motion to receive and file. Correct. Councilwoman and I have a second by Councilmember Superman. Speaker 1: Yes, that's correct, Mr. Right. Speaker 3: Britain's cut throat supermodel. Speaker 2: Thank you. Just want to support the motion. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 1: Thank you. I want to appreciate the work that Councilman Pryce did in the task force. And then I also want to kind of reference that we as a city have a guide of all of the strategies. The strategies that we as a city should deploy when getting communications out to residents. I think that all of the things that were mentioned by this task force are in that packet. But I think that we really need to create a tier one, two and three where we as a council can say. Illegal firework prevention is a Tier one priority, and all resources in Tier one need to be explored and or executed immediately so that when we bring up ideas like these, a task force can look through that packet and say, Here are all the resources. This fireworks taskforce had to spend numerous hours and committee meetings going through and brainstorming all of the ideas that they've had by looking at other strategies that have been used on other campaigns. But we really, as a city have that. That framework available and need to utilize it more often and publicize it and make it available to committees like this that are doing great work on behalf of our residents. So once again, I'm in full support. Great work committee and great work council members. Speaker 3: County Council Member or Vice Mayor Andrews. Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 2: I totally support the site and I went back to council. Speaker 3: To put this on. Speaker 2: Fantastic. Thank you very much. Speaker 3: Councilwoman Sun has. Speaker 4: Mayor. And thank you very much, Councilwoman Pryce, and your committee for this. District one has had a problem with illegal fireworks in the past, but nothing compared to what we saw this year. So I really appreciate all the hard work that this committee has put into into trying to find solutions and trying to find ways to make sure that, you know, that our quality of life on 4th of July and the months leading up to it and the months after it, are not disturbed by the illegal fireworks that we see happening. So I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you very much. And I look forward to being able to help in this effort going forward as well. And my office is here and ready to help in any way we can. Speaker 3: Councilman. Actually, councilman, for your anger. Speaker 2: And I want to thank the District Council member, Susie Price for bringing this forward. Obviously, we had a celebration the other night with the Lakers winning and there were fireworks in my area. Then we have New Year's coming and I was pretty sure that there's going to be fireworks then as well. So basically, my question is, what what are the next steps in regards to this effort? I to start at the ready to assist in any way that I can. I have my fireworks generally go a long time out. I put it out the other night because of the of the fireworks going on. So I don't presume I'm sure I want to put it out again. I'm a nurse. So is there a strategy for here on out? It's going to be coming back to city council for another type of a accrual. And in terms of the ordinance or strategy or just want to know what's going on, what what's going to. Speaker 1: Councilman, you're Ranga. This is Linda Tatum. I would just like to give a really quick update on the work of an interdepartmental working group that's looking at this issue and is composed of staff from lead staff in the police department, the fire department, the city prosecutors, the city attorney, and and also in code enforcement. So we are looking at this issue really carefully. The tff of the memo that was sent out to council back in August gave a current status of that. We now have funding in the budget, so we are going to be meeting routinely for the remainder of this year in the with the the goal of bringing something back to the council early in 2021 to address this issue. And I just to quickly elaborate, we are looking at areas of collaboration with other cities, identifying some of the tools and strategies that they're using. We're looking at collecting data and the use of technology to make it a little bit easier for staff to address areas in the city where this is occurring, similar to what was used in last year through the prosecutor's office. We're also looking at an education and enhanced education and outreach program like what we heard in the presentation tonight. And we're also looking at increasing potentially increasing the fines and just a higher level of enforcement. So we're doing a number of those things using some of the city's budget, the budget that was identified for this effort in the current year's budget. So that's it. We'll be bringing something back to the council early in 21. Speaker 2: Thanks for the update. That's all I have here. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you very much. We have received 5 minutes. I don't have actually, I might have one public comment. Is that right? Speaker 0: She is not on the call maker. There are no public comments for this item. Speaker 3: All right. Roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 0: District two. By District three. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 0: District six II. District seven. District eight. US District nine. Speaker 2: All. Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next up is let's just the general public comment. I think we have one. Speaker 0: She is not on the line, Mayor. There is no one for public comment.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a report from the Third Council District Committee on illegal fireworks mitigation recommendations.

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Speaker 4: But yes, you could take them as a single item if you read them. Okay. Yeah, there's there are actually no public comments on any of them, which is why I thought this is the same item. So if you wanted to go ahead and read all the District one transfers at the mayor, are we going to be doing this? I don't. 34. Yes, we'll be doing that next. Speaker 0: So important items 35 339. Speaker 4: 30 notes, 35, 339. It's all the district fund transfer items. Speaker 0: All right. Item 35 Communication from Councilwoman Zendejas and Councilmember Pearce recommendation to increase appropriations in the City Manager Department by 1000 to provide a contribution to Long Beach Architecture Week to support the promotion and programing held at the historic Scottish Rite Temple on September 19th, 2020. Item 36 A Communication from Councilwoman Zendejas and Vice Mayor Andrews. Recommendation to increase the equity appropriations in the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department by 30,000 to support the Canine Dog Park. Item 37 Communication from Vice Mayor Andrews. Recommendation to increase appropriations in the City Manager Department by 50,000. To provide a contribution to the African-American Cultural Center and launch of Long Beach to support programing efforts. Item 38 Communication from Vice Mayor Andrews. Recommendation to increase appropriations in the City Manager department by $10,000 to provide a contribution to tranquility counseling services at $5,000 and new generations at 5000 for COVID 19. Basic Needs Programing Efforts. An Item 39 Communication from Vice Mayor Andrews, Councilwoman Zendejas and Councilwoman Price recommendation to increase appropriations in the Economic Development Department by $4,000 to support the Peace Garden Weed Abatement Project at Martin Luther King Junior Park. Speaker 4: Thank you. We do have a motion by Vice Mayor Andrews. Make it a second. Can I get a second, please? Council members. I need a second on this motion, please. Speaker 2: Hi, Mayor Garcia. This is a merry Sunday house I have sent in. Accuser second twice already of. There's me. Speaker 4: Okay. Yeah, I'm not. It's not coming up. So that's I will check on that. Thank you for that. Yeah. Okay. You are coming up. Thank you. We're going to have Vice Mayor Andrews and then councilman's and House is the second. Please do a roll call vote. Speaker 0: District one. I District three. I district for. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District five. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District six. Speaker 5: Right. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 5: By. Speaker 0: District eight. District nine. Speaker 5: All right. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $1,000, offset by the First Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the Citywide Activities Department to provide a contribution to Long Beach Architecture Week to support the promotion and programming held at the historic Scottish Rite Temple on September 19, 2020; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $1,000 to offset a transfer to the City Manager Department.

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Speaker 4: Thank you. Hearing at 1034 police on vacation. Speaker 0: Report from Public Works. Recommendation to receive supporting documentation under the record. Conclude the public hearing. Find the area to be vacated is not needed for present or prospective public use and adopt a resolution ordering the vacation of a portion of Elm Avenue District seven. Speaker 2: I'd like to introduce the public works director, Eric. Speaker 0: Lopez for this. Speaker 2: For this item. Speaker 4: Low under OMA member members of the city council. Before you is a is a standard vacation that we're seeking approval to allow for the construction of a new two storey gymnasium with a fitness center and activity room, a youth soccer field and a new 70 space parking lot at 303,000 Long Beach Boulevard. This is just part of the final phase of the Salvation Army's Citadel Campus Development Project. We're here to answer any specific questions you may have. We've included all documentation in the staff report, and this concludes today's presentation. Speaker 5: Do you have a motion sickness item? Know. I'll move. Speaker 4: It. Vice Mayor. This is Rex. Speaker 5: Okay. Speaker 4: I think I moved. Get through the system. Speaker 3: You're doing a verbal. Speaker 5: It is verbal now. Speaker 3: Okay. Mean. Qatar route on. Speaker 5: The cargo planes. Speaker 0: There is public comment on this item. Speaker 5: Okay. Speaker 4: Richard, you do. Time starts now. Speaker 3: Hello. This is Richard Bill De. Speaker 0: Please continue. Speaker 3: Yes. The reason I wanted to make a comment is to just express the gratitude from the Salvation Army because they can't be available right now that being able to vacate in the alleys will enable the project to consolidate five acres together, make a very safe environment and a wonderful addition to the neighborhood with the soccer field, the gymnasium and a playground. And it's very helpful to be able to consolidate and make a safe environment for the kids that use this facility. And the seniors there also will be walking pass gardens and many other programs will be held there at the site. Just wanted to say thank you and we appreciate your consideration for this this resolution. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you for your comment. That does conclude conclude public comment on this item. I will do a roll call vote. District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. Speaker 5: All right. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. Speaker 5: All right. Speaker 0: Seven. Speaker 5: Hi. Speaker 0: District eight. District nine. I motion carries.

Resolution

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into 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 Elm Avenue, between Spring Street and the unnamed east-west public alley south of 31st Street, the unnamed east-west public alley between Elm Avenue and Pasadena Avenue, north of Spring Street and south of 31st Street, and the unnamed north-south public alley between Spring Street and 31st Street, east of Elm Avenue and west of Pasadena Avenue, based on the findings and conditions of approval included therein. (District 7)

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Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. I strict seven. By District eight. By District nine, a motion carries. Speaker 5: Thank you. Could we please have item 42 would you please with item club. Speaker 0: Report from Technology and Innovation Recommendation to amend contract with Utility Solutions Partners or manage services to provide maintenance and integration support related to the city's utility systems to increase the annual contract amount by 425,000 citywide. Speaker 2: Motion and. Speaker 5: Commitment. Then further comment those. Speaker 0: There's no public comment. Speaker 5: Right. Have any. And then counsel come in on this side of. Speaker 2: Mr. Andrews, this is Councilman Mungo. Speaker 5: Yes, go ahead, please. Speaker 2: Is there a staff report? I know this is based on the utility bill integration, but I was hoping that we were being forward thinking and it integrates with our one carbon plan and or our Go Long Beach app so that residents could have one place to go for their utility bills or a library card, their metro pass there. Annual passes to Eldorado Park. There, there. Golf resident card. I'm just looking for some integration input before we vote on this item. Speaker 5: All right. Anyone? Yes. Speaker 4: So we have Kasim Lee from Tech and Innovation who can try to answer some of those questions. Hello, everybody. An honorable mayor and members of the city council. I'll try to answer a question about the one card. As you know, there is a one card study going on. And and this certainly would be an opportunity to to to integrate integrate that. This particular item before you is the annual maintenance renewal of the existing system, which supports our utility system, our customer care billing system, our mobile workforce management. These systems are responsible for a the collection process of $200 million of revenue annually. So this is the year one of our extension of our existing agreement that was awarded in 2017. And in two years time, this program will be under will be renewed again and not necessarily new, but go out for award again. And so and so somewhere during this time frame, there might be opportunities to integrate that. One thing that is very important about this particular program is that in this coming year, there is a requirement that we upgrade our Oracle customer care and billing software. And and so this proposal in front of you includes the the effort to do that upgrade with the support of all the utilities. Speaker 2: So this is a upgrade of the current system and maintenance of the current system without any add ons that move us towards one portal 24 seven City Hall that we've been. Desiring her four years. Speaker 4: I would say that any if this system has a role in the one card program, this particular upgrade will be a prerequisite step towards towards that because the software currently on is is up to up to the end of its natural lifecycle. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. I'll support the study. Speaker 5: Okay. I'm going on this item. If not, we have a motion. Grab motion. Speaker 2: But I'm a price. Secured by. Speaker 5: Thank you. But what? Speaker 0: District one, district three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District four. I. District five. I. District six. Speaker 2: United is one of 29, so the whole family would be 390. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Mongo, your mike is live. District six. Speaker 5: All right. Speaker 0: District seven. District eight, District nine. Speaker 5: All right.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to amend Contract No. 34740 with Utility Solutions Partners, LLC, of Rancho Cordova, CA, for managed services to provide maintenance and integration support related to the City’s utility systems, to increase the annual contract amount by $425,200, with a 10 percent contingency in the amount of $271,130, for a revised one-year contract amount not to exceed $2,982,430; and Increase appropriations in the General Services Fund Group in the Technology and Innovation Department by $425,200, offset by one-time charges to user departments. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 5: Thank you. Would you please? Speaker 0: 43 Report from Development Services Recommendation to Declare Ordinance Amending and restating. PD 32 Douglas Park Plan Development District. Read in adopted as read District five. Speaker 5: Public governance. Speaker 0: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 5: As the only council coming. I hear none. Can we please have a motion? Speaker 2: I moved. Speaker 4: Back in. Richardson. Speaker 5: And then secondly. Speaker 0: Richardson was the second price was the mover. Speaker 5: Behind the. Speaker 0: District one. District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 0: District three. By District four, by district five. I. District six. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District seven. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District eight. Our District nine. I motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending and restating PD-32, Douglas Park Planned Development District (PD-32 North and PD-32 South), read and adopted as read. (District 5)

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Speaker 0: District eight. Our District nine. I motion carries. Speaker 5: Could you please item 44 please. Speaker 0: Report from Development Services Recommendation or clear ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code all related to Zoning Code regulations read and adopted as read citywide. Speaker 5: Any public. Speaker 0: There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 5: In terms of comments on this item. I hear none. Can we please have a motion? Speaker 2: Summer sun has second rate. Speaker 5: Thank you. We prescribe for the Bokaro District one. Speaker 0: A District three. High District for. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District five. I. District six. All right. District seven. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 0: District eight. District nine. Speaker 5: All right.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Table 32-1 of Chapter 21.32, Table 33-2 of Chapter 21.33, and Table 41-C of Chapter 21.44, all related to zoning code regulations, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Motion carries. Speaker 5: Club, would you please? Item 45 Please. Speaker 0: Report from Development Services recommendation or declare an ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to interim motel hotel conversions read and adopted as read citywide. Speaker 5: When we got this item. Speaker 0: There is public comment on this item. Speaker 5: Said John King. Speaker 4: 3 minutes starts now. Speaker 5: But. Speaker 3: Oh, yes, I think everybody everybody let me speak. I'm in support of this because I know some in the community are against this and in their community. But this is a great site because it's on the busy intersection of Long Beach, where the homeless is already using Motel six four years to live in. With their families. Some of them are students and vets that go to the vet V.A. next door and to the college. And they also use Cal. I mean, the O.C. transit busses and Long Beach busses. So it's the best site to put the homeless facility that you're looking at to do it. It's not in anybody's neighborhood with a lot of homes or anything. And so the negative. Comments people make about the homeless will not be there. And most people today don't even know. A lot of the homeless is already using the Motel six for temporary housing. So I hope that you pass this because we need it. And our homeless problem is only growing. And with the shortages isn't getting worse. Thanks to our fires that we have me now and people are losing towns and cities and their homes is not being replaced. So I hope you do pass it and keep up the good work. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Speaker 0: That concludes public comment. Speaker 5: Thank you. And you accountable. Speaker 2: Vice Mayor Andrews, this is Councilman Price. I have a comment. I just wanted to clarify that this particular item that we're voting on tonight has really nothing to do with the Motel six project, which is a county project and not a city project. Speaker 4: Yes. This is Tom. That is correct. Speaker 5: We have a motion which. You have? Some of. It is. Speaker 2: The sun has. Speaker 5: Thank you. Greg, could you please go for the vote? Speaker 0: District one. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 0: District. Okay. By District four. By District five. By District six. By District seven. I District eight. But District nine. Speaker 5: Oh. Speaker 0: Motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal code by adding Chapter 21.65, relating to Interim Motel/Hotel Conversions, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. We are going to come back to item one after a couple of items here. We'll be right back to that item. We're going to do it in 29, which is the commissioner appointment, since I know a lot of them are watching the meeting. So, Madam Clerk, please. Speaker 1: Communication for Mayor Garcia. Recommendation to confirm charter commission appointments. Speaker 0: Thank you. I have a motion by Vice Mayor Andrews and a seconded by Councilmember. You think? And let me go ahead and first Vice Mayor Andrews read the motion and then I will yield over to me and I will go over the commissioner. So. Vice Mayor. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I want to thank you for these recommendations. Unfortunately, the Personnel and Civil Service Commission was unable, of course, yesterday, despite our best efforts to coordinate. Therefore, I would like to make a motion to approve these appointments pursuant to Section 2.0310657 letter to also include waivers of the confirmation procedures of the commission appointments and get them approved tonight in front of the entire council. I hope I can get a second. Speaker 0: I think it is a second by Councilmember Ranga Councilmember. I'm going to move on to talk about the members unless you wanted Councilman Durango to add to that. Speaker 4: A good mayor of clay. Speaker 0: Okay, great. So let me go ahead and go through our commission appointments. We have a slate of commissioners. So I just want to go and just just talk a little bit about each of them. So let me begin first on our Board of Examiners Appeals and condemnation are we have a Kim Chambers. A Kim is a third district resident and a senior program manager with Jacobs Engineering. Really amazing firm. He has more than 20 years of experience in planning and construction and has managed more than 25 projects across the country. So just a wonderful addition to that commission. So congratulations to her. Kim Chambers Also on the commission, we have Robert Daughtry. Robert is a fourth district and the operations and project manager of this area, which is the Los Angeles County Business Federation. We are all familiar with that organization. He serves on many boards and commissions, including at Whittier College, the Alumni Association, Their Honor PAC and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. So I want to congratulate Robert Doherty for the Airport Commission to the Board of Health and Human Services Commission. I want to appoint Rebecca Ruiz. Rebecca is a District two resident and is currently a social media specialist at Planned Parenthood for both Orange and San Bernardino Counties. She's also the sexual reproductive health educator for the Community Education and Outreach Department of Planned Parenthood. Dr. Michael Cerone or Dr. T, as most of us know him, is also being appointed. Dr. T is, and of course, an M.D. and a CEO and founder of Med. Well, he graduated his residency, USC and is a board certified and is board certified in internal medicine and specializes in geriatrics. Dr. Tehrani and his patients know him really well. He's, of course, very involved in the city of Long Beach, also to the Cultural Heritage Commission, or appointing Mary Hynes, married to lifelong resident of Long Beach, lives in District eight. She has a deep love for our city. Those that know her know how involved she is in the historical society, the Long Beach Women's Shelter in Rancho Cerritos. A congratulations to Mary and also Mark Bishop. Mark is a District five resident at the CEO of Christopher Architecture, and she's a wonderful architect and actress degree in architecture from Pomona, from Cal Poly Pomona. And he's also received numerous awards in residential projects and is a great, a well-respected architect within our community as well. To the Citizens Police Complaint Commission, we're appointing Brett Walmsley Brant as a District nine resident and a teacher as well. And Brett has been in a variety of community organizations and has also been a board member of Long Beach Echo and the New Leaders Council. We're also appointing John MATTHEWS. The second John of the District six resident is currently the senior legal counsel for the Justice Collaborative. Previously, John served as an assistant United States attorney in Puerto Rico. He has a B.A. in policy and a Spanish minor from the University of Los Angeles and a J.D. from Harvard Law. And also appointing to the IPCC is Nigel Lipsey. Nigel, the District two resident and a senior front account with Post Advisory Group in the L.A. region. He also co-founded the Urban Society of Long Beach, an entertainment company that hosts community and social events across the city. He attended Boston University and has a degree in arts and economics to the Citizens Advisory Commission disabilities. We're appointing Elsie Areas LLC. He's a senior program development specialist at Children 316, and a current will also provides educational programing, an advocate at a local, state and national level for children with special needs. Since to her and our very own Jennifer Jamar Jennifer is a first district resident. She believes that Long Beach should be a place where people can watch your concerns and share their ideas. Our community involvement includes being a board member of the Asian Pacific Islander Board with people with disabilities in California. Vice President of Miss Wheelchair America. And Board Member on the Disabled Student Resource Center. Congratulations to Ms. Commissioner on the Economic Development Commission will be appointing Brenda one each. Brenda is a third district resident and has called Miami home for more than 32 years. She has been involved in a variety of organizations, particularly, of course, in marketing as a founder of West Coast Marketing, which is a advertising and marketing company and also has had many clients, including Four Seasons Hotel in the Wall Street Journal. As part of her broader portfolio network. Also is Vivian Shamir, much of the Economic Development Commission. Many of us know Vivian while she's currently the chief operating officer at Scale Smart Partners. Previously, Vivian served as the regional executive director of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program. She's internationally recognized for her work of small businesses and women entrepreneurs. She also served as a US delegate to major conferences across the world to the Homeless Service Advisory Committee. We appointing Desiree Rioux Desiree as a third district resident and has been a clinical therapist for over 25 years. She currently works with the salt fruit or the travel social worker. She is also Bishop Long Beach and a member of the Delta Sigma Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. Also is Janine Solano, who is a District six resident and is currently a mental health administrator for Star View Community Services. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Chicano Latino Studies from Cal State, Long Beach Beach. And lastly, the Homeless Service Advisory Committee were appointed Jeanette Perreira Jeanette of the District two resident and has been a mental health provider with experience working in L.A. County and the Mental Health and Children's Family Court. She's been involved in numerous intervention programs around homelessness and assist and assisted families that are struggling with low wages and affordable and unaffordable housing. Being appointed to the Human Relations Commission is Lisette Flores Lisette of the District eight resident and is currently vocations consultant with Estrella PR and Marketing. The a computer coursework in Spanish literature and linguistics and has also a B.A. in journalism with an emphasis in PR from Cal State Long Beach. Also to the HRC commission is Jeremy Gonzalez Delaney, the District nine resident, is currently an outreach analyst for the California Department of Insurance, and she received her B.A. in communications. Also from Cal State, Long Beach to our Marine Advisory Commission, we are appointing the very well-known Bruce McRae. Our Bruce is a District four resident, and the vice president of State Government Affairs for the Western region of Up's objective force has been involved in almost every organization you could imagine in the city of Long Beach is a second generation Long Beach native and is just so well known across the city for his amazing and outsized personality. He's gonna be a great addition to the Marine Advisory Commission. So Long Beach Transit Board of directors, we are appointing Connor. Locke. Connor is a fourth District resident and a graduate of Cal State University, Long Beach. Connor currently serves as the Chief of staff to the Mayor and City Council for the City of Costa mesa, where he manages the city of Costa mesa. Government relations, including Census Outreach, City Council Liaison Services and City Council event management, and of course is also well known for being involved across the city as well to the Pacific Gateway Workforce Development Board we're appointing. AJ Tesfaye, a desert District seven resident and a senior community development manager at HSBC Bank and is more than 25 years of experience in the banking industry. Received a degree in mathematics and economics from Cal State Dominguez Hills. We're also appointing Sandra L.A. Sandra as a District eight resident and team manager with the California Department of Debilitation. She got an MBA and master of science in counseling for marriage, family and child therapy from the University of Phenix. And also to that commission is Kenneth Gomez. Kenneth is District two resident and is a deputy division chief for the State of California Employment Department, Employment Development Department, Workforce Services Branch in Compton, California. You've got more than 25 years of the private and public sector experience in H.R.. And now to our public, it's our Parks and Recreation Commission. We've got three new members. First, we have Rob Livingstone. Robert is a lifelong resident of Long Beach. He was appointed by Ernie Kell to serve on the Municipal Golf Commission back in 1986, when he was 23. Robert is also probably best known for his many years of service to US and Long Beach within our Parks Recreation Marine Department as well is very well known, particularly within the golf community and the parks community. So congratulations to Robert will be a great addition. Also Casey, Shaun Casey is a District One resident and is currently the marketing event coordinator with Jane, our studios. Casey served on the California Parks and Recreation Society as a representative for Long Beach and Casey as a member of the Junior League of Long Beach and an alumna of Cal State, Long Beach as well. And finally to the Parks and Rec Commission is Susan Redfield, who many of us know as well. Susan is a District seven resident and a retired attorney. Her community involvement includes being a Long Beach Public Library Foundation Board member, Assistance League cameo board member involved in so many organizations across the city. She received her J.D. from the from the Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago with honors and a masters of social work from all university in Chicago. She the Senior Advisory Commission. We have Phyllis Schmidt. Phyllis is the District three resident and special education in Artesia and our teacher, Dominga and Westminster high schools before retiring in the late 1970s. Through the long history of community involvement and volunteerism. Phyllis has been selected to honor the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award back in 2015 for the Press Telegram's Amazing Woman program to the Technology and Innovation Commission where appointing Andrea white. Andrea White cues and Andrea as a District three resident is called Long Beach Home for the past 15 years. She is the co-founder and CEO and CEO of Extra Vallas, a company that helps technology startup companies. And she received her bachelor's degree in international business from Saint Cloud University. To the Water Commission, we're appointing Naomi Rainey Pierson. Naomi, of course, is an award winning educator, philanthropist, huge supporter of Cal State, Long Beach, and her anthropic work and a civil rights advocate and activist has had a huge impact here on thousands of community members, particularly with her incredible work within the ACP. She's been, of course, leading the ACP for many years and has been involved in our local chapter here since the age of 14. Naomi is well known for her philanthropic work across the city for her commitment, of course, to racial justice. Congratulations to Naomi. And then, of course, there is our series of re appointments, which I won't read each individually, but those are the three appointments to the commission. We know, I know it's a long list, but we wanted to get these folks appointed as soon as possible. And so with that, let me go ahead and turn this over to some of the folks that are queued up. We do have a motion and a second. Now on to Councilwoman Zendejas. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much for that. I just wanted to welcome all the new city commissioners to to this new role. I'm super excited for them. Having served on commissions myself, like Cape Cod Citizens Advisory Commission on Disability and the Board of Directors for Long Beach Transit has it has really helped me along the ways and it really gave me an opportunity to give back in my group to my community. So I am very excited for each and every one of our commissioners. And the city of Long Beach is lucky to have you and I look forward to working with each one of you guys. So thank you. And congratulations to all of our commissioners also who are being reappointed tonight. Speaker 1: Maybe a. Speaker 0: Councilmember. Yeah. Councilmember Pearce. Councilmember Pearce. Okay. I'm a customer and we'll come back to Constable Pearce. Speaker 4: Thanks. A like. I just like the voice of support. And congratulations and welcome to all our new commissioners. I think this is an excellent lineup of hard working people who are making a difference here in our city and will continue to do so in a new capacity as commissioners, city commissioners in various areas. You know, I've also sent a personal congratulations to those who I've worked with for some time also, and obviously extend a special congratulations to those eight district residents who are stepping up to serve. A couple of the commissions obviously have big, big. Big responsibilities, and we'll definitely have a lot of work ahead of them, particularly the Citizen Police Complaint Commission. I want to congratulate those those new commissioners. There's going to be obviously a lot of serious work ahead and impactful work ahead for for that group. But I just want to, again, congratulate everybody and also say good job on the appointments, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much. Speaker 0: Thank you. Council member Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 4: The man being the chair of this committee. I want to congratulate each and every one of you individuals who are selected. And I know you guys know what you're doing because in fact, I know you're going to put all your heart and soul into this. So congratulations to each and every one of you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Vice Mayor, Councilman Ringa. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. And I also want to offer my appreciation to these individuals who have stepped up to serve on the various commissions. It's how they get the training to know how the city is run. And I really appreciate their civic engagement and help and see me the best it can be. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilmember Price. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to congratulate all the appointees this evening, especially those living in the third district. I'm grateful for your participation in this process, and many of you have already been very engaged with the city. And I want to thank you for your continued participation. And I especially want to call out Naomi Rainey. Naomi is as a friend and a mentor to me, and she recently participated in the Third District Diversity and Inclusion video series that we have and shared with us some very personal experiences to challenge us all, to think about the world and those living around us from different perspectives. And so that's just a testament to how she and so many others on the list that was read by the mayor earlier contribute above and beyond being appointed or serving on a commission. They just help every day make our community better. So thank you very much and congratulations to all of you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilmember. Councilman. Super now. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor Garcia. Congratulations to all the commissioners. And I just want to give a special shout out to the four from the fourth. So the commissioners McCray, Livingston, Forte and Locke. Thank you for serving and go forth. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilmember and Councilman Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know it's been a while since we've done some of these appointments. Thanks to everyone for their patience and know that some of these coalition seats. Is that vacant for a while, particularly? You know, we've been talking with our newest KPCC commissioner, Brant, about his interest in this in this for a while, it was held by our planning commissioner, Johnny Rick's Odeon, when Johnny was the planning commission investigated. And so I'm glad to see this appointment with Brant, also see a number of just great individuals who've done incredible job in the community. Already stepping up and serve in a new capacity, I think is a great sign for the leadership that's been developed and cultivated in different non-profits and community groups. Library Foundation. I see a number of folks here that are that I think are just great personalities to bring in. So congratulations to all of you. And thanks, Mr. Mayor, for these appointments. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilmember. And with that, I don't see any public comment. Madam Court, we can go to a roll call. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District two. District two. District three. Speaker 2: II. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 3: II. Speaker 1: District five. District five. I. District six. Speaker 4: By. Speaker 1: District seven. By District eight, District nine. I motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you and thank you to everyone. It's one to congratulate all the commissioners. I mean, traditionally we have a big picture with everyone. This is virtual. And also once we are able to get out there again, I look forward to those commission receptions and opportunities to thank everybody in person. So just congratulations, everyone that. Speaker 4: That is certainly. Thank you.

Appointment

Recommendation to, subject to review and consideration by the Personnel and Civil Service Committee in accordance with Long Beach Municipal Code Section 2.03,065, confirm Charter Commission appointments pursuant to Section 509 of the City Charter and Section 2.03.065 of the Long Beach Municipal Code; or in the alternative, if for some reason the Personnel and Civil Service Committee does not meet prior to or on September 15, 2020, waive the requirement for consideration and recommendation by the Personnel and Civil Service Committee in accordance with Section 2.03.065, and confirm Charter Commission appointments pursuant to Section 509 of the City Charter and Section 2.03.065 of the Long Beach Municipal Code.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_09152020_20-0929

Speaker 0: We're going to really do an item 20 out this. Speaker 1: Communication for Mayor Garcia Recommendation to request city manager to expand the Open Streets Initiative by extending parklet and parking lot permits, at least until the end of 2020. Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you, madam. So I want to first just thank. The the full council have been incredibly active and involved in this program. Ireland has supported our Open Streets program. It's been a complete lifeline for so many restaurants. Our small businesses are hurting, as we all know. And the Open Streets program has really provided a lift to so many workers, so many small business owners that are able to serve their customers and serve their food all across the city. We have over 200 parklet and parking lot spaces that have been converted across the community. All over the city. It has been amazing to see. I have personally talked to dozens of these owners and they are they are so excited about about the program. We know that the Open Streets program has been a success, as we've seen it modeled across the city, where there's also been a lot that we have learned from the program. There's a lot to learn when you're changing and moving around infrastructure. But we know that it's critical for for small business owners. The the recommendation in front of us does a couple of things. The first thing it does is it formally is asking the city manager to extend the open streets permitting program that we have currently in place at least the end of this year. So that those that have these these parklets have the certainty that they're going to continue to be able to operate outdoors and they can plan as they go into these next few months. So that's the first thing, is to allow that extension through city management. The second piece of this item is to have staff begin to work with the business improvement districts. Obviously, the neighborhoods and certainly I would be with everyone on all the councilmembers within the districts to see which of these parklets or spaces could also become permanent. One thing I've heard from a lot of restaurants is they would love to have a permanent parklet that their customers love them. I personally think they're fantastic. They may not work, of course, in every space that they are in currently. And certainly there are going to be neighborhood considerations in some of these locations. But we should at least begin a process so that there isn't a permanent process that has to go through. Also, not just a staff process, but also one to ensure that there's going to be safety, that we're meeting all of the kind of drainage infrastructure requirements so that if parklets become more complex and possibly permanent, we're also following all of the rules and laws as it relates to traffic mitigation and safety. So but we want to get that started now. So that's the other part of this motion as well. And finally, there has been a, I think, rather successful closure on Pine Avenue currently. We'd like to explore to see if that's possible to make that closure permanent. We want to first ask staff to work with the Dolby and the businesses to see if there's interest. To gauge that interest and to move forward on a possible permanent closure or an expanded closure of what's currently in place. And so that's another piece of the motion as well. So that's really an exploration of that. And what I'll just add is I think the council has heard and I have I have heard from, you know , everyone from our of course, our Bixby Knolls folks, folks all across Second Street. I've heard, of course, from our downtown people, folks and and across the city on how how important these spaces have been for for so many restaurants and small business owners. A lot of them have submitted letters and comments. And so I wanted to go ahead and and put this in front of us today. And so with that, I want to bring it to the council. We do have a motion and a second on this item. So let me begin with the motion is from Vice Mayor Andrews and then the second is by councilman in Doha. So let me turn it over to Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 4: Thank you very much, Vice Mayor, for bringing side forward. You know, in a community like mine where, you know, there's already a struggling, these partners are adding a nice touch, you know, doing the corporate and business owners get excited, you know, when we reach out and offer them help to get it set up with them. And most of all, I just want to thank public works. We're really, really doing this and put this process down to a science. Now, so I think this is a great, great you know, Artemis brought forward to us and thank you again. Speaker 0: Thank you, Vice Mayor Councilman's in Dallas. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. And I echo Vice Mayor Andrew's comments in regards to what a success it has been. And it's a little positiveness in in all of the the chaos that we've been living in in the past couple of months. I, I would also like to say thank you to all the organizations that have been working together with the businesses in my district in particular. Lee is the LPA, which we have been seeing such great success of these open streets on on Pine Street, which is a little bit south of my district. And I would like to make a frankly amendment. Vice Mayor, if I could, to also extend the foreclosure to up more on pine through fourth and fifth. There has been a great deal of thought being put into it. And I think that right now we also need to focus on giving everybody an opportunity to be able to take advantage of this. So it is. Would you be open to that? Speaker 4: Yes. Yes, yes. Very much so. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you very much. Speaker 0: Thank you. And will we support I support that as well. So look forward exploring that. Councilmember Pierce. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I definitely support this item. I know that I've talked to lots of businesses that are looking to keep the parklets that they have. I also know that there are areas that have denser business zones like Pine, and I just want to make sure that staff is working really closely with all the businesses, ensuring that this really is an expansion of of dining and that we have a good process in place to ensure the safety of all of the patrons to these locations, as well as people that might be passing through. So definitely support that item. Love the idea of a permanent closure on Pine, but want to make sure that we do that thoughtfully and that we are including all the stakeholders. So thank you so much. Speaker 0: Thank you. And Councilman Austin. Speaker 4: Thank you so much. And I think this is a it's an excellent item. We need to definitely do more to support our businesses, our small businesses, and particularly those who can benefit from this these type of street closures. We all know that every business district isn't made the same. But I will just just ask why we have staffs here that that they consider, you know, traffic mitigation efforts to slow down traffic, particularly. I can speak to the Bixby Knolls area. You know, many of our small businesses would love to be able to benefit from the the open streets closures and parklets. But as it stands, the traffic is is is too too fast. And so we've also been working with staff to look at areas and efforts and ideas to to slow traffic in and to provide those parklets along that business district. And I know that it's very important for our businesses to survive, particularly considering everything that they have endured during this year and this pandemic. And so I certainly support this, but obviously we need we have work to do in some of our business districts to give these businesses the support that this important that they need. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilor Marie Ringa. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor, and I really am supportive of this motion, but I think it's a natural evolution. I think of the way that we conduct business and support our local businesses. So I'm very appreciative of you bringing this forward and making the pioneering avenue section of our city much more appealing. I think it'll be a great, great opportunity for people to visit downtown. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Katherine Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you. So I obviously support this. I just want to elevate that. I think, you know, we're going to a place where we've got to sort of hunker down for the next potentially year as as we don't know the way we know what's going to happen with the pandemic. So these are innovative ways to provide, you know, assets and additional tools and a tool toolbox for restaurants and and businesses to be able to, you know, adjust through this transition and be able to survive. So I wholeheartedly support it. I think we need to be thinking about what we can do for. I know that certain businesses can move indoors, but some may prefer to stay outdoors, or so we should really just always stay open minded in terms of, you know, barbershops, hair salons, bars, you know, alternative ways for them to be able to conduct business over the course of the next year or so. I support this and look forward to seeing this continued, continued implementation. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes council comment. Is there any is there any public comment on this item? Speaker 4: Yes. First, we have Dave Clark. Speaker 6: Hello? Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 6: Hello. Was a written concern. For the record, the conversion of lower pay in a matter of months is an objective reason to love our fair town. The Open Streets Initiative kind of great. It's really. I'm really heartened to see the mayor's initiative here. And I agree with many of the points laid out, and especially for remembering what's happened with, as we all know, being better isn't in relation to one's fellow man. In relation to one form of health. I only thing I'd add is that we continue to think about how to localize, localize, localize and kind of, you know, help Speaker 3: . A lot of folks. Speaker 6: In towns kind of get through the next year and we start thinking holistically about the different types of police types and potentially uses for gathering spaces in a in a more walkable. Speaker 3: Format. One of the great. Speaker 6: Things for the assets was that we have or those parking garages on third and fourth off time that we can use not only for solar but for storage, for the insurance value, for a lot of different co-benefits beneficial uses. So please keep that in mind. Thank you very much. Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 5: Our next speaker is in control. Speaker 6: Hello. Speaker 5: I please begin. Speaker 2: Thank you. This is Sam Cantrell. Speaker 6: And by giving these extensions into Public Street's name of Parklets, it kind of disguises what is happening. I wonder if the. Public knows that what is going on here is that we are losing all of the parking spaces that were once along the curb. We are losing, in some cases, a lane of traffic. In Belmont. Sure. These Parklets extending out into the street. Makes driving very hazardous. If you're driving on a cross street, you cannot see the oncoming traffic because the restaurants are extending out into the streets. And I am in favor of helping the restaurants and the businesses, but I don't think this is the way to do it. I think you should close the streets to traffic and provide. An open space on the street and provide parking on the backs of the restaurants. I am definitely opposed to making this permanent after the pandemic is over. There should be no reason for the public having to give up their public streets. And especially in Belmont. Sure, the Street Olympic Plaza Drive has been closed off for a private business, a gym, parking spaces have been lost. And this is in the coastal zone. It is against coastal law to block access to the beach. So I think there's a lot of things that need to be. Tweet on this. Also, I'm wondering about the loss of revenue from parking meters. This was not addressed that I could find. It did say in the staff report that this is going to cost $300,000 through the rest of this year. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Thank you. Actually, I'm going to go back to the council. Councilman Price. Speaker 2: Mr. Mayor. So I appreciate this item coming forth, and I also appreciate the mayor's words of prudence in terms of which ones we look at for permanency and all the different factors that we're going to be looking at, including neighborhood impacts. And as it relates to some of our parking impacted areas, parking impacts. So what I have committed to Third District residents is that we're it's very premature for us at this juncture to determine which Parklets might want to become permanent and whether that's feasible based on parking impacts and other impacts that may or may not have been realized by the residents up until this point. So I look forward to this process. I do. I we have received a lot of great positive feedback on the parklets in the Shaw. There are additional parklets that we have deployed, but really those have never been envisioned to be permanent. And the public speaker who just spoke a moment ago referenced one of those those are not ones we envision permanency for, but for those that might be transitioned to more permanent sites, those are ones we'll take a very hard look at parking and other types of impacts to make sure that we mitigate those. I just want to take a moment just to thank our public works and traffic engineering team. They've been incredible through this whole process and I'm really so grateful for all of them. April, Paul, Karl. Everybody has just been really wonderful in helping us get the parklet up and running. Help us feel questions from business owners and residents and really help us transition in this very unprecedented time and to an offering that we had not envisioned prior to March. So thank you, Mr. Mayor, for bringing this item forward. And I look forward to what I've committed to my residents to be a robust process before anything becomes permanent. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. And with that, I also want to as we conclude just to everyone from our city manager on down through our entire public works team and also our city attorney team who have all actually been working on this issue with our staff and also with all the staffs I know of all your offices. Just thank you all. You've been phenomenal partners and I know we have a lot of work to do as we move forward to support more businesses. So let's go out and do a roll call vote and thank you. Speaker 1: District one. Right. District two, i. District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District eight. District eight. District nine. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. And now we will do open public comment, please.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to expand the open streets initiative by extending parklet and parking lot permits at least until the end of 2020 and work with interested small businesses and business improvement districts to make some of them permanent, including a permanent closure of Pine Avenue from Broadway to 3rd Street.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_09152020_20-0865

Speaker 0: Let me go ahead and let me go ahead and go to Adam's 2620 728. Speaker 1: Item 26 Report from Financial Management Recommendation to Declare Ordinance relating to Departmental Organization of the City of Long Beach Red and Adopted as Red. Speaker 0: Okay. I have a motion and a second, please. Medium version in a second on these budget items please Councilmember Austin and second by Councilmember Pearce. I don't think have to have any public comment on 26. Speaker 4: Yes. Our first speaker is Dave Shukla. Speaker 6: Hello. Dave Chappelle. Just very briefly, I'm looking forward to seeing how this point in the budget process evolves next year and every two year increments through 2030. And how we manage as a city, what happens after the Olympics and really looking at the Century Foundation as kind of a guide to doing it right the first time yet . Thank you very much. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is carelessly you. Speaker 4: Look. Speaker 6: Hi, this is Corliss Lee. And looking at the budget where we're planning on furloughs, layoffs and salary cuts for frontline city employees to balance the budget. I'm having a hard time reconciling some of the other moves that are made. We are in an era of tightening our belts. Budget shortfalls are expected. What was the criteria by which budgeting decisions were made? I have to question that $85 million swimming pool is essential. Santa monica built a pool on the beach for 30 million. Who benefits from this? The trees. Speaker 2: Along Willow and Eldorado Park. Speaker 6: Are already turning orange. Is that a reduction in watering? Are we giving up watering the. Speaker 2: Parks. Speaker 6: While at the same time taking a $1.5 million soccer field that was planned surreptitiously became a $2.3 million soccer field. Are we planning on replacing it with a new potable watering system? What are the benefits? Who benefits? Is it. Speaker 2: Necessary? Speaker 6: Then I look at raises. Raises for the city auditor who's already in the 200 K Club. Does that make sense when you're laying people off? Raise this for city council. And then hiding that fact from the public. This is the year you should have frozen salary. I really can't understand your budgeting process. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: District one, i. District two. District three, i. District four. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: District five. District five, just. District six. District seven. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District eight. District eight. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 3: Hi. Speaker 1: Ocean carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance relating to adopting an amendment to Ordinance No. C-6496, adopted July 5, 1988, and amended on January 24, 1989, July 11, 1989, December 5, 1989, March 20, 1990, July 3, 1990, September 18, 1990, July 2, 1991, July 7, 1992, January 26, 1993, August 24, 1993, June 28, 1994, July 18, 1995, November 28, 1995, October 1, 1996, March 25, 1997, October 7, 1997, October 27, 1998, April 20, 1999, October 19, 1999, October 17, 2000, October 30, 2001, March 19, 2002, November 26, 2002, January 6, 2004, February 8, 2005, November 1, 2005, December 5, 2006, March 20, 2007, May 22, 2007, December 18, 2007, July 15, 2008, September 21, 2010, September 13, 2011, September 11, 2012, October 3, 2013, and September 9, 2014, September 22, 2015, September 20, 2016, September 12, 2017, September 11, 2018, and September 3, 2019, relating to departmental organization of the City of Long Beach, read and adopted as read.

