Good afternoon, everyone. Is that working? Doesn't sound like it. Sure doesn't.
it has a green light. Hello. Hello.
good afternoon. Can you use the other one?
good afternoon. Is that one working test? Test? I don't know
if they ate.
test, test.
try to shut down.
oh, I think we're live. Yes. We don't have any screens at the moment,
but, uh, we do have mics.
should we start? You wanna
wait one minute? Yep. We'll wait. And, ah, they're coming up slowly.
as soon as we can do presentations, we'll get started. I,
it looks like we're good to go. Alright, I would like to, good afternoon
everyone. I'd like to call the mobility ports and infrastructure committee meeting to order for
january 20th, 2026. Could I have the clerk please? Call
the rule councilwoman soro. Present
vice chair thrash took chair kerr. Present. We
have quorum. Thank you. Uh, could we please read the first item,
item one. Recommendation to approve the minutes for the mobility ports and infrastructure
committee meeting of wednesday, november 19th, 2025.
move second. We're so used to doing voice votes.
. I, I know. I was like, uh, we have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion
on this item? Is there any public comment on this item?
if any members of the public would like to speak on this item, please come to the podium now.
no public comment. Chair. Seeing none, uh, if we could take the vote, please.
yeah. Roll, roll call. Vote, right? Oh, no. Oh, I'm
just waiting for it. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't switch. Just
waiting for a presentation. There we go. We could just do voice work for this one. Sorry.
it used to roll call . Um, yeah, we gotta reorientate
ourselves. Motion carries. Thank you. Um, item two,
uh, public works. The neighborhood traffic management plan. If we could read the item, please.
item two. Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the public works department
on the city's neighborhood traffic management program. Wonderful. This is, um,
a presentation I know many folks have been looking forward to, and I see that
the public works and traffic team are at the table. And I will turn it over to
director hickman to begin. Thank you. Welcome.
thanks for having us, and thank you councilwoman. Really excited
to be here. I know this has been a program and a project and an effort that's
been underway for quite some time. And happy to be here this afternoon to provide
an update. We did release a tff memo, two from
four memo from the city manager on december 30th that has
a lot of information contained within it. Uh, a lot of references to other
materials and a new website. So if anybody's interested in following along from home, you
can check out that tff and the supporting information there. We also
have a few items that, um, based on this presentation here, uh,
this afternoon, we have on the agenda for city council. Uh, this evening we have
three separate items that will be considered, uh, this evening to move this program forward.
okay, so our agenda for this afternoon here, we're gonna provide a vision
zero update. We have the traffic calming evaluations, the results, the
recommendations that came out of the evaluations. We have the strategies
and timelines that we'll be undertaking over the next few, few months and
our, uh, procurement efforts.
so for starters, uh, our engineering bureau is one of six bureaus within the
public works department. It's comprised of 87 full-time employees
across three separate divisions focused on civil engineering, stormwater
engineering, and traffic engineering. So everything we're gonna be talking about here today falls within
our traffic engineering division, and that's why we have both our city engineer, keith
toey and our city traffic engineer, paul van d**e here, uh, with me
today. So, safe streets,
long beach, and the vision zero plan has a number of different priorities within it. Uh,
we're gonna focus in, uh, on a couple of those here today. So for the first
priority, dedicated staff and funding, uh, over the last couple years, there has been
a, uh, some turnover on the team and there's been a real push to fill all those
vacancies. We're happy to report now that, uh, not, not quite fully
staffed, but we've made a lot of strides in in staffing, uh, this
team up. Um, priority number two, lowering the vehicle speeds. This
really comes in a couple different flavors. So the first one, 2.1,
engineering solutions for the high injury network. These solutions you typically would see,
uh, as part of our cip program, our capital improvement program,
reducing the neighborhood speed limits, that's something we'll be talking about here today. A little bit further,
our automated speed enforcement program, we brought that item to city council,
I believe it was december 16th. Uh, we've been moving forward in earnest
with that program. Um, and then a couple, um, items to united city council will
help us move that forward as well. And then priority three, implementing street
design standards. Uh, this is an ongoing, ongoing effort across all of our different
networks. So I wanna spend a few minutes
on, on this slide here. We've received a number of requests
for devices, assessments, bike racks, parking signs. And
this, what you're seeing here on this chart is over the two year period from
january of 2023, up until the end of last
year, we received a total of 2,121 different
requests. And those requests fall into a few different buckets that
you see here on the screen. So we have open items and number
of closed items. These are the total number of items that were
received, uh, that came in over the last two years. How many, uh, are still
remain open, and then how many have been closed. Uh, good news is over the
last month since this report was published, we've since been able to,
uh, tackle a number of these items. So for starters, the bike racks, the
20 open items, they've all been, uh, addressed. They've all been installed.
and, um, the, as we go down the list, there's been updates to,
uh, parking signs. So lemme pull up my trusty updated sheet
here. So, of that four of the seven have been addressed. Uh, an
additional 27 locations have received curve painting, and,
uh, we've been able to close out nine of the roadway markings, another
18 of the signs and one of the signals. So our,
our commitment is to continue getting closer to closing all
of these items out, uh, getting ourselves back to a, a reduced backlog.
um, but the good news is, over the last two years, we received 2100
requests. 1200 of them, uh, were closed as of the end of last
year. Uh, or I apologize, 800 were closed, leaving 1200
open. We're we're still getting through that backlog today. So what we're
here to talk about this afternoon is specific to the category of the traffic
calming evaluations. So we received a total of 220
requests. Uh, 207 of them remain open. Um,
only 13 of them have been closed. And that's a, a part of the reason why we wanted to
come here tonight to provide that, that update on, um, on all those remaining
open items.
