All right, it is November 18th. We are ready to get started. Uh just the note council members Allan Sorrowro and vice mayor Oranga won't be able to join us. Let's start with the pledge of allegiance led by council member Dougen >> after the roll call. >> Let's first start with a moment of silence for let's give a moment of thanksgiving for our loved ones and friends. Then we'll stand for the pledge of allegiance. All right. Please stand. Place your right hand over your heart. >> [snorts] >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Mayor, if we can do >> All right. Thank you, council member. >> We're going to start off. We have two presentations. Uh two brief >> and we can do the roll call. >> Yeah, we need to do the roll call. >> Councilwoman Zendeas present. Councilwoman Dugen >> here. >> Councilman Supernnaw >> here. >> Councilwoman Kerr >> here. >> Councilwoman Thrash Entuk >> here. >> Council member Rick OD >> here. >> Mayor Richardson >> I am here. >> We have a quorum. >> We have a quorum. All right. Now we're ready to go. Um we have two presentations, two brief presentations. Uh the first is on pancreatic cancer awareness month. We're going to pass it to Council Member Kerr. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm honored for the third time to be ushering this in this presentation to recognize November 21st as World Pancreatic Cancer Day in Long Beach as well as November as pancreatic cancer awareness month. Learning of any cancer diagnosis can be extremely challenging and scary for individual patients as well as their family and loved ones. For many in these moments, there's lack of knowledge of the facts and figures, the risks and the symptoms and the research and treatment available. This is especially true for those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which has a one of the lowest five-year survival rates and is known for being difficult to detect in early stages. From personal experience, I know it can indeed act fast. My father-in-law passed away within one month of his diagnosis. I know that my family is just one of many here in Long Beach that's been affected by this disease, and I'm proud once again to play role in creating awareness and education for others. We're joined this evening tonight by Rick Pinson, a fifth district resident who unfortunately lost his wife to pancreatic cancer. He's here on behalf of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Pancan, to speak on some facts and the details about pancreatic cancer to help spread awareness about the disease and the ongoing work to fight it and how folks in Long Beach community can get involved. I want to thank him for being here and give the floor to Mr. Pinson. Thank you very much for the opportunity to the council again on in this November pancreatic cancer awareness month where our focus is to encourage people to take action to reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer. Let me start with just some basic facts. Uh p the pancreas is a small organ in the abdomen uh shown here in purple. helps us digest our food, controls our blood sugar levels, and u if a cancer invades this organ, it affects the pancreas's ability to do its job. And you can see from this diagram um some indication of how hard this cancer is to treat. The pancreas is buried in the abdominal cavity. It's hard to get at. It's hard to treat. It's hard to radiate. So um prevention is one of the biggest weapons we have against this cancer right now and that's what this month is all about. Uh some basic uh statistics and these are United States numbers. It is the 10th most common cancer yet the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. This year about 66,000 people will be diagnosed and 51,000 in the United States will die from this disease. It's called the world's toughest cancer because the five-year survival rate is only 13%. Again, because it's very hard to detect early before it spreads because of its location and the fact that the symptoms that presents are very vague and taken can be easily confused for some other conditions for a long time. Uh there is some hope here though. Uh when I first became involved with pancreatic cancer with my wife's diagnosis some years ago, the five-year survival rate was 5%. And it was stuck on that for quite a while. But the last few years because of research uh uh improvements about every year that percentage goes up one% at a time. Obviously a long way to go, but we're on the right track. Um something that uh is very important nowadays is we can do genetic testing and we found that unlike when my wife was diagnosed where we had one or two treatments, we just figured pancreatic cancer was one condition, throw the treatment at it and hope it works. Now we've now we understand that there are many subtypes to pancreatic cancer. each uh has its own genetic mutation and research is finding targeted treatments for each of those mutations. So it's very much like using a bullet instead of a shotgun to treat cancers. And uh as we find more and more treatments for these mutations, we would expect that 13% rate to continue to go up. uh high priority research areas. Of course, early detection is the biggest one. Once this spreads, it's very hard to do anything about. So, we're looking for something like a blood test, something that can be done routinely as part of your annual physical, catch it early. Then, we're developing drugs that, as I said, target specific gene mutations. Uh a big new um research avenue is using our own immune system to detect and fight tumors. surgical techniques are getting better such that we can use surgery to excise the tumor in many more cases than we used to be able to. Uh the last port point's important. There will not be one knockout blow where we can say ah we've cured pancreatic cancer. There'll just be an accumulation of small steady steps and we're right in the middle of that process. Now proven risk factors