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Next item 27. Speaker 1: Report from Financial Management Recommendation of declare ordinance approving a resolution of the Board of Water Commissioners, establishing the rates and charges to be charged for water and sewer service, declaring the urgency thereof, and providing that this ordinance shall take effect on October 1st, 2020. Read and adopted as read. Speaker 0: I have a motion to have a second motion by peers second by Sunday. Has any public comment? Speaker 3: Yes, we have. Deve Shukla. Speaker 6: Hello, Peter. Speaker 5: Yes, we can you please begin? Speaker 6: Thank you. Sorry. Very briefly. I'd like to state my ambivalence on this item, and I look forward to seeing in future budgets. Speaker 3: For this department. Speaker 6: More specifically on monitoring. Given how much we know not only about COVID, but about a lot of. Discuss on the air, for lack of a better term. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public. Speaker 4: Comment. Speaker 0: Roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: District one. All right. District two. I District three. I'm District four. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: District five. District five. District six. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance approving Resolution No. WD-1429, a resolution of the City of Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners establishing the rates and charges to be charged for water and sewer service and declaring the urgency thereof, and providing that this ordinance shall take effect at 12:01 am. on October 1, 2020, read and adopted as read. (Ordinance No. ORD-20-0033)

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Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. Next 1828 please. Speaker 1: Report from Financial Management Recommendation to declare ordinance approving and adopting the official budget of the City of Long Beach for the fiscal year 2022 2021. Declaring the urgency thereof and providing that this ordinance shall take effect on October 1st, 2020. Read and adopted as read. Speaker 0: I have a motion and a second. I have a motion by Councilmember. I think it's Austin and Councilman. Second Rate. Councilwoman Price. Any further comment? Speaker 3: Yes. We have Dave Shukla. Speaker 6: Hello. This you could resident of third. No further public comment. Thank you. Speaker 4: That concludes public comment. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes the three budget items. All three of those budget items are now complete. Speaker 2: You need to. Speaker 1: Do the roll call. Vote for item number 28. Speaker 0: Oh, I'm sorry about that. Right. Thank you. Speaker 1: District number one. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District for. Speaker 6: I. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 2: I. I. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 4: Right. Speaker 1: District seven. I District eight. I District nine. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. Next, we're going to move on to we have three hearings. So let's go out and go through all three of those hearings, starting with hearing number 17.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance approving and adopting the Official Budget of the City of Long Beach for the Fiscal Year 2020-2021, creating and establishing the funds of the Municipal Government of the City of Long Beach and appropriating money to and authorizing expenditures from said funds for said fiscal year; declaring the urgency thereof, and providing that this ordinance shall take effect at 12:01 am. on October 1, 2020, read and adopt as read. (Ordinance No. ORD-20-0037)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Next, we're going to move on to we have three hearings. So let's go out and go through all three of those hearings, starting with hearing number 17. Speaker 1: Report from Development Services recommendation to receive the supporting documentation under the record, conclude the public hearing and find the project exempt from secure and declare ordinance amending and re restating the Douglas Park Plan Development District North and South ordinances. Read the first time and later the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading District five. Speaker 2: Oscar Orsi, the development services director, will introduce staff for a brief presentation on this item. Speaker 7: Yes. Thank you, Mayor, Mayor and members of the City Council. This is the zoning code amendment to PD 30 to the Douglas Park Plan Development District to modify provisions to the development standards, to expand our uses, our uses, and also. Speaker 4: To improve upon the standards and streamline the approval process. And with that, Christopher Kuntz will give you a brief presentation. Speaker 8: Good evening, Mayor and Council. I can this relates to Douglas Park, which is our industrial area surrounding Long Beach's airport. The Plan Development District was first established in December of 2000 for. This gives you an idea of what we refer to as PD 32. It's just north of the airport. It's divided into a northern and southern area with the cover street serving as the division between the two. It has been updated a few times over the years, but why we're in front of you today is to make updates related to use and uses that did not exist as prominently in 2004 as they do today. So there are a number of users in Douglas Park and a number of sub areas. None of the allowed uses today would be deleted, but we are expanding additional opportunity to have uses that have reemerged. So these relate to aircraft manufacturing uses. I think it's an interesting little piece of history. Douglas Park exist because the aerospace industry and our partners, you know, basically exited Long Beach and then we developed Douglas Park with our development partners to refill those jobs and create jobs for the city. And we did that in a number of different fields. But the most exciting jobs that we're seeing right now and the highest paying ones are in the aerospace industry, but in a different form. So those are satellite companies and space related companies such as Virgin Orbit, Spin, Launch, Relativity Rocket Labs that you see on the trend. So this will effectuate those changes and make it easier for those types of users to move into Douglas Park. And we'll also address some rules that are outdated. Most businesses now have warehouse space associated with their use. They don't put their headquarters or R&D users in a separate building, then those locations that have warehousing. So this would provide for those uses as well as for certain fulfillment uses that, well, Amazon existed in 2004, not in the footprint that we see today and all the things that we buy online. And for manufacturers to be able to do that, they need sufficient space and we want to provide them that flexibility. So again, it's it's all about flexibility, but these are changes at the at the margin. So these are not uses that would be toxic or unattractive. So things like furniture making, paper products, wood products. We talked about aviation related uses. And then there is a difference between what's called third party logistics and being a manufacturer that also warehouses and delivers your products. We want to be able to have those manufacturing uses that produce high paying jobs in our city. So those are the changes in a nutshell. We do recommend that the city council approve the ordinance that is in front of you. The Planning Commission approved this item enthusiastically. We've been working both on the city staff side as well as with Service Regis, who is the major landowner in the area. And we all agree on the changes that are in front of city council this evening. So with that, I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Coons. Is there any public comment on this item? Speaker 4: Yes, I have. Deve Shukla. Speaker 6: Hello. You should call again. Sorry for talking too much, but this is the reason why I called in today. Douglas Park is really important historically to the city. I mean, it's where we built the arsenal of democracy to beat the fascists the first time. And frankly, like what we've done with it is kind of a scandal. I mean, it's some of the best manufacturing land in the city and what are you chasing? And it goes off into space that should all be cleaned up, if nothing else, to deal with the fact that historically, how many emissions have come from that? 1.4. I mean, it's hard to take seriously how this city cohere, you know, from a policy perspective when you're talking about 1.5 million each year and what it's going to do when we tax oil in the wrong way, that captures not even all of the value. And then there's a place where the highest intensity of youth historically as well as currently still exists. And what are we doing? We're just subsidizing the hell out of it. But not in the right way. Not in a way where we can keep Jet Blue or anything. I mean, you know, it's really hard. It's really hard to take the city seriously when you're a full service city. You could have had a community choice aggregation program two years ago to help you optimize all this and have money on the table today. But now we'd rather keep subsidizing on sick and wrong people, frankly. And you've got to wonder why people don't want to live here. Why all those condos that are sitting empty might stay empty? What incentive is there when you're going to ruin this city within the next ten years? What incentive is there for me to say honestly? I mean, really? Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Okay. Councilman Mongo. Speaker 2: Thank you. We're really appreciative of all the great work that the services has done with all of the partners that are at Douglas Park. And we're really proud of the high wage jobs that have really been available to long term residents. And we really appreciate the businesses really focusing on local job fairs. And so in all of those ways, they're giving back. And so I appreciate my colleagues support on the side of. Speaker 0: If you councilman's in Dallas, we'll call the. Speaker 4: Police. Speaker 1: District one. I just talked to. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District five. I District six. Speaker 4: By. Speaker 1: District seven. I. District eight. District nine. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Ocean carries. Speaker 4: It.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending and restating PD-32, Douglas Park Planned Development District (PD-32 North and PD-32 South), read and adopted as read. (District 5)

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Speaker 1: Next hearing item is item 18 report from Development Services recommendation to receive the supporting documentation into the record and conclude the public hearing and find the project exempt from secure. Declare Ordinance Amending Title 2021 of the Long Beach Municipal Code to modify allowed and conditionally allowed commercial and industrial uses. Read the first time and later the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading and adopt a resolution to submit the ordinance to the California Coastal Commission citywide. Speaker 0: I can't go on staff and staff. You guys can just zoom. We have this information. Can you zoom through this, please? Speaker 2: Sure. Oscar. Christopher, if you could, go ahead. Speaker 8: So I think 19 is on the screen instead of 18. So this item relates to what we call omnibus updates to the zoning code. We have an overall program to update the zoning code and replace outdated provisions. But events occurred to change a little bit of what those provisions would be. So last year, at a date that's in the PowerPoint, I don't have Councilman Richardson asked staff to report back on that. There we go. April 9th, 2019, to report back on incentives and other provisions we could do to provide urgent care and medical services. We followed that into the omnibus program that we already talked about. Then with that work well underway, COVID hit earlier this year and we really looked at sort of the economic impacts of that and made some additional changes that are all packaged together in one item in front of city council today. So we have certain uses in the zoning code that require special approvals. What we wanted to do is still provide the community the assurance that there will be a review of those uses, but save those applicants at least $1,000 and a month, a process which we think is very important as we try to get businesses reopened and refill storefronts where businesses may have gone out of business. There's this that same approach we took in 2019 with reforms to the cannabis regulations and these clarify and incentivize medical use as per city council direction. So I'm doing the zoom through. We made changes to the industrial use table to make it easier to open businesses, including minor auto repair, tire sales, motorcycle and jet ski sales, which no one on staff was or why that required a special approval. But we're going to make it a little bit easier for those businesses and also to make some changes for religious uses that may expand, which was just a problem in the code. Private schools like industrial art schools, appliance repair, which is something you need in times of economic distress. You might have something repaired instead of replaced. And then we get into the medical world making sure that we actually allow hospitals in our zoning code, which we, of course, have the hospitals in the city. But it's not clear under the zoning code how a new one would open. So we address that as well as other uses such as urgent care. The biggest change is to slightly modify the parking requirements for medical uses to match those of retail. This is important because a retailer that went out of business could become a chiropractor or a dentist or urgent care center. And if dentists went out of business, that could become a retailer providing greater flexibility in the built environment. So that was as quick as I could do it. We recommend that you approve the ordinance in front of you. The Planning Commission enthusiastically supported this ordinance, and we know that it'll be important to serving residents needs for medical services, as well as goods and services related to the uses covered in this ordinance. I'm glad to answer any questions and we have additional staff on the web meeting. Speaker 0: Thank you. I have a motion, a councilman's and the second by Councilmember Richardson. Is there any public comment on this council comment? Is there any public comment on this, Mr. Clark? Speaker 4: Yes, we have. And control. Speaker 6: Hello again for the record. And Control. Hello. And Cantwell. And I'd like to address Change five, which will modify the parking for urgent care centers and other medical places from five per thousand to 4000. I'm puzzled as to where you think people are going to park when they have a medical alert emergency and trying to get to urgent care. This. Oh. Seems like a very. Stupid way. To modify. Parking. There should be more parking. Available if you have an emergency. And they're trying to get to urgent care. I'd like an explanation. I know I won't get one, but I can't imagine why you would. Take out parking for urgent care. I guess you expect people to ride their bicycles or take the bus if they're sick. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Next, we have Dave Shukla. Speaker 6: Hello. Last coming for me tonight. But for the record, I do support N22. But on this item I support it as well and I appreciate it, you know, pretty detailed but brief presentation. Question How is the same city on the same day? Can have this item right after the previous? I mean, look at the difference here. I mean, look at I mean, one is so clearly tied to what we're actually dealing with and one is just, you know, furthering it, frankly. I mean, we got to decide what kind of city we're going to be, what kind of people we're going to be. I mean, you know, I learn something every time I you know, this is central to me. I don't always agree with it, but I mean, I learn something every single time. Well, we might benefit from some fun. Something found in thinking, you know, next budget, see how we're actually going to achieve the third century in the city. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you that concludes public. Speaker 0: It also and have any comment on your first. No customer, Richardson. Any clients? Speaker 3: Yes, Mr. Mayor. So. So, first, I want to thank staff for putting this together. It's actually pretty, pretty innovative. The approach that you took, the direction is that that we we brought in city council last year was the we, you know, looked at some issues and we put up some maps that showed that north west in north east Long Beach, basically districts nine, eight, five really had a lack of urgent care centers, hospitals and other things. And those happened to be the same areas that don't have rail. So, you know, have some transit issues. And what ultimately that means is it creates a higher reliance on emergency rooms for non-life-threatening care and that at times can overwhelm wait times at our emergency department. So we so we asked you to look at some creative ways to create incentives that take or look at the barriers that keep urgent care centers, medical facilities from locating in these areas. And I'm proud I'm glad I'm glad to see what you came back with. It's a whole package of incentives, not just parking, but but other incentives as well around the, you know, taking away conditional use permit, going down the AUP. All these things will make it easier for us to locate our medical facilities. I'm proud to say that one, you know, there is actually interest in a new medical clinic with with Blue Shield is looking at utilizing some of these additional clinical amendments in North Lombard. So that so this is exactly what we were looking for a year ago. So so thanks to city staff for doing this, I know we're kind of moving quickly, but this is something important to note. And I wanted to say thank you for that and look forward to, you know, what what what turns out. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you very much. Country and good evening. Comments or no? Okay, then let's get real. Speaker 4: I think. I think that's why Richardson set it up. Thank you. Speaker 0: Okay. Real cover, please. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 2: I high. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 2: Hi. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: District five. I. District six. High District seven. District seven. District. District nine. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: Motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Table 32-1 of Chapter 21.32, Table 33-2 of Chapter 21.33, and Table 41-C of Chapter 21.44, all related to zoning code regulations, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Thank you very much. And then we have our fucking hearing, please. Speaker 1: Report from Development Services recommendation to receive the supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing and find the project exempt from the secure. Declare Ordinance. Amending Title 21 of the Long Beach Municipal Code to establish an interim motel conversion ordinance. Read the first time and later at the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading and adopt a resolution to submit the ordinance to the California Coastal Commission citywide. Speaker 2: We'll have Christopher Coons make the final presentation on this public hearing. Speaker 8: And I will move quickly. Again, Christopher Koonce from Development Services. And I'm joined on the Web meeting by Alejandro Sanchez Lopez, who has been working on this project since he was an M.A. in 2017. And then we hired him in the department. So it's great when that works out. What this item is about is we have a number of motels in the city, likely an oversupply of motels in the city. But what we have an undersupply of as housing leading to our housing crisis. And specifically looking at the number of homeless residents or folks in danger of homelessness or severely rent burdened motels that become housing of last resort. But when they're operated as some blurry line between legitimate motel and housing, they can be subject to a number of nuisance issues. This program seeks to address both problems and builds upon existing efforts and recommendations from all of our various task force and reports that we need to be able to provide additional housing to provide rapid rehousing of homeless individuals and to be able to address our nuisance motels. So how does this ordinance work? Motels typically comply with a number of requirements when converting to housing, and there are certain disincentives to do that conversion. This program would allow a streamlined conversion from motel to supportive housing for a period of time with onsite social services. They would meet performance standards and the conversion itself would be a matter of right. They would not be able to expand or substantially change the footprint of the structure. This from a technical standpoint, this ordinance provides relief from sections of the zoning code that would otherwise prevent these motels from being converted into housing. It provides structure to revert to the prior use to basically revoke the conversion if necessary, by the city upon termination of the agreement with the property operator or at the request of the operator. It allows development services to review the applications in partnership with the Health Department, and it provides strict performance standards for the operators so that these facilities are operated in consideration to the surrounding community and we resolve any nuisance activity. This just shows you that this program, while it's a land use item, it's also a partnership between the city, our health department, nonprofits that may be operating these hotels. We're going to come into an agreement and we're all going to meet our expectations and our performance standards. In order for a conversion to occur, a multi-year contract has to be entered into between the operator and the city. So that would be a partnership between the operator, Development Services and Health and Human Services. The ordinance is intended to remove barriers and incentivize this type of conversion. And we did have some discussion at the Planning Commission about whether this would overburden any particular part of town. But there are motels, including nuisance motels spread throughout the city, even if there are more in certain districts than others. So with that staff as excited to move this project forward and we ask that you adopt the ordinance in front of you and I am glad to answer any questions. Speaker 0: Any public comment on this item? Speaker 1: There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: We gave a motion to the second Councilman Richardson. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is this is this is incredible work. We've been talking about motel conversions for quite some time. Now, remember, we also made a motion on this maybe two, three years ago to look at this as a package of a whole host of things. Since then, there's been state legislation, there's been Project Homekey and a lot of focus here. But but it's taken taken some time. But I think we're now is the perfect time actually to leverage some of the state programs and figure out how we can address some of the new no nuisance motels in our city by converting them into some purpose. That actually helps us solve our public policy challenges around housing availability in our community. So I'm really glad to see this and obviously supportive. Speaker 0: Councilor Pearce. Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah, I'm really thrilled with staff's work on this. I recall in my first six months on office, which was over four years ago, we were talking about this. We had a lot of staff time dedicated to it. And I think converting these to transitional housing and providing homes for people is really critical. And I really applaud your staff's work to be creative and to stay focused. I hope that over the next decade even that we can open this up to more properties. I know that we went over the property list last time, but really what we should be really proud of this effort because it wasn't an easy lift. So good work in. Speaker 0: Thank you. Council members and day house. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I also want to say thank you very much to the staff. I am in full force, supportive. This is incredibly important to me and to my district that we provide more benefits for for our neighbors in experiencing homelessness. It has been such a joy to see this process come about. And I think all those who came previously, for all their efforts they did in bringing this forward and now we get to experience this. And I think it's going to be a great thing moving forward. And as my colleagues have said, you know, it's going to help us provide more services that are so, so much needed, not only in the first, but throughout the city and to the whole city as well. So thank you very much, staff. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Pryce. Speaker 2: Q Mr. Mayor, I have a couple of questions for Christopher, for Mr. Coons, and that is in regards to holding strict guidelines for the operators of the facilities. What enforcement resources mechanisms? Staffing allocations, do we have to ensure that the operator will be held to the standard that we're all agreeing on? Because I think this is a fantastic program and I look forward to some of the nuisance motels even in my own district. I'm not familiar with all of them throughout the city, of course, but the ones in my district being considered but what I what I want to be able to make assurances of to residents is that the operators will be held accountable in terms of abiding by specific guidelines when they're operating, especially in close proximity to residential neighborhoods. Speaker 8: I'm sure. So while this ordinance takes care of the land use, it also makes reference to entering into a contract. So in addition to the normal code enforcement process development services, we have a much better tool in this case and that you it's not profitable to operate homeless housing. So these providers are operating with funding either from the county, the city or another government agency. And they're entering into a contract with the city of Long Beach about the provision of those services that go along with the housing and the city maintains the right to terminate that contract, which would ultimately eliminate their ability to continue to operate the facility. So we hold not only our normal nuisance abatement measures, but we hold the purse strings and we have a contractual relationship with these operators. So working with my partners in Health, because it's not development services staff on a day to day basis doing homeless services, but we would be working as a team and we believe that additional leverage of the contract and potentially some funding provides us a greater degree of control over these facilities than you would find on a run of the mill land use, such as a restaurant or somewhere where we have to go through the nuisance process. That would not be the case in this circumstance. Speaker 2: Follow up question, will the provisions that we're entering into this evening by way of adoption of this also apply to properties that are acquired through county funds or through county sources? Speaker 8: So this program will apply? Yes, generally speaking, and the county we have shared the county provisions with them. And Kelly Cappelli, director of Health and Human Services, is having those discussions with the county, not myself, but the county, even if they're not legally required to, because they preempt us on some things. They have expressed their intent to meet these conditions and to operate in cooperation with the city and to coordinate entry so that we make sure that we're serving Long Beach homeless residents in these facilities, whether it's owned by the city, county or a third party. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Next up is Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 4: Okay. Thank you. First of all, I want to thank Isaac and his team for putting the item together. You know, I believe that as a council, we are always forward thinking on how to help with the homeless crisis. You know, we have one more chance to participate in this conversation. We should be doing what we can do. I mean, to streamline the process for them. I'm just hoping that in establishing locations that all districts, you know, can help with this initiative. And again, I want to thank the team very much, Oscar Unity. Thank you. Speaker 0: Roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 1: District one. I District two I District. Speaker 2: High. Speaker 1: School, District fourth. Speaker 4: In your high. Speaker 3: High. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 4: High. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District eight. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District nine. A motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. Now, let's go ahead and move on to some other items. We will do 23 and then. And then the rest should go rather quickly. So why don't we go ahead and do 23 and then we'll go back and do all the rest.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal code by adding Chapter 21.65, relating to Interim Motel/Hotel Conversions, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Now, let's go ahead and move on to some other items. We will do 23 and then. And then the rest should go rather quickly. So why don't we go ahead and do 23 and then we'll go back and do all the rest. 23. Speaker 1: Communication from Councilmember Richardson, Chair of the State Legislation Committee. Recommendation to request City Council to adopt support positions for Propositions 15, 16, 17, 18 and 25 on the November 3rd, 2020 ballot. Speaker 0: Thank you. I have a motion in a second. I think there's a staff report on this item. So, Councilor Richardson, should we hear the staff report? Speaker 4: Absolutely. Speaker 0: All right, Mr. Monica. Speaker 5: Thank you, Kevin Jackson and Tyler Kerley. We'll give the staff report. Speaker 7: Yes. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I'd like to give a high level overview of the State Legislation Committee's recommendation from the September 3rd meeting to support Propositions 15, 16, 17, 18 and 25. Let me. Move the slide. So these propositions consider the issues of split rural taxation, affirmative action, voting rights for people on parole, voting rights for 17 year olds, and the cash bail system. Proposition 15 is commonly referred to as the Split Roll Initiative, and if approved by voters, it would implement a different tax structure for most commercial and industrial properties worth more than $3 million, leading to increased revenues for local governments and education. If voted down, these properties would continue to be taxed based on the existing system. The current property tax system ties taxable value to original purchase price and annual increases are capped. Properties are reassessed when there is a change in ownership or new construction. The initiative would begin in 2022 and be phased in over a three year period for properties that are occupied by a majority of small California businesses with 50 or fewer employees. Split rule would further exclude agricultural properties and does not apply if the property owner has $3 million or less worth of commercial land and buildings in California. Most owners of commercial land and buildings worth more than $3 million, would pay higher property taxes. Yeah. The state estimates split rule would increase property taxes for local governments in education between six and a half billion and 11 and a half billion annually. And that would be split 6040 among local governments and education. So for the city, we estimate a range between one and 1.3 million and 3 million, according to different estimate approaches . So we really are working based on the best information that's available without an official methodology beyond the State's estimate. So if we take the statewide estimate and the city's current assessed valuation based on our share of overall property taxes, we estimate between 1.3 and 2.4 million annually. And if we further estimate the city's current tax values and their potential reassessed value under the initiative, we could expect closer to 3 million. The third estimate of 32 million is from the Schools and Communities First Campaign sponsoring the proposition. But their methodology is unclear and likely overestimated because we don't know how they account for the exemptions in the initiative. It also appears to include the portion that would go to education and by comparison, the county's estimate for their general fund revenue increase is 394 million, which is significantly lower as well compared to the campaign's estimate for the county of 1.3 billion. So there are a number of uncertainties with these estimates. And it's, as I mentioned, based on the best information we have, all three of these approaches assume Long Beach will continue to receive an amount proportional to its current share of revenues under the existing tax structure. But that might change through reassessment. Furthermore, exemptions are not just based on a single jurisdiction but rather are statewide, so it's difficult to accurately estimate what exemptions apply locally and last. The timeline of implementation and revenue generation is also unclear due to the administrative work that would be required to reassess properties. The L.A. County assessor estimates it will take 5 to 10 years to get to full implementation. Proposition 16 asks voters whether to repeal Proposition 209 from 1996 and allow for the consideration of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in decisions related to public employment, education and contracting, state and local government entities would still have to comply with federal law, which establishes a right to equal protection and limits consideration of characteristics as one of several factors not the decisive factor in decisions. Repealing 209 Proposition 2a9 would permit state and local governments to change current policies or programs. Therefore, the measure would not have direct fiscal effect unless the Council chose to change procurement and hiring practices and practices. Proposition 17 would amend the state constitution to grant individuals on parole for felony convictions the right to vote in California. The state estimates that Proposition 17 could cost counties hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare voting information and resources for roughly 40,000 current parolees. The Los Angeles County clerk reports that this proposition could have minor impacts on county operations. The county public defender supports restoring voting rights for people who have completed prison sentences. The proposition could have a minimal cost increase to the city clerk's office related to revising voting materials and ensuring they are distributed to additional eligible voters. Proposition 18 would authorize eligible 17 year olds who are U.S. citizens and California residents to vote in a special or primary election if they will be at least 18 years old. By the next general election. The state estimates the proposition could require one time costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for infrastructure and Labor to update existing voter registration systems. The proposition would have minimal implications for city operations, as the majority of the cost burden would fall on counties for the development and processing of additional voting materials. And last we have Proposition 25, which would uphold Senate Bill ten of 2018 and change the existing cash bail system to a risk based system. A no vote on Proposition 25 would repeal SB ten, thereby retaining the current cash bail system. So in August 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB ten into law, and it was slated to go into effect in October 2019. If upheld through Proposition eight and Proposition 25, SB ten one reform current bill laws implementing a new pretrial detention and release system based on public safety and flight risk instead of cash bail risk would be assessed based on the likelihood of an individual not appearing in court and the likelihood of an individual committing a new crime if released. The risk based assessment would be determined by the Court in consultation with stakeholders, considering the following factors. Low risk individuals would be released for certain misdemeanors. Medium risk individuals could be released or provided supervised release with conditions necessary to ensure public safety and the person's return to court or courts could do a review to determine whether to detain those individuals until arraignment. And third, high risk individuals would not be granted release for serious or violent crimes. The state estimates that Proposition 25 could cost the state and local governments in the mid hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on how the system is implemented. And some of the state costs could be reduced by local programs that are directed towards assisting detainees and reducing recidivism. But this remains unclear at this point. The state estimates that county jail costs could also decrease by tens of millions of dollars annually from less crowded jails. And the direct impacts of this proposition to the city are also unclear. Counties would be responsible for implementing the transition from the current cash bail system to a risk assessment system. The implementation of SB ten would have a direct impact on the county jail system and would require significant changes to pretrial release operations. With that, I conclude my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you very much. Councilmember. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, as the patient stated, our state legislation committee had a meeting. We received a staff report on each of these and had a healthy level of discussion on each of these. And we make recommend we recommend to the City Council that we take positions of support on these matters. Most of our justification are a couple of things. One, Proposition 16, 17, 18 and 25 are really about how they align with the work that we've done over the last few months with with our reconciliation process, thinking about the way systems have operated, perhaps disenfranchized populations, and that that's something that we want to be able to acknowledge and be and be support of and support efforts to sort of change course there. More specifically, Proposition 16, which is it repeals Prop 209 and allows for decisions and and procurement and targeting based on race and gender and other tactics across institutions, from educational institutions to public agencies like cities and counties. You can do things like set targets for procurement, set targets for hiring, and other things that used to be a program that worked really well in California and and based on Prop 209 was eliminated. And since then, we've seen dramatic, dramatic economic impacts and greater segregation. And so this is an opportunity for Long Beach to take a position in support. And we have stories like that on every single one of these from restoring voting rights and other and sort of other things. Proposition 15, Schools and communities first, this really was has bubbled up from our local community. Our local community has really been very, very vocal vocally supporting this. We know that the way that local government and schools are structured and funded, there needs to be some reform to it. We are we are structured in a way that it's a you know, it's very entrepreneurial. And what we've seen is with the pandemic, when sales tax goes away and it goes away and all those things go away, we are still responsible for providing services. So I think this is in alignment with reforming the way that local government is financed. So all of these things, these are you know, these are big issues. And we know that there are people on on all sides of these issues who may have some expertize or a specific concern about one or the other. But I think the good news is we're a big, diverse city and this is a big opportunity. And, you know, it's a big opportunity for us to do this. But, you know, one way or the other, it's ultimately up to the voters. So the way the city council goes, the way individuals support or talk about this in the community that belongs on the outside, I think is important for the public to know that the city is not. Once we take this position, we're not spending any of our local tax dollars or local proceeds advocating a position one way or the other. This is us taking a position of support those campaigns can use, can do whatever they want to do. But internally, we're not using any resources to advocate one position or the other. So I support all five of these. I came out of our committee and I strongly encourage the city council to consider a yes vote. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilor Maria Ringa. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. And I think Councilmember Richardson was on target with every comment that he made on every one of these propositions. In regards to Proposition 16, especially, I have a history with that one. Back in 1996, I was marching and protesting to oh nine at that time. So let it pass. But what these propositions do on the ballot is basically address what we all know to be systemic racism. And I think that putting these in the bill and if it passed, would be doing a big test and eliminating systemic racism from from our Constitution. So I support these items. And I think that if we could get the support of our colleagues in the city council as well. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you to the committee for bringing these forward. I think these are all common sense propositions that really help the city not only balance the budget, but also ensure that every constituent has an access point to participate in their local democracy. Obviously, the voting age is something we've talked a lot about in the city of Long Beach. I think it makes a lot of sense to have that begin at 17 for the primary. I think Prop 15 is something that. Speaker 1: Is long. Speaker 2: Overdue and the way that it's presented today is well balanced and measured. And I would also say, including being able to allow people to vote that that might have already been spent time incarcerated is really critical to ensure that we are not further perpetuating structural racism as it might exist in our justice system. So I wholeheartedly support this and agree this is just the city going on record, being able to show our support for these items that will benefit all of our constituents in the city of Long Beach. So great work. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilmember Price. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate my council colleagues bringing this item forward. I'm going to be voting no on this. I've already taken a personal position unrelated to the city council as a whole on some of these. In fact, just yesterday I had an interview with some Polish students regarding my support for Propositions 15 and 16. So I've been pretty responsive in regards to my position on those two specific ones. This particular item has a very broad grouping of propositions in it, and at least one of them, Proposition 25 related to bail, has really changed a lot since that proposition was written. Well, the proposition hasn't changed, but the status of Bail House in regards to a Supreme Court ruling on the topic about two weeks ago, that really has changed the framework of our practical application of bail in the criminal justice system to accommodate for a lot of the things that are listed in Proposition 25. But above and beyond that, I think that this particular item calls for the council to weigh in on several diverse propositions together. In my opinion, these are voter issues which local government bodies probably should not be in the business of advocacy on their state election issues. And it's really best left to the proponents of the initiatives, in my opinion, to advocate for the items. But having said that, I do appreciate that being forward brought forward, and I appreciate the discussion tonight. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Austin. Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'm also a member of the State Lands Committee. Unfortunately, I was not able to be at the meeting when these items were adopted. But I do think it is important for me to lend my voice to, at least to these issues that I believe and will impact the city of Long Beach should they pass. And and and I think each and every one of them are are relevant to to the discussion today in policy today that I will, again, like I said, impact and say in support of these items. And I understand that they're going to be pros and cons on both sides of this issue. But we have to look at where California is, where our state is today. Some of these these are at least a couple of these propositions seek to undo or. Or modify laws or change drastically change laws that have been on the books, some for 40 years, some for the last 20 years. And I can tell you that, you know, in terms of my involvement, you know, in in local government and in civic affairs, you know, one for one was was a very instrumental in getting me involved. And that was certainly of Prop 16 that is before us here today of, I do think, conversations around racial equity. You know, prior to 1996, affirmative action was an equity tool that sought to really balance affordability. So I do think from from educational institutions of, you know, job access, that is a very, very important proposition. And I know Prop 15 is one that is going to be debated pretty significantly over the next several weeks. But, you know, again, this was a a tax initiative that was put in place in 1978. I was ten years old at that time, and California was in a much different place. It was a much different state. And when we talk about equity and opportunity moving forward, these these are these these two particular initiatives, I think are very, very important for us to look at. And I think the conversation and debate is already moving forward, but I will be voting in support about the state legislature recommendations. Thanks. Speaker 0: Thank you. Is there any further comment on these? Speaker 4: Yes. Our first speakers, Jennifer Hing. Speaker 2: I can. Yes. Hi, Mary. Hi. Dear Mayor Garcia and Long Beach council members Bobby Hughes deserve and support, care or support and care that allows them to overcome challenges, live full lives and thrive. You deserve to live, work and play in a community that provides dedicated investments and resources that allow them to reach their full potential. Youth across California are working every day to create healthy, whole communities where they can imagine and help build futures for us all. To My Girls in Action, Californians for Justice and Invest in Youth Coalition are here in support of the council's endorsement for profit teen, also known as schools and teachers. Our young people are leading the fight to ensure corporations pay their fair share of taxes. We have an exciting opportunity to double our impact with our local measure a ballot initiative that holds oil industry accountable to pay their fair share in taxes. These two ballot measures work in parallel to support an equitable and just future for our communities. U.S. corporations double and triple their profits during a global health crisis at the expense of low income, working class people and essential workers. While our communities suffer. When corporations pay outdated 1940 commercial property tax rates, they profit and our community loses. Cheating their way through tax loopholes is a form of divestment from our public education system. We need city leaders to support us and hold corporations accountable. Today, young people are often young people who are not of age to vote are doing their part this election season. They are on the ground, hosting voter education events and are mobilizing new voters and community members on issues that impact their future. We need to value their work and ensure their voices are heard. You're asking city leaders to do your part and support issues like Prop 15 that invest in youth. Voting yes on 15 would bring $12 billion for new schools and communities to increase resources and support for youth and their families. With an estimated 49.7 million coming to Long Beach, reinvesting in rebuilding public education and creating a public education system that reflects our communities, takes all of us leading together. Millions of students in California attend a school with police officers, but no counselor or nurse. Those communities are facing big gaps now in meeting the health and wellness needs of students in the era of COVID, including Long Beach. Long Beach needs to commit to investing in youth and endorsed property. It is a step in the right direction and will pave the way for more equitable and just funding that centers our highest needs , youth and community members. This crisis is causing you to be bold and courageously alongside our youth leaders. Speaker 6: Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Speaker 5: Our next speaker is Patrick Swimmer. Speaker 2: Wow. Well, it doesn't work. Speaker 5: Patrick Swimmer. Speaker 6: Yeah. Hello, Mayor Darcy and council members, thank you for the time to speak tonight. My name is Patrick Schwimmer and I'm speaking on behalf of the Long Beach Young Democrats. Our organization has endorsed all of these propositions and we urge the city to do the same. These five propositions can have an incredible impact on achieving the parity and equity we all want to see in the city. That has been the focus over these budget conversations the last few months. However, in addition to supporting these propositions, I also urge the city to take proactive steps to ensure that if passed, they will achieve their desired effects and avoid any unintended consequences. For example, Prop 15 would help provide crucially needed resources to our underfunded education system. However, the city must be sure to develop assistance resources for small businesses who are already experiencing hardships due to the pandemic, particularly those with triple net leases who will see their overhead skyrocket. Prop 16 would give the city the tool of affirmative action back to bring new economic opportunities to disadvantaged communities. But that will only be helpful to full review of the city's practices, particularly with contractors, to ensure the tool will be used effectively. But 17 and 18 would enfranchise many members of our community, but will be useless without effective outreach to ensure everyone who has been enfranchised understands their renewed rights. And Prop 25 would do away with the incredibly harmful cash bail system that has plagued lower income communities and communities of color for generations. But the city must work proactively with the state and county to ensure that the new risk assessment tools do not simply perpetuate discrimination under a different name. These five impact propositions can have an incredible impact on a city, but we need to take the steps necessary to ensure that they do only good and no harm. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 5: Our next speaker is Troy Peters. Speaker 4: Can you guys hear me? Yes. Please begin. Speaker 6: Okay. You remember Garcia and Long Beach council members? My name is Troy Peters and I am a youth ambassador for the city's Youth Strategic Plan and a youth empowerment coach for our exciting new ballot measure us. I am here as a I'm also here as a youth ambassador for the Investing Youth Coalition. I'm here to support and invest your endorsement on Prop 15. School should be a positive place to learn and a community resource that leads to opportunities and success. Despite being one of the wealthiest states. California ranks 39 out of 50 in education spending. And in 2016, 7000 students attending the U.S. reported being homeless. Things will get worse if we do not act now. We hope when we hold wealthy corporations accountable to pay their fair share in commercial property taxes, we secure revenue for our schools, communities, and for our schools and communities that have struggled through decades of deep investment. Great schools bring value to our communities, protect teachers, students and schools from corporate greed. By endorsing Prop 15, schools across the state closed down in response to the spread of COVID 19. Students and families lost access to schools as critical hubs of community resources. This current crisis shines a new light on the complicated, overlapping reasons that California public schools have yet to live up to their promise of providing equal education for all, especially for students of color, English language learners, LGBTQ students, rural students and low income students. COVID 19 also presents a new opportunity for students, their families and educators to become architects and a new path forward. Now more than ever, we must build a network of public schools that are beacons of light and provide hope, opportunity and pathways to health and success. This is an exciting opportunity to reverse a longstanding pattern of divestment from our schools and communities. We hope you will join us in endorsing Prop 15. Thank you very much. Speaker 4: And thank you at roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: District one. I district to. I'm district three. Nay district for. District four. District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 2: Nay, they confirm. Speaker 1: Yes, we can hear you. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 4: Or. Speaker 1: District seven? District eight. Speaker 6: By. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 3: Just before is a name. Speaker 1: Thank you. Motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. And, Vice Mayor, stay away from the next item. Speaker 4: Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. Item six. Item six. Speaker 1: Item six. Just one moment. Report from City Clerk recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the Los Angeles Registrar Recorder County Clerk relative to the November 3rd, 2020. General Municipal Elections Citywide. A Vice Mayor here to assist us with the presenting information on the November general election is Monica Flores, government and legislative affairs manager for the

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Council to adopt support positions for Propositions 15, 16, 17, 18, and 25 on the November 3, 2020 ballot.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_09152020_20-0914

Speaker 1: Item six. Just one moment. Report from City Clerk recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the Los Angeles Registrar Recorder County Clerk relative to the November 3rd, 2020. General Municipal Elections Citywide. A Vice Mayor here to assist us with the presenting information on the November general election is Monica Flores, government and legislative affairs manager for the Los Angeles Registrar Court county clerk. Speaker 2: Good evening. This is Monica Flores. Thank you for having me. I've mentioned I'm the manager of governmental legislative affairs with the county's registrar recorder's office. And today I will be providing a quick overview of how long before voters voted in March, as well as how our preparations are going for the November election. Next slide, please. One more. In May I present the findings of our analysis of the March election to your Election Oversight Committee. A few questions were raised during that meeting and then were asked for me to come here to present to your full council and some of these details in the March election. We found that 35% of Long Beach voters voted in person and 65% of your voters actually voted via mail. 22% of those in-person voters voted during the first ten days of the voting period. And the busiest voting centers in your city were Eldorado Park West, Bayshore Community Congregation Church and the Panamerican Park. You can see here in the presentation the number of voters that voted at each one of these locations. Next five things. One more. So we are now well on our way with the preparations for the November general election. And as all things in our lives, the election will look very different than any of the elections we have seen before. To begin, all voters will be issued a vote by mail ballot. This is a 2.5 million ballot increase over what was mailed in the county for the primary election. This was done by initially by a board motion supported by a governor's executive order and then legislation that was passed in the state. We have also expanded our vote by mail drop boxes to 400 that will be placed across the county. This is an increase from approximately 250 that were placed in the for the March election. Additionally, the number of centers that we will be deploying in the county will change. For this election, we will have 11 days of voting, so a ten day early voting period and we will have 75 sites open for 11 day and 725 of the sites open for five days for a total of 800 sites open throughout L.A. County. Additionally, we have implemented a safe election plan which incorporates the state and county code with guidelines to ensure safety at our vote centers. Next slide. Our priorities in this election are the safety and security of our voters and election workers. We seek to maximize vote by mail options and participate participation. We are looking to align the capacity to the highest expected volume and to predictive analytics, so placing the resources in the right place. We are looking to market voting events to encourage early voting. We will be targeting our mobile and flex programs to address geographically isolated areas and voters who have historically faced barriers to access. Additionally, we will be placing these types of sites at locations that have a lot of essential workers, such as hospitals, to ensure that those essential workers have the opportunity to vote. We are looking to implement and communicate a broad mass media campaign and voter education campaign to encourage our voters to plan ahead and to make sure they know all of their options for voting. Like. This. Here is a list of the vote centers that we have confirmed for Long Beach for the November election. In your city, we have 29 confirmed sites and we are currently either assessing or negotiating a few more sites, just about another handful. You may notice that some of the sites used in March are not on this list due to COVID social distancing guidelines. We need larger spaces for our vote centers. This means that some of the sites used in March did not meet the new requirements. We will be finalizing this list within the next week and I will share that list of both centers in Long Beach with your city clerk, Monique, who can pass this information along. Additionally, the vote center lists will be shared with all our voters, as we did in March. We will be sending a booklet that lists all of the vote centers in the county to every household in L.A. County. Next slide, please. This. Here is a list of the drop boxes that will be in Long Beach. We have 18 box boxes secured. Some of these boxes are still being installed, but all will be installed by October 5th, which is the date which all the boxes must open. Voters will receive information on these drop boxes within their vote by mail packet. In that packet they will have a list of their nearest locations, and then they can also find that all of the drop boxes on our website as they count the votes centers. We did receive one more request for a Dropbox and we are currently in Longreach and we are currently looking at our inventory and the spacing or distribution of boxes to see if that box really adds value to the Long Beach boaters. So this list might grow by one or two more. Next slide. As I mentioned, we have established a safe presidential election plan to keep our voters and election workers safe at our vote centers. This plan complies with state and county guidelines. So to begin, as I mentioned, all voters will be mailed a vote by mail ballot. We will encourage our voters to stay home and use their ballots, but we will offer in-person voting. The in-person voting will implement social distancing throughout the whole process, from the line to casting the ballot. We will ask voters to wear a face covering, and we will have masks and gloves available for voters who request them. Hand sanitizer will be available upon entry and exit and on other key stations throughout the vote center. Our election workers will wear protective gloves and masks, and all of the devices will be sanitized between our after after voters. Finally, curbside voting will be available for any voters who do not have a mask or refuse to wear a mask, or for any voter who is just unable to enter the vote center. Next slide. The timeline or key dates for this election. September 24th, we will be mailing sample ballot booklets. October 5th, we will begin the mailing of vote by mail ballots. This is also the date that our drop boxes open and the date that early voting begins here in Norwalk at the RCC headquarters. Next important deadline is October 19th, and that is the end of voter registration. The voter is not registered by this date. We will not be mailing a vote by mail ballot. They do have the opportunity to register in person at a vote center if they still wish to do so. Our vote centers will open on October 24. The hours of operations are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., except for the final day of voting, which is the 7 a.m. m to 8 p.m.. That's fine. And this is my quick overview of what we have coming into Long Beach as we continue to secure vote centers and drop boxes . Like I said, I will communicate with your city clerk, move money, and I will pass on information as well about election worker recruitment and training. And then my final comment is, is to thank you, your council and your city clerk money. Thank you all for your support. You have been great partners in this. You really assisted us in overcoming challenges that we have seen due to COVID, and our department truly appreciates that. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. I do have anybody coming in this item. Yes, we have Tiffany Davey. Speaker 6: Good evening, Mayor. Council residents of Long Beach and Stephanie Darby, fourth district resident. I want to thank Monica Forest so much for that really in-depth presentation. And I just want to highlight a couple of reflections actually following this presentation, coupled with the presentation she gave to the Election Oversight Committee on May 26. So just speaking to Howie, just a couple of reflections during this crucial transition to the voting solutions for all people and vote center model. Having served in elections for the past 12 years, I make the following advertisements. Having served as well in the 2020 primaries, L.A. County has 20 you know, 27% of the voters take part in voting in the ten days prior to Election Day, with the remaining 73% of voters taking place on Election Day. With that, a couple of issues arise. Address with the disproportion of previous polling places. L.A. County previously to voting model had 5000 polling places. But with implementation of this up, we had in that primary 978 I believe the report stated. With the new system, it also allows any resident of L.A. County to vote at any vote center, which I am a strong opponent and supporter of. Access to the polls, as every person has a right to vote, should exercise that right part of the way to serve the public. However, that dissatisfied 20% and the aforementioned wait times are resulting up to 2 hours kind of reflects that squeeze towards. 73% voting at 20% over the previous amount of polling places. So I just want to take this opportunity to really encourage all voters to take part in early voting. As Monica stated in the report, polling places will be open from October 24th, October 5th, on vote by mail boxes will be open, really take advantage of those dates . We saw very few voter turnout as again reflected with the percentage. So, again, let's remember a couple of other things really quickly. California's a no I.D. state, so please, to ease whatever we may face on Election Day, please remember the election staff will advise you on whether or not you need to show ID, as there are some exceptions to that rule. Again, we do not need to see your ID unless you are asked to do so. Thank you in advance to all of our nation's poll workers and disaster service workers as we are facing this continued ongoing pandemic. And I look forward to us taking care of each other as a nation. Thank you, everyone. Have a good evening. Speaker 4: Thank you. That concludes public comment. Thank you. Do we have any further comment on this item? We just finished that. Okay. Do we have any council phones? You know, I do not have any council phones, so you see, it's so good. Keep it up. You know, I'm going to go down in order, you know. So the council comments. So District one. Speaker 2: Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just wanted to say thank you very much for that great presentation. I know that this is a challenging time for everyone, and I just want to say thank you and thank you to our city clerk's office for the amazing work that they do. And I look forward to seeing all their great work be shown on November 3rd and before that so when elections happen. Thank you so much. Very supportive of this. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you so much for joining us and presenting today. I think as I mentioned earlier in the council meeting, civic engagement and voter turnout is very critical not only for statewide measures, but local measures and just ensuring that our residents feel like they're engaged and that their vote matters. We know that there when we're talking about inequalities in our city, we know that different demographics in our city vote higher than others. And sometimes that's related to multiple jobs, maybe childcare situation, maybe not being able to get to the polls in time. So I hope that every constituent that is able to vote in this election knows that they will be getting a vote by mail ballot and that they can vote before the final Election Day. And so I really appreciate having the time to talk about this with the council. I appreciate the partnership with the county. Thanks so much. Speaker 4: Disagree. District four. Speaker 3: Thank you for an excellent presentation. Speaker 4: Thank you. Second District by. It seven. Again. It's my honor. And I want to thank the staff for the great presentation. Very important that we get out the vote and that we make it as easy as possible to submit the vote. One question in regards to the drop boxes, are they secured? Speaker 2: Yes, the drop boxes are secured, so the drop boxes are actually bolted to the ground. They are a material that is has been tested to be very difficult to destroy. The boxes themselves are also locked in during periods that are not voting periods. Speaker 4: And can you give an example of when a person would be required to show ID? Speaker 2: Sure. There's really in one instance, there were an individual's required to provide an ID, and that is when it is a new voter who when they registered, we were unable to verify them in the state database. And that is usually either because they didn't provide either the last four digits of their social or a California driver's license number. So very small instances, but there are opportunities. So I appreciate a council member bringing that up. Speaker 4: And finally, will there be literature going out to the voting public in regards to the information we provided tonight? Speaker 2: Yes. So we have already sent out two mailers to every registered voter. The first one was an address verification postcard, really informing voters to to ensure that their postcard is verified. It was affordable by us. So if you move but didn't notify us, then you would return that ballot with that postcard with the new address. We also sent out a postcard asking any voter who's interested in updating the language in which they receive their material to let us know. And then the other pieces of mailers that will be sent out are, as usual, the sample ballot, the vote by mail packet. But then they will also be receiving that information within that booklet that I mentioned that lists all the vote centers. And then voters will also be receiving a postcard listing their nearest vote centers, as they did in March. So all of those mailers are opportunities for us to communicate with the voters, and they will have messaging that includes this information that I shared. Additionally, we are kicking off our mass media campaign this week. So beginning tomorrow you should see us all over social media, over traditional media. We will be out of home. So billboards, even in signage, in supermarkets, locations that we know voters are frequently that these days. So radio, local publications and so forth. So a lot of messaging will begin tomorrow. Speaker 4: Thank you very much, everybody. It's. Mr. Gay. Disegno. Speaker 3: Sure. Thank you. Just thought, first of all, thank you. The president. This is a big election. There's a lot of changes. One thing I wanted to. One thing I wanted to raise during the primary. We would have a number of vote centers, Colin Powell, a local church and smothered in the North Lombard area. And Colin Powell, although there was a lot of space, a lot of empty voting booths. A lot of people knew about it. It was hard to. It's it's on the edge of the town and it's hard to access. And at the time, our regional park out in park was under construction. And so that's our regional park. That's where everyone goes. That's right in the heart of North Long Beach. And and now it's open. The training center's done. I wonder, is it you mentioned you're considering additional voting center locations. I think Highland Park makes more sense in the 95 zip code, given it's the largest zip code in the city and it's smack dab in the middle and it's accessible from all directions. What needs to happen in order to make Highland Park a vote center? Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilmember, for that recommendation. Let me take this back and look at it. I will definitely. If the park wasn't open, maybe it just wasn't fully on our radar and we didn't consider it as we assess locations. But I have made note of this and we'll we'll go back to our team to see if we can immediately send out an assessment team to assess the location and, if possible, work out an agreement with the facility. And I can work with City Clerk Moni to to secure the location. Speaker 3: That that works. I think it works a lot better. There's a fresh new parking lot turning loop, the 30,000 square foot facility with lots of open space so you can social distance. I just think it makes a lot more sense in that space. Thank you for for looking into it and I'll keep in contact. Thanks. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 4: Bye. And you have a motion in second on this place. Speaker 2: Emotions and dangers. Speaker 3: Second Richardson. Speaker 4: Thank you very much, Greg. Please take a vote. Speaker 1: District one. I district to. Speaker 2: My. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 2: High. Speaker 1: School. District four, District five. District five. Right. District six. Speaker 4: By. Speaker 1: District seven. By District eight. District eight. District nine. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you. Now who I am. Could you go ahead and read the item, please? Speaker 1: Communication from Councilman's Councilman Super Na recommendation to increase appropriations in the Capital Project Fund Group in the Public Works Department in the amount of $620 to install a new streetlight in the fourth Council District. District four.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk relative to the November 3, 2020 General Municipal Election. (Citywide)

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Speaker 1: Communication from Councilman's Councilman Super Na recommendation to increase appropriations in the Capital Project Fund Group in the Public Works Department in the amount of $620 to install a new streetlight in the fourth Council District. District four. Speaker 4: Do you have any comment? Speaker 3: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. I'd like to amend the recommendation on the floor to change the dollar amount to 20 $500. The original amount included the street lamp, but not operating it, and we found that a street lamp illuminated is far more effective. So it is. The city attorney would like what he read the entire item or is just the dollar. Speaker 5: That would be fine. You're changing the dollar amount from 620 to 2500. Speaker 4: Correct? Speaker 3: So I'd like to get a second. Speaker 2: And this is Mary. I second the motion. Speaker 4: Yes. Any public comment on this item? Speaker 1: There's no public comment on this item by any. Speaker 4: Any council coming. Okay. Would you please vote? Speaker 1: District one. I'm District two. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 4: I. Speaker 1: District eight. District nine. Speaker 3: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund Group in the Public Works Department in the amount of $620, offset by the Fourth Council District One-time District Priority Funds transferred from the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department to install a new street light in the Fourth Council District. (District 4)