so this heat map shows the 180 requests that had, uh, come
in that were still, uh, remaining open, uh, between 2023 and
2025. So you can see they're really scattered across
the city, scattered across all districts, and we'll, we'll get into, uh,
each of the specifics a bit more.
so of those 180 locations, uh, the team had gone out and done
evaluations on all those locations. So it is time consuming, it
takes a lot of work. Uh, it takes a lot of of staff time to get out there. Uh, but
they went through all 180. Uh, they go out and test to
see if folks are speeding. They do, um, evaluations with
not only vehicle counts, but also radars. And as
part of that evaluation, 17 locations were identified
as a priority based on the traffic calming priority index. So
what makes up that, that tcpi or traffic calming priority index
vehicle speeding, uh, over 26% of the vehicles were
speeding, uh, at least one crash each year, and over 12,000
vehicles per day as as, uh, volume metric. So
what you're seeing here on the map are all the different locations or the 17
locations identified for some kind of treatment.
so we, we received a lot of requests for what
does the, how does the process work and what does that look like and
how does it work today? And then also what you see layered in here are some of the improvements
that we've recently made to help this process along and maybe make
it a little bit easier for folks to, to utilize. So first up,
you see, you can submit a request. Historically, these requests came in, in, in
a number of different ways. They came in via phone call, email, conversations with
one individual or not. Uh, they didn't always make it, uh, altogether and, and
aggregated in one location. Uh, we've now since stood up a,
a long beach.gov/traffic safety website where anybody
in the community can go ahead and submit a request for, uh,
whatever it is that they may be looking for. And that allows us to track, that allows
us to make sure that we get it to the right location so we're able to, uh, make
the improvements necessary or provide the response as to why, uh,
uh, uh, a a any sort of traffic calming device is not recommended.
so, encourage everybody to use that long beach.gov/traffic safety. We
are anticipating with rolling all this out, we'll see an increase in the number of requests.
and as noted previously, the team has staffed up to be able to, uh, start
to tackle these. So the request will, will be reviewed and bundled
on a monthly basis. That then allows the team to go out,
mobilize out into the field and gather the data. So gathering the
data means who's speeding, how many speeders do we have out there? Uh,
understanding the crash data and analyzing those metrics. And then looking at
the, the traffic volume for each of the segments. So once the
request, uh, has, has been submitted, and once the all
the information is gathered, the team will be generating a report. And
then those reports will then also live on that new website that, that I had mentioned
previously. So, if the threshold is met for some sort
of measure or countermeasure, then what we would be doing
is moving forward with designing whatever that measure would look like, working
with the, the neighborhood to let them know that, hey, there's gonna be changes to your right of
way. We want you to know about it in advance, deploying the, um,
uh, the countermeasure, or basically con constructing it, and then evaluating
the effectiveness. Alternatively, if the there is no,
uh, recommendation for implementation, the individual that requested it
would be notified, and, um, that way we'd be able to proactively
close out that item. I know historically, uh, there's been some concerns where,
uh, individuals maybe weren't notified timely in that
there was no recommendation to move forward.
so this is the new webpage that that was mentioned. So new webpage.
this is dedicated to the traffic calming program, and the neighborhood traffic
management program has a lot of good information on it about when these
different measures would be used when they wouldn't be used, and then if somebody's, uh, so
inclined, they can go ahead and submit a request.
so, diving a bit deeper into the priority locations that were noted,
um, you could see here, uh, we've got a, a couple different columns
and, uh, rows. So walking through briefly, so you know, what we're looking at,
uh, if we're starting with the top row number of locations where people are
speeding, uh, the second row reported crashes in a five year period,
and then the overall traffic volume for that street segment across
the top and across the columns, you can see the priority tcpi versus
an average local street, uh, versus a, a very low tcpi.
so what this is showing is that on the priority locations, there were six different
segments of those 180 that were studied, that had, um,
uh, locations where vehicles were speeding compared to
80 of the locations had fewer than five of the vehicles were
speeding. The second column here, uh,
or or the second row, the reported crashes in five years, the priority tcpi
had over 10, uh, 10 crashes in a five year period versus
59 locations had zero. And then the traffic volume eight
locations had over 2,800 vehicles traveled per day versus,
uh, very low, where they had fewer than 500.
so the locations listed out, um, in, in, in the, uh,
priority order here are shown on the screen. These are the 17 locations that
are recommended for some kind of treatment. Uh, what we're looking at
is the segment, the area, the exceptional condition
that is, uh, really the reason why this rose to the, to the top
and then the recommended safety measure. So we'll get into the specifics of
the safety measures on the, on the following slides, but you can see here it includes,
uh, recommendations from daylighting, red curbs, uh, reducing the speed
limit refuge medians for, for pedestrians, new striping and
and so on.
so one recommendation includes traffic circles, and I
wanted to just be, you know, clear in that a lot of what we're
looking at in the slide deck is in, as part of our neighborhood traffic calming program
are quick build type projects. The goal, meaning that we can get
out here, uh, we can evaluate, analyze, deploy the devices
quickly, we can evaluate are they working, and then if they are working,
make recommendations as part of a future cip program if, if appropriate.
so specific to traffic circles, you see here, this looks a little bit different than some of our other
traffic circles that may have some landscaping and rocks and others in there. Uh,
this is a, a quick build type option using the, our
flexible posts, some signage and, um, other means to, to help calm
down traffic.