um family history of the disease about 10% of the new diagnoses of pancreatic cancer. If we look at their family we see that another family member has had it as well. So if you have a family member that has had pancreatic cancer you should be aware that you're at higher risk for it and um take action accordingly. Uh age older people are more susceptible. pancreatitis, smoking, you know, bas basic things. These conditions apply to many other uh cancers and health conditions. >> Mr. Pinson, we have about one minute left. >> Okay, very good. >> Thank you. >> Uh seven steps to reduce your risk. These are all basic uh lifestyle change things which not only would apply to pancreatic cancer but other conditions as well. knowing the symptoms, eating well, exercise, limiting your alcohol, uh eliminating smoking, keeping your weight down, and being aware of your family history. Uh Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is uh the leading advocacy organization in the world for pancreatic cancer. There are three ways that you can join us. PA patient services uh services families and uh patients. Uh you can volunteer with us or register for purple stride which is our annual fundraiser by which we uh raise funds to fund our own research aside from the federal government. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Yeah, we appreciate you coming and giving Long Beach an opportunity to get involved uh for our own community members who may be suffering, but also to be of network in the larger region. So, we're grateful for you bringing it to us each year um and honoring your wife in this way. We have a certificate. If the mayor wants to come down with me, we'll come and take a picture. >> Sure. >> Great. Thank you. One two three. All right. Well, now on to our second presentation. It is Native American Heritage Month and we're proud to recognize Dr. Carrie Johnson of Sacred Path Indigenous Wellness Center just this afternoon. We hosted the opening of uh the the Indigenous Wellness Center here in downtown. Uh we had a great time. It was very well attended. The food was the soup the hand the you know the soup that you had was pretty incredible too. So let's welcome uh Dr. Carrie Johnson of Sacred Path, our newest partner in the city uh with a dedicated indigenous community wellness center here in Long Beach. Please come forward. [applause] >> Thank you. Um, I'm gonna have Sit Lai first talk a little bit about the uh Tongva people in Long Beach. Thank you. I greet you all today in the language of my ancestors, the language of the original inhabitants of what we now call Long Beach, the language of the Tongve, what we now call Tongva. I speak the language in this place first and foremost to acknowledge the spirits of the land and the spirits of my ancestors, the Honuk Vetam, in the sacred area known to us as Ponga, the place of emergence. This land that we now call the Los Angeles basin was home to our people for thousands of years since time immemorial. It was known to our people as Tovangar. Our oral traditions tell us that we were created lastly after the rocks, water, plant, and animal relatives to be caretakers. We honor this purpose to this day. This area was inhabited by thousands of our people who were organized in a rich and dynamic network of village and clan systems. Our land was defined by natural boundaries with mountains to the north and east, the Santa Monica Mountains, the San Gabriel and Santa Ana Mountains, and our Pacific coastline to the west and as far south down to Aliso Creek, present day Orange County. We also inhabited the four southern channel islands, the largest being Santa Catalina, which we called Pimukna. Pre-cont, our community lived peacefully with our neighboring tribes through our systems of mah, a value system of exchange and reciprocity. Our Tongva community presently works to restore and strengthen our traditional values, our community systems and relationships, and our ties to the land and plant and animal relatives by breathing life back into our language practice, our weaving practices, ancestral food practice, and our Pacific Maritime cultural restoration. We are still seeking justice for our community in our pursuit for federal recognition so that we may finally have our tribal sovereignty acknowledged. Our Tongva community presently numbers in the thousands and is known by many names. Our ancestors suffered forced removal from our villages, enslavement in the mission and rancho systems, displacement and continued genocide during the gold rush era and then forced assimilation and training as a labor source in the boarding schools era. We ask now for not just acknowledgement but justice and that the development of authentic relationships within with our community be made. Today this land is home to the largest population of Native Americans in an urban setting. Dvangar is now home to people from tribal nations from all over the United States and beyond. This is why financial and political support for grassroots and nonprofit organizations that provide sorely needed services for our community is so valuable. This is why it is important to establish genuine, respectful relationships with Native partners who seek to improve conditions for our community and the land. As we honor Native American Heritage Month, I ask that you recognize that as a community, we experience a shared sense of invisibility and that our recognition and engagement with our community should extend far beyond a single month. My name is Titlier Visu. I'm Tongvakumi and Nawa. I was born and raised in Anaheim. And I may you all receive these words in a good way. And I thank you for your listening and respect. May all be well with you. >> Thank you. [cheering] Thank you, Sit Lai. So, um, so we started Sacred Path Indigenous Wellness Center 15 years ago, myself and our co-founder, Dr. Dickerson. And our focus was to was focus first initially was on research. We wanted to look