All right. It's a full, it's a full house. We're gonna get started in a moment. We gotta make
sure that all the walking aisles are completely clear. If there's an empty
seat, take it or go along the wall. But all the aisles have to be completely
clear before we start.
all right, we're gonna go ahead and get started. Uh, thanks everyone for joining us for
the june 9th meeting of the long beach city council. First meeting,
uh, of this month. We were dark last week because it was election day,
and we, that's a holiday in the city of long beach. And, uh, we want to thank
everybody for getting out and exercising their rights to vote. Uh, and now we're gonna get
back to the good business of the good city of long beach. Uh, now that that
is over, uh, we're, we'll start with the pledge of allegiance
by councilman councilwoman zendejas. Can we start
with a roll call? I'm sorry, before we start with the pledge. Okay. We can do the roll call councilwoman
zendejas. Do that too. Present. Councilman allen. Present. Council member duggan. Here.
councilwoman kerr. Present council, uh, vice mayor
uranga. What is that? Councilwoman thrash enuk. Here.
uh, mayor richardson. Here we have a quorum. We have a quorum councilwoman zendejas.
moment of silence. Pledge of allegiance. Thank you. If everyone would join me in
a moment of silence, um, keeping in our
minds and our thoughts, our nonprofits throughout
the city of long beach, our nonprofits do incredible work
here in the city of long beach, um, and are the boots on the
ground. And so if we could keep them, um, in our thoughts in a moment
of silence for strength and continued funding for them
to do the work that they, uh, so gracefully do.
thank you for those that can, if you could please stand up and join me for
the plea pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america,
and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under
god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for.
all right. Well, thank you councilwoman. So we have a full agenda today.
we have two presentations. We're gonna clo report out from closed session. Then
we'll handle consent, calendar and public comment. And then we have, uh,
uh, a number of, uh, items with a lot of,
um, people here for those items. So we be patient. 'cause we gotta work through all of
them. Uh, so we're gonna go ahead and get started with our first presentation. It is
gun violence awareness week. Uh, if you wanna thank everyone for wearing their orange from gun
violence awareness, uh, we have a presentation. We're gonna go to councilwoman,
um, councilwoman allen to kick off the presentation.
alright. Uh, thank you mayor. June is violence awareness month, and
it's a time to recognize the devastating impact that gun violence
has on families survivors and, uh, communities across
long beach and throughout the country. Last friday,
june 5th, uh, we were joined by memorial care
and I know there is a photo that should be, uh, coming up here pretty soon,
um, by the fire department, the police department and community
partners, and recognizing, uh, gun violence awareness month.
so I really appreciate all of those that showed up,
um, wearing, uh, their orange. Um, this
observance serves as a reminder that gun violence is not just
a statistic, it's a deeply personal and preventable crisis.
today we are grateful to be, uh, joined,
um, by some folks who will be raising awareness through education
and community engagement. We are especially thankful for
our partners at memorial care for joining us and sharing their experience.
um, so I'm going to welcome you up 'cause I know
that you have a, uh, presentation and a stop the bleed
demonstration discussing how community members can take action in
critical moments and, uh, and before first responders
are there. So thank you for being here today. Alright,
thank you. We have just, just under five minutes for the presentation. Okay. Alright, well
thank you and good afternoon. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to be here.
I am edna transiton, the trauma program manager and rn.
I'm joined by sydney, our, uh, trauma injury prevention coordinator
and eliana bender, rn and trauma performance improvement
coordinator from memorial care, long beach medical center and miller
children's and women's hospital. We appreciate the opportunity to
present stop the bleed, a life-saving program that teaches people
how to respond to severe bleeding in an emergency.
these skills are just as, as essential as cpr.
and with that, sydney will share more about the training and its
impact to our community. Is this for
the slides or does someone else do the slides
for the slides? Okay. Sorry. Okay. So my name is sydney again. Um,
we teach a class, um, called stop the bleed. Um, basically teaches
the community how to control bleeding before ems arrives.
so in long beach, it takes about eight minutes for ems to arrive. Uh,
once 9 1 1 is called an adult can bleed out from a severe
traumatic injury within five minutes. So those times don't really
add up. And we need to empower the community with these simple steps
that we will walk through right now. Um, so bleeding can
happen anywhere. Um, really any activity, um,
random accidents can happen. Um, that's why we're a trauma center and we're happy to help
you on your worst day. Um, so our
first step is to ensure that the scene is safe, that you're not gonna become
a victim as well. Um, and then to alert 9 1 1 in california,
you can also text 9 1 1 if it's a hostage situation or
domestic violence situation. Um, so that's an option as well.
and then we're gonna move on to the manual steps. Um, and
edna and eliana will be demonstrating them. So maybe go
in the middle so people can see . So our first step
is kind of like when we do cpr, we're gonna do our hands palm over palm, and we're
gonna press down on the wound with a t-shirt, a towel, whatever we
have. Don't matter if it's dirty, we're gonna put that on the wound and press as hard as we
can. Not like cpr when you're pumping, but just holding that pressure. And you're
gonna hold that until, uh, 9 1 1, uh, comes or ems
comes, or, uh, more help arrives. Second step, if the
wound is really, really deep, maybe a gunshot wound or a big laceration,
we actually have to push that t-shirt inside the wound because I
know it's gonna be painful and uncomfortable. But, um, that's how we stop
the bleeding from the inside. And then again, apply the pressure. The person's gonna be in pain,
uncomfortable. We have to reassure them that this is gonna save their life. If
you don't do this, they could die. Third and final step, if we have
a limb injury, so arms or legs, we can use a tourniquet. We
could also use a belt or a, a pair of jeans, something
that's not stretchy. But a tourniquet is a fancy tool, um, that, uh,
ems, um, and the hospital have and as well
as police, um, that controls the bleeding and tightens, um,
kind of turns off the blood supply like a, a hose, um, turning off
a hose. So we're gonna apply it, twist that bar
there, and then we're hoping to stop the bleeding going down towards the,
the rest of the limb because we wanna sh uh, kind of move the blood back towards
the heart and the important organs. And again, we do all of this
and keep it, keep whatever we're doing on until, um, help arrives.
and then the only thing more tragic than a death is a death that could have been prevented.
so we hope we empowered you with some information. Um, we do teach the class
for free. We've been to almost all of the high schools and long beach
unified, and we're hoping to get into the rest of them and we're happy to come to
any business or, uh, school. Um, and then
edna, you wanna talk about this? Sure.
uh, we provided stop the lead education at cabrillo high
school, long beach poly, um, jordan high school,
and several other schools in, uh, and around the city of
long beach. Uh, we also teach violence intervention and prevention,
gun violence awareness and prevention, human trafficking awareness and prevention
and firework and burn safety education, especially now since the
4th of july is coming up. Well, thank you very much for, uh, for
doing this today. We really appreciate it. I know what you're doing is saving lives
and, uh, I know that people were, were actively listening, so thank you so much for that.
thank you. And thanks for that demonstration.
I was wondering if you could do that demonstration in, um, in that short
period of time, but you saved a life in like less than five minutes. So thank you so much. Let's
hear for long beach memorial memorial care.
and I know you want to, you want a picture? You wanna do it now or you wanna do it with the big group
next? Um, it's up to you mayor. Okay. Maybe we do it together. Everyone's
got their orange. We can do it together later. Alright, our next presentation is one long beach
violence prevention, uh, uh, initiative. And we're gonna go to councilwoman th
thrash inuk. Thank you so much, mayor. Um, and thank you to my colleague,
uh, councilwoman cindy. I really appreciate us being able to have this all
today. 'cause I think it's so fitting, given that june is violence prevention
and certainly gun violence prevention awareness month. Um, I'm
here wearing my orange. I wanna thank all who are in the audience today,
uh, who are also wearing their orange. But also that tells me that you
all are part of the ambassadors that are out in our communities every
day on the front lines, uh, working to ensure that young people,
um, and all throughout our community understand that there are all alternatives and that
we want peace in our communities. Uh, today's presentation will
be led by central cha. Um, and earlier today, we had the chance to honor
more than 20 organizations who are part of the one long beach community
violence intervention and prevention initiative. Um, this,
uh, report that you'll present today, um, certainly is a culmination
of years of work, um, in some cases decades. Um, and we
know, uh, as we continue with our council meeting going forward, um, we look
forward to identifying ways and strategies to continue, uh, this work.
at this time, I'd like to ask central cha if they would come forward. Um, I
believe cindy will give, um, the today's presentation. Thank you.
and then just to confirm, how much time? Uh, five minutes.
okay. Okay. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is cindy
sagun, cvi programs manager at centro cha. I was born and raised in
the sixth district, and now proudly res, proudly reside in the eighth district.
on behalf of one long, uh, the one long beach collaborative, I want to acknowledge councilwoman
ua thresh untuck for her leadership commitment to uplifting frontline organizations
and continue partnership. We also thank her for recognizing
the critical role of community-based organizations play in addressing community
needs, building trust, advancing, um, public safety and wellbeing.
we also want to thank all the council members. Um, we did reach out to all of council,
um, to meet about this report. So we extend our gratitude to council districts 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
the mayor's office and our city manager's office. The one long beach
collaborative brings together more than 30, um, community organizations, institutions,
agencies, advocates, researchers and residents to advance coordinated community led
approach to, um, to violence prevention and long-term public safety in
long beach. Central chow has been doing this year for decades, and, um,
reestablished the one long beach collaborative in 2023, which strengthens
the cross sector alignment through the doj um, grant provided through
the biden and harris administration. Um,
as rocha being the lead agency since 2023, has distributed
$2 million in capacity building to support organizations with the
collaborative by subcontracting local, local, county state
philanthropic dollars to fund and strengthen co community-based
violence prevention, intervention, youth development, victim services, workforce development
and healing efforts. The collaborative focuses on prevention,
capacity building, resident engagement, and data informed strategies centered on community
leadership and lived experience. In april, 2025, the federal,
um, the federal doj cuts impacted our local cbi
efforts. Underscoring the need for sustained diversified investment
in community safety structure. The one long beach collaborative
recognizes community safety as a collective responsibility. Our action plan was developed
by and for the community through deep collaboration, grounded
in lived experience of those impacted most by violence.
more than 2000 residents participated through a multi, uh, lingual
citywide survey, community listening sessions in priority neighborhoods
and focus groups with individuals impacted by violence and vulnerable populations.
this ensures that the community violence and centered, um, the community voice is centered
in the 2025 long beach safety roadmap report.
findings from the survey and the listen sessions and focus groups highlighted key priorities,
including expanding awareness of victim services, addressing the gaps in reporting and
trust, increasing investment in high needs areas,
strengthening youth and violence prevention programs, expanding trauma informed
services, removing employment barriers to for justice involved residents, addressing
poverty and disinvestment, creating safe spaces for vulnerable workers,
re building the trust between law enforcement and community.
the community action plan recognizes a long term standing investment and programming.
as councilwoman tena mentioned in violence prevention dating back to the
1960s. While many efforts have been impacted and, um, impactful
and community driven, they have often been short termed and limited
by the lack of sustained funding after initial investment
ends. Our data for this report comes from the long beach police
department, the us department of justice, probation, and parole data policy
map, gis systems, and the us census bureau demographic and socioeconomic
data. Violent crime between 2022
to 2023 was concentrated in central west and north long beach
with the highest incidents in the south division, followed by the west and north division.
while the city has reported, um, an overall decline in violence in recent years,
lived experience in historically impacted neighborhoods remain significant.
with long beach experiencing a a 20 days of violence in may of 2026
alone, youth and emerging adults make up significant
portion of the long beach population and are heavily concentrated in neighborhoods of 9 0 8 0 5 9 0 8 0 6 9 0 8 10
and 9 0 8 13. Overall opportunity safety. Um, opportunity
and safety challenges are concentrated in the same neighborhoods impacted by violence, understanding
the need for sustained investment in education, workforce
pathways, youth, um, development, and place-based violence prevention strategies.
um, to move on community violence, um, must be
grounded in lived experience. As justice involved residents are, um, concentrated in
the same neighborhoods most impacted by violence. A comp comprehensive
approach is needed that expands youth development, strengthens reentry and workforce
services, and invest in economic opportunity for the most impacted neighborhoods.
our community action plan outlines nationally recognized cvi best
practices, including summer violence reduction initiatives, safe passages, community
intervention workers, and credible messages, hospital based violence prevention, intervention,
violence intervention, youth diversion, and reentry services and youth development.
these strategies prevent violence before it occurs. Interrupts the cycle of
retaliation and connected and connect individuals to trusted services,
support and opportunity to reduce
community violence in the city of long beach. Um, long beach must invest
in coordinated long-term, um, strategy rooted in
solutions. Um, we acknowledge that the city has led up multiple efforts
to their, um, their institution, their institutions.
but it is important to recognize that we're doing cvi as a best practice. It does have
to be a bottom up approach led through the community voice.
the long beach progress depends on the sustained investment in a holistic community-based
strategies that prioritize the community most impacted by violence.
local and state leaders must help offset federal funding cuts by increasing
support, support and investment, while philanthropic partners also help
diversify resources. The city should also continue advocating for the
restore restoration and expansion of federal cvi, uh, c-v-I-p-I
funding. Ultimately, sustaining progress requires long-term investment.
without it, the communities remain at risk. As many public health and
violence prevention frameworks, um, remind us safety
is not simply the absence of violence, but the presence of justice,
opportunity and conditions for people to thrive. This report
reflects lived experience of community members and the data of firms, what residents
have long said. The question now is not what we know. It,
it is what we choose to do about it. We urge the city to adopt the report
and partner with the one long beach to expand and sustain ccb, the cbi ecosystem.
thank you. Community violence saves lives. The only decision left is whether
we invest in what works. If you would like to read the report, there's the qr code.
and then if you would like to connect with the long one long beach, we also have the email there. Thank you. All right, well,
let's hear it for the one long beach coalition.
thank you so much.
so this is what it's about. It's not about the city
or just the police or the firefighters. It's about all of our community members
taking responsibility for violence, which is preventable. And
we are a public health city. We, we have been for a century, and we
believe that violence is a public health crisis and all lives have dignity and
it's all of our responsibility. So we have to work together. Um,
you know, we know we've seen some progress in recent years. That's only because we work together in
the community. Summertime is coming in. Communities like ours, we know
that summertime typically in communities, diverse communities like ours,
big cities like ours, we typically see elevated violence in those
periods of time. But we also know we have some momentum the last few, couple summers.
we've actually seen some of the safer summers in five years because we work together.
let's continue that momentum through this summer. So we wanna thank everybody for coming out. We're
gonna invite you behind the rail, uh, to take one big photo, uh,
with the folks in the orange. Um, that's what I have on my list. The council members don't
need that. 'cause you did it in the lobby. Didn't say. So we,
this photo. Okay, great. All right. So we're gonna, we're gonna invite folks back behind the rail. I'm
gonna ask the council members to stay back here, create as much space. We'll stand up behind the rail. Alright,
uh, shauna montserrat, let's facilitate this. Come on up for your photo.
alright, thank you. Let's start the city council meeting repo report out from closed session please.
thank you, mayor. We have one item to report from closed session. We have, uh, settled
the matter of a state of caesar rodriguez versus the city of long beach
for a total of $1 million. The vote was 8 2 0 and
cd four um, was absent tonight. So they did not participate. Alright. That
was down from, what was the last report? What was the last report I report
out on that? That was the vote on the settlement. Yeah, boy, you said down from the
million was down from 15, uh, 12.2 12 down to one.
that's a good job. Thank you for that. Um, alright,
now we're gonna go to consent calendar items one through 30. Uh, there's request to
hold back. Item 26.
alright, we have one member of the public signed up to speak. Uh, fb
is fb here.
fb going once fb going twice. All right. Members, please
cast your vote on consent calendar.
councilwoman rick sodi.
motion is carried. Alright, we'll go to item 26. Report
from library arts and culture recommendation to execute an agreement and any necessary amendments
with the long beach city college district to provide internship opportunities for lbcc
students with the library arts and culture department citywide. All right, there's a recusal.
yes, mr. Mayor, I'll need to recuse myself from item 26 out of an abundance
of caution. I may have a personal conflict regarding this matter due to a family
relationship with lbcc.
all right, members, please cast your vote.
motion is carried. All right, now we're going to general public comment.
okay. I see three members
of the public signed up to speak. Gordon cardona,
wind, silk, and, uh, elizabeth lamb.
if you heard your name, please make your way to the front.
hello, my name is gordon. Just just a moment. Let's, let's, we're gonna adjust
the microphone for you. I'm long time resident of long beach and I use a power chair.
I take public transportation to places including the long beach circuit.
I have friends who use wheelchairs who accompany me.
I have used circuit many times to get to places and the
driver rack is very nice and helpful. However,
in the wheelchair accessible vehicle, there is only once base for a passenger
with a wheelchair. Many times I have friends
in wheelchairs who would like to accompany me in the circuit vehicle,
but they are unable to. So we have to travel
separately. And this takes more time. We would like to recommend
that a seat be removed from the vehicle to accommodate a second person
in a wheelchair. This will also save time and
fuel by taking one trip instead of two separate trips.
also, there would be still be space for three to four ambulatory
people in the vehicle. I have emailed the city of long
beach and the a da coordinator of few times last
year. But to nova veil summer is almost here. And
we would like to travel together like our ambulatory peers.
that's a good point. The city buses can accommodate two people who use wheelchairs.
why can't the circuit do the same for the residents in wheelchairs?
thank you very much. Thank you for your
testimony. Thank.
alright, when, hi everybody, I'll try to be as articulate
as all those who have gone before me, but, um, this is a little bit intimidating.
I'm here basically because of the military drill
that occurred, um, at the golden sales hotel on pacific
coast highway near loins avenue thursday night.
um, I like to appreciate christina duggan, my councilwoman.
sorry I'm a little emotional. Um,
I received your email at 6 42 on thursday night,
and I was so startled by what I heard
because where I live, belmont store mobile estates is immediately
adjacent. Um, or not. There's a parking lot in between golden sales
hotel and this, uh, belmont shore mobile estate, which is
a retirement community of people 55 years or older,
many of whom are in wheelchairs or walkers or otherwise,
uh, debilitated. And we were, uh, startled
by the sound of rapid fire from blackhawk
helicopters, uh, at seven o'clock at night.
the only notice I had was christina's email. And luckily
I saw it. I called her office. They were very efficient. I got a call back from nick
casper, um, saying they had no knowledge of this. They
were not informed about it. They had no control over it. And nonetheless
it happened. And the, the trauma,
you know, we've talked about gun violence. I've never been in a
situation of actual being shot at. But I have to
tell you that when you are in even
a simulated environment where there is a black hawk helicopter
rapidly firing at a building without
any knowledge of what the reason they're, why they're there,
what they're trying to accomplish. Um, and then to have
it followed by the noise of battering rams and men repelling
off of rooftops and, you know, trying to blast into
an abandoned hotel, you know, and all the residents coming out
into the, the street and saying, what is going on here? Oh, it's
a drill. Okay, well,
all right. So we got through that. It lasted for
a couple of hours, then by about 10 30 it started to subside.
and so I managed to fall asleep. Uh, so what do
I hear at 12:45 am a black hawk helicopter
hovering over my house, shaking the walls, shaking
the roof, shot me outta bed.
what is going on here? Why are we experiencing this?
we had no control apparently in the city over it because they
didn't, the military didn't communicate with anybody. Ma'am, your times concluded.
if you want me to conclude, go ahead and finish your thought. I'm concluded. Okay. It can't happen again.
yeah, you gotta fix, you gotta figure out a way to make this stop. Mm-hmm
. 'cause it can happen in any of your districts. Mm-hmm .
thank you. Thank you. Alright,
our final speaker please.
so, um, my name's elizabeth lamb. I'm executive director of
the los rtos wetlands land trust. And I'm here to talk on the
same topic to say a few words about the recent military
exercises above and adjacent to los cerrita wetlands. There is,
of course, and there should be great community concern about the human impacts
of those exercises on the people who live in those adjacent neighborhoods.
not to mention people with ptsd or other sorts of trauma, but
I think it's important to take a moment to talk about the environmental impacts
of these operations, specifically on the fragile habitat
of the los cerrito wetlands. If you look at the footage posted on
social media, you see large helicopters, apparently black hawk
helicopters hovering above the wetlands, and then landing in the golden
parking lot where there appear to be flash bangs and I'm
guessing, um, exercises in urban warfare.
so it's spring right now, it's currently nesting season right now. And
there are several threatened and sensitive species out in the wetlands, and
including the building savanna sparrow, the least turn, and the wandering
skipper butterfly, all that rely on the los rita wetlands to
survive operations such as those we have witnessed interfere
with these species breeding behavior. Due to the noise and the vibrations
from these military operations, these species are already
imperiled and struggle to reproduce because the vast majority of their habitat
has been lost forever to development and infrastructure. Thus, these actions
have caused significance, disturbance and harm. Steam shovel
slew is one of the most pristine remaining wetlands in southern california. It
is just a few yards from where these exercises took place. Steam
shovels slough is a hydromorph relic and a one of a kind heritage
land preserved from the years past. There are a few areas like it.
steam shovels slough is so unique that it serves as a reference site for
restoring nearby wetland, such as edr marsh. When you impact fragile
lands like that, there's no way really to mitigate it. I understand that
this was not a city sanctioned activity, and I understand that the federal government
supersedes the local authority. So I'm not here to complain about any actions on
the part of the city, but I thought it important that people be aware that there were not
only human actions, but also actions to the natural world
and, and harm to the natural world that these exercises caused. I wanna
sincerely thank christina duggan's office for their great communication. Um,
but I also, as you are all stewards of the natural resources of
long beach, wanted you to know about the harm to the environment that was done
on that night. So thank you for your time. Thank you, elizabeth.
now, before we move on, I just want to acknowledge, um, uh, the public comment,
uh, what took place in long beach and in pasadena and many of
these cities, it's not normal. It's not okay. No communities should
have to deal with these exercises in their communities. I want to recognize,
uh, council member duggan. Uh, we, we learned about it at the same time, the
very day and, uh, her communication. I wanna lift up, uh,
our city manager, his communications in that moment. We wish there was something
more that we could do in that moment. Um, uh, but I will
tell you the federal government and the federal agencies, we are expressing our,
our concerns about the lack of notice. I understand operational considerations and
all of that, but this is a neighborhood. These are not, this is not a war zone.
and no one should have to deal or be, be, uh, exposed to those, uh, types
of circumstances in our communities. We have to think about our residents, our children, our
veterans, our pets and wildlife. We are a community and it leaves an impact
on us. And so we will be expressing, um, we've already expressed some
concerns. We're gonna continue to express our concerns about this. Uh, and long beach
is not the only impacted community. There were a number of communities that have received these,
um, uh, these exercises over the past few weeks. Uh, but
thank you. That concludes public comment. We're gonna, uh, now get going with, um,
the city council agenda. We're gonna take item 38
report from economic development and opportunity recommendation to execute all documents
necessary for a second amendment to agreement with meet the long meet
long beach, to provide a marketing program for conventions and tourism,
and to support economic development initiatives in the amount of 4,608,676,
and to execute all documents necessary to amend the agreement citywide.
alright, well, uh, mr. Moka, did you have anything to say before we go to the presentation?
um, yes. So, uh, I believe there'll be, uh, some presentation from,
uh, uh, visit long beach. Uh, but, uh, we've had a an incredible partnership with
this, uh, organization for many, many years. Um, what we're looking to do here is, uh,
memorialize that into a longer term contract, uh, and, uh, recognize that
this is, uh, a really beneficial, uh, uh, relationship between, uh, both of us.
uh, this group really does do a lot of that long-term thinking on our behalf and bringing
in conferences often multi-year in advance. Uh, and so, uh,
uh, we are recommending here that we, uh, memorialize, I memorialize that for
a little bit longer, uh, than we typically have in the past in order to create that, uh, that longer term
vision and, uh, look forward to hearing from them, uh, I think you'll be impressed with all the work that
they've done on our behalf. So, um, um, with that, we're available for presentation.
alright, well, uh, come on up. Uh, steve, mr. Goodling,
you know, I have to say, um, what, what visit
long beach and meet long beach have accomplished in the past few years, post pandemic has been incredibly
astounding to be, uh, one of the leading convention
centers and destinations. Um, and to have that sort of turnaround
take place, uh, needs to be recognized. But I think in how we've
come back and how we've recovered in a way that's redefined our city and leaned
into new branding and, and highlighting the experience
in long beach, the vibe in long beach, uh, has really resonated very well with convention
goers. I'll tell you firsthand, we just wrapped up the us conference of mayors, I'm
sure you're probably gonna talk about it. This is a conference that goes, you know, one city once
a year and it's very competitive. And the feedback we've received from the
experience here in long beach was that, you know, this, this was the best
since pre pandemic years and to, to many, it was the best conference they they'd ever seen
in our, in our community. So, uh, I think as we prepare for 2028
and we have to think more long term and olympics and all of those things, I think changing the
contract in this way to think a little bit more long term makes a whole lot of sense. Uh, but that
said, let's go to your presentation. I know you have a lot of people here who have to get, uh, to other
places. There are a number of big items. So, uh, let's get to the presentation. Alright, thank you mayor.
uh, also thank you city manager and to the council, thanks to
all of you. There's this past
week, as the mayor said, we had a phenomenal week and we were privileged to
host the us conference of mayors. And with that, we
had 1200 people here, but it was more than just 1200. We had 200
mayors and they were from major cities such as atlanta and
denver and philadelphia and miami
and kansas city and minneapolis. In addition,
governor newsom came down to talk with the group. Uh, governor pritzker
flew in from chicago to talk with the group, and so long
beach was on a world stage this past week.
with that, we wanna share with you a really great
video, which I think encapsulates everything that
occurred. These, over these four days,
aristotle sound.
maybe pause the video until the sound gets worked out. You wanna spoil your video?
wanna mess up your moment? Well, there's another one coming up. So, but let me just talk
about while they're getting the sound up. Uh, thur, thursday
night was a great opening night, and it was basically the beach party at the lighthouse.
and then friday was the aquarium of the pacific. And then
saturday, of course, was the concert and the final party on
the queen mary. And so these mayors got to appreciate
and understand exactly what our community offered.
in addition, uh, mary, we'd like to thank you for raising the funds
so that we could showcase long beach correctly. And
also all the mayors got welcome gifts that went with vibe city.
so it looks like I'm not gonna get it. Just let me know when we're up with sound guys, I'm gonna keep going
on. Yeah, go ahead. So, so with
that, and I do want to go back to the videos, but at this point, uh,
can I move on to
okay. Does the other video work?
okay.
okay, lauren, just go back to the original one.
the anticipation is building. It's worth it. It's a great video.
all
premiumbeat
premiumbeat com.
so,
so those were the evening events that the mayors enjoyed as well as the conference. But
sunday morning, this was the best. A mayor out of minneapolis who
basically heads up the transportation sector for the us conference
of mayors put together this little rhyme. Mayor of
edina, james hoveland, chair of the transportation committee. Yeah,
thank you mr. Chair. Uh, just, you know, I was inspired by what we'd, we'd
we'd experienced here in long beach and I just couldn't resist this morning. Uh, and this is
just a 20 minute effort, but I just wanna say long beach vibe city showed
itself off real pretty, especially on snoop dogg night.
it was a rocking hip hop time with a lot of rhyme appreciated by even
an old midwestern mayor passed his prime .
all that singing left my ears still ringing by the time I got to the queen mary.
she's a grand old ship, still remarkably hip. And the best of all, you could still stand
on the deck and feel the vibe across the water at amphitheater hall.
so a hardy thanks to mayor rex for the best of times in the beach,
the vibe, the jive, the people so alive with all that goodwill they showed us
is town's a special place. And it showed its best face for the last five days
to us all. Thank you mayor.
mayor, that was not chat gt mayor holin dropping bars and that, and
that was not chat gpt, that was the old mayor's head then about 20 minutes.
so, so anyway, here we go. And he just left. You
could have discovered mayor of .
so I think the mayor summed it up beautifully, uh,
better than I could. And the reality is, is we heard every day
for four days how friendly the people were in our city, how
accommodating how aggressive they were in
terms of hospitality. And honestly,
the mayors kept saying, we, we don't get this in our city.
and so I'd like to just take a moment and thank, because
I've done this for a very long time in hotels
in cities. And the reality is, is I've never seen
an entire city come together like the city of long beach
did for this event. Tasha day, it's her group at special events.
tom modic, the city manager and his team, uh, the mayor's
team and the convention center team
and the hotel team and the queen mary and harbor
breeze getting our thousand mayors and delegates over and back.
and my team at meet and visit everyone put their heart into
this and arturo's behind me, but he's our vp of sales. And
arturo says, steve, it was like working with the all stars
and it was everyone was at their top, at their peak.
and mayor we did it because we wanted to showcase long beach
correctly. Second part,
mayor, when you asked us to go after this, it
was a tall order. 'cause it's, you can't go hunting and not come back with
something, right? And this gentleman
and our sales team came back with the win and we won the bid.
so again, thanks to our hotels, our convention center partners
to help us bring this here. But not only did we bring it here, but
then we execute it. And barry,
you provided the vision of what you wanted them to experience because you've gone to these conferences,
you know what they were looking for. We went with you, but you had
a different lens. And so all of us
were pleased to be able to do this, but you helped bring it
here just like you've helped us with other conventions. In
addition, the opening saturday night of the amphitheater
was off the richter scale. I love sitting up
in the bleachers, to be honest with you. 'cause I got to see the whole city, the queen mary
and everything. And that is exactly what we need.