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Speaker 1: Motion carries. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Item 22, you go ahead with the item, please. Speaker 1: Communication from Council Member Richardson. Recommendation to request City Manager to work with Public Works Development Services Caltrans in Los Angeles County to prepare a report on the status of neighborhood cleanup programs and right of way maintenance as impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. And request city manager to present recommendations on how to safely restart the Long Beach neighborhood cleanup assistance programs. Speaker 4: I thank you. I know that we have made have a brief staff report on this. Speaker 3: So I'm I mean, this is a powerful agenda item. Speaker 4: Okay, so rexy. Okay, you go ahead and you comment. Speaker 3: Thank you, guys. So. So the last few months obviously have been challenging for the city. We've we've had to face a crisis on multiple fronts here. And and over that time, we've seen some significant impacts to the maintenance of some of our our rights of ways, our freeway on and off ramps, our river, some of our streets . And prior to the pandemic, there were just a lot more hands to contribute to this. Community groups partner with Neighborhood Services Bureau and partnered with Public Service Public Works to facilitate regular cleanups. You saw regular Caltrans cleanups on the on and off ramps. You saw freeway coordination and flood control coordination. But since March, there's been there's been some challenges. We haven't been able to assemble under the health order around large dumpsters and get the community involved in cleaning up the neighborhood. We've seen in certain situations, Caltrans and L.A. County have either changed their schedules or stopped cleaning up some of these rights away altogether. There's also other issues we'll hear about from staff about just the impacts of our work or workforce or the impacts on our local sort of clean team. And and we want to support them and we want to figure out what we can get done. I have a few slides here. We'll go through them pretty quickly. Let's go to the next slide. This is the recommendation. It's already been read by the clerk. We want to look at what we can do across agencies, what we can look, what we can do internally, and how we can work with our health order to really address the barriers to our Neighborhood Clean Up Assistance Program and other programs that we've done. Let's go to the next one. Here's some examples of the things that we've seen. So this you know, this is this is a Caltrans property is not the city's property. Typically, we will be able to report this type of thing, work with neighborhoods, work with the different neighborhood associations, and get in there pretty, pretty easily. We'd help or Caltrans would help and get that done. And what we see now, it's very difficult to get a response from Caltrans and it's having an impact on our quality of life. What's the next? And here's another one. It's a fire hazard. There's an encampment back there. It's yet another Caltrans right away. Let's see another. This year. This was an encampment in a dump site that you can see directly off of Artesia Boulevard. That's the 91 freeway above it. So you can see this from from Artesia Boulevard. And it's over time, it's gone from under that underpass all the way to Artesia Boulevard. I showed this to our city manager. They got out there and cleaned it up in a matter of weeks. The trash all came back. This is another example of what we've seen. What else was it? I think we have two more. This is we had public work come out, help us do a neighborhood clean up. And we heard at some of the, you know, some of the concerns. And and we have, you know, occasionally we get we get assistance with these things. But again, it's it's overwhelming. Let's see the next command. So this is what we're looking to do here. It's a report on what we can do. Let's look at communications. Outreach does work with other jurisdictions. Let's work on the interagency plan. And we and I know that there's concerns from other council members. This is a good platform to put it on the table and let's hear from staff. So that's my presentation and I'd love to hear from staff now. Speaker 5: Thank you. Council Member So yes, we can certainly come back with some more information as the item requests. We can give a brief oral report tonight on some of the challenges. This is something we've heard about from every single council office about the need for additional cleanups. We are seeing an increase of trash with COVID and we have had some challenges. I'll turn it to Eric and Nico to give some high level comments on some of the challenges and what we're doing about them. Speaker 4: DPKO, Mokonyane or deputy director will give the report. Speaker 7: Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Members of the Council, I want to first thank you for the opportunity for us to speak on this topic tonight. It is something that this pandemic has really impacted staff and our ability to provide service. And so I just want to go over a few things, a few statistics and a few explanations as to what is impacting the service and then talk about moving forward. First of all, we start with daily sanitization protocols. Staff spends more time each day to make sure that their vehicles sanitized, their equipment is sanitized. That's wiping everything down at the beginning and end of shift and between certain service provision, certain service provisions. We also, with our clean team, typically utilize community service workers to help supplement our deep cleaning and our cleanup of areas with people experiencing homelessness and whatnot. We typically have eight community service workers a day, but we have not been utilizing the community service program since the middle of March when the shelter at home order went into place. That means that we've lost 320 Labor Hours per week just from community service workers. We have on top of everything well, we'll talk about some increases, but on top of that, we've seen a 23% increase in sick leave usage. We encourage people who may feel they have symptoms to stay at home. We have had numerous occasions where we've had to have multiple staff quarantined during this process, too. We typically have 1 to 3 people a day calling in for childcare issues, and we have had no community cleanups since the middle of March. Typically last year with Brown, this time we had done about 54 community cleanups in the Clean Team alone. This year we stopped at 15 in the middle of March. And, you know, we have the upcoming challenges of furloughs and we have had a hiring freeze. But the city manager has lifted that freeze for those operations because he recognizes the challenges we're facing. So now I'd like to talk about the workload. So pre-COVID through February or March or middle of March versus since COVID, we have seen nearly a 13% spike in the amount of trash that is coming from residential and commercial collection. To put that in perspective, you're talking over 25,000 tons of trash in a year. To further put that in perspective, that translates to about five and a quarter routes per day, which our current staff is absorbing, all while having a higher increase in sick leave. This also results in about $1.5 million in additional disposal fees. So the impact to our residential refuse collection and commercial refuse collection is huge. And I point this out because the clean team supplements the the refugees collection group when we are too shorthanded to be able to collect everything. We have seen a 41% increase in special pickups. We used to average just under 2500 special bulky item collections a month. We are now averaging 3500 bulky item collections per month since the pandemic. We have seen an increase in illegally dumped item reports from nearly 2000 among nearly 2600 a month. Our refuge hotline has increased for calls and our hotline has increased from 9700 a month to over 13,000 a month, with a peak of 14,500 plus in both June and August. Our goal Long Beach requests have increased from 3300 a month to almost 4600 a month, with a peak of 5300 in August. There's also been a corresponding reduction in cleanups or encampments for people experiencing homelessness from about 86 per month down to 45 per month. And that's for a couple of different reasons. One being that part of the pandemic was to not displace people that were homeless too much. And secondly, those are the resources that are going to help support the other operations, the other parts of the operations. And as far as greedy abatement goes, we've gone from nearly 7000 per month to 7500 per month. So you can see that the the pandemic has created a situation where people are at home, they're redoing their homes , children that would normally be throwing their trash away at school or throwing their trash away at home. Adults that might be throwing their trash away at work or throwing their trash away at home. It's resulting in overflowing trash conditions, especially in multi-family areas. And we're trying to address all these issues. We're trying to right size accounts when we see overflowing places. But right sizing accounts means charging more for additional pickups, which some people are very resistant to at this time. The good news is, as I said, the city manager has allowed us to do some hiring. We currently have four people going through the refuge operator hiring process. We're conducting weekly interviews. We are engaging the Conservation Corps to help us pick up some slack in areas where we're struggling right now and we're already having discussions about how to properly restart neighborhood cleanups. That's where I'd like to end. If you have any questions, I'll be available. Speaker 4: Yes. There. It's way to. Speaker 2: One. Speaker 4: Excuse me. I'm sorry. Ever since the day I. Speaker 2: Say thank you. I swear if I didn't hear a second. So I would like to. Second, if that's needed on this presentation. I don't know if it's needed. And I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Eric. Thank you to two public works. They they have been extremely, extremely burdened during this corona virus times, but they also have been so willing to work with us. And I know particularly that they get a lot of a lot a lot of phone calls from my office and requests and stuff. And I really I really appreciate the a reference that Councilmember Richardson made to the point that, you know, our crews go out there and pick it up and then like a day later or something, the trash is back there again. Of course, that that's going to take a little bit more thought on how to resolve that. But I know that you guys are working really hard in in trying to address this this issue. And I appreciate that. I know my staff really appreciates you guys being very open to helping us clean up in the neighborhood. And, you know, I'm also looking forward to reaching out to our L.A. County so that they can either give us permission to help clean up their area or come help us in cleaning up their areas. So, again, thank you, Councilmember Richardson, for bringing this forward. And I know that this doesn't only affect my my district and that it does affect citywide, but I feel like this has been a continuous issue in my district. So thank you. Speaker 4: I'm here. Is to kill. Speaker 2: Thank you, Vice Mayor, and thank you, Councilmember Richardson and cast member as in Dallas. I think we've all noticed an uptick in interest in our districts and whether it's in the alleyways or on the street. And it's been it's been frustrating, but recognizing, I think, the balance that Stark laid out is a tough balance. I have a couple of questions. First off, I know particularly in East Village, we had done a pilot program around lock bins. Probably every week I get three or four different people sending me images of the trash bins overflowing there. And I'm not sure if you have a status update on this, but I know that we have had a report back that said that the Lock Bin program was working and it was successful. But I don't recall if we ended up making that a mandate, an ordinance, and if we expanded it outside of East Village. But I think it would be a good time to revisit that. Do you have any updates on that program? Speaker 7: Thank you, Councilmember. Yes, we did do a pilot program, as you said, and we saw some success with that. I think part of the problem currently is, as I said earlier, that because of the amount of waste that's being generated with everybody staying at home, that those service levels just aren't necessarily up to par. And we're so we are having investigators go out to each of these locations and monitor the service levels and then come back and make recommendations on do we increase do we increase the number of the frequency of collection at that location? Do we give it a larger container? And making recommendations. And then we have to make adjustments to the rate to those people accordingly. So when you see a lot in a lot of times when you see some overflowing stuff, you'll see the being open and bags just stacked a little higher than the edge. Sometimes with a lot bands, you'll see people just start stacking things on top of it around the bend as well. So it's a challenge, but I think the challenge would be best addressed by looking at the appropriate service levels and addressing them with regard to locking bins. We did not mandate locking bins, but we do have locking bins available now. There is a fee in the fee resolution for for multi-family or other accounts that do want to have a locking bin because servicing locking bins is a little bit more time consuming. So that's just a small fee that goes with it. Speaker 2: Okay. And I would ask perhaps the next time we talk about trash, if we could understand how we're notifying people of the options for them to lock their bins. I know that there's a lot of people that don't know that we have that. So whether that's in a bill or something like that, just making sure that we're doing some public awareness around it. So I definitely appreciate that that report back. The other question I had is I know that we've changed our recycling and I know that that. And do you guys plan on doing a stock presentation down the road on some of the changes to our recycling program? Speaker 7: We certainly can. I believe the city manager just recently issued a memo to advise the council on the changes and the changes are due to market conditions having changed over the years for what commodities are being purchased versus what commodities are no longer being purchased and put in the recycling stream. Speaker 2: Now understand. Thank you. And the reason I brought it up here is because I, I know that I've talked to constituents that are just now putting everything in their trash bin instead of the recycle bin because they don't understand the differences. And so being able to articulate that for our constituents and maybe address some of the issues with the changes to how their bins are filling up would help. Speaker 5: And we're planning to have a major press release and public information go out later this week with all those changes and what should go in the bin and what should go in the trash. Speaker 2: Wonderful. Thank you. I know that we've got lots of items probably coming up over the next year or two on on trash and waste and recycling. So I appreciate that. As it pertains to the item in front of us with cleanups, I couldn't agree more. I think a lot of different neighborhoods are trying to figure out how to build capacity, whether that means that they're doing 2 hours, 2 hours at a time, or that different organizations are able to adopt different hours to go out and do cleanups, or that there's a pick up station. Like I would happily open up my district office for an entire day on a Saturday for people to come and pick up tools to go out and clean different streets. And so I think that our neighborhoods really need it. I know there are some people that that wouldn't mind getting out so long as their safety protocols in place. So I support that item. I appreciate the thought that went into it. Speaker 4: It's x ray. They disagree, which is based. Fishing for. Speaker 3: Thank you, Vice Mayor, and thanks to Councilman Richardson for bringing this item forward. Very timely, very much needed. I'd also like to comment for Mr. Marconi and Mr. Lopez. Our own public works department. Their standards are so much higher than other agencies. So I know they're trying challenging, but I just wanted to give you kudos for for the great job you're doing. We get daily calls, daily emails to our office involving us, Caltrans easements. We never like to pass the buck or our you know, it just we don't like the whole concept of the handoff. But Caltrans is a state agency and not under our jurisdiction. So if the purpose of this agenda item is to direct staff, I would say that that's a huge issue. If if staff could get connected with Caltrans, that would be wonderful. We did have quarterly meetings in the past. Those have been canceled since COVID. And when you see the abandoned encampments and all the trash on the four or five freeway easements, I'm just wondering if if this is a public health issue where the California Department of Public Health can get involved. Also, if Caltrans is not cleaning stuff, that it is a public health issue and it's their property. So I'd appreciate the staff could look at that and any other way that we can address this, because as I said, it's daily. We coordinate with the Fifth Council District because a four or five freeway, uh, divides our district, and I could mention L.A. County, but it's just, it's those issues are so small compared to the Caltrans issues. I just would like to live in a capstone right now. So thanks again for bringing that forward and our support to receive it finally. Speaker 5: Yes, sir. We completely agree with you. We have been asking numerous times for Caltrans to do the cleanups, especially on the four or five. You're right. It's it's gotten completely, you know, bigger than we've ever seen it. I would also say L.A. County, we have had some success. So after several months of asking, they are now starting their cleanups again on our major rivers. And I think one is scheduled now for October. So we will start seeing progress there. We will keep after Caltrans and use whatever we can to try to get some attention to those, both the on ramps and off ramps, but also the four or five freeway itself. Speaker 7: And if I may if I may add, first of all, thank you. Thank you for all the compliments we've received. But really, this is a reflection on our refuge team. These guys are out there doing all this additional work, addressing these issues. The days are getting longer for them, even though the days are getting shorter for everybody else as far as sunlight goes. But they're still sitting there out there and they're making up this difference that we're seeing created here. And that includes maintenance assistance, refuge operators, the refuge supervisory team, all of them but L.A.. I mean, Caltrans is kind of impacted similarly to how we are in that they used 50 or more community service workers a day and they're not using any at all right now. So they have some issues. So we've reached out to them and we're going to try and put some plans together. Speaker 4: Thank you. This is five. Speaker 2: Thank you, Vice Mayor. A couple of quick things. 1/1, big, big thank you to the rescue workers. I know I try to say it myself when I see them. They collect the trash this morning. I sometimes see them in the district at 530, 6:00 at night, still collecting trash, whether a trash truck's broken down or whatever has caused the delays. And we just really appreciate them. Second, I think that I talked to Mr. Modica about this specifically, but when trash bins are broken, it's taking 3 to 4 weeks to get replacement bins, which is very difficult for neighbors to go that long without trash bins in front of their house or recycle bin. So I know that we have a contract for that, if we can look into that. I know Mr. Modica said he will. Additionally, thanks to the management at public works and nephews for I'm really partnering with the neighborhoods. Some of the neighborhoods over here have found some opportunities to work together to clean out garages and the such and then coordinate getting all the items to the end of every street so that the rescue teams can swing by and pick up as much of it as possible. That's all been great, but I think that the challenge still comes with what I talked about with City Manager was when you call in for a pickup, it's a long time before you can get a pickup. So I would like to explore the idea of a same day pickup charge because a lot of people are more than happy to pay a fee. If we could fund a a vehicle just out of those kind of fees, then perhaps we can afford another rough use truck because there are lots of neighbors who are cleaning out garages, cleaning out other areas, and they don't have the knowledge of how to dispose of all this kind of stuff so quickly. So then it sits out on their curb. Then either they get reported by a neighbor and then they get a fine, which then they would have been willing to pay the fee in the first place. Or they. It sits there until it either gets rummaged by some people driving through your neighborhood who then target your neighborhood potentially in the future to rummage through your trash cans and other things. So we just need to figure out a way where trash gets put in the trash as quickly as possible in a way that supports our rescue workers and our community. So a big thank you to Chico and his team and all the hard work that they're doing. We cannot be more thankful for how hard they're all working on a daily basis. And then when it comes to Caltrans. What are legal opportunities in terms of I know that we've decided to just pay for clean up on their area sometimes, but if you don't clean up an area that belongs to you and you are the owner and you are responsible for blight, what can we do as a city to fine you? Speaker 5: Councilmember. I'm not sure we have the answer to that. They are a state government. They're not a private property owner that would normally fall under code enforcement. The city attorney might be able to add a little bit more. That's correct. They would be exempt from certain government, local government regulations similar to the zoning code or planning and building permits. Speaker 2: So to make a change, we would need like a statewide ballot initiative or a state legislative item that would empower community so we could work with our state senator and our state assembly members to say, come up with some legislation that would take a percentage of their budget to pay for the the services that we're providing on their behalf. Speaker 5: That that could be an option. Yes. Speaker 2: I hope that state ledge will consider that at their next meeting. We need a solution. This is just not acceptable. The off ramps are out of control. I was off the 91 in North Long Beach two days ago. Off the four or five. Off the Bellflower. I mean, it's it's bad. We need it cleaned up. And it is a public health issue. So thank you for any help that you guys can provide in that. Speaker 4: Thank you. District seven. Thank you very spur. And I totally agree with everything that's been said, especially when it comes down to getting more cooperation from Caltrans and the county in terms of those cleanups. So it would be greatly appreciated if we could just just give a little more to get involved. Appreciate it. I'm also crisscrossed by two crisscrossed by two freeways, four or five and seven, ten. And as you drive over, you could see just the tons of trash that that piles up along this corridor. And then they also have the river as well. That would be all the help that we can get. Very much appreciate it. Thank you. And I want to make a shout out to our rescue workers. Thank you. Comes from Uganda. You know, this to me is a great idea and it's unfortunate it had to, you know, be agenda before this problem was taken so seriously. And I know I brought this issue up as well. You know what, Councilman Richardson, I would like to really, if you would be open to it. And I am hoping that you will be, you know, that like to add that to your motion to include a report back on. Oh yeah. But we have in place to collect illegal dumping items and the statue of each one of them. The status of each one of them. Excuse me. You know, we have a backlog. This is something that needs to be brought to our attention. You know, are you okay adding that to the report that came back to this council? Speaker 3: Absolutely. Vice Mayor, it's time we get back to basics and get things cleaned up. Absolutely. Speaker 4: Thank you so much. And before I yield my time, I just want to show you all a video. On a serious note and this is this in the sixth District, it's very brief and it concerns me, especially since this along our business corridor at 1511 is Halloween Street. So please roll the tape. You don't mind? Okay. But I think and this is what is should what should be totally unacceptable because the fact that these are neighbors coming out of their residence, I mean, business and putting it in the alley. You know, all we have to do, like we say, we have, you know, all these apps that you could be using and for them to put it in the ad and then they blame it on, you know, our community and everyone else, you know. So this is things that I think we really need to be brought to attention to. And I really want to thank you and your staff, but you guys are just working overload with this. But we have situations like this. It makes you work even harder. And I want to thank each and every one of you. And thank you, Mr. Councilman, which is simple and need to put that on, you know, the item that you had. Thank you very much, sir. Okay. Is there any public comment on this item? Speaker 1: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 4: But so. District one is always a good place. Did I get a second on that? Speaker 1: I believe Councilwoman Zendejas was a second on this item. Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Would you believe that district one. Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: District two, I. District three. District four. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 2: II. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 1: District seven. District eight. High District nine, high ocean carries. Speaker 4: Thank you. Now we'll go to item 24, please. But you grew up with.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to work with the Public Works and Development Services Departments, California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) and Los Angeles County, to prepare a report on the status of neighborhood clean-up programs and right-of-way maintenance as impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; and Request City Manager to work with the City Health Officer and various Departments to present recommendations on how to safely restart the Long Beach Neighborhood Clean-Up Assistance Programs and other neighborhood improvement programs that have been discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Speaker 4: Thank you. Item 33. Speaker 1: Communication from Councilmember Richardson recommendation to increase appropriations in the special advertising and promotion fund group and the City Manager Department by 20,000 for the Uptown Jazz Fest. Speaker 3: So I'll move, Richard. Speaker 4: Thank you. Any public comment on this side of second round is. Speaker 1: There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 4: But can we please have a vote on this? Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District two. I. District three. District four. Speaker 4: By. Speaker 1: District five. District six. Speaker 4: Right. Speaker 1: District seven, District eight. District nine. Speaker 4: All right. Speaker 1: Motion carries 505 district. Okay. Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to increase appropriations in the Special Advertising and Promotion Fund Group in the City Manager Department by $20,000, offset by community sponsorships for the Uptown Jazz Fest in the amount $15,000 from Bridge Development Partners, LLC, and $5,000 from the Port of Long Beach.

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Speaker 1: Item 14 is communication from Councilmember Pierce. Councilwoman Zendaya's recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the People's Budget Coalition on the proposed budget proposal, FY 2021. You're right. Speaker 0: Thank you. I'll turn it over to Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I know that we've never done a presentation like this before in council. I think the budget has been organizing with different nonprofits and organizations for several years. I think officially presenting a people's budget for the last five years. I could be wrong there, but we thought it was important just to hear a presentation. I know they've made lots of requests. I recognize that this budget year is a extremely tight budget year. But we thought since they've done so much work around this, given the historical context, that we give some space for them to present today . So I have not had a chance to see the presentation yet, so I look forward to seeing this today and hearing from my council colleagues. So thank you. Speaker 1: For. Speaker 3: Having me. We have them on the line. Speaker 2: That's a question for the court. Speaker 0: Councilmember, what was your question? Speaker 3: I believe the clerk has them lined up to speak, got for the presentation. So I was just putting her. Speaker 1: Ailsa Chang, are you on the line? Speaker 3: Yeah, we're here. And this time. Speaker 4: My. Speaker 3: Kids like Elsa and Dawn. I believe you guys have 10 minutes, so if you'd like to go ahead and get started. Great. Thank you. So good evening. Speaker 4: I'm John McCain's District two residence in long beach and the People Coalition. Speaker 3: Co-Presenters are Gaby. Speaker 4: Hernandez, the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition. Speaker 3: Troy Peters with Invest in Youth Campaign and Maniac Bay, BLM and. Speaker 4: HUD Council. Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman Mary Finn Anthony Pearce for incentivizing our presentation tonight. Next slide, please. Mayor Garcia, you recently posted on social media your support for. Speaker 4: BLM and racial justice, as have other council members. And some of you have said absolutely nothing and your silence speaks. Speaker 3: Volumes to the actions that you take today are far more significant than your platitudes on social media. You got to make the tough decisions tonight to ensure our whole city's values are actually reflected in this budget. Speaker 4: Next slide, please. We are. Speaker 3: Also here tonight because of police violence. Speaker 4: Corruption and your negligence as mayor and council members. We are not here because. Speaker 3: We condemn what happened in Minneapolis or in Kansas City. But what is happening right here in Long Beach. Because you, mayor, city council and city manager, past and present, have enabled this violent police department. You support corruption without BP and their police officers association allowing you to operate with impunity and zero accountability. Over five years, the Post spent more than $860,000 on the mission of benefiting our BPD. And so purchasing you and other political candidates like Sandy Allen in exchange for you to protect their killer cops and to buy your silence. And then the way you are, like the way when they snuck in Article. Speaker 4: Nine of their email you. Speaker 3: September 17th last year. Speaker 4: To hide their vinyl record. Next slide, please. We are here not just because of your connection with. Speaker 3: The place, but the department's own. Speaker 4: Corruption. Speaker 3: Killer cops using tiger techs. Speaker 4: To delete. Speaker 3: Records. Speaker 4: Destroying hard records. Speaker 3: And aiming guns at innocent protesters like Dante Parks. Speaker 4: The loner threatened to have his. Speaker 3: Toddler taken away plotting to murder activists like Sun King smiling Talons coins praising their violence. Mangold neglects to address the white supremacist vigilante murder. Speaker 4: Of Frederick Path. And you all historically allowed seed money to. Speaker 3: Run the seed and retaliate against Tomas Gonzalez after he thought your health costing taxpayers another 700,000 plus dollars. This is why you have to defund the Arab, please. We are also here because of this department's murder. With impunity. You turned a blind eye to Don Tasered and sat on his back three times, mistaking cell phone. Speaker 4: For a gun. Speaker 3: Officer Hernandez murdered for Murad when he needed care which firemen were providing. Six officers murdered Lionel. Speaker 4: Hampton after a passer by claimed his airsoft rifle. Speaker 3: With a real gun. Speaker 4: Expired. Speaker 3: I'm including. Speaker 4: The murder of beloved think. Speaker 3: Wine cream salting and the largest jury verdict for cop killing in Long Beach hit $39.8 million. Next slide, please. Speaker 4: This and more is a reflection of your collective magnanimity. You have enabled. Speaker 3: And supported these murders of our sons, our daughters, our brothers, sisters, neighbors and friends. Who will be next? Speaker 4: Next slide, please, Gabby. Speaker 3: We all know that repeal consumes 44% of our general fund and 240 million taxpayer dollars, most of which goes to pay the salaries, benefits and overtime of more than 850 cops. But what is the true cause of racist, violent policing? Next slide. Since 2014, the city has spent more than 31 million to settle 61 excessive force in wrongful death lawsuit against LPD. That's more than Baltimore, Minneapolis, Denver and Oakland have paid for police lawsuits. This law shows only the top four highest payouts, but this settlements are just the tip of the iceberg. Next slide. They'll be PD almost never fires or disciplines, officers involved in killings or injuring people. Legal records dating back to 2007 showed that in 65, LPD officers have been involved in committing violence against community members, including 28 officers involved in killing people. And this is just the small subset of violent officers with official legal complaints against them. Most of these violent officers and killer cops were still on the city's payroll as of last year. Not only are these battling cops still out here policing the community, they're actually rewarded. OLB PD has promoted at least 12 of the Bailin cops to ranks of Sergeant and lieutenant, including the cops involved in the killings of Lynette Gibson, John, the real Mike Gordon, Jenny and Jason consistently. The city has paid this 65 billion and killer cops more than 52 million in salaries and benefits in the years following their violent offenses. 52 million doesn't even include the cost of access, insurance and city attorneys who defend violent cops. Next slide. All of these numbers and all of this cause points to a toxic culture and system of white supremacy that you all bought to protect and expand every time you throw more money at police and less and less money as systems of care. LAPD is not just a few bad apples, but a whole rotten orchard, one that protects and rewards repeat offenders like officers Salvadore Latorre and Jason Kirk, both of whom have killed multiple people and caused the city millions of dollars in payouts and salaries. And because of this negligence of successive mayors, councils and city matters, Long Beach taxpayers continue to foot the bill for violent and killer cops year after year, while police continue to terrorize black communities in communities of color. Next, life choice. Speaker 1: All of this is why we're calling on you to defund OPD and reimagine community safety. Our communities need care, not cops. We're calling on you to divest from LAPD by at least 20%. That's $50 million for the budget shortfall and then reinvest the remaining 20 million into the people's budget. Any other essential services like community health, libraries and parks. Next slide, please. When we divest from BP, we must reinvest in black lives and communities of color. One We must reimagine community safety without police terror grounded in restorative justice and black empowerment. Two We must establish dedicated funding to build affordable and supportive housing. Three, We must invest 4.4 million to provide a right to counsel for all renters to reduce evictions and prevent homelessness. Or we must invest 700,000 to establish a rental housing division to communicate with both tenants and landlords and enforce tenant protections. Next slide, please. We must create Community Health Councils for community led crisis response or mental health and safety. Six We must provide free job training for black residents and revise the city's project labor agreement so that black contractors and workers benefit from union jobs. Seven We must invest 2.3 million fully funded language access and finally create a culture of language justice by moving service in-house. Eight We must boost senior and youth development programing and supportive services. And nine finally, we must invest 400,000 to renew and expand the Long Beach Justice Fund to provide free, universal legal representation to our immigrant neighbors facing deportation. Next slide, please, for Maniac. Unlike the city, unlike the city of Long Beach, true reconciliation, as applied by the people of Australia, Canada and South Africa is based on a few key principles. Led by the victims, those who were harmed, and to the perpetrators of the harm. The city of Long Beach and the Elbe PD. They must be truthful in their testimony and conciliatory in their tone. This is key because Chief Luna, LAPD and the PSA have not been apologetic nor conciliatory, even after the facts of historical racism and discrimination have been proven and exposed. Instead, we see political assassination plots, social media posts filled with lies and scare tactics and outright bragging of their violent history with their backs in boots challenge coins. When it comes to equity, black citizens in Long Beach have been at the top of all the negative statistics and at the bottom of all the positive ones. These facts are why the city itself declared racism a public health crisis. This is why EUR 1.5 million for racial reconciliation is simply a joke. Defunding the racist police by 5% is not enough to address the true needs of the community. We are calling for a true victim led process where at least 20% of the LAPD budget is divested and reinvested in the people's budget. And those who have been harmed the most, the black community. You were elected by the people to represent the people, not the police department. You have the power to begin to overturn the culture of systematic racism and white supremacy in City Hall and the Elbe PD. Do not wait for another viral video or another multimillion dollar payout. Do not wait for another innocent life to be taken. Be bold and be brave and be a visionary. Leaders of the people that we elected you to be. History can be on your side if you make the right decision. Thank you. Speaker 3: We're happy to ask questions. Speaker 0: Councilmember first. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. Well, that was a unique presentation for the council. I think that you guys spoke from your heart and your experience, and I appreciate the moment. I know that this is probably not a comfortable presentation. It wasn't 100%, I think, what people were expecting. But I want us to focus on the fact that what the message here is that you guys have a platform of things that you've asked for. And whenever people ask, where does the money come from? You're looking at those departments in the city where you feel like. That should come from. And I know that there will probably be maybe some discussion on this item or maybe on the budget item. But I really wanted to focus on the requests that were made around the housing work, the language access work, and that that was the purpose of this presentation. So I appreciate your guys time. I'm not sure if there's any other council comments, but that's those are my comments. Thank you, Mayor. Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 0: I don't I don't see any. I'm will go to the comment on the item. Speaker 1: Our first speaker is Daniel Arturo. Speaker 5: Hi. I'm calling in support of the adoption of the People's Budget in support. Speaker 1: Of. Speaker 5: Everything that was just presented. I strongly do not believe the police make communities safer. My name is Daniela Carroll. By the way, I don't know if I said that and. Speaker 3: I think that even. Speaker 5: With the proposed budget. Speaker 3: Cutting, the small amount. Speaker 5: That's being cut from the police budget, they're still going to be better staffed than most of our other departments in our library or health or parks and economic development departments. And I don't find that acceptable. I believe that providing legal defense and rental assistance for Long Beach residents needs to be a priority, along with language access, of course. And I think we need to re-imagine a long beach in which we are hiring social workers and librarians and afterschool tutors and people who could make the city more equitable. And I just want to end in saying. And advocating for adopting the people's budget. And reallocating funds and additional resources on an ongoing basis to community led priorities that create health, opportunity, community and justice. Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is John Miller. Speaker 5: Hello? Speaker 1: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 5: Can you hear me? Yes. Hi. My name is Jemima and I am a community organizer with the Long Beach Immigrants Rights Coalition. I am here today because, again, I am disappointed by how little our voice matters to the city council mayor. Every time I leave the city council meeting, I think to myself, what could we have done better to be heard by city council? What can we do to make them realize that they are witnesses of literal murder task by police? They honor and accept money from grandmothers. Mother's daughters are here. Tell you what, they need to keep their community safe. As you ignore them, the children are listening. I will say this again, and the generations after me will continue to say this. The police are murdering black and brown communities, and you're allowing this to happen by giving them the resources to do it. Taking a stand is defunding the police by 20%, not taking pictures and with protesters with fists in the air while continuing to get police funding. 40% of the city's general fund police violence has to stop. And you are now in a position of power to make that happen. Tonight, you had the choice to make the right decision to be brave and listen to the very people you swore to represent. Defund the police and fund programs that will give renters the opportunity for legal representation. Yes, this will prevent homelessness. Renew the justice fund. You'll be able to unite immigrant families and keep them safe from deadly conditions in detention centers. Renew it by 400,000 with 50,000 to go to lba. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker. Speaker 6: Is melissa garlick. Speaker 5: Hi there. Thank you, mayor and council members. My name is Melissa GARLICK. I'm testifying on behalf of the Vera Institute of Justice, specifically to investment in the Long Beach Justice Fund. We've been proud to partner with the City of Long Beach as part of our safe network, as a leader in creating a legal defense fund that advances universal representation for Long Beach residents facing detention and deportation. And as part of the People's Budget proposal, we urge you to support $400,000 for the Long Beach Justice Fund for FY 21 and as part of a permanent component of Long Beach City Council. As the devastating impacts of a public health crisis meet the harms inflicted by systemic racism, the accumulation of injustices facing immigrant communities, communities of color, black immigrants has reached a tipping point, and its consequences will continue unless communities take action. Now is the time to examine the city's police budget, reimagine public safety and invest in communities. The stakes are high. Immigrants of color who are racially profiled and criminalized are funneled into the detention and deportation machinery. Communities need local investment and programs that protect communities of color and immigrant communities and language justice. Science is an investment in keeping together families and communities who are criminalized and targeted by overpolicing and increased immigration enforcement. It's a widely supported program that ensures lawyers on the front lines fighting every day for the health, freedom and due process of immigrants in detention. Support for this program is needed now more than ever. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is Norberto Lopez. Gilberto Lopez. Roberto Lopez. Your time starts now. Jordan. Jordan, during your time starts now. Hello, Mayor and City Council. My name is Jordan. The people's budget has been demanding defunding LAPD for years. So the councilmembers who say they don't understand what divestment is or they don't understand any of this, I have to ask, were you not paying attention during those meetings? Because I know recently council members have been leaving during certain parts of meetings, as we saw last week, when certain council members had to be texted and brought back in. So I just wanted to say that it is frankly insulting that the people's budget is getting a presentation after all these years, on the same day that you're passing a budget and you're not making any significant changes to the budget or delaying it or really taking into consideration all. Councilmember Richardson, in a few meetings ago, you specifically asked the city manager about your reconciliation process. He told you that? There would be hearings in October, but it's not relevant to the budget. Blah, blah, blah, that type of thing. So I have to ask, what is the point of your reconciliation process if it has no impact on the budget and the police still get all this money and we can't fund any of the demands of the people's budget or close the. Funding shortfalls this year without cutting essential services. If the reconciliation process happens after the budget passes, if nothing changes at the budget, how will the police have been reconciled? How well anything have changed? Defund the police and take a bold stand against police violence, divest from BPD and then invest differently in our community health and safety. Thank you. Our next speaker is Norberto Lopez. Speaker 5: Tony. Hello? Speaker 1: Hello? Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Yes, I'm calling my name as the term project director with Libra, and I'm calling in support of people's budget and hoping that the city council can adopt it. We're calling on the city to really look at the needs of the community and not the needs of the police or the developers. We've been asking for the people's budget for a year. You know, we had a. Speaker 5: Presentation today. Speaker 1: But it's not enough. What we're asking for is for direct action and for you to actually adopt what we're asking for. We're asking for a housing division. We're asking for more affordable housing. We're also asking that there's a right to council program in the city to help tenants out. We really, really, really need you to defund the police and fund community initiatives that really help out the people that need it the most, not funding people who make twice as much or even three times as much as a community member. So we're really asking you to defund the police and adopt the people's budget. Thank you. Thank you. And now we're going. Speaker 6: To move to the Spanish. Speaker 1: Interpretation, interpretation. Speaker 6: Portion of the public. Speaker 1: Comments or give us a moment. And. The first speaker is Elizabeth Gonzalez. Speaker 4: Lisa Gonzalez Primero. What, autumn? Speaker 5: My question. Speaker 4: Here may. Speaker 5: Be number 25 as one palace. Speaker 4: My name is Thomas. And you put this together. George Wallace may nominate Palin. My name is on, and I'm here. Speaker 5: To give. Speaker 4: A check. I'm going to tell you that I'm very disappointed in regards to this participation. Speaker 5: But he made it. First of all, how about another? Speaker 4: I couldn't hear. Speaker 5: Noninvolvement in that and interpret that as. Yeah. Speaker 4: And I couldn't understand what the interpreter was saying. Speaker 5: Norah. Speaker 4: I feel that I'm being a general. Speaker 5: This is back home in Colorado and there's the process. Speaker 4: I want to keep getting. Speaker 5: Close to each other. Speaker 4: And to really feel that I am being heard. Speaker 5: Jennifer, see that one point there? We see open up all there and they're all communication willingly. Speaker 4: We need good service so that we are able to have good bilingual communication getting there. Speaker 5: They look, they start Orlando. Speaker 4: We need to have the actual fluidity of what is actually being seen. Speaker 5: As everyday symbols. Para la policia the man has gone and banged the policy into. But I make them say, re-issue the production. Speaker 4: I still think that we need to defund the police of at least 20% so that we are able to improve the language. Speaker 5: Sundance, L.A.. I see that excuse that a lack of money that. He dissembled for not being supportive. And so I feel that we are up on that clinical development. Speaker 1: Sorry. We're having trouble with the translators line. Give us a moment. Okay. Speaker 4: They cannot hear me. Okay. Can you hear me now in English? Yes. On muted. Speaker 2: Yes, we can hear you now. Speaker 4: Okay. Did you hear the whole interpretation of what was said just now or. No? Speaker 2: No. You cut off about halfway through the interpretation. Speaker 4: Okay. Where? What was the last thing that you heard? Because I have it here in my notes. Speaker 2: She requested a 20% reduction in the police budget was her last comment that you translated to us. Speaker 4: Okay, so we put a request for 20% budget at 20% defunding of the police from the budget because that would really help the great needs that we have in the community, for example, that would really have the major language needs that we have. Because I do feel that we're not being heard in for example, defund ment with 20% would also help opening our mental health clinics. That is also something that could be done with that. And that was the last thing that she said. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jose CU. When I started in the scooter. Speaker 4: Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Speaker 1: My scooter when I started. Speaker 4: Clean yourself a scooter. My kitchen staff. Speaker 1: Feel. Speaker 4: Okay. We've periprocedural and dosing your lecture context today. I think young people think that, but that is all about meeting me. Interpret that in a moment. But I saw this thing, you know. Speaker 1: When I started mean cassava. He used to assemble not only a of this computer. I said, Do you mean that? Suppose you keep that in the present. Okay. But beneficial. The person that here in this house in Houston meant the eagerness of into policy to kill a policy are also all my loser paracetamol troublesome Mr. Comunidad attempted the galore gay then if he said he I thought to be my on this a local in Cousteau e or looked and took the several examples in the way law recourses into policy. You are a moot de la familia. Get some of this Carlos in me council frequency equals e nor the in all your but your polar. Here is a lunar event that this was of this a local law must put on the possible only familiar. Speaker 4: Okay moment it does in your OC. And everybody hear me. Speaker 2: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 4: Yes. Good afternoon. First of all, I come here with great humility and with great respect to all of you to really make a call out to you for a 20% a defunding of the police. This really would help the communities that have been unfairly evicted in this case. Not only would that help the communities that have been unfairly evicted, but these funds that have been misused could actually be used not only to have the communities that have been unfairly evicted, but it would really mean great support for communities such as myself that have gone through that situation. I, for example, went through this situation. I was evicted. I'm fairly and justly with five kids, without any assistance whatsoever, without any other way of protecting them, processing it. Speaker 1: Get in there. Stop it this long. Get your stupid end or get your crooked appointee up. It was sort of a course of Jeopardy era and said, benefit yourself. But I'm a sort of la comunidad thinking that I. I think that. Speaker 4: Title. I think that the police has a lot of resources and that could be very beneficial for everybody in the community in general. Seek out senior. Speaker 1: See Novello and specifically the Una comunidad is by now and they get out. They like much of communities others in Long Beach system even though in pursuing this precarious get a fiscal appointee. My loser with the Iran are you are asking my your interview is yours e a look at some parents have all told Abbas. Speaker 4: Okay we being I also want to say that you know these funds that the police says in this case misusing that this could also actually be helped to assist the community and in general and I just don't mean specifically just for, you know, the Hispanic community or for the black community, but I mean, for the community in general, there are many people that need support that live in many precarious situations. And I think that these funds could also be used not only for assistance for elderly people or even for special education services for parents. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is Luis Maria Ortiz. Speaker 4: Getting into what I do, what I lose. Maria Ortiz. Cinerama is quicker. Is quicker. Speaker 5: Three. Speaker 4: Okay. Sing it up with the presenter Joyce Culture. Speaker 5: Winner. Seven nominations. My loyalty. The story of what we do is we obtain not only that, but I say to my San Jose, are you there environmental? Speaker 4: So I'm all for them. She's a chemical interpreter, saying, My name is Maria Ortiz. And once again, I am asking that you please reinvest these funds back into the community so that we can, for example, be able to invest and open up and centers for mental health assistance. Senora. Speaker 5: Are you there live? Who is delivering them records? Speaker 4: The orientation that we are able to as well provide resources for the youth where they get services related to guidance and orientation. Seeing us in Europe. Speaker 5: Don't they select proposals for you? Yes, I mean. Speaker 4: Were there. They were the youth not only got support, but also guidance as well. T. Speaker 5: Don't get established on my my. But okay, look, when it's over, it's going to moment those critical. Speaker 4: Where they were. We also have prevention programs for the youth where especially in these very tough times seeing us in Europe. Speaker 5: Give them space. And they don't think that the ability to intentionally send souls. Speaker 4: Where they use, especially in these very tough times where there are so much uncertainty, but the youth does not feel that they are alone. Speaker 5: Getting the attempt over that much better holiness in basic details. Speaker 4: And that we actually are able to invest more in programs for the youth and not remove these programs instead. Speaker 5: Economic development, we will respond accordingly. Speaker 4: And to not lose our focus, which should be the youth and how to assist them. Speaker 5: Yes. On which. Speaker 4: Evidence. And that is all. Thank you so much. Speaker 1: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 4: You start concretely come in through your poorly compressed 30 kilograms? Yes. Speaker 1: Oh. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Clarke. The second on this motion by counsel was in defiance has been withdrawn. So there is no there was no second on this motion. Is there a second on this motion? Any second on this motion. Okay. So, Mr. City Attorney, I believe since there's no second on Councilman Pierce's motion, the item dies without a vote. Is that correct? Speaker 1: That is correct. Okay.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the People’s Budget Coalition on the People’s Budget Proposal FY 2021.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_09082020_20-0896

Speaker 0: So we're moving on from that item and now we're on to item 15. Speaker 2: Communication from Councilmember Pearce, Councilwoman Zendejas, Councilwoman Price, Councilmember Richardson recommendation to receive and file a presentation on various mobile crisis intervention service models. Great. Speaker 3: Thank you. I believe you guys have a PowerPoint. Speaker 2: One. Just one moment. T.I. is pulling up the PowerPoint if you'd like to proceed or get that up on the screen. Speaker 3: That's great. Thanks. So this is an item that, you know, our city council and our staff have had many conversations around different mobile service units. And I know that we have stopped behind the scenes working on it. Myself and some of my council colleagues had a generalized presentation on the Hart team that we did not officially get the full presentation like we typically do. So we wanted to take just 5 minutes today. My goal is to be able to just look at some other safety models and to hear from council colleagues so that staff can kind of hear from all of us. It's a receiving file presentation that I just thought would be really helpful to be able to keep us in context so we can go to the next slide. So right now, we're in a moment of of the framework of reconciliation, a global call for a new public safety model. Our our very own Long Beach Police Department propose over 5% cuts to the Department for Justice, local and national call part of this change, this call for global change. The city had already taken several steps to invest in community before the police need to intervene. Such things as suicide prevention plans, violence prevention plans. We've got quality life officers, our heart team. And so this presentation is really looking at mobile crisis intervention services to support service first response to people experiencing mental health, substance abuse and homeless related crises. Next slide. So these are a couple of slides taken from the last Hart Team presentation. So in November, November 30th, 2016, the homeless team was created and their mission statement was to reduce the number of fire department responses to individuals experiencing homelessness. They were going to do this by being able to respond to 911 calls, working with the continuum of care partners and educating fire service and community members about local resources and issues. So really, the Hart team is specific to those that are struggling with homelessness. Next slide, please. And the first two years of the Hart team, they had over 3000 contacts with persons experiencing homelessness. 1700 of those contacts originated as nine on one calls, which the fire department were initially dispatched, and more than 96% of the 9911 calls, they were the first ones to reserve on to arrive on the scene. 80% of those cases, Hart was able to cancel the responding fire engine paramedic rescue or both. This is really where we were looking at. The Hart seemed to be a cost savings apparatus for us, not just an additional group of people that could go out, but to ensure that we didn't have to have so many people come out to the scene. In 2018, they responded to over 8000 calls where the chief complaint was quoted as behavioral. Also in 2018, they had two certified members that were certified in mental health first aid. Next slide. So we have our police team as we go right now in the proposed budget, we have two quality of life officers paid for by Metro, one grant funded for the Multi-Service Center. Four paid for with general fund. With the General Fund. And we in this budget, what was proposed by our police department was to move 16 police officers and shift them from community service or shift them from being sworn officers to community service assistants for level three calls . What's currently in the budget that says that these are on uniformed, unarmed civilians trained to investigate and document specific property based crimes? So at the end of this presentation, I'd love to hear a little bit more from PD just on that. And so I wanted to give us a full picture of what we have right now with those that can respond to 911 calls on top of our health department. Next slide, please. So other models that we're talking about today, a lot of people have heard of the cahoots model, which is based out of Eugene. The City of Orange has a cap model. L.A. County has our team, which Long Beach does get access to. But sometimes that team does not come out cannot come out on the same day that they're called. San Diego also has a team. Some of these models go beyond what Long Beach has. Some of these models work not only with homelessness, tenant landlord issues, wellness checks, addiction, suicide, violence prevention and wound care medicine management, which is something that I've learned a lot for our older adults, as well as isolation and loneliness. Lyft assistance and chronic users are frequent fliers, as they're called. Do you see some of these other models really go beyond working just with homelessness, but they really touch on different areas. Every city and every county has different teams. So there's paramedics, public health nurses, mental health crisis people, EMT firefighters, nurse, psychiatric teams, community organizers and dispatch team. Next slide, please. So the reason for this conversation, I think and I want to say how much I appreciate getting to check in with Councilmember Price. I know that the cahoots model, possibly a white bird, will be presenting at the bossy, but I wanted to make sure that we had a full picture of the different areas that a mobile crisis intervention service team could provide for the city. It really helps fill that gap with first responder services that alleviate the burden placed on police and fire to respond to individuals experiencing emotional distress, intoxication or homelessness effectively provides police and fire more time to respond to crimes and life threatening emergencies respectively. You can go on to the next slide. You need to read all that. So a little glance at the Cahoots model. It was created in 1989. I want to thank White Bird Clinic. This information I received from them last year, the Cahoots Model handled over 24,000 calls, about 20% of the calls dispatched by 911. Their teams are comprised of medics, a nurse, EMT and a crisis worker. And so from my conversations with them, I think that they're able to utilize those that can respond to 911 calls, which is very different in California than Oregon, which could be our heart team. But possibly there's other team members out there like crisis workers, people that can respond to even the lower level calls. Next slide, please. For cahoots. They say that it alleviates the burden placed on public safety. They have proven de-escalation situations. They create data that's accessible for all public safety departments, medical evaluations, wellness checks. And on the Oregon program is an affordable program. Next slide, please. So really, as I mentioned, I wanted to present this just to make sure that we were able to hold a space to talk with staff a little bit. I know that our health department is already working on this. I know that the body just put in their recommendation to extend the Hart team for another six months. So really, this is an opportunity for us to say, let's really work with the Council, all the stakeholders, and focus on outcomes, not necessarily focusing on the name of the program. But I wanted to hear from our council colleagues what you would like to see from an outcome and outcome from a model like this. For me, I've thought a lot about 911 response having train dispatchers, making sure that services are available for housed and unhoused, and that there's an alignment with our strategic plans. Suicide and prevention. Suicide and violence prevention. Our youth strategic plan or older adults plan. And possibly opportunities to work with Cal State Long Beach in a social work program. So that is my very brief presentation, just to be able to hold this conversation and hear from my council colleagues if there's ideas on what staff could be working on in the future. But it is a receive and file presentation. So thank you. And I want to thank my council colleagues for signing on to this item with me. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor Andres. Speaker 1: Yes. Thank you, man. You know. You know, I want to thank the Caravan for Justice, folks, for drawing attention that this kind of service model. You know, I agree that over the years we've had developed developed a need for an innovative, safe safety system that allows for, you know, assessments of mental health and status before assessing the person and taking corrective action. You know, we know that these model works because I say that because I want you to look at the team, the homeless outreach thing, our quality of life team. We put compassion and aid, aid before enforcement. We get a better results from everyone. And I'm committed to seeing something, you know, come to the city of Long Beach. Thank you, Mayor. Speaker 0: Thank you. I know I have other counsel comment. I'm going to go to public comment and they'll come back to the council. So let's go ahead and do public comment, Madam Clerk. Speaker 1: We have children during. Hello, Mayor and City Council. My name is Jordan. I support taking away all the obligations that BP has taken on over the years that they should not take on. They should not be responding to a lot of the calls they respond to. So having crisis intervention and service models and teams that actually take away things from BP and put it into other departments is great. For example, the health department responding to mental health calls would be a huge benefit to the community. Then one premium who was killed in 2017 and there's actually a protest going on right now to honor her, would still be alive if the health department had responded to that call instead of two armed police officers who shot her within 5 seconds of getting out of their car. But the real elephant in the room is the fact that without defunding BPD and altering the budget as it is now, this is all talk. This is all theoretical without significant funding and taking away money from BPD to give it to other departments that will be handling its responsibilities. It will never actually happen. You can't just expect the Health Department to magically start responding to non-emergency calls with no money unless the budget is changed. None of this will actually matter. Defund the police and take a bold stand against police violence, divest from BPD and invest differently in our community. Health and safety. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Okay. We will go back to the council. Councilman Price. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you to Councilwoman Pearce for including me on this item. I did want to just make one brief correction, and that is the presentation on this model or models like this is going to be to the Public Safety Committee in our September meeting, not bossy. And I look forward to having the discussions because I think there's a lot of good opportunities in exploring other models. And the police department has been very receptive to exploring those and talking about those concepts and public safety. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilman Richardson. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So so far. Thanks, Councilmember, for for bringing this up. Personally, I think I'm pretty excited about this. I see it as as an important step in the city's taken tonight in the budget. By looking at a new mobile response model, we can look at a number of different models or see some of the ones listed. Cahoots definitely has a lot of public support. I see that, you know, as we led up to the adoption of the budget, as we lead up to it, I see that, you know, there's been more people talking about it and we started to look at it. I also know, and I'm glad to see in this presentation there were you know, there were other models we should look at as well. But it's not lost on me that this you know, the heart team started with an idea small. It grew it over time. And now it's time for it to develop into something more independent. It's time to look at, you know, investing in it further. I want to explore partnerships with L.A. County mental health to see if we can expand its role and how they respond with respond to mental health. And all of those things are interesting to me. But I also want to say, like, this stuff doesn't happen overnight. We don't just grab another model from another jurisdiction and drop it in and say, Hey, this is the new response model in Long Beach. It takes time. You have to actually build a capacity for this. There's legal sort of legal conditions that we have that are very different between here in Oregon, here and other states. We have to improve. Here in California, we call this our medicine. And there's laws that guide this. Anybody, you know, dispatched through 911 or through a different or a different number is there, you know, who has the jurisdiction over mental health? Is it what is required, in my view, with L.A. County? Are there additional funding? Can we create a partnership with L.A. County to bring in those resources? All these are good questions, and I'm glad to see that we're taking the first part of the next fiscal year to answer those questions and roll out this model. So so what I see here is an important step that the city is taking, and it's a step that we should take our time to be serious about. And and it's a real commitment that I see here in this budget to exploring this alternative model. And if we're if we do it right and if we do it well, this could be a model for our region that allows us to, you know, do an emergency response to crises, mental health and homeless. That is more cost effective, doesn't it? Doesn't you know, it's more cost effective and allows us to be more responsive and build that community capacity based on public health nurses, mental health conditions and and sort of community staff and support. So there's a lot that we need to evaluate. This isn't a short term thing. This commitment that council was making to this will take time. But I'm glad to see that this will happen in this next fiscal year and that we're getting started with it immediately. Those are my general thoughts on this. This is something I'm going to continue to monitor. I think it's important and and I encourage the city, the public, to pay attention to what this you know, this is this is more than lip service. It's an actual new alternative model, which doesn't happen very often, local government. And so we need to pay attention to it. We need to support it, make sure that it actually achieve the outcomes that we're hoping to achieve, which is expanding capacity, more cost effective, expanded capacity, more comprehensive health service for our community. And that's what I'm supportive of. Thanks a lot. Speaker 0: Councilman Sun has. Speaker 3: Your mayor. Our city is looking I'm pursuing a lot of really interesting creative policies right now, and I'm excited to be part of this discussion. This said, I think that it's just incredibly promising. The idea that we could really have this benefit for our community by increasing the quality of services we are able to provide to our residents here in the city of Long Beach. I've been really interested in seeing an expanded role for service workers in responding to calls, especially around mental health and homelessness. And I think that this is just so, so promising as a way to more directly get those people that the services that they so need and more immediately. And I think that, you know, I when I first heard about the Hart team and the quality of life team that we had within our departments, I was really, really excited. And I've been, you know, super excited to learn from them and see what they've been doing throughout the years and have they have really, really helped us out in a lot of ways. So right now, we have a unique opportunity to look further into what things that can be done and what programs can be brought forward. So I'm I'm really excited to be supporting something like this. And thank you for the presentation. Thank you, Councilmember Jeanine Pearce, for bringing this forward and for allowing me to be part of this conversation as well. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes council comment. Actually, this concludes the comment. Please cast a roll call. Vote for the. Speaker 3: Mr. Blair. I tried to queue, but I'm having a hard time. This is Councilwoman Mongo. Speaker 0: Okay. Yeah. You're not on the color, so. Go ahead, Councilman. Speaker 3: Thank you. I appreciate it. I just want to say that I know that when this initially got brought forward in partnership between Kelly and our fire chief, we talked a lot about our Hart teams and their successes. And our hurt teams are a nationally acclaimed model, but so are our met teams. And I think it's really interesting that the six teams that we have on the six and eight teams that we have are currently working daytime and afternoon shifts, two, one in the morning, seven days a week, but that still isn't enough. The number of calls we get are very high. The number of mental health issues that are proliferating around our region are important. And I would love to see us add a letter to L.A. County to ask for that money to be transferred to us directly so that the teams will work with us in the city and not specifically for mental health services. Kind of on a task force with us. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. With that, we will do a roll call vote. Speaker 2: District one, district two. Hi. District three, I. District four. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 2: District six. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District eight. District nine. High motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. Now we're moving on to the budget here. Let me. 1/2. If you could read the item, please.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on various Mobile Crisis Intervention Service Models designed to address homelessness, mental health, 911 and non-emergency medical calls.