at what works with our Native American, our indigenous population in terms of treatment and interventions. And um so three years ago we decided to move from research and into services and providing the muchneeded services to our Native American community. And like Slai said, Los Angeles County has the largest population of urban Native Americans in the county and uh they're dispersed all throughout the county. There are some cities that have larger populations like Long Beach. So, Long Beach does have a large population of uh Native Americans representing over 200 different tribes. Um, unfortunately, our community is faced with a lot of uh social, mental health, substance use disorders. We have a lot of health disparities. Um, we have high rates of homelessness, poverty, high rates of our children in foster care. So our mission at Sacred Path is to really look at services that are needed for our indigenous communities in terms of healing and um right now we are providing services Los Angeles and Orange County. So we have offices in Anaheim here in Long Beach and we'll be having uh opening offices in uh Pomona soon. So some of the services that we are providing at sacred path are um we have a family resource center. So like I what we found throughout our research that community and culture are so important for our healing our people and so we bring families together our community together and and have them practice our culture on our traditional ways. So, you know, just it's important to pass this down from generation to generations, particularly in long, you know, big cities like um Long Beach. We um also we provide uh therapy. Um we have a lot of traditional workshops. We um are actually just about I went there today finalizing a day Native American daycare center and it is in Long Beach too. So, it's on Redondo Avenue. So, um that's going to be opening soon. So, we're so excited to be able to expand services here in Long Beach for our Native American community. So, thank you and thank you for um the awesome ribbon cutting ceremony. Mary, thank you. And thank you, Mayor. >> All right. Well, let's hear for Dr. Johnson and the incredible team [applause] at Indigenous Wellness Center. Thanks so much uh for being here. All right, that concludes our uh presentations. We'll now go on to the consent calendar. We're going to pull and withdraw item 17 and we're going to pull item six for for uh brief comments. So, let's take up the consent calendar, please. >> I see seven people signed up to speak. You hear your name, please come forward. Kathleen Hill, Audrina Redmond, uh, Griselda Suarez, Melissa Morgan, Brandy Davidson, Maryanne D, and Gregory Johnson. Is Kathleen Hill here? >> Raise your hand if you're Kathleen Hill. Okay, please come forward, Kathleen. Hi, I just want to withdraw my petition card. I don't need to speak on that. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Next is Audrina. >> Good evening, members of the council. My name is Arrina Redmond. I'm co-founder of Black Lives Matter Grassroots Long Beach. I am here because almost a year ago, Brandon Boyd was murdered by the Long Beach Police Department. Tomorrow is his angel versary. I'm here with members of the Boyd family. Not all are standing here with me, but they are here. And we are calling on this city to remember Brandon Boyd, to remember that he was a black man in a mental health crisis. And this is men's mental health month as well. And that is not to take away from the our relatives of the Native American community. It is simply an acknowledgement of what this is. He was a man in crisis. He called for help and what did he get? He got a flashbang and four bullets. Two from the back, two from the front. That was not what was expected to happen that night. So, we are calling on this city to acknowledge the recommendations of the Police Oversight Commission. We want accountability. We want to know what are you doing? How are those recommendations being moved forward? We're calling on this city to strengthen your support programs when someone calls for with the mental health crisis. The person was out there that night but not allowed to assist Brandon, not allowed to get out of the car. And that can't happen. That should not be allowed to happen. That should not be happening in this city that calls and thinks of itself as progressive in a city that is as diverse as Long Beach. in a city that I just learned has the largest urban Native American population in the country. That should not be happening here. So, we're calling for you to do better in your roles as council members, in your roles, those of you who serve on commissions of importance, um related to mental health, related to public safety. That's what we're calling for you to do. And we're mostly we're also wanting you to acknowledge that this family suffered a tremendous loss a year ago, a tragic loss. And on top of that, they were arrested. Three of them were arrested and had to go through that ordeal. We went with to court with them up through July. That's a second set of tragedy and scarring and fear and torture and all the rest of that. and they have since suffered additional losses unfortunately. But if I can ask everybody in here to say HIS NAME. >> SAY his name. >> BOY. >> Say his name. >> BOY. >> THANK YOU. >> Thank you. [applause] All right. Next speaker is Gel D Suarez. Good evening, uh, mayor, council members, and city staff. I'm Gelas Suarez, executive director of the arts council for Long Beach, here to speak on agenda item five on the consent, which authorizes our annual agreement with the city to support arts and cultural activities for the coming year. I want to say thank you. This partnership is one of the most important investments our city makes, not just in the arts, but in community well-being. Every year, we take seriously our responsibility to ensure that these funds reach as many neighborhoods, artists, and young people as