I would, any day of the week go to the long beach amphitheater
versus anything else in the area. And even,
even with our traffic challenges, they still were minute compared to
other destinations. And so thank you from
our behalf of our tourism community, our hotel community, our
restaurants, because this is yet another avenue
for us to bring people into the city. And I know the council, you all
had to vote on this city management. You had to work on making the finances work. And
honestly, again, you guys all work collectively
and were the beneficiaries of it. So thank you for all of that.
now we got more good news. I'm gonna have arturo share that with you. Arturo,
mr. Mayor, mr. Mayor, city manager,
council members. I wanted to share how we continue to outperform our competitors.
one example of course is anime. All of you know, anime as a pop
culture convention that comes to long beach every year in january. We've been very
fortunate to have them as our clients since 2022. But in early 2025,
our competitor next to us at los angeles saw a declining convention business. So
they decided to go after our com, our, our clients here, and they aggressively pursued
them. They offered them flat rates for four years. They offer 'em compar
rental for a four year period. So they really went after them. But what they didn't count
on, what our competitor didn't encounter was the relationship that we've created with these partners,
right? And that's what makes that culture and our culture thrive.
and mr. Mayor, as you put it best one time when you said if it moves culture, it moves through
long beach. And that held through, that held true and true through them. So after
some negotiations with the leadership there, they recognized that their home was long beach
and we're able to secure them for four years, an additional four years. So
we're very fortunate to have them in the future as well. The second example I'd like
to, to talk about is archdiocese. So we recently signed contracts
with archdiocese. They've, they're a face based, face based organization,
faith-based organization that has been in an anaheim for 57 years.
next year it'll be their 58th year. So almost, uh, six decades.
but what happened was that anaheim was treating 'em as a transaction, was treating
'em as something that they thought they was gonna come back year over year. They never gave any thought
about really investing in the relationship. When the opportunity presented
itself, we approached them with a partnership with, uh, the third party,
and we decided to go after the business again. And through the course of several months, we
created trust. We showed them that they were valued. And again, they're
a faith ba uh, faith-based organization. So their mission is people community.
and we envisioned that for them. We wanted that for them here.
so ultimately they decided on long beach, um, and we were able to
secure their business not just for four years, but for five years. And the hope is that we get
them back for 57, 58 and beyond years.
so again, thank you for the partnership to our hotels, to the city, all who have pitched in to
help us be successful. But it goes to show that the proof
was not in the pricing, it was in the partnership. And
how we continue to do that is also through our sales team. We're
in the business of face-to-face relationships. So our sales team is deployed all
throughout the country and, uh, every day they're out
making sales calls and meeting with our clients face-to-face to show them that that's what
we are about and share the long beach story. But again, thank you for your time today. Have
a good day. Yep.
in addition, we talked about the branding initiative. We worked with caa
and this year it was great. We launched that and we were pleased
to promote it. During grand prix,
we interviewed over 55 residents and we had
a lot of other focus groups going on. This, as we
noted, ended up with vibe city and so for grand prix,
and thanks to the grand prix association for letting us do this during the
race, and we blanketed long beach vibe city
so that 200,000 visitors could discover our
initial launch into vibe city. The best was this past
week though, when snoop brought his frenchie
and he posted this and it's already garnered
561.
there is vibe city on.
so vibe city is alive and well. Uh,
lastly, we'd like to give, uh, some updates on the
tremendous growth in both social media and also our
website. Sam, thank you. Thanks
for having us, everybody. And I don't think you can do better than snoop dogg's dogs endorsing your
new branding. It's pretty good, right? Um, so just some updates from visit long beach.
if you think about meet long beach as, as that agency that's going after that business
for us and marketing us in those different destinations, we're really like the media
agency that's, that's powering long beach as a destination from a marketing
perspective. Um, one of the ways we do that is our website. Visit long beach.com.
we hit a new record last year at two and a half million page views, which is better even
than some news outlets around town. And then we have a new website
that we just debuted. So if you compare us to take a look at some of the
other destination websites that are out there in the world, we just infused a whole lot of new technology
into ours so that we're looking better than everybody else. There's an ai search function
that's built into our website that'll be launching soon. So we're really proud and happy
about that. We are also the number one destination for any
like, events or things to do. So that's a big benefit to our members. Um, this
was kind of our huge news on social media. So last year we more than doubled our
presence online across all of our platforms with 14 and a half million impressions
at visit lb if you're not already following us. But it seems like probably you are.
um, the exciting news is this year we have three and a half months left in the fiscal year, and
we're at 20 million already. So we're really excited about the direction that's
going. We of course also work with influencers from around the world
to reach demographics that we're not reaching on our accounts. So last year we had 16 partnerships
and we reached, uh, 3 million impressions through those. We
also work with media relations and press. So for instance, in the last,
um, couple of weeks we've worked with ktla on a number of stories about pride
and zero emission vessels in the har harbor. We've gotten a couple stories in local
news outlets. This was a big feature that we got last year in sfgate.
and also we had one in travel and leisure, which led to about 88 million potential
audience, particularly those two features as well as some broadcasts that we're
always targeting for our big annual events. So if we had paid for the media
that we earned last year, it would've cost us $7.2 million.
so that's, that's the work we're doing at visit. I'm actually now going to turn it over to
another one of our vps, angel garcia, who's gonna talk about how our memberships benefit
members benefit from all this.
thank you sam. Mayor x council, city manager.
um, we've talked about how visit long beach markets. Uh, the city of
long beach has a destination, but I'm here to talk about, um, the other work that
we do, which is help promote over 450 of our
business members. Um, essentially serving as a tourism, uh, chamber
of commerce for, for our hotels, our restaurants, um,
our attractions, our our small businesses. So that's the
other component of what visit long beach is on a is all about. And so utilizing
the resources, like sam mentioned, the visibility, the impressions, um,
all that traffic that we get, we, we, we have the, the opportunity to to also
impact our community and help grow, uh, our businesses throughout, throughout long beach.
um, one of those is the next slide that I wanted to share, which is our
marketing services. And I'm very proud that our team was able to partner with our economic development
team, um, and the level up program. Um, several members of our
team, uh, host marketing workshops which help small
businesses. Not only we don't, our goal is not just to promote the small businesses, but
also equip them with the tools necessary to continue to develop and market themselves
and continue to grow their business throughout the city. So, uh, just benefiting our community
overall. So just thank you for your time, counsel and thank you mr. Mr.
mayor
and la. And lastly, the press telegram reported this this past sunday,
but long beach is going to be the home and the only home here between
basically del mar up to santa barbara, where we're gonna have three
firework shows on our coast. And so there'll be one at the queen
mary, which always occurs. There's two more. Our board
put money aside to do this. And then we have others who
have come to help. And so another barge will be
off of the museum of art and the third barge will be down by,
uh, rosie's dog beach. And so you'll see our entire coastline,
our waterfront will be activated with, with boat tours and boaters
out for the evening. Uh, all of our businesses will also
be ready to show. And I'd like to thank john morris. John, I know
you're back there somewhere. Where are you guys?
as we say, it took a brit to help us celebrate our nation's
separation. But john,
john had this vision a year ago. Thankfully he reserved the fireworks
a year ago because the east coast, they were already thinking about this
on the west coast. We really weren't. And so therefore,
long beach will once again stand out and we will have a great
celebration for our residents, for the regional residents, and for
other visitors. So with that, we'd like to thank you again
and if we could show our appreciation from our membership, mayor,
the new branding
and our word of thanks. And also thanks to all of our members,
they really are the ones who make long beach. Absolutely special
mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Well, we want to thank,
we wanna thank you steve, and visit and meet long beach, all of our hospitality
staff. Uh, what an incredible job on the branding this. We
wanna thank the city council. We brought the branding dollars forward two years ago
to begin this process, but we trusted that visit long beach. We're
the professionals and the experts lead that effort. You did an incredible job. Uh, long
beach is hard for us to describe, and you ask people in our
community, you're gonna get 10 different answers. International city, bike, friendliest, city,
aquatic capital, you're gonna get it all. And it's all true. Uh, and it's all these things that
don't really match, but they work together. We're a coastal town, a queen
mary town, a port town, all of that is true, but it's hard to land on
one thing. And what the thing is, the substance of long beach is really an
experience. You have to experience it for yourself. And that's what a vibe is. It's an invitation
to come to long beach. Experience the vibe for yourself. I think you nailed it with the branding.
congratulations. Uh, secondly, um, you know,
we'll have time to debrief and all that with the amphitheater, but one thing
that we should note is that a thousand people were working on saturday night
that would not have been working and getting paid wall to wall union jobs that would
not have been getting paid and putting food on the table if we didn't take that step
to bring back live music. And I agree with you, there was not a bad seat
in the house. You had to have been there to experience the energy.
something special transpired that night. Long beach elevated the
amphitheater elevated our city, and we have one additional thing
to offer when people come to support it. There's not just the direct jobs,
but those folks are going to our restaurants, stand in our hotels,
supporting our local economy, the local workers, the servers, the drivers,
and helping benefit our bottom lines of the city so we can continue to provide quality
services. So thank you so much. You nailed it. Uh, great job.
uh, if there are any council comments, now will be the time. I'll go to council member allen.
yes, I thank you mayor. Um, thank you steve. You
know, you and your leadership is, is cherished, uh, not
just by this council, um, but by the city. And, uh,
you're, you're, you're quietly in the background, but so many great things happen because of you.
and, uh, I just want you to know how much you appreciate you and your visit
long beach team, um, is phenomenal. Uh, last
week was incredible, um, all the stuff that was happening
in the city, um, but it wasn't just last week. You're doing stuff every
week and, uh, just know how much we appreciate you
and, uh, a big shout out to my friend, the one and only john morris,
um, for the work, um, that you have done, uh, to make that celebration happen.
so thank you very much.
thank you. Council member kerr. Yeah, I just wanna echo, uh, my colleagues'
comments. Um, and thanking the entire team and all of the teams who worked
collectively to make last week work. Um, the number of moving
parts on any of those given days was stunning. Um, so
I appreciate the collaboration, the communication, um, and the ability to
let folks see not just what our city looked like, but who we are as long
beach. So thank you to the entire team. A few weeks ago I stayed in
another city core here in the state. They also were having a convention
that weekend. And so I had a lot of comparisons of how do we do this and how do we do that?
um, and our hometown came out on top of all of those metrics. So I want to thank
everyone involved, uh, with this past week, but in the continued
building of this, um, experience
for folks who come to long beach over the last several years. Uh, it continues to grow and
I'm grateful to all of you. Alright, thank you.
uh, council member sorrow. Yes, I wanna add my congratulations
as well. I think it's very exciting to have a, a brand for
our city, uh, and transition from being iowa by
the sea. And I am especially excited in the
innovative and creative ways that we're gonna roll this out into our neighborhood,
which is, uh, really the vibe itself. Some,
I think that, uh, it's gonna be exciting to see how we can turn uptown vibe
city, you know, big sp no vibe city and even cambodia town vibe city
into a thing, right? So that it's really making sure our, all of
our neighborhoods and business corridor gets lifted as well. So
you did a wonderful job kicking off that branding so that it really
also makes sure that we're rolling it throughout, um, our community.
so congratulations. Well done. Council members in
dejas. Thank you. I
I echo the words of my colleagues. I'm so excited.
um, for this past weekend especially was amazing to see
our city just showcase and seeing how beautiful it looks from
the drones views. You know, it was really great. Um,
I wanna congratulate you guys and just say thank you for your partnership
and for your vision. I think that, um, councilwoman
allen said it. Uh, you guys did a fantastic
job this weekend. Um, but you have been doing this like
councilwoman also. Chris said that you have been doing that and you've
been showcasing our city, um, both meet long beach and
visit long beach and we couldn't be prouder of the work that you
have done and that you continue to do personally. I think that one
of the things that, uh, on top of all the great things that happened, um,
you guys have also brought the abilities expo
here to the city of long beach and it hadn't been here for over
15, 20 years. And so you brought it here. And even
though, uh, our competitors on the other side,
um, they actually were offering them, you know, good,
good prices. Um, they wanted to come to long beach and
now because they came back to long beach, they're also coming back
again in january. And so that's really, really exciting,
um, to see that other places are choosing us, other conventions
are choosing us. Um, just like the, you know, the faith, the
faith convention that is coming over here. That's huge. And so,
um, I know that this is only the beginning 'cause we are on our way
up. Congratulations five city. Alright,
well, you know, I'll co I'll close with this. Um, you know, you
do this presentation annually, steve, and, uh, we
hear the updates every year. This was your most impactful presentation
and also your shortest presentation that I've ever seen.
so if, if, if those in the audience or maybe on the dais don't
know the history, I've sat through every one of these since 2010 and
I'm interested in every time. But this was one of your greatest presentations. Um, and again,
the shortest, but the c cha, you know, what I will say is, um,
since this is a three year contract for the first time, that means you won't be coming back
to renew for the next three years. So we gotta find a way to get an update
to the city council because this is an exciting era that we're going through.
I you could feel it in the era on saturday night the long beach was entering. It's,
it's a new era, the vibe city era, the live music
era, bringing it back. And so we have to make sure that we find ways to keep the city
council updated. But thank you for the presentation. Thank you to the hardworking,
uh, uh, staff and, uh, that run our tourism business or one
of our largest economic drivers of our city. Uh, from the servers
to the drivers, to the planners, all of you help make long beach work. Congratulations
and thank you. Alright,
we have no, we have no public comment on this item, so members please
cast your vote. Oh, actually tom, did
you have anything that I just saw your message? Yeah, I, I think everyone's covered it, but just,
um, steve knows how we feel about him, him and his whole organization, but it really was an amazing
week for us. So, uh, we had just an incredible, um, amount
of camaraderie. There were things we had to work through the teams were working like 16,
18 hour days, and it was just seamless. So, uh, that really means a lot in a
lot of cities, you know, your cvb, your, your, that group is just completely separate
and, uh, that's not how it is here. So, um, and it's not just that team. It's all the
people, all the hotels and everyone in this room, uh, just couldn't be prouder of our city
team and, and especially the number of people I see in the audience here who worked very, very
hard this weekend. So, just thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Members, please cast your
vote.
council councilwoman allen. Motion is
carried. Alright, thank you. I know a number of folks are gonna congratulations.
thank you. You
can drop one of them signs off in my office. Uh, you're welcome.
um, uh, I know a lot of folks are gonna reset. Let's make some more room in
here.
all right. Uh, all right, let's keep the conversation down as we exit.
we have a number of, uh, big items ahead of us. Alright, the next one
is item 35. Item
35, communication from mayor richardson. Recommendation to receive charter commission appointments
and reappointments approved by government, operations and efficiency committee.
all right, uh, before I give my comments, council member, did you have anything? Chair of, uh,
government committee. I'm just really,
I wanna express my gratitude for everyone who
is either being reappointed or they are new
commissioners. This is really important for the direction
of where city council goes, where different parts
of the city go, decisions are made. So thank you to each of you
for coming out tonight. Tonight, and tonight. You got a good show
from steve. I mean, short and sweet and fantastic,
but you are appreciated for being here tonight and being commissioners.
alright, thanks mayor. Thank you. Alright. So, twice,
a twice a year, we, uh, do commission appointments. It's
more efficient that way, but also allows us a process to really think through,
uh, who is gonna step up in these really important roles and help us lead our
city because it's really shared governance and some of these commissions are incredibly important.
the they over, they, you know, oversee the ports and the airport,
and a number of, uh, key roles. Uh, uh, we have
two groups of commissions. We're gonna do the charter commissions first and the
non-charter commission second on the charter commissions. These are incredibly important
and a lot of times we elevate folks from one commission to the next because
these are the primetime commissions or they have great experience, or they go through
a rigorous, uh, interview process with city staff. So the charter commissions are
incredibly important to the governance of our city. And we have some new charter commissioners today,
uh, on police, starting with police oversight. Uh, let's introduce david ochoa.
david is longtime resident for 10 years, proud resident of district four
cal state long beach alum. Uh, for the past seven years, he's
worked for state senator tom berg, so we, we know him. And he
also, uh, has expertise in transportation, public safety, government and finance.
and he, while representing the city of long beach for the senator's office prior to redistricting,
um, uh, he's represented this area and other surrounding areas.
he'll finish out his terms. So he's promoting from the measure a transaction
use and tax citizen advisory committee, and is now promoting to, uh,
the charter, uh, charter committee of ci of our, uh, police oversight
committee. Congratulations, david, and welcome another promotion
on our planning commission, hakeem chambers. Hakeem dedicated his time to being
from, to being the program director for long beach city college. Uh, in
addition to expansive work with higher education, k 12 charter schools,
university, housing, athletic and recreation centers, parks and emergency operations.
uh, prior to lbcc, he served as the deputy program director for the
$14.9 billion l-a-c-c-d bond program, uh,
in leadership roles in the modernization of dc and detroit public school programs.
he's finishing his term on the long beach community investment company, where he is been
a leader on that commission, and we are now promoting him to the planning commission. Congratulations,
and we have some important reappointments to some important charter commissions,
harbor commission. Sharon weisman, congratulations. You're being reappointed to
the harbor commission for a six year term,
uh, of july 20, july, 2026 to june 30th, 2020, 2032.
you've been a consistent leader on the harbor commission. Uh,
very, very, uh, you, you have a heart for the community. Our community trusts you
and we need your leadership to continue on that commission. Congratulations on
parks and recreation commission. We're re reappointing. Uh, we are appointing
and reappointing. Um, we are, let's see, charlene hega, second term,
uh, christopher chavez, second term. And issa ate smith
second term. So congratulations to all three of you. Police oversight commission.
we are congratulations. That's right.
police oversight commission has two reappointments, edgar campbell and charlin
bender, congratulations to you and a reassignment from parks,
uh, parks and recreation commission correcting cory allen's first term from july 1st, 2024
to june 30th, 2028. Congratulations to our, uh,
this batch of charter commission appointments. Uh, we we're gonna take public comment,
then we'll take comment from the council, then we move on. One member of the public signed up to speak.
rogelio martinez. Rogelio going
twice. Alright, no public comment on this item.
and we have, let's see, council members in dejas. And then council member sorrow.
I just wanted to congratulate everyone and say thank you for your service.
thank you for those that have been working on this. Congratulations
on your reappointment and I'm looking forward to all the great
work that you will be doing for the city of long beach. Thank you.
council member sorrow. Yes, I also wanna add my congratulations
to those who are being reappointed to continue to continue your service
as well as those newly appointed, you know, being on the commission. You also
serve as an ambassador of our city. So thank you for
ta ta using your precious time, uh, to, to serve in this
role. I wanna, uh, give a particular thanks to, uh, commissioner
or former chair of the equity and human relations commission, christopher covington,
who's a district six resident. Um, he just finished his service there
and is now a board on the board of health and human services.
so thank you for continuing your service, christopher, congratulations.
alright, thank you. Members, please cast your vote.
motion is carried. Alright, item 34.
item 34, communication for mayor richardson. Recommendation, receive and approve appointments
and reappointments for non-charter commissions. Alright, so now we're continuing
with the non-charter, uh, newly appointed and reappointed.
now this is our largest appointments to date. There are a hundred appointees
and reappointments, so we won't have time to introduce all 100 today,
but we are gonna just spend a moment introduce the new appointees. Uh,
and congratulations to you all. Uh, and I'm gonna move this pretty quickly.
advisory commission on aging point of we're introducing I should, I'm sorry,
I, I need to recuse myself. Okay. I don't have that in my notes, but you
feel free to recuse yourself. Thank you so much, mayor. So I need to recuse myself
on this item. Uh, item number 34. Due to the fact that
uak into the gentleman who takes my honey do list, uh, is on
to be appointed to a non-charter commission. I think that's a very appropriate
recusal. . Thank you, councilwoman. Just
a moment.
all right, thank you. Okay, uh, advisory commission on
aging. Justin poter. Justin, welcome. Congratulations.
uh, cd five, uh, nonprofit leader, real estate broker, congratulations.
and catherine francis, cd three resident, uh, educator
or retired educator business owner. Uh, congratulations to both of you on
the advisory commission on aging airport advisory commission, john
mosquera, john cd five resident, uh, 42 years
of experience in it. Very active in the bixby
knowles community, uh, and will be a strong voice for residents
and the community on the airport advisory commission. Congratulations
and welcome, john. Uh, next on the belmont shore parking and business improvement
area commission, uh, we have nikki claire, uh, cd three,
resident owner and operator of george's cafe in belmont shore.
congratulations and welcome, nikki. Uh, we have heather duncan. Uh,
heather is owner of a, a business owner, uh, blue windows, uh,
boutique in belmont shore. Congratulations, heather. Thank you for your service. We have
matt alvaez, owner of, uh, owner of record of
real estate par, uh, property co-owner of louis's on second. If you
haven't been to louis's, you need to check out louis's incredible design and great
cuisine, long-term legacy family, uh, in the community,
built the build, his grandfather built the bus, built the building in 1930, and families have
rep have operated restaurants since 1953. Uh, so matt,
welcome, uh, kendra miller, resident at large, kendra
district three resident 22 years of experience, uh, a realtor,
uh, homeowner in the belmont shore area for 28 years on the parking committee.
so congratulations, kendra on , on the board
of health and human services, christopher covington. This is another promotion.
so christopher is a multi-racial genderqueer person of color,
community organizer, nonprofit leader with 15 years of experience. And I can
remember when he was a teenager and he's served, he's consistently been
a leader, an emerging leader. And so after five years of service on the equity
human relations commission, he's now moving to the board of health and human services. Congratulations,
christopher. Uh, that's right. Climate resilient and sustainable
city commission. Ryan wolf ryan, uh, is, is, uh, us
navy veteran, and he is a very smart guy
who I've known for a long time, uh, as in his role as sustainable, resilient,
resilient de de development department is a lot of words at scag.
terrible name important agency, southern california association of governments. And we
is now finally stepping up to serve in the city of long beach on our sustainable, sustainable
city commission. Uh, rena bki renat environmental
justice advocate. Strong ties to city urban agriculture, uh,
uh, and ba in environmental sciences. Geography, ucla.
uh, lots of experience. Congratulations, renat. We are now moving on
to the commission on youth and families montana mcdaniel,
district one, uh, resident at large. Uh, founding director of hidden genius
project project, which is now doing work here in the city of long beach. Uh, congratulations,
montana, tristan sorenson. Tristan looks familiar to me,
uh, competing his junior year at long beach poly high school gold
jack rabbits. Uh, he's a long beach, na native and purs.
he, he looks forward to pursuing a bachelor's degree in philosophy, just like the
mayor. Um, next is on the equity and human relations
commission. All right, congrats, uh, on the equity human relations
commission, uh, district one resident in the at large seat. Matt estes, community
engagement professional, active member of glamazon, amazon's l-g-b-t-q,
employee resources group, passion for the community, stepping up to lead. Congratulations
and welcome. Michelle dobson, esquire, district four resident.
michelle is an attorney and a local leader, uh, very active in
numerous organizations. Thank you. Michelle dobson, uh, homeless services advisory committee.
julia ornelis, district one resident. Uh, julia
enjoys long walks and music and, and celebr sim celebrating simple,
simple moments. Uh, we certainly thank you for your, uh, uh,
your experience in human centered systems, dr. Lorenzo gonzales.
all right, lorenzo's got some fans here, a street medicine physician,
uh, providing primary care to the unhoused people of la county. Uh,
a doctor of medicine from uc, san diego and masters from
us c's, sole price, public policy, so medicine and policy. He's
who we need on this commission. Uh, welcome dr. Gonzalez. Moving on to the housing authority.
pamela marshall, district two resident at large. That's
right, pamela welcome. Uh, degree in human services from long beach
city college certified drug and alcohol counselor. Welcome lived
experience, empowering, uh, leader and a graduate of long beach's
own neighborhood leadership program on the long beach workforce investment network.
john edmond in the business representative seat. John is managing
partner of ed edmond group, a long beach based public affairs firm. 20 years
of leadership experience. We know because he used to sit, sit up here with us
as well, not with us as chief of staff for former council member and a representative. Representative.
now he's gonna do a great job representing local business on our workforce, uh, investment
network board, gita runkel, uh, on the as the educational
workforce, uh, representative vice president of workforce and economic development
at long beach city college, where she builds partnership with industry, education,
government and community organizations. Welcome gda.
next is on our marine welcome. That's right. Next our marine
advisory commission. Timothy ehrlich. Timothy timothy is general manager
at melrose abbey memorial park and lives aboard of
41 foot trawler in shoreline yacht club in long beach. So
if anybody knows about marine advisory, it is tim. Uh, next
is technology and innovation commission. Shannon holloway. Uh, shannon
is founder of hd holloway. A long beach based venture practice helps leaders
maximize human impact of emerging technology. So we certainly need your,
your experience. Sit district seven. Resident next is the
veteran affairs commission. Thank you all for your service. Carlo tech district
two, resident accomplished human resources executive, uh, committed
to, uh, community service and serving the board of long beach ymca in volunteering. Volunteering
with the usc latino alumni association, chad vargas
district, not district five resident, us navy veteran, uh, vice
president of ambulatory services at mlk community healthcare, where he leads
a multidisciplinary medical group focused on delivering high quality equitable
care. Eight years in us navy as a dental assistant surgical technician
and field medical technician. Thank you for your service. Welcome to the commission. Those
are our newly appointed commissioners, and there are dozens and dozens of
reappointments. Congratulations to all of you. We have, I'm gonna do
public comment and then we'll take comment from the council members. Lio martinez.
okay, we're gonna go to the council now. Uh, we have council member
kerr. Yes. Thank you mr. Mayor, and congratulations to
all of those, um, who are being appointed tonight. I wanna thank you for your service
to our community. I wanna thank you for the lived experience that you bring into the halls
of public policy, um, to the suggestions that you bring to this council
and to be choosing to be a representative of our city. I wanna shout out and congratulate
our cd five residents, uh, our new commissioners, uh, justin,
john, tristan, chad renat, and john for,
uh, stepping up to some really key roles here in the city and I look forward to
working with all of you. All right,
thank you. Uh, next is council member duggan.
uh, once again, thank you for stepping up for this position and,
uh, the work that you do makes a difference in the city. Thanks for your time for this
too. Thank you. Council member allen.
yes, thank you. You're all just very special people and us with, uh, congratulations
on your appointments, on your reappointments and uh, special
congratulations to district two commissioners, pamela marshall
and to carla tech. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for your service
and council members in dejas. Yes, congratulations again to everyone,
um, especially the new commissioners. I'm so excited for
district one commissioners, uh, ryan montana, uh,
julia, matt and timothy. Congratulations. Can't wait to see all the
great work that you will be doing. Also wanted to share that, you know, when
I started in in public service, it was a little bit over
20 years ago as a commissioner for citizens advisory commission
on disability. So it really, really brought me,
um, a sense of giving and giving back to the community. And so thank
you for all that you do. Alright, thank you. Well
that, uh, we're now gonna go move to a vote and then we're gonna take a big, big picture.
so bear with us, uh, members, please cast your vote.
motion is carried. Alright, so we're gonna invite all the
appointed and reappointed commissioners to the front for a photo. It's gonna be a
big crowd.
all right, we are gonna continue on again, we have a very
long uh, night. We're now moving into our hearings,
which, uh, I'm looking to our attorney. I know there's been a request and I see
everybody here in the orange and we certainly appreciate you. My hands are tied on
these next few items. They are hearings. We actually have to take them next.
and counsel, we're gonna have to take multiple votes on each hearing, so I'm gonna call hearing
item three and then walk us through aaron, the process hearing item 33 please.
so hearing item 33, um, it does have requirements to be noticed under the municipal code. It
was noticed for this evening and it does need to go forward this evening
report from community development recommendation to adopt a resolution to adopt and
certify an amendment to the program environmental impact report relating
to map and text changes to the land use element as well as implementation
of general plan. Use element through an amendment to
rezone designated corridors in the greater bixby knowles area and to make corrections to
the lue text for clarity and to ensure compliance with state housing
laws, adopt an ordinance establishing two new zoning districts
that will implement the neighborhood service servicing corridor low
and community commercial place types and minor amendments to all
existing zoning districts contained within title 22. Read the first time and later
over the next regular meeting of city council for final reading. Adopt a resolution
adopting a general plan map amendment to amend pages of the designated map book of
the land use element of the general plan related to the greater bixby knolls
area and to andy street in north long beach. Adopt an ordinance
for a zoning map change to amend the zoning designations and rezone select
properties on major corridors in the greater bixby knolls area. Read for the first time
and later to the next regular meeting of city council for final reading. Adopt a
resolution adopting a general plan tax amendment to amend the land use element to
redefine and clarify definitions. Reconcile numerical discrepancies,
update specific development standards for the multi multifamily residential
low and neo industrial place types and update table lu dash six
citywide. Alright, thank you. There's no oath
required. Correct. Okay. And there, how many votes need to be
taken on this aaron? I believe
five. Okay, so we're gonna start the presentation, then we'll do public comment
and then we'll start the council deliberation then five votes staff presentation please. Yes, so we have
our director of c community development, christopher kunz and team here.
great. So alejandro santos lopez, our advanced planning officer
and uh, is going to give the presentation.
good evening honorable mayor and members of city council. The item before you today include
zoning and general plan amendments for the greater long, uh, bixby knolls area as
part of the zone in bixby initiative.
the proposal before you consists of three main components. First, a series of texts
and map amendments to the land settlement to bring it into compliance with state housing regulations
and the city's zoning code. Secondly, minor updates to existing zoning regulations
and the addition of two new zoning districts to title 22 of the code
to each implement a general plan place type. And third, the rezoning of select
properties within the zoning bixby project boundaries including along
major corridors and other areas of change. As a
refresher long range urban planning in california is guided by a city's general plan,
a big picture constitution that lays out the vision policies and goals for a place
and is made up of seven required elements or chapters. These include for example, land
use and housing. While the general plan lays out the vision and high level guidelines
for a city, the zoning ordinance provides specific regulations codified in the municipal code
and it is the main tool to carry out the general plan through clear and detailed regulations.
it is a law describing how land can be used, which plan is referred to in the development
review process. Over the past eight years,
the planning bureau has spearheaded a comprehensive revamp of the zoning code through zoning in
a systematic effort to update the zoning regulations to implement the 2019 general
plan land use element. Since 2020, the zoning team has
completed major rezonings through a series of efforts. You
plan or up plan in north long beach zone in city court and central long beach
and zone in west lb in west long beach. All of these have focused on
accommodating housing needs and improving access to commercial uses. The
map shown here shows all rezoning efforts that have either been completed or
are currently underway. The zone in bixby project area
is generally bounded by the union pacific rail line to the north cherry avenue to
the east east wardlow road and the 4 0 5 freeway to the south
and long beach boulevard and country club road to the west. The symbolized
areas on the map show that lue place types identified as major areas of change,
which are the focus of zone and bixby. Like prior efforts, the project deliverable
is to provide a set of new zoning recommendations that are aimed to meet the current and future needs
of the community by accommodating new housing, improving access to essential commercial
uses, encouraging pedestrian friendly design and promoting
existing main street corridors through objective design standards and careful land
use considerations in addition to the rezoning shown here, zoning
and bixby also includes changes to the land use settlement. Some of these are citywide
cleanup actions that are required to ensure continued compliance with state regulations and alignments
between the city's general plan and zoning regulations. Others are specific
to the zoning big street project area and involve a combination of changes to the existing
place type designation for certain corridors or parcels and concurrent rezoning
reflective of the new designation. A more detailed overview of these changes
will be covered later in this presentation. No changes to the existing height
designations adopted in 2019 lue are proposed at this time.
zone in bixby began in march of 2023 with a series of stakeholder interviews
for community members and businesses based in the project area, followed by a public
open house later that summer. Following these engagement activities, the
project was put on pause due to both staff shortages and the need to finish other zone
in projects that were further along. Once you plan and zone in city corps
were completed and adopted by city council in the fall of 2024, a
new staff team for zone in bixby was convened for a relaunch in early 25.
starting that spring, the project team hosted a series of three in-person walk audits along
major corridors in the project area, including san antonio drive, atlantic avenue,
long beach boulevard, and wardlow road. Following the walk audits,
the team hosted a virtual workshop in june of last year, which provided an overview of
the project to date and facilitated the q and a session with community members.
the capstone engagement event for the process was a second and final
open house held at longfellow elementary school on july 17th. This
open house included a series of stations that gave an overview of the final proposal for the project
area, including the zoning code and map changes as well as a proposed place
type changes for the project area. A 45 day public review
period for the final proposal followed the open house with all the event boards
available online along with a virtual comment form to provide input on each station and
aspect of the proposal. The final engagement activity for the project with the
state mandated 90 day tribal concentrate consultation with affected tribes
on february 19th of this year, the planning commission held a hearing on the project at which
they voted to recommend the council approve the zone in bixby proposal as
proposed. Shown here are photos from the walk audits
from last year along with the open house. The audits each focus on a specific quarter and
topics including walkability and active transportation, housing, typologies and
land use considerations for main street corridors with existing ground floor commercial spaces.
feedback and findings helped inform the final rezoning proposal
throughout the engagement process, the project team heard a variety of input on common
topics, residents voice concerns about the potential parking impacts of changes
to the existing zoning and land use designations, especially from new new housing, increasing
neighborhood parking demand. Additional concerns included preserving
existing neighborhood character and design, particularly for single family areas. There are
strong support for more commercial options and amenities, especially for more retail shops and
services along major corridors. Some residents also voice support for greater housing options
in terms of both typologies and affordability levels. A compendium
of all public input received throughout the engagement process in 2025 is included
as attachment f to the staff report on tonight's item.
as mentioned earlier, the general plan provides the guidelines and directions for the zoning regulations
and the note 2019 lue, the corresponding place types map shown here, citywide on
the left served as the blueprint for the rezoning component of the project.
the zoning proposal before you today implements the following place types in the project area
shown on the right multifamily, residential, low and moderate neighborhood, serving
corridors low and moderate and community commercial.
the table here provides a crosswalk between the adopted place types and corresponding zones
that can be applied to set place types. As you can see, we have already developed and adopted
several zones marked as existing in the code. Many properties
in the bixby area are proposed to be rezoned to these existing zones when appropriate
to their properties corresponding lue designation. Our
recommendation also includes two new main street zones, mum and
cm that are proposed to be adopted through this project and applied selectively along
an existing key commercial corridor with vibrant business activity. For these two
new zones, mum would be applicable to the nsel place type well cm would
be applicable to the community commercial place type.
the map here shows a proposed rezoning for the project area, including areas that
are also proposed to have an lue place type designation change. Aside from
the small number of proposed changes, which are covered in more detail later in the presentation,
the proposal is based on place type consistency, community input, existing conditions, assessment,
and other city goals and priorities. The available options for each
were determined by the menu of 10 established zones except where the new main street zones
are proposed. Some place types only have one applicable zone and therefore involved
a straightforward selection while mixed use place types have multiple options to choose
from. That would be consistent with the corresponding designation
highlighted. Highlighted in red here along atlantic avenue is where the new main
street zones are proposed to apply. They reflect community, business and city priorities
to promote and enhance the existing main street mixed use and commercial character of
major corridors and prioritize more active retail uses and objective design standards.
the next few slides will walk through the proposed general plan, place type map changes
and the reasoning behind set changes. A key
driver for the proposed changes is the local housing crisis. In 2022,
the city adopted an update to its housing element in accordance with state law.
as part of set update, the city developed a roadmap to accommodate more than 26,000
new housing units over the corresponding eight year period. In order to meet
the city's state mandated regional housing needs allocation arena, as
it's also known commitment of those over 15,000 units
must be designated as affordable to very low, low and moderate income
households. The city has produced far less affordable housing than is needed for decades
now and halfway through our current cycle we have only permitted 6%
of those 15,000 units. As part of the zone. In rezoning efforts, the
city is obligated to ensure sufficient zone capacity to meet both existing
and future housing needs. In
addition to the citywide housing obligations that reno reflects the geographic distribution of
new housing is a critical component of meeting state and local fair housing commitments
and addressing longstanding documented patterns of segregation and say spatial inequality
present in the city. The map on the left show the city's housing elements site
inventory sites in dark blue dots while the underlying layers show the designation of
each census tract in the city. Based on the california tax credit allocation committee
analysis of what are known as opportunity areas, the highest
resource areas in the city are in the darker blue color with low resource areas shown
in the light green color. The data on the right is from the analysis provided at
the time of adoption of the housing element and shows the need to further address
patterns of segregation for new housing development by creating capacity for more
housing, particularly affordable housing in high resource areas,
the data shows a disproportionately high number and percentage of site inventory units
are in lower resource areas of the city. While high resource areas conversely
have a smallest allocation of both units overall and in particular affordable units.
additionally, in the years since the housing element was adopted, some sites in the city's inventory
have been developed at either lower densities or lower affordability levels
than originally anticipated or improved with non-residential uses.
as such, the housing buffer that the was established when the city adopted
its housing element has shrunk and state law requires cities to identify
alternative sites when a shortfall for any income level and arena
allocation is established. State legislation has also continued to evolve over the
past few years around housing element law and increasingly supersedes or
requires additional action from local jurisdictions to maintain compliance.
together these and other factors require a continuous reassessment and adaptation
of local programs and policies including our general plan.
the next few slides will individually walk through each of the proposed changes shown. First here
is long beach boulevard between bixby road and 37th street. Both sides
of this corridor are proposed to be changed from comedic commercial to neighborhood serving corridor low
and consequently rezone from the existing cca zone to the mixed use
mu two zone. This will expand availability of multifamily housing on a major
corridor in a high resource area of the city and attest address potential black concerns
given the significant upheaval that has affected commercial only spaces
since 2020. As a result of the covid-19 pandemic and a global decline
in office occupancy. The next change
proposed is for the western park are the 3,700 block of atlantic avenue.
these parcels are currently zoned as our four end and are de developed primarily as the
bixby towers. The land use settlement erroneously designated this area as
exclusively commercial making the existing residential use non-conforming with the general
plan. Additionally, under the housing crisis act of 2019, cities
are borrowed from reducing or eliminating housing development potential via either
a land use or zoning designation change compared to what was of in effect as of january
of 2018. As a result, the place type designation must be updated
to one that allows for multi-family residential as a buy right use staff
has proposed nsel as a new place type and mum as a new zone to allow
for both residential and commercial uses to continue to be permitted along the corridor.
shown next is a parcel at 4 0 1 east 37th street on the northeast corner
with elm avenue, which is proposed to be converted from founding and contemporary neighborhood
to mfrl. This parcel is currently developed a single story office
building that is in use as a local scout service center for the boy scouts of america long
beach area council. It is considered a double lot as it is twice the width and size
of the typical single family lot found in this area. This site was
selected for a re-designation due to its existing commercial use being unpermitted. Under the
current zoning, the large lot size and location as a corner lot and adjacency
to existing multi-family residential uses and zoning on the southern half of 37th street.
the proposed change would expand missing middle housing opportunities in
a high resource area of the city. Help to address the city's housing elements that inventory
inventory deficit as required by state law and facilitate the production
of ownership housing of which the city has produced a relatively small share throughout its
current arena. Cycle staff also notes that multiple residents who lived in
the in the vicinity of the site attended planning commission in fairbury to express opposition
to changing the place type designation at this site.
next is a commercial development at 46 47 long beach boulevard. This
is a correction to address a mapping error from the 2019 lue as a parcels
shown here were erroneously designated as open space. The
proposed change will correct a mistake by designating the parcels as nsel and have
mu two zoning to match the rest of the corridor. Finally,
one last map cleanup is proposed for the thirty three hundred and thirty four hundred block
of andy street in north on beach. This area was again erroneously designated as
neo industrial and is currently fully developed as existing multi-family
residential. Additionally, there
are a series of proposed text changes to the land of settlement to address inconsistencies, clarify
standards and ensure alignment with the zoning code and compliance with applicable state housing laws.
these include updates to the table and text, providing guidance for housing density and
high limits for place types, as well as making additions to the land use
settlement place types and zoning consistency matrix table, also known as table
lu dash six to reflect the applicability of new title 22 zoning
districts across the corresponding place types. Finally, there's specific revisions
to the neo industrial regulations to eliminate rigid parking standards that are more appropriate to be contained
in the zoning code. The proposed changes to
table table lu dash six are shown here in red. This consistency
matrix dictates zoning alignment and leg and eligibility for rezoning based on the
given play site. The table has not been updated since title 22 was established
and therefore does not currently reflect title 22 zones. Updating the table
will help ensure future rezoning efforts remain consistent, streamlined and objective.
finally, all requirements under s ql were met through an addendum to the 2019
land settlement eir. All public noticing requirements were met as previously
noticed as well with that staff recommends approval of the project and
is available for any questions you may have. This includes staff presentation.
alright, thank you. And now go to public comment.
uh, we have six members of the public signed up to speak. When you hear your name,
please make your way to the front cordless lee tara rigg,
uh, jean williams, jim henigan, rohelio martinez,
and dan smith. Some of this might've been entered wrong. I know some of his
last names are different. Um, cordless, you're up first.
hi cordless lee here, east side voice of long beach.
um, the issue here is that the lue wording changes
are flying under the radar. This is
being handled under this bixby rezoning
when in fact this affects the entire city,
the entire city. As you saw when the lue
went through in 20, what was it, 20 18, 20 19,
I think a meeting by my house brought in 800 people.