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_09082020_20-0831

Speaker 0: Thank you. Now we're moving on to the budget here. Let me. 1/2. If you could read the item, please. Speaker 2: Report from financial management a recommendation to receive supporting documentation under the record. Conclude the public hearing and take the actions necessary to adopt the fiscal year 2021 budget citywide. Speaker 0: Okay, we're going to start the hearing by the remainder of the public comment, which we have public comment for us. I will allow the clerk to go through Parliament first. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our first speakers, Brett Jorgensen. Brett Jorgensen. Hello. This is Brett Jorgensen. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. All right. Thank you. As I mentioned, my name is Brett Jorgensen. I'm the proud parent of two children who've been involved in the Long Beach Junior Lifeguard program for over five years. And I'd like to express concern about proposed budget cuts and elimination of the junior lifeguard coordinator and the 10% Ocean Lifeguard cut. For those who are familiar with it, it's a vital and important role. And the Junior Lifeguard program instills numerous values in our youth integrity, responsibility, hard work, dedication, leadership, and giving back to the community. So in saying that, we need to ensure that the guidance and resource funding does not go away for the program and is, as I'm a very proud parent for our Long Beach schools as well, I do have to say that personally, I've watched my children develop a greater sense of social community awareness, marine environmental conservation and care and safety of all of our Long Beach citizens as a result of the program. So the funding is what what I think hurt us in terms of long term to our long term future and then in terms of just long term. Program opportunity provides a pathway and a vision to help complement our kids education and looking at what their career opportunities could be to help better serve the community. My older daughter actually had an opportunity this summer to be an Ocean lifeguard, and I couldn't be more proud and thankful to Long Beach and the Marine safety organization. So please again, want to thank you. Our next speaker is Devon Beebe. Speaker 5: Hello. Speaker 1: I can hear you. Speaker 5: Hi. My name is Devon Beebe and I'm a member of the Long Beach Lifeguard Association. I'm here to express concern over the proposed elimination of the junior lifeguard coordinator position and 10% of our ocean lifeguards. We're aiming to develop a workforce that reflects the community we serve by increasing and diversifying recruitment efforts, as well as accessibility to the Junior Lifeguard program itself. Through our partnership with Long Beach Unified School District. We've been able to increase access to both our prep class and summer program, as well as provide free transportation. This free prep class takes place at Cabrillo and Jordan High School, giving participants from underrepresented areas access to the program. I also want to emphasize that there is no way this program can run safely and efficiently without a marine safety officer in the coordinator position. This past summer, there are numerous times that having a marine safety officer on scene dedicated to the program was critical for the safety of participants. Further, our non-career lifeguards are the first line of defense out on the beaches, actively engaging with the community to warn about potential dangers and prevent tragedy. Over Labor Day weekend, lifeguards had over 150 rescues, this number being a testament to the importance of a fully stocked beach. Unfortunately, the lifeguards that would be most affected by these cuts are our most recent hires, many of whom came through the career pathway. That is the Junior Lifeguard program. I urge you to reevaluate these cuts and allow our lifeguards to continue to provide these essential services to our community. Thank. Speaker 1: Our next speaker is Ella Jorgensen. Ella Jorgensen. Ella Jorgenson, your time starts now. Our next speaker is Jade Johnson. Thank you, Mayor and City Council. My name is Jay Johnston. I am the chairman of the Long Beach Police Honorees. I speak for all of our 650 voting members. We stand with the Long Beach Police Department and are against any budget cuts to the department. I live in the fifth District and my neighbors and I have already seen an increase in homeless encampments and crime. I mean, what's important to myself, my neighbors, the 650 voting members I speak for is the safety for this city, the safety for the residents in this city, and the safety for all Long Beach police officers. As the city council, you are expected to lead this city with rational decisions. Please make Long Beach a safer community. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Ella Jorgensen. Ella Jorgensen. Our next speaker is Mark Alonzo. Hello. Yes. We can hear you. Hello. Hi. Hello, Mr. Mayor. To City Council. My name is Mark. My name is Mark. Hello. Hello? Yes, we can still hear you. Okay. I'm sorry. Hello, Mr. Mayor. And City Council. My name is Mark Longo. I'm also a strong supporter and an LP, a honorary member. First of all, Mr. Mayor, I want to say again that I'm very, very sorry about the loss of your parents to COVID 19. And I want to offer my condolences to you, to you and your family. The father asked that you do not define the law to be speedy. And we're approaching the holidays, the Christmas holidays, and typically every year and the Christmas holidays, the crime goes up, especially money crimes which are referred to such as burglaries and carjackings and robberies, assaults, and not to mention the response times by the police, are going to become much, much slower because of the ban that they're going to have with other parts of the city. With respect to the helicopter, Forks helicopter and the K-9 unit, those are among the most important tools for our police officers to use in apprehending dangerous criminals or fleeing suspects. Without those tools, that makes it more dangerous for our police officers. And thank you. Our next speaker is Ellen Jorgensen. Speaker 5: Hello. This is Ella. Can you hear me? Speaker 1: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 5: They can. Hello. I'm Ellen Jorgensen. I'm a former junior lifeguard and an ocean lifeguard. And I'm here with my younger sister, Paige, who is currently a Long Beach Junior lifeguard. We are here to address the proposed budget cuts of the junior lifeguard coordinator and 10% of the ocean lifeguards. Through my five years with the J.G. program, I developed skills in ocean safety, leadership, responsibility, professionalism, and improved as an athlete. I later joined the Cadet program, which prepared me for a career as a lifeguard. I also worked as a cadet intern, a position made possible through the partnership with ILB USD. This internship gave me exposure to what a marine safety officer does and has inspired me to pursue it as a career. Everything that I've learned from the J.G. program helped me to be successful, and I am now an Ocean Lifeguard with the goal of becoming a marine safety officer. If the J.G. program was run by administrative staff, I would not have gained so many skills or exposure to careers in marine safety. Also, if I were to be cut along with 10% of the ocean lifeguards, not only would the beaches be a dangerous environment for the public, but I may lose a chance at pursuing a career in marine safety. I respectfully ask that you reconsider these proposed budget cuts, as I hope that the youth of our community can have the same opportunities that I had with my program. With this program, for example, my sister. Hello, I'm Paige Jorgensen. I've been a judge for five years and have goals of going through the cadet program and. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is Marty Cox. Hello. I please begin. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi. Thank you, Mayor and council members. I've been a Long Beach resident for nearly 50 years. I've owned businesses here. I've raised my family here. I love the city. While I appreciate the difficult decisions facing you with regard to the 2021 budget. I do not support the city's plan to reduce the Long Beach Police Department's budget by $10.3 million, especially at a time when not only has the number of officers serving our city declined in recent years, but our city has grown and crime in our neighborhoods is on the rise. I believe these proposed cuts are too severe and that they will have a serious impact on the safety of our communities. Have there even been any detailed studies to determine just how these drastic cuts might negatively affect police response times? Not to mention the many successful outreach programs mentioned earlier. The city must assess and fully understand the potential impact these cuts will have on all aspects of public safety. I strongly urge the city to reconsider and find alternative ways to balance the budget as preserving public safety must remain our highest priority. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Mary Lee Chamberlain. Mary Lee Chamberlain. Our next speaker is Nancy Elorza. Speaker 5: Hello. This is Mary Lee Chamberlain. Speaker 1: Hi. Please begin. Speaker 5: Okay. I would like to voice my support for the Long Beach Police Department and discourage you from approving the proposed budget cuts to the department. Our department has been understaffed since a 20% cut in 2009, with the population of over 463,000 people. 792 officers is not enough to ensure the safety and law and order for our city. The riots earlier this year speak to my point. We watched helplessly on television as private citizens businesses were looted and destroyed while the Long Beach PD stood down due to lack of officers. The crowds were so large and out of control that our officers wouldn't have stood a chance if they tried to intervene. While the rate of crime is up in the city, the use of force cases and officer involved shootings are down. I believe this speaks to the training that our officers have been receiving recently in those areas. I would ask that the City Council not pander to the special interest groups that are demanding the defunding of police departments all over our country. Instead, do what is right for the citizens, visitors and businesses that our city relies on for its growth, economics and way of life. Encourage you all to strongly consider the impact a cut to our department will have on the community at large. As a longtime resident, I am proud of our Long Beach PD and feel that they deserve to be treated with respect. After all, they're the ones that put their lives on the line every time they put on that uniform. Thank you for your time. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is Nancy Loza. Speaker 5: Hello. Speaker 1: Eight. Please begin. Speaker 5: Hi, my name is Matthew Moore, and I just wanted to say that I am against defunding the police or making a budget cut. I've been in Long Beach for over 33 years and throughout these years with police actually on our side helping clean up the neighborhoods in the community, they have been doing a fantastic job. It is very sad and disappointing that we are seeing people who are looking at only what they want to see, especially when it comes to BLM, BMO and all these things. They want to see the bad guys, but they're not looking to the good things that police officers are doing for the community, which is acting upon the police. The response to cops is an increase. I am very afraid of that, especially since we're being a better community with cops. I think that it is time for police officers to get their power instead of taking away their power by people who are making a crime. If you do the crime, you've got to do the time. Is that simple. Let's play by the rules. That's all I have to say. Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rena Rosales. Speaker 5: Hello. Hi. My name is Reynolds Wallace, and I do not agree with the proposed police budget cuts, but I think we have a lot to lose by furthering cutting police funding. Crime will continue to increase. We haven't fully recuperated from the 2008 2008 recession. So your plan on cutting over 50 from police officers, that's a huge question. Who will protect our elderly, our young from other criminals? Not only they live in our city to pacify. As we saw during the initial right. It's not the protest, but during the riots. Our businesses deserve protection protections. They bring a lot of money into our communities, in our schools or streets or visitors. Our children deserve the protection they need, especially once school commences. There will be a lot less on patrol. How long will it take for an officer to respond to an armed robbery or burglary? Home invasion? How about domestic violence? And you suggest that Foreign Office staff be replaced with civilians? I think that would be a even bigger liability force for our city. We have seen civilians getting hurt in other and other neighboring cities. I remember last year in Garden Grove there was a civilian that was hurt. She was stabbed and she was a large man. And I think that would be even bring a lot more losses to our city. We all want a safe city. We want. I know I heard some of the presentations and want to hire social workers and go ahead and do it, but not by taking away our sworn positions. We can't. If we we should come to an agreement where both social workers and our officers can work together. Why is there two different sides? Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rick Chambers. Good evening, mayor and city council members. I'm Richard Chambers. I'm the president of Long Beach Police Officers Association. The public. Thousands of residents were asked how they feel about police funding, staffing and crime in the city. They've given you their feedback. I'm urging you to stop and listen to what the majority are telling you. 66% of residents want department funding kept the same or increased. The city's budget survey showed that maintaining a low crime rate is a top five priority. We understand that this is a tough budget, but let's find efficiencies where it makes sense and not allow excessive cuts based on politics or emotions. The proposed cuts will affect critical units in our department, which will affect public safety. We ask you to take the time tonight to understand how cutting these critical units will impact safety and response times. I encourage you to ask questions about the cuts and understand the answers before making your final decisions. The cuts to the warrant detail force legally mandated work undone or pushed on to on to others and the proposed cuts to the Air Support Unit need your attention. They need to be discussed. The police helicopter is a critical resource for locating and safely arresting violent suspects, for locating missing persons, and for providing homeland security patrols over the port. Civilian pilots cost almost the same as Warren and provide no savings. We have requested reasonable restorations that can make a big difference when it comes to the safety of our communities. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Cheryl Hill. Speaker 5: Oh. Thank you for your time. Our Long Beach Police Department is not broken. Well, there may be the need for additional training. There is no justification for a general reduction in the police personnel when we are in the midst of increasing crime levels. If anything, I believe that we need an increase in our police presence in the city. The city council seems to be responding to the political wave sweeping the country for the municipalities are bending the knee to social pressure based upon a principle that violating the law is acceptable policy. I do not believe that the members of the City Council are truly representing the will of the people of Long Beach. If the Council is so confident that the cuts to law enforcement are beneficial to the city, then why not put the democratic vote of the people? After all, the citizens of this city pay taxes which pay the salaries of the police department as well as the city council. Are you afraid to put this to a vote of the people? Law and order is the priority of the police department and that is the constitutional duty of the government. I strongly encourage the Council to really understand the consequences of a police force reduction and what it will do to the safety and security of our city. Thank you for your time. Speaker 1: Thank you. And give us a moment when we transition to the Spanish interpretation. Our first speakers. Maria Isabel. Luis Elorza. Send your alert to Mexico. Speaker 5: They see this. Speaker 1: Little picture perfect mandolin, but as a courtesy, the interpreter. Gracias. Speaker 5: Okay. When I started, you know, Maria and I started seeing your president. Garcia. Speaker 1: Good afternoon. You first met Isabel. And thank you to Mr. Garcia. Speaker 5: Continue your thought. And I think with the butter up again and the stuff with other Lombard spectrum was my policy, as momentous policy as. Speaker 1: I am supporting Pedersen and I am supporting a survey right now in order to ask to support Josie for support for the police of the city of Lambic. Speaker 5: Continuing care, leaving children to the richest health policy possible. PELOSI Rachel MADDOW The Rachel MADDOW agreements are back when we get them up ahead on the stuff we belong, which. Speaker 1: I am advocating for human rights. But human rights is that protect represent the bullies. How is it that criminals have more human rights than the police? I want more support and more human rights for the police. Speaker 5: Computer came up with a similar strategy that communal policy at end users buying through models but a broader problem that. But without a necessity. That alone not. I put them in the trash. Doesn't matter. Speaker 1: It's not going to get better. So what is going to happen then? What is going to happen with less police if they have the training? They watch the entire city. They are taking care of the entire CD. Then what happens? Any criminal would be able to get into our houses. Continue continuing. Speaker 5: But in that particular policy, as long as they're muttering, they've got it in the accounts of what was one of several of them, the reputable government policy in the camp. In this stuff. Leader of Yemen. If so, yeah. So what? I mean, we have my policy on the enemy. There's invariably several of longer you have done so far as the end. The support is the one the policy has been etc. so whatever they and this aura I know okay I got of policy forum is more like the longer bang up a reputable feels them up pronto go up or you'll hear. Speaker 1: And what's going to happen is that the police is going to take more time. When we call 911, they're going to take more time. They're not able to come soon because there will be less policemen available. In the 1980s, we had more police than the year 2000. We had more police. It was safer. There were gangs in the neighborhood, but the gangs, as soon as they saw the police, they would run away. They will go away from there. So if we have less police, we're going to have more gangs. Continue. Said Thank you. Our next speaker is Rosa Gutierrez. Speaker 5: Hello? Can you hear me? Speaker 1: Yes. Speaker 5: Hello. Hi, Mayor and council members. I would like to just give my opinion and feedback as a Long Beach resident. Also 35 years. Please do not make any budget cuts. We do need our officers actually more than ever. Cuts will only bring chaos fears to the good citizens that do not commit crimes. And if we do replace, you know, regular citizens that you mean by replacing an armed officer with a civilian, it will just be a joke. For an example, criminals don't respect your local security guard at any store. They just keep robbing, just increasing crime in our city. People don't realize that by cutting our budgets, that only means increased crime longer wait times. When you call 911 in emergency situations, the crime will go up. Residents will live in fear. There won't be enough help, support and city order. Period. Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Thank you and thank you to everyone that has engaged the budget, not just tonight but throughout the whole process. We've had, of course, public comment at all the hearings. We've had the committee, the virtual community budget discussions, we've had the survey. So there has been obviously a lot of engagement. So I just want to thank everyone that's participated. We're going to move into the council discussion on the budget and the motions. I just want to just kind of remind the council especially I think this is probably councilman's in the House, his first budget. So kind of go over kind of how it works as well. So there is a series of motions that will be made and a series of votes and you probably have those in front of you. The the the first vote will be the mayor's proposed recommendations. The second vote is the bosses propose funding recommendations and there amendments to those recommendations. The third motion is just adopting additional expenditures or revenues in the budget book. And typically, if there are other types of discussions around the budget, they almost always happen in the second or third vote. The one of those two items, I think most of you know that already and then after those are after those we really get into just votes and I think are pretty standard every year, which are the adoption of fees, the capital improvement project, the Stanley Resolutions. And we'll go through all of those votes, but they all have to be voted on separately, just as a reminder. And there's there's a lot of them. So we just we just go through those one by one. So I'm going to go ahead and start the budget process. I'm going to make some overall comments before I turn it over to the first motion. And Miss Yoon from the Budget Office will read into the record after the clerk reads the caucus the motion. Ms.. Jung will read the whole documentation that's got to be in all of the items. So that will take some time. But she'll do that throughout for all the items for the committee. So I'm going to begin with some general comments. I want to just start by just kind of taking us, I think, back to the work that's happened to get this project to this point. And I want to just remind us that this is a $2.6 billion budget and it funds the operations of our seaport or water systems or storm drains or rescues operations. And, of course, all of the other issues that are that are there neighborhoods depend on every single day our parks, our public safety system, our libraries and all of the activities that happen within within this community. At the same time, we are living and leading through this COVID 19 pandemic. This is the largest global health crisis of our lifetime, and it has required us to take a really hard look at this budget and make sacrifices. And the truth is, is that everyone is sacrificing in this budget. There are cuts all across the city, many of which are difficult and many of which required creativity on really on the part of our staff. And I think I want to thank our entire finance team for their just stellar job in putting this budget together. Thank them greatly for. Speaker 1: All their work. Speaker 0: Up at the budget, also because of a $30 million deficit largely fueled by this COVID crisis. We've had to reimagine ways in which we deliver public safety and health care services and how we make our investments in infrastructure, homelessness and all the other issues that matter to us and our neighbors. We are still in a COVID 19 health crisis, and we have the numbers staggering to me. We have spent already over $100 million just to handle this response. It's been over 180,000 tests have happened in this city. We've sheltered hundreds of homeless individuals that needed shelter. We purchased PPE. We have done contact tracing. And we work with our partners at FEMA and at the state for a reimbursement and to get support for this community. And we've had to fight. I mean, the reason we have CARES ACT funding today is not because we were expected to actually get any when Congress passed the initial bill, but because we and other court and another and other coalition of cities fought for CARES Act funding through the state where almost $41 million and an additional almost $40 million to the county to ensure that we had proper testing and support. This pandemic has already cost the city over 200 almost 230 lives and is a leading cause of death in Long Beach. And so this budget is being adopted in light of that crisis and where we have this health crisis. We know that's also affected our economy and our economy. It's been fueled with the enormous amounts of unemployment, small businesses that have been really suffering. And I want to just commended this council for stepping up and establishing small business recovery programs. They are thought to ensure that small businesses would be supported across our community and we are fought for local, federal and state dollars as well. And we have ensured in this process that we work with our city employee groups to come out with fair and responsible ways that we can all contribute. And through furloughs and through other programs across the city. And we also know that we are living in this just incredible moment where we're all moving towards a more just country where we're focused on racial justice and equity. And I just want to uplift that within this budget. There is an enormous. Commitment by the city and the council to racial justice and to a breaking down systemic racism that we know exists in all institutions, not just here locally, but about across the country. There are there are direct investments and reinvestments within our Long Beach black community, but also other communities of color in health and community, life, crisis response and violence prevention programs. And we know that that that list will continue to grow as as we look at the needs that we have in front of us. We have had a difficult but also an important conversation around public health and safety. And the largest police department within this budget has also put forward new models and new ideas on how we can really focus on community based policing. And we've heard the protests on the streets through actions that have happened within the city. This is a moment where we are also pushed to reevaluate and do better as a city and as a community. We know that within within our own work that we. Struggle and continue to struggle with all the work that's ahead of us as it relates to breaking down and reimagining our institutions so that they're more just are we the racial justice work that's happening? Everything from our universities, college promise, equity evaluation or police department reforms that are in this budget? I mean, shifts that we've made towards health and wellness. I also just want to add something that was mentioned earlier. The work doesn't end tonight. We have work ahead to reexamine our homelessness and mental health support. A lot of folks tonight talked about the Cahoots program and other programs that exist across the country. We are looking at those programs that communities looking at. Those are, along with the police department, is taking a really hard look at those to ensure that we are doing everything we can to ensure that if someone is having a challenge with addiction or mental illness that need assistance, that we ensure that there are social workers and clinicians there to help and to assist. And I just want to at this moment just thank everyone that's been involved in this in that part of the work, and that includes our public safety officers. I want to thank the police officers that are out there working every day under very difficult conditions. I want to thank our firefighters that are out there working every day, not just in our city, but across the state dealing with these wildfires. Our Marine safety officers, we have a public safety team made up of of of police officers, of firefighters, of marine safety officers, of lifeguards that put on their uniform every day and work to make our city safer. And so I know I speak on behalf of all of us when I say thank you. This is a tough budget for everyone. But we will we will continue to try to to do right by by the whole city. And so that safety work within this budget continues. And there are reforms that we should be proud of. And there's also a lot more work to do. And I think we all we all know that. I just want to also just uplift that there's over $50 million to address homelessness within this budget. And I want to thank all of our partners involved on that on those issues. There's incredible work around housing. I'm really I'm proud that we're able to expand important work to help communities that need additional support and and our our voice around language, the language access policy or the justice fund and and areas around housing. And I want to remind us that we've taken, I think, some pretty good steps on making the budget even stronger. We're making sure that our libraries don't receive substantial cuts. We're making sure that we're not contracting out critical services. We're making sure that we are investing in our people, which is really which is really critical as well. I want to also just add that arts and culture is getting a huge boost thanks to measure. Be. And I think I want to think in particular, Councilman Austin in the B or C, who will be making some presentations on some of that measure B money, which we're really excited about. And I want to thank him for his partnership on that and the B or C and and I also want to just just remind us as well as I close, that the budget that we also have in place continues this enormous, enormous infrastructure plan that we have in front of us. And it's it continues to be the largest infrastructure plan we have had in the last 50 years. We can always do more, but we should be proud of all the work that's going to happen in this budget to work on our on our streets and our sidewalks and our public buildings. And it's incredible, an incredible capital improvement program that exists. And so there's obviously a lot more than that in this budget. But I just thought it was important, just to recap, just in this moment, that there's a lot of areas in the city that we can be proud. And I want to thank every single member of this city team, all 6500 employees. Thank you for your hard work. And I want to add to the members of this council and especially the B or C, councilman Austin, Councilwoman Price, Councilman, rearrange. I want to thank you all for doing that extra work around around the budget, which is which is really, really significant, especially at this time of year. And so I want to thank you all for that. And with that, I want to turn it over to Councilman Austin, who's making the motion. We're going to go into the motions. And, Councilmember, do you want to make a couple comments now or do you want to make them at the start of the next item? Speaker 7: I will make the motion to on this item, but I will save my comments until the B or C recommendations. Mr. Mayor, if that's okay. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. Madam Clerk, can you read the first budget? Number one.