possible across the city. Looking ahead, this year um is going to be one of the most exciting and ambitious um for the arts council. First, we are proud to be the city's partner in the vacancy and vibrancy program through economic development. Um, with your support, we help activate empty storefronts with creativity, bring new life to commercial corridors, and uplift local artists while strengthening local business districts. Second, we are working to expand our arts education opportunities uh building on our recent school partnerships with Webster Elementary in the west side, Renaissance High School in downtown, and Era on the east side. These students are learning um the principles and foundations of visual art, but also have field trips like we just did this past week uh for the downtown field trip. Hands-on experience for our cultural assets in the downtown area. Third, you will see new community murals and public art projects across cities. Um, hiring local artists and reflecting neighborhood identity, creating spaces that are welcoming, vibrant, and deeply Long Beach. Um, we are preparing for three summers of community creative activations leading to 2028. We know the world will be watching Long Beach and um our new grant funds will help ensure neighborhoods, artists, and cultural institutions are front and center during this historic moment. This funding does not stay with us. It goes directly back into the community. It supports small organizations. It supports young people. It supports collaboration and strengthens social and economic fabrics. Thank you again for your continued trust for recognizing the role that arts has in building a city where everyone feels like they belong. We look forward to partnering with you in the year ahead. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Next is Melissa Morgan, then Brandy Davidson. >> Mayor, do you mind if I you go first? Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Brandy Davidson. I'm a six day a sixth district member. City leadership has repeatedly discuss increasing police staffing in recent budget cycles, yet has not presented any public plan addressing the failures that led to Brandon Boyd's death. You cannot add more officers to a system that already failed a black man in crisis without first adopting the reforms your own police oversight committee says are necessary. Without meaningful reform, you will only increase the likelihood of another preventable death. Every credible study shows that unared collition-led crisis response reduces harm and policeled response does not. And this is crucial for black community, especially black men, to be able to thrive in our city. This going on unressed as to the continuing narrative that our leadership does not care about black community in our city. We stand with the boy family and we demand that city council review and comment on the oversight committees recommendations number one through six. Implement a clear implementation of a timeline of recommendations. Hold accountable the SWAT and LBPD actions that violated crisis care principles. A public plan for crisis response reforms. A commitment to a care first system where mental health crises are met with clinicians and not weapons. We want our city to prevent deaths, not double down on force. Thank you. [cheering] [applause] >> SAY HIS NAME. >> THANK YOU, MELISSA. >> HELLO. I'm Melissa Morgan. Um, I'm a person who suffers from mental health challenges. Depression and anxiety actually exist in at least three generations of my family. My kids have been impacted by the COVID pandemic. One's away at college and it's been really hard. Um, mental health matters. Um, so Brandon, this is it's so incredible to think about this and when I come in here I get shaky. Um, because a lot of the issues we come to talk about as community are really tough and shouldn't be this way. Brandon texted 911 for those who don't know for mental health needs. He wanted help. He was shot within two and a half hours by a Long Beach police department and killed on the steps of his childhood church with his hands in front of him. The police threw a flashbang grenade. I've read a lot of the police reports and I have to share with our Latino brothers and sisters, the police thought he was Latino, light-kinned as you can see his family members here. Not only do black lives matter, Latino lives matter. People with mental health, our lives matter. Uh we arrived on the scene with a family within 30 minutes from Brandon texting for help. Instead of receiving care, he he received force. When someone calls for help during a mental health crisis, we need you all to enact what you have in agreement with our mental health team. Uh the person who was there with the mental health team was told to stay inside the car. Um and then I read her report and she said that the family was being a pain or annoying, something to that effect. I'm not sure where her compassion was. The two sisters who ran in as soon as Brandon was killed um were grabbed as well as the niece and police broke one of the sister's arms. She just recently got surgery. Um and you can see her arm is in a cast. This family's been through so much crisis. We are waiting eagerly. I can't think of a word worse than that, but with a lot of anxiety. It's impacting all of our mental health. I'd say anyone who's been impacted by police violence. We're waiting for the police department to have a timeline on what you're going to do to deliver around the agreements that you agreed with and the recommendations from the police oversight commission. Police should um should be allowing clinicians to fully access individuals in crisis. We have um a family here sitting a few rows behind me, a black man who was there. He's a mental health provider. He came outside when he saw what was happening in these two ladies district area and he wanted to help and the police said, "No, get back. You're obstructing justice." Community