800 people were interested in density and
heights and this, they have no idea
this is going on. You've put
this in under bixby rezoning. The only people that are attending
these meetings are people from bixby I found
out by accident. So I think you
owe the people of this city meetings so that they
can see what's going on. They can see what's gonna affect their neighborhood.
the problems with density and height are traffic, parking, crime
and garbage. We went through that in the
1980s, 1990s, the press telegram local newspaper
published how an apartment boom turned in neighborhoods into
mean streets. How long beach zoning mistakes
created a disaster in long beach neighborhoods. I sent you
those links and I hope you look at 'em. That's what you're
headed for here. If you make these lue wording changes
and especially if you do them without letting the public know what's going on.
I'm appalled.
alright, tara. Good
evening mayor and uh, members of the city council. My name is tara regie. I'm the president
of the california heights neighborhood association representing approximately 1600
homes within one of the largest historic districts, um, in long beach.
I'm speaking tonight regarding agenda item 33 and the proposed edition of the word average
to the city's development standards. At first glance, this may appear
to be a small technical amendment. However, from a neighborhood preservation standpoint,
words matter, planning language matters. The standards we adopt today
become the rules that guide development decisions for years to come. Our concern
is that introducing the word average creates ambiguity where clarity currently
exists. Historic neighborhoods like cal heights rely on the
objective and predictable standards to ensure that new development remains compatible
with the existing character of the community. When standards become less precise,
they become more open to interpretation. That uncertainty can make
it more difficult for residents to understand how future projects will be evaluated
and congratulate erode the neighborhood character that generations of long beach residents
have worked hard to preserve. And I wanna strongly emphasize that california
heights is not opposed to growth. We understand that long beach must
continue to evolve and accommodate future housing needs. However, growth
and preservation are not mutually exclusive. We can support new development,
we can support affordable development while still maintaining clear standards
that provide certainty to residents, property owners and developers and city
staff alike. Historic districts represent some of long beach's, most unique
and valuable neighborhoods. Their character is not accidental. It is the result
of thoughtful planning, preservation efforts and development standards that have helped protect
these communities over time. We ask the council to carefully consider the unintended
consequences of this language change. If the goal is to improve flexibility, we
encourage the city to provide stronger safeguards and clear definitions so that
neighborhood compatibility remains a priority. On the behalf of the california
heights neighborhood association, we respectfully request that the council reconsider
the proposed average language and ensure that any amendments preserve the
clarity, predictability, and neighborhood protections that our residents depend on.
thank you. Thank you. Jean is next. Jean williams
and after jean is jim. Yeah. Hello. Good
evening. Um, I wanna add really quick, I know in all your marketing
that that was fantastic, that video and I was on the citizens,
uh, the queensway bay citizens advisory committee back in the early nineties that started all
of it with the aquarium. So I'm excited to see that. Yeah, thumbs up.
and also you show in the marketing sometimes our neighborhood, the los cerritos neighborhood
and how historic those homes are too. To add on to
what, and I sent a letter to all of you an email when we're talking about
the text language in this is very, very important as tara mentioned.
and adding onto that, let's just define average. Average
in math is a single number that represents the central
typical value of a set of data. Most
commonly referring to the arithmetic, meaning it is calculated by
adding all the numbers in a set together, then dividing the sum
by the total count of numbers. And now then you have over
here the report from the planning commission, a 96 page document
that should have cleared all that up. Instead, use the
word typical in this definition, typical describes
something that acts as a classic expected or representative's
example of a specific group category or
situation. It implies conformity to a recognized norm
and is synonymous with words like ordinary, standard and characteristic.
I want you, I would like for you to just delay the vote. You had it.
I'm, I'm pro affordable housing, I understand what's going on in california.
I have kids where this has been a problem. That is not it. You had it tonight,
you could have approved it tonight and somehow this word average got slipped
in to the text. Um, language. You need to be,
it needs to go over it, it needs to be rectified and
then bring it back to the council. And I have another question for you.
when this was approved by the planning commission, did they know, was this brought to their attention,
this change in the text of putting average into
it, into the language? Because otherwise it has to
be. If you're going to add this to me, this means that that, uh, building
on wardlow and cerritos is illegal because the
standard in that area is not originally seven story.
now it's five story. It's not typical or common in that
area. So see you've gone from black and white to
gray. It's gonna be challenge. You'll be challenged every step of the way.
I don't want this, I want affordable housing to can you on,
you know, restaurants and et cetera can't exist if we don't have density. That's
part of the problem there too. Anyway, I don't know how I'm ever gonna get down to 90 seconds
in the future here, which you're voting on tonight. Thank you.
thank you. Hearings. Hearings
will still be three minutes. Those are, those are legal proceedings. All right, next is jim.
uh, well honorable mayor and members of the council.
um, I've been doing this for 25 years, speaking on behalf of my neighbor,
my neighborhood. I'd like to mention a neighbor facing some health issues who spoke at the planning commission
but can't make it because he can't take the anxiety anymore.
um, at, I'm speaking specifically about the 4 0 1 east 37th
boy scouts property that's being up zoned. I would
request that that be deleted from zone in and zone in can go on without it.
there's no project supposedly because a developer has not
paid fees, but there's a shadow project the developer has the property
under option has been waiting three years for a promised zoning
change. He said he was going to wait for the city so that they could build
by. Right. I object to the actual proposed changes.
higher density and greater height is inappropriate and unjustified north
of a natural physical border of 37th street into a large
fcn neighborhood that's been preserved for 50 plus years.
we are told that existing r one n zoning would allow four units at
two stories each with an a du and I think that's plenty zoning.
bixby isn't bringing anything new or innovative here. Zoning bixby talks about
bringing mixed use and saying this parcel is been
an office for in an r one residential zone for 70 years.
purpose-built as an office. It was never anything else.
it's just this is just the same push for higher density, greater height,
higher market rate housing profit for a developer.
no regard for the community and the character of the neighborhood or the views of the residents.
no innovation, nothing for low income. Same old, same old.
we're told we're we're. This is gonna address missing middle housing. The
west side of elm is r two. There's multiple three unit properties.
the east side has several two unit properties, several adu.
it's not just some mansion plex. I object
to the process. In addition to what's being proposed,
the normal process of application for entitlements for mfrl
in an existing fcn place type would mean details of
the development would be forthcoming with a proposal
in actual payment of fees. Then whatever remains of a se equa
analysis would come out because there was a general plan amendment requested
and the proceedings would be noticed to the community. We'd get
a sign at the site, we'd get notice to three, the 300
foot radius that would be mailed. Developers been waiting for this.
why not build four to five, four or six houses with
a garden, maybe affordable for first time owners, maybe
for veterans, maybe for immigrants, maybe somebody who's been victimized by
ice. We can do better. Thank you.
thank you jim. Uh, lio.
rogelio martinez, north long beach resident district nine.
so, um, whenever the city
proposes a presentation that regards the arena numbers,
um, I would recommend that you add a hyperlink
to the scorecard as far as what our city is doing with regards
to accessory dwelling units, junior accessory
dwelling units, senate bill number nine units, and
the, I guess now defunct 400 square feet micro
dwelling units that were supposed to be built along high traffic
corridors like one was mentioned today.
what I did not see in this report was you did mention the
census tracks, but you did not mention the keywords opportunity
zones that was missing as well. You did mention the
missing middle housing, which I think we can all agree that that
is much needed, but it does come at a cost. And
then what you failed to also put in the report was at
what expense are the taxpayers on the hook for
the two mistakes that your department did, right?
the addie blocks and the open space.
how much is that correction going to cost us?
and that was it for my public comments. I do not approve this, but I know
that, put it this way, all of these people are going to say
yay, like is the common thing. But this is not a
good thing for you residents of long beach. And like the lady that spoke
way ahead of the time, this does not just affect the cal heights
bigsby area. This is going to affect citywide. So please pay attention.
thank you. Alright dan,
that would be don smith . It's all right . Sometimes
it's entered incorrectly. Forgive me. Um, I'm adamantly against
the zoning change to the corner of our neighborhood, as jim explained at 4 0 1
east 37th, the boy scout. That's what I'm here to address. I live
five parcels away from that property and, and the, the staff
refers to our neighborhood as a foundational and contemporary neighborhood. And that
line obviously is driven at drawn at 37th street. So
if you allow this zoning to encroach in our neighborhood, then I plead
to you give me the same right? Why stop there.
I wanna parcel half the size of this subject parcel. I can get eight units on that
site on my site. Okay, why stop, just
give the whole block the opportunity to do the same as the corner ruin the whole neighborhood.
okay, so 35 years ago I moved up into
the neighborhood and I moved under the flight path of the airport. I didn't complain.
I moved, I plead to you give me the same right to build eight
more unaffordable units so I can move again out of
long beach, I promise.
alright, well that concludes public comment. We'll now, uh, close
that portion of the hearing, take it back behind the rail. Um,
just a a few, a few comments. There are a number of, um, hearings that, that
we're conducting today. Um, zone in I I'll tell
you, I've seen the zone in process and um, across all across our
city, we're a city with very distinct and diverse, uh, neighborhoods and communities
and we were one of the ones to start it. Uh, up and uptown. Uptown
uptown planning council member rick. So do you remember when you were a resident when we started
and eventually a planning commissioner? Um, we're on our second
update in the downtown second major update in our downtown, but it's
happening all across our city. And the goal is,
uh, to be able to, to plan and address the changes
and think about growth in a way that is smart and equitable across the whole
city, while also preserving character, uh,
in your communities and have local conversations by neighborhood as
opposed to one big conversation across the city. A lot of communities haven't
done this work and we've been, we've been ahead of many communities by
actually doing this ground up process and making sure that we, we address
this, these challenges in a very boutique way. But I
think it's also important to acknowledge who we are in long beach. We are city
that is taking very intentional steps to affirmatively further
fair housing, which is a federal requirement to do so,
given the history of discriminatory housing
practices and land use policies in our city. And these are not opinions. This is
a fact. We had discriminatory practices in our city,
which have led to a tale of two cities.
now we have responsibility in our federal government, which
is also enshrined in our state law, that we have to
affirmatively further fair housing, meaning take affirmative steps to address
economic segregation that has created, uh, this tale of two cities
in our city for the last 80 plus years by going community,
by community and addressing housing and growth in a very thoughtful way. This
is being responsible about addressing, addressing equity.
now, every community may feel differently about this, but as the mayor and thinking about
the whole city of macro, I certainly support going through and updating all
the zoning in advance and not looking at a cookie cutter approach.
taking the state's, uh, arena process and allocating it
flat across the city. Go figure out how to build 26,000 units without a
real strategic plan on how to get there and how to do. So. We should be thinking about how we
invest in housing in all of our communities in a thoughtful way. How we leverage
housing and investment to create more economic opportunity onto corridors
and create opportunities for families to be able to raise children with dignity in
every part of our community. And if we, if we behave like
communities, other communities have operated completely different in orange county, other ways
they've gotten their housing, their ability to do their local planning for
housing taken away completely. That's not an option.
we have to go through the hard conversations, go through the process of really thoughtfully
thinking about our neighborhoods. We may everyone may not agree
and that's okay and that's why we have elections. That's why we have planning commissions.
but I will say, uh, I think the way long beach is going about it
is the right way and we should continue to support local planning efforts broken out by
neighborhood. Like the zone in pro process has gone. I'll also say we
have council people to know the very, the nuances in each of the districts. I
wouldn't expect any of the council members to be experts in anyone else's district. That's why
we have local council people to know those on the ground dynamics. And in this case,
I trust council member kerr's, uh, leadership in this moment. So we're gonna go to council member kerr.
thank you mr. Mayor. Uh, I wanna thank director kuntz and the community development team for their
thorough and informative presentation tonight. I also wanna thank the community members who
came out to share their thoughts and feedback as well as those have who have submitted
online comments, uh, which I have received and seen tonight.
as mentioned, the bixby zoning and the whole zoning in process citywide has been ongoing for
quite some time. The bixby zoning specifically since march of 2023.
I appreciate the hard work it's taken over the last several years to bring us to this point. Uh,
with information, with meetings, with walks, uh, with comment periods, with
responses from the team, I believe it's extremely important that as a city we
continue to modernize and meet the ever-changing needs of our residents and community. There is
much that makes bix spin olds a special and unique community from the active and thriving
business corridor to the lively and engaged residential neighborhoods. And I firmly feel
that this rezoning work with I, which I share with district eight, allows us
to continue to plan for the future where these things remain to be true.
as someone who's lived here my whole life, I've seen a number of changes in bixby olds to date and
I think many of them have been for the better. We continue to create neighborhood staples
and businesses and restaurants. We've seen community activations increase over time.
companies large and small want to be located nearby and the pride in a well connected
community continues to thrive. The neighborhood has evolved naturally, but
in truth it has its strength and its challenges. Even with an active community.
we still have businesses close, vacant lots, linger longer, leaving the
opportunity for blight, underuse and misuse of spaces that can be
reimagined to benefit us all by actively reassessing what types of buildings
and uses are most appropriate in certain areas. We have the ability to encourage uses
that are forward thinking, growth oriented and beneficial to the entire long beach
community. I know some people are concerned generally with the impacts of increasing affordable
housing and housing in general where it historically has not been before. But
creating opportunities for more young families to find this community affordable and accessible
should not be considered a strike against the character of the neighborhood. In fact, I think
limiting changes would be against the spirit of a well connected community. That is part of what our
makes our neighborhood so special, thoughtful rezoning will allow more opportunities
for us to welcome new families, new uses and new ideas that will continue to keep this
area thriving for generations to come. All that said, I understand
there's some concerns around the specific parcel at 4 0 1 east 37th street known as the boy
scout property, as well as the overall process for how and why
this kind of rezoning project is being carried out. Along those lines, I have
a couple of questions and I know I will go over my five minutes, so I will gladly req,
um, after my colleagues go ahead and conclude. Okay,
well I'm just getting started. So related, go through your comments okay. As the council member
in the area and we'll just great, keep going from there. Thank you. Just trying to be respectful
of everybody's time. So to the team, uh, you talked briefly
in the opening slides about the zone in process. Can you speak to how this zone in
process for bixby has been similar to the ones that have been concluded or
are currently in process and how has this process for b bixby specifically
been different? Sure. So, um, this process
has been similar in approach to our other zone end processes. So those
are all, um, read by, um, led by alejandro and those, uh,
processes, whether it was city corps and council member sorrows district
or u plan up in district eight and nine. Um, they're
led with community engagement. They're based on real world conditions, walking
the streets of the impacted area. Um, they're based on data, but they're also
constrained. We're not starting with a blank piece of paper. We're starting with an
existing adopted 2019 land use element. And we're starting with a
whole jumble of state law that highly constraints what the
city can do and points the city toward, um, additional housing,
uh, accommodation. How this particular situation was
different. So a few things. Bixby knowles is a special place
and alejandro talked about the main street approach. I know your
question is about a site that that many people are concerned about, but what was most different about this
process was that very walkable dining, shopping, uh,
area in bixby knowles and how we recreate that through zoning.
because even though those businesses exist today, if
one was to be torn down, you couldn't rebuild it the way it is today under
the rules that are on the books today. So it's really about how we can get that main street
look and feel. But then the other thing we had to do because of
years of experience since 2019 back and forth with state agencies
was we had to look at are there additional changes that need to be made?
so we looked at are there mismatches and, and we talked about, um, bixby
towers where our zoning, our um, land use element,
um, was commercial, but it's residential. Um, and then we looked at big sites.
'cause it's a high opportunity area, it's one of the first rezonings
of high opportunity areas we've done. And that's where the
office site that is in, you know, that
location but is not a normal residential lot, is a larger lot and had an office
use on it. The zoning's wrong. So it has to be fixed. One way or another
came to our attention and I had to make the call of what we were gonna do about
that. And we included that parcel in the larger effort, um, along with the
other cleanups and the other work, um, that was part of the total bundle.
so each approach is different, but we follow the
same process. And I will just say in each
one, whether it was uptown or city core, or now here in bixby, we engage
with many folks and we, we try to take all of the input in, but
not everything we receive is, is possible. And there's not always perfect
consensus in this effort. There were, uh, folks that were very interested in these
changes. There were folks that were very unhappy and
not supportive of these changes, um, that occurred in other areas too,
but that occurred here in, in this effort. Thank
you. Um, and speaking of, of the lot on 37th while we're there,
um, you talked about your, your call to, to include it in this,
um, and I, I'm not gonna assume what that was for.
I'm gonna, I think what you've conveyed to me is it's staff time.
we're already in the middle of this particular area anyway. Could you talk a little bit about why
you made that call? Yeah, so there's a number of factors. We are in our housing element
required to be looking for sites in high resource areas. And, uh, this
rezoning different than uptown. Our city core was a very high resource area,
so we were looking at where their sites mislabeled or mis zoned.
um, and then the office use itself as an office
use in a residential zone, it needed to be resolved.
um, and then the third is, if left unresolved, it opens
a future owner to basically a number of scenarios,
whether it's a 10 unit buy right or a 20 unit buy right,
or a four subdivision. Um, a scenario where the city
is exercising no control because of the unresolved mismatch
there. And we had an opportunity to figure out what plan designation and
zoning would be appropriate for the site to put that into place. Um,
and then any individual project is still gonna go through an individual project process.
so I think there was some testimony that it wouldn't be noticed and it, but that's
not correct. Um, any future project would appear on our website
if it involved, uh, a subdivision. That subdivision actually triggers
a hearing and public review. So the point isn't a short circuit
all public review. Um, the point is to take the process
partially through, um, to resolve the plan and zoning
issues. But there is still project level review, which would occur on any project.
thank you. Um, that answered my follow up question is of, so any proposed
project on any site within this zone in, whether it's long beach boulevard
like you spoke about, or 37th street, what does that process look like for
someone to come in, uh, to build something that meets the new requirement?
yeah, so it really depends on the project. Um, uh, you know, something
that's one to four units is by right? With or without this zoning change.
you know, when someone ta turns their home down and, and maybe builds a new one,
um, that doesn't trigger a public process, but any more advanced pro, uh, more substantial
projects due, and alejandro is gonna tell you more about that. Sure.
so under the proposed rezoning, um, there would still be a buy ride
approval process for projects that address certain threshold, larger projects, usually the
types of projects that, um, will have a lot more scrutiny. Um, projects
that are not a hundred percent affordable like the, in the rest of the city that has been rezoned,
um, at 50 units or more, we will have to go through a planning commission hearing process.
um, so that all remains the same. Um, I think the other part that
that's important to clarify, um, is that there
are not any changes to bixby that have not been implemented in other parts of
the city. We have not at this point, you plan which first rezoned in 2020.
we have not seen whole scale large changes in that part of the neighborhood.
um, most of the changes that have come in have been a vacant shopping center
now being allowed to have a buy right gym go into the place to, to
fill it up, where that would've been a very onerous process, not necessarily because it becomes discretionary,
but because the parking requirements that were in place under title 21 were so restrictive
that it became functionally impossible for those new sites or those sites to
be occupied by a new business. So that's the type of change that we expect to see more so
than, um, a ton of new development.
so the normal planning commission process, uh, questioning appeals and all of
that would apply to, to new projects under this? So in
that's correct. So the city has a threshold, um, in terms of the number of units
included in a housing project and whether it requires what we call site plan review. And that's a process
through which we, um, review plans, um, prior to
allowing them to move forward to the building, um, permit stage. And those get routed to different departments
for their analysis of, um, whether the, uh, proposal,
um, is appropriate, needs to be conditioned appropriately. And depending on the project
size, um, may either be done at the site plan review committee level, or a
public hearing level. Um, either way it's appealable to a public hearing. So
there's noticing requirements, there's a public hearing requirements. And so, um,
there's the five or more unit threshold that christopher mentioned. So when projects or, or
five or more, um, under the existing regulations, um,
uh, that that discretionary process does move forward. So that does allow, um,
uh, that individual review. Additionally, um, there are some changes,
um, that, um, that hcd is asking us to work on related
to changing that threshold to 10 units or more. So, um, that's something the council will have
an opportunity to weigh in on, uh, later this year, but is coming, uh, from state law.
and then christopher mentioned in many, um, ownership projects, it'd also require some sort of subdivision
action. And that is also a public hearing process, uh, through which noticing
would take place and there would be opportunity for, uh, comment and feedback.
and what are the ways that you do noticing, I know we see public postings
in certain areas that are close. Uh, what are, what are the ways that you all do
outreach or that residents in addition to getting information from the council's office
can get noticing information directly from your department? Yeah, so there's sort of two
buckets. Okay. So there is required legal noticing.
um, we post a site that's the most effective form of noticing 'cause
people are in their neighborhood and they see the sign saying, you know, project proposed in
this location. And they look at the notice. That's the number one, um, way
that we hear from people that they hear about a project. Um, we also mail
written, hear, hearing notices, depending on the specific project
and its location. It could be a short radius, like, uh, 350
feet in other circumstances, a much larger radius for things like
big warehouses, which doesn't apply in this location. But, um, so, and
we mail those. That's important. That's a traditional way of doing noticing.
we don't get a lot of response. People, I don't know, don't open their
mail or that doesn't seem to be super effective, but we do do it, um,
uh, you know, for policy changes and other, we'll sometimes
do notices in the newspaper that's, no one reads that,
but that is a legal, um, form of notice.
but then we're not done. So there's a second bucket that you use the word outreach. Um,
when we have applications, uh, we encourage applicants to
talk to their neighbors. If there's an existing neighborhood association, we
ask them to talk to the neighborhood association. When we receive an application, we
do what's called a notice of received application. Um, so that goes to other
agencies and entities around the city, but it also goes to the neighborhood association if
we have their information on file. Um, so that's part
of the less legalistic, but still important part of the project review
because we want people to talk. We want them to, to review their projects and
express, um, what, what can be done. And
if I could just add, there's also the, um, opportunity to, um, see any
public hearing notices on our website and sign up for link lb to get those notifications.
um, so some folks get every public notice that we post, which may, uh, seem like a lot,
but you're able to, to search by address. Um, and then we also have, uh, inter an interested
parties list. So there are some folks that wanna make sure they're getting that direct update from us
on every project. Um, so those are the, uh, additional ways to get that input
or get that information. Thank you. And we've talked a lot about, um,
the housing portion of this. I wanna switch over a little and talk a little bit about the
businesses. So we know that along these corridors we have, uh, buildings that
were built at different times, different uses, misuses according to, uh,
what's on paper as you were saying. Can you speak to a little bit about
what this process specifically, uh, for bixby knowles, again, you talked about that
main street atmosphere. We know that when businesses come in and
they work with an existing building that was maybe built in the fifties or the sixties, they're dealing
with issues from when that building was either built or updated. Can
you talk about the ways in terms of cutting red tape and ease of
businesses to transition into new spaces and to welcome new businesses, how this zone
in process, uh, works on the business side of the house as well?
sure. So I mentioned a little bit with the gym example. That's a highlight that
we have seen be consistent whenever we do this rezoning approach. The first kind of
classic example that we heard originally in north on beach, but has been echoed in a lot of ways,
is somebody that lives in the neighborhood looking to open up a zoo zumba studio or a coffee
shop. But then they come across, um, seemingly insurmountable
barriers with the existing zoning regulations, parking requirements, or something else
with the existing regulations, maybe the use requirements that trigger additional
thresholds or are impossible to meet and functionally mean a dead end for their
proposed business. A big focus for title 22
rezoning projects have been increased flexibility both with, um, housing,
but, um, hand in hand as well on the commercial and retail side,
to ensure that folks that are looking to grow or start a business are able to do
so without the city as an institutional roadblock. Um, and with the zoning facilitating
that rather than being a barrier that they have to rack their heads around and and
try to find, um, some mechanism, um, with planners,
um, even if it might be allowed under the current regulations,
the process to get there can sometimes be too time consuming to functionally be
realistic. And so streamlining not just whether something is permitted or not, but how quickly it
can be done is a big focus as well. And part of it is recognizing that not everything is solved
through zoning. So a big focus whenever we do engagement is hearing from community members,
from residents, from stakeholders, from business leader that say this other part
was also an issue, and being able to communicate that across other city departments. So
business licensing for example, being, um, in conversations with us so that we're learning
and sharing that information as well. Um, but on the zoning side specifically, a big focus is
to provide that flexibility, um, and recognizing that that
adaptability and flexibility is really critical. Knowing that things continuously
change, um, nothing remains the same forever. And so trying to, um,
be proactive about that and responsive to what folks raise as their core priorities
is really critical. Um, even if the actual, um,
mechanism to change can vary based on, on a given neighborhood condition. Um,
so to that end, the two zoning districts that were created specifically for the
bixby knows area, were around this main street corridor that is very clearly established
along atlantic avenue, um, that the business improvement district was very focused
on highlighting as a priority to ensure that businesses that are there can continue to grow.
um, and businesses that want to move in, um, don't have obstacles that are within
the city's control, um, to overturn. Um, so those, those two new
districts were really where we focus a lot of our technical research on a lot of our engagement kind
of q and a on, um, when it came to making sure that, um, the youth requirements
in terms of what type of businesses make the most sense when you already have an existing corridor as opposed
to charting a chart, a new one, um, were, um, prioritized,
um, that the design considerations, um, match what folks wanted to
see in their neighborhood, but remained objective and not subjective so that they were compliant with state law,
um, and that they were easy to understand, um, that they didn't turn into 300 pages of
code because we wanted to get the minutia of everything down to a t but instead
be relatively flexible and adaptable and legible so that people both
on the city side and on the public side can understand what those changes functionally are.
and it, it may be helpful to explain, most businesses interact with us when they're trying to get
their business license and move into an existing space. So I think a lot of times when people hear zoning,
they're thinking new, new development from the ground up. But most businesses find
challenges, uh, related to opening, um, and locating that, um,
that may relate to what the zoning regulations are and, and ensuring compliance. So when
we have an older, uh, built out area like this one where, as christopher mentioned,
the existing development may not, uh, in many locations doesn't meet, for example, the
setback requirements of the, of the code that's in place today. Those types of things
can put, um, barriers in the way for businesses to more easily locate and relocate in spaces
that we wanna see activated. Thank you. Um, and
that, that is the same experience I had
when working with a business that was looking to expand into, uh, a building next to them
that was a different building. And, and the requirements that were even talked
about upfront were that much more challenging than when they opened the first part of their
business. So, um, I know that this economic development piece
and the supporting businesses is, uh, really key to, to the zone in.