another unique option is are the painted ball boats. So you can see
here representation of, uh, creating more space in
and around the intersection, which allows for more visibility. Shortens the
pedestrian crossings and adds a, a fun component of artwork
where we could work with the local community to install art
similar to the art ball boats, but on a little bit smaller scale,
allowing a little bit more visibility at corners and intersections
and upgrading markings and new striping. This is something else that came up. Um,
uh, throughout all of the different requests where we can get out there and upgrade some
of the markings, upgrade some of the striping that we have out there. So these are our new,
uh, quick build options using, using paint and thermoplastics, elastics.
we also work closely with our pd colleagues on directed enforcement.
so if there's an area where we see a lot of speeding or folks aren't necessarily
complying with, uh, stop signs or other signage, we work with our,
our pd colleagues to, uh, get out there and do a little bit, a little bit more of a direct
enforcement
flexible delineators. These are used in a few different ways. Um, mainly we
had seen them on the, at the top of the, the recommendations for the ball belts. They're
also used to emphasize the center lines. They're also utilized to help
establish the pedestrian refuges,
which you can see here.
so in addition to what we had just talked about, we also went through, oh, excuse
me.
apparently I'm talking too much. You
want to take the, you wanna take a couple?
okay. Um, kind of pick up here. So, uh, speed
limit reductions. So in addition to physical improvements, public works takes a
holistic approach to citywide speed reductions where possible. Uh, so we
have three, uh, main areas that we focused on. Uh, one is
locations that could be restored to a state standard of 25
miles per hour, or the prima fascia, uh, uh,
law. Uh, number two is neighborhood locations where reduced limits reflect
existing behavior. So using radar and part of our neighborhood traffic
calming evaluations, um, we collected data to help inform that. And
then three is locations in close proximity to playgrounds.
and on the right there you could see a good map that's color coded there for the three different types.
so speed limit reductions, um, default speed restored. So
locations identified for speed reduction. We had 42 in that first
category. Default speed reduction includes commercial and residential districts,
and does focus on narrower streets, uh, with speed limits of 30
to 35 miles per hour, which can then come down to 25,
uh, neighborhood streets. There were 23 there where speeds were measured in the field with
a radar survey and where speeds are already low and limits can be
set to as low, low as 15 or 20 miles per hour to match existing driver behavior.
and then close park proximity, we came up with 12, uh, within 500 feet
of a park playground,
uh, rectangular rapid flashing beacons. So these are a type of treatment,
uh, considered for installation at marked crosswalk areas with elevated
speeds or high traffic volumes, or a number of crashes or unmarked
crosswalks on the high injury network, or have that feature recent fatal
pedestrian crashes.
and here we have a map, uh, depicting where we have existing, uh,
rectangular rapid flashing beacons throughout the city, as well as we're planning the
future ones where there are existing marked crosswalks or future, uh,
locations where, uh, we plan flashing beacons as well as, uh, new crosswalks.
uh, and this slide here just shows the specific locations, um, which
everyone wants to know. And again, the 25 new flashing beacons to be installed
with 14 of them to, uh, also receive new crosswalks.
and then, uh, update on schedule. So the timeline for these quick builds on neighborhood traffic
calming. Uh, we passed december there with the evaluations and designs
that we talked about over the past year or two. Uh, we're seeking city council
approval, uh, today for speed limit reductions, and
then we could begin material procurements, um, and installing elements
in early 2026. Uh, and then spring, uh,
starting to implement the signage as well as the quick builds. Uh, and then in summer
we can, um, if all goes well, evaluate the effectiveness of the
features and then, um, you know, continue reviewing additional requests that come
in and repeating the process,
uh, a little bit on budget. So we have, uh, 1.25 million
in current funding available for this program, uh, consisting of local,
uh, funds and county funds, uh, measure m and gas tax as well
as general fund. Uh, we utilize developer traffic impact fees,
and there was a one time fy 25 allocation as well.
uh, and this last slide, um, really just kind of brings it full circle and, and
highlights, uh, a lot of the other improvements that we do, uh, outside
of the neighborhood traffic calming program, uh, as part of our overall capital improvement
program. Uh, this is everything from intersection improvement projects,
uh, to street, uh, and corridor projects, um, which,
you know, many of which are familiar, uh, to the city at this point, such as like market
street, artesia, great boulevard, um, but a lot of other intersection safety
improvements as well to just really highlight how much work, uh, goes into the city,
uh, to address, um, you know, speeding and safety, uh, as well
as vision zero. All right.
and that concludes the presentation and ready for any questions.
thank you so much, uh, to the team and for, um,
for the data, the data you're providing, I know, um, many of our offices
have support, have, have given you much work to do over the
last couple of years, um, and appreciate it coming back in a comprehensive
report to talk, excuse me, to talk about not just
where the bigger concerns are, but how do we create a network
of safety across our city and across our districts as we know that, um,
district lines mean nothing on a street that runs the length of the city or across
multiple council districts. Um, I have a couple questions
regarding, can you talk a little bit about, we'll start with the technology. So I think we've
seen deployed some different ways of measuring data. I know
in the past when people saw boxes on the side and lines going across their street,
they knew something was being measured. But I think we've seen some different devices
being used. Could you talk a little bit about the technology that you used, um, to gather your
data?
happy to answer that. Um, so really our, our directive is
to be datadriven and equitable with our approach. So that often means leveraging the newest technology
to make sure that we're getting, you know, a good data set to make an informed
decision. So, yes, in the past, that was one of the tasks that I enjoyed
as an associate hammering some hoses into the pavement so we could
get some pneumatic pressure results. Um, but yeah, some of our vendors now
are using more sophisticated technology where they do, um, use, um,
some video systems, um, that count the number of cars, how fast the cars are going.