care is important to us. We really need you all to take this seriously. I'm going to ask everyone who has a white rose to come and leave it here as a symbol for the love that we have for our loved ones and our request for you all to see black people as individuals with dignity. >> [applause] >> Thank you. All right. Next is Maryanne. I've been um graciously donated time in order to speak on behalf of my family, which felt necessary as I saw my sister um back there experiencing what she did. So, hi everybody. Tiffany Boyd, baby sister of Brandon Boyd. I spoke before you all uh once before, but I was a different person then. That was before I sat here for the rest of the meeting and heard how disrespectfully you all voted after my family sat here and poured our hearts out to give the police department more money that same night. And I felt like that's something that could have been pushed as an agenda item knowing that our family was here. And I thought that that was highly disrespectful. I didn't understand why my sisters were so upset and why they were mad at the city and they were so mad. The person that I was when I spoke to you before, I wasn't mad. I was hurt. But now I'm mad. I stand before you with my brother, my big brother on my chest. And my baby brother who we just buried this weekend on my back. My mother who's in the hospital on my mind and on my heart. my broken family that shattered cuz the city of Long Beach ain't had time across my chest and across my heart. I'm not the same person that I was that came and expected you all to give a damn about my family. I'm not the same person that I was that felt like there was anything that this system could do to give my family justice or to make us ever feel whole again or restore any part of my family. I've buried a big brother. I buried a little brother and I'm scared as hell of burying my mother because the city didn't have time to give my brother the decency and the respect that he deserves because he called y'all. He didn't call us. I wanted to come up here and respectfully and the person I was would have took my beanie off and everything and sat up here and spoke to you all as best as I could. You would have heard from Tiffany. Lala, the big sister, the baby sister, is here to tell you, [ __ ] the city of Long Beach. [applause] Respectfully or as disrespectfully as it needs to be said, this whole damn city, the city council, the horses you rode in on, the soap boxes that you stand on that we mistake as a moral compass. I'll be damned. >> This my minute and a half that the lady gave me and I'm mad. Do you know when my baby brother died and we called 911 to have them come? Shane Aaron Jacob Cook died on my mother's floor and one of the police officers that shot my brother came to my mama's house and SAT THERE AND WAITED WITH US UNTIL the day mortuary got there. He was in my mama's living room and I told him how hurt my family was and how the police being in our house might trigger my mom or my sisters. And I said, "Don't worry, sir. It's not like you're one of the people who shot my brother." He said, "Actually, I was. I was one of the SWAT officers out there that day. And y'all disrespect the asses let him in my mama house. [ __ ] the city of Long Beach. Let your clinician know that I wasn't a pain. I was in pain. And I'm even in more pain than I was that day when she went and talk to us on November 19th. I wasn't a pain. I was in pain. And it's on video. Thank you all for nothing. >> Thank you. [applause and cheering] [cheering] >> Thank you. >> We gonna cap you, but speak your peace, please. And thank you. >> Um Daddy, my brother case up his case. Make sure [laughter] this better. >> They do need to do better, brother. He loves this city. No matter where we go all over, this young man right here tells everybody about Long Beach, California, from New York to Hawaii, everywhere he had the privilege of traveling to. He loves >> Well, well [applause] thank you. Our condolences to the to the uh grieving family. Uh the next speaker is Gregory Johnson. our last speaker. Greetings, your honor and esteemed city council. I'm uh just going to follow my assignment and thank you so much for funding the arts council for Long Beach. That's all I have to say, Griselda. I'm sorry. I will just leave after hearing all of this to encourage all of you to have love and compassion as we move about and make this city as beautiful as it is. Love and compassion is what we need. It's clear that's what was demonstrated today. No matter where you stand or have an opinion on the things that happen in governance out in our communities, it has to be driven by love and compassion. and what we have heard and felt today shows you that that is what is needed. God bless y'all. Keep doing what you're doing or just know that love is at the center of it. Man, that's that's all I got to say today. >> Amen. >> Peace and blessings. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. All right. That concludes public comment. Members, please cast your vote on the consent calendar. >> Motion is carried. Item six, >> report from city manager. Recommendation to adopt specifications and award a contract to public council for implementing the Long Beach Justice Fund program and providing legal services in a total annual amount not to exceed a 919,000 and execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract citywide. >> All right. Thank you. We're going to ask for a staff report and I think we want to emphasize what the steps that we took to increase the amount of this RFP so that some of the num some some of this award rather so that some of the dollars we captured uh during the budget process could be released faster and so let's have a staff report. >> Yes sir. We'll turn to Tony Ver Vera Montes who will give the staff report on behalf of the city. >> Thank you Tom. Good evening honorable mayor and members of the city council. The item before you is