I think that's all the questions I have. I have gone way over. I'll allow my colleagues to answer
and if I have more, I will queue up again. Thank you. Alright, council
member th intu. All right, thank you so much. Um, you know, just
quickly, I just wanna say that I'm pleased to see that we're continuing the long term,
uh, zoning and planning update across the city. Um, the vast
majority of this planning though, as was stated by my colleague, falls within,
uh, cd five. Um, but I really appreciate the, uh,
the clarity that you've provided at 46 47 long beach boulevard.
and I also think that it, uh, really focuses in showing us how you
really fine tuning and making sure that you're being thoughtful, uh,
block by block about what's happening, um, in communities. Um, thank you for
walking through again, you know how you're reaching out. I know people were out there. I saw,
you know, folks walk in the street and trying to engage and figure out what's happening in their community
and what they'd like to see. Um, and look forward to seeing how this
impacts residents in the eighth district. Much has been discussed regarding, um,
housing. I just wanna ask a quick question related to commercial development.
um, you highlight, uh, title 22 zoning regulations, establishing
enhanced ground floor, um, design and requirements to foster
walkable, walkable neighborhoods. Um, just wanted to see how we
are gonna apply those standards in the future to redevelopments.
will it just, um, require true commercial space or will
there also be an opportunity, um, to just enhance pedestrian, uh,
friendly infrastructure?
uh, so there's, uh, updates to the
active ground floor section of the title 22 regulations.
so those were already in effect. Um, they were originally developed as part
of u plan to respond to what folks were seeing with a lot of vacant,
um, kind of pedestrian level storefronts. Um, recognizing that,
um, under state law we cannot necessarily require, uh, commercial
only. Um, but we can incentivize it and, um, provide
flexibility. Just kind of the common theme of title 22 by still line for ground
for residential, for example, as long as it's designed in a way that promotes that active
use. So if there's a multi-family residential building that goes, um,
into a major corridor, making sure that the ground floor is the leasing area or the gym or the laundry
room, something that promotes that activation that makes the street feel safer when you're walking by because you
see people, um, also living their lives, um, as you're, as
you're crossing. Um, and ensuring that that as a public safety component,
um, increases walkability and pedestrian access through a corridor.
um, there's also slight updates to the actual design standards and what qualifies as
an active use based on best practices priority, um, feedback from
community residents and lessons learned as we've, uh, established these in other
parts of the city. So that's generally where the focus has been on these updates.
thank you. Council member sorrow. Yeah, I just wanted to uplift it,
um, what my colleagues here and the mayor shared about how amazing our community
development department is and really taking a neighborhood block by
block approach, uh, because when they did, uh, zone in
city corps, it wasn't a cookie cutter approach in every neighborhood.
you know, I represent a district that has been dis historically disinvested
in planning was done in a mishmash. Uh, you know,
we'll put it in as we feel like it approach where you'll have a tire
shop right next to a supermarket and then you'll have a storage
space next to something really random, which
at a liquor store or smoke shop, right? So we
took, uh, they took this as an opportunity to really hear residents and advocates
to think about a program that can empower and educate, uh, neighborhood
leaders to be able to learn how to map and
see what they want instead of what they don't want. And I think that that's something
of a good approach that our team, uh, our city staff has taken in seeing well, what
could work? How can we hear back from you and what you really want? 'cause oftentimes
when people say that they don't oppose growth, sometimes
that means that they don't want growth in their neighborhood or their community.
but the fact is that our city, and even in general throughout
we've seen there is growth because of the need for housing. And so
I do know that in long beach, in central and downtown, we've
had major density because of the larger number of housing,
especially affordable housing being built in central long beach. So
I'm really happy that we're able to, to provide affordable
housing, but we can't carry that alone as a district. It needs
to be distributed out to the city. And that's just something I wanna share. It's not saying
that every district or neighborhood has to have
specific cookie cutter approach in how we're gonna address growth. And that's
what I, the process is, is how do we have that kind of dialogue and discussion.
so that's what I just wanted to share is, and you know, I'm proud that they're
getting an award from the american planning association, uh,
la chapter at the, the end of this month for this innovative approach. And I'm
excited to join them with our community leaders to receive this award to show
that it doesn't have to be one way, one size fits all,
but being responsive and thoughtful, what a community needs and working with them
to be creative, uh, on how do we address, uh,
a zoning issue that works for the neighborhood. So, thank you.
alright, thank you. We now have five votes to take on this hearing.
let's queue up the first vote, please. So that first vote is the adoption of
the resolution to adopt and certify the addendum to the programmatic eir
for the general plan land use element update in the urban design element,
um, which evaluates and covers the actions you're taking tonight. Members,
please cast your vote. Motion is carried. Alright,
next vote please. The next vote is to adopt the ordinance amending the identified titles
in title 22 to implement the new zuni di di districts
for the implementation of the lue place types. All right, members, please
cast your vote carried.
thank you. Next vote please. The third vote is to adopt the resolution that adopts
the general plan map amendments and makes those proposed findings related
to, um, those updates for the greater bpal area and andy
street in north long beach. Motion is carried.
oh, motion carried. Great. Next one. And this is to adopt the ordinance for a zoning
map change as described by staff and to, um, adopt the related
findings there too.
motion is carried. Thank you. Next vote. And the last vote is to adopt the
resolution for the general plan text amendments.
motion is carried. Great. Thank you. Uh, that was
the longest of the hearings. Uh, we'll solve those and then we'll go to the,
after the hearing, we'll go to the, uh, violence prevention hearing
item 32 or 31
report from community development recommendation to receive supporting documentation
and to the record, conclude the public hearing and adopt resolution
to adopt and certify an addendum to the program environmental impact
report prepared for the general plan, land use element
and urban design element relating to a zone change and general
plan amendment in accordance with provisions of sqa guidelines and
making certain findings and determinations that no new
or different mitigation measures are required. Adopt resolution
approving a city initiated general plan map amendment
to change the land use place type and height limit and adopt ordinance
for a city initiated zoning map change to amend the zoning
designation for a property at 57 0 5 through
57 23 lyme avenue. Read the first time and laid
over to the next regular meeting of the city council for final reading district eight.
all right. Uh, is there a staff report on this one brief? Yes. We have
jonathan iniesta, planner for community development. Yeah. And we
just went from a really large area wide rezoning to looking at one specific,
uh, property with some cleanups needed. So quick presentation here from jonathan.
good evening, honorable mayor and members of city council. The item before you today is
a proposed rezoning and general plan amendment for a city owned parcel at 5 7 2 1
lime avenue. Little bit of background before we get into
the specifics of the site. 2019 city council adopted
an update to the general plan land use settlement, or lue 2020
adoption of the first re zoning to implement that newly created lue districts through
the first phase of what was known as u plan. Subsequently, 2024,
phase two of u plan was adopted.
the map here on the left shows the updated lue place types, specifically in north
long beach. The map on the right shows the two phases of u plan. Phase
one was focused on atlantic and artesia corridors and included a partial rezoning
of the subject site. Now looking at
the site itself, it is located just southeast of the quarter of south and
atlantic. The parcel is 18,800 square feet, currently
undeveloped, vacant, and is adjacent to a commercial and residential
uses to the north single multi-family residential to the south and
east institutional uses to the east and commercial uses to
the west along atlantic avenue.
this slide shows the maps of the existing split zoning and split
lue place types slightly over a quarter of the parcel is currently zoned
mu two a with the place type of nscm three stories.
this combination allows for a variety of residential and commercial uses
and up to 54 dwelling units per acre. The rest of
the subject site is zoned r three s, which allows up to three units
per lot and has a place type of scn, which allows for 18
dwelling units per acre.
if we zoom out, this map here on this slide shows broader place type
designations for the surrounding area. Both atlantic avenue and south
street are major corridors identified as areas of change with mixed
use and multi-family designations at three stories throughout and
four stories at the north side of that intersection.
additionally, the u plant process identified clear priorities that included addressing
blights under investments and vacant spaces while promoting
complete neighborhoods in conjunction with increased economic developments
and new housing development with varied housing types.
ultimately, the split designation has presented a major issue
to development or use opportunities, which helps to explain
why the project site has been vacant all this time.
as for the zoning context, this map shows the broader zoning classifications
in the surrounding area. This stretch of lime is zoned,
uh, r three s, which allows for small scale multifamily residential.
while the project site is not in the city housing element site inventory,
it is designated as surplus property for sale in combination with
the adjacent parcel to the north, which is entirely zoned
mm u2 a and is currently developed with a, uh,
vacant commercial building.
the proposed changes would affect the southern portion of the subject site to
address the split zoning by making the entire parcel
the same zone mu two a with the high limit of three stories.
this would also result in both city old parcels having consistent
zoning and facilitate developments of both properties
given the existing conditions impediments to developments.
and while addressing blight that the current, uh, split designation presents
staff has made findings to support the change. As a
result, this accomplishes multiple city policy goals of fostering
complete neighborhoods, continuing to prioritize development
with new housing opportunities along major corridors, near
transit hubs, and expanding housing opportunities at
all levels for all types of families while minimizing,
uh, direct displacement of tenants.
this light further summarizes the project alignment with the city policies found in
various general plan elements, which include land use, housing,
air quality, and mobility.
as part of the environmental review, an addendum, uh, was
prepared for the land use settlements, uh, program eir,
um, which analyzed this project. None of the conditions requiring
a new subsequent or supplemental environmental report are
present with
that city staff recommends the city council accept planning commission's
recommendation as proposed. Thank you.
alright, that concludes that presentation. One member of the public sign up to speak
rogelio
lio martinez, district nine north long beach resident.
so what did not make the report
was, you know, as the public, I would urge you to ask
this council and this mayor and this planning department
for a list because it should be that transparent.
a list of city owned properties, that's number one.
number two, a list of vacant properties
and what use meaning, how people can
utilize those properties because they did mention
blight. And then lastly, 'cause I'm not gonna take
all three minutes, they mentioned very casually the
person that was talking about the report, and I don't know if you caught it, but I did,
but I'll repeat it. Direct displacement,
displacing of tenants. Very fancy word for
moving people out, and I'll repeat it.
direct displacement of tenants. So hopefully
those buzzwords caught your attention because in 2028,
the olympics are coming to two cities, los angeles and
long beach. And believe me, there's gonna be a lot of tenants
that are gonna be displaced. So please pay attention
to what's happening during these two hearings. That's it. Thank you.
all right. We'll take it back behind the rail council member
thrash and took. Thank you so much, mayor. I need a motion a second here too. Oh, uh,
I moved and it's seconded by, uh, councilwoman rick sodi.
oh, okay. Great. It's not on my screen. Maybe it's the computer. Go ahead.
okay. Thank you, mayor. Um, so first of all, I do believe
that this is a great example of the power of zoning
and the potential to create new, potentially
affordable housing at a site, um, that's appropriate in scale
and size for the community. Um, this particular site as it stands
today, is completely empty. It's underutilized. There's no
activity, um, on the site. And given what you've described and shown us,
uh, directly regarding the mismatch of zoning uses, there is no
way for a developer to move forward with developing the much needed housing
that my community has been asking for. So with the zoning change that
we'll be able to have here tonight, uh, this will turn this asset into
the city owned asset, into a viable, uh, opportunity for development for
no less than 60 to 70, uh, community members and maybe, uh,
families beyond that, um, in the area. So, um, thank you for this.
um, I look forward to, uh, supporting this motion going forward. Thank
you. All right. Uh, thank
you. We'll, now how many votes on this? Three votes.
three votes. Now go to three votes. So the first vote is
on the environmental, which is the adoption of the addendum to the peir
for the lue.
motion carried. Second
vote please. The second vote is a resolution approving the city initiated general plan
map amendment to address the change for the lyme 57 0 5 57 23
avenue location.
motion carried final vote. And the last vote is the ordinance
for the city initiated zoning map change and to adopt those proposed for findings
related there too. Motion carried.
alright, thank you. Alright, our final hearing. Uh, we
have to take care of, uh, hearing item 32,
report from community development recommendation to receive supporting
documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing review
and adopt an addendum to the initial study negative declaration
for the enhanced density bonus program. Update declare ordinance
adopting zoning code amendment to update the existing enhanced density bonus
to align with the provisions of the inclusionary housing ordinance.
add special bonuses for projects, providing community benefits,
and implement other procedural and implementation streamlining changes.
read the first time and laid over to the next regular meeting of the city council
for final reading and adopt resolution supporting
a local coastal program amendment to update the existing regulations
for enhanced density bonus in title 21 and to submit associated
materials and findings related to changes to the long beach municipal
code to the california coastal commissions for its review and
certification citywide.
right. Let's go through staff presentation please. Okay. We have christian turner
planner for community development. May we have
a second please? Thank
you. Good evening, honorable mayor and members of city council
before you. Tonight is a zoning code amendment for an update to the regulations to the city's
local density bonus program known as enhanced density bonus.
this proposal is an implementation action of our housing element, uh, designed to better align
the city density bonus incentives with the requirements of our inclusionary
inclusionary housing ordinance, while also adding special bonuses for projects, providing
community benefits, and implementing procedural and streamlining changes to
the city's density bonus program. Before we jump
into the details of the proposed changes, let's start with square one, defining density
and density bonus. So, residential density is the number of dwelling units allowed
on a specific area of land, uh, development standards in the city's land use
and zoning code documents regulate density and density can be expressed in
the form of a single number, like 16 units on a parcel or dwelling units
per acre, like 44 dwelling units per acre. Density bonus, on
the other hand, is an optional program to allow for an increase in residential density
beyond what would otherwise be allowed under the current development standards. Uh,
this includes modification development standards to help a housing project pencil
out for some background. Uh, the state of california has
offered a density bonus program since the 1970s, which housing developments anywhere
in the state can opt into, uh, here in 2021 in long beach, we started
our own local density bonus program called enhanced density bonus, uh,
to make mixed income and multifamily housing more viable in the long beach context.
in 2022, the city adopted its current housing element with a focus on producing
more housing and more housing at various income levels, including mixed income housing,
um, and affordable rate, uh, units. And as part of the housing element, we committed
to studying and proposing updates to our enhanced density bonus program.
today, as councils aware, uh, we face greater challenges in facilitating more housing
development, including less federal funding, high interest rates, high
construction costs, uh, which means that building housing and especially affordable housing,
continues to be an incredibly expensive endeavor. Uh, we know the
updates are needed to our existing ordinance, uh, since housing projects are still using
state density bonus program at a rate of four times our local density bonus
program. And today we have multiple state density bonus projects, uh, that
are in construction or have been completed in long beach, while only one enhanced density
bonus project has got to the building and permit stage. And none have been constructed
underscoring the need to update our local program,
but it's not been without significant effort, uh, planning commission. And this city council took great
strides to adopt and updates to the city's inclusionary housing ordinance last year,
um, expanding the requirements to be citywide and including a lot more affordability
required by the ordinance. And these are bold steps, uh, that go hand in hand with today's updates
to density bonus, uh, density bonus. And inclusionary really can be seen as sibling
policies that work together. Um, our inclusionary housing ordinance requires,
uh, housing projects with 10 or more units to include a percentage of affordable units
based on the project's location. And density bonus is a voluntary program that
gives a spectrum of benefits to those multifamily housing projects for providing those affordable
units or for, uh, providing community serving amenities. So how
does this actually work? Uh, let's think about a hypothetical housing development. Um, say we
have a piece of land where the base density allows the property owner to build a 30 unit project.
if you're a visual, uh, learner like me, we can visualize these little blue blocks that
represent 30 blue, uh, units on the left. So this hypothetical project is over 10
units, and it requires the inclusion of 12% low income units. So
now moving to that middle box, this means of those 30 units, four are going
to be low income. That's, uh, shown in orange in the center diagram. The
remaining 26 can be market rate. So in exchange for providing those
four low income units, the property owner can take advantage of a density bonus.
this is now on the right hand side of the screen. They're eligible for an additional 12 units to
their project, and they could build all a few or none of those, uh, additional units,
but it's a benefit available to the project.
uh, to help ground our effort. In updating our, uh, local density bonus, we analyzed five
other municipalities that have density bonus programs, uh, the city of la, san
francisco, culver city, la county, and city of seattle. Some larger, some
smaller than us. All of the other cities that we researched go
above and beyond the state density bonus and provide many benefits to projects such
as including, uh, the benefit for adding two to three additional stories
in height, waiving parking minimums, streamlining the permit process for the
affordable housing among any many other things. All of them also
give special bonuses for amenities like childcare facilities or public open space
or neighborhood serving commercial uses, uh, for those projects.
as you're aware, the city has continued obligation to do more to facilitated housing at
all levels, especially affordable housing, um, on our regional housing needs assessment.
as you know, we're halfway through our, uh, eight year arena and we've only, uh,
permitted about a quarter of the overall housing need. And of that only 6% has
been for our affordable housing target, um, indicating that we are significantly
behind on, uh, facilitating the process of more affordable housing. And
enhanced density bonus seeks to address this head on. Um, in
addition to talking with staff and having focus groups, uh, with key stakeholders, we spent a lot
of time over the past year talking to residents. We tabled at community events, we
hosted two workshops, um, did some stakeholder interviews and enhanced
density bonus took center stage at, uh, two big open houses that the planning bureau
did, focusing on housing policy, one in the fall, one in the spring. Uh, of
those two events, we had over 161 attendees and we also received
over 156 written comments over the course of the year. Um, in addition, again,
to dozens of conversations with residents on the ordinance. Um, a detailed report
of those comments are included, um, as an attachment. Um, and I'll summarize those
50 pages here. Um, there's a lot of support for improving the usefulness of the,
the policy. There's a desire to increase affordable housing and affordability requirements
concerns over the impact of parking availability, concerns over the preservation of
historic, uh, character and density increases in single family neighborhoods.
we received a lot of ideas of support for more special bonuses, particularly,
uh, for housing in proximity to parks and community members also
underscored the need for increased bonuses for all affordability levels.
um, so let's talk about those special bonuses. Um, currently we have the opportunity
for developers to tap into special bonuses, um, for developments
that are including larger bedrooms that accommodate families or projects that build onsite,
uh, childcare. And so the proposed ordinance would add new special bonuses
for projects that are doing any of the following, uh, locating within a thousand feet of a
park, removing a nuisance property, um, projects that are providing senior housing
projects with an active ground floor use like a restaurant or a grocery store. Projects
that adhere to higher labor standards that are encouraged by the state, like using,
uh, union labor or prevailing wage. The ordinance also
includes some technical cleanups to improve the usability of the ordinance and clarify, um,
and ensure compliance requirements, um, with added bonuses tailored to for sale
projects, which comply with our inclusionary housing requirements.
this project, uh, was noticed in accordance with the municipal code requirements, including
the press, telegram, um, posting in public places and libraries. Um, and since
publishing of the hearing notice staff have received three public comments in support, um,
environmental review. Um, we had an addendum to the previously approved in initial
study and negative declaration, which was prepared and included in your hearing
materials and staff recommends the council approve,
uh, the ordinance update and corresponding resolution for the environmental review, uh, of the project
and submit to the california coastal commission at a future time. Thank you.
alright, that concludes our presentation. We have one member of the public signed up to speak
rogelio
rogelio martinez, north long beach resident district nine.
so at what cost, because in
the report you referenced that we are only meeting 25%
of our arena num target, uh, which
concludes on 2029. So at what cost
to the taxpayer, meaning do we lose some kind of government
funding for not meeting that, that target?
does it cost us money out of our pocket? What's the
cost of not meeting that arena? Number, number
two, um, the person that did the presentation
was a planner, number four, that was the title. If that
was your idea with the blocks, the yellow and the blue blocks,
that was outstanding because most people are visual. So
if that was your idea, good job on that. Thank you.
special bonuses. I didn't hear things like an innovative
idea, which is not new. It's not something that I invented, but I should have heard
in special bonuses, property tax subsidies.
what I didn't hear in the presentation was as a special bonus,
streamline permitting process for set projects because
of permitting in our city. I don't have to tell you, but it sucks.
and then lastly, as a special bonus, what about the residents of
long beach? There should be a special bonus for hiring
general contractors that live in the city, subcontractor
subcontractors that live in the city. We need to put people to
work. That's all I have.
that concludes public comment. Taking it back behind the rail.
let's see. Council member thrash into, thank you so much, mayor.
um, so I really consider this to be a very innovative
way to really think about how we continue to add units, um, to
our housing stock within the city. Um, so thank you for taking the time to both
visually share that with the community, um, in the way that you did and for the staff
and all that is necessary in order to optimize this code. Uh, while this has been
a long set of hearings, I'm really pleased tonight that I feel like we're making great
progress on our housing, uh, element and our goals accordingly.
uh, so we were able to start with looking at zone in and one part of our city
that is a high opportunity part of our city, uh, which is a great place
to put housing for families that needed most. Then we went to a
specific site specifically within my district that I'm very excited about bringing housing,
uh, to that site and activating an underutilized and vacant site.
and then finally here we have the enhanced, uh, density bonus,
which will allow us to be able to make a number of sites much more attractive,
um, to developers without having to add any additional dollars
to, uh, development. So I think that, um, you know,
this again, is just a great way to think about whatever our long-term strategy is.
um, do all we can to get towards, uh, hitting our arena goals, if not exceeding
them, uh, by the time we get to the end of the time period. And I look
forward to supporting this motion. Thank you. Thank
you. Council member sorrow. Yeah, I wanna add my support to this item. I too, wanna reiterate.
that was a great presentation, but I will note that you may wanna change the
colors to like gradients because there are people who are colorblind
that can't see those colors. So just for consideration. But that was a great explanation.
uh, I just wanted to reiterate again how, um, great it is that,
uh, you know, our department, uh, planners are thoughtful in ways that we can incentivize
development throughout our city so that they're not all in one
area. Uh, I've shared this before because, uh, we do need to meet arena
goal. Uh, can you re can you share again why it's so important
to meet arena goals? Uh, not only because it addressed the need
for housing that we see today, um, but other reasons. Right,
right. So there's kind of some key reasons that rena is important. So the first one
really has nothing to do with arena. It has to do with the people that live in our city.
and we are a, uh, majority renter city.
and most of those renters are cost burdened. Some of them are severely
cost burdened, meaning they're paying a very high proportion of their income as rent. Many
of them are also experiencing overcrowding and some are both experiencing
overcrowding and substandard conditions, living in conditions that don't
provide them, um, the safety and dignity that we would all expect of,
um, the housing. And we can't improve any of that
situation without producing more housing. So that's sort of the first reason. The second reason is
legally we are required to facilitate
the full arena allocation that we receive from the state. So the word
is facilitate. We don't control the market. Um, and
there's not a specific consequence to not meeting the arena
if we do everything necessary to facilitate
the market being able to provide that. So that means we provide available sites. We
have a process that makes sense and works. We have bonuses such as the item
tonight. We have appropriate zoning such as the, the item before this. Um, so
that's kind of a second one. And then the third is if we're
not taking those steps, um, we would first get a warning and then we would
get a legal action and eventually we would lose all of our
ability to control the development, uh, in our city. Um,
and we would have our housing element de certified, and then we would be subject to what's
called builder's remedy, which is not an abstract thing. It's happened in santa monica,
it's happened in beverly hills. It's, uh, where a developer comes in
and says, this is my piece of land and I'm not dealing with you city. I'm gonna send you a letter
and I'm gonna, the state's gonna approve my project. And it happens. That's not something we want to
happen here in our city. So we want to plan for growth, we want to
think about it, we wanna do it neighborhood by neighborhood. Um, but ultimately we do need
to facilitate that amount of growth that is designated by the state. Thank you.
I appreciate the overview and why it's so important we meet arena numbers.
thank you. And, and I'll tell you, I I was chair of scag
during this arena cycle. Important to know growth is gonna
happen one way or another. The only question is, is
will it happen in a way that is planned and thoughtful and safe
or in a way that is haphazard where you have overcrowding
illegally converted garages, um, uh, building codes
that are not met, um, things that are unsafe. So that's incredibly important that
we plan, we plan for our growth. Now on this one thing I wanna highlight,
and thank you, you, um, thank you mr. Kunz for reminding me of this.
we're taking a big step here, and this is
our first thing that we've done from a land use standpoint to incentivize
labor standards to ensure construction. There's an incentive to ensure that
construction, 'cause we hear a lot about, um, bad contractors. We hear
a lot of public comment about that. We're ensuring there are labor standards and housing that is built.
and this is for the very first time we're adding labor standards. And how many, how many jurisdictions
have actually successfully added labor standards to, uh, enhanced density bonuses,
right? So, uh, we're attaching, uh, a specific
bonus for using our skilled and trade labor partners. Um, I believe
we're the first city to take this specific approach. Um, the city of berkeley tried it
a different way that, uh, maybe wasn't fully acceptable or
realized. Um, so what we're trying to do, we've, we've heard a lot from communities and
from our labor partners that this is important and, and we agree, but you can't
usually attach a zoning requirement to a labor standard 'cause we're
preempted by the state, right? So by attaching it to an incentive, we're
creating a market incentive for developers and property owners to make the choice
to use one of our skilled and trade, um, trained, um, labor
partners, um, you know, our, our talented carpenters and pipe
fitters and laborers. Um, so we're creating that opportunity. So we'll be
the first to do that. I also think we're one of the first, um, jurisdictions
in the state. Um, we have a nuisance bonus. So we have a lot
of uses that are not great for our communities. We have too many liquor stores
in our city. Um, we have other kind of nuisance
uses. If you remove one of those uses, you'll be eligible for an additional bonus.
so we're trying to create the financial incentive for some of those problem uses to go
away. So I think that's a great example of leveraging
incentives and land use to create, um, improvements
in quality of life. Uh, ensure that these nuisances that didn't,
you know, they came from haphazard planning in the past, were addressing those challenges
and creating opportunities for real quality of life, neighborhood serving
amenities and housing, while also we once
again are the first city, uh, to be able to innovatively
apply labor standards. So you have things like local hire and a living wage
as we build housing in our community. And so those, those are two really incredibly
important, um, uh, notes that I thought needed to be highlighted a bit. Uh,
but thank you christopher and thank you for the, to the community for, for pushing us
to be innovative in this, um, in this standard. Thank you so much. Okay.
so there's no more comments from the council. How many votes do we have here? Three votes. Three
more votes. Let's go ahead and move to the votes. First vote please. First vote is
on the addendum to the initial study in negative declaration that was adopted wind city first
repaired the enhanced density bonus. Motion is
carried. Second vote please. The second vote is on the ordinance, adopting
the changes to municipal code section 21 on the enhanced
density bonus section.
motion is carried third vote. And the third vote is on
the resolution to send the new, uh, regulations for enhanced density
bonus as an update to r-l-c-p-a to the local coastal
program. Amendment over to the coastal commission.
oh, sorry. Motion is carried. Alright, well that concludes,
uh, our hearings. We'll now move to item 49,
communication from councilwoman thresh tu vice mayor uranga councilwoman zendejas
recommendation to conduct a feasibility analysis of the community violence intervention
and prevention recommendations outlined in the 2025 long
beach community safety roadmap report and report back to the city council within
60 days. Alright, so, uh,
I wanna thank everyone for being patient when it comes to hearings. We have very little flexibility
when they're noticed publicly. This item was added after the agenda was set.
um, but we are now here. I'm gonna pass it to, um, uh, council
member thrash and to, to begin the presentation. Thank you so much. Uh, I
too wanna thank the community for staying. I know, um, that it was a long
meeting today. Um, but this is an important topic and I thank you all for, uh,
continuing to stick with it. Uh, so tonight, uh, I'm bringing forth
an item, uh, where we talked earlier in our meeting about, uh, gun
violence and violence prevention within our community. Uh, some,
I think some of you know, just recently we lost a 15-year-old, uh, young
man, uh, who, uh, lost his life to gun violence, uh, within our city
in, in particular within my district. Um, this is
a tragic, uh, headline that impacts our schools and our neighborhoods
and our community. And while this reflects a loss, uh, we
do wanna reflect on the fact that we have had over the past several years,
uh, a response to our community regarding that. And I wanna thank chief
ish and the long beach police department along with community leaders who are here
today, who we had a chance to honor for all of your tireless
work and efforts to ensure that we continue to have a five year
historical low and violent crime within our city. This
is progress. Um, however, we also wanna recognize that frontline
officers alone cannot manage the systematic societal crises
that fall outside the scope of traditional policing. Enforcement
is a tool, but it that as a tool alone, can resolve the root
conditions that drive someone to pick up a weapon and
engage in communities. We have before us.
the 2026 portrait of los angeles county, which has confirmed
what residents have already know, was shared earlier in the presentation,
that too many youth in our city feel disconnected, especially sometimes in
the southwest part of our city, the north port areas and parts
of central long beach. Uh, more than 20% express feeling that way,
one in five young people either not working or not in school.
this demands a systematic response. Uh, so to build on that,
I've been asking how can we obtain information from
the community and understand what's happening, uh, within,
uh, our communities. Sometimes the attention grabbing media ecosystems
is, is hard to, to break through. And we cannot expect that community
members will be able to access a flyer from city hall or
any other way that we typically communicate. We wanna meet the community
where they are. That's precisely why it's so important that
we have credible messengers within community. I know I certainly have
had conversations with several of them, uh, since the incident in, in my community
to better understand how we create a bridge, um, and make sure
that we close those gaps accordingly. We also find that some in
our community don't feel safe going ahead and reporting crime that is
happening. We also know that in our community and across the city,
um, strong beach and initiative known as standing together to reach our next
generation, um, has been operating for several years and has helped
to ensure that our summers are as cool as possible, uh, within
long beach. But we wanna make sure that that work, uh, continues
to move forward. So with 10, uh, with tonight's, uh, request,
and I wanna thank my colleagues, uh, vice mayor uranga, along with
council member zendejas for their support. I'm asking
us to take a look at how we identify ways to ensure
that there's cross communication among the various departments from police
to public health, um, our local hospitals who you saw out here tonight,
and others who are local community organizations to make sure we have a
community centered approach. And then second, we know we've
got budget challenges coming up, but I'm hoping that we'll be able to look at
a pathway towards identifying funding to continue to support this work
in the future when resources do become available accordingly.
so with um, the world looking at long beach and all that we
have been doing, I wanna make sure that with every resident and every zip
code, um, has an opportunity to focus on safety within our
community. And I'm asking for our city manager to report back, um, in 60
days regarding the feasibility of moving forward with a pathway
towards continuing to support this work as resources become available.
thank you. Alright, thank you.
we'll go to council members zendejas. Thank you
councilwoman thrash and for inviting me to co-sponsor on
this very important item. And thank you to vice mayor for also
signing on to this. Um, community violence must be addressed
through both intervention and prevention. The 2025
long beach community safety roadmap reports outlines
both data and strategic recommendations to sustain and
inforce reductions in crime and violence in
our city of long beach. Public safety in every neighborhood
of long beach must remain a priority. I am in strong
support of this request for visibility study
of the cvip recommendations and will
look forward to hearing a report back.
alright, thank you. Uh, account vice mayor yanga.
thank you. And I wanna thank, uh, customer national
talk and for saying I took this as well myself.
it's unfortunate that we have to look at what's
going on in our communities to create something like this. I unfortunate
neighborhood. We don't have to where we have safe streets, safe neighborhoods,
kids can walk to school at home without any worries.
and so based on that, I strongly support ms. Adam. I look
forward to, uh, the study when it comes out.
thank you. Thank you. Council
member rick sodi. Thank you mayor. I'm also in strong support, um, of this particular,
um, uh, this particular item. Um, I'm really looking forward to the report back. Uh,
my only question would be, uh, 60 days from now we'll put a squarely in the middle
of the budget process. So I just wanted to know if the maker of the motion might consider
giving staff a little bit more time. 'cause this is gonna be pretty comprehensive. And I would like,
uh, this report, um, to really take into, um, into
consideration all the elements that are in this particular report.
the last time we had a matter like this, we brought something back in 30 days. Um,
I recognize that we are, you know, in the middle of budget season about
that time, uh, with 75 days be
you didn't have a specification. I didn't, I didn't have a specific question because I I have suggestion on how
to handle it. I mean, what was that? I have a suggestion on how to handle it. Oh,
okay. Well, in terms of timing, join the conversation. Sure. Um,
so this summer's was adopted in the last fiscal year's budget. So this summer's,
um, plan is already been funded for this upcoming
summer. This next summer will be a part of the fy
27 budget. So just make it a part of conversations and discussions for fy
27 instead of a, a deadline in the middle of the budget process. 'cause that hasn't be,
doesn't have to be done until september 15th. So, um,
that would put us four or five months out from now. Well, that's the only time you
can appropriate any money anyway. No, no. I'm talking about the report back.
I, I think, uh, is your idea to do a report back and make and consider anything for
the next, this upcoming budget for yes. For next year, then not, I think the appropriate
motion would be make place it in consideration for this upcoming budget
discussion. What does that mean in terms of timeframe? You're, you're specifically saying
september? Yeah. You know, let's bring tom in. Tom, I think the idea here,
yeah, I, I think you're all saying the same thing and I think it all will work out in the 75 day range.
that'll be right around september 1st, which is right when you're gonna be doing adoption of budget. Right.
um, so, uh, we have put some of this information out in, um, in a memo
already in march, at least some of the, the efforts. We can then take a look at this report.
I, we haven't really had a chance to look at it yet, so I don't know what level of of work it'll take due
to the feasibility. We can certainly come back in that 75 days and also talk then about
what's in the budget and then the council can make some recommendations there. And I, as I understand
ten's point, it's to also look, you know, knowing that this year is gonna be rough, that we're
not gonna have a lot of resources, how do we start positioning ourselves for other funding beyond that?
which I think is a good discussion as part of the budget as well. So I think, so I think
the best way is to, rather than say an arbitrary 60 days or 75 days
or whatever it is, make it a part of the adoption of the upcoming budget,
the consideration, um, of the data that you're, you're factoring.
I don't feel as comfortable with that mayor. I would prefer 75 days. I'm
very comfortable with that, with the intent of it being part of the upcoming
budget conversation. Alright, . So that, that
would be my motion. So you, you want to give a deadline that comes after we adopt the budget.
okay. Alright. We'll just go with 75 days leave. 75 will actually be right
before we adopt the budget. Okay. So I think, again, I think we'll get the report. That's fine. We'll get the report right before
we adopt the budget. That makes a whole lot of sense. Okay. Thank you.
uh, secondary, I'm assuming is comfortable with that.
alright. Uh, we're now gonna go to public comment. Um, I'm gonna
read the names, if you're still here, just make your way to the front. Valerie cruz,
um, aya williams, eli gomez perez, joshua lopez.
ja. Jacob castanos, no, samoa.
andrew hanno, israel ornelis junior.
mia, uh, edrick salgado, sergio garcia,
emma ludo, dr. Lydia holly, leonard adams,
and rogelio martinez. If you heard your name, please come forward.
thank you. You you're good. Please come forward.
good evening, mayor and city council. My name is valerie cruz and I am a longtime
resident of district seven and also a community intervention worker with safe passages
on the west side of long beach. Growing up in west long beach, I have seen firsthand how
violence affected not only myself, but young people, families, and neighborhoods.
today I am proud to be a part of the solution through my work with
west long beach safe passages at cabrio high school, where I build relationships, support
students, and prevent conflicts before they escalate. The one long beach report highlights
the importance of investing in communities most impacted by violence
as both a resident and someone who serves west long beach. I have seen that
prevention works when it's led by trusted community members who understand
the challenges our neighborhoods face programs like safe passages and community
intervention and community violence intervention
help create safer schools, stronger relationships and opportunities
for youth to thrive. I encourage the city to continue investing
in these proven community-based solutions because
when we invest in prevention, we invest in the youth and we invest, I'm
sorry. And the future for long beach. Thank you for your time.
thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello, mayor, uh,
richardson and, uh, city council. My name's, uh, librado. I went
with junior because it's hard to roll the rs. So I say junior, we, they all call me my colleagues
homie me. Uh, uh, junior. Anyhow, um, I'm a
native, uh, of long beach. I lived all over every district here in long,
in the city of long beach. Um, I'm also system impacted. I was
released from state prison, uh, january 20, uh, 13th, 2023.
and when I was arrested, I did 31 years, two months. When I, when I left
in 1994, um, long beach was upside down. It
was bad, um, coming back. Um, it's the same
way. It's the, we, we, we really need the cbi.
um, here. Um, one of the things that, um,
this is why cbi must be centered in lived experience. It is essential to making
this work effective in the neighborhoods most impacted by violence. Investing
in the one long beach cvi pi collaborative ensures that people with lived experience
are part of the solution and that this work continues where it is needed most.
if we are serious about reducing violence, we must invest in those closest to it.
and I appreciate you guys hearing us out. Thank you.
thank you. Uh, next speaker, please.
good evening, mayor coun, mayor, council members and community members. I'm
speaking on behalf of a youth who actually had to step away for finals.
my, my name is eli ali gomez perez. I attend
jordan high school in the 9 0 8 0 5 zip code, and I'm proud to represent council
me council district eight. Growing up in my community, I was,
was surrounded by challenges that taught me my resilience and the importance of community.
from grant elementary to lindbergh middle school, middle school, and now jordan high
school, I have learned that everyone has their own story and struggles to overcome.