Public Hearing

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, and take the actions necessary to adopt the Fiscal Year 2021 budget as listed in Attachment A. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. Madam Clerk, can you read the first budget? Number one. Speaker 2: A report from Financial Management, a recommendation to adopt Mer's proposed budget recommendations as amended to the proposed FY 21 budget. Speaker 0: There is a motion any second on budget item number one. Ms.. Yoon, please read the full motion into the record. Speaker 5: Yes. Are you all able to hear me? Speaker 2: Yes. We can hear you. Speaker 5: Okay, wonderful. Thank you. The following are Mayor Garcia's proposed budget recommendations. In Motion's language, any use? 500,120 from reserves to structural restore position proposed to be contracted out in parking citations and customer service, public works surveying and parking meter collection and maintenance. The impact of the restoration across all funds is approximately $950,000. The reserve use of $500,120 is to cover the general fund group cost portion of the restoration in FY 21 with structural offsets for fiscal years to be identified during the budget process to be used $247,840 from reserves to structurally restore the proposed reductions to library services and maintain the existing library structure of five days a week until such time that all libraries can be reopened safely per public health guidance with the opportunity to discuss expanding primary libraries to seven days per week with structural offsets for future years to be identified during those budget processing fee use $188,000 from reserve to implement the proposed new structural new youth sports registration fees with structural offsets for future years to be identified during the budget process to be used 300,000 from the reserves to structurally add the justice fund to the budget in FY 21 with structural offsets for future years to be identified in future budget processes is 40,000 from reserves to structurally add the language access program to the budget and fy21 at $200,000. The proposed FY 21 budget includes a proposed one time of $160,000 for the Language Access Program for an additional 40,000 is needed from reserve in FY 21 with structural offsets for future years for the full $200,000 enhancement to be identified in future budget processes. F is $100,000 from reserve one time support to create Public Health Council to facilitate education concerning workplace safety and health guidance and industries impacted by COVID 19. G Use 100,000 from reserves for one time. Support Hire an economic equity specialist to address income inequality by exploring and supporting public banking and universal basic income. Each year, $250,000 from reserve for one time support to create a right to council program to keep people housed in safe conditions in light of the national eviction crisis brought on by COVID 19. I request City Council and city manager to look at job training for disadvantaged workers and explore and support penalties for workplace non-compliant. G. Request the city manager to actively recruit new individuals with mental health and social services, training for the newly created civilian positions that respond to calls for service pay. Request the city manager to review all 911. Calls for service and explore transitioning non-emergency calls for service to new models and staffing that focus on public health and mental health services. L request City Council and City Manager to begin work on a new five year infrastructure plan to begin in 2023 when additional measure revenues materializes. And request the City Council and City Manager to begin implementation of a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan with a study on the city's dependance on oil production to transition to cleaner energy and more sustainable funding model and to develop long term alternative funding plans for critical programs, services and obligations currently dependent on oil revenues. This plan should set clear goals, a timeline and should be completed in 2021. And request the City Council and City Manager to evaluate and begin a zero based budgeting approach for fy22 with earlier community outreach and participation. O Use 1.7 million a projected new measure b funds in FY 21 to support local arts organizations and the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center. The proposed allocation of funds are as follows $841,500 or 49.5% for the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center. $64,731 or 3.8% for the following organizations. Camerata Singers of Long Beach, Long Beach Playhouse, Musica Angelica and International City Theater and Long Beach Opera. $129,462 or 7.6% for the following groups. Long Beach. Museum of Art. Long Beach Orchestra. Museum of Latin American Art. Musical Theater. West End. $17,000 or 1% for the Measure b Budget Stabilization Fund. P for any use of reserve, priority of use is in the following order. Until there is no funding available in each reserve, then the measure B's Budget Stabilization Fund. The item must be in measure be authorized. Use the unfunded liability reserve, operating reserve and then the emergency reserve. So that concludes the mayor or is recommendation in motion language. And also I wanted to comment that the DLC did have one change to the motion about Measure B, an allocation to the arts so I can be tossed here or at the next day. Speaker 0: Thank you thank you this year and and obviously and I support that one change was made in partnership with the BBC. There's a motion in a second. Please roll call that bill, please. Speaker 2: Mayor. Can we please get the second door on the motion? Speaker 0: Councilman Pryce. Speaker 2: Thank you. District one I. District two i. District three, i. District four. Right. District five. By District six. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District eight. Speaker 7: I. Speaker 2: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to adopt the Mayor’s proposed budget recommendations, as amended, to the Proposed FY 21 Budget. (A-1)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Second budget item, please. Speaker 2: Report from Financial Management Recommendation to adopt the Budget Oversight Committees proposed funding recommendations as amended the proposed FSI 21 budget. Speaker 0: Delimitation. It's over now to a two chair. Austin, obviously. Speaker 7: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I guess I want to thank you and all my colleagues and the rest of city staff for allowing me the privilege and honor to be chair of this year's budget process. It was quite tough. This was unlike one that we've ever seen or we've seen in recent years. And at the beginning of this year, no one would have foreseen what 2020 would have been like and the amount of economic hardship that has been created by COVID 19 throughout our community. Faced with a $30 million budget shortfall, much of it due to the projected revenue shortfalls caused by the pandemic, we're faced with many difficult decisions. We're also working to implement a new framework for reconciliation that addresses many of the ways we provide our services to the city. How we envision our services and ensure that there's more equity in these services. But I believe that there are city that our city is responding to new challenges that have been presented to all of us over the past several months. I'd like to thank my colleagues on the Budget Oversight Committee, Vice Chair Pryce and Councilmember Yar'Adua, who spent many hours going over the details of the budget and having many insightful discussions. I'd like to thank the mayor for his recommendations to the budget and for his leadership throughout this crisis as well. Thank you, Mr. Garcia. Mayor Garcia. And we as a city council, I believe, have listened and had many thoughtful conversations during these past months with our constituents. As I know, we have all taken this responsibility very seriously and are trying to find the right balance. We owe a great deal of gratitude to our city employees who've stepped up to share the sacrifices by agreeing to furloughs to help minimize the reductions in essential services to our community during this crisis. And tonight the city council is voting to take a voluntary pay cut ourselves. I'd like to thank the many residents, workers, business owners who participated in this year's budget process as well. Whether it was participating in a community budget meeting or council meeting or taking the online budget survey or email in our offices, your input is important. And like our city, represents a very diverse array of viewpoints and priorities that we must try to balance. I'd like to especially thank our city's budget team, our city manager Tom Modica, financial management director. John GROSS, our budget manager Grace Yoon, and her entire team. They have responded to the rapidly changing financial picture with fairness and have been tremendous. I've been a tremendous resource for information and help in understanding the budget and crafting these recommendations tonight. Thank you all for indulging me in researching and responding to my many thoughts and questions and that of the Budget Oversight Committee. And from the beginning, all three of us on the BSE expressed serious reservations about drawing any further on our general fund reserves, given that reserves will already be needed to you to balance our FY20 budget. And there's still a great deal of uncertainty about the financial picture for Fy21. So we tried to offset. Other often find offsets other than reserves for many of the recommendations we are making to you this evening. This budget probably won't make anyone completely happy. But we did try to listen to the many stakeholders and voices to find a balance to move our city forward during this challenging fiscal year. And so with that, I'd like to read the Harvard Budget Manager, Gratian read the bank's recommendations and turn it over to her. Thank you. And make the motion and ask my colleagues to support this this Budget Oversight Committee recommendations. Speaker 5: All right. Thank you. Here are the Budget Oversight Committee's recommendations. A motion to support Mayor Garcia's proposed budget recommendations with the following changes. Add the African American Cultural Center as one of the organizations receiving support. The revised allocation of funds are as follows. $841,000. $841,500, or 49.5% for the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center. 60,000 or 3.5% for the following organizations the African-American Cultural Center. The Camerata Singers of Long Beach, Long Beach Playhouse. Musica Angelica, the International City Theater and Long Beach Opera. $120,375 or 7.1% for Long Beach. Museum of Art. Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. Museum of Latin American Art. Musical Theater, West and $17,000 or 1% for the Measure B Budget Stabilization Fund. The motion to delay the transfer of the Hart team from the fire department to the Health Department for an estimated six months, until staff reports to City Council on the details of the proposed new model and plan, including information on how the transition will be implemented with no gaps in service. How the plan compares to national best practices and how any medical regulations requirements are being addressed. Recognize a one time savings in the Health Department of $207,200 and a one time cost in the fire department of $435,232, resulting from the delay for a total city wide impact to the General Fund Group of $228,032. The motion to revise the proposed business license tax increase on cannabis businesses from a 1% increase to a 0.5% increase and extend business hours for dispensaries by 2 hours, resulting in lower projected general fund group revenues by $200,000. The motion to add one time funds of $350,000 in the general fund group for a fireworks enforcement team pilot in Fy21 to mitigate the illegal use of fireworks and explosives in Long Beach. Motion to appropriate $95,374 in the general fund group and the police department to structurally support the expansion of coverage and services typically done by park rangers to include Bixby Park in MacArthur Park. Request the city manager to report back early in FY 21 on an implementation plan, which could include the hiring of a park ranger position or other operational models to accomplish the service goal. F pushing to appropriate $339,044 in the general fund group and the police department to structurally restore the two detectives and the violent sexual predator unit detective division and as a result not include the proposed addition of a police investigator non-career position. These positions are assigned to monitor and investigate officer compliant chief motion to appropriate 213 $320 in the general fund group in the police department to structurally restore one police officer position in the K-9 unit. The proposed budget had reduced three police officer positions, and this motion resulted in a total of only two police officer positions being reduced each motion to reduce 600,000 in the general fund group on a one time basis with the Police Force Division Pine Overtime Program, leaving 125,000 remaining in the program for FY 21 to help temporarily offset the restoration of the violent sexual predator unit and the K-9 unit position and the additional support for Park Ranger related coverage and services . I motion to request the elected department to contribute additional structural reductions from approximately 4% to approximately 5% of their budget for an additional general fund group savings of $188,655. This would be an additional reduction of $27,982 for the city auditor. $64,375 for City Prosecutor. $62,834 for the Legislative Department and 33,464 for the city. Attorney Chain Motion to increase the current 1.5% General Fund Group Vacancy Factor Non sworn personnel to 1.8% for FY 21, only generating one time savings of $465,606 in FY 21. To reflect potential budget reductions in FY 22 include a technical adjustment to the existing 1.5% vacancy saving factor budget saving an additional $171,509 in the general fund group. This results in a total FY 21 savings of $637,115 in the general fund group pay motion to increase appropriation by $292,521 in the Tidelands Operating Fund group in the fire department to restore the Marine Safety Officer position and as a result not include the proposed upgrade of type of street to an assistant administrative analyst. One position and to restore the reduction of the non-career lifeguard staffing which was proposed to go from 20.3 FTE to 18.75 FTE. This will be funded from Tidelands Operating Fund Reserves as needed include in the review of the marine safety operation. Include the review of the Marine Safety Operation as part of a comprehensive study of fire department in FY 21 l motion to request the City Manager to pursue potential waivers for some requirements of the State grant. Specifically regarding the maintenance of effort provision and the grant period timeline that currently make it prohibitive from a financial and budgetary viewpoint to accept the grant. Staff should report back to City Council during FY 21 with the status update. M Motions request the city manager to study and report. Back to City Council during 521 and options for restructuring library services, including the potential of expanding library hours at some location. Studies should include use of statistics, building conditions, changing usage of library facilities, and other factors appropriate for decision making on future changes. And motion to request the city manager to study and report back to City Council during the FY 21 on potential organizational changes that will reduce costs for FY 22, with the least impact on services and ability to manage and control operations and finances. Oh. Motion to request the city manager to hold positions. Make it more practical and feasible to maximize vacancy savings in FY 21 and to prepare for potential staffing reductions in fy22. Keep in total there is a net general fund group structural impact of $487,574, offset by net one time savings of $487,574. Additionally, there is a Tidelands Operating Fund group structural impact of $292,521 to be offset by Tidelands Operating Fund Reserves as necessary. That concludes the reading of the Budget Oversight Committee. F y 21 proposed budget recommendation. Speaker 0: You think you, Miss Yoon? I do have a second on that. Which is counterclockwise. Councilman Austin. Did you want to go back to you are just going to go straight to Councilman Price? Speaker 7: I think I've made my comments. Again, I want to encourage us to to to adopt this budget. It has been a painstaking process. And but I believe that this budget will again reflect, as we said from the very beginning, we would pass a budget that reflects the values of the city, the diversity of the city in terms of viewpoint, and puts us in a place to continue the service delivery that our residents expect from from the city. And so those are my comments. Would love to see full support from the Council on this. Speaker 0: Thank you. Speaker 2: Councilman Price and Q Mr. Mayor, I want to thank Chair Austin for his excellent work and service as his first year on the Budget Oversight Committee. I think he did a great job of balancing a very difficult situation, and I'm grateful to staff for having worked with him on developing the proposals for today. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in all four of the community budget meetings. So I did have an opportunity to listen to the comments from the residents who participated in those meetings, as well as all the residents who have participated in the meetings for both Bossie and City Council since late July until today . I've also had the opportunity to read thousands of emails from my council district that were sent to our office regarding priorities and of course, the budget survey, which the Third District heavily participated in. From a city wide standpoint, I think there's definitely some consensus consistency in regards. Speaker 3: To what the. Speaker 2: Core services are, and I'm grateful that this budget allows us to be able to mitigate the loss of those services, although there will be a loss to some of those core services, and I think we're all mindful of that. But I think that the proposals that the BMC is putting forth mitigate those losses quite a bit and I'm grateful for that. I'm also very pleased with our ability, thanks to our city manager, to be able to restore some of the proposed cuts that had been made. Speaker 3: To our. Speaker 2: Lifeguard and junior lifeguard programs. Speaker 3: Those are really important programs. Speaker 2: For the city because they provide every child in the city the same opportunity to participate in an excellent program that's built on health, socialization and safety skills. And so I'm very happy about that. I think all in all, there's a lot of great things in this budget and they address a lot of the needs that council members have individually shared with Councilman Austin, with those of us on the BMC, as well as budget priorities that the community has shared with us through their comments. So I'm happy to support the proposals that are coming out of the PSC and urge our colleagues to do the same. Thank you, Chair Austin. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you, Mayor. You know, this has been one of, I think, the roughest budget we have negotiated on this diocese since I've been here on the city council. You know, no one likes to see cuts. With everything going on in the world. We must take a step to create reform across the different sectors of our city. With that being said, I want to thank Councilman Austin and his entire Budget Oversight Committee for their recommendations. I'm glad to see African-American cultures, you know, being in combat for funding as I to be committing one time funding for my budget in the upcoming days. I'm supportive of a report back on the employment of a new model to address the world. Our team. Yes. And I want to see you know, one would call that being explored in this report. But I have one question for Chief Lunar. What are we going to get? You know, the staffing for the helicopter unit. And response, if you don't mind. Speaker 6: Yes. Chief Lynas is coming up to answer that question. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 6: Stand by. Speaker 1: Good evening, Mayor, and members of the City Council and Vice Mayor Andrews, in our plan, again, this is a proposal. So if all of you vote this in, that's when we'll start working on it. We anticipate that the operations will stay in place for at least the remainder of this year. As we are looking at or working through all the options that we have on the table to see how we can best provide service. And if the proposed reductions go through, there is going to be an impact in helicopter service. There's no doubt we're not going to have the helicopter up as much as we had in the past. But we're in a world now where we're all taking cuts, even though we don't like to or want to. It's a world we live in. So we had to propose everything we could to meet our budget numbers. So I predict it'll take up to approximately 5 to 6 months to get there. Speaker 6: And this is Tom. So one thing that is built into this budget is a delay for the items that were civilian izing. We built in a natural delay, I believe, of six months to be able to continue to put those plans together to hire the additional civilian staff so that we could do a smooth transition. Speaker 1: Thank you, John and Chief. Okay. And lastly, I want to go on record opposing. A half percent tax increase on the cannabis industry. You know, I understand the intent, but with the current economic crisis we are facing due to the COVID, it seems difficult to impose a tax without doing an economic impact study. And I would like to make a motion to defer this tax increase until an economic impact study comes back in six months to determine the effect of this increase on our general funds and consumer market. Can someone give me a second on this? Speaker 0: I have a second buy councilman's in Dallas. Speaker 1: Thank you very much counterbalancing that. And finally, I would like to close by saying back in the day, as you know, you know me about fostering leadership. We got through to over 90 session. And I'm hopeful that with the leadership and the effort, I mean, of course, you know, and my colleagues will do the same. And thank you very much. Speaker 0: Think before I just continue on I want we do have a motion on the floor so vice mayor and I'm not sure if this was brought up to the B or C. So Councilman Austin, can we fold that into your motion? Is that is that an easier way of doing this? Miss Moon? Speaker 7: I am, ma'am. I'm amendable to 40, not into the motion, but I would offer or ask for how we find about balance there. And and I will I'm going to defer to staff on that because I know that there is some specifics in terms of numbers, in terms of this this motion before us. What is that cost us? Speaker 5: Projected Council member. So if we do know what tax increase, though not the 0.5% tax increase that the GOP has recommended, but we still keep to our extension. That's part of the motion. Then there is an additional structural cost of 40 400,000, and council would either need to identify an alternative offset for that 400,000 or other recommendations , such as using reserve. Speaker 7: And to the maker of the motion and the secondary, if there is a you have some ideas to give us some structural direction on how to make up that $400,000. I am open to that discussion as well. Speaker 1: Yes. I always like to keep the conversation going, my colleagues, my concern. Okay. Speaker 0: Okay. So then what? I think the way we'll do this is I think, Councilman Austin, you've heard the request by Vice Mayor Andrews and the support on that by customers and De Haas. And so I think we'll keep going. And that's one of the things on the on the table before we get to a vote, we'll try to resolve that one issue. So I'm I will continue on the speaker's list. Councilmember Richardson. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a few things. First of all, a good job. Councilman Austin, on your first budget here, I think I see the method in which the these recommendations reflect all of the council's input as well as the things we've we've heard along the way. I think that that's that's good. So I'm proud to support these things. It's a lot of good things in this budget. Thank you for highlighting some of the Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initiative recommendations. You know, there's a lot here. There's a lot within, you know, from restructuring off the equity this started years ago. And now in this moment, we're going to count on this department. So moving it into city manager shop makes a lot of sense. There's you know, there's a commitment within the city manager's budget to to begin the process reform of the PCC with funding to begin that. That's important. I see that the step to sort of phase in this is this alternative mobile response unit. I gave comments on that in the last item. I'm supportive of that. I want to make sure that those things, you know, we have the time to fold in the input from the community and some of the input from exceptional models. There's a lot of good things here, particularly within within the health department. I see there's we know that there's dedicated reconciliation funds, about 3.2 million, but 1.5 is within the health department that dedicates about 700,000 to create this Office for Youth Development, which has centrally coordinated resources to support our youth. Incredibly important. About 400,000 to support our state. Long Beach violence prevention plan. Upstream violence prevention. You know, there's funding here for the Center for Health Equity, Housing Equity. So all in all, when I do when I take a look at about 40 of the 107 recommendations, about 40 who are represented here within the first year. That's impressive to be able to get to 40 of the initial 107 recommendations in year one of this budget. I think that says something about the seriousness and the commitment that the city council staff put forward to address this issue of this issue of racial equity in our city. There's a few things I want to I want to highlight. I know that we have a right to counsel. We have funding in the mayor's. But no, the right. The council. I have a question with staff on how we plan to to sort of utilize it. It's my opinion. I don't think that we should, you know, take any time, you know, creating a new program. The county just rolled out a program I'd love to see. I'd love to see us or us, you know, utilize these funds in in in partnership with the county to leverage our funds locally and work with a local a local agency that's already established by the county. By the county. So if staff. Mr. Modica, could you speak to your approach on the right to counsel? Speaker 6: Yes. So we agree. We would love to contract with the group that has done this work already or has experience doing it. If the county's got a good, sustainable program. We'd like to piggyback on on other successful efforts. So we would start there and see if there's groups that they have that could expand their services. We think that that could go faster or quicker and bring knowledge, and then we'll work to see if we need to do that through an RFP or other type of model. Speaker 1: Fantastic. That's what I want to hear. I think that's the best way to go about it. Thank you. Secondly, I know that there's a community interest in a rental housing division. I personally support this. I support getting there. I know it's going to take time to sort of build this capacity. We talked for years about, you know, actually aligning all of our housing work from the housing authority to some of the housing workers and development services. I know staff has already taken certain steps by creating this this all aligning all the housing work under Christopher Coombs. But what the community is really asking for is really some apparatus to really focus on developing a division and actually sort of addressing some of the shifting landscape. There was just a state legislation that just came out. People don't really understand. It's been changing month to month. And we've seen, you know, some of the council offices. We've simply been forwarding out memos and fact sheets from legal aid from other agencies. I think we should be able to produce our own capacity. So I want to want to ask that I know that there is are funding within the reconciliation for housing equity. And I know that we are already counting on on our our city attorney's office in many ways to evaluate what's going on. Are you Mr. City? City, city, Mr. City Manager, is there a way that you could come back and tell us how we can utilize the housing equity position to start putting out notices and fact sheets that are actually city like the city can put forward, not necessarily recirculating things that came from the community. How could you respond to this, this interest in a rental housing division? Speaker 6: Yes. So we've taken a look at the request for a rental housing division to create something robust like that actually would take some significant resources. We've costed it at around $1.1 million to create a five or six person division with legal counsel and support. We do think there are other ways to get to the question of how do we provide better housing assistance and resources if that's what the council wants to do? The right to counsel is going to be very helpful. The 250,000. We have a position of reconciliation that doesn't quite do that. It would do something different. I can turn it to Kelly to see are there other dollars within the reconciliation that can help? But if we're starting a new service, we're going to need some additional bodies, though. Kelly, if you can answer that, I know we're at the zero time, but if we can answer the question. Speaker 1: One more. Speaker 4: Any mayor and council members. So within their funding of the reconciliation. We currently have funding set for the Office of Youth Development, Violence Prevention and Reentry Programing and then public health equity. Going forward, there are some additional funds set aside to be able to support additional investments under those three opportunities. And we also are hiring currently in the process of hiring with homeless services, funding a person to do to really focus on homeless services and housing. And the intent there was to really engage from an equity lens to be able to ensure that we are are ensuring that all of our services have an equity runs across. Speaker 1: Homelessness and housing. Speaker 4: So there are some funds available that we were looking to further invest into. Speaker 2: Other reconciliation opportunities, but we. Speaker 1: Could make some of those funds. Speaker 2: Available for. Speaker 1: The housing equity person. Speaker 2: If that's. Speaker 3: The intent of the. Speaker 1: Council. So I want to that say thank you. SALIBY So that said, you know, I think it's important. I think it is a racial equity issue. I mean, 70% of Latinos in the city of Long Beach are renters. 80% of black folks in Long Beach are renters. I think we have to think about this. I completely understand building out of division may take time. That's not something we can do here. But when the parameters of what we have, I want to make sure that those resources we have within the reconciliation dollars can be used to actually make sure we get started in that work. So I don't know that we even need to make a motion because you already have those funds dedicated within there. I just want to make sure that's reflected and that's that. Now's the time to come back and handle that. The last thing I would say is I see there's a lot of interest in language access. I have more of a common sense question here. Every time we have we have council meetings, we have Spanish interpretation, and we know that there's always issues related to the quality of information . I don't think that we should have to request Spanish interpretation. I know we don't get as many compliance. The bills should remain by request, but I think it might even be more cost effective to simply have Spanish interpretation available at every city council meeting. And so I want to have staff respond to that. If that agrees with this, then great. If not, I'd like to just make a motion that we figure out as a part of this how to make sure that Spanish interpretation is available, available at every city council meeting without without request, given the demand that we've seen. Could you speak to that, Mr. Martin? Speaker 6: So I asked the city clerk to talk a little bit about the cost. Their office organizes the the translation. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilmember Richardson. So we do have a cost estimate to provide Spanish translation services at every council meeting, and that estimated cost annually is $64,000. And that's having two translators for approximately 4 to 5 hours at every council meeting. We can do this through an outside vendor. It might be another option to look at hiring a full time translator for the city. And that's something we haven't costed out yet. Speaker 1: So I think we should figure I think we should figure that out. So. Mr.. Mr.. Chair, is that just making sense to you? Do you want this as a motion or this is city staffer receiving this other sentiment? Speaker 7: I must say that. Can you repeat what you are proposing here? Speaker 1: I mean. What it is, is there's every council meeting we've had, there's been Spanish interpretation. I just don't know why we are still going through the process of requesting it when we know we get a different person every time and the quality is not great. So we should be thinking about making sure we should still do by request our compliance. We don't have the same demand on Spanish. It happens every council meeting. Why are we still going through requesting it for council meeting? It should be standard. And so I think that's a more realistic commitment that we should make the language access instead of nickel and diming it here and there. So I don't I want to figure out, you know, what's the best way to go about this need to be in a motion or can staff make this happen? Speaker 7: But I think that with all due respect, Councilman, I think staff has heard this, and I think it's the will of the council to improve our language, access on whether or not requesting or where we are with the process to me is a more of an administrative issue and less of a budget matter. And so I would I would, you know, use the direction that you are providing, listen to your concerns, the concerns of others that have been relayed throughout not only this budget process, but but in other forums as well throughout the past couple of years. I do believe it's important that that we provide interpretation. I'm sorry. Speaker 0: We've got no pages. Yeah. And I was actually talking about. Speaker 1: And. Speaker 6: I think we have an open mic. Mr. Mayor. Speaker 7: I might. Speaker 1: Just. I get where you're going. Councilman Tom. Mr. Modica, after receiving very. You put the network putting down. Speaker 6: Yes. So I understand that language access. We'll take a look at what we can do and whether we can do different models. And we were planning on using some of the money that was put aside for language access to invest in this area because the clerk does not have full staffing and money to do the level of translation that we're currently providing. So, yes, we'll look at that. I would say, though, I would request, if you're looking at adding a position as part of the $1.5 million, that that be part of the motion. So that is a substantive budget that that be considered as part of the motion. Speaker 1: That's fine. So I'll make sure those are reflected in and my friendly to Councilman Austin the comments about how to treat the 1.5 to make sure rental housing position is reflected within that budget neutral and to also give direction to staff to figure out a way to make sure that Spanish is Spanish is not by request. There may be a number of ways to get there. It doesn't have to be a position, but that staff that staff knows council meetings will have Spanish interpretation available, not necessarily by request. Speaker 7: Thank you, Councilmember. Speaker 0: Okay. Next up, we have Councilman Mongo. Speaker 3: Thank you. I would like to share my congratulations to the Budget Oversight Committee and specifically Chair Austin in the great work that he's done over the last several months. It's a daunting process and he did it with Grace and I appreciate him and the work that he's doing. I also want to thank the city staff. I know how much work goes into the budget and all the questions all of us have behind the scene and how excellent you have been in providing additional resources and discussions for us to have something that was started as a discussion on the EEOC a few years ago, and I brought it up during the budget hearings last week. Again, is that our fleet fund is often looking for maintenance reductions and that a lot of our investments go to help reduce the maintenance costs of our fleet. And one of the ways that we can do that is actually by repairing our streets, our streets, our what are causing our fleet to have so many bumps and bruises. And those bumps and bruises and additional insurance costs are not just burdened by the city, but they're also burdened by residents. So I'd like to propose a friendly that I know to be nothing new to members of this committee and this council, because we've talked about it before. But I'd like to see us redirect 70% of the general fund department capital contribution. That's a fraction of the 45 million in revenue a year that goes into that fund. It's literally only the general fund capital contribution to the Fleet Fund. And I'd like to redirect it to a street and alley fund focused on the worst streets and sidewalks and serve the worst streets and alleys in the city. Percentages approved in a previous motion I made several years ago where you take what the worst street data is and then distribute the which streets will get usage based on the worst 80% of streets and 20% to alleys. Is that something that you would consider? Mr. Austin. Speaker 7: Well, first I would ask the city manager, is that is that feasible and doable? And then secondly, would you be opposed to divide by nine in that regard? Speaker 3: So on the divide by nine, typically we have funds that are already divided by nine. And the challenge with that is there are certain districts, Councilmember Muranga is one of them, where when we started on the council together into District one and District two had $10,010 million in street repair need where Councilmember Odinga had $20 million in street repair need. And so until we the contributions in the district have the worst streets and alleys, we won't be able to. Furthermore, we did the alley money based on dirt alleys alone. And so we really need to focus on our worst allies next. A divide by nine would put some alleys at the top of the list in districts that their alleys are. Beautiful and amazing compared to what some of the other districts are experiencing. So it's not a lot of money, so it won't go super far. But I do believe it's a good step in the right direction. And you'll notice that every council member received a email of support from or construction trades and they would like to get back to work as well. And this is just a small investment both in the economy and in the needs of our residents. We have committed to our residents that we will repair these streets and we consistently do our best to catch up. But as fast as we are cutting up, more are deteriorating, which is why the based on need is the most important component of the motion. We continue to provide money divided by nine even though the public works director. It stated that he made a mistake in the next revision to the three year plan, that it should have been by need only so that districts could catch up. But it was once again done with the divide by two in percentage. So I would ask that this specifically go towards the worst streets. And I think that it's kind of a blind roulette for us because I don't think any of us know what those next worst streets, the worst alleys will be. But I think that we all know that it would be a good investment. I think the second. Speaker 7: So I will I will let the city manager respond to that. And I'm I'm I'm open to to accepting your friendly to do that because I do recognize the importance of infrastructure repairs in my district and in every district in the city. I know that there's tremendous need for street repairs and alley repairs throughout our city. And, you know, I'd be interested to find out if there are other districts that feel like they don't need it. And so the the divide by nine recommendation or thought was was one to, you know, be be more equitable for for everyone in the city, for all of our residents. But I'll turn it over to the city manager to to address the the feasibility of making that happen in this budget. Speaker 6: Thank you. And so I will start with infrastructure. It is it is absolutely a fact that our infrastructure does need additional funding. We do have a fair amount of money going to streets this year, actually a little bit more than we do even last year. And I believe it's almost $40 million. I would point out that, you know, we do have some also concerns with sidewalks where we are under litigation to basically meet certain deadlines related to our ADA sidewalk compliance. That said, I'll talk a little bit about the fleet idea. It is a technically feasible idea. We do pay money from the general fund into the Fleet Fund to basically get caught up with our fleet capital replacement. Our fleet has done an amazing job and are under a manager of getting the fleet replacement cycles down from in the past. They'd been in the ten and 15 years down into the into the 5 to 7 year time frame, which saves us maintenance. So this is something you're able to technically do as it's proposed? I do I do want to caution us that this doesn't come without a cost. It would increase our replacement cycles are most of these are PD cruisers. So our PD cruisers are currently at about a five year funding cycle. They're actually at six years because we didn't fund it last year. This would take us to somewhere between 6 to 7 years. And so with breakdowns and maintenance costs that there will be an impact. So it is a politics policy choice that does come with some ramifications to our fleet. Speaker 0: Okay. Why don't we come to my office and I know you're considering accepting our friendly. Did you want to? Councilman? WOMAN Margot, do you have any additional other comments? Speaker 3: Well, I think that the representation that a majority of them would be PD cruisers is not fair. I only 70% of the fund would be a move. That means 30% of the fund would still be there. And currently approximately 40% of the fund is for Haiti. Cruise or so. It really is management's choice on which department they would have hit the hardest, and I would hope that they would use a strategy and model that would replace the vehicles that were most in need first. I know that vehicles when maintained well, I drive a 26 vehicle with 250,000 miles and it never gives me any problems. I make it every day go and I rarely have any repairs. I think that my mom drives a 1996 vehicle with 100,000 miles on it. I know that's not the same as a 24 hour day, seven days a week vehicle, but not all of our vehicles are 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and looking into some of the vehicles that are a replacement. I think that it's a prudent decision at this time when when you look at how small the $40 million street repair budget gets us and it's great. It does a lot, but it doesn't attack what we at council said a year ago, which is getting rid of the worst streets in the city. We talked about the ten worst streets and the ten worst alleys. We were on national news about our streets and that street has still not been repaired along with others across this district, across the city. And I think that we really need to make that investment for our residents to making those changes. And this is a small amount of money. It's a one year. It's not a multiyear request. And that one year request would go very far. If you think about how many streets it could repair and how many alleys it could repair, and you average of 40 houses per street, which is a very low estimate you're talking about thousands of households would have a higher quality of life because the street outside of their house was repaired because of this kind of motion. And this was something that we all were working on together. And I know that it's difficult when we have a lack of continuity, when we lose a public works director. But I think that it's important that we focus on a two part strategy, one that repairs our streets that's really of utmost importance to our residents. And to that focus is on getting our trades back to work. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you for that. Councilmember Austin, I think you have that friendly to consider. And do I move on or do you want to respond? Speaker 7: I am open to the friendly arm, but I'd like to hear from other council members to comment on this as well. And I think, again, the the the eyes wide open again, it's just whether or not it's worth streets or divide by nine. We need to figure out how that should be allocated and directed. Speaker 0: Okay, great. And I think I just want to make sure, Councilman Alston and maybe, maybe Miss Yoon, are you also kind of keeping keeping notes on all of the kind of front and Lee requests that the council is making for for Chair Austin so we can kind of review those at the end of the motion or maybe the city attorney doing that. Okay. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Well, I mean, keep going. Councilman, Mango, anything else? Speaker 3: For their. Yes. I want to thank Mr. Austin and the mayor for their recommendations related to our Parks Department and our youth sports programs. I thought those were impeccable. I appreciate the committee's decision to spare our K-9 dog officer. I think that was really important as well, along with our our violent sexual assault crime unit. I think that that's critical. I wish we could have kept an additional or to a sworn. And by merging it with a couple of other units. But I hope that over the next year that PD can come back to us with any other savings that they can find throughout the year with this reduction in the number of sworn positions department wide. I know they'll realize other additional savings that they were counting on, including utilities, gas equipment. And I hope that those savings can come back to us in a way that could either potentially reorg the air ops unit. As one of the callers said, perhaps instead of civilian izing, it just cut it in half or put a detective into that detail. Because if we don't have the detectives out there doing the work, we're not going to have the great outcomes like we had today, where we solve crimes, where individuals with that horrible gang murdered on Halloween night. And so we just really appreciate our detectives and the work that they're doing to make sure that those gangs are on held accountable to the families that are mourning. So, again, thank you to all of that. I have one last recommendation, which is actually a part of item 26. And this council asked the city attorney to come forward with a recommendation on how we could participate in the 10% pay cuts early or at Bossi today, I heard members discussing in the community concerts, discussing library hours, things that are of importance to each of us. And I know we talked about donating back 10% of our salaries to stand in in support of the citywide furlough program. And I am 100% committed to that. What I would also make a recommendation to is that if a councilmember chose to donate that back into the city, that's great and it could go to the general fund. I don't know what it would be allocated toward since they're it's not a part of this budget. But if that councilmember would prefer to make a exact same sized donation to the Library Foundation or the partners of Parks, then that money could be committed back to the city through other programs that would really help and support our parks and library budgets, which are being really hit during this time. So that would be something that I'll be making a recommendation on a number 26. But I really think you guys did an excellent job. Thank you for all of your hard work. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Next up is Councilmember Pierce. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, BMC. Thank you, city staff. I really believe that this budget is not only the most difficult budget that we've had to pass, it also provides a lot of opportunity and a lot of room for growth for those that need it most. And I think that that's what we've heard from our community members through this process. And so I appreciate the comments made by the previous council members. I wanted to ask staff on the right to council what is the quickest timeline that we can expect something on that? I know you mentioned that we might have to go to an RFP and I know that the last time we did something like this, it was new and it just took a really long time to get out. Speaker 6: So I don't think we have an estimated timeline right now. We're talking about steps to make it go a little faster than a typical procurement process. We understand the urgency. I think understanding if there is a scope of work already written by the county that we agree with and meets the council's needs, that cuts a significant time off. And then if we can use their vendor list and open up an RFP quickly to that vendor list, things can go a lot quicker. So the funds will be available on October one. We would start and then put a process in place. Certainly before the end of the year we would be allocating money, hopefully even sooner. Speaker 3: Great. I was going to ask the chair of the see if there was openness to try to put a 90 day, if it hasn't been scoped out in 90 days to have a report back to council. Does that seem like a time period that I even need to make a motion on? I think that you guys can probably. Speaker 1: Do a. Speaker 7: Guess. I would ask the city manager, is this something that he can work with? Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that is the target that we would look to do is 90 days. Speaker 3: Beautiful. Thank you so much. On the rental housing division that Councilmember Richardson brought up, it's something I definitely wholeheartedly support. I think that there's a couple opportunities in the budget and I just want to say I think this a Thursday. Sorry, Mike. She got teary. Okay. I think that there are a couple opportunities in the budget for just reorganization and that this is definitely one of the areas that we've got staff in different departments that are working on these programs. And so I appreciate the motion or the conversation that's been had around this. I look forward to seeing what staff develops in full fully support that. The one area the other area I also support the language access conversation. I do know that before the last big budget cuts that the city had under Bob Foster, that people didn't have to request translation. It was just a given. And it wasn't just for the council meetings, it was for the council meetings for any chartered commission meetings. And so I think the commitment that this council continues to make every year, if there's a way to figure out how we can make sure we have somebody and hopefully the same person every week, I know that we've heard many different translators and that sometimes they're not saying exactly what the community members are saying. And we know that it continues to be a challenge. So whatever we can do to get to that I think would be wonderful. On the most the emotion that's already been included around looking at new models. I think it would be very helpful, as I mentioned earlier, if we're working, especially if we've got six months to kind of put together this new community model, working with our community partners, not only those that have come out and supported this, like the community organizations that spoke tonight, or Nathaniel Brown, who's done an op ed on it, but also including mental health organizations, suicide prevention team and trauma informed partners to ensure that we're being thoughtful and thinking outside of the box on how we can provide services for those that are most impacted. And so the only thing that I have that really is, in addition to what community members have already spoke to, is I'm wondering, staff, if you guys could provide a list of organizations to the City Council for organizations that we pay membership that exceed $3,000 a year to the Council for review at a later date. Is that something that that would be possible? I don't think it's going to be that many. Speaker 0: Mr. Modica, can you do what you counsel on that. Speaker 6: If that's something that you want to include in the budget direction, we can do that. Speaker 3: Yeah. Just to to from for that that has the membership, the cost and where the fund comes from. Speaker 6: Can I suggest that the amount be a little bit higher than that? That could be hundreds. You know, you might have individual memberships for individual employees. I think you're looking at organizations like Organizations of the city belongs to. Speaker 3: Yeah. That we pay annually. So not like a one time fund, but something that we're annually paying membership fees. Speaker 6: So you're not if I can ask for an exclusion for like, you know, certain professional fees might be paid for if you go to a, you know, if you get a certification or something. So I'd like us to focus on the organizations for like the city. I think that's your intent. Is that is that correct? Speaker 3: And we're going to go for the full city. Yeah. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Okay. I think those are my I, I think that, you know, I really applaud the mayor. The budget that was presented to us was a great step in the right direction, including everything from climate work to work on housing and also our small business support. So I think we're in a a good place considering where we thought we might be. So I look forward to the continued work on our police reform, on our community organizations, our housing models, and making sure that that work is not something that's one in one night. It's not something that's achieved in one day, but really is a culture shift for the city and recognizing that it is hard and uncomfortable and that's okay. But I feel good about where we're at tonight, so thank you. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. Council member. Council. Council member. During the. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mary. And I want to thank all the commentary has come forward so far. I think it's a great conversation and some real good suggestions and good ideas out there as well. And I want to thank you for joining me to the B or C. It was a quite a an experience, my first time ever being in that in that committee. And it was quite a quite a learning process. Obviously, it was a very difficult budget this year with COVID 19 and the downturn in the economy and all the other obstacles and challenges that we face. This budget is one that can we can build, could be good. We could not proud, but we can we can look at it as being one that that meets what we need to have worked for this year. In regards to my participation in it, it was eye opening in regards to where we're at and where we need to be. There's most of the things that I'm really pleased with is that we're really looking at institutionalizing some of those money that I think are very important for us to do, such as those that are going to be with the Office of Equity, the movement of some of the programs into the city manager's office and making them structural. There are some friendlies that are here at this budget right now that we're hearing that I am certainly in favor of. I want to thank customer Richard. So for bringing forward the Spanish translation issue to the forefront. It's something that, again, that I think it should be institutionalized and should be present at all of it. It is something that is very important and that we've seen during this process that there is a lot of interest out there from Spanish speakers to participate. And we are in the political process and it's very important that we provide this kind of service to them as well and making sure that everybody's voice is heard. I also want to encourage the staff to look at the possibility of a full time staff person to do that. It's not it's not easy. Translating translation services is a very difficult thing to do and learn. And it's it's one that requires a very special skill that is not easily required and requires a lot of work get into it. And obviously, as we've heard, not all translation services are are the best, but they certainly try to give credit for it for making that effort. There's the other friendly that that I heard and they want to support is the friendly put together by councilmember Mongo in regards to streets. She's absolutely correct. And when I look at my street in the seventh District that we had some of the worst out there and they've been that way for a long time. And so the damage done to vehicles, both both personal and city, are tremendous. And it's because we are we defer maintenance of the streets to another year in the year. And as we continue to do so, they deteriorate even more. So we do have some bad streets. And I would look at it, I respect they were streets first because that's where the damage is being created. Now, there is a concern about 70% of the budget being moved towards that. I would be I would leave that up to the two staff to work that out in regards it doesn't need to be 70% to deal with the worst streets. That's something that they would have to pencil out. And also in regards to the continuing efforts of riot of re instituting the re lifeguard program and with the EMS. So certainly very supportive of that. And and I'm hoping that we can make that can help that continue. One last thing is that there was another motion apparently with that councilmember Vice Mayor Andrews for 4.5%. And the two days in the cannabis issue, there's something there that I think we really do need to look at it. I don't know Councilmember Austin carousel we'll see was concerned about that $400 $400,000 difference that it would create if we were to hold off on 2.5% tax increase to study it further. And I think it would behoove us to look at that. I think we should give the industry an opportunity to look at their possibilities of what the difference will make in being open an additional 2 hours, as opposed to what was the recommendation of one additional hour or so. I think we need to look at that seriously. And and nobody likes taxes. Nobody likes to increase taxes. I certainly don't. But, you know, if it's going to help us balance our budget, so be it. However, let's do it because we need to and not because we think that we have to. Again, it was quite an experience working on the BRC. I want to thank member also for leadership of the DLC and of course my colleague on their up to the price of your customer price for also being a member of that. And I've learned quite a bit this year on what's going on and they are hoping that we can learn about the budget tonight and let's get this behind us and move forward with the city and advancing, really making the city of Lomita great city that it is. Thank you very much. Speaker 0: Thank you. Customary Ringo. Next up is council member Zendejas. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you very much to our Budget Oversight Committee chair Austin. For all the hard work that you put in on the budget and all the great recommendations as well as from the mayor and the and our city staff. I. I do have a couple questions for you, but I also wanted to say thank you to Councilmember. Speaker 5: Richardson. Speaker 3: For talking about, you know, the need for our Spanish speaking translations and needed on a on a every every week basis, at least for City Hall. I think that's very important. And I also at the same note, I also wanted to thank our city staff, Tom and Becky, who have been continuously working with me on the translation portion. And we've been working on it for weeks and we continue to work at it. We have also realized that one of the hardest things to do, while we're not seeing each. Speaker 5: Other, we're not. Speaker 3: Face to face, is that when somebody was translating and they're right next to you, they can easily tap on your shoulder and ask you to stop speaking so that they can translate for you. So we. Speaker 5: Found that that's a. Speaker 3: Problem. And I know that thanks to Tom and Becky for both working with me and trying to address those issues and smooth that out a. Speaker 5: Little bit more. Speaker 3: So I thank you for that. I also wanted to ask the city staff, I, I said, as you know, I seconded the motion for Vice Mayor Andrews. And I want you to know, with those 2 hours that we that we are expanding for the cannabis industry, our businesses. Is that a way to offset the 4000 that is needed, 400,000 that it's needed? Speaker 6: So the the original proposal was a 1% tax, which generated over $800,000. The revised back proposal is a half cent tax, so cutting it in half and then trying to make up the rest of the dollars through the the two hour extension going up to 11 p.m.. So Grace, can you tell us the value of that of those two together? Speaker 5: Yeah. So the BBC has already recommended going to half a percent and then the extension of the 2 hours. And so from the original proposed budget of generating 800,000 in revenue, the Bossi recommendation generates 600 an estimated 600,000 of revenue. So it was a hit to revenues of 200,000, which is in the current proposal, balanced out from that point. If we saw the 2 hours extension, it's already included in the number and included in the BBC recommendations that are all accounted for in terms of usage and sources. If we go back down and don't increase any of the tax at all, so we don't increase the 0.5%, an additional 400,000 would need to be identified. Speaker 3: Thank you for explaining that, Ms.. Hoon. I also wanted to say thank you very much for all everyone that has been able to participate in this conversation. I know that everyone before me has said some great stuff about the budget. I am. This is my first time, so I was pretty excited to go through this process and I know it has been hard work, but I'm really glad that we are coming to to this point and that we're considering everybody's input. So that's very important. Another question that I had is. In regards to work Councilmember Mango said regarding the of the helicopter is it is that and this is probably. Speaker 5: This question is probably for a. Speaker 3: Fire chief. Would that purchase affect any of our engines and fire engines. Speaker 6: If it's been a. We'll answer that. Speaker 3: Yes. Thank you, Chief. And as he is coming to to the mike, I also wanted to know if one if that purchase would affect our fire engines and also would it affect the Carl Moyer grant that is pending to receive? From. Speaker 1: Thank you for the question. As far as the actual purchase, are you talking about the 1.9 that we're giving back or what purchase are you talking about exactly? Speaker 3: The one for the. Speaker 5: Helicopter that we were talking. Speaker 3: Well, the motion that our friendly that counsel Mango had had said earlier. And so it's curious, the ending of that purchase was going to be affecting any of our engines. Fire engines. Speaker 1: Yeah. That wouldn't impact fire in any way. Speaker 3: Oh, came. Thank you. Thank you, Chief, for addressing that. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you, Councilmember. Our next topic, Councilmember Supernova. Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. I'd also like to commend our committee chair, Austin Vice-Chair Price and member Turanga for just a fantastic job, in particular for Chair Austin. First time out, just really hit it out of the park. So congratulations on that. I'd like to follow up on Councilor Mungo's friendly on repairing the worst the worst streets. That really got my attention. And I think at least one of those streets goes from the fourth District to the fifth District. So we would certainly share in that. But my question is for fire in particular, just because I've been studying it and the grants available to fire. And I think Mary's and somebody touched on it. But so we have a Carl Moyer grant for I believe it's for the purchase of new engine companies. What if we delayed or canceled an order on one of those engine companies? Would we potentially lose that grant money? Is Councilman Supernova. To my understanding, there is a time limit on that grant and I would have financial management speak to that more closely, but I believe it's an 18 month performance period. This is Sandra. And yes, we are at the end of the time period for the Grand Prix delayed any of the vehicles and those vehicles we delayed, we would lose. So would there be a possibility to make an exception for the apparatus, those bigger apparatus? Would that be for this friendly amendment if if it's going to cost us money to delay this? Obviously, we wouldn't want to do that. Also, I think if the chief could maybe speak to just maintenance in general. Is there anything you can tell us on the maintenance cost of of older apparatus? There's there's got to be a break even point to where you're better off to buy new. If there's anything you can enlighten us about on that, I'd appreciate it. The issue with having the older apparatus is that the the equipment becomes outdated. It becomes more difficult to get the repairs taken care of. It becomes more difficult to locate the the actual parts and equipment. And the repairs seem to be coming up quite a bit more often. So at a certain point, it is more cost effective to replace rather than repair. Speaker 6: Councilmember. This is Tom. If I can provide a little bit of clarity, because this is a complex area. The the fire fleet purchases are on the agenda tonight. And they would be separate from any budget discussion you're talking about because of the size of the fleet purchases and our fiscal difficulties. In the past, we hadn't been able to fully fund the fleet capital replacement for our pumpers. And so what you have in front of you tonight is both a committee grant, that's item number 17, and number 18 is the lease purchase of two fire ladder trucks and ten fire pumpers. So that would be one action. The motion on the floor, the friendly being considered is for our other vehicles, which is about 63% of our vehicles are our police type vehicles. Those would be we have about 800 and and we get the number 823 vehicles that we fund through the general fund. So about 62 and a half percent are police. And then the others are things like sweepers and code enforcement and and our public works vehicles, those types of things. So that is would be what you were delaying and extending the fleet replacement by a year. Speaker 1: Okay. So thank you, Mr. City Manager. So what you're saying is the friendly here stands alone to address those issues and the new at the purchase of the new fire apparatus is a separate item. Speaker 6: Correct. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. That's all I have. Okay. Thank you, Councilmember. Councilwoman Price. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I do have a question regarding the recommendation that was made by Councilwoman Mongeau. Speaker 3: Regarding our. Speaker 2: Infrastructure. And I think it's important to clarify this for the public. So I know that our. Sales tax measure. Had a capital improvement project that identified the projects that would be. Speaker 3: Focused the focus. Speaker 2: Of that measure money for a period of time. If we were to adopt a Worst Streets program, how would that impact the infrastructure plan that we've already put out and advertise to the community as the streets they can look forward to having repaired in the coming years? Speaker 6: So I'll take a first crack at that and turn it over to Eric if I missed anything. So if you're adding new money, it should not affect the map that has been put out already. We could always use more money to complete everything that's on the map and accelerate it, but you could add new projects and new dollars. The worst Streets approach would be a little bit different than the pavement management plan that we funded. We tend to look at how much money, what is the need for replacement and typically the worst streets cost the most to repair, which is why they're in the worst condition. So that is certainly a direction we can take it. Would we have not been able to focus money on the worst streets? We've been basically using the pavement management plan to inform street decisions. Speaker 2: Got it. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 3: Thank you. I appreciate Mr. Motorcars clarification on my friendly. I think that I often forget that I talk in budget speak and that when we outlined the general fund capital improvement and sorry capital purchase budget that the leases and other things would would be exempt from that because those are different strategies. I just also wanted to add in 2018, we as a council made a commitment to focus infrastructure money on the streets that were the worst. And unfortunately, our public works director at the time did not take our direction. And at that time that the specific motion was that on a go forward basis, the city shall make citywide investments in streets, alleys and sidewalks based on need. And we did that. We made millions of dollars of investments in the worst alleys in the city, but we didn't follow through with that on the streets. And like Councilman Price said, it would not impact anything we've promised to the community thus far. It's new money and I think moving the black eyes of our city. And we all saw what a huge impact it was to remove all the dirt alleys, to remove the next worst alleys and the next worst streets. Most of those streets span multiple districts. And so you're really getting a huge investment. I'm also, to Mr. Frangos point, an alley in the seventh District may cost more than an alley in the ninth district, and that's because of the composition of the alley and what they were made of at the era in which the alley investments were made. And so we as a council discussed that policy. And and so this is nothing new. And I hope that Councilmember Austin will consider adopting it, having heard so much support from my colleagues. And furthermore, I just want to say once again. There's a lot of priorities here and a lot of things that we've come together on. And I'm really proud to be a member of this council and the great impacts that we're able to make this year. So congratulations to everyone should this pass. Speaker 0: Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 3: Thank you. Real quick, I have a question for city staff just on the standards. Whenever we replace our fleet, disregarding our fire fleet, do we have any standards for what cars were purchasing? Speaker 6: Yes, we absolutely do. So one of the things that we do when we buy new vehicles is we always look first to see if we can use an EV vehicle. So every replacement actually helps us with our climate goals. John Groce can give us more information. Speaker 1: Yes, we are just about to buy 50 hybrids for the police department everywhere and replace them when it becomes available. And I will not only blame the police, but we reduce our maintenance costs and. Speaker 3: Awesome. I can't hear you any more. But that was the perfect answer. My my second question is for the materials. I recall talking about the new road material and there being option to use rubber and recycled tires. And I'm wondering if that's a standard that we that we have right now to use for green. Street repair products. Speaker 6: Eric Lopez, if you can address that, please. Eric, can you hear us? We'll try to get the answer to that question, Councilmember. So I do know that we do use recycled content. Just not sure exactly how much and what product. But we do wherever we can, try to use some of the tires and put back into our asphalt. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilman's in Dallas. Speaker 3: Fair. I also wanted to comment on Stacey Mungo's council member Mungo's comment earlier in regards to the street and the alleys and being from a district who has one of the I want to say very, very bad streets and very bad alleys, not only because we're in downtown, but because of the usage. I remember that when I got elected, I said, you know, one of the first things that I want to work on is on fixing our streets. And then I realized, you know, the whole process that it takes to do that and how long the wait is for it to be able to fix certain streets. So I am extremely supportive of being able to fix the streets in a most need basis. And I think that that that's a really good move for us to go into. Another question that I had, again, maybe mishear and you can help me with this again, I'm back into that. I'm going back into the cannabis tax and the 2 hours of operation that are behind those 2 hours of operation be bringing in, in addition to ours, to what they're doing right now to the city. So we also have a jay here who can linger on it. But I'll jump in first to say that, you know, the additional hours of operations could potentially generate more sales. Speaker 2: It's not clear right now or the extension of the hours if they will generate the same average amount of sales that. Speaker 3: An hour a day. Speaker 2: An hour of open hours right now. And there is some data that shows that at different points of the day, there are different. Speaker 3: Levels of sales. So just extending hours. Speaker 2: Of operation doesn't automatically mean the same level of average sales. However it is, there is an assumption that extending the hours will generate some additional sales. We're just not quite sure exactly if it's at the same pace. Speaker 3: So at the moment, we're projecting for each hour. Speaker 2: For the 2 hours that the boss has recommended, for each hour, a 100,000 of sales being generated. That answer your question, councilwoman. Speaker 3: Yes. You know, and one of the things that I was looking at here in my notes is that, you know, previously we were looking at extending that just one hour, which would mean more or less that it would probably generate. And like you said, we're not certain, but we were projecting that it would bring in $1.6 million more. And so I'm thinking, you know, with the 2 hours, it would probably double that that amount. And so I was thinking that it would be a really good, you know, starting point for us. But with going ahead and and asking for for us to delay this and bring a study forward, I think would be the best thing to do, only because that way right now we have uncertainties and that we may be able to have more data in our hands to be able to move forward on this. So thank you. Thank you for that. No problem. And Councilman, I just want to clarify. Speaker 5: That at the moment. Speaker 2: While it is still an estimate and an assumption at this point, until we get data each hour of additional hours, we are projecting. Speaker 5: 100,000. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes council comment on this item going back to Councilmember Austin. So, Councilman, we have your motion and second by councilman, which was to adopt these recommendations. Speaker 7: Thank you, Mayor. And then also in the elements. Go ahead. Speaker 0: I want to. So not amused, councilman. And so and then we also have out there were some friendlies or requests that were also made to that. And so I don't know if you and you want to go through those and then find out what what Councilman Austin's decision on on taking those in. Speaker 3: Sure we can do that. So now. Speaker 2: And I may need some additional clarifications is a motion or a. Speaker 3: Friendly to. Speaker 2: Continue to extend the business hours for cannabis businesses by 2 hours per the Bossi recommendations. Speaker 5: But not. Speaker 2: To increase cannabis business license tax until an economic impact. Speaker 5: Study can be conducted and. Speaker 3: Evaluated. Speaker 2: That was a friendly by Councilmember Andrews, and the comment here was. Speaker 3: That we still need to find if this friendly work is. Speaker 2: Excepted, we still need to find an additional 400,000 if we wanted to offset it within. Speaker 3: The item itself. Speaker 5: And then we have a council member state. Speaker 3: This motion to use 70%. Speaker 2: Of the general fund contributions. Speaker 3: For Fleet Capital and F 21 to. Speaker 2: Fund street and alleys based on the worst streets and alleys. With 80% going to streets. Speaker 3: And 20% going. Speaker 5: To alleys. And that's the note. Speaker 2: That we have here. Speaker 5: And then. Speaker 2: The third from Councilwoman Pierce to request city manager to report. Speaker 3: Back to city council in a memo on any city. Speaker 2: Annual membership. Speaker 5: Fees for organizations that exceed. Speaker 2: $11 or worse. And I believe that's all. Speaker 3: The what officially requested. Speaker 2: To be. Is there any clarification on those. Speaker 5: Items. Speaker 3: That each of the councilmember want to correct or decrease? Speaker 6: GRACE This is Tom. I'd like for the record, I think we had two from Councilmember Richardson. One was to do an exploration about housing possession and using some of the reconciliation dollars for creating a position that could help coordinate housing. And also, the council, just so we captured in the motion to make language access available at council meetings upon request or not upon request, and for staff to look at different motion or ways to fund language access or provide language access. Speaker 0: And then the only one that I have down from that list was just two for four back from staff to the Council on memberships and information back. So I have that written down here also as just I'm not sure if that's part of the motion, but certainly part of the requests of what's coming out of the out of the discussions. Let me go to go back to Councilman Austin. We can take those individual want. So why don't we why don't we go take this council? Speaker 7: Thank you. So, Mr. Mayor, and to more council colleagues, I want to thank you all for your your very thoughtful input and suggestions, the the friendly amendments as well. I'll take them from the top. The one that is glaring is the the the cannabis tax, retail tax. And I've heard from enough council colleagues to understand that there's some unsteadiness to move forward with that. But there is except there is a everybody seems to be okay with extending the hours and and studying that. I would ask and I would accept this amendment, but I would ask that this issue come back at midyear for review . And and we would we should have some some data and a better idea as to how this is working at that time. Again, this is a budget that is an unconventional this we have have not faced these type of challenges in many, many years. And so I would I think we need to have some flexibility to to to look at this. And I would just say that to the the cannabis industry out there, they are doing pretty, pretty well and are exceeding our expectations in terms of generating revenue here in the city. We are asking a lot are several of our departments all close to 5000 employees. Everybody is taking sacrifices and in impacts as a result of this budget. And I think we need to come together. And so with that, I would accept the friendly amendment with the condition that we come back to review the the tax at midyear . Secondly, in terms of Councilmember Richardson's recommendations, understanding that there is some money in the the reconciliation process. Housing is an important issue. I'm open to accepting that, as well as the recommendation or amendment friendly amendment for language access. And then as it relates to the Fleet Front Fund, I do understand that there's this is a this is a bold move. We as a city council have made a lot of major commitments to our residents, and we have a lot of needs in terms of residential streets. And so to councilman goes a friendly amendment. I do support that and I am making note of seems to be there needs to be seems to be some consensus around we're streets but I do understand that there is a measure a plan already in this should supplement and be on top of whatever that measure a plan is . And so I do not think one year is going to to hurt our fleet operations drastically. And I certainly hope not. And so I'm willing to accept these amendments and move forward with the vote. Speaker 0: Amendments then are accepted and then we will we do have a motion any second. So let's go ahead and do a roll call vote. Speaker 6: Mr. Mayor, can we get a little bit of clarity on just the I heard use the measure a plan to to fund streets if we can get a little more clarity on that just so we're. Speaker 7: I know we already have a measure, a plan for for residential streets. This makes the. Speaker 0: Clarity. The clarity, I think, is that this is not going to affect our measured rate plan that measure moving forward. Speaker 7: This is on top. Speaker 1: On top. Speaker 6: Yeah. So you would be adding streets on top of this. Are you still adding the worst streets or are you using a different method methodology to to add in? Or is it divide by nine? I'm sorry, we just need that clarification. Speaker 7: I know of a couple of worst streets in eighth district that I'd like to get paid for. Speaker 0: I think. Yeah, I think what I have heard is it is the measure rate plan is intact. That does not change. Separate of that for the additional streets, it's off of worst streets as set by staff. And there is a system the way staff has identified those. And that's what we would look to is the the professional. That's what I heard. At least that would come from staff CPI. Speaker 7: The pavement management plan, right. CPI. Speaker 6: So we would look at the the pavement management plan, the PMP, we would identify those worst streets. And then honestly, that amount of money could go to one street. And I don't think that's your intent. So then we would look at the worst streets and try to get that geographically spread as is. Am I headed in the right direction? Yes. Speaker 7: That's how I understand it. Speaker 6: I understood. Thank you. Speaker 0: Great. Rock cover, please. Speaker 2: District one. I a district two. I. District three. I. District four. Speaker 1: II. Speaker 2: District five. I. District six. Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 2: District seven. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 2: District eight. By District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: Motion carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to adopt the Budget Oversight Committee’s proposed funding recommendations, as amended, to the Proposed FY 21 Budget. (A-2)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Next budget item by item. Speaker 2: Report from Financial Management Recommendation to adopt the expenditures and revenues as identified in the proposed A4 21 budget book, Exhibit three. Speaker 0: Mission. Any editing, anything in addition to this? Speaker 3: Yes. So this item is if the. Speaker 2: City council has any other additional. Speaker 5: Items. Speaker 3: That they would like to propose as changes to the budget. Speaker 2: If not, this motion can just continue forward. Speaker 0: We have a motion by Councilmember Austin and seconded by Councilwoman Price. Roll Call. Vote, please. Speaker 2: District one. Speaker 3: By. Speaker 2: District two. I. District three i. District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District five. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 2: District six. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 2: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District eight. Speaker 1: II. Speaker 2: District nine. Speaker 1: Nine. Speaker 2: Ocean carries.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to adopt the expenditures and revenues as identified in the Proposed FY 21 Budget Book, as amended. (A-3)

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Speaker 2: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Item number 15. Speaker 2: Report from Financial Management Recommendation to adopt a resolution declaring fiscal hardship for fiscal year 20 and FY 21 under Measure B, authorizing the use of up to 50% of Measure B reserves. Exhibit 15. Speaker 0: Yeah. There's a motion in section by offset in price. Roll call vote, please. Speaker 2: District one i. District two. I. District three i. District for. Speaker 1: My. Speaker 2: District five i. District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District seven i. District eight i. District nine. Right. Motion carries. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. We have two final budget votes, but for those budget votes to occur, the Budget Office needs to update the numbers and final motions that were created, obviously, by the council tonight as part of the final budget document. So what we will do now is just take a break from the budget hearing and go to the regular agenda of the council. And the budget team will make sure that the final documents are prepared, sent around so that we have the final votes and the updated contents. So with that, I'm going to go ahead and go to the council agenda and we'll go through the remainder of the items. Madam Clerk, are you ready to get through the rest of the council meeting? Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 0: Okay. Then let's go to item 17.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution declaring fiscal hardship for FY 20 and FY 21 under Measure B, authorizing the use of up to 50 percent of Measure B reserves. (A-15)

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Speaker 0: Okay. Then let's go to item 17. Speaker 2: Report from Financial Management Recommendation to execute an agreement with the South Coast Air Quality Management District for grant funding under the Carl Moyer program in an amount not to exceed $1,145,003 citywide. Speaker 0: Kevin motioned by Councilmember Pearce and a second by customary Ranga members. Please cast your vote. Speaker 2: In District one. Hi, District two. Oh, I'm sorry. There's public comment on this item. Speaker 0: Sorry about that. I don't approve economy sheet, so let's go ahead and do public comment, please. Speaker 1: Jordan during your time starts now. Hello, Mayor and City Council. My name is Jordan. Shame on you. Your behavior is beyond unacceptable. Not only is the institution of policing fundamentally racist, but our BPD is a prime example. In addition, our police department honors and rewards officers involved in wrongful death and excessive force cases. Public records demonstrate that BPD showers, high pay, promotions and awards on its most violent and aggressive members. And in May, Long Beach City attorney Charles Parkin reported that the city has spent more than $31 million since 2014 to settle 61 excessive force and wrongful death claim lawsuits. Reimagining safety is about upending the imbalance of power and holding accountable those officers who act violently with impunity. This is all covered in the recent fourth article about the amount of money that is given out every year or over the past several years in these settlements. I have to ask, what do you expect to change if you're still giving this department a slush fund to cover all their murders? Why would they ever stop killing people if it's all covered and you get promoted if you kill or hurt someone? How does that disincentivize officers from reproducing this harm? Defund the police and take a bold stand against police violence, divest from BPD and invest differently in our community. Health and safety. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Again, it's want to make sure for future public comment. And Madam Clerk, also, we have to make sure that public item on the public comment is to the item specific we please. So I just want to make sure that we're keeping that and that we are sticking to that rule as well. Madam Corkin So I will also interject one of the great if you could also just remind folks of, of that to move forward. So let's move forward or automating. Speaker 2: The vote on item 17, District one. Speaker 0: Vote in the. Speaker 2: High district to. Speaker 3: Buy. Speaker 2: District three. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 2: District for. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District for. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 2: District six. District seven. I district. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 2: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: Listen, Perry's. Speaker 0: Item 98, please. Speaker 2: Item eight. Speaker 1: Includes a.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement, and any necessary documents including amendments, with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), for grant funding under the Carl Moyer program, to partially offset the purchase of seven ambulances, two fire ladder trucks, and ten fire pumper trucks, in an amount not to exceed $1,145,003, through March 31, 2036. (Citywide)

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Speaker 2: Mayor Item 18 or 19. 1818 Report from Financial Management FIA recommendation to adopt a resolution for the purchase of two Pierce Arrow x t fire ladder trucks. Adopt a resolution for the purchase of ten Seagrave Capital Cab Fire Pumpers and authorize city manager to execute a ten year lease purchase agreement for the financing of two fire ladder trucks and ten fire pumpers in an amount not to exceed 15.3 million citywide. Speaker 0: I have a motion by Councilmember Austin to get a second. Please signify councilman, your anger. Is there any public comment? Speaker 2: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: Look, obviously, district one. Speaker 2: District one. I speak to my district three. I. District four. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 2: District. By District. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 2: District seven. By District eight. By District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: Motion carries.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution authorizing City Manager, or designee, to execute a contract, and any necessary amendments, with South Coast Fire Equipment, Inc., of Ontario, CA, for the purchase of two Pierce Arrow XT fire ladder trucks, with related equipment and accessories, on the same terms and conditions afforded to the Houston Galveston Area Council (HGAC), of Houston, TX, in an amount not to exceed $3,130,518, inclusive of taxes and fees;

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Speaker 2: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Next item, please. Speaker 2: Report from Human Resources recommendation to adopt a resolution approving a memorandum of understanding with the Long Beach Association of Engineering Employees Citywide. Speaker 0: And get a motion in a second. Our motion by concern. We were going to get a second. Second my customers and they has any public comment, please. Speaker 2: There is public comment on this item. Speaker 1: Jordan. Jordan, during your time starts now. Hello. My name is Jordan. I just wanted to address the mayor specifically. I might be annoying to you to have public comment. I get it. That's why you're doing these meetings online and doing other things. But guess what? Legally speaking, I don't have to address the item. So actually, you're opening yourself up to lawsuits. But I understand. I understand why you are afraid. I get it. It's annoying. Speaker 2: It's annoying to be back. Speaker 1: Actually I will not stay on topic because that is not a requirement and it's actually bullshit that people sit through these meetings and you are sort. Thank you for your comment. That concludes public comment. Which is what. Speaker 0: Makes that and please. Speaker 3: The vote for. Speaker 2: Item. Speaker 0: 1919 oh for item. Sorry about that. Speaker 2: District one. I district to by district three. District three. District four. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 2: District four. District five. Speaker 0: I think District four said I. Speaker 2: Heard district five by District six. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: District seven. District eight, my district nine. District nine. Speaker 1: I did. Speaker 2: Thank you. Motion carries. Speaker 5: And that marks Clark Castle, District three, with an eye as well. But I don't think you heard me. Speaker 2: No, thank you. Councilwoman Price Motion carries.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution approving a Memorandum of Understanding with the Long Beach Association of Engineering Employees. (Citywide)

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Speaker 2: District seven. District eight. District nine. Good motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you, Adam. 21, please. Speaker 2: Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to Declare Ordinance Amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to the designee. The designation of the property located at 1005 Locust Avenue as a historic landmark read and adapted as read. Speaker 0: Thank you. Can I get a motion in a second, please? Customer by mushroom country ranga second my councilman's and big house. There. Very public comment. Speaker 2: There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: Okay. We'll call the. Speaker 2: District one high district to. I District three. I. District four. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: District five. Yeah. Right on. District six. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 2: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District eight. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District nine. My motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 16.52.2350 relating to the designation of the property located at 1005 Locust Avenue as a historic landmark, read and adopted as read.

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Speaker 0: Thank you. Next item, please. Speaker 2: Communication from City Attorney. Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to the designation of the property located at 141 and 143 East 10th Street as a historic landmark. Read and adopted as read. Speaker 0: Okay. Can I get a motion, please? And a second. I have a motion and the second by comfort. You're in Pensacola by Councilmember Austin. Any public comment? Speaker 2: No public comment on this item. Speaker 0: Please cast your votes. Speaker 2: Rural District one, High District two. District three. High District for. Speaker 1: All. Speaker 2: District five i. District six. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District eight. District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: Motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 16.52.2360 relating to the designation of the property located at 141 and 143 East 10th Street as a historic landmark, read and adopted as read.