a request to award the contract to public council for the provisions of legal services as part of the Long Beach Justice Fund. As many of you know, the Long Beach Justice Fund exists to ensure that lowincome immigrants uh immigrant residents who live, work, or have deep connections to our city can access the legal representation that they need to make their case and remain in the United States. This fund is one of the ways that Long Beach shows up for community members navigating an incredibly complex and high stakes legal system. Our program is designed to do more than just provide an an attorney. It aims to strengthen the ecosystem that supports immigrant families, especially or specifically our goals are to expand access to quality legal representation for low-income immigrant residents and community members. improve connections to supportive services, programs, and basic needs uh basic needs resources uh from housing to health and safety and uh stability. Uh build stronger pathways and other immigration legal services and community- based programs, ensuring people are supported even when their uh needs fall outside the scope of the Long Beach Justice Fund. And lastly, increase legal literacy for immigrant families and communities, empowering residents with the information they need to understand their rights and make uh informed decisions. Together, these goals reflect our comm our commitment to safety, stability, and dignity for every immigrant community member in Long Beach. Fiscal year uh for fiscal year 26, the Long Beach Justice Fund is supported by uh 1.99 million in total funding. This amount allows us to maintain core legal services, s uh s sustain community connection programming and ensure adequate staffing support to administer the program responsibly. The majority of the budget uh 1.8 uh 83 million is allocated to legal services and community connection supports. This includes three components. Uh uh 139 139 888 um in structural funding uh for baseline legal services. An estimated of 100 of 957438 in fiscal year 25-time fans uh funds that will carry over to the to be reappropriated in fiscal year 26. This reflects unspent funds that are still available for client services and $730,000 in one-time uh fiscal year 26 funding which strengthens the capacity to meet increased need especially as more residents seek deportation, defense, and other complex forms of relief. We also have structural staffing support in the amount of 160,000 for program administration, coordination with uh departments and community partners, contract management, and ongoing oversight. Altogether, uh, these investments position the Justice Fund to continue offering highquality nocost legal s nocost legal services while strengthening the wraparound supports that help immigrant residents navigate a very challenging legal landscape. Earlier this year, the office launched a request for proposals to identify a legal service provider who could partner with us in delivering the full range of services the full range of services supported by the justice fund including removal defense affirmative applications like visas and support with appeals. The RFP opened on July 1st and closed on August 12th. We received seven proposals and the selection committee met on September 24th to review and score them. Follow-up questions were sent on September 26th and the selection uh and the selected proposals were notified on October 14th which indicated uh which initiated a required protest period through October 21st. During this time and in light of the additional funds allocated to the justice fund during the fiscical year 26 budget adoption, our office also worked closely with the selected proposals to increase the contract amount and expand their service capacity, particularly for removal defense, where the need continues to grow. With council's approval today, we we will award the legal services contract to public council and begin the next steps of of onboarding. Public council's proposed scope of work will allow us to serve at least 140 community members through the justice fund. This includes individualized legal screenings or consultation clinics for about 60 people and prosay workshops for another 50 participants, giving community members the tools to navigate parts of their case on their own when full representation is not available. On the representation side, public council expects to take on 20 to 24 full removal defense cases, which is significant u which is a significant commitment given the complexity and length of those matters. They also plan to support 10 to 15 affirmative applications and five appellet cases ensuring continuity for residents who need uh who need the challenge and unfavorable decision. In addition to these case loads commitments, a public council will manage a rapid response phone line offering leg uh offering real-time support when urgent situations arise and they will provide in-person services for detained community members ensuring residents have access to help when they need it the most. Uh this concludes our presentation and thank you so much for um your support and partnership. Alana and I look forward to your questions. >> All right. Thank you. We're going to go to public comment. We have four members members of the public signed to speak. Uh Gina Amato uh Laauo, um Josh DeLeon, Fernando Asavdo, and Maria, please come forward. And Gina, if I got your last name wrong, forgive me. >> It's okay. Gina Amado Lo. >> Good evening. My name is Gina Amado Lo. I'm the directing attorney of public council's immigrants rights project where I practiced immigration law for the past 18 years. I'm also a proud Long Beach resident where I raised my family and I'm deeply invested in the safety and well-being of our community. Public Council is a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to advancing civil rights, racial, and economic justice, as well as to a amplifying the power