um, and those are just really important data points for us, especially when we're determining
the, the, the conditions on a local street, right? This
is a major quality of life program. Um, and if there are
substantial numbers of cars on your neighborhood street, if they're going fast, uh,
that can be uncomfortable. So, uh, we really dial into those factors
to determine if something's appropriate or not, uh, before taking action. Um,
so yes, we've been using, we still use the pneumatic tubes, uh, from time to time,
but we are, uh, deploying other, other technologies also, uh,
to get the data back and make those informed decisions.
thank you. Um, director commend, I wanna thank you and your predecessor before you for really taking seriously
the staff issue, um, that we think persisted probably for that first half
of 2023 or maybe the year of 2023, where we're really looking.
um, I think we didn't get answers as quickly because of the staffing issue,
so I appreciate your team taking that very seriously, uh, working with civil service and hr over
the last couple of years to make strides in that department. Um, in
terms of staffing, I think one of the things that we know is anytime a large report
like this comes out and the tff comes out and there's maps and lines and
specific areas, there's always the, but I reported something and it didn't
happen in my neighborhood because we know that there's issues. Um, while these are
the 17 prioritized on, uh, slide number seven,
um, that were prioritized for the data
points that you talked about, lots of folks will say, but there's none
here or there's none there. Um, so I again appreciate, uh,
the reasons why, and I especially appreciate the system that you've
laid out to take requests in a different way from the public. Um, I
think it matters when someone hears back that we studied
it here was the data. Um, I think our office just got one of those last week. Here are
the actual numbers that we saw. And, um, it is not recommended that we
take action at this time. And so closing the loop with our residents around this,
I think helps with the idea that, that people are listening not just in their council offices, but
in the department. Um, on slide number eight, you
lay out what the process is, and at the bottom you say lawyer, lower
work, lower scoring segments are not prioritized. However, they may be reviewed alongside
with new requests in the future. So we know if folks, uh, continue
to, uh, report places that
they see in excess, how soon do you think in your
process that you would consider reevaluating? So if you go out, you're taking time to
do data collection, um, and make recommendations, what is a reasonable
time that you would go back and look again because you received a substantial
number of complaints about that particular area? Again?
yeah, so I can kick it off and then turn it over to anybody else that might wanna, uh, weigh in.
but, um, yeah, thank you for those comments. We've been working really hard at filling in all of
our vacancies as much as we can. So the team, uh, this particular team is over
80%, uh, filled. So really happy about that. Uh, did wanna give
a shout out to, to ryan kelly and the, and the staff, uh, over here as well.
he's really done a lot of this heavy lifting. He's one of our, our new senior traffic engineers
and has really helped put a lot of this stuff together as well. Um, so
we, as far as reevaluation, so if, if all goes well,
we'd be going through this analysis, we'd be taking the, the
locations that meet that tcpi implementing those quick build type projects,
and then evaluating which ones of those worked and incorporating it into the five year program,
uh, the five year cip program. So, uh, in that sort of
cycle, if you will, uh, that as part of that next five year program, or
let's say every five years, they may be up for, uh, for, for review
if there was another, maybe change to the area. But if there's not a significant
change or, uh, if the data is showing that, that whatever we had put in
there worked originally, um, or if there hasn't been any change to the areas that
weren't recommended, well then there may not necessarily be a reason to go,
uh, go forward and do another evaluation. But the goal is to be transparent,
and that's why we're also posting these reports up on our, um, on the website
so everybody can see it. When was that data collected? When was it evaluated, and what
were those conditions at the time that it was evaluated? Anything else to add?
yeah, so to the point that was just made, uh, typically
we consider traffic data to be valid for up to five years. So, um,
if we've gone out and measured your street, um, this year, um, we don't plan
on collecting more data unless, you know, something else changes like
a new baseball stadium's built somewhere and more people are coming, um, that would
lead to further evaluation. But usually the project itself, um, does the evaluation
for us. But really, um, the goal with this program is to address
the areas of most need. And once those are addressed, their score
on our ranking will drop. So there won't be, you know, 25%
of the vehicle speeding. There'll be hopefully zero, and then that score goes down,
which then moves some of the other ones up. So while we won't be collecting information
on all the requested streets every year, we deal, we do still consider them every
year if some of the segments are dropping down. So just because we
answered today, um, that it's not being evaluated, we are optimistic that
what we're proposing here, um, asking for permission to buy more
traffic calming devices, um, leaning fully
into this program, that we will be able to, um, deploy traffic
calming measures on more than just the initial recommendation as this program
continues. Thank you. And I think you, um, hit on a good point, which
is until the conditions change. So if a new business moves in, if we've got a vacant lot and
all of a sudden a business comes in with 300 employees and the traffic patterns change,
that would obviously warrant a looking back at it. But as you said, some of those
projects inherently provide a traffic study and give recommendations.
so there are opportunities as potentially things in a neighborhood change for a
reevaluation, um, in the, at the local level.
great. Um, I have a couple more, but I will, uh, kick it over to my colleague
and see if dr. Sorrow has any questions at this time. Thank you chair kerr.