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Speaker 0: Motion carries and in 24. Speaker 2: Communication from city attorney recommendation to allow City Council to participate in a work furlough program by voluntary reduction to Council member effective pay by 10%, beginning with the pay period of September 26, 2020 citywide. Speaker 0: Okay. I have a councilwoman by most of my councilman for a second. But, Councilman Ringa, you ought to come in also. Speaker 3: Yes. And. Light up the recent budget passing and not knowing exactly how much would would come in and what it would be used towards instead of it going into a bucket at City Hall for discretionary use. I'd like to amend the motion to allow council members to either donate the money back to the city or to partners of Parks or the Library Foundation to support citywide programing at the discretion of each of their boards. You've received notes of support from both organizations, and they've been very helpful to the community. There have been things that each of us had asked for that weren't possible in the budget, and this would give nonprofit organizations the option to fill the gap in areas where the city has not been able to find the funding without having the city rely upon that revenue on an ongoing basis. Thank you. I hope one of my colleagues support. Speaker 0: Comes from hearing this. I support that second. Speaker 1: I support the amendment by Al Fletcher to be the foundation which supports projects in the West Palm Beach area. Will. Speaker 0: Okay. Councilman Mongo, you're fine with that. Speaker 3: Yeah. The A7 is part of pop. Yes. Speaker 0: Mr. City Attorney. Speaker 1: I just need some clarification on Councilmember Younger's amendment to that or addition on which foundation we. It's the I forget the actual name. It escapes me right now, but it's the one headed by the Randall Hernandez group. Oh, I think I think it's the foundation, the. Speaker 6: Long Beach Economic Partnership. Speaker 1: There you go. The partnership also. Yes. Thank you. Speaker 3: Absolutely. Support that. Thank you. Speaker 0: Hey, there's a motion. Any second is any public comment? Speaker 3: Mayor Kuttab. Speaker 0: Is there any public comment? Speaker 2: There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. So I have a bunch of people queued up. Councilwoman Pierce, please. Speaker 3: Thank you. Sorry about that. I wanted to get clarity on the discretion to the council office. Is it that it's only the organizations that Councilmember Mongo just laid out? Or could it be any program that the city has going that we could be discretionary and giving those funds to a city program? So I don't think that the city management staff initially said that we'd have any discretion over the money going into the city bucket, which is why I was trying to give two department options, a library option and a parks option and councilmember ordering as supplement to add economic development. But all three of those organizations are three major initiatives that the city supports. And so I thought that those would be wide scoping and city wide to help our program. So that's why I tried to keep it narrow, because there's still got to be some accountability and reporting and pulling together that everyone's met their commitment. And so I didn't want to just potentially have nine separate organizations. I was just looking to have two or three that we made that in the motion. The reason why I asked, and I don't know, is because I think each of our districts have different needs and my district has very different needs than your district. And if I could put our funds to development services, for example, that that would be able to service maybe additional needs that District two has. So I guess not removed the option to still give the city, but money allocated at the city level has to go through the budget process. And so that that adds to that. I wasn't able to get over that hurdle. I just wanted to clarify that. I definitely tried to work through that for us. But you can understand how complicated. Speaker 6: It's a lot. And this is if I can add a little bit of clarity. So these are funds that are sort of part of that $11 million total goal in the budget. And so what I think the Councilmember is trying to do is create a way that it could go to a nonprofit who could then support city actions. So that's why the city so that we can still get the savings that way. They're not really discretionary funds to be able to spend on new programs or enhancements since they're part of that $11 million target. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Malaga. Thank you, Tom. Speaker 0: Councilmember Richardson. Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm still confused about this. So how much money is this per council based? And in my understanding was this was going to plug the hole. It goes to plug the hole that makes up the debt. Speaker 3: So that's the difference. That's the 5 to 6% in Councilman Austin's motion. This is a separate request. This is the one that we talked about in closed session several weeks ago about us wanting to stand in salary. Our colleagues are our staff. Speaker 1: In alignment with the furlough. Speaker 3: Yes, sir. Speaker 1: Okay. So. So we get furloughs to help make up the city's budget deficit. So is the budget not in a position where it needs our money? That is not the case here. I want to hear from staff. Speaker 6: So the intent is that this money does go back to help out. Part of that $11 million goal that is that through part of our $30 million in solutions in the budget you just passed. So it is a small amount because this is, you know, just a couple of of of employees. And so the idea is that it would go back into the general fund to basically help with the solutions. I think we can work as long as we're able to work with those foundations to, you know, offset certain expenses that they can go to a nonprofit who then gives us a commiserate savings. We can still balance that, if that's a small amount. If it's going to grow into a bigger program, then we would have a budget that would be out of balance. Speaker 1: Okay. So so that said, I think I'll figure out the details later. But if there's if we're making sure it goes to nonprofits, make sure lobby center for Economic Inclusion part of it. I want to make sure we can support something. Thanks. Speaker 6: So I think as long as they are doing a service that we would offset, as, you know, you know, not provide certain city dollars to that, that then they would pick up and said, then we could make that work. Because that is a nonprofit that works with, you know, city, you know, city purposes. Speaker 1: Right. Why don't we just put a blanket of nonprofit? Just put the definition so we can figure out what the organizations are. Nonprofits that help conduct city service as a blanket definition. Speaker 3: I'll continue to hear from my colleague. This was supposed to be a pretty simple. We all agree that parks and libraries are two things that really help in our work towards equity and all the things in our city that are in major need. We've all talked about wanting to support those two things and Councilmember Granger wanted to add one additional group. I don't want to add nine groups. That's not the point. The point was to give an additional option. All councilmembers are still able to just give the money back to the city. And I recognize that there's a lot of diversity of opinions. And that's why still being able to give the money to the city as an option. Mayor, are there additional council comments? Speaker 0: There are. Speaker 3: Wonderful. Speaker 0: All right. Let me go ahead and keep going. Councilman Richardson, were you done? Speaker 1: For now. Speaker 0: Gonzales Supernova. Speaker 1: Thank you. I guess I'd like some clarification from the city attorney just on the original motion. Can you define the word voluntary? It's a great. Speaker 6: Question, Councilmember. I think that this is the the request to put this on the agenda was that the council. Speaker 1: Members had. Speaker 6: Requested it to prepare this item to come back so that they could take an action to voluntarily reduce by 10% their rate of pay or their compensation, similar to the requests that had been made to all of the city employees. And so this would apply to all electeds, the city council members, the citywide electeds, and other city officers or officials who are not covered by memorandums of understanding to participate. It allows them to participate in the work photo program. So this would be a voluntary reduction by the council members. Speaker 1: And and you're also required by. Speaker 6: This action requesting the elected officials to do the citywide elected officials and other citywide officials to do the same. And I assume that the motion, and as amended by Councilmember Mongeau, if passed, would apply to all of the folks that are this applies to in this item. Speaker 1: Thank you. Okay. I'm just trying to bring us to common ground here. If you didn't like the item, you would not be required to donate the 10%. Speaker 6: Yes, that's correct. So this is because you're paid in the charter is, as Charlie said, you you that is put in by the voters. So then each council member and elected official would have the option to participate in this program. Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price. Speaker 5: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you, Councilman Super, for that clarification. I have the same request for clarification, so I'm glad that was answered. I appreciate what this item is attempting to do and I support this item and I will be voting in favor of it. It's a personal choice. I like that. It's the current wording of the item requires a connection to a city service that might have been impacted as a result of our budget shortfall that we'll be able to replenish towards these funds. For me personally, the money that I will be giving back will go my preferences for it to go back to the city to help fill that that shortfall. To the small extent that it is helping, but I think it should be really the city manager who determines where that money should go. And that's just my personal choice. But I do appreciate trying to keep it limited so that the money is directly going back into services that the city would have to otherwise provide that might be getting picked up by foundation. So I very much appreciate the spirit of the motion and I want to thank Councilman Mongo for bringing up. Speaker 0: Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 3: Thanks. I think the questions that were asked clarify for me I did have questions about that was voluntary and each council member or elected official was able to put those funds towards the organization as laid out in this motion, recognizing that all of our staff is taking this furlough, including our city manager, recognizing the council is stepping up and doing something they don't have to do, but also that the intent was to fill that that gap. So I. I support the item because it's it's flexible enough, but it feels to me like a little bit more of a divide by nine fund where you're able to identify where you want to spend your resources within the city versus filling the gap. So I just want to be clear that it's filling some gap that the city is not able to provide because of the budget cuts. So with that, I think you. Speaker 0: Customers and there has. Speaker 3: Thank you. And on that note, you know, just echoing with my colleagues have said so far, I think it's important that we as elected officials also do our part and get it back. But I also think that it needs to go directly to, yes, the city to fill in the gaps where this budget is not going to be able to provide some of the services. So I in my mind, it would make more sense to just, you know, allocate those that money. However, the council district decides is a priority in their district, seeing that all of us have very different priorities, but at the same time we overlap on a lot of them. So I'm I'm confident that city staff will be able to navigate that and actually put those funds where it's most needed right now. So thank you. Speaker 0: I have Councilman Richardson and then Councilman Austin, and then we're going to go and go to a vote. Speaker 1: Thanks a lot. So we'll discuss this in closed session, I think. For me, this is about showing solidarity with the workers that we are contributing to the city's deficit. We're also going to participate in the furlough. For me, it wasn't about cherry picking nonprofits. It wasn't about, you know, you know, being too creative about it. It was showing solidarity. I think the message here, I guess, diluted here and regular city employees don't get an opportunity to pick which charity or which nonprofit they'd like to do. Secondly, I'm just concerned about the message that it sends if services are being cut. Those are that's a difficult hit. And I'd suggest that it's okay for a nonprofit to pick up the service. I just don't like the way they're represented is represented. Personally, I'd like to see where what you know, I'd like to see this go back to the fund. And, you know, if if Councilman Mongo doesn't agree, I'll make a motion here and we'll just vote on it. So I'll make a promise that I have subs through motion, that we all surrender the same amount, we do the same thing, and city manager determines how to utilize that to fill the budget. That's my motion. Speaker 0: That was a substitute. There's a second. To that substitute. Our councilman asked him. Speaker 7: Yes. And I want to just say that that. I tend to agree with some of the colleagues. My comment to my colleagues regarding the intent of this particular agenda item that I believe was prepared by the city manager, city attorney at the council's recommendation when this issue was discussed, it was. That we want to participate in this. We think it's only right and fair if we are asking employees to participate in furloughs, that we take cuts ourselves. And that is where I'd like to to to to end this or to stay with the intent on this motion. And so I will be voting in support of the motion as written. I hope we can stay there as much as possible and and make sure that we are consistent across the board. All nine council offices, but all elected offices in the city. Thanks. Speaker 0: And Councilman, I think that just to be clear, so that that's the that's what the substitute motion is, correct. Councilman Richardson, it's just the original motion, correct? Speaker 1: Right. It's just simple, straightforward. And so far. Speaker 0: Councilwoman Pierce. Speaker 3: I was just seconding the motion. Speaker 0: Councilman Mongo. Speaker 3: Thank you. I want to stand in solidarity with our comrades. That was the point of this. I actually received comments and discussions from safety staff members who had asked for programing that we were not able to restore and restoring, and specifically only giving the money to partners or parks or to the Library Foundation, the two organizations that specifically fill the gaps that we leave. I feel is the best step in that direction. It is not the same as taking a cut that city staff take. I wish it was that easy. The the the challenge that councilmen are. Supermodel pointed out, is that it's still voluntary because the law is that we are paid a certain amount. And so I was trying to bring just an additional option to the table. I'm disappointed that. Quite frankly, I'm just disappointed that Councilmember Richardson has taken it in this direction. Again, it seems as though on the last six weeks, any item that's brought forward and that's not someone that's on his team, he has to come up with reasons why it's not a good idea and why it's not prepared properly for council or any of these other things. And I really just I'm not appreciative of the direction that this has gone. And it's it's quite disappointing. I'm going to ask Councilmember Odinga to stand with me in a substitute substitute motion and just limit the substitute substitute to just what I had originally asked, which was parks and libraries. Any councilmember who does not support either parks or libraries or giving it back to the city fund. Vote no if you don't want to make your contribution. It's a few thousand dollars that we're all choosing to do and that we're making a commitment to stand with our colleagues. And quite frankly, our park staff and our library staff will benefit, and so will the community. And if you choose, I completely respect Councilman Price's decision to still give back the money to the city. I would encourage her to think about the fact that she could donate even more money to a nonprofit, as she wouldn't have the tax burden, the tax differential of paying tax on money she donated. So you could donate even more than the 10%. But I also didn't want to have 15 different groups so that councilmembers theoretically game the system and donate to something they've donated to in the past and not have to make an additional donation. I'm very committed to making the 10% or more contribution, and I'm committed to donating to both parks and libraries. But if if councilmembers don't feel that those are a. A worthy cause and they want to vote no on the substitute substitute motion or not stand with me and give me a second. That's fine. And I hope that our foundations and our parks, the library staff here hear the vote. Thank you. Speaker 0: Okay. I don't. I don't have time for. I'm sorry. Speaker 1: I think. Customers of Mango made a direct appeal to me. You know. Speaker 0: I just. Speaker 1: I think you made a substitute for me. Speaker 0: I think I need a second. And on that. Speaker 1: I will second that. But let me let me make a clarification here. I thought that you got the economic. Partnership was a citywide program as well. That's why I supported that. Although there is a big focus on West Derby. Yes. But that it was a citywide program as well. So if I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. But that's why I also included that. I would go along with the library. In part, that's what. Speaker 0: Okay. So just to be clear, the constant refrain that you are, you are seconding the substitute. Substitute. Correct. Councilmember. Speaker 1: You didn't hear it? Yes. Okay. Speaker 0: You think we have a substitute? Substitute? And just to clarify what that is, will you repeat the substitute substitute, Mr. City Attorney. Speaker 6: Yes, Mayor. Members of the Council, we have three motions to substitute. Substitute? As mentioned as a motion by Councilmember Mungo, a second by Councilmember Urunga. And it is the motion as written with the additional option to donate the savings to either the Library Foundation. Speaker 1: Or Partners in Park. No. Those are the only two. Speaker 0: Okay. We'll take a roll call vote on that. I don't want to make sure we have any more. Many more queue up comes from Richardson. Is that a queue up or no? Speaker 1: No. No, thanks. Speaker 0: Okay. Go ahead and cast your vote. Speaker 2: Just real quick, please. District one. He. I'm sorry. Can you repeat yourself? Council members in the House. Nay, nay. District to. NEI District three. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 2: District four. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: District five. I District six. Speaker 1: No. Speaker 2: District seven. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 2: District eight. Speaker 7: I'm a bit confused. So I'm in their district nine. Speaker 1: How many? Speaker 2: Motion fails. Speaker 0: And now we're going to we're going to the substitute motion, which essentially is the F recommendation to go back into the Just General Fund. Roll Call, Oakland District one. Speaker 2: I. District two. I'm District three. I district for. No District five. No District six. Speaker 1: By. Speaker 2: District seven. Speaker 1: I am. Speaker 2: District eight. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Okay. That motion carries now. That was item 24. Now we are going back to the budget items that you have been sent. All the budget documents in front of you and you and has gotten them. So, Madam Court, can you please read the item, please? Speaker 2: Item 16 is still outstanding. Speaker 0: About an hour we're going.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to allow City Council to participate in a work furlough program by a voluntary reduction in Councilmember effective pay by ten percent (10%), beginning with the pay period of September 26, 2020 and request all Elected City Officials and other City Officials not covered by a Memorandum of Understanding to also participate in the work furlough program in Fiscal Year 2021 by voluntary reductions in their effective pay by ten percent (10%), beginning with the pay period of September 26, 2020. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: The item, the final budget item, please. Speaker 2: Or management recommendation to declare the appropriations ordinance for FY 21 as an emergency ordinance read and adopted is read and laid over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading Exhibit 817. Speaker 0: There's a motion by council to replace Roll Call vote. Speaker 2: District one. I just talked to an. Speaker 3: AI. Speaker 2: District for. Speaker 1: High. Speaker 2: Five. AI District six. AI District seven. AI District eight. All right. District nine. Speaker 1: All right. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 0: Thank you. And then finally we have we're going out of 16, which are the upward 20 point adjustments post-budget. We can read that please. Speaker 2: Indication from financial management a recommendation to approve the fy21 time departmental and fund budget appropriations adjustments to help mitigate the F1 20 financial shortfall citywide. Speaker 0: Kind of emotion in a second. Please. In need emotion in a second place. Most of my counsel has spoken about Councilmember Orson Roll Call vote. Well, is there any public comment on this? No. Right.

Emergency Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance approving and adopting the Official Budget of the City of Long Beach for the Fiscal Year 2020-2021, creating and establishing the funds of the Municipal Government of the City of Long Beach and appropriating money to and authorizing expenditures from said funds for said fiscal year; declaring the urgency thereof, and providing that this ordinance shall take effect at 12:01 am. on October 1, 2020, read and adopt as read. (Ordinance No. ORD-20-0037)

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Item 17, please. Speaker 1: Communication for Mayor Garcia. Recommendation to request city attorney to draft a resolution in support of the Universal Basic Income Initiative established by the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. Speaker 2: Thank you to the clerk. I just want to thank the the council for entertaining this and having a conversation about what I think is a really exciting conversation about the future of the way the economy is going to work in this country and really around the world. I think all of us understand that income inequality is the single biggest challenge when it comes to working people's livelihoods. That that that we have the very wealthy at the very top continue to get we know and accumulate wealth while it's much more difficult for those that are struggling and to get by to really accumulate any wealth and income inequality, a challenge becomes larger every year and we see that through studies that are happening all across the country. We'll also note that what we're what we're trying to propose is we want to support what is really a pilot project. We think I certainly agree that the concept of guaranteed income or universal basic income has a lot of names, for it is a viable concept that cities are going to have to lead on in the future. There is a coalition of cities of which Long Beach, as mayor I've been involved with, which is a group called Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. It's about 15 cities of which there are foundations and private organizations that want to support this group to fund pilot programs in their cities. We there are obviously folks that have been huge champions for guaranteed income. You have entrepreneurs like Andrew Yang and then mayors like Michael Tubbs in Stockton who actually kind of pioneered a guaranteed income pilot in his city over the course of the last few years. And so the request is is is really three parts. The first is just to have the council draft the resolution to support this pilot program that we are setting out to do in the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income group, as well as through federal and state efforts. And we are right now, to be quite frank, with the council and our rental assistance program that is a form of guaranteed income. $3 a month at $1,000 is a form of guaranteed income. We're already, in a way, piloting a type of a program. And so this would set that as far as a resolution to to show interest. The second thing this would do would be request the city manager to begin seeking and accepting private foundation grants. And nonprofits. And that all grants would have to come back to the City Council for approval and discussion because there is enormous interest and in guaranteed income across the country. And as an example, you know, the founder of Twitter, we're all we all are familiar with Jack, and he is already stepped up to fund the initial cities and wants to do some of that work. And there's a lot of other folks that are interested in funding this, these pilots. And then, of course, the last piece of it is to ensure that any development of the pilot gets approved by the council and all of this would come back. This is a new, very new economic shift that that is being piloted. We understand that there's a lot of a lot of questions, as there should be there should be a lot of discussion about how these programs can work. But we believe that a pilot program is the best way to really discover for the country, and this is a way that we can move forward. And again, the city and the council will have an opportunity to mold the pilot after staff looks at kind of what the best approaches are. And the idea is for the different cities to pilot different types of guaranteed income programs. And again, our rental assistance program could be an example of one type of of guaranteed income program. But there's obviously a lot more. And so I think it's an exciting opportunity for us. The last thing I will say is, for me, the COVID pandemic has highlighted more than ever why it's necessary to explore these types of direct support for people. The future with automation in front of us, with other crises ahead of us, like climate change, are going to disrupt the economy. And Long Beach has always led the way with innovative solutions. And so I am excited to pilot this and to work really with the private sector to bring in that money. So the idea isn't that the city would be funding the pilot. It's really going to be a private foundation and not private sector work. We would be managing through staff time, of course, the pilot, but the funding itself would be coming from other sources. And so I'm happy to answer any questions or to hear comments from the council, have a motion here by Councilmember Richardson in a second by Councilmember Pearce. So let me just go down the line. Councilmember Richardson. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So I'm supportive of the concept. I you know, I've paid attention to the basic income and basic needs for a while now. I think the concept fits well with a lot of the conversation and study that we've done the last few years around economic inclusion and addressing barriers. I'm glad to know that you're exploring private, private funds. I don't know that public dollars for the pilot are what we should utilize, but I think it has a lot of synergy with the things we're already doing, which you mentioned the direct support for rental assistance, which was federal dollars, and that made a lot of sense. I've said it before. The role of local government has expanded well beyond our traditional services. And so it's it's important that we do make a meaningful commitment to go along with these changes and and sort of help create a front door for a lot of these needs where we're doing this today. As always, the many basic needs of housing. You know, we are putting a front door on it. We are we have more shelter capacity. We have ever had a hunger. We made a meaningful commitment to hunger and basic needs through the CARES Act funding. And that is a form of basic needs. And basic income aligns with food, housing, hunger, food, housing and basic income. And so we actually have a basic needs pilot in Long Beach, a lobby city college in Cal State, Long Beach, already UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco has a National League of Cities has outlined a number of cities are exploring this. You mentioned Stockton, but also Chicago and New York. Jackson, Mississippi, Santa monica, California, Omaha, Nebraska, Twin Cities in California. So I think we know enough about this, too, to express our support. I'm going to support this practice in my Committee of Economic Development, and I'm thinking about this in a way that it aligns with a lot of the commitments the council and the public has already made in terms of economic inclusion and overcoming barriers. So this has my support. Councilmember Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 0: All thanks. I really want to thank you. Working on this matter and bring it to the council for a discussion. You know, in the middle of COVID, I think one of the conversations. Councilmember Mondaire to need to mute again. Thank you. One of the conversations that we had in the middle of COVID was really the opportunity for us to shift a system. As you mentioned, Mayor, we have poverty that existed before COVID. I know in Long Beach, in between different census tracts, there is a 17 year life expectancy difference just in the city of Long Beach . And we know that poverty directly impacts life expectancy. We also know that while our system, as it's set up today in our health care system as well, often could be in a position to really benefit from poverty, where cities have a lot to lose from that. And so I think being able to have a universal basic income is something that doesn't just benefit that person that's receiving it. It benefits the entire system. When people are living in a city and they I think it's that every dollar that they make additional an hour, it equals something like $7 back in the community. On a multiplier effect. And so what we've seen happen with our small businesses here in the city of Long Beach is that it's been really tough because of the beginning of COVID. A lot of people weren't working, and we still have some people working, but there are a lot of people that are receiving eviction notices, whether they're legal or not. A lot of people that are struggling to try to stay on, you know, the income that they get from unemployment, even though that number is reduced a significant amount. And so being able to say that we need to have a basic income not only during a moment of crisis, but if we can have a model, a pilot program that we can really test out and see if it's successful, then I think the entire system gets a chance to be overhauled. And we can make sure that small businesses and big businesses that are focused on improving quality of life and supporting community members can see a big shift. And so I wholeheartedly support this initiative. I think that it's great that we've got foundations that are paying attention. You know, my life before council was in that world and obviously foundations really a little bit of their money can go a long way. But a lot of that resources, when given to a city like ours, we've been able to really shift programs. I think one which has a great track record of that. So I love the idea of starting with foundations, but I also think that we as a city have to look at the cost of poverty, how many sick days affects our community. I was doing some research today and found that data shows that one week of someone that's living on a minimum wage job means that they can't pay their rent that month. And so we don't even have a system where people can afford to be sick without the chance of being evicted, particularly if we don't have protections for them. And so everybody from the landlords, the property owners to the local city, that is spending a lot of resources on making sure that we're housing those that are already unhoused. So spending our money on this level makes sense for the entire system. So I just want to say wholehearted support. I look forward to seeing how this shapes up and I hope that the Council is in full support in so much. Speaker 2: Like councilmember customers and they have. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say, again, echoing the comments of my colleagues, that I'm really excited to see this conversation coming up. I think that, you know, even before this pandemic, there was a lot of insecurity when it comes to income. So I'm really excited to see what is going to come from this. And I really applaud you for taking the step forward and thinking, you know, in the future what our citizens and residents hear from from the city of Long Beach could possibly. Could possibly get from that and from this such a program. So I'm really, really excited and very supportive of this. Thank you for bringing it up. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman Price. Speaker 0: You, Mr. Mayor. So I this this is an item that I don't personally have a lot of background or education on. I am completely mindful that our mayor is involved in discussions with mayors around the country and paying very close attention to urban planning and urban economic trends and things that our city should and will take advantage of in terms of at least exploring ideas. And I'm very grateful to our Mayor for for doing that and being engaged and active in those conversations with other mayors, because I think we've had a lot of great ideas come to the forefront that those of us who are really dedicated locally to our districts may not be aware of or may not be following the trends on. So this is one of those items. So I'm looking forward to studying it and looking at the data. Our office did receive a number of emails, really expressing concern, perhaps a lot of confusion, just not really understanding the topic. So I'm hopeful that when this item does come back, there's a lot more depth in terms of what the possibilities are, how the data will be tracked, and how we can all learn to engage thoughtfully on this topic. Because I think for me, at least, I'll speak for myself. I don't have a background on this topic and it's really going to be an educational opportunity for me. So I'm happy to support this item. I just want to confirm, I guess I don't know if it would be with the mayor or with the staff. That really no public dollars are being sought at this time to study this and explore the feasibility that this is something that we're going to be really working to identify private dollars, to study and collect data that will hopefully shape future policy. Speaker 2: Yeah. This is a mayor. That's that's absolutely right. I mean, the only, you know, public dollars that would that would be currently spent would be staff, you know, staff time interacting with the foundations or the grants. But we already have interest from from these private foundations and grants. So it would not be city dollars that would be spent in the pilot. As far as the the income piece of what we what would be given out to folks as part of the pilot? That's right. Speaker 0: That's great. And that's a good clarification that I committed to the people who reach out to my office that I would make this evening. The other request that I would have is once we get a little bit further along on this, I think it would be worthwhile to do some citywide community discussions, to have the experts in this area educate the residents. Because if if we're really going down a path of this is a policy that the city wants to support, then I definitely want to make sure that residents are engaged and educated on the topic. So I'm hopeful that we can weave into this some sort of community dialog that will allow for this and education on what the pros and the cons are and what the data shows. So with that, thank you. Speaker 2: Executive Vice Mayor Andrew Lunch man. Thank you. There was a time, but this form of leadership is now because I am supportive of this idea, because right now low income communities like mine are struggling in ways and levels we have never, ever seen before. You know, and people are hurting for rent, dollars, food, diapers, you know, an income as well as a home. And we able to come up with a system to help with this rental assistance. So we have a will. There will be a way. And I think this is an excellent one of leadership on your part. I want to thank you very much, and I'm totally supportive of this item. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. I was trying to do some research online in response to some of the questions that I had and then some of the questions that have come into our office. I know that each city that has gotten chosen has had different models for how individuals are selected to participate in the program. I was wondering about your vision, Mayor, on if there were any other cities that you thought we would be modeling after or if Long Beach would stand on its own and maybe do a hybrid model, or what your thoughts were on how that looks and what our target is in terms of length of program number of participants Speaker 2: . Yeah. I think those are good questions. I think that, you know, I really don't have a set, um, you know, kind of idea of what it should be. I really want to kind of it's scored through staff and some, and some conversations. What, what the best model would be for us. I think it'd be great. I think the idea of the pilots are that they all be different and so that folks can can model different pilots that could be tailor made to certain communities. And so I'm actually very open and not married to any. And any type of program. I think I'd want staff to hear from all of you and from the community and and come up with something that could really, really work. Obviously, I think over the course of the next six months or so, there's going to be a lot of foundation interests and we'll be going out and raising some capital. So we have time. There's going to be some some time to actually put these things together. We want to put something that's fair and that's innovative and then see how they work. And I think that's the that's the idea. They're not all going to you know, some will work better than others and we'll learn from them. So I'm very open to, however put point to it. Speaker 0: Well, I would just recommend that we have a lot of data related to our our AI team and the work that they did related to certain individuals that are multi issue callers related to our health care system in terms of our fire. 911 services and our social work services and other things. And I would look for us to use some of the data that we have that other cities have not had access to in that. I mean, then I guess my my question next for city manager is you talked about staff time. What kind of staff time commitment are we looking at to commit to bringing back some information to the council and in searching for these grants? Speaker 3: This is Tom. So we do think this will require some work. One of the things that the mayor has in his recommendations is $100,000 to help fund consultant time or temporary staff to both look at this and public banking, which would give us some dedicated resources to do that. So I think we're at the kind of concept phase of this, and we would be coming back with how much dedicated we would need. And then we would, of course, be looking for the administration to, when we go to the grants and the others on how to have a dedicated person if we do are successful getting money , how do we fund that position so that there wouldn't be a city cost to that? Speaker 0: Excellent. I was then, you know, I was really supportive of the public banking idea when I brought forward the one card item. I'm supportive of linking these two together. I think there's a lot of synergy in that. A lot of the initiatives that we did as a chair of economic development have kind of been souped up into some of the other citywide plans and acronyms that we have. And I see how it can all fit together, and I look forward to seeing that reported back on what the total cost would be. And then you didn't mention staff time of our staff to potentially work with a consultant and or apply for grants. Are you thinking in the dozens of hours or in the dozens of dozens of hours? Speaker 3: I think it all depends on how successful we are. We need to first kind of research the concept and make sure we really understand it. And then a lot of this is going to be going out and talking to the various foundations. I think we've got some good support already. The mayor and his working group already has made a lot of connections, and now it's more estimated that. So to give you a number, it's, it's, yeah, it's not going to be insignificant. I'd probably be in the moderate staff time area. Speaker 0: Great. Well, I appreciate your information on that. I, like some of my colleagues, would like to explore a pilot, but being cognizant that we are using taxpayer funds at a time when we are working on so many things. So I appreciate bringing back a plan for getting those grant dollars, and I think that that could be very valuable. Thank you. Speaker 2: If it comes, a woman doesn't ask him. I thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'd like to also lend my support. Offer my support. You know, when this concept was first talked about a few years ago, two, three years ago, it sounded very far fetched and difficult to imagine. And then 2020 hit. And now it makes a lot of sense. I want to thank Mr. Mayor Garcia for mentioning the our commitment already to the Long Beach Cares program that actually provides thousand dollars per month for three months rental assistance for families in Long Beach. And that's that was a real commitment from our city that I, like I said, a year ago, would have been far fetched to imagine. But tough times come and in these these very unique times call for innovative solutions. And so we've already stepped up and done that. I do appreciate that this is a pilot program. I expect that the $100,000 that we are committing will be a one time expenditure right now. And staff can can, I think, clarify that already, Tom. And if I'm wrong, please let me know. But I expect it to be a one time. And it's really a minimal commitment at this time to study something that could be a great benefit to many residents in our in our city, particularly if we are able to find the private philanthropy. I don't obviously the condition of our budget today, public resources are going to be a stretch today to look at that. But but I'm sure it's something that we can build in in the future. But I like the idea of private philanthropy. I like the idea of us studying innovative ways to support our residents. And so I'll be supporting the item. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I want to follow up on the point that Councilman Price made about community outreach. Our office has received the same type of questions. So I would be hopeful that staff could maybe put together some type of overview or a supplement to the agenda item that explains a little bit about what the process is and where we're going with this. Prior to that community outreach, that would be very helpful upfront. Thanks. Because I remember Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 0: Oh, sorry about that. Yeah, I'll just say briefly, I think that the new state law that just passed also on some of the tenant issues identified some additional funds that could be used to pay for background that's similar to universal basic income. So I think there's lots of things not only at the local level but at the state level moving in this direction that again, not only benefit tenants but also property owners. And so I do look forward to seeing some of that data come back. So thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. And with that, we will go ahead and do a roll call vote. I don't have any public comment. Speaker 1: No public comment. District one. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 0: I am. Speaker 1: District. Speaker 0: Three I. Speaker 1: District for. Speaker 2: My. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District six. District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District eight by district nine I. Motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. And now to general public comment. Speaker 1: Removing the public comment colors over. Just one moment, please, Mayor.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Attorney to draft a Council resolution in support of the universal basic income initiative established by the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, as well as federal and state efforts to support residents disadvantaged by the COVID-19 pandemic; Request City Manager to seek grants and private foundation support to fund the pilot and to bring back specific grant approval to City Council; and Report back to the City Council on progress of pilot development.

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Speaker 2: Okay. There was one more. All right, then let's move on to item 20, please. Actually, item 20, I've drawn item 21. Speaker 1: Report from Health and Human Services recommendation to execute an agreement with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to accept and expand Measure H funding and an amount up to 3,137,917 to implement Homeless Initiative Strategies adopted adopted by the County Board of Commissioners Citywide. Speaker 2: There's the motion. Can I get a second? And the second most of my concern for Austin. Are you in second place? Andrew Okay, please go to the Q system based on your answers in the second roll call vote. Speaker 3: So one mayor, we have a public comment for this item. Speaker 2: Um. Okay. It's not on my list, but go ahead. Speaker 3: Jordan wins. Your time starts now. Speaker 2: Hello there. This is Jordan, when you hear me. Speaker 1: Yes. We can hear you. Speaker 2: Great. Thank you very much. There's been some difficulties with Zoom today, so I just wanted to make sure I'm just calling in support of this item. I am looking forward to seeing what the new homeless service officer, Paul Duncan, will be accomplishing with the city. I'm excited to hear about the number of sites that will be coming online to help get our unsheltered population, which is 78% of everyone experiencing homelessness into new homes. I just want to remind council that basically what we're looking at right now is the precipice for many people who are without jobs and waiting to try and get rent back and trying to pay for their unit. Once eviction moratoriums and there will be a population of people who desperately need help getting out of those situations. And the last thing we want to do is see those people end up on the streets. So I want to remind council to continue to make these really valuable investments for both the short and the long term. This is about getting people out of homelessness as much as it's about keeping people out of homelessness. So I look forward to seeing how these measures are going to be applied into the future. Thank you very much. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment for the final. Speaker 2: Roll call vote, please. Speaker 1: District one. My district, too, was an AI District three. AI District four. AI District five. I. District six. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District eight. District nine. My motion carries.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute an agreement, and all necessary documents and any subsequent amendments, including any amendments to extend the contract terms and the contract amount, with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), to accept and expend Measure H funding in an amount up to $3,137,917, for the period of July 1, 2020 through October 31, 2020, to implement Homeless Initiative strategies adopted by the County Board of Commissioners to combat homelessness in Los Angeles County; and Authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute any necessary agreements, and any subsequent amendments, with subcontractors, to provide homeless prevention and rapid rehousing services, in an aggregate total amount of $1,567,659, for the approximate period of July 1, 2020 through October 31, 2020, with the option to renew subcontracts to ensure the expenditure of Measure H funding from the LAHSA. (Citywide)

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Speaker 2: Great. 24, please. Or actually 23, please. Speaker 1: Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to Declare Ordinance. Amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 10.81. Establishing a 34 ton weight and load limit on the Ravina bridge over the Revo Alto Canal. Read the first time and later at the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading District three. Speaker 2: Have a motion. Can I get a second, please? Councilmember Price and Councilmember Ringa I if I can. No public comment. Let's go ahead and do a roll call. And less and less of anyone not to speak to our price or we go with the local. Speaker 4: The roll call. Thank you. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: District one. District two. District three. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District seven. District eight. District nine. I motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 10.81 establishing a 34-ton weight and load limit on the Ravenna Bridge over Rivo Alto Canal, read and adopted as read. (District 3)

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Speaker 2: Great. Next up. Next item, please. Speaker 1: Item 24 A Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance designating the property located at 1005 Locust Avenue as a historic landmark. Read the first time and later for the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading. Adopt a resolution establishing a historic resource designation for the property declared ordinance. Designating the property located at 141 and 143 East 10th Street as a historic landmark. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council Final Reading and adopt a resolution establishing a historic resources designation for the property. Speaker 2: Can I get a motion, please? Most of my customers in their house and I get a second. Speaking about customary rang up roll call vote. Speaker 1: Strict one. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 0: I'm. Speaker 1: District three. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District five. My District six. My District seven. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District eight. High District nine. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 1: Motion carries.

Ordinance

Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 16.52.2350 relating to the designation of the property located at 1005 Locust Avenue as a historic landmark, read and adopted as read.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. And I'm 26. Please. Speaker 1: Report from Economic Development and Public Works. Recommendation to execute the First Amendment to project labor agreement to extend the terms of the play to December 31st, 2020, or the effective date of a new project labor agreement citywide. Speaker 2: Take out some members, and they also got a motion seconded Councilmember Mungo. I see no public comments. Critical vote, please. Speaker 1: District one. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District two. Speaker 0: District three. I. Speaker 1: District four. My District five. Speaker 0: And my. Speaker 1: District six. I'm District seven. I District eight. Speaker 2: II. Speaker 1: District nine. I motion carries. Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. That concludes all the agenda item. I believe that I miss any Madam Clerk. Speaker 1: But you're hearing 15. Speaker 2: Oh, no, no. Besides that, all the other agenda items are done, correct? Speaker 1: Yes. Speaker 2: Okay, great. So then let's transition into the budget hearing and we're just going to give staff just the 30 seconds to a minute to just get ready and put up the presentation and do have a short presentation for this budget hearing. And then we'll go from there. So everyone can just hold that while we get we'll get the setup from staff. And Mr. Monica, let me know when you're ready. Speaker 3: Will do. Thank you.

Contract

Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary for the First Amendment to Project Labor Agreement (PLA) No. 33859 between the City of Long Beach and the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, and the signatory Craft Councils and Local Unions, to extend the terms of the PLA from its expiration date of May 22, 2020 to December 31, 2020 or the effective date of a new Project Labor Agreement, whichever occurs first. (Citywide)