I joined the youth mentorship program because I wanted to give back to my community.
through ro cha, I have built valuable connections, developed my leadership
skills, and gained opportunities to use my voice, including being able to
speak here today. The program has shown me that young
people can make a positive impact in their communities. I have a vision for the
city, for a city grounded in equality, justice, unity, and safety.
this is why I support the one long beach safety roadmap. This report is more,
more than data. It reflects the real young people and communities.
continued investment in youth programs provides opportunities, mentorship
and alternatives to violence, helping create a stronger, more prosperous long beach.
thank you.
hi. I'm also gonna be reading on behalf of some of the youth who are present. Um,
I do wanna say that moving forward, we would like for council to be mindful when youth are president
at city hall because a lot of the youth are very excited to speak today, but unfortunately, they had
to leave because they're promoting tomorrow graduating or its finals week. So
we want to ensure that their voices are seen and heard. This is, um, for joshua lopez.
hi, my name is joshua lopez. I live in the washington neighborhood and I go to
washington middle school and I am 13 years old. I have lived in washington, in the
washington neighborhood my whole life and have heard shootings a block
from my home. I see gang graffiti all over the neighborhood. However,
there are some good sides. One positive is the 14th street basketball
courts that we as books and buckets help get done. I've seen
the courts get more activated since then and hope it helps bring people
together. What has helped me stay away from violence is hanging out with friends and
mentors who look out for me. Not all kids in my neighborhoods have the same
support I do. I ask for the city to fund violence prevention
programs. The next youth is
noe. Um, I go to washington middle school. I am 13
years old. I live in, in long beach, california, just outside the washington neighborhood.
growing up in long beach, I'm going to school here. Um, I've seen fights
among people. I've seen my own friends get jumped, robbed, got into a car crash
and almost die. I have men mentors at, um, violence prevention programs
like books and buckets who encouraged me to stay out of trouble. And I have helped me
get better with education. In addition, seeing the experiences of
my friend, um, has helped me avoid this, that lifestyle. Some
things I've asked, I ask of the city is if you can support funding, violence prevention
programs and to continue planning the washington neighborhood community center.
next I have, um, jacob castellanos. Hello, council members. My name is
jacob castellanos. I am 13 years old. I go to washington middle school.
I currently live in district one. Growing up, I've seen a lot
of gang violence. I've seen someone get shot and shot
and passed away right in front of my house at the age of 10. Many of
these events could have let me down the wrong path, but being
surrounded by my family and my sister who is in college makes me want,
want to do better. Surrounded by people like, um, edrick and others.
help me stay focused on and on the right path. Being
supported by programs like books and buckets. I feel I feel very supported.
I feel very, very important for our future and for me. I hope that the
city of long beach can help fund violence, prevention, and youth programs to help. It
keeps, keep it safe and do, um, better to support kids like,
um, joshua and, and
someone else. I couldn't read that. Thank you. Um, the next youth
I have is israel. Um, hi, my name is israel junior.
um, I am 14 years old. I go to washington middle school and I lived,
I live in the washington neighborhood. Growing up in the city, I am, um, no stranger
to violence. I've seen police chase a member of a local gang for
shooting rivals. Just last year I was helping my dad take out stuff
from the trunk of his car and witness a drive-by shooting right across the street
from me. Joining a program like, um, called books and buckets has helped me not
engage in this type of violence. It has helped me by staying out of
trouble and encouraged me to live better, um, a better life. In
addition, I have found several passions that also helped me stay out of trouble,
like fishing, biking, and playing sports. I asked the city to fund violence prevention
program so more youth can, uh, like me, can find better ways to live and find
their own passions. Lastly, I have edrick salgado.
hello everyone. My name is edrick salgado. I grew up in the washington neighborhood
and now live across the street from poly. I currently live
I current. I am currently in the youth advisory council of long beach and I also work
for parks and recs. I graduated from long beach city. Um, I
graduate from long beach city college with my associate's degree in two days.
when I was three years old, I saw one of my brother's friends pass
away at 13 due to gang violence. I remember seeing him lying on the ground
and my mom picking him up to take him to the hospital. I remember seeing him in
the backseat, bleeding and going in and out of consciousness as he took
his last breath. Growing up, I have been accustomed to violence my whole life.
just a year after that, I remember being at home, having a barbecue
and a van pulls up and a drive-by shooting occurred. I remember my sister
grabbing me and running inside as we laid down on the floor, ducking over, um,
for cover. Windows were broken. In the moments later, a helicopter light
flashed in our homes. As I've grown up, I've seen the same things occurring.
kids are still joining gangs and going down the wrong path with no hope or future.
when I turned 18, I remember hearing about a program called books and buckets
at the fir at first, coming from where I'm from, I thought it
was weird and corny to be part of something so positive. But soon I
realized that the importance of helping your community and making changes and differences,
inspiring kids who come from the same struggle like you today, I mentor
and support and help, um, be a role model for about 12 youth
today. In addition to advancing advocating for violence, um, prevention,
funding, I would like to see more focus and investment in mentorship programs for youth.
one that understand where I come from, what we deal with, what we face,
and what we go through every day. Thank you.
alright, thank you. Next speaker, please. Um, I have
a, my final tomorrow, so, but I'm here. Okay.
um, good afternoon. Thanks, sustain afternoon everyone. My name is emma
lugar. I'm a freshman at long beach poly high school. Growing
up in district six meant going to sleep with sirens and helicopters
every day, walking to school, seeing homeless
people at every corner on the streets and construction on the
sidewalk. That made it complicated for people with disabilities to cross the street.
like my dad with his walker. However, I have been lucky enough to have
access to community resources such as a family learning center
at burnett neighborhood library shadow ms. Lala, she helped me write this,
um, the librarian community food banks and programs like e em three,
em three has taught me to advocate and uplift my community, gain leadership skills
and expose me to new cultures and meet new people. Em three supports me in
other youth to create a positive environment and participate in outreach events
in the community like the cambodia town parade because it exposed to
new cultures and coming together as one investments in
youth creates positive outcomes and provides alternatives to violence
by creating and fostering youth mental health, mentorship skills,
pathways to careers, learning resources and so much more, which are alternatives
to violence for youth who are in an unhealthy environment. Programs like em
three are important in our community. So youth like me don't continue the cycle of violence.
thank you. Thank you. Next
speaker, please. Um,
good evening. I'm reading on behalf of kaia, our youth speaker who was present but had
say at home. Um, good evening, honor mayor and city council.
my name is kaia williams and I am a student at cillo high school, raised in
district one. Growing up, I was surrounded by violence and destructive behaviors who normalized
looking for an afterschool activity. I joined the safe passage program and
it completely changed my life. Safe passage has taught me critical life skills
such as stop the bleed, and what healthy versus unhealthy relationships look
like. Safe passage is providing me very, my my very first
job. Most importantly, the me, the mentors
providing came from my neighborhood. They proved to me that
the zip codes, um, does not define my future. Because of their encouragement,
I became a voice for my peers, join new clubs and pursue new opportunities.
my journey is even prove that investing in youth programs work
I will not have confidence. I will not have the confidence to stand here today without
safe passages. Please continue to investigate in our youth. So next in narration,
get the same life changing opportunities. Thank you. Thank
you. Next speaker please.
thank you mr. Mayor. Members of the city council. Uh, four
points, uh, the resilience unity social justice mural that
memorializes the death of our, uh, loved ones from
homicides in the city of long beach. It's located at 65 89
myrtle avenue along artesia boulevard. I don't know how many of you have
been there to see it. This memorial epitomizes the lived
experiences of the collective community whose family members' blood
flowed on the streets of this city. Despite our tireless efforts
to decrease risk factors that significantly contribute to
their demise. Justice for murdered children urges you
to visit the, the more the, the mural and see the names who
represent real human beings and who are once your constituency.
for the past 66 years, uh, uh, since
1967, the collective community has been consistently
engaged in willful and, uh, unrelenting efforts to
uplift all key constituencies to reduce violence, save
lives, and peacefully coexist with mutual respect.
the precedent for you to provide structured funding
for the recommendations that have been articulated is what the
human dignity program under beverly o'neill, who was the president,
uh, excuse me, of the, the, uh, mayor at that time. So there
is already a precedent for providing structured funding. No
more one time that'll do it. No more if we can. None
of that. Ma'am, your time's concluded funding to make sure that we
are able to reduce the number of names that
is on that mural of the dead people from homicide
in this city. You cannot be a member of justice for murder
children unless someone in your family has been killed.
I am a member, so we don't want any more
names on that mural. We need structured
funding. This is america and
the one thing america has, mr. Mayor, is money.
so we expect you to find it and don't come back with an analysis
that you can't because you can. Thank you so much for
your thank you.
next speaker, please.
good afternoon, mayor city council. My name is leonard
adams. I am the coordinator and founder of the hoops after
dog program. And, uh, you know, I've had a pretty hard night here and
I would like to just read some things from, uh, for years. The hoops after
dark program has provided a safe space for young people and
families to come together, build positive relationships, and connect
with resources and opportunities. We have been firsthand on
how the community-based organization can help prevent violence by creating trust,
connections, and hope. Like many other organizations this work,
su is sustaining these efforts has been challenging
too often. Programs receiving short term funding that supports
activities for a limited time, but does not provide
a long term investment needed to maintain their impact through
the one long beach collaboration cbi program. This
platform has been provided for us to have partnerships to connect with
other community organizations to continue to, to sustain
the hoops after dog program to the collaboratives has helped create
a network supporting and allowing to keep
showing up for the communities we serve. Our experience shows that
the community violence intervention program works. It saves
lives, it strength, uh, neighborhoods and create opportunities for
young people. As you consider the 2025
long beach, uh, safety roadmap, it informs
by the one long beach c-v-I-p-I program. I encourage the city to
invest and invest in the rooted organization and leader. Sir, you're trying to
concluded who have earned the trust of our community.
thank you for listening.
thank you. Final speaker, please.
roge martinez, district nine, long beach resident of
north, north long beach. I just wanted to add that, mary, you
actually said something that is a slip that most people
do say, but I wanted to correct you 'cause I think it's not, it's
what you meant to say, but you've failed to say it. Public safety
for all long beach residents must remain a top
priority. No, no, no.
priorities change. So let me repeat
and let me say what you, I think you meant to say public safety
for all long beach residents must remain
a value of our city's mission statement because values
do not change. Priorities change. So please change
that. Second, the young lady, the student
from long beach poly who eloquently spoke,
we need to discontinue the cycle of violence.
I thought that was worth repeating and I'll say it again because
megan loves repeating things. Long beach.
we need in long beach, we need to discontinue the cycle of violence.
and then what I didn't see this is this feasibility
analysis, this report, is it citywide
or is it only for the districts that were mentioned? Eight,
seven your time's concluded. Thank you.
alright, we'll take it back behind the rail. Councilman kerr?
yeah, I just wanted to thank the students for coming out. I know I saw a bunch of kids grab their
backpacks and they had to head out. It's the last week of school. They've got finals and graduations and all of that.
uh, so please extend micro attitude to the students who couldn't stay and have their stories heard.
um, but I wanna thank you for lifting up and calling out different programs, um,
that are violence prevention, that keep our city safe, that keep our families and our neighborhood
and our children safe. I heard you talk about libraries and afterschool programs,
community nonprofits, um, education programs
offered by community groups, neighborhood groups who are keeping children safe as they
go to and from school. Um, we have ideas of what public safety and community
safety is. And I want to thank you for uplifting those things that don't come to top of mind
for some people because you said it so eloquently in your own personal story. So thank you
and thank you to those students who had to leave.
alright, well, thank you again. Uh, thanks
everyone for the public comment and testimony. Uh, we know this is an important, uh, time of
the year and it's important for the budget. I don't see, okay, this thing
is, I don't see it. All right. Councilman sorrow, anything? Um,
yeah, I just wanna thank all of the community members, leaders,
and advocates for being relentless in advocating for
violence prevention. I work with many of you when I was with kga
and I def deeply understand the need for resources because
you know, the outcome of prevention work, it takes a while to see the outcome,
but we are seeing it today. Uh, you know, it's different from
even five, 10 years ago. The amount of prevention work that has been done
does show, and I know that it's challenging at time because
we're in a time of short term data results, uh, to be able to
advocate for resources. So, just wanna thank everybody for staying, um,
in order to, you know, staying late and also making sure to have, uh,
your voices heard in this process and very supportive of this report and looking
forward to coming back
members, please cast your vote.
motion is carried. Thank you. Item 44, please.
thank you. About 20 more items tonight. Report
from public works recommendation to receive and file an update on the city's residential street
cip program funding allocation model for the fy 28
fy 32 to fy 32 pavement management plan citywide.
alright, uh, staff report please.
yes, we do have a presentation on this. Uh, so this was an item that came out of the budget oversight
committee and the was approved by the full council as part of the fy 27 budget. So
you wanted us to take a look and come back to you about, uh, specific street funding
allocation models and a little bit of history of how we used to do it, how we're currently doing it,
which is right now a hundred percent by need, and then looking at some other models. So that's where
you're doing here tonight. Uh, we do need some direction on this, uh, uh, hopefully
tonight, uh, to be able to, uh, uh, have that information as we build
the fy 27 budget that's coming up. So I will turn it over to the team to
go through the, the various models.
alright, thank you mr. City manager and welcome.
uh, glad to be here again, city council and mayor. So we're excited
to, uh, present this to you. This is a report back from, uh, fy
26 adopted budget. Uh, we, we heard the request to come back and provide
various options for how we could fund our residential streets moving
forward.
oh, on the right
I scrambled on my presentation materials.
sorry about that. Um, okay. So, um,
the overview of, of what we're looking at. So we have, um, we
were directed to come back to city council as part of the fy 26 adopted budget.
so the overview that we're gonna go through today, uh, we have our current
pavement condition index of all the city streets. We are also going
to talk through our residential street backlog update. We have
an overview of the pre 2017 residential street
allocation program that we used to operate under prior to 2017.
we have our current residential street funding allocation model, and then we've developed
three new models, uh, for review and, um,
overview this evening. So what is the pavement management
plan? Uh, in short, it's a, a document that's used
to plan the pavement rehab and to provide the maximum benefit with the
available funds. So the goal is to identify the
optimal level of funding to sustain the city's, one of the city's
most largest invisible assets. So, to frame the conversation,
I really want to make sure that everybody understands, once a pavement,
uh, section is restored, we are looking at
a pci or pavement condition index of about a hundred. And
then over time, that deteriorates with use and via environmental
conditions, uh, which can encompass a number of different factors.
so the pavement management plan overview, uh, what this slide represents is
a pavement section that's brand new, or
in the range of 100 to 85 is rated as excellent. And
really no work is needed at that point. Uh, streets that are in good
or very good condition, these are streets that are conducive to treatments
such as slurry seal. Once you get down into the 40 to 60
range, uh, you need to do a little bit further invasive treatment, grind and
overlays. And then once you get down to poor and very poor, uh, the streets
often require full reconstruction, which is the most costly,
uh, and takes the, the most amount of time.
so, similar, similar information to what was presented on the previous slide,
but this also factors in the time element. So what we're trying to
convey here is that you wanna catch the pavement sections
in this critical, uh, sweet spot that you show here between
the inexpensive surface treatments and the costly pavement rehab.
so over the first 15% of the pavement's life,
um, it's you, or over the first 40% of
life, you drop 15% in quality. And then it's the inverse for, for
the next, um, 15% of its life.
so how does pavement management plan correlate with our pavement
condition index? So since 2016 or or
uh, 2006, for the last 20 years or so, we've utilized a
comprehensive pmp to guide our rehabilitation,
uh, across the city streets, uh, in our residential street portfolio.
and then in 2014, we started using an automated process
to analyze the conditions of the pavement.
so maintaining the minimum network, uh, an average of 60
pci and a backlog of 15% is really critical and
important if we wanna sustain the long longevity of our,
of our asset.
so to develop the pavement management plan or the pmp first, you
must establish the pci or the pavement condition index. And that
was recently done in 2025. That was the report that you saw last
summer. Um, as part of that 2025 pci report,
the updated street network average is up to 61.
that's up 9% from 2023, which was the last time
we we did the pavement condition index survey. Um, 15%
is in excellent condition, 38% is in good to very good, 26
in marginal to fair, and then 20% in poor or very poor
condition. So what does that all mean? It means that
an investment of 1.4 billion with a b is
necessary over the next five years. If we were to try to address all
of the citywide, um, minor street deficiencies,
uh, that would equate to approximately $200 million annually.
um, how does that compare with what we have invested? Um, we've done a historic
investment over the last few years. The elevate 28 program, we've
invested an average of 63 million and it has, um,
done a lot to improve our pci. However, that's, that's really only
represents 22% of the need if we were to try to get all of our streets up to,
um, you know, a status.
so, breaking the pci down a little bit further, uh, to help frame
the conversation here this evening, we have our major streets or our, our
arterials. Uh, we have a pci rating of 66, which is up
from the previous pci score. Uh, we also have our minor
streets, or what we refer to as our residential streets, uh, has an overall
pci of 60, which is also up 11% from
the previous 2023 score. Uh, however, alleys
are are down 18% from the previous 2023 score,
uh, to 50. So we've made a lot of improvements. We've
invested in our alleys. Uh, we have invested over $4 million
from fy 23 to till now, and we were able to
complete a number of lane miles. However, there's still a lot of need in our alleys.
so this map shows a lot of green and a lot of the streets that were completed
from 2013 through 2022.
and then more recently, the city council adopted the elevate 28
program, which runs from fiscal year fy 23 through fiscal year
27. And what's being represented here on this map
are all of the green street segments that have either been reconstructed or
flurried over the last, uh, few years as part of this program, the
red streets or the reg segments that you see here represent the projects
that are still underway and anticipated to be completed. Um, at,
as we wrap up this five year cip program,
so specific to residential streets, we have
an estimate of 1.1 billion is needed to address
all of the street deficiencies. Uh, that's a pretty, pretty large number.
um, and we want to go through methodically and figure out how do we allocate the, the funds
accordingly. So, residential streets and alley funding
has increased significantly between 23 and 27 as part of the
elevate 28 program that we were, that we've been talking about. Um, and
that, that has really impacted positively the pavement
condition index, as you saw previously. So we invest a lot of money, we increased the
pci
so residential street needs. Um, this slide here represents
the previous need based on the previous pmp data.
and the next column adjacent to that is the need based on
the 2025 pci data. So what this is showing
is that the current program is doing a pretty job, a pretty good job of spreading
the funds equitably across all the council districts. And that's why you
see between negative one and one, uh, in the column all
the way on the right.
so now we're gonna dive a little bit into the residential street
funding allocation models themselves. Prior to 2017,
half of the funding that was allocated was distributed equally
across all nine council districts. The remaining 50%
or the other half was allocated based on the pavement condition
index as identified through the pmp in 2017,
uh, city council revised this policy directing that a hundred percent of residential
street infrastructure funding be allocated solely based on the
pmp and the pci. So since 2017, we've continued with
that practice in that model.
so what does that look like in in table form? This was, uh, our
current residential street funding allocation model. Should we invest
a hypothetical $20 million, uh, which is a, a reasonable
allocation for our residential streets. Uh, if hypothetically
tomorrow or tonight, you were to adopt some sort of allocation model of
$20 million, this is how, based on the pmp, it would be allocated.
so as you saw in the previous slides, you the, um, cd
one has the lowest need based on the pmp
and, um, cd five has the largest need based on the bmp.
so we've also put together three additional residential street funding
allocation models based on a number of different factors. We have our
traffic and transit model, which prioritizes high volume, high
mobility type districts. Uh, we also have our people in community
model, which prioritizes districts with higher activity level population,
business, employment, and transit. And then we have a safety
and risk model, which prioritizes district with higher traffic safety risks and
vulnerable bill populations. So in these
scenarios, all three of the models have a 50% allocation based
on the pci need, and then the remaining 50% would
be based on one of these respective models. So model
one would have 50% based on need and then 50% traffic
and transit.
so what does that, uh, look like that that would look like, um,
uh, shown on this slide here. So really allocating funding towards, uh,
higher traffic volume, higher mobility districts, and those, uh, with
elevated levels of vehicle activity.
the people in community focused allocation model focuses in
on population density, employment, business activity, and transit.
and the safety and risk allocation model, uh, focuses in on
elevated, uh, traffic safety risks, high injury corridor networks, uh,
school adjacencies and things of that nature.
and then we have the, the sixth, uh, what we refer to as the
analysis paralysis model that combines all of the above
and includes, uh, 50% funding would be continued
to be allocated based on the pmp and the pci,
uh, with 30% or 10% allocated towards
each of the three additional models that we're talking about. And then the
remaining 20% for a total of 100%, uh, would
be allocated across the nine council districts. So 50, 30
and 20 kind of model.
so in graphic form, uh, this is what that would look like. Um, again,
the council district five has the largest geographical
area, the largest street network, and therefore the greatest need while cd
one has the, um, densest population. And,
uh, therefore, the lowest number of need as far as the street
asset is, is considered. Um, you can also see that a lot of
these bars don't fluctuate all that much in any of these given models.
uh, we're, we're looking at all six of the different models across all of the
districts, uh, here on this slide.
so our recommendation, uh, this evening is to continue investing in
our street assets, our residential streets a hundred percent based on the
need model, the pavement management plan, and the pci index.
uh, this is the, the most equitable distribution of roadway funding.
it's based on data. And, uh, based on the documented need within each
council district, it does factor in the overall condition of the
roadway, um, as well as the proportion of the overall roadway citywide.
um, the current allocation model has allowed us to achieve
historic improvements in our pavement condition, which we're really proud of.
um, it also helps provide a clear and transparent nexus between what
we do and, um, how we communicate it and the infrastructure
needs that are out there. Um, this is also predominantly
what's used from other municipalities, uh, throughout the country
to allocate street funding.
um, couple other factors to conti, uh, consider here in
2025. We did just recently complete a cip audit. Uh,
that cip audit, uh, does show that our current allocation
model equitably directs funding towards, uh, equity
focus areas at rates exceeding the proportional share within the city.
so, uh, the audit specifically called that out and, and agreed
with how we're currently moving forward with our street allocation model.
the, they also showed that we are investing in a higher
concentration of streets within efa communities, including bipoc
limited income and senior population metrics as well.
the, as shown in the bar charts, the alternative models while,
while, um, analyze they wouldn't significantly changed the overall funding
distribution within, uh, the different districts themselves.
and really important is the, the communication aspects.
uh, and the third bullet here is that the metrics such as crash history, transit
history, high injury networks, a lot of these metrics are really more associated
with our arterial streets and corridor type programs, not necessarily our
residential streets. So it can be kind of confusing to help, help folks understand
why would we be using metrics from arterial streets to invest in our
residential street assets.
so, uh, what are we up to right now? Uh, as part of the
fy 28 to 32 pmp that's being developed, that's underway.
um, we are planning to use the latest pci data to assess and prioritize
the roadway investments. That's all happening in real time. We, we received
the latest pci information, uh, last summer. That was the
memo that had gone out. We're now using that to develop the plans moving forward,
those plans. And, uh, the information that contained within it will be
adopted as part of the future five year infrastructure plan.
so we are going through that process now. We're taking that
information, we're adding in inflation, we're adding in current market
conditions. We're looking at labor availability and figuring out what is that fi
next five year plan, um, going to look like, and how are we recommending moving
forward, uh, allocating funds to our street assets.
so as part of that program, uh, we are looking at
assembling a draft, uh, look ahead that we'll be
bringing forward as part of our fy 27 cip budget
as sort of a preview of what's to come. And, um, we
will then continue working through developing that analysis over the
fall, uh, figuring out, making sure that we're honing in on what streets will get full
reconstruction, which will be slurry sealed residentials, arterials, that sort of thing.
and we'll be developing all of that as part of the next five year
plan throughout fy 27, and then bringing that back
as part of the fy 28 budget.
that concludes staff presentation. And we're available to answer any questions.
all right, well, thank you for the presentation. I've,
I've, um, been a part of this discussion two or three times when
I was on city council. Um, I'm glad to see that when
we got rid, I remember the divide by nine days where every
council office had to pick one street every year,
and it was a food fight in the district. Every year. You gotta pick one street
and neighbors would organize. I remember one year,
I don't know if council member excel remembers this, you remember manny's alley manny's
the alley in the grant neighborhood. He, manny walker, he was a neighborhood
association president, and he organized everybody around one
alley, and it was the only alley to get paved in the whole city that year. Uh,
but he organized, and that was where the allocation went. It was kind
of the hunger games of infrastructure. And then we went to
the data and we did that, that citywide pavement condition
index study. And it, and it gave council members cover to just look
at the data and be able to plan and,
and, and have a, you know, a basis for how we select the streets. There's
adjustments, council districts do have the amount, the ability before it's locked in to make
those adjustments, but for the most part, it's based on data. And to show
that when we shifted to that approach, we saw an increase,
I think 9%, uh, pavement condition index, but
9% is not enough. We have to continue and have some discipline in how we
go about it so that we continue to get, like truly increase
our pavement condition index. The other thing I'll say is
we, we approach this from a, um, a
a I don't know, um, a scarcity mindset
as it comes to infrastructure, but we have to switch to abundance. We have to think
about what would it really take to shift
to create the kind of streets and the safe streets and the quality of life in our streets
and sidewalks that we need to have, to have the community that we want and focus a lot of
our energy on. Having that honest conversation with our residents about what it
truly costs to move from this scarcity food hunger
games to actually improving the infrastructure that we need. And the reality is,
we are investing more in our streets than we've ever had every single year,
and it's not enough. And we don't fund our streets
traditionally, like our surrounding cities have. You know, I, I live right on the border of bellflower
and lakewood, and I hear it all the time about how lakewood looks one way we look, another lakewood
has passed infrastructure bonds. We haven't done a single infrastructure streets bond in our city's history.
we've done recreation park, we've done el dorado park. I mean, we've done very
specific projects, but not once have we done that. And
city measure a as a sales tax will never, ever service
a a, a tax on sales tax will never be robust
enough to manage the prop, the infrastructure needs of
a city of our size. It just, it just isn't. And
redevelopment, the last time a lot of streets were done before this past five year infrastructure
plan was when redevelopment existed in our city. Well, guess what? The state eliminated
redevelopment in 2013. It does not exist anymore. And the big street infrastructure
down in the coast, coastal area, tidelands, and we all know what's happening with oil
that is not the infrastructure that we can count on in the future. So we have to have an
honest conversation about if we truly want to, if we truly
want to improve our infrastructure nipping from here and taking from
one district and going to the other district, it's, it's regressing back to what we used
to do and as not a smart strategic way to really invest
in our infrastructure in a way that we can be proud of and be honest about not passing the buck to
the future. So I just wanna say that
I think the, the, you know, we seeing the data we need to see,
but we need to focus on the resources and focus more resources
into the, into the plan. When you see the results, you don't deviate from the plan, but
we do need to accelerate the plan. So those are my thoughts on, on this issue. We'll go to
the council. Um, I don't see a motion in a second. Is it, there
is a motion on this thing is okay. I'll look up there. Council member kerr?
yes. Uh, thank you mr. Mayor. I wanna thank public works and the city teams for conducting the analysis
of options and providing this thorough report and presentation. And while I understand
and always appreciate the opportunity to reassess the ways we distribute funds across the city, I agree with
the staff recommendation and with what the mayor just said to keep things the way they are when it comes to
residential streets. Slide eight and 22 demonstrate clearly that this
model is working. As stated in the report, council district five remains, the largest
district has the largest roadway network and the highest percentage of need. And yet
I hear from so many residents that they have not seen their stream worked on in decades.
um, as you saw on the chart, our need is identical. There has been no change despite the
investment. Uh, other districts have seen some change. The demon,
the date, clearly states that we have the most need when it comes to overall conditions on
many of our residential roads. Even with the success of pmp to bring the citywide pci
ratings up conditions in district five, which represent more than a fifth of the remaining
need across the city, we struggled to justify certain road repairs decisions to
residents, even under the current systems of needs based allocation. Because the decision in
the last iip was to prioritize the more affordable slurry and crack seal
work to address more streets and moderate conditions, to bring them up higher as
opposed to addressing the fewer, more costly resurfacing and reconstructions.
this brought the overall citywide pci ratings up, but that has left many of the poorest,
the poor and very poor streets continuing to deteriorate over the last
five years. District five has more poor and very poor streets than any
other district, and they have not been worked on in the last five years as a policy choice
by the council five years ago. Now that we've reached our first goal of raising the
overall pci past 60, I feel we should continue turning our attention to those roads that
are in the worst condition. Reallocating funding away from the needs-based prioritization
will remove or further limit the only avenue we have to getting those poor and very poor streets
addressed. And when we do that, that will continue to bring up the citywide scores as eliminating
those lower numbers. We'll raise the average. I fear if we can further
complicate the system by weighing factors that are not directly related to the associated
costs. Not only will many of the streets in the worst conditions continue to go unaddressed for another five
years or more, but we will also lose the trust from the public in our ability to responsibly
use what funding we do have available. Um,
communication hasn't been our strong suit sometimes out of public
works. I think we've all had those conversations. And to a, to complicate,
uh, the reasons why we do things doesn't seem to be something that's
in our wheelhouse to be able to communicate that clearly. And so sticking to the
most need, the most equitable as the report said, uh,
is what I think is best. So I wanna just confirm what you slide 23.
the current a hundred percent needs-based residential street allocation model is equitably directing funding
towards equity-focused areas at rates exceeding their proportional share of the city. And
that audit finding showed a higher concentration of street projects within efa communities,
including the areas identified as bipoc limited income, lep, and senior
population metrics. Um, and again, the idea that
we would use metrics that are normally associated with arterials to residential begins
again, just to muddy the conversation, I think makes it more difficult. This is
about our neighborhood streets. We know that they are funded differently than our arterials for
safety reasons. We're not transit corridors. Uh, these exist in our neighborhoods. I urge
my colleagues to support the stock craft recommendation tonight. Thank you.
thank you. Uh, councilman bra? Yes. Uh, thank you mayor. And, uh, thank you for
the presentation and, uh, I agree with, um, everything that
you just said, uh, councilwoman kerr. Um, I do wanna
thank the public works team for all the hard work and all that you
continue to do, uh, in the city and in district two.
um, I have seen the slurry seal work, um, that's happening throughout
my district. And it is clear that, uh, your
department is making some real clear efforts to, uh, improve
and also maintain, um, the residential streets.
um, we all know that there still is a lot of work to do. Um, and so,
um, I do appreciate the progress and, um, and
I, uh, I wanna make sure that we continue to focus and use
our resources effectively. And at this time, I also
agree with staff recommendations, uh, to keep the current formula,
uh, the way it is and keep it the same. Continue to use the pavement
conditions and demonstrated disrepair, helps ensure
that funding is going where it is most needed, um,
which is the most equitable way to uplift our city
and to uplift all of our streets throughout the city. So thank you very much for the presentation
again. Thank you. Council member sorrow. Yes.
uh, so thank you director hickman for this presentation. I was
here when the first five year plan was approved, but I just
came onto city council, so really had a hard time understanding
the formula approach and what was taken into consideration.
uh, now that I am fi pretty much almost, you know, six
years in, I'd have a better understanding on how it got implemented.
but I still appreciate seeing these different models because, you
know, every department have definitions are that are different, right? When we talk
about need and equity. So if you can go back and explain
again to me what need means, because I,
I just wanna make sure I'm clear on on what you mean by needs,
uh, as far as your formula goes.
yeah, you can try to try to tackle some of that. So as far as the the needs
based model, it's really a, a data-driven type approach
that we look at and we send, uh, vehicles out
to check out the condition throughout the entire city. So they're traveling
on every road segment throughout the city and they're assigning
a pci or pavement condition index to the entire
city's, uh, streets. So we have a really great informative website that you
can go in. It's a fun little party trick. You can show, uh, exactly
what your pci is or what your neighbor's pci is. Uh, definitely encourage
everybody to check it out. And then what we mean by by need is that
as we're investing our, our dollars across all of these different
districts, there's an analysis that's done of how many
road miles are within each district, and then in what condition
are all of those street segments. And then that's how the need is,
is addressed and quantified as part of the pmp. Would you do ride-alongs
with us to show how that works? I, I'm not joking. I'm serious actually. Just
because, uh, if there was an option, right? Because I, I
get it that, you know, it's to determine the condition, but um,
I just have a hard time visualizing it. So, uh, but that can be a later
discussion, but it's more around how do you then determine, because
some residential roads become alternative arterials,
like my district, because many have to go north and
south, they have to go through my district atlantic
cherry, uh, or they have to go west and east. There's
no way people can go throughout the city without going through my, my
district. And they always take alternative residential route when
it's busy, right? So I'm just wondering if you take,
you know, how do you take in factors of use, right? Of roads
that are residential but becomes alternative of arterials
at times when people have to get to poly, right? They take all of these
resident, you know, there's hundreds of families driving through that area,
certain school areas. So I'm just curious if that gets taken into
consideration. It, it does get taken into
consideration organically. So when you restore
a street cross section over time, that's going to degrade. Let's say everybody
stopped traveling on, on atlantic and started traveling down the residential streets
instead. Yeah. Well then presumably atlantic or or enter other
arterial street here would stay, uh, relatively
good condition while the residential streets would degrade quickly.
so as they're degrading, the next time we would come around and do the pci, we
would see that degradation quickly and then that would be factored into the analysis.
okay. Um, you know, I I'm just then how do you often
do you do these pci drives? That's why I am, like
I, I I'm really asking, 'cause I, I have to, I'm asking
from a place of how resident would understand it if I had to
explain to them and I'm having, and I'm asking these questions
so that I can process it and, and then respond when they wonder
why their road right. Didn't get, uh, chosen or
their residential street didn't get chosen and the this pa five year and
how it'll get chosen the next route. So I'm asking from a perspective of a
resident that's just trying to understand rather than it then maybe
it becomes a hungry game and like, well how do they advocate that their road is
like it meets that index mark. Right. So, um, but if you can share
with me like that, that's why I am, I appreciate this opportunity
to clarify, not to say that I disagree with the current model. It's more
around, I just have a hard time and still continue to
do. So to explain to resident how certain, um, you know, residential
street gets chosen and it comes from this index. I won't belabor
too much of that process, but I do wanna get that answered. Um,
as far as it may come back around. Yeah,
certainly I can, I can try to, um, tackle that. So the,
as far as how are these streets connected and, and it's a really great question. This is the
question that we often face, uh, when we're out at the community and, and they're,
everybody's wondering, why are we doing something on this street
when my street is so much worse? And it's a fair question. And
if, um, if we could pull back up the presentation please, I'd like to, to go
back to slide five. Um, slide five represents
the pavement management plan and the overview. Um, apologies. Gimme
a second here while I scroll backwards a few slides.
so, uh, what, what you see here is a chart that
represents, uh, streets that are in excellent condition. We don't really need to invest a lot of money in them.
um, however, once you start dipping down into very good, and
once you get to good, we wanna start investing in those streets, ie
slurry programs and things of that nature before they degrade further. Once
they start to degrade and they get down to the poor or very poor, they're 10 times
or more expensive to restore. So
the, the program that's in place today is that we're trying to
preserve the streets that we have in good condition before they
degrade further. And then investing our remaining funds in the poor
and very poor to reconstruct them, thereby squeezing the middle, if you will.
so investing to keep our streets in reasonable condition or
good condition while investing our other funds in poor and very poor. That's
what's allowing us to bring our pci up overall. I, I
hope that answered the question a little better. Yeah. I'll just end on this. I know I'm over time,
but I do, um, I I, I'm not in
disagreement in this recommendation. I, I just want to be able
to have tools as we progress into the next five year plan
on better explaining that if you had this chart,
could you tell me if I had a resident who you know,
was asking why didn't their street get listed in the five year plan,
what their, their street rate so that we can show them on a
chart that this is why, and then have that kind of talking points
you just shared. So then, um, you know, we can communicate it.