of our clients through comprehensive legal advocacy. The Immigrants Rights Project provides direct legal services to unaccompanied children, immigrant survivors of serious crime and human trafficking, immigrants in detention, and asylum seekers. We also engage in strategic litigation, policy advocacy, and community education to advance the rights of immigrants. Since early June, ICE has ransacked communities in LA County, engaged in racial profiling and roving patrols, rounded up immigrants indiscriminately, and held them in deplorable conditions while denying them access to legal counsel. We are currently co-consel on Basquez Purdomo versus Noom, which seeks to halt these unlawful practices. Despite our efforts, ICE has established a strong presence in Long Beach, raiding businesses, Home Depot, and car washes, including my neighborhood car wash, where ICE detained seven workers and deported four within days. The aggressive immigration enforcement we are seeing in our communities is having devastating consequences on immigrant families, including family separation, psychological trauma, and potential persecution, torture, and death for those deported back to their abusers. Despite the high stakes and complex legal process, people in immigration court and detention do not have the right to a lawyer if they cannot afford one, unlike people in the criminal legal system. We know that immigrants who have lawyers are exponentially more likely to win their cases in immigration court and secure their release from immigrant detention. But despite the sharp increase in community need, there is a lack of immigration legal services available here in Long Beach. Public council is excited to launch a new partnership with Espedants Immigrants Rights Project to provide free legal services to the Long Beach community. We are mobilizing a small army of advocates to provide a mix of on-site consultations, prosay workshops, and full scope representation and immigration proceedings, affirmative applications, and appellet relief. Public council is committed to building a collaborative relationship with the city of Long Beach, our community partners, and our community members to ensure that we are responsive to community need and provide greater access to free, highquality legal services. It is critical that the city continue to build this fund in order to ensure the continued representation of individuals in need and to expand the ava the availability of immigration legal services in Long Beach. We strongly urge you to approve this contract and partner with us in launching this legal empowerment program so that we can begin providing the legal support that Long Beach families urgently need. Thank you so much. >> Thanks a lot. And uh let's let's thank public council in general. Um there's there's there's it's incredible. You guys are really stepping up in this moment and we just want to recognize that. >> Thank you so much. It's our honor. >> You got it. All right. Barbara is next. No, sorry. Josh, not Barbara. Thank you and good evening, city council. Uh my name is Josh Delejon. I am a community organizer uh with Long Beach for a just economy uh son of Filipino immigrants and uh joining here with with public council with or with community members uh to uh echo that call to to move forward with this contract with public council and and to really to highlight the value of the justice fund as uh a bellweather for what a city can do uh to protect its community in this moment of political crisis. I have had the chance to speak uh on on panels and at events around the state and the country. And when I bring up the Long Beach Justice Fund, that is something that everyone always direct messages me on Zoom, reaches out afterwards, uh and it's incredibly excited to hear about because it is not common for cities in the United States to create this kind of institutionalized investment to protect our people, right? And and uh I know that you cover so much of these meetings every single day, 20, 30, 40, 50 items. Um, but so often when I'm in community, uh, one of the top two or three things people say is, "We are so glad to have the justice fund." Uh, and so as we move forward with this work and as I I'm sure you're all voting yes on this today, I want to highlight that that that importance really carries forward this value of universal representation, right? That whether you are uh, no matter how much money you have or the status that you are, that you have access to legal representation. Um, and I think what's also really powerful, the justice fund is it's also helping move forward the city of legal empowerment, right? Because so often folks think that the only way to interact with the legal system is through a lawyer. And what the Justice Fund has really been able to do is also empower the baseline level of consciousness in the community around what legal empowerment is and how to navigate this process. And so there is a ripple effect um beyond just the point of service uh to a higher level of understanding in community, a higher level of empowerment in community. and we're seeing that day in day out when we canvas uh in our neighborhoods across district 9 and district 7, district 5 and across the city. Um there are some suggestions for improvement looking ahead. I think that uh it is really important to have continuity of the full spectrum of services throughout the life uh of this justice fund and other programs like it. Um when the May contract ended uh there was a lapse in services for both appallet and affirmative uh legal support. Um that continues to this day. Uh once this is passed um we'll be able to move forward on actually providing those services. But any gap uh in that full spectrum of legal support has an impact in this moment where every single day we are seeing ICE raids from Charlotte uh to Chicago, New York and of course here in Los Angeles, Los Santos County. And so in this moment, thank you