I do have a few question. Um, I, I think I'll
start out with that. I didn't see any, um,
again, thank you for the presentation. I didn't see any speed bumps as
a possible calming measure option. Uh, can you tell me
why that's not an option? Even though we get numerous requests
for that, we do get numerous requests and
paul is way better at answering this question than I am. So I'm not even
gonna try . I I've had a lot of practice. Uh, so
yes, um, speed humps often are the way that folks express a calming
request to us. Uh, normally, uh, it, it does seem like when
someone asks us for our help in calming traffic, they don't
directly ask for traffic calming. They say, you need to install a stop sign, or
you need to install speed humps, speed bumps, speed lumps,
traffic cushions, however people are calling them now. Um, and
so, uh, oftentimes, you know, it's, it's up to us to better understand well, what's
actually happening before we propose, um, a countermeasure to solve the issue.
um, and in most cases on our residential streets, um, the
issue is that there are a lot of cars on the street and so folks are recognizing them,
um, or the cars are loud. Um, but in the data that we've seen,
the amount of vehicles that are speeding excessively, uh, are,
are somewhat small. Um, I don't wanna say insignificant
'cause it is significant if someone's going that fast on your street. But the thing with speed
humps is they are specifically designed with a, a certain profile
that keeps you from traveling in great excess of the speed limit. So if
folks are going 25 in your neighborhood, they're not really gonna
slow down much at all, um, for a speed bump. So we've found that other
devices can be a lot more effective in achieving our goals. Things like traffic circles,
things like, um, hardening the center line by putting flex posts on top
of it, those can be much more effective at bringing speeds down,
um, than speed humps can. Um, and also, frankly,
although they are our most popular request in practice,
they are actually not very popular. We've had, um, a couple instances where
we've found factors like there's a significant amount of speeding on a
street where speed humps could be the solution. Um, but we've found
that the community comes out in opposition of the humps. They're too loud, I don't want
it in front of my house, it'll decrease my property values, put it in front of my neighbor's house. And so
they become more complicated solutions than a lot of our other devices can be.
so, um, I'm not gonna sit here and say we don't do speed humps while we still
put in speed humps in special cases, but, uh, they aren't the panacea that
some folks assume that they are. Thank you for that explanation.
I think that it kind of goes back to where it was really helpful that you laid
out all these option on traffic calming, and it's just education,
education for those of us who aren't traffic engineers.
um, and I wonder if that's what you're providing on your website is, hey, these
are all the possible options. It could be, so then they're not just tunnel vision
when they're filing a request. I also appreciate the update
with the status of these traffic coming
location. Um, but I did have a question. This is really my last thing
is, uh, around the transition to doing written requests
online. Um, one of it is if they don't read
and write in english, is that still a verbal process? 'cause uh, my office
is multilingual and oftentimes, uh,
you know, not only the language, but also just barrier around
having to use electronics. So we have residents who still
do s sta snail mail to my office for requests
and questions. ? Yeah, great question.
so overall, our, our website currently today is in english, but we're,
our goal is to be able to roll out more of this information. So exactly what you
had just mentioned, exactly what our traffic engineer had just noted, that information
on speed bumps is on our website today. Okay. And we're gonna continue to,
uh, reinforce some of that message and, and also include other languages for
some of the most requested items. As far as the request themselves,
it does require going in and logging in, but alternatively, if
somebody isn't, uh, able to do that or isn't savvy, if they reach out to somebody else,
they can certainly get somebody else to add it to it or even get it to us.
this is something that we're using to track on our own basis as well. So if we receive
an email, we'll go ahead and put it in there to help with our own tracking as well. Okay.
I ask that just because sometimes, uh, we do act as a liaison,
um, as we usually do with our departments when there are certain barriers that
prevent people from doing requests online. So just wanted to make
sure that we had a process to communicate ongoingly between our office.
um, maybe we end up being the requester on their behalf. Is that okay?
yeah, that's perfectly fine. Okay. And then you can ask us for updates at each, uh, monthly briefing
. Wonderful. Thank you. That was my last, um, question and
comment. Thank you, dr. Sorrow. And on that note, one of the things that we see
in a couple different places, I know in district five and around the city are
the dynamic feedback signs that remind people you are going 52
in a 35. Um, is that something that is part of our
standard in terms of, you gave a great explanation about speed humps, um,
and we know in different cities and in different, um, municipalities, we see different
uses, different kinds of bumps on the road, different kinds of dynamic
feedback. I'm wondering if those signs specifically, um, are in the current plan
or future plan? So the, the speed
feedback signs are really focused around our automated speed enforcement program right now. So we
are planning to procure some devices. If everything, uh, goes well this evening
at city council and our item gets approved, we'll be procuring speed feedback
signs to roll those out at the 18, uh, automated speed enforcement
locations. Um, and then in addition to those, we may look at those options in
the future, but wanna, yeah,
I, I think also recognizing that sometimes, uh,
we need to deploy devices that help inform not only the motorists, but also the immediate
stakeholders around traffic patterns is really important. Um, so
the traffic calming program, while we do a lot of data analysis and we, we
document where we're making projects happen, um, also the, the direct
personal connection, um, is really important as well. So, uh, I personally have spent
time out with one of our, our radar devices, um, with members of the public showing,
you know, it looks like this person's going really fast, but the, the speed
device I've got here, they're only going 18 miles an hour. And so sometimes, um,
getting information out there about how fast folks are actually going is,
is really important. So the, those speed feedback signs that you're describing, those
are things that are movable, um, and changeable. So that's a really
important part of our portfolio to be able to deploy those perhaps in areas that
didn't, um, rise to the level of infrastructure change. But still,
um, we've got folks who, um, uh, are looking for more information about
traffic behaviors. We will deploy them. Uh, the intent is to keep them kind
of moving around the city, uh, to places so we can continue to demonstrate that educational
component about, um, the factors on the streets in our, in our neighborhoods.