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Speaker 2: Mr. Monica, you say you were ready. Speaker 3: I said we were working on getting the presentation loaded. Speaker 2: Okay, we'll wait it. Speaker 3: Okay. Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, we are ready. We have the presentation up on the screen. So I will turn this over to Grace Yoon and the budget team to go through a presentation on our Budget Priorities survey. This is something we've done every year for the last several years and provide some good input in a way for our community to engage. We saw a huge increase in budget engagement this year, which we always like to see. So we'll go through the presentation for you now, Grace. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you, Tom. Good evening, Mayor, and members of the city council. We have Joe Greer here, a budget analyst on our team who will be providing the presentation and staff report. Speaker 5: It evening, mayor and members of City Council. This presentation will be providing a high level summary of the responses from the Budget Priorities Survey or the BOCES request to provide this presentation. The full City Council ETF, summarizing the responses of the Budget Priority Survey, was issued on August 25th and provides additional detailed information. The budget survey is just one of our many efforts to receive community input and provide resources to the public on the budget and the budget process. These other outreach efforts and resources include the following budget hearings that took place throughout the month of August, where departments were able to present their budget proposal, proposed budgets, and the City Council, as well as the community, had the opportunity to provide comments and discuss the departments that presented this year where police, fire, public works, including city health and library services. The proposed budget and budget presentations are available on the city's website. This week, there were also weekly budget oversight committee meetings that started in late July this year and didn't do that due to the pandemic. We held four city wide community budget meetings through Zoom. Spanish was available for two of the meetings in committee and Tagalog. Translations were available for one meeting each. The community was was able to attend and hear an overview of the budget and had the opportunity to ask questions with representatives from nearly every department at each meeting. This year we also had a budget simulator available online for residents to try to balance the budget and solve a $30 million shortfall with a menu of options where they could either add or cut various services and also get a glimpse of the challenging decisions and limited options available when trying to solve a significant shortfall. It is important it is important to note for this year this was not designed not designed as a survey or to solicit solicit specific items that would require much more work in terms of developing the options, the types of options included and descriptions and service impacts. Given the limited capacity we face, the staff. The tool was designed to purely to provide an educational resource for residents. We hope this is something we can continue to develop and expand and improve upon in the future. Based on feedback from this year, 970 committee members completed the budget simulator as of today. We also have our budget one, two, one video that was created last year and updated slightly for this year. That gives an overview of the budget basics such as our city's funds and funding sources. We also created this year new short video clips that provide a specific overview of the proposed FY 21 budget made available in English, Spanish, Tagalog and combined. Lastly, there was a robust social media outreach effort to inform the community of all of all of the ways to engage in the budget process. I want to highlight that between the streamed press conference, community budget meetings and the FY 21 highlight videos, we had over 25,000 views on content specific to the FY 21 budget. Also, 3200 of those views were from individuals viewing in combined Tagalog or Spanish. Turning now to the budget survey. This survey has been conducted each year beginning in 2015 and the results have been shared with council each year. The survey was made available in online, in English, Spanish combined to call it. Also this year the survey went live earlier than previous years, going live on June 16th. The survey was promoted on our city website, during our online community meetings and on various social media websites. We had 404,710 responses this year, more than 12 times the responses last year. The data provided in this presentation is summarizing the data from surveys submitted as of August 28. Survey participants were asked to rate 36 services as being very important. Somewhat important, not very important or not at all important. Before I go over the survey results, it is important to know that the budget survey is not a formal or professional survey. This is not a scientific survey and the results should not be considered representative of the public at large. Also, there are no controls that prevent multiple responses from a single individual. However, the survey does provide considerable feedback from participants and comments that share their concerns and interest. This lab gives a snapshot of the demographics of the survey respondents. There was participation from all Council District Watts Council districts three and five, having the largest number of responses. 17% or 726 respondents noted that they did not know what district they lived in. 1% or 68 respondents indicated that they were nonresidents, and 475 respondents skipped this question altogether. In terms of age, the age bracket with the most respondents was 30 to 39 years old, with 22% of the responses. But in general, there are a good number of responses for each age bracket. There was also an overall shift in age of respondents this year. In prior years, 60% of the respondents were 50 years or older. This year, 60% of the respondents were under 50 years of age. There was also a shift in household size this year. In prior years, 60% of the respondents were in households with one or two persons. This year, that dropped to 50%. The largest group of respondents were households of four people, with 882 responses, or 20% of the respondents. To allow us to have an easier way to compare the results. Each response to each service was assigned a weights very important was given three points. Someone important was given two points. Not very important was given one point and not at all important was given zero points. At total points, each service was divided by the number of responses received for each service. This allowed us to obtain a weighted average. This slide and the next slide lists the services that we asked respondents to rate, and they are listed in ranked weighted order. With the first item on this list being the highest scoring service. This slide shows the highest rated services. With the items above the line signifying the top ten. I'll talk about them more in a moment. This slide is a continuation of the list of services from the previous slide. All of the services under the line on this slide received a weighted average below two, which means respondents generally ranked the service as being not very important or not important at all. What is notable is that this year, 15 of the 36 services had an average rated score under two. Last year, only six services were or scored under two. It appears that the survey respondents prioritized and made distinctions among the services more than in years past. Essentially what this means is that a lot more is that this year more people labeled more services as being not important compared to last year. In this slide, you can see the top ten ranked services from this year and last year. New to the top ten this year are reducing ocean pollution by improving storm drains at five and providing free or low cost recreational programs for youth up ten. Dropping out of the top ten are providing nuisance abatement programs downtown and enforcing traffic laws down. Five Other observations to now regarding the top ten is that, I mean, maintaining a low crime rate dropped from number one to number four and preparing the community for emergencies and disasters has jumped up from number eight to number three. Also this year, top four are all public safety related. The surveys. This survey also provides an opportunity for respondents to leave written comments. We have received approximately 2300 written comments and they are listed by district in a Tier 12 that was issued on August 25th. The comments cover a wide variety of issues. Some of the major themes include defund, reducing police budget support for the police and public safety. Homelessness, mental health. COVID 19. Recovery. And a variety of community services. That concludes my presentation and I'm available for questions. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Murdoch. I think that's the only part of the presentation that we're doing today. Correct. Speaker 3: That is so this is the first night that the council can consider the adoption of the budget. So we have this set for today, for next Tuesday and then the 15th. Those are the three dates. Typically when the Budget Oversight Committee is done with its recommendations, they forward it all on and that becomes the complete package. So that work is underway and we're available to answer questions or we can push this forward until the eighth and continue our discussion then. Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. So I'm going to start with our BRC chair, come from Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd just like to make a motion to continue this item into September 8th. Number one. And then I have a question in terms of process for the city attorney or city manager, in terms of our charter and its as it relates to the budget. Can you explain to us if we as a city council are not able to come to agreement on a budget by a certain date? What happens and I know September 15th is the date. Speaker 3: You're correct. Councilmember The date is September 15th if the Council does not adopt a budget by that date. The city manager budget goes into effect pursuant to the charter. Speaker 2: Okay. And does that include the mayor's recommendations as well? It does not. Okay. Thank you. And so I guess as BMC Chair, look forward to working with my colleagues to hopefully get the budget adopted. I know we are working very diligently on the Budget Oversight Committee with staff and I know each and every council member is weighing in with their respective constituencies and communities. And I think the process and if I can just speak to the process thus far, I think it has been a robust process. This budget survey has given us a lot of good information. We have to also recognize some of the organized advocacy out there, namely the People's Budget and our Budget Oversight Committee. We we actually addressed that last week. And I think at the end of the day, we are looking to pass a budget that meets the needs of our city today in 2020, but also reflects the values of our very diverse constituents. So those are my comments from now. My motion says thank you. Thank you. Customer price. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank staff for that presentation. I am blown away by the huge level of participation that we got this year. I think that's fantastic. I'm sure there's a number of factors that contributed to us having almost 5000 participants in this budget budget survey, and I'm really thankful to my residents. The third district represented 25% of the total respondents, so I want to thank them for continuing to be engaged. I know that our team really advertises and promotes the budget a lot in our in our emails to the community and in our newsletter. We've been promoting it pretty consistently, so I'm grateful that that folks took the time to fill it out. I am not surprised based on the hundreds of emails my team and I get every day, that the four top priorities were public safety related. That certainly seems to be consistent even from those who are interested in seeing some reforms from the police department. We've received heavy support for maintaining patrols and ensuring acceptable response times when people do call for emergency services, which is understandable. And so the budget survey results really does mirror very much that email correspondence that I'm engaged in every day. And and it was interesting to see the responses and the response levels throughout the city as well. So thank you very much for bringing this forward. And I'm really glad that we do a budget survey, especially when the results include as many participants as we have this year. So thank you very much. Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 0: Thank you and staff for this work and thank you. Council Member Austin Chair Austin for postponing this vote today. As far as the survey goes, I agree. I'm really impressed with the numbers. I think it's typical for the third district to stay super engaged on the budget. I'm glad to see a lot more people in different areas. I think Second District has around 400 something and and I know that it's difficult, but I do love the fact that people were able to do this online, that we were able to have the budget meetings online. I definitely missed having the opportunity to meet with my neighborhood associations and some of my community members. Specific to the second district, outside of the people's budget and everybody else. So this week will be having another community meeting around that. But I did think that it was really enlightening to be able to see that the top four was medical fire, preparing for emergencies and maintaining low crime rate. And I say that because I, I was curious what this survey would come out with. And I think having that as a city, as a whole thing, that those are our four goals. We have to really look at what it means to provide public safety, and I think that that's in alignment with the conversations that people are having. We know that communities are safer whenever they have roofs over their heads, when they've got good jobs, when they've got access to education and the resources that people need. But I also just really feel like this is giving us that moment to reflect a little bit longer on what that means for us in the city of Long Beach, outside of maybe some of the reforms that are already present there. So I look forward to having deeper conversations in the next week. I hope to meet with some more of the BMC members and be able to kind of flesh this out on what it means to really provide public safety while maintaining the core services of each department in the city. And so I think that that's where we can have some really robust conversations and understanding how our departments really work together and not in silos to deliver on these public safety services. So thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Council members. And they are. Speaker 0: You, Mayor, and thank you very much, staff, for this presentation. I'm very lucky looking at the the survey results. You know, I'm very pleased that the community has responded in this way. I think it's very, very important to have community input. This also brings to my attention that we need there's still a lot more work to to be done in the in the area of putting our budget out there and getting people to actually respond, especially in my district. I see I see it as one of the districts that has responded in the lower category. And so I I'm I know that it's been a very difficult time right now with COVID. And so I know that is it's you know, it has something to do with that. But, you know, I look forward to to making sure that we raise that number in the in the future to have better numbers and make sure that all our residents, especially in my district, can have the opportunity to voice their opinions in this survey. But very good survey, very interested, I mean, and very interesting also. I really like that. I see I see quite a percentage of young adults that that have been involved, 20% being from 19 to 29 and gives me a lot of hope. I think that it's very important that our youth really take, you know, take initiative and be active in in surveys as these that are so, so very important. And, you know, we really need their voice to be heard. So I'm very impressed with with that, you know, and the next level up is, you know, our age is 30 to 39 and, you know, that's a 22%. So I hope that we keep that up and that hopefully we can get more and more people involved in surveys like this, especially with something so important as the budget . So thank you very much. Speaker 2: Thank you. Next up is Country Supernova. Thank you. Thanks to the staff for that presentation and thanks to all the residents who participated in the survey. I think if I could ask staff, I mean, we talk about the top ten items, whatnot. Would staff be able to read aloud numbers one and two? That is the top four priority and the priority and the number two position. Speaker 5: Thank you for that, Councilmember. Number one was providing emergency medical services. And number two, it's providing fire protection services. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you for that. I know the greatest number of respondents came from districts two, three, four and five and in the highest numbers from from three and five. I would just like to mention that while I made the case that Internet 17 helps our entire system, my fire response system, city wide and and indirectly has a lot of influence on District six. Districts three and five are served directly by Engine 17, and that's a paramedic assessment engine company. In three, it calls on the Park Estates area and in District five, the Stratford Square neighborhood. And I think it's just abundantly clear what the residents want or what they prioritize in their services. So I just wanted to make that point. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Richardson. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Just a few thoughts. So it's great that the DLC has been been so productive and getting us to this point, I think. I support the motion of continuing the next week particularly so we can have a bit more time, do an outreach. I see that from the survey. First of all, congratulations on getting so many responses. I want to I want to I want to highlight where we need to do a bit better. If you look at the survey, you see that districts one six. Let's see. One six, seven, nine. The respondents on within those districts, the sum total of those four districts is less than the responses in the third district. And it's great that the third district in the fifth District has a lot of response, but we need to make sure, particularly given all the changes and all the dynamics that people are dealing with, that we really put it in the right context and we we take additional steps to do more outreach. Traditionally, you know, I'm an in-person person and I, you know, I have a difficult time just keeping up with things online and, you know, just, you know, just having kids and all that stuff. And those are just no working families. That's just what it is. We typically look forward to an in-person budget meeting and we typically pack out the room and city staff know that we have a good time. It's it's the time of the year to really check in with a lot of departments, but we can't do that. And then we, we, we did sort of joint meetings and, you know, the participation wasn't very present there as well. So so I say all that to say I think we need to I think we need to like we've we knew this was an accelerated sort of process within this budget and there were multiple processes taking place at the same time, the reconciliation process, a lot of unrest in the community. And so I want to make sure that we we sort of think about that moving forward. We don't know how long it will be in the situation, but we're going to have to do a better job doing outreach. And and I'm I'm willing to be a part of that. I think given where the dynamics are, where the surveys didn't come from, we're going to have to have staff work, you know, just work a little bit harder in central Long Beach and in North Long Beach and on the west side to make sure people participate in this process. We also know that digital divide could play a role in this. We really need to think about what these barriers are so people can participate moving forward. I think there's, you know, a little I think the budget for the most part is I like the things that I see in the budget and the things that I'm seeing in the in the city managers budget. I mean, in the in the mayor's budget, there's some fine tuning to do. I have a I have a question about one particular issue, and I'm going to hold this to the make the chair, the B or C in the in the recommendations within the reconciliation framework, we talked about a Measure B funding arts. And as a matter of fact, I think I'm going to process the staff. And then I'd like to hear from you from Councilman Austin. But as it relates to Measure B, are those are those final filters down? So are those are we making the allocations on Measure B this year? And are we doing that? And if not, when do we anticipate bringing that up? Speaker 3: So yes, we have a general dollar amount allocated in the city manager's budget and then the Mayor further puts detail on that as part of his recommendations. Measure B was something that the mayor's office really worked with the arts groups on. In fact, today his office put out a allocation, a proposed framework to the council that you can consider as part of the budget. Speaker 2: Okay. So I'll I'll talk with the mayor and I'll talk with A, B or C chair. Thanks a lot. But I look forward to I know there's some more community meetings and presentations and I'll look forward to adopting the budget unanimously next next week. And if I could just just also weigh in here on that question. We did go through the mayor's recommendation for allocation Measure B during the Budget Oversight Committee. We heard a report and Budget Oversight Committee will be making our recommendations as well. And I would leave it open to the mayor to comment as well. Thank you. Let me let me just weigh in also just real briefly and then we have a couple more council comments since I think I think it's good. Yeah, we sent out. So just you should have or your staff should have some follow up documentation on the Measure B proposal. Just as a as a note, because I've had a couple of questions, so I'll just answer them publicly. One is, the proposal you have in front of you was the agreed upon proposal as we presented it when Measure B first came forward. And what then what the arts groups and the convention center came together on. It's also the one, of course, that I discussed with with with all of you during the process of us getting it on the ballot. And so that's the proposal you have in front of you. There was a question about the Arts Council. I want to make sure I clarify that as well. So one of the benefits of Measure B is it's going to be a huge benefit to the Arts Council directly because the arts groups, particularly the large ones that received significant grants from the Arts Council, the way we're going to ensure that they are able to give more grants to other organizations are their artists, is the the operating grants that they give, they're going to dial back on those for those organizations. So let's say you are in a musical theater west and you receive $10,000 a year from the Arts Council instead of that going to musical theater west because Measure B is significantly enhancing, then the Arts Council will keep those resources and be able to use them for their operating needs and or to grant out to other smaller artists. And so at the end of this process, not only are the arts organizations winning, but the Arts Council will significantly gain additional resources by not having to give out those operating grants to these organizations that are benefiting from Measure B. So I just wanted to also just answer that because I did answer that one other councilmember again, this was all part of the kind of agreed upon framework that the arts organizations have kind of put forward as as they develop Measure B. And in addition to that, I want to I want to mention something and this is Councilmember Austin has been championing. So we are in discussions and and Councilman Austin and I hope to have more of a concrete proposal by next week. But we are in discussion. We know that the African American Cultural Center and Museum is at a is at a point now where they have been receiving funding from the council for a few years. There's an active board. They have a collection that's growing, they're looking for space. And so we do believe that they are an organization that deserves some stable funding. And so we hope that by next week we will have, in talking to our other arts partners and within Measure B, some opportunity to support them on an ongoing basis. We just want to make sure that we meet our commitment so we are we're certain we're going to be able to make that happen. I know it's very important to Councilman Austin, but also other members of the city council as well. And so that's something that will have for you in the next few days. That clarifies my question, Mr. Mayor. Thanks a lot. In the reconciliation process, we specifically called out the fact that African-American arts organizations weren't included in that funding. So I'm glad to hear that you and Councilman Austin are working together to resolve the issue. Thank you. Next with customary Ringo. Thank you, Mayor. And I, too, want to congratulate Stefan on great analysis of the surely great turnout by the community was really encouraging to know that people are paying attention and care about Long Beach and carrying out the survey and to put in their comments. I really want to send out a big shout out to the community for their participation. I want to also just again by my kudos to Chairman Austin. We ran some real good like Universal Committee meetings. We had the discussions and the motion to make to adopt next week to get a more robust discussion and possibly adopted next week. It is wonderful and I think that it provides an opportunity for us to see much more closely with with a finer tooth comb, to make some final recommendations and or other suggestions as well. And that were the things that did come up. Was the Arts Council on that? I also brought up earlier today some other issues that will be coming forward later as we move forward. So thank you, Councilmember Austin, for your leadership on the ability. Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Speaker 0: Thank you. I've had the great pleasure of listening in on all the Budget Oversight Committee meetings, and I think Councilmember Austin's doing an excellent job. I really appreciate the survey. I know in my office we were promoting the survey constantly. I know our calls for service are very high in our office and we would share with all of our constituents when they called an opportunity to share their opinion. And I think that the council offices can really be a big part of promoting the survey, and I really appreciate that opportunity. I'd also like to remind staff that we have a communication strategy that has an equity lens built in and that as long as we're following what we believe will get responses, then I think we're we're moving in the right direction. If we need to make adjustments to that strategy, then we as a council probably need to see what that looks like and make sure that we as a council agree to what we're talking about. So I'm always open to revisiting that. I think it's really important. Furthermore, I think that the survey demonstrates the need to address and what we all know to be true, which is a large percentage of our reliance on the nine one. One system is for two things a medical calls and a paramedic assessment. And that's really important and valuable. And then also crime prevention over the last year and a half. Long Beach has experienced several instances where sexual predators are in their cars watching and being inappropriate in their cars near schools. And my concerns are really with schools being virtual and kids being at home and less eyes being out on the street, seeing these individual children and giving them a little bit more freedom that we need to double down on our sex offender compliance. I see that there is a great opportunity to perhaps pull together some efficiencies that make sure that we aren't leaving our children at risk. So I'd encourage the merging of the. Violent Sex Offender Compliance Unit and our previously sought out warrant detail to make sure to protect our children from non-compliant sex registrants. And September is a really important time to think about this. Sex offenders are not allowed to decorate their houses for Halloween and give away candy for obvious reasons. But those compliance checks are really in the hands of our our officers. And those compliance checks cannot be done by admin analysts. And so when we're talking about really investing in our community and investing in youth, it's also about setting up good boundaries on what we're willing to eliminate in the budget. Those compliance checks with violent offenders and sexual predators are going to be more important than ever with children spending more time at home and in small groups out in the neighborhood. So I just really encourage us to look at I know I've already brought to light that the K-9 unit and the the costs that have gone into that. And I know that that's been a priority. I've gotten a lot of calls from the animal community about it, but then also really merging those units together, coming up with a new unit that really can put those things together in some meaningful way, potentially some kind of. Predator compliance unit that pulls it all together to make sure that this is a very different time. And as kids are going to be moving into our afterschool programs and at the parks, which I want to give a round of applause to our city manager and our Parks and Rec department on the reimagining of our our school programs. These kids are going to be walking from their homes, these parks. Back when we had school in session. They would be able to walk in groups to those parks together. They won't have that as much anymore. So we really need to make sure that we are setting up some good boundaries. I know that fifth District residents have some serious concerns because these particular individuals that have circulated our schools just keep rotating and and their addiction to our young girls is just sickening. And we need to be sure to protect them. So I'm I'll just reiterate that. And then I also see in the top five is infrastructure. And then we talk a lot about walkable communities and its direct correlation with health. And I think that if there is a place that we could pull funding from to make an investment in infrastructure, even in this very strenuous financial time , it's really an investment in more than just the streets and the sidewalks. It's also an investment in construction jobs around our city. I pushed really hard with our economic development department to have the play on tonight's agenda, and those jobs associated with that work are really, really important for our community as well. So I would encourage the finance division to work with the BMC to explore opportunities to dip into our Fleet Fund. The Fleet Fund has a direct correlation with street repair. If the streets that our city study vehicles are driving on are not in good repair, it does have a direct correlation with maintenance costs of those vehicles and quite frankly, the maintenance of the vehicles that we. Speaker 2: Recommend for at five minute council events. We can just wrap up, please. Speaker 0: That was the end. That was my last comment. So I'd love to see us pull 5 to $10 million from the Fleet Fund and invest it in streets in this next year and those construction jobs. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you both, Mayor. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. President, first of all, I want to thank you for making the motion to delay this for next week, because I know what Black Lives Matter reached out to me on behalf of people's budget about delaying this vote and had some concerns about the proposed tax increase. You know, and I hope we can continue discussion next week with the b c members. And thank you very much. Thank you. That concludes council comment. So we'll conclude the call for comment, but we do have public comments. So I'll turn it over to the clerk and we'll begin this press conference. Speaker 3: Our first speaker is Alyssa Gutierrez. Alyssa Gutierrez. Speaker 4: Good afternoon. Yes. Hi. Can you hear me? Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 4: Three. Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. My name is Melissa Gutierrez and I'm a second district resident and I'm speaking to you tonight as the chair of the Human Relations Commission. The purpose and function of the Human Relations Commission is to inspire and support social justice and equity in the city of Miami and foster mutual understanding and respect for all. We work toward a vision of Long Beach as a just and equitable community, free of discrimination and violence for all people are valued and have the resources to reach their full potential. As you finalize your budget in the context of a public health crisis, recession and uprising, we call on you to meet this moment by investing in the programs and policies that foster faith and healthy communities and divest from the practices and policies that perpetuate inequality and racial disparities. Investing in racial equity is more than a moral desire. It's an economic imperative and will be the key to a successful post-COVID economic recovery. This understanding we would like to eliminate the following items institutionalize racial equity by developing the Office of Equity Staff and Fiscal Capacity to implement racial equity efforts. Fully fund and implement citywide anti-racism trainings and LGBTQ inclusivity trainings with a special focus on the transgender community. Elevate the role and function of the Human Relations Commission as an important advisory oversight body of the Framework for reconciliation by allocating one full time staff to support the work of the Commission. Our Vice Chair will follow with the breadth of the recommendations. Thank you. Speaker 3: Think your next speaker is Amy Erickson. Speaker 4: Good evening. This is Amy Ericson. I'm the vice chair of the Human Relations Commission. And thank you to the council for taking the time to talk about this tonight. I will follow up the rest of the recommendation letter from the HRC. We want you to also fully fund the implementation of the language access policy. Less than 1% from the budget would fully implement the language access policies. We want you to also establish a citywide rental housing division and tenants right to council programing. Establishing a rental housing division within the Development Services Department to communicate with both tenants and landlords, issue legal bulletins and update enforce renter protection laws, centralizing for information form and administer a citywide right to counsel program for renters that will provide legal resources and representation to renters. We would also like to see funds to fund citizens, Police Complaints Commission reforms, to engage in a formal outside expert study through a non-police community selection process, and to conduct further community outreach to ensure reforms and or new oversight bodies meet community needs. The last recommendation is to develop an annual budget using an equity lens to use a zero based budgeting approach, beginning with the fiscal year 2122 budget to fund staffing this year for community outreach and feedback regarding the budget to fund the implementation of a public budgeting process with an equity led to determine how to allocate any additional federal funding sources. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Don Martins. Speaker 4: Hello. Speaker 3: Yes. We can hear you. Speaker 4: Can you answer? Hi. My name is when I got to know them. Actually, it is about your sister. My brother was murdered August 20, 29, so 2017 by Martin Ron from Long Beach PD. So I'm here because, you know, I think I believe that the defunding should you guys should defund the police and you guys should the rest of the funds should be used for the community and for the children and family members that are traumatized due to this killer cops that they have done what they have done, you know, to the families then for, you know, the community library, schools, etc.. You guys council, the city council, you guys are you guys should do your job correctly, hold them accountable for what they did. Murder one is still running these streets. He still he has he has blood on his hands, just like the Chief Luna that has commented on my brother's case. And he has said that it was my brother's fault for not being able to pay a dollar 75. And that's what he should have had happen to him, which I totally disagree, because they should have just given him a ticket. That was all they could. They should have done that. Very funny. The I'll be PD is responding to non-emergency cases and are escalating instead of the escalating and just doing, for example, a simple table you got, you know, taxpayers are paying for these killers mistakes. I think it's time for you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jennifer Hing. Speaker 4: Hello? Can you hear me? Yes, you hear me? Hi, Jen. With a invest in youth and people's budget. We demand that you defund the police by 20%, not a mere 5%. On January 15, 2017, a 37 year old Cambodian mother who suffered with a mental health condition was shot and killed within 46 seconds of getting out of their car. Her daughter, Jonathan Lee, was a former youth leader of Girls in Action who advocated for support services for her community. I'll be PETERS Negligence, malice and oppression cost taxpayers a $9 million settlement, one of the largest settlement payouts in history. The proposed 5% cut is nothing compared to this one settlement and may long be. City attorney Charles Parkin reported that the city has spent more than $31 million since 2014 to settle 61 excessive force and wrongful death lawsuit for youth. Public dollars show that only $204 is spent on positive development programs per youth. But overwhelming $10,500 is spent on suppression for issues, arrests, police suppression and violence as a public health issue. Black youth and young people of color in these communities not only face police brutality, but witnessing police violence stops done by police and living in a heavily police community all harm health. Police violence compounds are growing rate of anxiety, depression and PTSD and disrupt young people's learning and growth. So to speak to your August 27th Facebook post, mayor. Our young people need to know and see that these deep and serious challenges can be addressed this year, in this presidential election, in this school year, and definitely in this budget cycle. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jordan during. Speaker 2: Can you hear me? Speaker 3: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 2: Hello. City Council Mayor. My name is Jordan. I'm going to start here with a quote from the mayor as. Speaker 0: We move forward. Speaker 2: Whether we're talking about issues around the budget or legislation that will happen later this year, in the summer, that's what we do. Now, I think what I just said is that it's way more important that we're uplifting the black voices. Our communities are directly from the community and that they're involved in all the decision making processes and that there is actually a voice, instead of just presenting the budget and the council meeting among themselves and having a conversation that is inclusive of the community where the youth development or workforce programs and that money is. Speaker 4: Invested in ways. Speaker 2: That are dealing with the changes. Mayor Garcia, you made the statement in June that you would take into account the black community and the community in general wishes when it came to the budget. That has not been the case. This budget does not reflect the wishes of the community at all. Does not defund Vpd, which is a major priority of BLM and what the major priority of all respondents in the reconciliation process. So I must ask Mayor Garcia, will you keep your word to the community or you betray them? You said yesterday privately that you would support further cuts to LBP. Will you say today publicly or hide? Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jordan Wynn. Jordan when? Our next speaker is Max Nurse. Speaker 2: Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good evening. Rex and Jeanine and you folks are bought and paid for by the Long Beach Police Officers Association. 2020 is not a normal year and on this I think we can agree, but all discuss this as if it is any other budget. But there's a clear outlier here in front of us in giant, bold letters that haven't been anywhere near the top ten ever before, and that is to defund the Long Beach Police Department and their killer cops. I think we can agree that killer cops are bad, so start there and fire them all. If you need a list, Google me. Drop me a line. Over this weekend, we had the third angel burglary of Cesar Rodriguez PD murdered and the cop who murdered him, Martin Ron got promoted. No more platitudes. Deep cuts, 20%, 25%. Maybe we could get some more empathy for Daryl and the district. Maybe we can do all the other things that had to get scrapped this year if we just make them deep cut. And we need to start with a violent, asinine white supremacist culture that is displayed by Robert Luna and the Long Beach Police Department, and especially the Long Beach Police Officers Association. Google the challenge coins. Understand this stuff. These guys are not good. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Melissa morgan. Speaker 4: Mayor Garcia used your platform to get things done. You're getting national spotlight, spotlight our city. If you really care about black people, if you really wanted to champion a healthier, more inclusive Long Beach, if you really wanted to defund the police, you could help council see the light and make it happen. Your wee little defund the police gesture is not yet significant. Defund the police by 20%. Make a bold stand against police violence. You hear our stories tonight. I'm Tyler Woods. I'm 19 years old. On November 19th, 2013, I was at the store with my aunt, my mother, sister, as we walked out of the store. Long Beach Police Department officers were standing there staring at us. We wondered why we live in a continual state of fear of police and felt incredibly uncomfortable. The more they stared, the more uneasy I grew, beginning to fear for my life. They came towards us and out of fear and a lifetime of traumatization by police. I ran. They chased me down fourth Street. I ran into a building to try to get away from them. There were people around. As the officer got closer to me, I heard him call me a nigger several times. An older Latina woman who was looking on heard the words as well. The officer began shooting me in my back. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 times. Someone please help me and my black body in court. The lady witness told the judge. The court said that nigger shouldn't have run mayor and council. Defund the police. Be bold. Divest. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jordan Wynn. Speaker 2: Can you hear me? Speaker 3: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Glad you can this time. Lobby City Council. I'm Jordan Wynn. And we're tired. We're tired of talking about black lives, politics instead of ones that matter and who are suffering because of police violence. I hope you were listening to the last public comment carefully. We are tired of police firing violence across our country and here in Long Beach. One unjust death is too many. Yet they continue to happen every day. Donte Jordan say his name Feroz Mourad. Say his name. Lionel Gibson. Say his name is Rodriguez. Say his name. Taylor would say his name. Catherine Gomes. Say her name. Frederick Papp. Say his name. We are tired of city politicians skirting around this issue. The platitudes and the public input sessions aren't helping. When you don't listen to the people, what did the people want to focus on in every reconciliation public session? Alternatives to incarceration. There are decades of research on how to do this, and the people are asking for it. It's time to defund the police. There is no reason city council members should speed up the process and approve the budget today or next week without listening to your constituents who have prepared the people's budget. The proposed 5% cut to the LAPD are grossly inadequate. Imagine if we cut police budget by 20%. That's $50 million. We could fill the city's entire shortfall and fund the entire people's budget and boost essential services like libraries and parks. This moment will go down in history. Will the City Council align with the violent and corrupt police department or with the families and neighbors fighting for justice and healing? Thank you very much. It's up to you to decide. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Rick Chambers. Speaker 2: Good evening, Mayor. City Council members. I'm Rich Chambers. I'm president of the Long Beach Police Officers Association. We understand the city is facing serious financial challenges. Early on, we were told the department would be cut up to 8.7 million, representing a three and a half percent cut. That represented the balanced outcome approach where police services were prioritized. Then we see the proposed budget and we see those cuts increase to 10.3 million 5%. My concerns center around that additional $1.6 million. There has been no proper analysis, no formal discussions about the impacts of or the reasons for those additional cuts. As you look at these cuts, we ask that you consider what impact would this have on our communities? What effect will this have on our response times? How will these cuts affect our ability to keep the public safe? We want to be part of the solution, and we've asked to be part of the discussions. The proposed budget eliminates 54 sworn positions, and we're asking for only reasonable restorations. There are critical, specialized positions that need to be restored. We can talk about each of these positions and why they're important. As tonight's discussion has emphasized, the people have spoken. Your budget survey showed that maintaining a low crime rate is still a top five priority for the community. And a recent scientific citywide poll showed that 66% of Long Beach residents believe department funding should be increased or kept the same. We ask respectfully that you look at the data, the impacts that you listened to, the community's concerns, and consider our request for these critical, specialized units. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Tanya Jimenez. Speaker 4: Huh? Can you hear me? Speaker 3: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 4: Good evening, everyone. Just like Jordan winner Melissa morgan, I'm tired and angry. This budget process has been extremely frustrating, largely in part by our collective refusal to listen to the public's demands. On one side, there are people that have been pleading for your assistance in ending police violence and ensuring that people's basic needs like access to housing , food, well-paying jobs, and even the ability to understand what their leaders are doing in their in their own language. On the other side, there are lovely people that are concerned about police response time who are seemingly unbothered by the current state of affairs, where the LAPD brutalizes and murders black and brown communities, and you all let them get away with it, even praising their actions and calling them heroes that go through there while condemning police violence elsewhere. I understand the multiple and conflicting obligations that you all face, but your primary obligation and duty should always be to the public. I also understand that the public interest is a vague concept, but in all that public servants do, they must act in accordance with the demands of their most disadvantaged constituents. That means prioritizing the people that are demanding that you build your influence to end violence at the hands of the LAPD, that you de-fund LAPD. Not a 1.6% cut from last year's adopted number from the general fund, and that you divest from LAPD with the goal to reinvest in black and brown communities. We are not calling for the reforms that you are proposing. First and foremost, we are calling that you are deep LAPD by reducing your budget size and power meaningfully. Now, are you misusing if you're still confused about what, defunding? May I be one that has been murdered by the LAPD since the department was established? Rest in power. Speaker 3: Thank you. And now give us a moment. Well, we transition to the Spanish portion of our. Public comment. Our first speaker is Elizabeth Gonzalez. Speaker 2: The preeminent person maker of letters, Elizabeth Cohen tells. Say hello. Speaker 4: To. Speaker 2: See. Speaker 4: Sydney suburb Gonzalez Como. These are the last few that they loan this deportivo la quality that the of their immigrants. That means there will be no question in the last year that. Yes. Only that necessity central disagreement. The necessity program of the rehabilitation. But alas, Persona's problem is that all of us get to this point the metaphor that gets stolen as media. Chewing gum access. I usually set up. Speaker 2: My name is. Speaker 4: Programmer. Speaker 2: Better than the better than me not to continue my. Speaker 4: Four. Speaker 2: No, it's a scratch on the ticket. It's better. They hit that Acela. My name is. Elizabeth Gonzalez. And as a mayor and also as a counselor of the coalition of Immigrants, I wanted to talk to you because wanted to speak out about that. The but the city budget. I wanted to make sure that there is money so that we can have health centers and also we can have rehabilitation centers. So for people who are dealing with drugs, also for not only for them, but also for their families and all residents of Long Beach, especially if the family needs therapy. This is going to continue in Spanish now. Speaker 4: Good enough for me to get close enough. I mean, getting access or DARPA. Program as a whole in this comparatively. Second, on a personal necessity, I do not think I declaration my moral service or the idea of I'm in that either. Like this is super. Speaker 2: And all the services should be available for all family members. The programs should be available for young ones and including their parents. Instead of calling 911 or calling the L.B. Long Beach Police Department, they should have a number where they can call the mental health services or mental health centers so that they can help them out and with the situation that needs to be de-escalated. Did we. Speaker 4: Know? You know, you precious. Yeah. Yeah, well, not alternativa. Speaker 2: Is happiness a competitor? Speaker 4: And first of all. De La Ciudad where they do that? Yes. David, there's a simple foreign policy opponent. Bankruptcy until. Speaker 2: Ten my common. I will like for the city budget to show. Money to be granted over to these mental health centers so that they can help these people, especially with therapy. And also, instead of calling the police, like I had mentioned earlier, they should be able to call them and get help. They should defund the police department 20%. This is the end of my comment. Gracias. Speaker 3: Thank you. Your next speaker is clemency, Crespo. Speaker 4: Allow them instead of. Of course, you. Speaker 2: See them as this creature to get it is the goal. And that's what this Belarus Yellow Laboratory and Nicholas. Speaker 4: Follow me on Twitter. Speaker 2: Hi. My name is Clements Crespo, and I'm from District nine. Speaker 4: That's why I keep for capital access alive for my family to bring this up money that. Speaker 2: And I'm here because I. I support the information, the vital information for all our communities. Speaker 4: Obama said both Army units are Keeping Them Honest, but that a piecemeal farcical. Speaker 2: And I implore the city to put $2 million so that we can have this service of of equal support, equal access to all languages. Speaker 4: At the homes of my son. You must have a better fear of Obama as a younger man. Speaker 2: These meetings have shown us that we do need this translation and we do need this service. Speaker 4: Not to bother Devon, the fed up each other, not their leader on that of in Kuala Interpret. Speaker 2: I think our voices need to be heard and we also need adequate translation. Speaker 4: But I thought it was a simple 5% policy to name a former programmer for less than $0.50. Speaker 2: That is why I'm asking for defunding of the police department so that we can allocate this money to actual programs that the city needs. Speaker 4: For your monthly phone bill. They can see you. Speaker 2: For example, accessing languages and also for the justice system. Speaker 4: Mental illness. I think almost all of us. Speaker 2: Because we all need this, especially we need the councilmen and also the mayor to hear us. Speaker 4: I'm a portrait of a Savoy Mori on the menu for the North. Taking up a setting for my parola policier. Speaker 2: I got stopped by the police, and now I have to go to court. And I'm very scared. I do not know what's going to happen once they get to the courthouse. Speaker 4: Criminal criminality can make it that only Carol. But Carol, it's always fun to play for families and families and then for you to. Speaker 2: This is the first time I get I get stopped by the Long Beach Police Department. They took my car. I just need somebody to hear me out. I need this to be stopped. Speaker 4: Watch out for my commentary. I'm one of you. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. This ends my commentary. Have a good day. Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Magnolia Rodriguez. Speaker 4: When a notion watching it, which is an economical hit of land sovereignty in the end here that I would say to you that the entire. Speaker 2: Hi. My name is Magnolia Rodriguez, and I want to address the mayor and also the councilman about the experience I had in the last meeting. Speaker 4: Lost brother, Boris Peck, on the other hand is 70. So it can be a minor thing that most experiences when the. If they really keep getting most of the people per mundane thing, it doesn't seem. Speaker 2: In the last meetings we had, we had different interpreters. We have not had the same interpreter, so it has not been a pleasant experience. We want to have a team that's going to be able to interpret all our meetings. Speaker 4: But I've been there roaming for my own for exactly three. Speaker 2: So that the information that they're interpreting is accurate and correct. Speaker 4: Zambian kettle black EPA, the utility's. Okay, your circular policy is important. That Zambian company does better than the employees over that filtration area. Necesitan. I use the como departamento de salud. Let me look at the fundamentals. But for their affinity, yes, they must ponder the of Beyoncé's the removal of policy on the policy. Speaker 2: I know that the police department is important, but I also see the need for the health department and also mental health and other departments that are more crucial to the city. So that is why I am asking for a 20% defund of the police department. Speaker 4: Muchas gracias. Thanks. Speaker 2: Thank you very much for your attention and my column. Speaker 3: Thank you. That concludes public comment. Speaker 2: Okay. Mr.. Mr.. Quirk, that concludes public comment and the council meeting is adjourned. That was the last item and we will have next one moving on to the next week. And then, of course, I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day, especially all the hard working folks that we celebrate that day for and for them. Thank them for their labors. Have a great, great weekend and we'll see everyone next week. Thank you. Speaker 1: Mayor. In order to layer over the item, we need a vote. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 0: I'll move. Three, five. Speaker 2: Nine. Well, roll call vote. Speaker 1: District one. District two. District three. District, for. Speaker 2: Instance. Speaker 1: District five. Speaker 0: By. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 1: District seven. Speaker 0: Yeah. District eight. Just try. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: One more. Try to win one more person, one more council member. Speaker 2: And our taking these other. Speaker 0: Thank you. Speaker 2: Oh, no. Yeah. Speaker 0: Sorry, Mr.. May I? Speaker 1: Excellent. District three. Motion carries. Speaker 2: Perfect. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 2: Cosmo Ranga has been a meeting. Then I. Council member. The motion passed. Speaker 1: Five five. Speaker 0: We got five eye votes. And at number four, your father. Speaker 1: And I and the House are. Speaker 0: Yes, I. Speaker 1: I wanted to also. And I. Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Always emotionally. Speaker 1: The motion was to lay the item over to the next meeting. Speaker 2: At what budget? Speaker 1: 15. The budget hearing. Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I. Speaker 1: You're an I as well. Thank you. Motion carriers will adjourn the meeting. Thank you. Yeah.

Public Hearing

Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, and take the actions necessary to adopt the Fiscal Year 2021 budget as listed in Attachment A. (Citywide)

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Speaker 0: Thank you. And if we go into the there, obviously this is a special meeting. So we have we just have a few items on the agenda, but we do have to continue to hear it. So I want to go ahead do those. It's going to get to continue hearing at a number two. Speaker 4: Report from Development Services recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, concluded the public hearing. Find the project exempt from secure and adopt ordinance approving a zoning change for the properties addressed as 9012945 East Pacific Coast Highway District six. Speaker 0: Okay. If I can turn this over to staff, please. Speaker 6: Thank you. Christopher Coons, deputy director, will give the staff report. Speaker 7: Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council. And we're here to talk about a project in the vice mayor's district. Uh, this project is on Pacific Coast Highway. It involves a former redevelopment property that was then transferred to the successor agency. And through a competitive process, was awarded to Mercy Housing. Mercy Housing acquired the adjacent property, a former auto facility. And they're turning that piece of land into a 68 unit affordable project. The Affordable Housing Project has already been approved by staff and the Planning Commission. And what's in front of council tonight is the technical matter of changing the zone on the property to a zone that allows for this residential use. So it'd be from c h w to cc n. Um, and the effect of that would be consistent with the existing adopted land use element and would allow for this positive development . This is going to be a project that provides high quality housing to seniors of limited means. It's a very attractive design that was complimented by both the public and our planning commission and planning staff. And it's being done using modular construction, which is the exciting way to lower the cost of delivering housing projects throughout the city and throughout the state of California. Um, so I could go on, but it's all positive regarding, um, this project. So I'm going to pause here and answer any questions that the Council may have. Speaker 0: Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and go to public comment. Madam Clerk, first. Speaker 5: Yes. Our first speaker is Erika Villar Blanca. Your time starts now. Speaker 2: Hi. Good afternoon. Good evening, Mayor. And Members of the City Council. My name is Erika Blanca, and I'm the director of real estate development for Mercy Housing, California. Thank you for your time this evening. Speaker 3: Our Long Beach. Speaker 2: Senior Housing Project will provide 67 units of much needed affordable housing to low income seniors. Speaker 3: Aged. Speaker 2: 62 and over. Speaker 3: We'd like. Speaker 2: To extend our thanks to the Planning Department and city staff for all their efforts in working with us to. Speaker 3: Get to this point. Speaker 2: We're very excited about this project and have received a lot of support from the community since we first started reaching out to immediate neighbors and other organizations about a year ago last August. Speaker 3: Together with our architecture. Speaker 2: Team, Studio 111, I'm here to answer any questions you may have, and we're looking forward. Speaker 3: To the day our. Speaker 2: Vulnerable seniors will be able to call this place home. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Myron Wolin. Speaker 3: Hello. I am the president of the Long Beach Gray Panthers, a senior advocacy group in Long Beach. I want to speak in favor of the council approving the zoning change so that the proposed housing project by Mercy Housing can be built in Long Beach. The project will provide housing for 68 units for homeless seniors and veterans in Long Beach. As we all know, there is a homeless crisis in Long Beach. There is a need for housing for the homeless, especially homeless seniors. Today we see seniors who are homeless in Long Beach, and we expect a 13% increase in senior homelessness this year. In the future, we expect the problem to get worse. And seniors living below the poverty line increase and to be almost 25% of all seniors in five years. You can be sure there will be a subsequent increase in homelessness. The project will be an asset to the neighborhood and probably improve it. The new housing will transform a site that is currently vacant into new housing that will help serve as a new anchor for the neighborhood. Within a short walk of less than a half a mile, a bus lines, parks, medical clinics and senior services at Long Beach City College. In addition, this housing will include indoor community rooms for residents and an outdoor courtyard. It will also be secured bike parking. We call on the council to approve this item with all the museum's amenities. And thank you for your consideration. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Karen Reside. Speaker 2: This is Karen Recite also with the Long Beach Gray Panthers. And we have been advising Mercy Housing on this project since they started the outreach to the community. The Gray Panthers support the approval of this project and the rezoning. Speaker 3: This project. Speaker 2: Is going to be built. Speaker 3: In a much. Speaker 2: Needed area that will eliminate blight that has been longstanding in the community and begin the process of implementing really a corridor for affordable housing with some other projects that are coming on board. Mercy Housing has been a wonderful partner to work with. They have engaged the community from the beginning and they are going to be providing community benefits with this project. They are also including local artists by including their art in the decor, which will be resident selected. The language Gray Panther supports the development of additional projects by mercy housing. Speaker 3: For older adults like this project, as well as other developers. Speaker 2: We now know that there is not enough housing for seniors in our community. The waitlist for on affordable housing are now from 5 to 10 years. Speaker 3: Way too long for seniors. Speaker 2: Who may not make it. Speaker 3: Until that point. Speaker 2: So we support the City Council on changing the zoning for this particular project. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jordan Wynn. Speaker 3: Hi there this is Jordan win with the everyone in campaign speaking in support of the 67 new units being built at Long Beach senior by Mercy Housing. We're seeing housing has been a wonderful community partner with everyone in and within the Long Beach community that has over the past few years engaged the community in very constructive and incredible ways to really make one be senior, a dedicated community space that will be a shining star along the Pacific Coast Highway. This comes at the heels of other affordable and supportive housing projects being built in the same area. And it is a welcome and much needed sight for our citizens and Long Beach. Miami Beach has a ongoing homelessness crisis that has been exacerbated by COVID 19. Many individuals, including seniors, find themselves vulnerable on the street with very little protection from the virus, from other health complications and very few. Speaker 1: Resources for housing. Speaker 3: I'm using your help to provide a safe place for refuge for many of those people who have been previously dealing with homelessness and gives them a road to recovery by a supportive housing. What we see here is a shining star. Honestly, within our community, it will be one of the best new projects being put up in the city. And I'm really excited to see a site that has been empty for the past, you know, at least ten years or so, ever since I was going to be passing by there. Could not think of a better use than converting that into supportive and affordable housing for our previously homeless and needy needs. So I'm speaking in support of Lumbee Senior. I hope everyone on the council will do the same. Thank you very much. Speaker 5: Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 0: Okay with that, I'm going to turn this over to Vice Mayor Andrews and a second. Speaker 5: Thank you, ma'am. First of all, I want to let everyone know I'm very supportive of this project and this line of thinking. Since we tore down the blight, in fact, illicit activities, it took a long time to find the right operators for this site, and I am glad that I have the process brought mostly housing as a recommendation. We have seen that our senior homeless population is increasing and I've seen on most of the operators at St Mary's Towers, they've done a great job there. I'm hopeful that we're going to have a beautiful project along PCH corridor and I would like to thank Mercy Housing Team for engaging with the community throughout the entire process , answering questions the town and looking to transform this intersection. So I'm looking forward to breaking ground, and I invite my colleagues to please support me in approving this project. Thank you, ma'am. Speaker 0: Thank you. I have count some of your anger. You have a second? Speaker 3: Yes. Fully supporter of the project. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilmember Price. Speaker 2: I was just queuing up the second. I'm supportive as well, I think. Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. And I just want to add, I really want to just congratulate the entire team, Mercy, Housing, just the community, the seniors that have been involved. What what a great project. And really, it's really exciting, I think, to see what's all what's happening along on Beach Boulevard in PCH as relates to developing affordable housing, especially for seniors and low income folks. There's a lot of progress going on. And just want to congratulate you, vice mayor, and just the whole team on a really great project. So that's very supportive. Let's go ahead and do a roll call. A councilman and Dallas. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I just also wanted to say congratulations on this awesome project that is coming up. I can't wait for the seniors in our city to be able to enjoy, enjoy it, really take advantage of this. I think this is great for for the whole community. And I'm always in favor of for more affordable housing for our seniors. So congratulations, Vice Mayor De Andrews on this wonderful project. Speaker 0: Before we do the roll call vote. If I can have if you're not speaking, please be on mute. That includes all the staff. We are getting some feedback, so I've gotten to do a roll call vote. Madam Clerk. Speaker 4: District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District two. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District three. I district for. Speaker 0: My. Speaker 4: District five. District five. Speaker 2: II. Speaker 4: District six. II, District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 4: District eight. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 4: District nine. Speaker 3: Right. Speaker 4: 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 CHW (Regional Highway Commercial) to CCN (Community R-4-N Commercial), read and adopted as read. (District 6)

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Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. Let's go down to the second hearing, please. Speaker 4: Report from Public Works recommendation to continue the public hearing to vacate the portion of Avenue two October six, 2020. District seven. Speaker 0: I'll turn it over to staff. Speaker 6: Thank you. Staff Report Will Be Given by Oscar Morrissey. I'm sorry. This item is going to be handled by public works instead. Eric Lopez. Speaker 0: Thank you, Tom. Honorable Mayor, members of the city council. This is an item to essentially. Speaker 3: Ask for a little bit more time for us to completing. Speaker 6: Processing. Speaker 3: A standard. Speaker 0: Vacation. Speaker 5: For. Speaker 3: That's related to a project. And we are looking to set the date for. Speaker 0: October six, 2020. Speaker 3: We are working closely with the project proponent and. Speaker 5: Everybody wants an agreement with the current approach. That concludes my presentation. Well. Speaker 0: Thank you. We're going to go and to the public comment. Speaker 4: There is no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: Is there any public comment on the item? Speaker 4: No. There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: I do have a motion by country when going. Going. Have a second. In a second body count. The woman's in Dallas. Let's go ahead and do a roll call vote. Speaker 4: District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District two. By District three. My district for. Speaker 1: My. Speaker 4: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District six. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District six. Speaker 3: II. Speaker 4: District seven. By District eight. Speaker 3: II. Speaker 4: District nine. I carry. Speaker 0: Thank you. We are now moving to the rest of the agenda. We do have our. Items. Let me go out and do item four, please.

Public Hearing

Recommendation to continue the public hearing to vacate the portion of Elm Avenue, between Spring Street and the unnamed east-west public alley south of 31st Street, the unnamed east-west public alley between Elm Avenue and Pasadena Avenue, north of Spring Street and south of 31st Street, and the unnamed north-south public alley between Spring Street and 31st Street, east of Elm Avenue and west of Pasadena Avenue, to October 6, 2020. (District 7)

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Speaker 0: Did you want to turn over to the police department? Speaker 2: I would if the cheeses available to comment specifically on what the special orders are. And then I will comment as to why the Budget Oversight Committee have brought this item forward. I mean, I'm sorry, the public safety committee. I'm missing my committee. Speaker 0: Mr.. Mr.. Potter, can I the Chief prepared there to give some comments? Speaker 6: Yes, he is. Chief Lunar. Chief and you might be muted. Speaker 1: For people cheap lunar. Can you hear me? Hello? Speaker 4: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 1: All right. Thank you, mayor and council members. Special orders affect our entire department. They're issued when we have an immediate or an urgent need to make an adjustment to policy or procedure. Special orders remain in place for revisions to current or the development of policies or take place. Our special orders are reviewed and signed by the Chief. Speaker 3: Of Police. Speaker 1: And eventually are archived in our Long Beach PD policy manual. While special orders are in place, a number of things continue to take place related to the special order. This includes revisions and adjustments to the order and or policy language, consultation and review as necessary by the City Attorney and human resources, as well as meeting confers with the impacted labor unions. And this includes employee feedback as well. Again, the special orders allow PD to make immediate adjustments during the formalized policy creation process. All employees must follow special orders as if they are policy. They're required to comply with rules and provisions in our department manual. So this came from a special order related to use of force, I believe this item from the Public Safety Committee and that is under development process to be archived in Long Beach PD Manual. This concludes my report and I can answer any. Speaker 3: Questions you may have. Speaker 0: I'll go back to Councilmember Price. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you for that presentation on behalf of the Department. As was stated earlier this year, the Long Beach Police Department took significant steps to address issues around uses of force, the duty to intervene, de-escalation, and a number of other policies to improve their policing approach. These have been implemented throughout through a special order and are not currently included in the Police Department Operational Manual. However, these policies are currently in effect as a result of the special order. In this light, the Public Safety Committee recommends that the city manager work with our police department to implement these policies as permanent policy changes and add these to the Policy and Operations Manual. These are significant changes that will have a positive impact for every resident in the city as we develop and continue to refine our policing approach and methodology. I urge the Council to support this motion. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilman Orson. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you. Speaker 1: Staff for the report. I certainly support this, but I would ask a follow up question. Speaker 3: To Deputy Chief or Assistant Chief English to please outline what the special orders actually do. You know, these are specifically related to use of force and the legal. Speaker 1: Authority to. Speaker 3: Use force. I think these are very important, but also discussed to authorized training, negligent discharge of duty to intervene, de-escalation. These are all very, very important. I think topics that that are that are fundamental in our discourse and the fact that these special orders were put in place on January 16th of 2020 this year, I think is is noteworthy. And so could you please just outline the changes and what prompted the changes in the use of force policy? Speaker 1: Special special orders related to use of force. That's that's fluid and ongoing. And what we do is we evaluate best practices, community input, legislative changes and things that are need an immediate course correction. A special order allows us to do that. For example, with you mention the use of force policy. Speaker 3: In January of 2019, we issued. Speaker 1: A special order that impacted our use of force policy because we needed to make sure that we. Speaker 3: Had language. Speaker 1: And definitions in our policy that were clear to our employees and to the community, and also describe the levels of force that were allowed by officers that can be anywhere from a control to a lethal force. In January of 2020, we issued our special order that based on and I talked a little bit about this at the Public Safety Committee meeting based on input from PERC, the Police Executive Research Foundation. And we added a reverence for human life at the heart of all of our use of force. This is where we added the definitions and the mandates for de-escalation. Duty to intervene, medical attention, and some of the other issues related to lethal force. Earlier this year, we issued a special order suspending the use of a credit restraint. We have an immediate need to address that issue. So we issued the special order and also a special order with some definitions and some clarification for no knock warrants . And so the special orders exist for us to address things that require. Speaker 3: That immediate. Speaker 1: Course correction for the police department. I hope that answers your question. Speaker 3: I think it does. Thank you. And I appreciate that. Our police department is actually moving and. Speaker 1: Has been moving to address these important. Speaker 3: Policies within the department. I hope we can continue. Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you, sir. Speaker 0: Thank you. Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 5: I know. No comment. Speaker 0: Councilor Pearce. Speaker 2: It's about that can get off me. I just wanted to say I appreciate the movement. I look forward to future conversations and glad to see that we're making some progress. Thank you. Speaker 0: Councilor Richardson. Speaker 1: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I want to echo that. I wasn't sure what this was a couple of weeks ago when we discussed it. I'm glad to see the back up materials here. I do remember this now when this when this came out. I want to make sure that the public understands what it means. These steps do make sense. I wasn't aware that we didn't have some of these on the books, but I think having this as a permanent policy, things like no knock warrants and you know, these are issues where the public really wants those things. So thanks to the Public Safety Committee for bringing this to the council. And I think we need to make sure that our policies, particularly sensitive policies, are displayed on the city website so people can know where the city of Long Beach stands on on some of these issues. So a good start. Thanks. Speaker 0: Thank you. Is there any public comment? I'm sorry. Councilmember Price. Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And I appreciate the comments from my council colleague. You know, one of the interesting things, as we've gone through this process and try to start the conversation and we're doing it on a citywide level, a council level and a committee levels are multiple committees. I'm sure we're trying to think about reforms and best practices that we can adopt. One, I will say, having started the process and going through the process, our police department has been really, really receptive to looking into and researching every issue. I know that I've brought to them and I know the same with my committee colleagues who brought items, everything we've brought forth. There's never been a no way that won't work. It's always been, well, that could work. Let us look into it. But more often than not, and I was really surprised, I have to admit, more often than not, the ideas that we have researched and are quickly bringing to the table at every public safety committee meeting, our police department has already research and implemented in some form. I'm not saying there's not a lot more work to do. There is, but I'm just saying that I was very much myself unaware of all of the different things that they are doing already. As part of this national conversation, at least beginning the implementation of several of the different reform methods and research information that we're getting now getting a hold of as members of the public. So I just wanted to acknowledge that with our police department. Things like bystander ship policies, for example, which I know is one that we're we're talking about currently in public safety. They've done a lot of great work. And in my response to a suggestion that they work with Georgetown University on a program they have there that freedom municipalities like are they were more than willing to reach out and start that conversation to enhance what they're currently doing. But I just want to acknowledge that there are a lot of things that I myself was unaware of. And I agree with Councilman Richardson. I think the policies are on the Web, but they're a little bit challenging to find. So if we can figure out how to showcase them a little bit better and make it more user friendly for people to access. You know, people don't know what they don't know. And so there's a lot of assumptions made. And if people are making assumptions about what we're not doing and we are doing it, then perhaps we're not doing a very good job of telling people what we're doing. So with that, I just want to thank the police department for the presentation. Speaker 0: Thank you. Let's go do public comment. And I'm. I'm sorry. 1/2. Katherine Pierce, if you're another comment. I'm sorry about that. Speaker 2: It's fine. I wanted to. It was good to hear Councilmember Pryce recognize. I think the fact that our PD does make changes, but either the council is not notified or the public is not notified. And I know that we're going to have many more conversations about not only PD use of force, but just the protocols in general . And the biggest thing that we can do for our constituents, for the residents in our city, is be transparent and open and be able to have information that's accessible to everybody. And so I wanted to just go on the record one more time of saying that I wholeheartedly support that notion. So thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Let's do public comment. Speaker 4: There are no public comments for this item. Speaker 0: Okay. Okay. And let's go ahead and take a vote, please. Speaker 4: District one, i. District two. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District three. High District for. Speaker 1: High. Speaker 4: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District six. My District seven. I strict a strict nine. Motion carries. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. We have two items that are I know we can into contracts. And so I want to turn it over to the city manager to do EMS nine and 11. Speaker 6: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So we have a presentation by Dana Anderson on the item number 11. We're really excited to be in front of you tonight with some significant contracts in front of you for our employees. These are responsible contracts. They also have some significant savings and givebacks from our employees who recognize the seriousness of the financial issues that we have been facing. And they help us meet the $11 million goal set in the budget. And we will be bringing, hopefully, other contracts to you very soon on September 8th.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request that the Special Order issued on January 16, 2020 become a permanent policy change for the Long Beach Police Department.