'cause in the end of the day, I, I do overall understand this
approach, but what's really important is to make sure resident understand
that. And, um, I'm still processing it as a representative,
right. As a council member. Um, and this is like, I'm six years
in, so that's my feedback and I like to see how we can better communicate.
so thank you. Yeah. And if I may, I know it wasn't a, a question, but
we can certainly explore opportunities to better communicate that
as we roll out the next five year program. So it's, it's understood across
the board. I thought the last five year program was
cool and the website was cool and all that, but I think we have to build ongoing education
into the cost of infrastructure. I think we should just plan for that to be
a part of the infrastructure, get out, do the education about not just
the impact of the street being paved, but why and how we make these investments.
we should really think about that as a part of the infrastructure. Alright, uh, next is council member rick
sodi. All right. I'm gonna be a little bit of a nerd, so don't feel like I'm, uh, interrogating you,
but I'm gonna ask you some questions. Uh, okay, so this is what
I don't quite follow. So we give the, we give every street
a pci score, right? So each, there's specific, I'm assuming there's a specific segment, and you
look at that segment and you give it a score. But the percent,
but the need is based on a proportion, right? So we have a continuous
count variable, right? And now we're giving it a percentage, which means at
some point you are taking that numerical number. That's the score,
right? And then you're saying, I'm taking that number and I'm creating
a need versus not need, right? So that's the question I have. So when
I think about this, or is everything good
and above now not need, and then everything
that is kind of fair and below is that need, like, that's
the part that I don't understand. Like how do you take the value that you give
it from the pci and then translate that into percent need?
does that make sense? Council member? Let me, uh, jonathan boland,
business operations bureau manager, public works. Mm-hmm . Let me, let me take a different stab at answering
this. So, um, when we do the pci analysis, uh, which is
done every three years, um, and that is mandated, uh, legally,
um, when we do that analysis, the pci
score generates a cost to, to get that back up to a hundred.
so, to put this a different way, the total need for the city for
residential streets is 1.1 billion with a b. Mm-hmm . Each
district has their own overall need. The percentage is a simple
district need divided by total $1.1 billion need. Okay.
that's a different, so then that's how you get the percent need.
so that's, so we're talking about, so we're all gonna have fun with math today, right? So we're
talking about numerator and denominator. So denominator for every
district is the same, which is that 1.1 billion. And then the numerator
is the cost associated with that pci score or that
average pci score for a specific district.
because you said, so you said the pci score, it was related to
a, like a cost, right? So that's the numerator for a
particular district. And then the denominator is that total need for the
city. So for instance, and I'm just gonna make
up some big numbers here, but if, if cd five itself is showing mm-hmm
. A backlog of let's say $350 million,
and the total backlog for the city is 1.1 billion,
then the 350 divided by 1.1 billion
gets us that 33% need that
cd five has. Okay. So then I haven't added it together, but that means can we go to slide
13?
and this may be true, I haven't, I haven't done the math in my head. So that means that this percent need, like,
if I go down that column, if I sum down that column, it should sum to a hundred percent.
that's correct. And then you could do the
background math of just making a fake 1.1 billion and then assigning
a percentage, and you would get the backlog total. Oh, and council member, to answer your
previous question, you asked, um, at what point does it get assigned a dollar amount? It's not just when
it's in need, but everything that's not a hundred percent is my understanding, and the
team can correct me has a value associated with it. So if it was a
hundred percent, it's zero. If it's 99%, it might be, you know, a hundred
dollars or whatever it is. And so, and it, as it goes down, it gets a higher amount of need.
so every single street gets assigned a need is, can the team
con, uh, confirm that that is accurate? Uh, mr. City manager and, and in fact, not every
street, but street segment. So it's not, we're not taking, uh, an,
uh, an average score for miles and miles of streets. It is by street segment
because you have to make it comparator. Right. So the comparator has to be the same, which means the segments have
to be the same across the district. Okay. That makes sense. So then thinking about this slide,
and, uh, so when we look at different, so let's say, let's
look at like council member kerr, cd five. So basically we're saying is that when we did the
previous payment management plan versus when we looked at the pci data today,
even though we've done a lot of it, like, I think as to the, what the mayor's point is, even
though we've done a lot of investment, the cost is still
the same now, right? The, like the need investment in that district is still
the same now, unfortunately, as it was before, because some
streets have continued to degrade, even though we fixed some of them, is what you're saying?
yes, absolutely. 'cause it's a 0% change. Yeah. So we are making progress in the overall
pci, but if that street is already really expensive and you didn't fix it, and
it gets even worse mm-hmm . Then that bru brings it down. Um, because
if you look at the p and p, um, you're looking at how do you address the backlog? And our backlog
is still growing even though we're putting all this dollars into the street. And so
this is that issue that megan brings up too, which is we have people waiting for the worst streets,
but the worst streets are the most expensive to fix. So you could maybe put all of your street
money into one or two streets and raise those from a
10 or a 19% to a hundred, but you're gonna get a lot less improvement
throughout the district, um, if you do it that way. Okay. So that makes sense. 'cause then that's,
so that's why this all is starting to more make more sense now. So on slide 24,
when you say stable pci levels may be maintained
under baseline funding scenarios, though major backlog reduction
will remain limited. So that's what you're saying is that we're doing all of this work, but because we're
doing clack crack and slurry seal and things like that, not necessarily addressing the hardest
or the, the, the lowest pci streets, we're always gonna, we're
basically we're having a hard time with back with the backlog unless we start to put more funding,
um, into, into our streets, particularly the ones that are in the worst
condition. Absolutely. And the team has done magic in moving that pci up without being
able to have the funds to address the backlog mm-hmm . By being very specific about which
streets we maintain and keep from going further down. And then which ones in the middle
we're able to raise up, and then we have done some poor streets. But, um, until
we have enough money to really address the backlog, you're not gonna see large
increases in pci. So we need to have baseline, uh, um, amount,
uh, spend it correctly and spend it efficiently, and then also get money to address the backlog.
understood. Okay. And then last question is, and this is slide 23,
um, I just wanna unpack this for people watching. Um, and council member
kerr, um, uh, brought up the statement as well when it said the current 100% needs-based
residential street allocation model is equitably directing funding toward
equity focus areas and rates exceeding their proportional share of the city.
so I just want to, is there, is there a way that you all can kind of like just unpack
that statement? So basically define, for those who don't know what an equity focus area,
and when we say exceed their proportional share of the city, I just want people
to understand what that's, what that's saying.
yeah. So what this is essentially saying is that as part of the audit, the
auditors that came in and, and other specialists, other folks from public works came in and
looked at how are we allocating our street funding? And they said,
we are allocating our limited funds to areas
in need in equity focused areas at rates exceeding, uh,
what, what if you were to go and do those proportional calculations across
the board, how, how we would get there. So, uh, we're doing
a better job than if you would just run and, uh, run the same or similar calculations
to what we did for the percent need. If we were to do that, we're
investing more heavily in equity focused areas than otherwise.
so what is, what is the definition of an equity focused area?
they define this as part of the audit. We will, we will have to pull that up for you. Okay.
so yeah, I, because I think that would make, that would what make people more sense? 'cause equity is because, you know,
people, when we talk about equity in the city, we're talking about investing in areas, right? That have,
have maybe been neglected, not as had as much investment. But here, when we're
talking about equity, we're also, we're in, the definition we're using here is around how we're
investing and we're focusing on like the, the worst streets. But the worst streets may not necessarily
be in areas that have had disinvestment. So that's why I'm trying to say like,
I think when we say equity focused area, what do we mean specifically here?
yes. And that's a wonderful question. Um, so this, this comes straight out of the independent
audit that, that was completed by the city auditor's office. Uh, that audit, uh,
defined, uh, the efas as bipoc, lep, um, which
is low, uh, limited english proficiency, density, limited income and seniors.
and then it found high focus equity areas or hfas as
groups with three or more of those five efas within them.
okay. Repeat that last sentence. Uh, so a high equity focus area
would be a block group with three or more of those bipoc, lep density, limited
income seniors together. Okay.
I know. Look, we're all, like I said, we're all, we're all gonna learn together, but yes. Okay. I'm
gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna shut up now. I may have more questions. No, it's fine. Just so you know, it's fine. Get your
questions out. I do this as part of my job, so this is just, this is just council member. Get your questions out. Yeah.
so I just, I I just, I wanted that, that actually was my last question. I just wanted to make sure that
I understood. When we're making that statement, we're basically saying, because I think if we
think about, I mean for, I'm just being honest, right? When we think about investing in our infrastructure, for those
of us who come from areas like north central west, long beach, like, we're always
gonna be concerned around investment in our districts because we all know the history, right?
and so it's important for us to know that as we're collectively achieving
our goals, right? That we're making sure to continue that equity lens
around those investments when it comes to our internal policies here in the city. Yeah,
absolutely. And we certainly do that. And every single district has an area that has received more
in more investment over time than others. And so I think what we're showing in the audit
is that we have a lot of street money now. We don't have the one street per district anymore. We're
able to do a lot of work within the district. And when we recommend to you, here are the
things that we think we should be investing in based on the pci, there's a lot you
can choose from. So we will say, you know, this part of the district should get this 'cause they haven't
had this kind of investment, or it's a big need. Or we hear, we hear complaints or we hear
issues and we are able to spread it around. So we're very deliberate about that, about trying
to maximize those dollars and also, um, focus on areas that haven't always had
investment. And that is, you know, within the district after you look at need. And so
that is what we would be preparing to do as part of the, the next five year plan is
be able to take all that input that you guys receive, that we look at for the data, and then
try to create a street plan, uh, that matches that level of investment.
alright. Thank you. Uh, council member kerr. Yeah, I just a
quick follow up. Um, I do wanna acknowledge and thank uh, you director for,
um, the, and we talked about it a little bit earlier in the study session, uh, the
way that you are communicating with, with us in our briefings,
um, and the new format and the new maps that show us some of these specific things.
and I know we've talked about, um, are those for public consumption, the way that we can package
those for, for folks to understand. So I appreciate the idea of putting education
into the budget, um, and doing it in a way in terms of
how do we take the good work that you're doing to communicate that to our offices,
um, in a, in a public way that that works, um, both for internal
and um, external viewing. So I did wanna acknowledge and thank you for that good work.
alright. Public comment, reio.
yeah. I didn't see in the report how the integration of
the city's website as a place where a resident can
identify, said pothole needs to be repaired.
so we need to incorporate that because, you know, just like
when we talked about, you know, giving bonuses for builders,
like density bonuses and special bonuses, I mean,
what is the follow up and follow through for a
resident that identifies said pothole that
aligns with the, um, with the,
uh, presentation that you, that you presented so that those
voices are heard? Because those voices are extremely
important. I remember the one day that I promoted that part
of the website, it actually crashed the site because there was so
many people that were like, you know what? I didn't even know that this
resource within the city's website, um, actually
was available. But then it crashed the site. 'cause there was so many
people that said, hey, fix this one, fix this one, fix this one.
so how do you intelligently incorporate
that so that the voices of our residents are heard? That's all I
have. Thank you. Bless you. Alright,
thank you. Look, I think this is an important discussion. We need to have it every,
every few years. I think it's important. I think, um, there's
a lot. There was just recently a lot of misinformation out and the state of
our media, we can't count on them the way that we used to, to do
that. Reporting on the really important topics that the council choose on,
we don't have that anymore. So we, we have to go through the steps of doing
and conducting that, that education as best as we can.
we're in a jump ball state of like politics. It's like whatever's the most shocking
headline is what people read. And the boring stuff, like our long-term
strategy to improve streets and what the real needs are is not gonna get, is not gonna get
the coverage anymore. And so it's harder, but it requires
us to have more discipline. We have to stay focused on what we're doing. We have
to, we have to be able to sort of lock out the
noise, continue to focus and find the resources to truly invest and improve
our streets. Um, council member thresh, do you want add anything?
yeah. Um, thank you all for the conversation. It's been great. As the newest council member,
I wanted to give my colleagues a chance to kind of have a conversation and I'm,
I've been, um, kind of taking some notes. Um, I
am, I think the lens through which the department is taking a look at what
our, the alternative residential allocation
models, um, are really great. 'cause my first thought was to go to people,
um, as the place that we might land on. Um, but even with
that, because you mix in, uh, business and employment activity as
opposed to just population, I wasn't convinced that that was the right place,
um, for all of the districts. And I am thinking from an equity lens.
um, and then safety was another one. I said, well, do you know, do we go that direction?
um, given, you know, what we've seen in community and I don't want
to negate the need for basics, you know, street
repair, um, for investment in a lot of infrastructure that
only supports a small percentage of the the district.
um, I will say I think for future conversations, um,
'cause when the concept here on page 23 that we are
investing more funding and equity focused areas, um,
is really hard to square with because one, I have no
idea what our auditor has determined, our equity focused areas,
I don't really know what that means. And we haven't been able to share the definition here this evening
so that, you know, in the future we wanna come back and, and have some sense of that.
and then the finding showing that there's a concentration of street
projects within these areas. When I look at every single
category, no matter how we slice it, where the funds are being
spit are in parts of the city where we don't have a lot of equity focused
areas. So I'm trying to figure out like how could that
be that we are spending a higher amount in equity focused areas, but
if we look at the fact that more dollars are going to parts of the city where we
typically don't have equity focused, um, you
know, I would say, um, populations, it's hard
to believe that that's true. So, um, you know, I
think at this point all of the bars are about in
the same place, uh, when it comes to, to my district.
um, and I would be comfortable with the direction that we're currently
going. Um, but just monitor that. Uh, because the other
issue that I get so concerned about is that if we do not address
the, um, the poorest streets, then,
you know, we continue to just have those linger accordingly.
um, and that's where I, I hear the most from residents regarding what
their expectations are. And it just gets worse. And when I look at the map,
uh, frankly, it's many of the places that don't have any lines at all are where
we see, uh, the worst streets within the district.
alright, well, uh, thanks everyone for your, for your discussion members, please
cast your vote.
a motion is carried. Um, okay, where
are we now? Are we
on item 36 now? Did we do that? Yes. Yeah. 36
report from community development recommendation to adopt request for
proposal and award a contract to the superlative group to provide consulting
services to evaluate advertising opportunities and design an
advertising program or district centered around the
use of city owned spaces for a total amount not to exceed 187,450
and execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract citywide. Alright,
so we'll do a brief staff report here, but I think this is important.
we, we outlined a number of strategies to grow new sustainable revenue
in our city as our city transitions away from oil and tight winds
and, and other things. One of those strategies we were, we've
been very smart and intentional about removing static
billboards throughout our city. And in exchange for the digital on the freeways
removed a lot of blight. And it has allowed us to really think
comprehensively about what an advertising district could look like in our
entertainment district and in our downtown in a way that is curated and thoughtful
and generates revenue and tasteful, um, particularly
in advance of 2028. Um, and so we'll go
through a, a presentation here. This gives us the first step of bringing on a consultant
to begin to do that work. Um, and we look forward to,
um, uh, the findings. Christopher goons.
okay. I wanna introduce you to april aka our administrative and financial
services officer who made this procurement possible and is gonna tell you
about it. All right. Good evening, mayor and members
of the city council. Um, before we get started on the
specifics of the rfp, I'm gonna kind of blaze through some of the background. There
was some one-time funding originally approved a couple years ago as part of the grow long
beach initiative. And then we had, um, the signature project
division set up in our planning group and the economic development and opportunity
department had their rise division created. And the partnership between
economic development and opportunity and cd and public works all led us to work
together on an rfp so that we could find consulting services to help us design
a thoughtful, appropriate, um, way of doing advertising,
uh, opportunities and a, and a program for our city owned spaces.
when we issued that rfp, we outlined several key project objectives,
and that is to make sure that we, uh, all centered this effort around something
that's balanced and that makes sense. So the goals are to make sure that we find
the best places to put the ads, ways to make the approval process smoother and more
efficient, and ways to involve the community along the way. We also
are also using this effort to make sure that we can bring in revenue for the city while making sure the
advertising itself adds values for residents, local businesses, and fits well in the area.
the rfp itself went through a competitive process. We, uh, reached out and
advertised it, tried to generate a as much response as we could, looking for the best expertise
that meets those goals. At the end of the process, we found that we had two
responses, which were carefully reviewed by that interdepartmental team, with representatives from
community development, economic development, and opportunity in public works. That team
reviewed the proposals, interviewed both proposals, and identified the superlative group as
the one that best met the project project objectives. Their
strengths really lie in their unified approach as well as their prior experience
here in the region, including prior work for, uh, cal state long beach.
as part of their proposal, we also had a really good partnership structure that was identified in
their response. Uh, it allows us to make sure that both the, the
city staff and the consultant have clear roles and responsibilities where city
staff is leading the community engagement, um, helping with the program level environmental
review and the updates to the municipal code while the consultant can focus on providing
us with the subject matter expertise around market analysis, implementation strategies,
and serve as an advisor.
and then finally, um, what I'd like to, to make sure we spend some time highlighting
is that the anticipated project timeline is one that will take place in phases. We're
gonna have deliverables along the way. We're going to make sure that we end up with a
muni municipal code updates so we can activate the advertising opportunities, but it
will be done in phases. The first phase will highlight site visits and stakeholder
engagement, followed by research and analysis, and then we'll have broader
community outreach and summarizing of the public input. And then they'll
be preparing of code updates and conducting the environmental review, and
then an adoption process with public hearings and review by, uh, various commissioning
bodies. So a recommendation, uh, before you today
is, is a request asking to approve the authority to enter into the contract with
the superlative group for these services so we can get this important work started.
that concludes my presentation. We're here for any questions.
alright, thank you. We're gonna go to public comment. We lio martinez,
fb gray, and mike murchison, lio europe.
so recommendation
authorized by the city manager.
tom, you're lucky that I stress tested
the political electoral system
in both long beach and la because you know what
I would've done with you? Um,
so this is to award funding
for a company out of cleveland, ohio. That
is a big wtf tom towards you.
again, why are we spending money outside
of long beach when this money could be allocated
to local businesses in long beach and
only that, but guess what? Advertisement is
the way it's, think of advertising as as awareness.
awareness. So imagine if local
residents help drive the awareness
of long beach, the city, the community that
they live in. This study would be the best study
in the planet. But no, we're having
a company from cleveland, ohio do a study.
that's a joke. And then lastly,
10 seconds to just say, don, I need you to identify
a cost per meeting because there is a cost
associated by the minute for a meeting that's gonna last forever.
the police officers outside ask me, are we through? And I said, no, we're probably
only halfway. It's unacceptable that everybody
runs their mouth, but yet we have to stay by a time.
so what is the cost, meaning by minute so that the residents
of long beach knows what, how much it takes for, for every syllable.
but we go over time. Thank you.
next speaker, please. You've
kept us all waiting. So, uh, naturally I say go f**k
rex. Um, super superlative,
uh, group inc. Is it in? I'm not sure if that's
correct. I don't know if you included the full name of the company,
um, that you are wanting to have brand long beach.
they're from ohio. Um, they work
on sponsorship, naming rights, valuation, sales, branding,
consulting. You don't think you want to consult with people in long beach about
what long beach looks like? I think, you know, people need
to know that. Um, you don't care about long beach,
you make these outside pocket deals. You're not even
looking. You're just looking. Yeah. If anybody's that's logged in
watching the mayor is not even listening. He doesn't care about businesses here.
he only cares about lining his pockets. I believe long beach
is best represents long beach. People in long beach best represent long beach. So
why don't you hire a consulting firm in long beach? That's
like the easiest choice. You don't think people in long
beach know about sponsorship, naming rights by, uh, valuation sales, branding.
if you actually like took the time and hung out with people in long
beach, maybe that stupid ass beer can with your picture
on it would look a little bit better. You
disrespect all of us in long beach by your lack
of consideration for the people that live here. You're disgusting
and people know that. And you can continuously hang out with
your white supremacist friends, but they will never include you
ever free palestine. Go f**k yourself, rex.
let's keep the conversation on topic, on what's on the actual agenda
tonight. Thank you. Next speaker, please.
uh, why is this offered to
ohio? Why are we outsourcing?
why isn't this contract being offered to workers in long beach? There's no advertising
think tanks in long beach vibe city. Uh,
the mayor's proudly toting all the andro jobs to offer the people of long beach weapons,
manufacturing jobs, blood on our hands opportunities,
war crimes, jobs. Just why, why can't we offer the workers
in our city better opportunities than violence? That's all I have to say.
next speaker, please. Good evening,
mayor council members. My name is mike murchison. Three years ago I
brought interstate outdoor advertising out here and met with some of you
along with city staff to discuss pilot projects for
advertising on city owned assets. That was three years ago. Nothing came of it.
it was unfortunate. Recently we were awarded back in
august of 2025, a contract advertised on lifeguard
towers. We still don't have that moving forward. In fact,
there's been no conversation with my client and I checked with him today for over
a month now. So now you're in the summer season, you're losing the opportunity
for revenue in our city and I just don't understand it. It's
gotta move quicker. I look at this consultant contract that you're
talking about awarding tonight, and I looked at the schedule. There's
no way you're gonna make the olympics in 2028, that
that's fool's gold. You have to put out an rfp after
this consultant comes back with a report. You folks look at that report
and then you issue out an rfp. There'll be lots of firms that will respond
to that rfp, but it will be well past the olympics. So the one opportunity
in our city to gain revenue, substantial revenue,
unseen revenue like never before for something like the olympics will be gone.
I just want you to be aware of that. I hope that somebody can tell
my client what's going on with a lifeguard tower advertising. And I hope
that you expedite this report from the consultants very,
very quickly if you actually wanna take advantage of advertising the city of
long beach. Thank you.
alright, well thank you all for your, for your, uh, public comment.
um, I don't see any additional counsel deliberation. Members,
please cast your vote. Uh, mayor, I do have, oh, I'm sorry. It's not working. Okay.
council member allen. Alright. Um, so go ahead mary, you were up first.
thank you, council member. Um, first of all, um,
you know, advertising in our city
is going to be very important, especially in the next, um, coming
years. Of course. Um, we know the potential revenue
source that this is and the important tools to achieve economic
and tourism goals. But we also, uh, know that this
could be a, a point of local pride.
we are a beautiful coastal city, um, that is
diverse in language, music and everything that makes life more
vibrant and welcoming. I hope to see that spirit of
long beach considered I'm reflected in any proposal.
I know there's a lot to hash out, so I wanna ask a a couple
questions. Uh, one being, what is the expected
timeline of completion for each deliverable of this
contract and when can we receive a final report back to council?
if we could start there, please. Yeah, thanks for the question. Um, council members in
deha. So this is a little bit different than when like a consultant does a whole
work product and we don't do anything with it until the end and then we come back with a report.
this is meant to be an iterative process. So the first thing that consultants
gonna do is kick off, um, the effort, do a lot of work physically
here in the city to identify our highest value locations for
advertising, which will allow the city. And that work will occur in the first 90 days.
and then that will allow the city to be working on what is the right strategy for monetizing
those highest value locations while the consultant continues to work on the
next steps. Um, what are the second tier location? What are the
advertising policies? How do we effectuate that? How do we make sure that an
advertising company that may approach the city is actually giving the city
the correct revenue share and that we understand the value of those assets so
that we can negotiate correctly. Um, so there are aspects of
the work that will take years, which was alluded to by the public speaker,
but there is work product that will be delivered to the city within the first 90 days and
the city will be acting on, the city will be having advertising
that will be in place prior to the 2028 olympics. There are
other more complex, um, locations or
locations that may not be exempt from coastal permitting that may be 36
months out. But much of the work is front loaded and
it's not the type of product where you wait until the very end, you package
up a report, you come back and you don't do anything until after that report. This
consultant is meant to be an extension of city staff and assist us in
meeting the city's needs to monetize different assets and provide advertising on
there. Thank you. So for clarification,
I'm to understand that it's kind of like a parallel. So we're working,
um, on the advertising, the consultant is consulting us
and then, but we're also providing, um, advertisement opportunities
as we're going and figuring out the next steps. Um,
so can this, can this be done
like you said, 90 days? Can you give me like maybe an example of
what we can expect in those 90 days?
yeah, so we'll be meeting with each council district, including, uh, with you and your staff.
and what, uh, the consultant is gonna do in the initial scope is
identify not all the advertising opportunities, but what are the most
lucrative locations for outdoor advertising available in the city. So for
example, in your district, that's gonna include the convention center.
um, and there are certain opportunities, but also certain constraints. And
then we wouldn't be meeting with you council member because that's, you know, in,
in your district. There may be an opportunity at bixby park and
council district too. So we'd be having, you know, that conversation with council member
allen. Um, and, and other opportunities, other places on, on
city facilities, whether it's the expo center and district five, or it's
howden park and district nine, you know, I don't know 'cause we haven't done the work.
um, but within that 90 day period, we're gonna understand, not everywhere we could
put advertising, but in terms of what advertisers are interested, what are the highest
dollar value opportunities, and that'll give us the opportunity to follow
up with you as members of the council. Thank you. Thank you,
director kunz. Um, also I would hope that, um,
while we are working with these consultants, that they also keep in
mind that, um, you know, there is going to be, um,
need, I'm assuming to have the coastal commission involved
and approvals for anything that's gonna be advertised,
um, in, in that, in their jurisdiction. So, and
they move very, very slowly as we all know. So just to keep
that in mind, yeah, I think we're keeping that in mind, but we also
have a strategy and not okay. Um, certain things related
to the mp olympics under state law are not subject to coastal commission jurisdiction.
um, if we're talking about paint or even, uh,
signage on an existing building that the coastal commission has previously
approved, it may or may not be subject to a long process.
and, and our goal is to advance the city's interest, uh, as
quickly as possible. But I can't perfectly predict how the, the coastal commission
will react. And also, I know that we, this is in preparation
for la 28, um, which I can appreciate, but I
also think that, you know, this'll probably be here, uh,
before the olympics, and I'm hoping way after the olympics too, so we can
continue benefiting from advertising, uh, resources coming
in. So thank you. Thank you for your work on this.
thank you. Just, just to continue on that, on that thread, so
there are a bunch of discussions about sql exemptions and coastal exemptions for 2028.
how does that factor into this process?
uh, we expect to use whatever tools are available to
us. Um, so I mean, it's, it's my position
that the signage on an existing building that's already permitted does not
represent an environmental impact within the meaning of those words
and that law, um, that's obviously subject to others'
interpretation. Um, installations related to
the olympics may be subject to other permitting, but may not be subject to
coastal commission. Um, so we're gonna use every
tool. I don't, mayor, I don't want
to get into all of the yeah. Legal strategy here in right open session.