thank you. And then one last question. As you mentioned, there's council items tonight, uh, to
work on the, the pilot program as well as this neighborhood,
uh, safety measures. I'm assuming that the funding that we're looking at tonight
is for this current list and the current study, you talked about the capital improvement. So
I assume we're gonna work through the list of what has been identified thus far, and as we looked
at a future capital improvement plan, that's where other infrastructure things would come
into play. Yes, it's, it is slightly
more nuanced than that, but, uh, the items before city council
this evening will be in addition to this 1.2 outlined here for
our neighborhood traffic calming program. Uh, because some of these devices are also
used, uh, as part of our cip programs, as part of our other efforts and
initiatives out there as well. So, uh, what those items will allow us to do
is roll out this program in its entirety as outlined today, uh,
spend down that 1.2, that's our goal, to deploy as many devices
as we can with the available funding we have. And then, um, that will allow
us in the future as part of next year's cip hopefully, we'll, we will
get a few more dollars to contribute towards this program. And that'll allow us to con
continue, uh, making those improvements as, as, um, the two engineers noted.
great. Thank you. I look forward to the conversation tonight with, um, our larger group
of colleagues. Um, any other questions, dr. Soro? I do
not have any more questions. Great. Um, any public comment on this item?
if there are any members of the public that would like to speak on item number two, please come to the podium now.
no public comment chair. Okay. Seeing none, if we could take the vote please.
motion is carried. Thank you so much. Uh, item
three, could we please read item three? Item three, recommendation
to receive and file an update on the enhanced infrastructure financing district's
program. Thank you. Uh, this item is coming to us, uh,
as part of a tff from economic development,
and they are here with us tonight, and I see director
martinez bringing some members of the team forward, and I will turn it over to them. Excuse
me, chair, can we get a motion and a second please? Ah, yes. Thank
you. Thank you.
it's all yours. Thank you. Chair committee members, uh, bo martinez,
director of economic development and opportunity department. Uh, just wanna thank you for this opportunity
to present to this, uh, pro, uh, program to you all. Uh, long
beach is at a ver a very important inflection point. And when you think about
how we are growing, we are a globally connected city with significant infrastructure needs
with limited funding resources. At the same time, we
have major opportunity areas where smart target investments in transportation,
mobility, parks, and open space infrastructure, affordable
housing that can, that can unlock economic growth and investment throughout the community,
as well as continue to deliver high quality community amenities, placemaking,
and improve the overall quality life. The
economic infrastructure and financing districts are known as e ids
give us a modern, locally controlled tool to meet this moment.
so the question is, why should long beach do this?
eids help ensure to capture value from new developments in private investments happening
throughout the community to fund targeted critical infrastructure and community
investment priorities now and going forward for a city like
long beach with our port airport, waterfront transit
corridors, unique and authentic, diverse neighborhoods and commercial
corridors, this tool gives us an opportunity to enhance and leverage partnerships
with the county of los angeles and other partners.
in addition to that, I also like to recognize, um, mary torres, who's with our real estate
development team, who has really been the person that's been leading this charge in partnership
with a lot of our city departments from finance, community development, public
works, parks, rec, marine, and I'm probably forgetting some, but also the
city manager's office. And with that, I would like to introduce, uh, joseph
diegos with cosmo, who's gonna walk you through the analysis and summary and
then complete and then answer, uh, have a question and answer session. Thank
you. Thank you dr. Martinez.
and good afternoon, chair kerr, dr. Sorrow. Good, see you again. Joe diego
with cosmo. Um, I'm also joined, uh, in the audience by two of my colleagues,
fernando and stephanie. Uh, in case of any questions,
this is, uh, some more matter as was presented back at the, uh,
economic development opportunity committee back on december 16th. So much of this will sound
familiar, uh, of course to you, dr. Sorrow. This is a conversation as director
martinez says about an infrastructure funding and financing tool. Uh, very importantly,
we'll use words like tax increment financing. We'll have to say it and
likely repeat it. This is not at all like adding a new tax or increasing anybody's
taxes. That's, that's not at all what this is. This is about an apportionment
of, of future property tax revenue within a specific boundary without
affecting a property owner's bill. This is a tool that the city could implement
on its own if it so chooses. We would argue that cities
get more bang for their buck, so to speak, if they are able to achieve a partnership with
another taxing entity such as the county of los angeles, which we think would be a
feasible scenario for long beach. Just
to cover, uh, some basics, uh, we'll repeat it again, this is not a new
tax, but we often liken this tool to a retirement account.
a specific boundary could be designated within the city. And as
property values within that boundary grow over time from brand new investment or rehabilitation
of underutilized property, the city is able to set aside some piece
of its future property tax revenue just within that boundary and apportion
it to a special fund that would be restricted for infrastructure. And
again, to get the most out of that dollar. Using that retirement account analogy,
uh, the city can get the equivalent of a match from the county of los angeles,
dollar for dollar or percentage for percentage, where the county would also
allocate the piece of its share of the future property tax dollar for
infrastructure projects within the city of long beach. And
there's precedent for that. Just some highlights on the rules, the mechanics for
the way these work. Uh, a new entity is set up, it's called a public financing
authority. And, uh, from a governance standpoint, we think an
important point is that it wouldn't just be the city council or members of the city
council that govern this district, but if the county were to be a partner and allocate
a piece of its revenue, the county would also get a seat at the table, so to speak, at this governing
public financing authority table. And then very importantly, there are at least two members
of the public that get, that get appointed to this body, this public financing
authority, uh, to see out the work of this district. That
work is prescribed in a document, it's called an infrastructure financing plan.
and that document is required by law to be presented quite transparently
at a series of public meetings and hearings. All duly noticed via mail,
newspaper, website. And those meetings are required to be spaced out at least
30 days. And the theme, uh, is really
sort of relentless transparency, nowhere to hide on what the dollars will be
used for, the amounts, the timeframe, all of that.