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Speaker 6: They also have some significant savings and givebacks from our employees who recognize the seriousness of the financial issues that we have been facing. And they help us meet the $11 million goal set in the budget. And we will be bringing, hopefully, other contracts to you very soon on September 8th. So I will turn this over to Dana to go through the presentation for number 11. Speaker 8: That evening. Honorable Mayor and members of Council, you have before you a proposed memorandum of understanding with the applicable resolution between the city and the following bargaining units. Long Beach Lifeguard Association. City Attorney's Association. City Prosecutors Association. Association of Confidential Employees. And the Long Man at Long Beach Management Association. City management representatives have met with each of the bargaining units to discuss terms for a successor MRU. We have reached a tentative agreement with each of these associations and their members have ratified the agreement. The agreements are now before the Council for Review and Staff recommends Council approval. The major provisions of the IMO use include the following cost of living increases for miscellaneous groups, including attorney's confidential prosecutors and non sworn management up to 8%. General wage increase over four years. And this would include a four year contract term from October 1st, 2019 to September 30th, 2023. Were sworn police and fire management at eight and a half percent. General wage increase over three years in alignment with previously approved police and fire contracts. And the lifeguards with eight and a half percent general wage increase over a three year contract term from October 1st, 2019 to September 30th, 2020 to. The five tentative agreements include a phased in approach for structural wage increases that are in line with the needs of each bargaining unit to remain competitive with other public safety agencies in their respective fields. The tentative agreements also contain key benefits to enhance employees ability to balance work and personal lives. Enhance benefits include the new paid parental leave program, an additional city holiday, short term and long term disability insurance vacation holiday in lieu and personal holiday accrual maximum adjusted to accommodate the city's Long Beach Coast, H.R. system requirements and other benefit adjustments. In recognition of the emergent the emergent financial conditions in uncertain times caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. The associations have agreed to include a various cost labor cost savings measures, as follows. All agreements have a labor cost savings reopen or clause in the event the mayor and city council officially declare an economic emergency . This allows the city to reopen the MCU if the city faces a fiscal hardship. Miscellaneous employees will be furloughed for 26 days during AV y 21 with an alternative option for critical positions on an exception basis. The furloughs represent a one time 10% pay reduction. Lifeguards in Libya may police and fire sworn employees will have enough vacation accrual reduction equivalent to 40 hours for employees when a 40 hour workweek schedule 48 hours for those on a platoon schedule. New pension cost sharing structure that requires classic member sworn employees to contribute an additional 3% of their salary to offset employer portion for Long Beach management employees and an additional 2% for lifeguard employees. The proposed Council resolution will also apply the same proposed salary and benefit terms, including the cost savings measure to the unrepresented management employees. The unrepresented management employees account for approximately 47 employees. The Association of Long Beach Employees, also known as Alba, is the only miscellaneous group with a closed contract currently in place to help generate cost savings and avoid additional layoffs. I'll be agreed to renegotiate their closed contract to participate in a cost savings furloughs by forfeiting their upcoming 1500 dollars ad hoc lump sum payment and taking six days equivalent to 48 hours of furlough time in FY 21. The total cost for these agreements have a combined estimated annual net fiscal impact of 3.6 million in the general fund group and 10.5 million across all funds once completely implemented in f y 24. The total ongoing structural cost increase resulting from the agreements is estimated to be 3.5 million in the general fund and 10.4 million across all funds. It is requested that City Council adopt the attached resolutions approving the EMU and applying the terms to non represented managers. This concludes my presentation and I am available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Speaker 0: I want to thank you for that presentation and update. Just also want to add a really just the incredible work that has happened at the bargaining table. First and foremost, I want to thank every free employee in this organization that works hard, that deserves a fair wage, and deserve the opportunity to have fair benefits that can take care of their family and their community. Obviously, we have a lot of contracts that have been better that are complete. We have the contracts that are in front of us. And of course, we also know that there are some work ahead with a few other groups, but they're all working hard to get to a resolution. And we're very grateful to all of our employee groups. I also want to thank our team, everyone at h.r. Just really great work including our negotiating team at the table and thanks for getting for the commitment and the shared sacrifice. It's all so involved in these negotiations. So we just wanted to uplift that work and thank everyone. And with that, I want to go ahead and see if there's any council comment. I do have Councilmember Richardson. Speaker 1: You, Mr. Mayor, and I'm certainly happy to chime in and make the motion to support this. I want to acknowledge the when you go to the bargaining table, these agreements, they go out to the membership and each of these groups, their membership, ratify these decisions. And I know they didn't make that decision lightly, but it really shows the solidarity across our city during this particular moment, this fiscal and health crisis that we're dealing with here. And that's not lost on us as a city council. Recognize that? We know that we we love our city. We love our employees. And we're going to make sure that we do all we can to protect and protect our city, its fiscal future. So we continue to provide quality public services by our public employees. Thank you so much for your sacrifice. We acknowledge it and I encourage a vote in. I vote by the city council. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Come, Senator Pearce. Speaker 2: Thank you. I, too, wanted to thank every single city employee. I know that this is not something that's easy for everybody. The whole U.S. is going through really tough times, but to be able to get to a negotiation, an agreement is a big deal. And I recognize that our 6000 employees, many of them have been reassigned, have done work that wasn't necessarily what they signed up for during this COVID time. And really just want to say how much I appreciate them. Also want to recognize that this council talked a lot about family paid leave for a while. I recognize the additional benefits that are in this package and so I'm very thankful for that as well. I want to thank staff's hard work on that. And I want to thank city management and Tom and the council, because I think all of us have tried to take cuts where we can so that it's being fair and equitable across the entire city. And I really recognize that that might not be required. But it's what this council decided to do and what our city manager is doing. So I appreciate that as well. Thank you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Council member Mungo. Speaker 2: Thank you. I just wanted to say a special thank you to every member of our staff. The pandemic and the cost of this is not lost on us. And we really appreciate each and every person tightening their belts and that we as a council are also committed to tighten our belts. So thank you for what you've done and know that we stand with you. Speaker 0: Thank you. Any public comment, please. Speaker 3: Or. Speaker 4: There's no public comment on this item. Speaker 0: They were going to do a roll call vote. Speaker 4: District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District two. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District three. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District four. Speaker 1: I. Speaker 4: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District six. Speaker 5: All right. Speaker 4: District seven by district eight. District nine. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 4: Motion carries. Speaker 0: Thank you. Mexicans. Item number nine The police.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution approving Memoranda of Understanding with the Long Beach Lifeguards Association, Long Beach Management Association, Association of Confidential Employees, City Prosecutors Association, and City Attorneys Association. (Citywide)

LongBeachCC

LongBeachCC_08252020_20-0790

Speaker 6: So we have brought on some energy experts that really know this field, and they provided about 130 page report. We also have our three department directors who have substantial experience in this area and have provided a recommendation. So we want to make sure that you really understand this issue. This is one of the more complex things that a local government can do. You know, for example, you'll hear in the presentation, if we go down this path, we would be purchasing power up to about $150 million a year, and you do that in long term contracts. So this would be over $1,000,000,000 over a ten year period that we would be getting into a new market that we're not currently in. So we do want you to really understand the pros and the cons and the risks and all the timelines. And with that, I will be turning it over to John GROSS, who will be walking us through the presentation. And you should have the slides available to you as well. Speaker 9: In Long Beach, you're about 5050 between electricity, commodity costs and transmission costs. We wanted to point out as we get into the overall presentation that is the city manager pointed out we're talking about creating a utility, whether it's a JPA or whether it's our own, where the amount of commodity being purchased is is very large compared to our typical natural gas and water utilities. And because of that, there's more than normal risk involved. We were asked by City Council to do a feasibility study and we hired an independent consultant to do that. When that study was done in a draft form, we did a peer review of that study by another independent consultant who confirmed the study and recommendations. And then when the study was moved from 2019 to 2020, we did an update in 2020 with with the same consultant to determine if there were any significant changes. And there and there were not the three department heads presenting have energy and utility experience decades of it. And and then we have me with the finance background and we reviewed the entire 138 page study. The study has a lot of content. The staff presentation you're hearing today and the recommendations are consistent with that feasibility study. And those recommendations have in fact, been. And what you're seeing today has in fact, been reviewed by our consultant. When we talk about a CCAR typically and you heard it from the Clean Power Alliance, you're looking at what's the impact on greenhouse gas emissions. What's the impact on the electric bill? Does it create jobs? We're going to talk about each of those a little bit. Speaker 2: Kate Brown. Speaker 9: The GHG from the the greenhouse gas emission. Speaker 0: I just want to make sure that someone's not on mute in the council. This is Kirsten. So we've got please go on mute with. Speaker 2: Sorry, I thought. Speaker 9: I think we seem clear now on the first item, what's the greenhouse gas emission? Based on the study, we think that greenhouse gas emission reduction is relatively minor. In part, that's because the CCR and SC have the same requirements for the state in terms of renewable and carbon free targets. The CS energy is already 51% greenhouse gas free and then it's 35% renewable. And in accordance with the state, it's going to 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2045. As was pointed out, Long Beach customers can opt to have C provide either 50 or 100% renewable electricity, but in fact, few do. And that was one of the things that the Clean Power Alliance talked about. We thought it was useful to look at some rate experiences and we looked at three clean energy, three cars, and this is not in the study, this is just current information. And in general, the cars do usually charge a premium as they've moved and transitioned. And you can see that with the lowest cost option. The only one that we looked at that was lower was the Clean Power Alliance. And with the 100% renewable compared to other options available from investor owned, we're a generally higher priced firm. A car. This next chart looks at what would happen if we selected 100% renewable or if different CCAS did 100% renewable compared with FCA's base rate, which is certainly not 100% renewable. To get to that 100% renewable. You're basically talking about 3.2% to almost 8% higher, including the Clean Power Alliance to get to that 100% renewable. So in summary, with a lower electric bills and the answer is yes, it's possible that the price could be lower, but you could also see an 8% cost increase if you went to 100% renewable. And if you looked at the lowest priced option, you'd be talking about a 1%, maybe a 2% savings compared to the current SCC bills. The Long Beach rates would not be competitive for large industrial users, including the city, so those customers could remain with AC if the city did opt in with the 100% renewable option with Clean Power Alliance, we would expect that our costs in our budget would need to increase by about $1.7 million a year. We wanted to very briefly and I'll go over these price costs and comparisons quickly. Look at the options that Ted talked about with the CPA lean option. It's the lowest price compared to what you currently would be paying with AC in general, you'd save about 1%. Large businesses would see a cost increase of about 9%. Renewable energy would look better, but not by much. We'd go from 35% renewable to 36, and greenhouse gas emissions would be much higher. And that has to do with the fact that there's a lot of hydro and nuclear in this portfolio. If you went to a clean option from CPR and compared it to the SCA base rate, they would be generally at the moment, no cost difference. Large businesses would see a price increase, but there would be benefits in terms of renewable energy content and greenhouse gas emissions. If you compared the clean energy option to the CC alternative, which is 50% clean energy, you would still save about 1.6%. But SC does better than CPA in terms of renewable knowable energy, and SC does better than greenhouse gas, better than CPA and greenhouse gas emissions with the most green option of CPA called the green option again compared to the SC SC base. I Going back to what I said earlier, you'd see resident bills about 8 to 9% higher. Large businesses would see an increase of about 17%. But you'd get much better renewable energy content and your greenhouse gas emissions would go down to zero if you compared that CPA green energy option to the SC e's green option, the 100% option CPA is higher. All the other factors would I'm sorry, the residents bills would be higher for CPA, but all the other factors would be just about equal. So moving on to job creation, job creation, another key item, we think that the study shows that job creation would be very modest at best if we did a standalone city, C K, meaning we created one from scratch. It would be like that of any small company. It would have the economic benefits of a small company, 10 to 27 jobs. If we talked about joining a Joint Powers Authority such as the CPA, a Clean Power Alliance, there would be no economic impact because there would be no jobs created in Long Beach. Overall, there may be economic impact if the prices to our residents and businesses are higher or lower, but we don't have enough information on that to say whether if the prices are higher, you'd have a negative economic impact. If prices are lower, you'd have a positive impact. And what we're saying is it's going to be a very uncertain situation. Governance. And we've heard about governance and we've talked about that there needs to be a decision as to the governance method. The key ones being a standalone CCE where the city created one, are joining a Joint Powers Authority like Clean Power Alliance. You could also form one. That's probably not as likely. Each one of those has their positive and negative aspects having to do with what's the level of local control, what's the level of risk, what's the startup costs there? There are a number of factors. We recommend a detailed analysis be done before that decision is made. We also think that there's a lack of public awareness. Most residents don't know what a CCAR is or they've heard nothing. But it's going to lower costs or it's going to make major greenhouse gas inroads. That may or may not be the case. And we think that residents really should be informed about that before council makes a decision so they can hear from residents. I've talked a lot about risks and uncertainties. We wanted to go over some of the key ones, and I'm going to quickly go through them where you see in the bottom right, a key uncertainty that is evolving. You will see that that particular risk is something that we think deserves where we think that council would be important to consider, whether it's appropriate to make a decision now or wait till these risks and uncertainties stabilize. The first one is about resource adequacy. This is a technical requirement that all suppliers of electricity have to have adequate power resources available. This is a changing field and we believe that there are potential significant cost implications for CCAR as these regulations continue to develop and we expect significant changes there and we don't know how that's going to come out. That's key area one. The next one is the exit fee. This has to do with the fact that when a customer leaves Southern, California, Edison, Southern or any investor owned utility, they in Southern California, Edison has invested in long term contracts. There is a cost to break that contract for that customer. Those costs are charged to the CCJ. And again, that methodology is evolving as we speak. We expect significant changes and we don't know how that's going to impact CA's ability to provide services and costs in the future. Rates charged higher than AC rates that those are risks we've talked about that it's it's just they risk a lack of public engagement. We've talked about that that we're concerned that the customers, if they pay seven or 8% higher rates, may not be happy with that. And as was pointed out, most customers do not opt out and they could be some significant unhappiness. That is an uncertainty. The volatile electric market is very volatile. That's that's not that's just a fact. And there are risks associated with that. Customers opting out of the car and returning to Southern California Edison, which Clean Power Alliance talked about. There are enough of those there are risks associated with that, associated with the costs that could be charged unfavorable legislative and regulatory changes. We think that's a key uncertainty. Again, that's evolving. We there is constant legislation. There's constant regulatory issues in the electric market. We think that it would be best to wait until there's some stability there. Increased costs for the city's own electricity costs, we think that's maybe not so much a risk, but more of a fact. But nonetheless, we've listed that as a risk. Withdrawal from the Clean Power Alliance is a risk. We we as far as we know, if we went started to go with CPA and for some reason, before they started providing electricity, got out, there might be some costs potentially in the millions of dollars there that needs to be explored more. A nonperformance of counterparties. You buy electricity, you create buy something from a contractor who puts in a new solar system or a new wind farm someplace. And there's a failure. There are risks associated with that. Increased opportunity to direct access. Direct access is legislation which allows big customers to purchase their electricity from a third party supplier of their choice. That legislation is potentially changing. It is a risk. We don't think it's as great. I haven't marked as a key uncertainty, but we don't believe that major customers are likely to join the a k anyway, so probably not that big of an item. Changes to operation of a statewide electrical grid. Obviously there are problems with the California's electricity electrical transmission grid. It needs to evolve. That also is a key uncertainty because it's evolving and could change control and competitiveness. To wrap things up on risk, we thought it was important to quote the Public Utility Commission and their view that it is an uncertain market and this is their comments and quotes from them on November 19th saying there is uncertainty in the California electrical market and there are regulations that are are changing. So what our point of this is and part of our recommendations is that we have an uncertain and evolving market and regulatory environment. It could well affect the rates, whether it's savings or costs. It could affect the level of greenhouse gas emissions or the weather. It's clean. And that is a key reason why we're recommending caution. Let's talk to the mechanics, general timeline. And this timeline is, in fact, driven by legislative requirements. But by the end of a calendar year, it doesn't have to be this year. But by the end of any calendar year, that's when you look at what's the public support. You make major decisions and you file with the state and intent to form 8-K the following year. Assuming everything goes right, you begin the process of ramping up that organization or if it's an existing JPA entering into contracts. So you spend the next year setting things up and then the year after that, after final verifications, you begin operations. If we in fact join the CPA Clean Power Alliance in 2020, the time frame is more or less the same, except we're now near the end of the year. But we would file a letter of interest with Clean Power Alliance. We would pay a fee so that they could study whether it's appropriate, in their opinion, for that Long Beach to join. By the end of the year, we would make a decision as to whether to do that or not. And then CPA would submit the implementation plan to the state by the end of the calendar year. But they would do it as opposed to us having done it in 2021, CPA would enter into contracts and in 2022 we'd begin operations. Our conclusions are and the conclusion of the study, as you might imagine, is that this is in fact feasible and but it is so uncertain that desired benefits would be achieved. And it brings economic risk to our residents and businesses. They could see higher bills. The greenhouse gas emissions may not be that much different than remaining with SC, SC and the financial projections are uncertain, and we think that making a decision at a later date would serve the city well and allow a decision with less uncertainty as to benefit, benefit and costs, and would also provide a better opportunity to inform the public and gauge their level of support that gets to our recommended actions, which is deferred to defer consideration of creation of a CCE because it's a major financial and operational decision in an uncertain market for up to two years. B less than that of stability occurs. We think that we would monitor the California energy market and regulatory environment and report back to council if there is a material change. This recommendation is not that there's something wrong with the CCE or that we shouldn't do it. It's just that the risk of of things not working out as expected is too high at this point. So studying it and reporting back is our recommendation. We think that we need to look at the pros and cons of the governance model and provide a recommendation to council. Is it better to form our own CCR? Is it better to join an existing JPA? And that study can be done independent of whether we should do either. On finally conducting a balanced community outreach to reach to increase care where awareness and get input back from the residents and businesses. And finally, we think it's really important. Speaker 3: To. Speaker 9: Partner with CCE to provide. They are providing a lot of green energy options. It is not as well known as it should be. And we think if we partner with SCC, we might be able to make significant inroads in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and becoming more renewable with the options that he has. That in essence is a summary of the study and our recommendation. We do have Mark Fulmer on the phone. Speaker 3: He's going to cue individuals to come in so that. Speaker 9: He is available to speak with us, if you would like, on the study. And we also have Mike, Mary Ali from Southern California Edison, who can talk about the options that Southern California Edison has, if you're interested. And with that, we conclude the study and we're available for questions. Speaker 6: And thank you. Mr. GROSS. This is Tom Modica, city manager again. So I just wanted to sum up, had you heard a lot of information very quickly, we can stand by and answer questions. I kind of wanted to give a little perspective from my chair, city manager. There clearly are some benefits. I think we're all in favor of, you know, improving our climate and looking for ways to get additional green power. And a lot of that is happening in California. But in terms of ACA, there's some benefits. There's also some substantial risk that we went through with you today. We do believe that there are going to be cost impacts not only to the city of Long Beach of about 1.7 million, but also to our residents in a pandemic. And the council has been really focused on trying to to keep costs as low as possible. This is a highly complex area, and it is going to require a substantial diversion of staff. If we go down this route, we would want to make sure we do this right and that we really dedicate key people to making sure we know how this is going to play out. We're also going to need some financial resources as we move in this area. If we go this route and we're in the middle of a $30 million shortfall while we're also trying to address the pandemic, and we also just approved 26 furlough days for our management team, and we'll be doing that for other employees as well. All this while the market continues to change. And so that really is the basis of our recommendation to you is given the magnitude of a decision like this could very well might be in our future at some point. What we're asking you is, you know, given the totality of the of the circumstances that we're faced with, that we really spend some time to better understand this, to further look at some of the governance models and and not to enter into kind of an agreement by the end of the year. So with that, I will turn it back to the Council for questions. Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. America. Let me go ahead and go to the council. Councilman Price. Speaker 3: Clay, can you talk? Speaker 2: Q Mr. Mayor, and I really appreciate the city manager's comments. I think he summarized what some of us were thinking during the presentation pretty well. I think words like risk and significant impact are very relevant right now, and so I really appreciate that. I would like to hear from see if that's possible. Speaker 3: Hi. Good afternoon. Good evening, honorable mayor and members of the council. I'm Mike Morelli, the vice president of the business customer division for Southern California Edison. So I really appreciate you spending the time to digest these issues, and I'm certainly here to answer any questions. I do not have a prepared presentation. I do have to let you know that for customer community choice aggregation, we do operate under a code of conduct where Southern California Edison has the obligation to remain neutral. But I am certainly able to answer any questions you may have on the mechanics and, you know, the what what role we do or don't do, whether you choose. C.K. But I think Ted did a really good job kind of summarizing those aspects of it. But please let me know if there's any specific questions you'd have out for us. Speaker 2: Well, sure. So, I mean, I don't know how many of my council colleagues have the opportunity to have a briefing with your team. I know I did. And they provided me an overview of some of the current efforts in regards to clean energy. Perhaps you can touch on those. Speaker 3: Yes. So as the staff presentation outlined, we are currently at 35% renewable and about 50% carbon free. And, you know, it's state law. So all providers are working down to the ultimate 2045 carbon free power. I think the the other information that we have available is that and I think even Ted summarized it in his presentation, you know, quite frankly, we're we're pretty aligned on where we want to work, what we're trying to do at Southern California Edison around greenhouse gas reductions. And so we've put out a white paper about a year ago called Pathway 2045. And that pathway basically says, you know, we need to get to a carbon free grid and then we need to use that grid to electrify additional end to end uses such as transportation, electrification, space and water heating to really support the state's goals for for GHG significant GHG reductions. And so we are we are committed to that. We recognize that our customers need to be part of that journey. And so we have a lot of programs that we're putting in place to support that pathway vision, if you will. So electric transportation, we have we have we've had a ton of success working with the city and various departments around energy efficiency for many, many years. The port we work with extensively on electrification efforts as well as some training opportunities with the college and all those programs. Those are those are all outside of the power procurement role, if you will, of a community choice aggregation situation. We have been talking with Mr. Gardiner about maybe a more formal way of of aligning our partnership with the with the city of Long Beach. And so we have a, you know, a proposed framework that we were we are certainly interested in trying to put in place again around how we can both go down this this pathway, if you will, to 2045 and significant carbon reductions. Speaker 2: Right. Thank you. I know I've probably exceeded my time, so I'm going to turn it back to the mayor to have my other colleagues talk as well. Speaker 0: Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, that was a different presentation than was queued up in December. Obviously a lot of talk about risk and I want to get to that. But I also want to recognize that we're here today for a couple of reasons. We're here today because this council unanimously decided to do this study to see if it was feasible to go down the pathway of community choice energy. We're also here today because we know that we've got state mandates and we are also here because in our climate adaptation action plan as a draft form right now, we do not have a path to reach those goals. It's important not just to have goals at the state level, but to have a method to be able to reach those goals quickly. And I think that the presentation that was presented by TED demonstrates that I can do that. I also want to recognize that we are in a critical moment in history as this Council has been tackling with COVID. We've also been tackling the structural racism that exists in the city and across the US. So when I consider the vote that needs to be taken tonight, I consider the questions of what risk is worth human life, what risk is worth making sure that we are providing clean energy as quick as possible in a responsible, financially feasible way. And so I just want to ground us in some of those comments. I know that our mayor has signed the Compact of Mayors in 2015 to join the largest coalition of city governments to address climate change. We remain committed to the Paris Agreement, and we know that there are a lot of efforts going on in our city. I want to recognize that our cap plan, while it's not on the agenda tonight, I did do community outreach from 2018 to the current moment, and they received over 10,000 attendees in the CAP plan. They have talked about the opportunity of a community choice energy. The CAP plan also demonstrates that in the city of Long Beach, 44% of our energy is from stationary energy. This is where residents, small businesses and large businesses will have the opportunity to really reduce their greenhouse gases. The reason that that is so critically important is because of a recent study that came out by Harvard that said that one unit lower a greenhouse gases can calculate to 248 fewer people who have died in the city of New York of Koven. And so I say that because it's important to recognize that there are some differences in the in the study, and I would like to dove deeper into that. So I'm glad we have our additional staff here to help us with that. But I really want to ground the rest of the conversation and the fact that we have a health crisis on our hands. And part of it is because we have not taken risk to be able to move to clean energy faster. And that that is what we are talking about today. I also want to recognize that. The city itself has had a big interest in in oil. And I believe that this is one of those moments that we as a city have to really address, nor are we in business for are we in business for the residents that pay taxes that we care for, that we are responsible to? Are we in business for a certain entity? So no disrespect to Edison at all, but recognizing that the city of Long Beach doesn't have a seat on the board of Edison, the city of Long Beach shouldn't have a financial interest in Edison, although we might have one . And being able to allow our our residents to have a real choice is really important. So I'd like to first ask Mike, since you're here, how many people have opted in with 100% renewable energy with Edison from Long Beach? Speaker 3: Oh, it's very few. I don't have the specific number, but it's it's it's very few. Speaker 2: I think the number that was told to me by staff was around 130. Speaker 3: That's probably about that seems right. Speaker 2: So I say that for my council colleagues to recognize that while Edison is here saying that they will provide us with a pathway and a partnership. Right now, we've already been doing this for two years, and that number hasn't changed. And there's reasons why that number hasn't changed. Right. Edison has been in operation for a very long time. And they have things that they're responsible for that are on their books that they need to take care of. I think first, probably the question is you mentioned that you're trying to put together a package for the city of Long Beach. Is that a package that you would offer any other city and any other ratepayers? Speaker 3: The the framework that we're looking at is around how how to make sure we understand the city's goals and our goals and where that intersection is. We work with different communities in different ways. We do not have this framework agreement with any other city. You know, quite frankly, we're we're looking at seeing how how it works with potentially works with Long Beach. And then we may look to move that to other communities every year. And we've we've had other efforts. And quite frankly, I think where we're closer aligned with our communities than sometimes it may appear. But I think we're missing that overall view of how we're aligned. That's what we're attempting to address. I think, again, we've done a lot of great things with the with the city. And, you know, I hear your goals. I know our goals, and there's a lot of commonality there. But, you know, sometimes it's a matter of of putting that into a document and understanding it and quite frankly, then working those issues where we are aligned. I should be clear in and you know, we want to work with the city regardless of if you choose to form a CCJ or not. That's not going to. That's not going to change whether or not we have this framework agreement. There may be different elements. If you're procuring the energy, then obviously the energy components probably wouldn't be of interest to you. I should also mention that, yes, we have an existing green energy program. We have we're working on Evolve. We have some of that that's coming through that's going to be new programs very soon that will be in the market. And then we're continuing to work on other programs again for all our bundled service customers that are that may be eligible to select that. The green energy program we have is an opt in. So there was a discussion about opt out, opt in. So our customers are served under our, you know, our base product, if you will, of the 35% renewable. And they have to affirmatively opt in to select the green program. So that that is a distinction on the CCR approach. Speaker 2: Thank you for that, Mike. And I definitely. Speaker 3: Saw 5 minutes are up. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. I'll call you back up. Speaker 0: Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and do I do have a couple other councilmembers cued up. Let's go and do public comment and then we'll come back to the council. Now that we had the the first and Councilmember Price was at a motion to receive and filed. Speaker 2: Initially, Mr. Mayor. Yes. Speaker 0: And then Councilmember appears that a second to receive and file. Speaker 2: Well, I actually have a motion that I had prepared. Councilmember Price, if you wouldn't mind, I tried to queue up first, but you beat me to it and let me read my motion and see if it's something that, as we call here, friendly receive in filed a report. See, I'd like to ask some of these questions first, but receive and receive and follow the report file a letter of interest with Clean Power Alliance. Direct the city manager to prepare a study that analyzes government options, including forming a standalone the enterprise, creating new joint powers, JPA with other interested public agencies or joining an existing JPA include the team that is compiling the cap, along with the CPA team with our oil and gas department and direct staff to do monthly updates. Okay. So I think that's that's that's a very significant friendly. So I'm just going to go ahead and stick with my motion to receive and file and then it probably would be best or if you want to make the motion and include everything that that you want because I'm not prepared to make or support the motion that you just made, because you're right, there's a lot of things in there that probably haven't been asked about yet. Well, the. Speaker 0: Council here is claiming a success. And also I means that maybe I misunderstood, but I if this is a report, but I know that next item is item eight, which would be the request to create or join. And I think I don't know is that the, the, the appropriate place to build a motion or did you intend it should be on the on the report on the staff report. Speaker 2: To be on the staff report. And I checked with the city attorney on it. The only thing that's substantive, it's different from what the staff report is. It's a letter of interest, which I'd like to be able to talk a little bit more before making that motion. Speaker 3: So it's. Speaker 0: Okay. Well. So then we have a we have a motion by councilmember. Our price. And then councilman Councilman Mongo is at a second or a receiving pile. No. I'm sorry. Speaker 2: Maybe, but I'm happy the second. Speaker 0: Okay. Okay. So who will second? Who's who is the second? Speaker 2: Since the 80 seconds that I just have a lot of questions. Speaker 0: Okay, well, why don't we do this? Let's go to public comment and I might come back to the Q. We actually have a lot of councilmembers. I want to speak also, and maybe they will answer some of the questions. And Councilor Pearce, you can chew up again, too, and go to those questions. So why don't we go and go to a public comment and then we'll go back to the council publicly. Speaker 5: Our first speaker is L.Z. Tongue. Your time starts now. Speaker 2: Yes. Hi. Good afternoon. Honorable Mayor and council member is Ailsa Chang, the program manager at Long Beach for language for the mission is to create a healthy language with low income communities of color by building community knowledge leaders and Parliament. Mr. Record We are in strong support of community choice aggregation as a climate justice solution. It's no secret that Long Beach is low income. Communities of color are black, brown and indigenous neighbors in central, west and north Long Beach live with environmental racism, pollution burden and health and life expectancy impacts every day. These environmental justice communities are impacted first and worst by climate change, especially during these summer heat waves. Urban heat islands can be deadly. CCR is a climate justice solution by giving residents and ratepayers choice in the energy we by shifting our city's energy sourcing into clean, renewable energy. City also has standards for workforce development. Speaker 3: Including local jobs and. Speaker 2: Local disadvantage workers. And it enables residents who are most impacted by pollution burden to be a. Speaker 3: Part of. Speaker 2: The solution. We ask the Council to take swift action today on two fronts. One, direct the city manager to prepare a study that analyzes 58 governance options, including forming a standalone enterprise, creating a new JPA or joining existing JPA and two directing staff to provide monthly updates on progress. Working with the Clean Power Alliance. Results of a study on governance options and steps to file and implementation by year end. We urge your support. Speaker 3: On. Speaker 2: These two fronts so that Long Beach can address climate injustice and give residents and ratepayers a real choice in the energy we purchase. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Maryanne Buchanan. Your time starts. Speaker 2: Now. Hi. Hi. This is Maryanne Buchanan. I'm in District three. I urge you to be very careful when you say you are going to direct the city manager to raise awareness of Edison's existing programs and renewable options. The law is clear that Edison is prohibited from doing that. So my city council shouldn't either. Edison knows there is a code of conduct law, S.B. 790, that limits their participation in the process of Long Beach, studying whether or not to form the CCR or maybe join another one like Clean Power Alliance. On those discussions, Edison has to stay out of it. I don't even know why they're on the call today. They know that, and I hope they are complying. What I'm not sure of is why on earth you would direct city staff to use our tax dollars to be Edison's. Speaker 3: Let. Speaker 2: And do their advertising for them. Please don't do that. We need Edison on our side when we form a CC because they will be our partner. We don't want to get off on the wrong foot with our future partner, so let's have everything out in the open, fair and square from the get go. Go ahead with all the city outreach and studying and monitoring. Just no delaying and certainly no advertising for Edison. However, I realize this might be falling on deaf ears because the feasibility study report you just heard. Sure sounds like an Edison commercial. I'm very disappointed. I yield my time. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ron Gastelum. Your time starts now. Speaker 3: Thank. Members. My name is Rhonda Salem. I reside at 236 Bennett Avenue. I'd like to urge support of Agenda Item ten and recommend rejection of Agenda Item seven and eight. I'm a principal in Water Conservation Partners, a water supply company. I am also a former CEO of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, where I managed MWD extensive water and electrical energy facilities. I serve on the board of the Nature Conservancy. I do not work for a retail electric energy supply company or agency. There are three reasons for my recommendations. First, like water. Electrical energy is an essential public service. A reliable and affordable supply of these essential services is foundational to the health and prosperity of our community, like our guaranteed fundamental constitutional rights. Proposed material changes and impacts should be strictly scrutinized and held to the highest standard of care. Second, while we must work diligently to meet the challenge of climate change and pervasive inequities in our society, we must do it smartly. Changes in the city's electrical energy service are ongoing and will continue to be required to keep pace with the needs, including doing our part to meet the global challenge of climate change. However, it's vital that proposed changes and solutions be relatable in specific, measurable terms potential costs and benefits to the city's residents and benefit businesses. There's no room for guessing or pursuing aspirational goals with unknown consequences in the very serious business of providing essential services to the public. Third, the cost and reliability of electrical energy service is of paramount interest to our residents and small businesses least able to afford rate increases or take risks that could affect reliability. We owe them as well as everyone in the city, a steady process that airs on the site of more transparency and public information. In this process, the public should be informed. In plain language, our proposed changes could affect their electrical rates and service and the environmental conditions in their neighborhoods where they live. They should also be given multiple opportunities to ask questions and offer their own opinions. The proponents of CCR are to be commended for looking for new ways to deal with today's environmental challenges. Although the promise is no longer to produce lower rates, which was the original premise, the movement has spurred regulated utilities to look at themselves more critically and try harder to compete for our business. We're actually in a good position to take our time to study the facts and opportunities because of our size and capabilities. We can develop a smart strategy to pursue the course that will work best to meet our particular circumstances and needs. It's way too early to really know what our energy end is, much less to show it. With the great uncertainty facing cities in today's economy, including from the pandemic. The best course is a cautious one. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Sonya Coffey. Your time starts now. Speaker 2: Thank you. This is Donna Coffey. I'm a resident of the third district and a chair of the Sustainable City Commission here in town. Following years of review and advocacy for Community Choice Energy in Long Beach. I urge the City Council to move forward on the next steps in the process and not wait another two years to look Speaker 3: . At additional options. Speaker 2: That will benefit the city. I'm concerned that the city is not receiving a balanced representation of this program, and while there are risks, there are other opportunities that need to be presented, clean power lines presented that no subsidies from city funds are needed to update the program. While energy. Speaker 3: Procurement is. Speaker 2: Complex, operations are fully funded through the program revenues. So concerns over expenditures of $1,000,000,000 over the life of the program need to be clear that these funds are not coming from the City General Fund. Further stated provided a long list of the risks that are involved with PCRs, such as resource out of the fire, exit, the legislation , lack of public engagement. But they offer no input on how to mitigate these risks to other providers. Servicing over 10 million customers have been able to navigate these risks and operate successfully. Cities such as San Diego are preparing to launch service as we speak, and Irvine, where I work, has explored the risks and determined they're manageable and is working with others in Orange County to form a JPA. This important to hear how EPA actually function from experts in the field. Since the energy staff we have on hand are not renewable energy or experts that are staff with expertize in the gas and oil fields and connection to AC was beneficial to hear from the Clean Power Alliance earlier to provide a better outlook on this. And I encourage the city to seek input from other sources. We have formed a dedicated group of residents in Long Beach that had expertize in the world of energy and care and understand that PPA and Long Beach is feasible and that the risks are manageable. I urge the city to consider the next steps to create or join the EPA now instead of deferring for two years and to examine the financial projections as part of the next steps moving forward. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Tiffany Davey. Your time starts now. Tiffany Davey. Speaker 2: Yes. Can you hear me now? Speaker 5: Yes, we can hear you. Speaker 2: Okay. Wonderful. Speaker 3: Good afternoon. The City Council mayor and staff, thanks for presenting the report. We are still in a global pandemic. We just addressed systemic racism within the city. In my recommendations for the framework stated in particular on environmental, social justice and environmental racism, the city of Long Beach to conduct the considerable amount and costly stakeholder engagement for the land use element 2017 2018, as well as 2019. We await the outcome. The. Implementation of the Climate Action Adaptation Plan, as well as following through with truth and reconciliation. Moving forward with this process from the framework. It must be said that the city has to act boldly and take these opportunities to bridge those gaps. It's imperative to meet the. Speaker 2: Many interlocking. Speaker 3: Conditions to provide jobs and opportunities for front line communities, to live in unhealthy conditions for an industry that clearly disregards their wellbeing. Many of these problems locally originated and how the discovery of oil in California was initially managed in the 1920s, including Long Beach and Signal Hill strikes and resultant institutional arrangements with municipal oil and gas operations within the CRC, which is that California Resources Corporation, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. From the quick and. Speaker 2: Easy development of fossil. Speaker 3: Fuels. To what became the nation's state. From the 25 to 42, the expansion of extractive operations to where we are today, it is imperative to act boldly. The risk that continues to fall upon these communities has not been properly addressed for over a century. Please do the right thing as leaders during a pandemic and see also your 2015 emergency operations plan, which does face the responsibility of government to undertake ongoing, comprehensive approach to emergency management. We will need to manage this ahead of the climate challenges we know we will face. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Clay Sandwich. Clay. Your time starts now. Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Honorable Mayor and City Council. Clay Sandwich. The chair of the Long Beach Community Choice Energy Working Group and a steering committee member of the California Alliance for Community Energy is a statewide advocate for Community Choice Energy. Climate change is here as we are witnessing devastating wildfires at a record pace in California and globally. Sea level rise, prolonged heat waves and heat intensity all induced by humans and carbon based power. We can no longer maintain the status quo or wait for a grand moment to change how we procure our energy. What we're doing now is not effective in mowing and lowering our greenhouse gas emissions. The moment is now whether Long Beach considers community choice by itself or as a member of the Clean Power Alliance. One thing is clear community choice is by far the most significant thing the city can do to address climate change. There's a straightforward reason for this community choice as the only real opportunity that has enormous greenhouse gas reductions, as presented in the city's Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. If you care about the climate crisis, Community Choice Energy is the foundation for creating a carbon free economy. Accelerating the pace to renewable energy by taking carbon out of our energy supply. We've been working with the community for over four years, advocating to give ratepayers a real choice. Transparency and accountability. We believe now is the time to institute a resilient recovery that includes local jobs, community benefits, clean energy and ratepayer choice. We hope you read past the staff letter to the IMR feasibility report. Reading the feasibility report, there is nothing to deter Long Beach from filing a letter of interest with the Clean Power Alliance. This step would allow for the Clean Power Alliance to complete due diligence and explore if bringing Long Beach into the CPA would make economic sense. This would begin the process that would allow for them to file an implementation plan by the end of 20 to the end of this year. At the same time, the city staff should prepare a study that analyzes CCR governance options, including a formal form of forming a standalone city enterprise, creating a new JPA with another interested public agency, or joining an existing JPA like the CPA to do nothing and remain status quo as it is a disservice to the community of Long Beach. We, the Community Choice Energy Working Group of Long Beach, respectfully request your unanimous vote to direct city staff to file a letter of interest with the CPA, which will allow Long Beach to complete the implementation plan by the end of this year. And. Speaker 5: Thank you. Our next speaker is Jim Stewart. Jim Stewart. Your time starts now. Speaker 3: Yes, Stewart. Speaker 5: Yes. Your time starts now. Speaker 3: Oh, my time's now. Okay, great. So I just wanted to strongly. Well, first of all, I want to introduce myself as Jim Stewart. I'm a retired physicist, and I've done lots of energy analysis work and have been working on that community choice issue for over a decade. And I've been working with the. Play a and the other members of the. Community Choice Working Group in Long Beach for four years. And we're thrilled that we're finally ready to move forward and that we want to strongly support. Congress council members versus great resolution. And we want to ensure that the council realizes that it's just justice, this place in motion and progress. This is not a commitment, but to be able to file a letter of intent with the Community of Community Alliance, the Clean Power Alliance will give us that option. Plus, we can move forward with having the other members of the staff look at the other options that are presented in the consultant's report. And so therefore, we should definitely pass this motion and of course, reject item ten, which would just delay this thing another couple of years. And we need to move forward now. Thank you very much. Speaker 5: That concludes public comment for this item. Speaker 2: What the fuck I'm suspended for? Speaker 0: I'm going to go now to Vice Mayor Andrews. Speaker 2: How they conclude public comment. I was on the way. Speaker 5: Thank you. You know, I think a lot of. Speaker 2: What about maybe. Speaker 5: Speaking up on the side, too, because I think it's very important because this report, you know, has been in the works for quite some time. And on the phone, I believe that, as you know, a forward thinking city like Long Beach, we are always looking to improve our operation and services to the community. You know, with the current pandemic and the uncertainty of our economic conditions, this is a conversation that's given us something to think about. But I do feel comfortable in making the choice to join or participate and to make a unit. We engage with the community at large and educate them on what this would mean for them and their pockets, because that something is very important. What would me to you know, the individuals in their package, you know, we must also engage with said you know said Edison, you know, because having a long standing relationship with them, you know, while the stabilization of our local economy, we must continue to take advantage of the green, you know, opportunity that already exists without creating a risk to the city. You know, as a full council, we must agree that we want to do everything in our power, quite literally, to be green and eco friendly and environmentally sound. But we need to defer this until we look at our relation from, you know, related regulations and our energy market within the context of what we have gone through with this aftermath and what it is, you know, what the aftermath that might be coming. So I think it's very important that we really look at all of this right now. I think this is the time for us to really look at this very seriously. Thank you very much. We have a lot to speak on this. Speaker 0: I think it comes from a mongo. Something in mango. Not here. Councilman Mango. Councilmember Pearce. Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I had a couple of questions for the team really quickly, recognizing that stop has basically said that this is risky. I believe that any energy conversation is risky. You've done these reports for other cities. Speaker 3: Oh, yes, I have. Speaker 2: And is this report riskier? The same amount of risk, or how would you determine this moment right now? Speaker 3: Right now, right now, there's a lot of a bit more risk than was being considered three or four years ago. And that's due to changes mainly at the Public Utilities Commission on how they're treating certain costs as highlighted in the presentation. The cost to meet resource adequacy is. Speaker 2: How quick is that cost? Is that cost similar for Edison resource adequacy? Speaker 3: It is different. Edison has a fair amount of resources already under contract to provide those services, while a as would not have to purchase those on the market so they would be incurring higher costs than Edison would be in the short term for those kind of resources. The second is the CIA, which is now at historic highs, but it's volatile and will eventually go down. But it's a it's a big uncertainty with respect to what the costs in the short term would be. And so we'd concluded that it was feasible that some savings could be achieved. And in the meantime, we adjusted some of the resource and some of the assumptions that looked a little bit closer to the high CIA case, as well as the high rate case. Those factors, it's close and be able to hear it on principle, be done. It just requires sharpening the pencil a bit more before you can say, you know. Speaker 2: Great. Speaker 3: So the bottom line is it's it's not a slam dunk, but it's not a sit on the bench either, which I I'm sure you would like me to come up with a more definitive answer. Speaker 2: No, that's what you said is exactly what I what I had hoped, which is sharpen the pencil. Right. That there's another layer of information that needs to be had. And when I read your report and I read Chapter ten conclusions, it says the top one is potentially financially feasible. And then you say Long Beach is two primary options are forming with the city only or joining CPA. So I'm just I'm reading the report and I wanted to make sure that we were able to to kind of be clear on the report before we received and filed it. I also see that and scenario two, that it shows that the CPA mission rates is very different from Edison and a CPA rate. So I wanted to just bring that up. But with that, you know, I'm I'm fine receiving and filing this report and we'll have some comments on other items. So appreciate it. Speaker 0: Okay. Let's go ahead and take a roll call vote, please. Speaker 6: Mr. Mayor, I do want to make a correction or comment just to make sure we understand the motion. The motion is to receive and follow the report. But in the staff agenda, it has five different steps about continuing governance research, talking to SCC, going out and engaging the community. Is that included in the motion or is it just a receiving file of the presentation? Speaker 2: Included in the motion. Speaker 6: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 0: Roll call. Vote, please. Speaker 4: District one. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District two. Speaker 2: I'm. District three. II. Speaker 4: District four. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 4: District five. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 4: District six. Speaker 5: I. Speaker 4: District seven. Speaker 3: I. Speaker 4: District eight. High District nine, higher ocean carries. Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. Now we're going on to item number eight. Speaker 4: Communication from Councilmember Pierce, Chair of Environmental Committee. Recommendation to request City Council to create a A or join the Clean Power Alliance and file an implementation plan by the end of the year.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to Receive and file a report on the feasibility of a Long Beach Community Choice Aggregation (CCA); Defer for two years any decision whether to participate in a CCA, or possibly sooner if new information becomes available solidifying benefits, to allow for increased stability in the California electricity market and reduce potential risk to residents and businesses; Direct City Manager to perform community outreach regarding the CCA concept along with potential benefits and risks to customers, as well as to gain feedback on how supportive the community might be of a Long Beach CCA; Direct City Manager to prepare a study that analyzes CCA governance options including forming a stand-alone City enterprise, creating a new Joint Powers Authority (JPA) with another interested public agency, or joining an existing JPA; Direct City Manager to continue to monitor the energy market and related regulations and report to the City Council annually or sooner if substantial market changes occur; and Direct City Manager to continue the City’s partnership with Southern

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Now we move to item number 34. Speaker 1: Item 34 is a communication from Councilmember Richardson. Councilwoman Cindy has councilmen subpoena recommendation to request city manager to work with financial management to waive used user fees and charges for the most valuable Long Beach independent food service restaurants with an emphasis on equity and request. Director of Economic Development to develop a Long Beach restaurant retention plan. Speaker 2: That's when Richardson Bank Vice Mayor. So a few things. So it's been an ongoing discussion on. Again with a few months back comprehensive really difficult to move forward. Most recently, I want to thank Councilman Supernova for continuing that discussion and having some discussions earlier this month about additional resource for restaurants. The idea here is that we want to sort of build on the two from four memo from city staff that we requested that looked at sort of breaking down the cost and give some direction on how we want to proceed on in the immediate term, but also take all of the larger conversations and package them into a restaurant retention strategy that can roll out over the months to come. And the goal with the retention strategy is really to set some benchmarks and goals. If we've heard rhetoric, about 50% of restaurants not surviving. We want to beat that. We want to increase that 60%, 70% survival rate. But that means we have to be intentional and focused. So the idea here with this motion we want to take, based on the 2.4 memo from staff, they identify what the cost would be. And we we see that the full service restaurant portion, the total cost was like 23 million bucks. But when you narrow down the full service restaurants, you're talking 2 million bucks, $2 million to address some of the health fees, bar fees and some of these other issues. And we want to narrow that down also. We want it to be local, independent. We're not talking about, let's say, a fast food chain. Right. We're talking full service, local, independent repair. That number down a bit. And that's the direction we want to give the staff. This should be we should be thinking about this in terms of we know that we offered some relief up until September 31st. We want this to be sort of at the go back, you know, from March. This past March to sort of into the next year. You want to add some type of relief in the program that Steph brings back? And so that's the idea here. We've got a lot of a lot of discussion, a lot of research already done. We want to give this discussion and also give some general direction on how we move forward more broadly around restaurants. Thank you so much. And that's my final thank you contribution. When you probably comment on this item. Speaker 1: No public no public coming. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor. I think we need a second. I'd like to see motion. Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Okay. Any other council member comments on this? Speaker 0: And I would just like. Sorry. I would just like to say that I'm really looking forward to this item. I think it's very important that we really focus on helping out our restaurants who are, of course, suffering a lot through this pandemic. It was already too much when they were closed for one month. But now we're going on six months. And it's they're struggling, especially the small business restaurants. And I think that that's this item is really designed to help those local that that have been struggling through this time and, you know, really emphasizing on helping them stay open after this pandemic. So, again, let's let's support our local businesses. Thank you. Speaker 2: Pretty much any other councilman would like to speak on of. Speaker 5: Vice Mayor, this is Tom. If I can say something when the council's done speaking. Speaker 2: Yes, sir. Speaker 0: Vice Mayor. Councilman Mungo? Speaker 2: Yes, go ahead. Speaker 0: Thank you. I appreciate that. This continues to be a focus. It's something that I feel strongly about and continue to work on. I think that it's important for us to maintain the focus on the criteria that was outlined two weeks ago. And so I just had a question for the maker of the motion. It talks in the agenda item about a couple of variations, but the item that was approved by the council two weeks ago talked about prioritizing any kinds of funds that could become available from. Either a fee waivers if there ends up being a limit or suspensions to be prioritized based on restaurant losses, based on either a mix of loss of revenue and on avoidable costs or just a gross loss of revenue. I just wanted to make sure that this item just mirrors the item of two weeks ago and that that is still being maintained or if I needed to make a friendly amendment to maintain that. Speaker 2: Sure. I think what we want to bifurcate quickly, I think we're talking on the first part of this motion, just on the fees. I think we want to be just very clear on the criteria we outlined, which is full service restaurants, local, independent. I think. Speaker 0: That's. Speaker 4: Ongoing. Right. Speaker 2: I get I get that. And what. Speaker 0: I'm asking. Yes. Speaker 2: I'm let me just finish the thought. And I think we're we're speaking past each other. I think what you're talking about is the ongoing incentives moving forward and that yeah, I think we can conclude that those sort of issues as we factor into the larger retention strategy. So I think the answer is yes as it relates to the sort of the broader strategy, because we haven't defined what those incentives would be. But we do know enough about sort of fee, the fire fee and those things. Some have paid we want to see those get some rebates and then we want we want to have that relief. So some who are paid get some rebates, some who haven't paid. We want to get them some relief. In terms of the fees that we talked about last time. We're talking about the same universe counseling other. Speaker 0: Right. So it does exactly what we already did two weeks ago, which is. And. And if there is only enough. So are you or is your expectation that the study that Councilman Super Nine requested would also come back with. Um. Let me go back. My expectation and maybe this is the question from Mr. Modica, my expectation is that Councilmember Supernova's request, along with Councilwoman Price's friendly amendment, commuted those fees immediately and that we are hoping to give rebates and refunds. The report you provided quickly, which, by the way, city staff need a significant acclimation for being able to provide that report so quickly. And we appreciated receiving it last night. It is a wealth of information, but now we know that the number to be able to mitigate those full-service restaurants is just over $2 million. If every one of those categories are waive or refundable and that and my understanding of Councilmember Superstore's request would be that we find a place to get that money from. It's great to have a feasibility study, but it's only feasible if revenues can fill that hole because you can't just not pay the fire workers the fire service , and you can't not pay the the health service health office staff. Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilman, do you have one minute, please? Speaker 0: Mr. Monica. Speaker 5: Yes. What we understand is what she passed two weeks ago was a feasibility study. I agree with the way you summarize it with one small change. We didn't go ahead and waive all fees during that time. It was a feasibility study. What we did in response was to bias. More time was to it was all going to be due August 30th. That was how long the council had given previously. And we and I've extended that to October 31st provided the Council doesn't have alternate direction on that. So that gives us some time to do the study that Mr. Zupan asked for and the council approved. And then what is in front of you tonight is is providing further direction on how to look at that data and for what steps should be bringing back in addition to what DRC Burnard put forward. Speaker 0: And what would you say those additional things are that need to come back? Because I thought. I just. I'm curious. Speaker 5: I would leave that to the maker of the motion to really describe it as I understand it. It it has to do with looking at a smaller subset. It has to look at some equity. It has to look at, you know, businesses that are Long Beach focused. That's my understanding, as well as coming back with a larger restaurant retention plan that we can spend some time on and come back with ideas. Speaker 0: Public safe. Well, I hope that equity could be found in that all $2 million. Excuse me. Oh, I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you. Super frustrating. I hear you. Speaker 2: One more minute. This is Mongo. You have one more minute. Speaker 0: Thank you, sir. My hope would be that all restaurants included in that category, should we be able to come up with the right criteria, would be able to get that abatement. And so that would be approximately $2 million. So I appreciate the prioritization, but now that we know that the number is only $2 million and these restaurants do put so much back into the economy in terms of employing people, especially those in the Latin and African-American communities, that that the priority would be citywide to take all of those businesses. So those are my comments. And thank you for owners who worked with us on that, on the the issues at play and the city staff who contributed excellent work from Mr. Gross's office. Speaker 2: Thank you very much, madam. Anyone else I can speak on the side of? Okay with that, we have a first and second question of interest in motion and second by Mrs. Sanders. Would you please call the vote? Speaker 1: District one. I district to district three. I just took four. I just took five. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District six. Speaker 2: By. Speaker 1: District seven. District eight. District nine. Tie motion carries. Speaker 2: Thank you. Okay. With that, I would like to make a motion to continue the rest of the items pending tonight, next week. Can I please get a second? Second were. Thank you, councilman austin. No. Please. No.

Agenda Item

Recommendation to request City Manager to work with Financial Management to waive, from March 1st, 2020 through March 31st, 2021, user fees and charges for the most vulnerable Long Beach, independent, full-service restaurants, with an emphasis on equity; and Request Director of Economic Development and other appropriate departments to develop a Long Beach Restaurant Retention Plan, designed to improve the economic survival of restaurants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic across Long Beach.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Okay. With that, I would like to make a motion to continue the rest of the items pending tonight, next week. Can I please get a second? Second were. Thank you, councilman austin. No. Please. No. Speaker 5: And Mr.. Mr. Vice Mayor, I think the item related to census has heightened sensitive and we need to get that done. Is that one of the ones that was approved number 36? If not, we'd ask you to take 35 and 36. Both are time sensitive. Speaker 2: Okay, fine. We'll keep moving. Speaker 1: I'm 35. Speaker 2: Let's put this item personal. Speaker 1: Should I go ahead? Should I go ahead and read the item 35? Item 35. The report from City Manager Recommendation to a DAB resolution authorizing the temporary closure of Pine Avenue from First Street to Third Street for increased outdoor activities and a stronger economic recovery from August 14, 2020 through October 31st, 2020. District two. Speaker 2: Thank you. Any further comment? Speaker 1: No public comment. Can we get in a move or in a secondary. Speaker 0: Mode made by sun has second by appear. Speaker 2: Thank you. Please, God, no. Speaker 1: District one I. District two, basically. Speaker 0: I. Speaker 1: District four. Speaker 2: I. Speaker 1: District five. District five i. District six by District seven i. District eight. Speaker 2: II. Speaker 1: District nine. Speaker 2: All right. Speaker 1: Well, she carries.

Resolution

Recommendation to adopt resolution authorizing the temporary closure of Pine Avenue from First Street to Third Street (Phase-I), to through vehicular traffic for increased outdoor activities and a stronger economic recovery, from August 14, 2020, through October 31, 2020, or until the Safer at Home Health Order for Control of COVID-19 (Health Order) changes, whichever comes first. (District 2)

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