I certainly think we, you know, we should pay attention to this. I I'm seeing what's
happening in inglewood and other areas around conflicts, and
we wanna be intentional about the city's interests because there are a lot of different interests out there,
whether it's la 28th interest or others' interests. We have to protect
the city's interests first and foremost. And secondly, I'd rather
make sure we have the plan, a thoughtful plan, consider all of these dynamics
before we rush into any agreement with any advertiser.
we have to make sure that we've conducted our studies and
ensure that we know what we're negotiating for first and
foremost and what our rights are as a city. So that's, that's important that we take
this first step. Yeah, and that's absolutely right. This is a, uh, history has shown us, this is a very litigious
area. There's a lot of money to be made here. The companies don't always see
eye to eye with each other. They're all looking for the best deal. There's been lawsuits in la there's
a lawsuit right now in inglewood, inglewood, uh, and this is a lot more than just changing two
or three lines in a code. Um, you have to really do it correctly and that's what this team's gonna help us
do. That's what's important. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, council member allen,
I guess, uh, thank you mayor. Um, yeah, I, uh, I do it.
thank you for the presentation. You know, I am always going to be an
advocate for small businesses and, and contracting in long beach. Um, especially
with advertising. This is a small contract. It's really unfortunate that we didn't have any
minority owned business, woman owned business, um, or any small
enterprise business apply. Um, I, you said there were only two and,
and I just, it makes me wonder what are we doing? Um, what can we do better?
um, because this is, like I said, this is a, this is a small contract and, and why are we
going to ohio when there's so many? Yeah, and being someone,
as you guys all know that owned an ad agency right here in the city of long beach, I just don't understand.
and, and I'm disappointed. And, and, um, I know we have so much great, great talent
and so many great small businesses here. I'm disappointed that others didn't come forward,
um, to, um, uh, to a bit on this. But, um,
just if there's any opportunity from, from a procurement perspective, um,
to do more outreach or to understand what we can do better to, uh, to,
uh, support our smaller businesses would be great. I do have a couple of questions
though. Um, uh, director konz, you said that this is
an extension of the city staff, but now this is an ohio company, so
how, how is that gonna work? So this is an ohio headquartered
company. The majority of their recent work has been here in california,
including working with the city of santa monica. Um, the city
of san diego, the san diego transit system, um, with
cal state long beach here, um, with the larger cal state system, with
the city of sacramento, palmdale irvine, the san diego
symphony, um, and, and multiple airports here
in um, california. So we can always do
better. We did, uh, reach out to more than 32 long beach businesses. This
is not an ad agency, this is not, there are a lot of ad agencies. This is a
service that a couple firms across the country do. Very few,
um, which is to help us negotiate with the ad agency and
the outdoor advertising companies and help us understand exactly what the monetary
value of different, um, assets that we would make available for advertising
would be, and then come up with the correct mechanisms to get there.
we always would love to have a long beach firm. That's why we went through the process, um,
to reach out to long beach firms as well as small firms, even if they weren't
located in long beach. But this was the best proposal. There was no local
proposal, um, uh, submitted on this particular procurement. Thank
you. So, back to my question again. So how, um, this is, if they're based outta
ohio and they're doing this work, do they have an office here? Do they have someone assigned
here? How do they, how are they gonna work with our city? Um, just because you named
all those jobs that they did, doesn't mean they weren't doing it remotely or, I'm
just trying to understand how, so how our relationship is gonna work with them.
um, they will travel regardless of if they have an office here.
and the work does involve physical work here in the city,
and the staff will be here to do that physical work. So they'll be commuting here to
work, um, with all of our offices, um, moving forward, is that what
you're saying? The work that has to be done in person, they will travel for, there's
other office work that conceivably could be, um,
done remote, but what's important is they have to fulfill, um, what's outlined in
the scope. Okay. Alright. Um, so I'm assuming that that travel is part
of the contract? Well, it's a,
it's a net sum contract. So whether they spend
their money on travel or not, travel is sort of their
problem. Um, they're required to deliver the deliverables,
um, at the set cost negotiated by the city. Okay. Alright.
and then, uh, just a follow up. So then that, um, the,
uh, in 60 days then we're gonna have some deliverables,
is that what you're saying? Um, uh, yeah, that would come to staff. We're not gonna be back
at council in 60 days. You're gonna be doing your budget deliberations. But as
part of the monthly, um, briefings that I hold with each office,
we will be, um, glad to provide updates. Perfect. And then, um,
then you're, uh, this is gonna be available and ready for us to go
out, um, and profit from this before the olympics.
that's the goal and expectation barring some unforeseen
event. That's, that's the goal and expectation. Okay. Um, thank you director
koon. That's the end of my questions. Alright.
thank you. Members, please cast your vote.
councilwoman allen councilwoman sorrow both an aye. Thank you.
received. Motion is carried. Thank you. 37. Please
report from economic development and opportunity recommendation to execute an agreement in
any necessary documents with the california governor's office of service
and community engagement california volunteers to accept grant funding
up to $2,165,109 of
state of california general funds for the economic development and opportunity department,
long beach workforce innovation network and long beach youth service group
citywide. Alright, well, uh, before we have the, the brief presentation,
I just want to take a moment and thank california volunteers, the governor's office
for being such a big partner to us here in the city of long beach. We have some
incredible service corps programs like long beach public service
corps, giving recent graduates and seniors
at long beach state. Cal state, dominguez hills, long beach city college, opportunities
to work here in city hall with hands-on paid fellowships
to expose what it's like to work in government, pique their interest
while they're in that critical, uh, point in their life. And that's one of numerous
service, uh, youth service corps programs. Um, and this
funding these programs wouldn't be possible without the funding from the state
of california. Um, and we're actually about to start our next cohort. I think the
deadline was today for the next long beach public service corps program.
um, so we want to continue this. This is one of the more exciting programs
in the, in the state of all the service cores. Uh, when we were envisioned the program in my
first year, um, we had no idea. We've become so popular, so successful
of a program and they play. And these fellows play important roles in the
city and many of them have landed permanent jobs in the city. So that said, let's have our staff presentation.
thank you honor mayor and, uh, city council.
uh, the economic development department respectfully requests
approval to authorize the city manager or designee to execute
an agreement and any necessary documents. Subcontract and subsequent
amendments with the california governor's office of service and community
engagement, california volunteers to accept and expend up
to 2.2 million $165,109
in state of california general fund grant funding for the long beach youth
service corps program through december 31st, 2027.
this funding will support the long beach youth service corps, a paid work experience
program designed to increase youth employment opportunities, promote civic
engagement, and prepare young people for careers in public service and other
high growing industries. The program will provide structured work
experience opportunities for youth and young adults, ages 16 to
30, while addressing community priorities related to education,
climate change, food security, neighborhood re rev
revitalization and economic recovery. Through
these initiatives, the long beach workforce innovation network will engage
participants in a comprehensive career development pathway that includes
outreach, recruitment, job readiness, preparation, paid work experience,
mentorship, leadership development, and professional skills. Building
the funding will also support the continuation and expansion of the
city's long beach public service corps, fellowship, fire corps,
creative corps and conservation corps, as well as other partnerships
with nonprofit organizations serving youth throughout the city. These
activities are intended to strengthen workforce readiness, increase
ex exposure to public sector careers, and create
pathways to employment and education opportunities for the long beach residents.
thank you for your consideration. And this concludes my report. I welcome
any questions you may have. Alright, thank you. Uh,
the system's not really working in front of me. I see one member of the public signed to
speak rogelio. Okay.
uh, council member kerr. Yeah, I just
wanna thank you for the presentation and I think our, the, the
public service fellows is an incredible program. So of the ones who have come
through our office, we have one who is getting her advanced degree in public policy, another
one who is in law school, and a third one who is fully employed, um, at the state department
of transportation after capital fellowship. So we know, um, and some
are being hired, not are specifically in the city as well. So I think it's a great
testament to the vision of what we were planning for young folks, um, bearing
itself out in what we're seeing happening with the folks who come through this program. So, thank you.
thank you. Council member thrash took thanks, mayor. Um, I
just wanna say, um, that I'm so pleased, uh, to be accepting this award.
um, we recently had a constituent reach out who's a high school student
who brought his entire class over to learn more about opportunities within our
community to ensure that teens are able, uh, to gain access
to employment. Um, and I'm really appreciative that long beach wind is there.
and then for the continuum of opportunities that are available for those who
are in the public service fellowship. And I can't say enough about the quality,
um, and the characteristics of those who have come through our office as a part of that program.
I look forward to supporting.
thank you. Was there anybody else signed up? 'cause I'm not seeing no, I, okay.
alright. Great. Um, well thank you you so much. Let's continue this program. All the
programs are great. Thanks. California volunteers, uh, members, please cast your vote.
motion is carried.
alright. 38.
I think we've done 38 already. 39. 39.
report from financial management recommendation to adopt a resolution requesting that the board
of harbor commissioners approve the fiscal year 2027 budget to
reflect the final gross revenue amount upon issuance of the harbor department's. Fy
26 audited financial statements citywide. Thank you. There's no presentation
here. One member of the public signed up to speak rogelio.
seeing, seeing, uh, no further public comment. Members please
cast your vote.
motion is carried. Okay.
uh, item 40, report from human resources recommendation
to adopt a resolution approving an exception to the 180 day waiting period
for public agencies to hire ms. Julie bedard for a limited duration to
work the in the police department citywide julie is the best.
um, one member of the public signed up to speak rogelio,
not seeing rogelio members, please cast your vote.
motion is carried. 41 report from public works. Recommendation
to find the project exempt from cqa. Accept the filed notice
of exemption and categorical exclusion prepared in accordance with cqa
and adopt plans and specifications. And award a contract to excel paving company
for the construction of the orange avenue backbone, bikeway, and complete
streets improvement project for a total contract amount not to exceed $22,609,202
and execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract districts 1, 2, 5, 6,
and eight. It's a lot of districts. Uh, what we do have a brief presentation
here. Yes. Joshua hickman, public works
director. Alright, good evening
again, mayor. Council members, uh, we're excited to be here for an important
milestone for an important project, uh, to our critical bikeway safety and
complete streets projects that's been years in the making. So I know
this is something you've you've seen before and I'll try to breeze through this relatively
quickly 'cause I know we're, we're getting a little bit late. So,
um, the goal of this project is to transform an important corridor
into a multimodal, uh, area all through the
districts that were referenced in the recommendation. Uh,
this is a key connection, uh, of our north south corridor all the
way from the waterfront to the, the very top of our city.
so in total, we have over eight miles
of bike lane and, uh, corridor that's go going to ultimately
be restored. We've bookended the improvements on the salt
side from pch to ocean and the north side from 52nd to 72nd.
uh, what we're doing here with this project is filling in some of those middle gaps of about
2.6 miles or 32% of that corridor.
this will still leave a approximately 1.3 miles
that runs through city of signal hill that will
continue to coordinate them to, um, improve that in the future.
despite that gap through signal hill, you can still see there's a,
a pretty robust north south bikeway, uh, all throughout the
city, getting people to the waterfront. Um, in addition to the north south
corridor, we also have, uh, this bikeway that will connect up with
13 existing bike facilities on the streets, uh, shown
on this slide here.
so what does the project include? We have, as noted, 2.66 miles
of bike lanes. We've got 15 new bus stops. We have
10 upgraded crosswalks along with the rrr fbs that you learned about
earlier today. Uh, we also have five protected intersections,
uh, that include signal upgrades in some cases, ball belts and others,
some striping and and so on. Uh, you can see the five protected intersections,
uh, located on this screen. Uh, we're also gonna be doing some
selective pavement and spot repairs throughout the corridor. Um,
extensive sidewalk improvements. And then one vegetated swale, which
you'll see an image of here shortly.
so there was a, a lot of recent up outreach on this project. Uh, you could see
a couple dates listed on, on the screen. We did some outreach at mcbride.
couple, um, uh, heated discussions at
the expo art center. Uh, we received a number of written
responses, uh, both at these meetings and afterwards we've,
um, and then as part of our education outreach process
and revamping of the, of the design, we came back to the mobility ports
and infrastructure committee and presented to that, uh, back last fall.
so as part of that outreach, um, we did add some rapid flashing
beacons and crosswalks based on the feedback that we received. Uh, we also
received a number of requests for pedestrian upgrades. So we did, um, add in
or, or in total going to improve over two and a half miles
of sidewalks. Um, we, we really looked at minimizing
the impacts to parking. We heard loud and clear from the community that they wanted
to minimize, uh, the impacts to parking. So we, we adjusted
the design accordingly. Um, we also adjusted some of the bus stop locations
to better accommodate some comments from the community, uh, as well as
that vegetated swale that I had mentioned.
so as part of the project, we'll be installing new protected bike lanes at hill street
to pch and 52nd to bixby. Um,
before you on the screen is an example of what that would look like.
uh, just know that in this screen it does show a lot of green
in the bikeway. One of the other, uh, improvements or revisions
that we had made as part of the community feedback was some of the reductions to the green within
the bikeways themselves. As
noted, we do have 10 crosswalks that are gonna be upgraded as part of this project.
you can see them here represented on this screen.
and we have a few examples of the protected intersections. So
you can see it includes striping crosswalks, um, ball belts.
and from 19th street is 20th street. We're going to be incorporating because the
parkway is a a little bit wider in that area, rather than, uh, adding
a bunch of hardscape, we wanted to add a vegetated bio swell, which has
the dual benefit of both adding green space and helping treat, uh,
and enhancing our water quality.
so this project is largely funded with grant funds. We have over $13 million
in caltrans a tp funding, uh, that covered both design
and construction costs. Uh, we're at. We're also allocating and have
allocated, uh, a number of other funding sources as shown on this
screen for a total project cost and available funding of
$29.4 million.
so next steps, uh, we're hopeful that the project will be awarded tonight. We'll
meet our grant deadlines. We will then quickly move forward with executing
the contract, uh, working with the contractor to procure the long lead items.
uh, get the schedule approved, get the team out there and mobilized
start construction later this fall and wrap up, uh, approximately two
years later in fall of 2028.
that concludes the staff report and we're available to answer any questions. Alright,
uh, we'll go to public comment. Tara ricky lio martinez.
uh, good evening mayor and council members. Um, tara regie. I'm president of the california
heights neighborhood association. I'm speaking on the section of the bike lane between
bixby avenue and wardlow avenue. Our focus tonight is to ensuring that
the final design and construction respect the character of the historic district
and reflect commitments that have already been communicated to the residents. Um,
we are requesting, um, we would actually like clarification on the spot repairs
that was noted by the public works director. Will depo repairs between
bixby and wardlow avenue be in asphalt or concrete? 'cause uh, our concrete
streets are very important to us. We are requesting that that section of orange
avenue between, again, bixby and wardlow be repaired using
concrete rather than asphalt. Um, this request is especially important because
it was communicated to us that, um, it would not be, uh, slurred
in asphalt and that it would be done in spot repair. So we would just like clarification on that for
that section. Um, we asked the city to honor these commitments in
the meeting that we had earlier this year. Um, secondly, we request
that the roadway striping within the historic district utilize traditional white markings
rather than the lime green paint. So we want to thank you again. That was noted in the,
uh, presentation tonight. So we would like clarification that that would be, um,
addressed in the section of the historic district. We understand the purpose
of the bicycle, um, wayfinding and safety enhancements. The highly
visible lime green striping can have a significant visual impact within a designated
historic district. So white striping would continue to provide
guidance and safety while better preserving the historic appearance of the neighborhood.
our request tonight is not about opposing bicycle safety. It's about ensuring the,
that infrastructure improvements are implemented in a manner that respects the unique character
of long beach's historic neighborhoods. We really care so deeply about preserving
the features that make our neighborhoods special. We believe that safety, um, improvements
and historic preservation can coexist when projects are thoughtfully designed and implemented.
so we respectfully ask the council to direct staff to utilize concrete repairs,
the spot repairs in that section between bixby and wardlow, and to use the white striping
in the historic district. Thank you so much. Thank
you. Lio. Okay. Not seeing rogelio. We'll take it back
behind the rail. Uh, council member kerr.
yes. Uh, thank you mr. Mayor and thank you, uh, director hickman and the public works team
for bringing this, uh, one step closer to important traffic safety
and infrastructure repairs. As mentioned, the presentation, it's been discussed
previously. This is a citywide project spanning multiple districts that has mentioned 1, 2, 5, 6,
and eight. It's been a long time in the work, some of it has been completed and awarding the
contract today brings us that much closer to completion throughout the process
of designing this portion of the project that runs through district five, I've heard from residents living on
this corridor that they don't feel safe with the conditions the way that they are. We're hopeful that
the narrowing of the street and intersections by adding bike lanes
and bull belts, as well as other safety features like improved crosswalks, transit stops and much
needed sidewalk improvements, will improve behaviors and meet the overall goals making
orange avenue a safe street for all. I wanna reiterate my appreciation
for the public works team for taking a few extra beats to hear community feedback and come up with compromised
design plan that keeps the impact on residents low while maintaining the goals and needs of the
overall project. Um, I especially appreciate seeing some of
the requests by neighbors including in the presentation, including the minimization of green paint where
possible along the stretch that runs through the historic district. I also look forward to the crosswalk
enhancements that we're going to see at clayborne and goldfield. Tehachapi, marin, armando.
these help connect residents across the corridor to schools, businesses, and neighbors on the other
side, as well as adding a crosswalk to 37th and mid-block
crossing between 36th and wardlow to help support slower traffic flow and increased
access to the businesses as you approach wardlow. We've just seen some similar
crossings installed at carson. Thank you very much. Giving much needed access
to the park and safety as a whole. I look forward to the safety improvements, the
overall slowing of existing conditions on orange in the improved access and connectivity
we're aiming to create with this truly citywide project. Uh,
and just a couple of questions. Uh, I, we know
that we're right on the edge of scheduling in terms of awarding this contract,
so could you speak to why it's important? Number one, that we, uh,
approve the contract tonight and also, uh, when could
we expect if awarded, uh, a construction timeline
so we know which neighborhoods we'll see impact more quickly to be able to
enter, uh, to talk with our neighbors about it.
yeah. Great questions. Thank, thank you. And, um, as far
as what is the urgency of, of doing this this evening? So we do
have grants, uh, that are funding a big portion or a big chunk of this project
at, uh, just over 13 million as shown on the budget slide. Um, those grants
expire here in july and we wanna make sure we get the
contract awarded, uh, get that all approved, um, before those
grants expire when we lose those funds. As far as next steps
for how do we move this project forward, um, assuming the items
approved tonight, we'll then, uh, quickly engage with our contractor,
uh, get them on board. They'll have so much time per the contract documents to
submit a schedule, and then we'll work with them on that mobilization date and the
phasing of the overall project. So we'll have more, more information,
uh, around, uh, this fall thereabouts.
thank you. And then just one last question, if you could share more details on the overall, um, roadway
repairs for the project and what specific considerations are being made in the historic
district around concrete? Yeah, sure.
so yeah, roadway repairs are mainly, um, at the intersections,
the roadway, uh, the safety intersections that we talked about. So the, the pavement will be fully
re reconstructed there. Um, and then the spot repairs that we talked about in the concrete. So
there will be no asphalt overlay of the concrete section from bix speed
wardlow. Um, at most the project can only afford spot repairs and those spot
repairs would be done in concrete. Um, we don't have those locations yet,
so those will be determined. Um, but yeah, they, they will be replaced in concrete.
great. Thank you.
alright, thank you. Uh, okay. I'm
not seeing anyone else. I queued up here. Okay. Councilwoman sorrow and I think council
second. Oh, okay. Well thank you so much for the presentation. I appreciate
the community session that was held about this project. Uh,
a portion of this does go through sixth district and I've
had heard a lot from members of the ache, uh,
al sharif. Um, something about that section where
the street opens up where there's just speeding, just, I don't know, ramps
up and it goes up the hill on orange to willow.
so I do appreciate the, the calming measure I think that be put
in as the bike lanes get installed. But I also wanted to make sure
to check, you know, there's so many feedback and consideration that was shared with
the team. Just wondering, how did you at the end of the day come down,
like, come, come to a consensus on
the best, uh, design from community feedback, engineering
standards, safety, traffic operation, and funding constraint,
like, uh, elise? Yes. So if you can share that I, I'm just
curious 'cause there's a variety of factors, right? Yeah. I
can take a a first stab at it and then keith, you can fill in what I miss.
so from a, uh, big picture kind of zooming out,
we put together a plan that we thought was really good, really well done.
we presented that to the community at multiple meetings. We heard a lot of feedback and
part of the goal behind those community meetings is to understand, uh,
what did we get right and where can we make improvements? So we heard those improvements.
um, we, we made revisions to the design, uh, including some of the things
that we've talked about and then, um, and then got that back out to, to everybody,
uh, so they could understand what we're proposing and then get it out to bid before,
um, before we missed out on, on the grant deadline. Yeah. And if you can add, how
did you end up with deciding on doing bile swell right between 19 and 20th? Because
that area does have a tendency, um, for,
for flooding, uh, it when it does rain, but is there, yeah,
if you can share a little bit that I thought that was interesting. Sure, sure. Yeah, so
I mean, there's a lot of factors that go into, uh, improving a project and one
of the things, there's a lot of safety improvements on orange plan for this project. And because
of the high injury network, so there's high injury network locations along the corridor,
um, it also takes into account the bike master plan, uh, connecting, really
creating a backbone to connect north long beach to south long beach. So all those factors
were, um, really contributed to the overall design. And
then when it comes to the vegetated swale over there between 19th and
20th street, it's kind of a dual benefit there because that's also,
uh, a location that's on the high injury network. And the idea was to
narrow the street there to, to slow speeds. Um, but
also while doing that, instead of having just a, a whole bunch of wide, you know, um,
concrete hardscape, uh, we thought to include a, a bowel swell so
that there'd be some aesthetic and water quality benefits as well while making the
street safer at the same time and adding a tiny bit of
green space to contribute to some
cooling effect. Right, ? Yeah, absolutely. Environmental
benefit for sure. Great. Thank you.
thank you. Council member th and I support. Thank you.
all right. We already did public comment. Members, please cast your vote
and there's two votes here, right? Motion is
carried. Vote that was the vote on the, uh, se and nepa determination. Great.
motion is carried. Item 42, report from public
works recommendation to adopt specifications and award various contracts for
engineering and street design services and a total aggregate amount not to exceed
120 million and to execute all documents necessary to enter into the
contracts citywide. Two members of the public signed up to speak carolyn
essex and rogelio martinez. I don't see either of them here.
alright, me members, please cast your vote
councils. I'm sorry. Thank you. Motion is carried. Thank
you. 43, please report from public works recommendation to adopt
specifications and award contracts to corp belco
electric and select electric for providing as needed traffic striping
and signal system construction services in a total aggregate amount, not to exceed
30 million and to execute all documents necessary to enter into the contracts
citywide. Alright, thank you. Is rogelio martinez here for public
comment? Okay. Seeing none, member members please
cast your vote.
motion is carried. Alright, item
45, please
report from technology and innovation recommendation to adopt specifications and award
various contracts for providing as needed professional and technical services
in a total annual aggregate amount not to exceed 9 million and
to execute all documents necessary to enter into the, into the contract citywide.
okay. Is lio here? Okay. Seeing no public comment
members please cast your vote. Um, are we on
item 45? This is 45. Okay. 'cause 43 was on the
screen. Yeah, the system's a little, a little outta whack tonight.
this is item 45. That's what you read, correct? Correct. Okay. Item 45.
item 45 members, please cast your vote.
motion is carried. Alright, now we are on to item
46,
report from city attorney recommendation to declare ordinance amending the rules of
the city council by adjusting the city council meeting. Start time, public comment, process
and supplemental agenda timeline. Read the first time and laid over the next regular meeting
of the city council for final reading. Thank you.
so this is our first reading of the very substantive conversation
that we had our last council meeting. Madam attorney, could you walk us through,
uh, walk us through where we are in this process?
good evening, council and mayor. Um, so last week we brought
this ordinance for our first read. Council had some changes
to that, um, proposed ordinance. Therefore, today we are
back for the first read again. Um, so
we have a first read today, next week is the second read of this ordinance
and, um, it'll become effective upon signature of
the mayor, uh, 31 days after. Alright,
so as we talked about before, this is the timetable needed to
have this, uh, implemented by the deadline as outlined by state
law. Um, uh, we have another opportunity for public comment here
tonight. We have 11 members of the public signed up to speak. I'm not sure who all is
still here, but I'm gonna read all 11. Joseph ramos, jay,
corless lee, tara, ricky, dave shukla, gray,
fb, rohelio martinez kay, jim henigan. And
amy, if you heard your name, please make your way to the front in no particular order.
can we get a mover and a seconder on this item? Yeah,
I think your system's a little. Okay. I will take a verbal, I can get a
mover. Okay. You need somebody to hit the button or speak up before
we can begin? Public comment.
hi, cordless lee here you cyber voice. Just a moment. Just a moment. Cordless. Just one moment. Are you ready?
no. Just a moment. Did you get it? Just one moment. No, I, I'm still waiting for a moment. Second. Alright, we need you guys to hit a
button or do a voice. I need a verbal from somebody or we don't do public make a motion.
anybody this button not working.
I will take a verbal motion. Anybody wanna raise their hand and be the mover? Seconder,
I've got oranga as the mover. Can I get a seconder on the,
if nobody's gonna second the motion, then it's debt tonight. So do you
wanna thank you council member thrash and took, uh, alright.
okay, now we can begin. Public comment. We're
ready. Cluelessly here. East side voice long beach.
um, I am asking you to vote no on this agenda item.
um, having looked at it, it, it's, uh, it's about
sb 7 0 7, adding remote testimony, which
will increase the length of council meetings. And I'm
definitely with you on the goal that shorter council meetings
would be a good thing. But the, um, the proposal
here, when I look at it, what I'm seeing
is, um, when you do process improvement activities,
the normal process is to include all stakeholders in
a brainstorming session and collect needs and suggestions.
whoever did this favored council members and staff members
and completely sacrificed the public. The public
is also a stakeholder. They have a seat at the table. Every
item on here is constricting their testimony
and what that amounts to. I mean, some of 'em when I've brought
'em up to other neighborhood leaders and such, and I've said, you know, they
want all public comment to be done at the beginning of the meeting, and the
first response to that was that's ridiculous and that
is ridiculous. Uh,
what I'd ask here is, you know, if you're trying to shorten meetings,
I'm, I'd be with you on trying to work on that, but every suggestion
that I've seen in here, your time's concluded.
yeah, I don't see 10 remaining. Give 'em the full three. Okay,
the go to another minute and a half, it's three minutes. Okay.
well anyway, you know, requiring sign up at 5:30 pm
and 4:30 pm a lot of people are at work, they can't do that.
you know, if you're asking that the current process right now allows three
minutes per person, 90 sections is barely enough for
a public participant to provide their knowledge and data. And oftentimes
the members of the public are the experts on the topic and they have important information
to share. The ordinance is meant to avoid even
longer council meetings, but in so doing public participation is sidelined
and becomes fairly meaningless. I would feel sorry for you guys trying
to reassemble all the, all the reporting,
public speaking, and then you're supposed to put that back
together as 46 agenda items come forth.
I mean, you would have to have a genius mentality to be able to do that.
are you up for that? I mean, this
is just very poorly thought out. Thank you.
thank you. Next speaker, please.
good evening. Joseph ramos gna. We appreciate that sb 7 0 7
requires limited changes regarding audio vision, telephonic public comment,
and we support those changes. However, the draft tonight goes far beyond what state
law requires and deserves further review before passage as it will cause severe
damage to public participation, which is the opposite of what the city intends.
the proposed 60 minute cap on all speakers for agendas items would allow one particular
controversial item to consume the entire public common period for all items. This would
wrongfully shut out speakers and all other agendas, items that took the time,
energy, and effort to show up to speak to the city council on items that are being dec decided
no 60 minute cap should be created for agendas items. Instead, the mayor already
has the authority to hold hold over any highly attended item for special meetings
where all such speakers could be given sufficient time to speak without derailing the regular city
council meeting. For all other items, it is grossly responsible to
set a maximum time limit for all speakers without also setting maximum number of agenda
items. Additionally, the proposal to reduce speaking time on agendas
items to just 90 seconds by default is a great concern. The number one fear of most
people in the nation is public speaking. These are not professionals in any in they need time
to get their word out. The city council is a one and only forum that most residents
have any experience or time to track. Further, the council deals with highly
complicated issues that cannot be easily summed up in 90 seconds. No matter how well
informed or polished the speaker, the existing three minutes should remain as the
default or not. And only if and when there is overwhelming need should such
speaker time be reduced further requiring
all agendas, items, all agendas, item comments to be heard at the beginning of the meeting does
a serious disservice to all comments that are given. There are literally dozens of unrelated items
in the consideration. And for comments to be lumped up together is a recipe for failure.
it means that all in all likelihood, important issues raised and facts provided will have been
entirely forgotten by the council members by the time they're ready to discuss the item.
if people do not want to wait for their item to to speak, then they really do not care that
much about the item. Respect should be shown for those that patiently wait their turn to
give comments as the item appears on the agenda so that the input can be properly considered and incorporated.
also, the earliest start time dis dis disenfranchises everyone other than retirees
and paid staff, most of the community work regular jobs. They cannot take off at 4:30 pm
in the afternoon. Most cities without full-time city council hold meetings starting at 6:00 pm
or later to allow residents to have dinner with their families before attending city council meetings.
we urge the city council to reject this draft at its grossly overreaching on what sb
7 0 7 requires and will seriously undermine community engagement. Thank you for your
time. Thank you. Next speaker,
please. Um,
good evening again, mayor and council members. My name is tara ree. Tonight I am now
speaking as a resident of the fifth district and, um, as also a candidate
of the fifth district for city council. Um, I wanna make it clear I'm not speaking on behalf
of the california heights neighborhood association. I'm speaking in opposition to agenda for
item 46. Throughout my campaign for city council, I've consistently spoken
about the need for greater transparency, accountability, and public engagement
in long beach government. In fact, those principles have been the foundation of my
campaign. That is why I find this proposal so concerning at a time when
residents are asking for more access to their government, more opportunities to be heard,
more transparency in the decision making process. This proposal moves us in the
exact opposite direction. Public comment is not an inconvenience.
it is one of the most important functions of local government. Residents should have
the opportunity to hear staff presentations, listen to council discussion, and then provide
input on specific agenda items before a vote is taken. That is how
informed public participation works. This proposal would require
residents to comment on agenda items before they have heard staff reports, before they
have heard questions from council members and before they have heard the actual debate on the item.
how can residents provide meaningful input if they're expected to speak before hearing the
information that is being presented that creates a disconnect between the public and
the decision making process and weakens the transparency that residents deserve.
I am de also deeply concerned that this proposal conflicts the requirements
of the brown act. Government code section 5 4 9 5 4
0.3 states that members of the public must be given the opportunity to address legislative
body before or during consideration of an agenda item. While the
city may argue that collecting comments at the beginning of a meeting satisfies the word
before that imp interpretation appears inconsistent with how public
agencies throughout california have traditionally implemented the brown act. The purpose
of the public comment is not simply to check a procedural box. The purpose is to
allow residents to participate meaningfully in the decision making process.
I'm also concerned that if one or two controversial agenda items consume the
allotted public comment period, residents wishing to speak on other agenda
items may lose their opportunity to be heard entirely. That is not
transparency, that is not public engagement. As someone who just
spent months knocking on thousands of doors, um, throughout the fifth
district, I can tell you residents want more involvement in their local government.
at least half of our district wants more involvement in our local government, not less.
they want elected officials to listen. They want a seat at the table. They want to
feel like their voices matter. This proposal sends the wrong message. If
elected, I would never support reducing opportunities for residents to participate in
their government. My belief is simple. More public engagement leads to better
decisions, not fewer. I respectfully urge the council to reject agenda
item 46 and preserve a public comment process that remains accessible,
transparent, and consistent with both the spirit and intent of over open
government laws. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker,
please.
uh, so first thing, how dare you keep members outside at the start
of this meeting and not send staff to check that any speakers were out there.
so a way to drop the ball on our right to speak. Much like the changes
proposed in this agenda item, an earlier start time does not serve the public.
it causes the meeting time to further overlap with typical working hours. There
should have been a focus on making presentations and comments and questions from the
council, more efficient and succinct versus stealing time
from the general public. This council is using sb 7 0 7, which
only demands telecommunication as an excuse to make sweeping
changes to speaking time that only benefit the council members and the mayor.
this council is using the hypothetical forever running public comment as
a reason to have a fixed total speaking time divvied up by how many people
sign up, which in some cases could limit a speaker to 60 seconds.
60 seconds to try to get out all of your concerns about the city. Presently,
this council claims these changes are out of concern for us to ensure that these meetings
don't run too late when time. And again, we've witnessed that public comment is
not the reason these meetings go over time. Tonight alone, the council spent
how long thanking each other. It's like sometimes the members feel like they have to say something,
even if they have nothing to say, they just rephrase what the last member or the last several
members have said. And this council still goes out of numerical order whenever
it suits them, which makes it impossible for anyone signed in or hopeful speakers
to know when that time will come up. Uh, is there still gonna be a
public comment at the end? I had that question, but I think a speaker might have answered that already.
um, we would like to know the answer to this before you impose all these new rules on us.
and, uh, these rules seem to be clearly meant to limit certain people from engaging. They certainly
don't apply to well off residents that don't need to work every day or can set their own hours.
and some of us actually want to be here in person to support our allies and
so that we're not easily censored by bad internet connection
start times and speaking durations are being adjusted so that the council doesn't have to
hear from people that are genuinely concerned and disturbed by the direction
the city's going. There's a word for people in power that aim to silence dissenting
voices, and it starts as an f. And as far as decorum,
f**k decorum, I wish this council and people in general cared as
much about people's actual f*****g lives as it cared about decorum. People
are dying in ice facilities dying in palestine and lebanon and this council
passed contracts with companies that enable all of it. And we're worried about
decorum. Like what a f*****g joke. Recommendations
later start time to allow more participation of working people. Place
noncritical presentations and proclamations at the end of meetings, giving priority
to decisions that affect residents' lives. Allow everyone physically, president
line to speak, read electronic comments into the record, play
voice messages during meetings so they can be heard. Help the people be heard and vote no
on, uh, item 46.
thank you. Next speaker, please.
hello, my name is kay. I'll keep this extremely quick. I am highly,
um, encouraging you to vote against this item, this agenda item.
the only reason I'm here today is because of the light start. If you guys
front loaded everyone to the start, I would not be able to speak. And I feel like as
a citizen of, or a resident of long beach, I have the right to speak.