the state law prescribes what the dollars could be used for. We say it's infrastructure
and affordable housing. Uh, but importantly the definition of infrastructure and
the law is quite broad, quite flexible, and it starts with the words
including but not limited to. And then it lists everything on this page
and more. And, uh, we are just merely providing some
examples, water, sewer, roads, certainly the types of improvements that were discussed
in the previous item. Affordable housing, broadband infrastructure,
uh, all of these again and more
in cosmo's experience. We're not seeing cities or counties go down this path if there's not a
positive return on investment. It's defined in our experience a number of ways.
dollars and cents is just one way where the, the general fund could achieve
a, a positive return, a positive fiscal impact. So the ideas
with infrastructure investment, a level of private sector investment can be
catalyzed faster or perhaps more intensely than it would otherwise without
that infrastructure and with it bringing in net new revenues to
the general fund at a faster rate than would occur otherwise. And
we'd say that's probably still not enough to justify. That's just part
of it. Beyond that, we're seeing, uh, policy goals like housing production,
job creation, just solving for deficient infrastructure that needs to get solved
for somehow as, as reasons folks go after this. And then the number two
on this table or on this page is probably less obvious.
it's also that you get more points on grant applications. So at the state level, particularly,
uh, state housing and community development, uh, more points
are allotted on the scoring rubrics for grant applications explicitly.
if cities or counties are implementing these tools, these tools like these enhanced infrastructure
financing districts. So it's about the revenue stream, but also becoming more attractive
to yet other public money. As of today, there are about 36
of these formed across the state. All shapes and sizes, cities going alone,
counties going alone in unincorporated county jurisdiction. And so far we
have 10 city county partnerships, which we think are sort of the gold standard.
there have been seven of these formed so far in this county. Five of those seven
are city county partnerships. And so we think, uh,
point I mentioned earlier, we think it would be feasible if the city of long beach does decide to go
down this path. We think it would be feasible that you do that. You can achieve a
partnership with the county, if you'd like that.
okay, so boundaries in long beach. So, uh, there were
a number of me metrics, uh, objective metrics used in screening. How
the boundary for one of these financing districts could look in long beach.
things like general plan, land use, designation, measures of underutilized
commercial properties, disadvantaged community, census tract designation,
just demographic data over a variety of of flavors and colors,
employment density, scag priority, growth areas, opportunity
zones, cultural centers. Uh, and then a lot of it was looking at what the actual development
pipeline is. And uh, it's very important, and this is probably
also a point I will repeat the boundaries for these types of
district. It actually defines where the value is captured, where the growth
is coming so that the new property tax revenues can be captured.
but it does not define where the dollars must be spent.
I'll say it again. The boundaries are defined where the value can be captured from the
new investment and development, but not where the dollars of this district can be
spent. The funding can be spent outside of the financing
district boundary within the city. So the law is flexible in that way, and that's different
from the way other financing district tools. And it's important.
so when you look at the areas that are defined at this stage, uh, the way they look
in total, it's about 4,900 acres
just under 10% of the city. In terms of acreage
within the boundary today, meaning anything that's in one of these colors on this graphic
today, the existing access property value is just shy of $9 billion. It's about
12% of the city in terms of existing access, property value.
there's always a balancing act being played in our experience with how big do you draw
these boundaries? And a lot of it is balance between generating
enough dollars to actually be able to afford meaningful projects of significance
while not overburdening the general fund. We are often asked, hey, can
I just put my whole city in one of these things and use all of my future property tax revenue? Yeah,
le legally that's possible. But when we run the numbers and we look at that sort of return
on investment analysis, that net fiscal impact analysis for the general fund,
it is possible to over encumber the general fund with one of these districts by
going perhaps too large by encumbering too much of the future
property tax dollar. It's great if you get more out of the county as a potential partner if
they're matching you, but as a city we'd argue you need to be able to afford what
you're setting aside. 'cause you also just have to keep your lights on day to day and
maintain your, your city service levels. So that's the balancing act. We feel like the draft
boundaries at this stage do achieve that balance. And, uh, and they're not set in stone.
and I should mention the, uh, appendix slides to this presentation have zoomed in
graphics for all of these understanding. It's not very easy to see
all of the detail on this summary graphic. So
potential investments for eifd funding. So far it's been our team at cosson working with
staff across departments, trying to illustrate where are the, where are the needs from
an infrastructure basis, what are the areas that we think may be more appealing
for the county to be a partner with the city? What are the types of projects that will
achieve community-wide benefit, perhaps regional impact for some of these.
and so on the left hand side of the page are just some example categories that could make some sense
on the right hand side and green are some more specific. So not categories,
but example specific investments, specific projects.
if, uh, we total all those that we know in terms of dollars and costs,
it's over 5 billion in unfunded costs. And we know that this district alone
is not gonna be able to afford all of these projects. Certainly not alone.
and that's not the point. I should clarify. Th this is a funding source that's
meant to play well with other funding source and aggregate things like grant funding or
dollars from impact fees or dollars from private sector developer advances
and other funding source. So, uh, that's actually the way these things work the
best. Um,
I mean, not spend too much time here, but it's just very important to, for the members of the public,
sometimes people think of ice pay my property tax in long beach, then the city gets
all of my property tax. Uh, that's absolutely not the case. The city gets
much less than half of the property tax paid within the city
gets about 21% of it. The county gets slightly more, 27% of it,
and most of the property tax dollars go to school related entities. And,
uh, those entities could not participate in this type of tool even if they
wanted to. So the main players in this world of these types of financing districts
do tend to be cities and ideally the cities and counties partnering together.