I think this is extremely selfish. I think it's inconsiderate
and I think it only, um, benefits the city council
members. Thank you for your time.
thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening.
almost good morning. Um, I'm a graduate student at cal state long beach and
a very active member of the long beach community. I do donate
much of my time and energy to various community groups and nonprofits and
organize free events for the benefit of the community. I come to city council
meetings in person to voice my opinion on issues that I'm passionate
about, but the proposed ordinance in agenda item 46 would
prohibit me and others from doing so in the future. At
its core, this proposed ordinance would limit the public's ability to participate
in local government by reducing speaking time and moving meetings from 5:00 pm
to 4:00 pm a time when many working residents such as myself are still
commuting or at work or caring for their families. This proposal
raises serious concerns under both the brown act and the first amendment.
the brown act exists to guarantee the public's right to easily attend and
participate in the meetings of local legislative bodies. This california
law requires that local legislative bodies conduct the pub public's business
openly and provide members of the public with the opportunity to
directly address elected officials on matters within the body's jurisdiction.
while this law permits reasonable time, place, and manner regulations,
those restrictions must not be used in a way that effectively suppresses
public participation. But this, in effect, would do that
in some cases, this council has already reduced public comment to 90 or
as even as little as 36 seconds per speaker. 36
seconds or even 90 seconds, cannot reasonably be described as a meaningful
opportunity to address the council. I respectfully challenge any
of you to keep your comments to 90 or 36 seconds. Yeah,
it's difficult to state a position much less present facts, concerns,
or recommendations in such an abbreviated period. When public
participation is reduced to a matter of seconds, the right becomes largely symbolic
rather than meaningful. The first protect amendment protects not
only free speech, but also the right of the people to petition their government and public
comment is one of the primary mechanisms through which we can exercise that
constitutional right. Government may impose reasonable limitations, but it
may not erect barriers that substantially burden public participation
or discourage us from being heard. Unfortunately, the appearance
created by this ordinance is that public participation is an inconvenience
to be managed rather than a fundamental right to be protected.
public participation is not an inconvenience, like a previous speaker said.
it's an essential safeguard of democracy. If the public
is speaking, that means the public is engaged and that should be viewed as
a success, not a problem. Ultimately, the public does
not exist to accommodate the schedule of the government. Rather, government exists
to serve the public transparency, accountability and
meaningful participation are not obstacles to efficient governments governance,
but rather they are legal requirements and democratic necessities. Your task, please
do right by the people. Thank you. Alright,
thank you. Next speaker, please. Something
very eloquent. However, um, the comrades
behind me said everything pretty eloquent enough, and I feel that, um,
there, there's no eloquence in, in, in fascism, what you
are all doing as participating in fascism. Um,
this is extremely clear, uh, because it is 11,
almost 11:11 pm um,
I don't know how you,
I mean, I don't even know what to say anymore. Um, you
are all disgusting. You're all fascist. Whether you
are democrat or republican or a white supremacist,
you are limiting our public speech. Um, our first amendment
allows us to come up here to speak on
items that you don't even, you know, consider the public's opinion.
um, most of us that come and wait this long, uh,
we're actually here to make sure that the public actually knows
what the f**k you guys are doing because you approve
everything. You, uh, I don't know, allow, uh, other
states to have our business instead of staying in, in california in long beach.
um, you all I can hear in my head,
I wanna say what I wanna say, but all I keep hearing is you're fascist,
you're fascist, you're fascist, um, messing
with our time. I work here in long beach, eight 30
to 5:00 pm I don't have time to, um,
get here at four 30. Uh, I don't know, it's pretty late
at this moment. I know my colleagues have, uh, spoken,
um, about exactly what needs to happen. Just, just consider the
fact that the public exists. I know, rex, you don't care.
megan, we've talked to you before. You don't care. Um,
I can't even speak on you guys just because, uh,
of, I don't know. I I, I'm, I'm lost at to words
and I apologize. I'm tired. Um, I just wanna just keep saying
you're fascist. You are eroding our first amendment rights.
you discuss long beach and, um,
I don't know, go f**k yourselves. Uh, you know, I'm just gonna, I wanna
use this time, these three minutes that I have, that I've waited all
week to, or two weeks at this point. I can do that now.
I can run. See, oh, there it goes. It's
working. Um, I don't know. This is what you guys do. I want people to see what you
guys do. We get flustered. Um, I have low
blood sugar, and this is what you guys do
to, uh, really hardworking constituents of long beach.
go f**k yourselves. Thank you. Next speaker, please.
thank you, mayor, uh, for your attention at this late hour. Uh, and
the rest of the council, sb 7 0 7, again,
this is being hijacked or something for something you guys wanna do to cut your, uh,
having to listen to the people. It sounds like the planning commission does it now, the
planning commission has, you know, alternating between online and
in-person comment. I just spoke there and people spoke
online. It was, it was no big deal. Speaker cards were
optional. There was no, you know, regulation of you had to have something
in by a certain time. It seemed to work. They didn't, uh, they're,
they're, they conduct everything parliamentary just like you guys. It didn't seem to be that much of
a deal for them. This thing of reducing, maybe you
could, if you wanna reduce the time, maybe you could reduce or set a time limit for
staff presentations. You've always, you've got the reports
already in hand. You don't have to have them read to you, you
know, verbatim or near verbatim. The
people submit. There's also an issue that I see where people submit, you know, I've
written thousands of words, probably over 20 years of, of doing things.
no assurance that any of it's ever read. I never get to present anything.
I don't get a time to tell you the research that I did on things.
you know, very specific, very topical, not wasting your time.
the idea that somebody would have to put in requests on every agenda
item, and then speak at all at the start.
I mean, would rogelio just do everything in a row?
he'd make every comment from the start to the finish, or would you let him intervene
with other people? I mean, it's, it's kind of, I I it doesn't
seem practical. It seems like this isn't well thought out at all.
the earlier start, obviously people have said it makes it harder for working people. This whole
thing just seems to distance the, you know,
government of the city farther and farther from the people.
you stand up here and you make your presentation as a citizen and then it
goes back over the rail. You can never an you never answer questions,
questions are out of order. It's just like, it's this superior, inferior,
inferior representation. And, you know, that's just the way we have
to take it. I don't think it has to be that way. I think you could have more
imagination and have informal sessions
have something that would let some of this, these things happen in a
more human to human manner than, you know,
than a, than some kind of, you know, pecking order.
it's just, it just doesn't seem to be, you know, something that, that
works for either the council and the
government or the people. This, this idea that you're gonna, you know, somehow,
you know, reduce things to, uh, you
know, almost a, almost a comical, you know, effort. I, I, when
I first saw that, I, I just couldn't believe it. I, I couldn't make, thank you, sir. Your time's concluded.
thank you. Thank you, thank you. Next speaker please.
thank you, mr. Mayor. City council members.
um, I'd like to to start by saying
I appreciate, uh, all the speakers, uh, before me, uh, everything that they said, uh,
more or less to some degree, except for the whole, you know, uh, antagonistic bits.
I'm, I'm pretty, pretty much in alignment with. Um,
I think, uh, specifically the, uh, decoupling
of public comment from the agenda items. Um,
and pooling them at, uh, the start of the meeting, uh, would be
likely a brown act violation. But, uh, if the goal is
to, uh, implement sb 7 0 7 by the timeline, this
proposal actually makes it possible for,
uh, you to do the exact opposite. All it would take is
eight call-ins, human corporate
person, agentic eight columns, talking on
eight items each to completely negate
and filibuster any attempt by any of the public in the room to
actually speak on anything. Uh, I think that's, uh, something that's
a foreseeable consequence of, uh, combining the
proposal, the proposed ordinance language with, uh, implementing
sb 7 0 7. I think, uh, if anyone wants to take legal action,
they can certainly use these public comments, um, on that or with potentially
the brown act. Um, I would just like,
in the interest of actually getting things done and not having my own time wasted,
uh, to spare us all that, uh, it would've been great if teno, you
hadn't bothered to second this item if we could have just been killed dead and we could maybe come
back with something better. But, uh, since the goal is to implement
sb 7 0 7 on, on a timeline and maybe do some other things,
uh, let's make sure that, uh,
that the city council isn't, uh, you know, kind of running afoul of any laws.
so, I'd like to ask, uh, you folks tonight to discuss three
specific amendments. First is, uh, public
comment directly after a staff report and directly prior to council discussion.
so don't decouple. Uh, the second is restore, signup on
items to, uh, immediately before the item, if not immediately before
the staff report. And then the third is no 60 minute
cap. I don't think that's a good idea on all agenda items. I just provided an example
of how it could be along with sb 7 0 7 hijacking the entire meeting.
uh, I'm trying to do my best here to help you out, make your jobs easy. It's 11 o'clock at
night. I can't promise that I could have done better, but here we
are. Thank you. Thank you. Our final
speaker, please.
um, greetings from within and greetings within the
chamber to you all. Honorable mayor, um,
new and reappointed council, community
members and, um, residents. I'm
here discussing tonight. Um, all the previous, uh,
issues, uh, earlier that I've just been thinking about and I wrote all these notes.
um, however, there's just been a lot of serious
detailed events that have happened personally in my life
as a result of me speaking out here in, um,
the chamber and my attempt to not really become
political, but to be involved in my life
and in our city and in, um, doing the right thing
at the right time with the right resources, at the
right moments, um, trying to use the seven rights
turn into something different. And I don't have a way to prove
certain negativities or certain things that have
happened. Um, however, I know that a lot of people are
in those positions, which is why I want to send a special
thank you to the one long beach violence prevention
presentation this evening for such a great job.
um, the community would be,
uh, um, this, this, this community would be a great resource and,
and open door for a safe haven to have to be
able to reach out to in the event that we
are, are facing, um, collective
issues like, um, being attacked and being placed
under attack as african americans and really as anybody,
um, that's out here and with these attacks that we're
being faced and not being able to prove them or
to be able to give an example without not being
safe, which is not the goal. Um, it seems
like this would be a, a great avenue to
continue in supporting. So I just wanted to speak out on that.
and also that I had a, a issue that I needed to reach out to the city
attorney with. I attempted to reach out to you guys by calling, um, but
security, like they were late and letting us in here today, um, had
me outside and they were also very combative with me as usual
when I enter into like a public style forum such as this. So
if there's a way that I can reach out to you guys or we could set
an appointment, I can only do everything on a non-digital off the
grid scale. My name is nicole, danielle roth. James, thank you for your time.
thank you. Alright, that concludes public comment.
just a, just a few comments before we go to council deliberation. So,
so one, I certainly appreciate that while I'm a number
of, I'm sorry, I was gonna say, I'm sorry. What's your name?
amy. Amy, yeah. You are on the list. Okay. I'm pretty sure we asked everybody to line up time
that you've done this. It's ridiculous. I pretty sure asked everybody to line up, but it's fine. Go ahead. It's ridiculous.
good evening. Community and council members. Since this agenda item was brought
forth, might I mention at an extremely poor timing, I have heard it be said on
multiple different occasions that there is really no other cities to compare to because long beach is
the first to implement these changes. Well, I'm here to clarify that what you all meant to say is that
long beach is the first to get screwed over at the convenience of this council.
the changes set forth are not in any way meant to increase public engagement. They're meant to
make your job more convenient. I've taken it upon myself to do the research that you and your
staff apparently haven't taken the time to do. I researched majority of the most populated
cities in california to compare their city council meetings to ours since long
beach sits right at number seven in california. And what I found was that long beach's
current city council meeting model is s**t and is only getting more s**t.
you guys are acting as if you have to screw the public over in order to satisfy the
sb 7 0 7 requirements. Take a look at santa ana city council. They've
been offering virtual comments and their meeting starts at five 30. Or what about oakland
city council? They've been offering virtual common since march, 2023
and they have a hundred thousand more residents than we do.
I've only seen one city that makes speaker sign up before
the meeting starts, and that's san jose, which has a population of 970,000
residents more than double long beach's population. So why is
long beach already limiting us? As is the cities who have public comment in the
beginning start their meetings later, like six to six 30, which makes sense, that
makes sense for the working class. I have more research available, which I will be making
available and why known to the community so they can see just how inaccessible
long beach currently is and is about to become even less accessible. You guys claim
the only options are to implement these changes or to go to a full-time council, but
how many hours is the council currently working? What are the base hours for a part-time council
member? That's what I want to know. I don't have
much else. Everybody has already said a lot and
I'm pretty sure you guys are still gonna move forward with this because that's very typical of you guys.
and I think it's just, it sends a bigger message of the, um, people
in power currently that not only in a federal level or a state level,
but even at a local level. You guys do not listen or represent your constituents. At
the end of the day. You guys do whatever you want. People will come up here, spend their time
letting you know that they object these agenda items
and you still say yes and move forward. Honestly,
you guys are a disgrace of a city council and
I don't expect that you guys are gonna take any of this into consideration tonight,
but it brings me satisfaction to know that people are actually paying attention to
what you guys are doing. And you guys may have secured your seats this, this time around,
but people are definitely working against you. And that's all I have to say. And go
f**k yourselves and you too rex. F**k you. Alright,
well, I wanna thank everyone for exercising their right to public comment. I think it enriched
this conversation. Um, just a few notes to the council
and we'll go to whatever council comments are are needed. So I appreciate
that long beach. You know, um, contrary to county
of la, city of la has one of the most expansive public comment processes.
uh, you comment on every item, you comment before public com before the
meeting and after the meeting, and we have hearings. And that's,
uh, you know, um, both of those additional
agencies have full-time supervisors and full-time city councils and
have more restrictive public comment policies. All can also
can respect and appreciate the public comment process because I've been to virtually
every council meeting since 2010. Um, and I've seen it and I've seen it,
uh, when it's really good. And I've also seen it when it's really tough. But tonight
we had about a hundred young people who have to leave and go
home 'cause they have school tomorrow because our process currently,
um, you have hearings, you have all of these things that by the time we got to
their item, most of them had to leave by moving public
comments to the front of the meeting. You prevent that from happening. You allow people to
get their comments in while they're here and have a
more predictable manage, uh, meeting to manage. The other thing I would say,
um, this is, uh, the requirements to add, uh, the
virtual, it is a state requirement, but I actually support it. I think we should do virtual and should
prepare for it. But by no means does that mean that the system we
put in place today, we lock in, we can actually update this
and adjust because we know it's a big change to our system. It's not the first
time that we've changed our system. Now we've been talking about it for a while, so,
so this is a disruption to the meeting. Um, we've had public comment to the
meeting, all right, that's, that's your, that's your first warning. It's a disruption to the meeting.
so, so by making this change,
you do have the ability in six months or whenever the prerogative the council to
make adjustments. And it's the same process. You update an ordinance, it's the first reading and
it second reading. So by no means are you locked in, but we do, and we've been pretty
transparent about the timetable of the process to meet the state law.
so that's it. We'll go to, uh, back behind the rail to the council,
uh, vice mayor . Uh, thank you mayor. Um,
I may, can you hear me? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I made previous comments about this the last time around.
and you know, I stand by those statements, but
I don't always agree with mandates that come from sacramento.
some of these mandates are now very well taught out. Not only that,
they come with no instructions, they come with no,
uh, guidance as to a hundred proceed. They,
they just, they just have their mad, their mandate name
and give to us. You guys take care of it. This is what we want, but
you guys handle it. And so we're stuck between a rock
and our, our place and we have to come up with a plan.
and at end of the plan that we have now is the best we can come
up with. And we're in the deadline. We're in the deadline. We have to have
this ordinances passed by when august
one is the implementation date, correct, july one by july one
and may on our rules if we adjust or change
an ordinance between now and then the clerk starts again.
and we can't afford that because we'll miss a deadline
and we'll be out of compliance with the state of california.
so all that to say is that there are
aspects of this or that I don't like when,
like, comment me one of 'em. And there are other aspects that I do like,
you know, uh, uh, uh, 'cause on updated our agenda.
uh, let's not interrupt again. Let's not interrupt. This isn't public comment. This is
council deliberation. Thank you. So anyway,
I made my statement. I'm gonna stand by it. But
at the end of the day, to make any changes between
now and july one, we'll just
throw a mob on our, on our efforts here
and we'd have to start all over and we'd be out of compliance.
I don't want that for my city. I don't want, I don't think anybody wants that for
the city, but we have to move forward
as is. And if there's any, one thing that I would
wanna wanna say is that this be a live
document, meaning that there are gonna be opportunities
over here until, until we get it right
to, uh, make changes that we need. Thank you.
thank you council member ths and took, um, thank you so much, uh, mayor,
um, you actually, uh, hit on something that I was thinking about as I
prepare for my vote for today. Um, earlier today we had a
full house. Um, we had, as you said, you know, a
hundred, a hundred individuals who were here to support
a matter that they waited maybe three plus hours for,
um, and did not have an opportunity to hear from young people who
had prepared and were very excited about the opportunity to participate.
um, the goal here, or as much as we can
is to look for a way to have the most engagement. And earlier
today we had the most engagement, um, in this room where
it was filled on both sides. Um, and so trying to find a
way to capture that engagement, um, at the moment when we
got a lot of it, uh, was something that was missed today. And help
me, um, further define why it's so important that we find
a way to ensure that we give people some sense of when they can
expect to be heard, uh, on our agenda. Um,
and especially, uh, young people and those who we've described as having
difficulties and accessing the meeting. Um, and then by adding the
virtual option, I do hope that that expands, uh, opportunities for
people to engage. And as a reminder, we certainly are open
to, uh, conversations outside of this format in order
to obtain public input, uh, regarding any matter
that comes before this council or could or should come before the council. So
I look forward to, uh, moving forward to remaining in compliance with the state
that has provided us no financial resources, uh, to do so. No
guidance otherwise, um, but to make sure that we are compliant so that we
can continue the business of the city, uh, here in long beach. Thank you.
thank you. And you know, I'll just say, um, I'm on a number of boards
that did make the shift to prioritizing public comment up front and the community at
the end of the day actually appreciates it more. So we've gone through that transition.
um, la casa is one of those agencies so people know what time public comment is.
so I wanna remind folks, you still have public comment, it's now prioritized at the beginning.
there's still three minutes on hearings and there's no hard cap.
the 60 60 minutes is a guideline that can be continued and 30
minute increments as a way of continuing public comment and
is now more accessible because of, um, virtual public comment.
next is council members in dejas. Thank you.
um, I was gonna ask city attorney, if you could just explain,
um, tonight's, um, vote for us. And I, I
know that there's, you know, we are hearing from public comment, you know,
um, that to amend. But can you, can you, um,
go through that and, and tell us what our options
are, not? Options are.
thank you, council member. Um, as I um, mentioned earlier
in this agenda item, um, we came for our first read on this
ordinance last week. Um, council made changes
to that proposed ordinance, therefore we have to come back for another
first read. So the vote tonight is for that first read
of the changed, um, ordinance. So, um, next week's
council meeting, that will be the vote on the second read. Um,
upon the approval of the ordinance, um, it will become effective,
um, 31 days after the mayor signs that ordinance. So
to tonight, we are here for the first read. It has to come back next week for a
second read, and then we will, um, be able to implement it if approved.
thank you. Council member carr? Sure. I just had the similar
question. Um, if there's a way that we could do implementation of 7 0 7
and the online comments, um, and wait six months to
study the public comment structure after that, if we were to make
that change, does that allow for implementation before
july one? Because I know we don't meet for a couple weeks in july, so I'm just
asking what the timeline is on that, if it were to come back again.
so your proposed, um, change to the ordinance would
require us to come back for another first read. Um,
we could, if approved by the council, we could not adopt this
ordinance tonight and so we would not come back for a second read. Um,
then when we, uh, return from recess in july, we would
have the current process in terms of the order of business. We would
implement the virtual comments according to the, uh, current
ordinance in which we would have virtual comment for each,
um, agenda item as it is called.
okay. Thank you for the clarification. Thank you council
member allen. Uh, thank you. Um, so, um, this might be
a question for a city attorney. What is, what are the repercussions if
we are not in compliance with 7 0 7?
uh, 7 0 7 amends the brown act? So, uh, that would open the city
to liability for a lawsuit, for a violation of the brown act.
okay. And, and what is, what what, um, I guess can
you, is there any way, can you tell us like what, what is a violation of the brown act? Is that like
a fine or like what, what is, as
the council member uranga said earlier, vice mayor uranga, a lot of times
the state does things and doesn't give a lot of direction. So there's not a lot of clarity
as to what, uh, the repercussions are for violations of the brown act. The courts
have a good amount of jurisdiction of what to do in those cases. Yeah, there's a lot of
vagueness there. Okay, thank you city attorney. I appreciate your, um, and then also, so
I guess I'm just following up on, uh, councilman kers. So if,
um, if, is there any way that we can look at
this like a couple months in and evaluate it and say, you know, maybe there
has to be some changes, but if that goes into, uh, if we were to
ask for that, then that would be, we would need another first reading. Is that correct?
yes. If council adopts this ordinance as written, um,
we always have the ability, council always has the ability to amend the municipal code
that is within their right. We could implement this, see how
it goes for, uh, whatever time period council deems appropriate
and come back with, um, a proposed ordinance based on what we've
seen so far, um, on the order of business.
okay. Alright, that's good. That's what I needed to know, so, okay. Thank you. 'cause I think it's
important that we're gonna, um, I mean this, there's
a lot of great, uh, uh, comments and I know
I've got a, uh, about 20 emails today and there's just a lot of
good suggestions. So I think as long as we recognize that this is something that
none of the cities have implemented yet, and we're all trying to figure this out, and if we need to make changes
down the road, we can do that. So, all right. Thank you.
thank you. So just to be, just to be clear, I think we gave some direction to come back in six
months with, with, you know, opportunities for revision that's
already reflected, right? Um, it's not in the ordinance, but it's
on our to-do list. It's a part of to-do list in the direction. So let's make sure that that's called out
as a part of adopting this, that there will be a six month check-in for whatever
adjustments. If we find that there's not a lot of demand on the virtual and
we're re and we're, you know, um, there's a lot more time.
and I think we can look at whatever adjustments that make. I think the priority is to
make public comment earlier and more accessible for as many people as possible.
uh, all right. Members, please cast your vote.
aye. Council member motion is carried.
thank you. 47, please
report from technology and innovation recommendation to declare proposition l ordinance
read the first time and late over the next regular meeting of the city council for final reading,
which makes findings and determinations regarding contracting of utility bill
printing citywide. Alright,
uh, there's one member of the public signed up to speak lio.
okay, lio is not here. Members, please cast your vote
vice mayor an aye received. Thank you.
motion is carried. Alright. 48
report from community development recommendation to declare ordinance adopting zoning code
amendment to amend the existing inclusionary housing ordinance to implement suggested
modifications made by the california coastal commission, red and adopted as red citywide.
thank you. Is lio here for public comment? Seeing none members please
cast your vote.
councilwoman kerr, oh, sorry. Motion is carried. 50.
please
report from city attorney recommendation to declare ordinance amending the long beach municipal
code related to speed limits. Read the first time and laid over to the next regular meeting of the city
council for final reading. Uh, is rogelio here for
public comment saying none members please cast your vote. I have a
question. Oh, question. Okay. Council member carr question.
yeah, sorry, I just a quick clarification. I wanna thank the traffic engineering and,
uh, public works team for bringing this forward. So we went
back and forth a little bit with you in our office. Uh, wanting to point out the ordinance has written appears to
be counterproductive in some ways, specifically on the list of speed limits increased section
10 point 12.010 due to factors indicating that 25
miles per hour is lower than reasonable as we continue to push for safer
streets and slower speeds. I'm concerned with the wording and the edits made in the
list that says speed limits increased. Uh, many of the deletions in the section
appear to eliminate redundancies as they're listed as 25 miles per hour anyway,
but just wanted to make sure that the edits in this section are inadvertently raising any speed
limits above their current posted speeds.
thanks for allowing us to clarify here. So, um, basically
to summarize, the state assigns two default speed limits, uh, 55
for rural, uh, 25 for commercial and residential. Uh, the city
does have, uh, ordinances on the books that have higher speed limits that were
established in the past. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight is
repealing those older, uh, studies saying we should let people drive
faster. Uh, a lot of those were in residential context, uh, so
we're proposing to repeal a lot of those. Looking at the
pdf, it is kind of strange to look at it and see jump
out at you. Uh, speed limits increased, uh, but that's, uh,
just how that's written responsive to state code. Uh, we are planning on
reducing exclusively or reducing speed limits
with these changes. We aren't proposing any increases by striking that
out, that doesn't inadvertently raise something that might be at 15 miles an hour up to 25.
no. Okay, perfect. Just one clarification. Thank you. Councilman
braun? Uh, yes. Um, I just wanna thank the city attorney's office for
putting this ordinance together and, um, the work that has been done in helping
to move these speed limits forward. Um, I am extremely, uh, supportive
of efforts to slow down traffic throughout our city. I know that we hear from
residents all the time about speeding unsafe intersections and the need for
safer streets, especially in our neighborhoods and along corridors where
people are walking, biking, and crossing every day. Um, I'm especially glad
to see that the impact, uh, this will have on district two, including
reductions along corridors like ocean, redondo and seventh street.
and, uh, for me, I live on ocean boulevard, and that's especially important. I live on,
um, I see firsthand how fast those cars go down. Ocean.
oh, I hear it when I sleep. I, it's just, it, it is pretty crazy on that street.
so I'm, I'm especially happy. Um, I know that we've had a lot of
accidents and close calls along the corridor and slowing, um, down the traffic's,
one way that we can help make the area, um, safer for residents,
pedestrians, and cyclists. So I look forward to, uh, continuing
our work and identifying additional opportunities to calm traffic
down. So, thank you very much.
all right, members, please cast your vote.
motion is carried. Thank you. Now we'll have our closing public
comment, please. I have seven members of the public se seven members of the public
signed up to speak. Lourdes dixon. Is lourdes here?
okay. Fb. Is fb here? Yes, he's here
after fb. Is dave shukla? Is dave still here? Shela.
okay. Is k here? Is k here?
okay, we're gonna scratch. K uh, rogelio is gone. Is
gray here? Okay. And amy.
okay, so we have three fb, gray and amy.
oh, nice. You put it, you lift it up there.
all right. Well, as you can see, this says andre out of long beach,
andrel, out of everywhere. Um, andre is a
weapons manufacturer that our dishonorable mayor, um,
loves to talk about another company
yet to line his pockets. Your children will be,
um, very disappointed by you, not only because
you're doing these shady deals, but
shame on you for showing up at rock sands. This last
week or last weekend, I think, um, you
were, you invited adam schiff, the same adam schiff
that has taken $5.6 million from apac. That's,
uh, this is the same, uh, uh, adam
schiff that has done nothing to stop
any of the wars, any of the devastation in palestine.
um, you by hanging out with adam schiff, I saw you,
we saw you at the bera, uh, um,
event, and you saluted yes to genocide. So
that's pretty disgusting and pretty like dishonorable. You're
okay with hanging out with war criminals. And not only that, but,
uh, dr. Joanie, uh, was also there.
I think megan, you were there and mary zendejas was there. You guys are all hanging
out with war criminals. The the thing is, is that
this, the public comments are all receipts for us
down the line to make sure that when people
side with war, criminals and fascists, your time will come
and your children will hate you all. And they all know, they will
all know that you guys have sided with war criminals
and disgusting people like palmer lucky who
loves, and andrew, just like our dishonorable
mayor, who loves lining his pockets with disgusting
human beings. Um, I don't know what else
to say. You have no shame you discuss us all. And,
uh, I don't know. I, I really wish I can really, really,
really, truly say what I wanna say. Um, all I can say is I
encourage all of the public to publicly shame every individual
that we see here. Please, if you see mary zendejas
publicly, shame her. Please. If you see cindy allen in public
publicly, shame her. If you see christina dugan, please publicly shame
her. If you see megan kerr, please publicly shame her. If you see
rex, definitely shame him. He shames himself. He doesn't need help. But
we can use it now. Uh, actually sorrow, you're cool sometimes.
um, yanga everybody, please shame him. And thrashing
took you, discussed me. Please shame her. Disgusting pieces of
s**t. That's your time. Next.
uh, the city didn't do enough to protect the community from ice in our streets
and isn't doing enough to oppose the entity as a whole. And the dhs
now stop passing contracts with companies that support them.
according to the guardian, pregnant unaccompanied minors were rounded up
and sent to san bonino, texas. It is unknown if they're being given appropriate
care, especially given texas's abortion ban and the high risk condition
of these girls. Since communication with these children is being blocked,
no one is currently able to account for their whereabouts, let alone their wellbeing.
even members of congress have no access to information about the circumstances of
immigration. Detainees. The democrat senator from new jersey was
sprayed with pepper balls outside the ice facility, delaney hall.
this is the same facility where detainees have been on a hunger strike to protest
their horrible conditions. Lack of safe, nutritious food, inadequate
medical care, outbreaks of infectious disease. 32 people have
died in ice custody in 2025, making it their deadliest year in over
two decades. The toll as of last month is up to 60 people.
two people died after being dropped off by border patrol in the middle of nowhere without notifying
any relatives in freezing weather. Dhs reports that because
they weren't in their custody when they died, it wasn't their problem. That
is their federal policy. Again, people are dying and
this council is worried about decorum tonight. Our neighbors in garden grove
are confronting representatives from gkn and I hope they give them hell their
city failed to protect them from a weapons manufacturing facility that put them all
at risk, mass evacuation, not enough time to safely move all their
pets. Unclear and contradictory instructions about safety zones. And now
our city is planning to welcome andrew. Not only has
business ties to gkn, its shares a focus on advanced aerospace and defense
technologies. Android is known for its uavs, un
crewed aerial vehicles, aka killing machines. What is
this? The vibe of long beach death, death to homeless death to palestinians
abroad, death to immigrants and ice custody. It's council. So focused on big
events like the olympics, which is just used to justify increasing police
presence in the city and increasing their budget. I would love it if my long beach taxes actually
went to my community for once. Andrew brags that with the addition of a long beach
campus, which is only 30 minutes from their costa mesa site and 90 minutes from their capistrano
site, that it will allow quick design, testing and iteration. I already don't
support what andel is doing. I certainly don't want my tax money and my city to help them be
more efficient in doing it. How long before long beach has its own gkn event?
how long before this proposed weapons manufacturing facility causes a residential crisis?
gkn aerospace out of garden grove andel out of long beach and free
palestine. Free palestine pieces of s**t. Actually, you guys can
keep those. Oh, there's one more person to speak.
yeah, actually I, um,
yeah, I'm not gonna be eloquent at all, honestly. Rex, go f**k yourself.
I wanna see where in the ordinance it says that we have to line up here like kindergartners, because I've
been to other city council meetings and they don't make their constituents do like that. It's f*****g ridiculous
that you can't even wait 15 seconds for your constituent to come up here and walk.
you have no respect for the people that you work for. So let me just
start there. And you, I heard a lot about how a
hundred students came and a hundred people came and they couldn't talk. That was because
of you guys, because you canceled two meetings this month. And so everything has to fit
in this meeting and the next meeting. Which brings me to my next point. How many hours,
again does the part-time council work? Because if you're only doing two meetings
this month, let's say 16 hours, if that, where
else is your time going? To? How much time do you guys owe your constituents?
and where can I get that information? Because I know that you guys don't make it transparent, but it is public
knowledge. So where can I get that information? And that is an actual question. I dunno who I get
that from, but I would like to know how many hours you guys are paying or working for your constituents.
it's f*****g b******t that you can't even wait 15 seconds. But you guys only wanna work 16
hours a month. And then what? Come in at four 30.
not have to wait for people that you don't like listening to until the end of the meeting. You wanna go
home? We wanna f*****g go home too. We're working class. I have work in a couple of hours.
it's almost midnight. Obviously. We're here because we care.
I I don't have much else to say besides, f**k you, rex. Yep. F**k
you rex. Free palestine pieces of s**t. All right, thank you. That
concludes public comment. We now move on to closing
adjournment and announcements.
queue up now if you have any announcements. All right, council member thresh and to,
so this past saturday, my team was able to host a cleanup in jackson park.
we collected 1.4 or five tons of trash. That's about 2,900
pounds taken off the street and properly, uh, recycled
and collected accordingly. I wanna thank our jackson park residents who
are out there regularly with our public works clean team for supporting
our neighborhood. I recently co-sponsored a habitat for humanity homo
ship education event this past saturday. Residents who are interested
in home ownership learned about habitat services and hud counseling
services. It was a great way to be able to see how residents could
get connected towards making sure they had the resources for being able
to take the step towards home ownership. I wanna congratulate our
long beach fire department today. Uh, the fire department badge
ceremony was held where personnel and firefighters received promotions for
their hard work core courage and achievements in the city. Congratulations
to all who were able to celebrate their accomplishments today
and later on this week, we hope you'll join us at the ridgewood triangle neighborhood
association out there several times a month. This saturday, june 13th
from eight 30, uh, in the morning they'll be set up. We'll be able
to do large pickup items and have a dedicated dumpster accordingly. So
if you've got some additional spring cleaning that needs to be done, make sure you bring that
out, um, so that we can continue to beautify our neighborhood. Thank
you.
council member kerr. Thank you. Uh, firstly, I'd like to invite you all out to the annual church
rummage sale happening at cal heights united methodist church. It's been going on for as long as I can
remember. This sale is for gently used items such as closed shoes, jewelry, household goods,
and collect collectibles. It takes place thursday the 11th and friday the
12th, starting at 8:00 am ending at six. And on saturday you can fill a bag for
$8 from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. Uh, next, consider stopping
by willow springs park for the monthly west restoration friday, on friday, june 12th
from two to three 30. Enjoy connecting with our community and our local ecosystem.
you can help with various tax tasks such as watering, tending to
native plants, picking up litter, mulching, trail maintenance, and stewarding the park.
uh, parking is available at 27 45 orange, and
both bixby highland, as said and bixby are hosting clean streets events
this saturday, june 13th from eight 30 to nine 30 for bixby highland, you can meet at the bixby
knowles christian church located at 1240 east carson street.
and on saturday, june 13th, parkview village is hosting their second saturday's event.
this theme is dad fest. In celebration of father's day, come and celebrate and
enjoy the fest of block party with 40 artisan vendors, games, arts crafts, and more
entry is free. Thanks so much. Thank you. Council members
and dejas. Hi, um,
I invite everyone to join us for the craft fence village community
cleanup on saturday june 13th, beginning at 8:30 am
um, details will be announced soon about the location.
also, district one resource fair this saturday, june 13th
from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at the jenny pesa
community center. Also, um, la galaxy
soccer celebration, um, from june 11th
to the 27th in downtown long beach. These events
will feature world cup watch parties, family friendly
activities, special appearances and interactive experiences
for soccer fans of all ages. Um, looking forward to
seeing everybody out there. Um, lastly, my state
of the city, 2026, sorry, state of the district will
be held on wednesday, june 24th at 6:00 pm
in the long beach city hall lobby. Um, hope to see all of you there.
alright, well, thanks everyone, uh, for uh, this
meeting. It's now adjourned. Have a good night,
luck. Have a night with less profanity, more positivity.
hugs to.