and there is lots of flexibility. And within that specific boundary, how much of the
city share of property taxes allocated, uh, city controls that
typically we're not seeing cities allocate more than half of it. 'cause again, there's
this balancing act being played. How many dollars do I give to this district versus how many
dollars do I allow to flow unencumbered to my general fund? Again, just to keep the
lights on day to day? So we've evaluated two scenarios as
some good placeholders. Obviously this is not a data point that's being decided today,
but in either scenario, we do think it would be fair to assume that you could achieve the county
as a partner. And in, in rough terms, what does that mean five years out
in terms of dollars that would be available between 32 and $66 million
10 years out? How many dollars do we think could be available between 85 million, $170 million?
and again, these are long term districts. So as value continues to grow,
you could be looking on the order of 278, 500 $50 million on
a, on a present value basis over the long term. Again, you
can control that duration as a city, but, uh, the maximum we think
could be on the order of 50 years.
uh, the county partnership, I just should mention, is always comes with strings as, as
do all things in life. They, they've got a policy that governs whether or not they partner with the city.
uh, it's been, we think, pretty reasonable for cities to achieve this in the county of
los angeles. And, um, a lot of it is quite objective. They won't give more dollars
than the city. More to the point where we, like, we know from experience, the
county likes to see some level of emphasis on affordable housing as an example.
in addition to that, an emphasis on, on job creation, on blight removal
as other things. So we think in our analysis thus far, these are quite easy boxes
to check in long beach for this type of district. But that is a conversation
that would need to be had directly between the city and the county.
again, uh, the return on investment is a big reason we're seeing for cities go down this
path. Our firm's analysis with staff to date has just put some numbers to that
analysis in terms of housing production, thousands of units, job creation,
again, in the thousands and the wages associated with those jobs. And then very importantly,
just that general fund dollars and cents return on investment, what
we call the net fiscal impact analysis. Uh, we are seeing, you know, in the tens
of millions of dollars as a net positive for doing this, or else we
would argue why, why do it if it's not a net positive? And then that last bullet point,
again, not to be lost in the discussion and yet making yourself more competitive
for yet other dollars such as state grants.
now, we'll just keep going. This is just that net fiscal return over time. Very importantly,
getting more positive, not less positive. So
wrapping up there is a po a process prescribed by the legislation that governs these
tools. The themes you'll continue to hear are public
meetings and hearings with a lot of noticing, newspaper mailing, website
notices, spacing between meetings, again, at least 30 days apart. Um,
from where we sit today in january of 2026, we think it would be
feasible if the city were to decide to move forward to get through, uh, the
process by the end of this calendar year, by october
or so. And again, the city would control the timing and the pace of all of that. But
with all the, the required meetings and their corresponding notices,
spending time with the county to suss out a potential partnership, we do think it would be
feasible. Um, so at this point, we're
just still in this, um, wrapping up this feasibility analysis stage, having a conversation
like today to hear your feedback, your additional questions, those questions
and comments from the public. Uh, I believe the next meeting we have scheduled
is early february for the economic development commission. And then at some point,
we think some sometime soon, if the city is feeling positive about this, we think it
would be that good time to have that initial meeting with the county to take their
temperature on their willingness to be your partner, uh, likely before anything goes to the
full city council for, for an action. Uh, so thank you for, for
bearing with us. We'd be very happy to address any questions.
thank you so much, uh, for the presentation. I know dr. Sarra,
this is information that you have seen before. Um, so I'll let you kick off,
uh, with anything you've thought through since the last time you heard it. If you've got any questions or
comments, um, I, I have mainly comments. Thank you chair kerr.
I I just wanna say thank you for taking back, um, the
comments and requests to revise. Um, I was concerned
if you could finish this presentation in 20 minutes. So I think ,
I think that you were able to take some and I think, uh, do it
in a way where it just gets the point across. So I think this is great practice to be able
to continue more succinctly, but also I think best tell the story of what
e ids are. Um, also putting in an additional example
budget page and renaming the quarters
as well. So thanks for making those revision. Um,
but I don't have any questions. Just that, uh,
feedback. Thanks. Thank you. Uh, I appreciate you all coming.
and the work obviously started in 2019, was the kickoff of the timeline of conversations
in the city. Um, and we know sometimes things feel like they take a long time,
uh, but I appreciate the expediency over the last couple of years and what you think is
a potential roadmap for us within the next calendar year. That's exciting.
um, I appreciate you being here at the committee. I think one of the things we try to do with the committees
is offer a space for a pub public presentation.
um, as you said, there's addendums to that slide deck. I probably have 10 or 12 more
slides with, uh, zoomed in maps, the budget page, which we will also make
available and share with folks who are interested. Um, because as you said, transparency.
um, what, what term did you use with transparency? Rigorous transparency. I used an
relentless, relentless transparency. So I appreciate, uh, using this committee to be
part of that transparency moving forward, um,
and having conversations with, I think for some folks it'll be the first time that they hear it
when they put the information out, we know it'll come to council, um, and will be
sunshined very publicly for a, for a while now. So I appreciate all of this information.
uh, I don't have any more comments. I think if we can check if there's any public comments
on this item and I appreciate you all coming out as well and being available to us.
if there are any members of the public that would like to speak on item number three, please come to
the podium now. No public comment chair. Thank
you. Um, we'll take the vote in just a minute, but again, uh, thank you for all of the hard work on this.
thank you for, uh, continuing to engage, uh, all of us here at the city council
offices and the public moving forward on this exciting opportunity. So
thank you. Can we take the vote please?
motion is carried. Thank you so much.
um, that is our last item. So if
we, is there any general public comment this evening? If there are any members of the
public that would like to speak on, uh, something not on the agenda, please come to the
opponent now. No public comment chair. Thank you.
uh, then we will be adjourned. Thank you.