so much for your partnership. Uh for your leadership, we are hearing this uh Fernando and I are speaking at a conference in Chicago and people really want to hear about the justice fund, right? So thank you for that leadership and let's continue to make this better. uh the the trials and tribulations of this political administration are continuing uh and we need to protect our people, all of us, uh at this time. And so, thank you all. Uh vote yes. >> Absolutely. Thanks, >> Fernando. >> Good evening, city council mayor. Uh my name is Fernando Seo, community lawyer with Orale, and I'm here to share my support for you to vote to approve uh the vote for public council to be the Long Beach Justice Fund Legal Service Provider. this is amazing organization who I have had the privilege of working with as a law student. Um, and so seeing them being able to have this opportunity before all of you and to be involved in this vote means a lot to me. They have my full backing as an optimal legal service provider for the Long Beach immigrant community and so I especially urge all of you to vote yes for them today. In addition, uh, I also wanted to take space today to urge the city to continue evaluating how to expedite the RFP process um, for future Long Beach Justice Fund contracts to ensure there are no gaps in services. Um, for example, as my colleague Josh just mentioned, uh, since May of this year, affirmative and appallet services u have not been available and continue to be unavailable until we have a new legal service provider that can step in uh to meet the need that our uh that our community has. Um, and then uh I was noting during the presentation that uh the RFP opened July 1st, right? And it's taken that long for us to get to a vote and even after today, if you all vote yes, their services won't be able to begin immediately, right? And so I think that really encapsulates the need to plan ahead and think through when is a when is the best start date to avoid gaps in services. Are there ways that we can expedite this process? And so I urge all of you to really think critically about what are ways that we can improve this process to make sure that our folks um recognizing the need in services and making sure that they don't face those gaps. I think especially in this moment that we're seeing the raids that have been hit throughout Long Beach that you've heard, you know, today in previous city council meetings um and in other spaces you're in, I'm sure, um our community really needs to help. And so seeing how dire that need is, I think it really should encourage you all to make those evaluations and make those changes to the extent possible. And so I urge you all to do that. Our community needs a Long Beach Justice Fund that they can depend on. So, I urge the city to do what you can to start these processes earlier and to expedite the process to the extent that you can. Thank you all for your time. >> Thank you, >> Maria. [applause] >> Good evening, council members and community members. My name is Maria, autonomous tenant organizer with the Long Beach Tenants Union, District 1 resident and selection committee member for the Long Beach Justice Fund. It's really hard to stand up here and feel what our community is feeling and realizing that you all can never encapsulate that. In a time where many of our neighbors are living in deep fear of ICE and evictions, it is clear that the solutions only and can only come from community. The Long Beach Justice Fund was birthed in community. Tonight's vote is all immigrant labor, courage, and ingenuity. In addition, a congrats to public council. Your application was outstanding and I look forward to bringing change alongside with you. As the only selection committee member, I must uplift what it took to get us here tonight and remind us that our ask was not what was on that screen. Our ask was 2.2 million for the Long Beach Justice Fund. Today is the 166th day of ICE raiding and kidnapping our community members. The 166th day of ICE being in our neighborhoods of our community members not being able to go out and work. So that means someone's not getting their rent paid. It took us so much to get here and we're still far behind. So far behind. In my honest input, the only thing that holds this program behind from being the fullest, the bestest program for communities that can impact the over 30,000 immigrant families that we have here in the city and inclusively the 60% renter population we have here in the city is literally you all and the bureaucratic system that exists within the city of Long Beach. We had to cut down members of community from our selection committee because they spoke uh other language other than span than English [snorts] because it would take us far longer to translate RFPs. One of the years I served, you didn't even offer translation for RFPs. It took us literally cutting out everyone except the only person that understood the system and spoke English for us to get here today and still be again far behind. We're going to be giving services starting December. >> Your time's concluded. >> Thank you. >> It's not enough for you to tell us that you love immigrants and that you support immigrants. You must allow us to hold up accountability, listen to our solutions, and put them into action. >> All right. And tonight, we are approving this contract. So, we just have a few comments from the city council. Council members and deas. >> Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Um, thank you so much, city staff, for that report. I know that um it's taken a while to get here. So, I was wondering if if city staff Tom if you um could kind of like guide us into what how this came about and why we're able to be here today. >> Sure. So, um, yes, this program has been growing over the years and, uh, council has been investing in this program, uh, finding one-time dollars, finding other ways to to increase the budget. And so, um, you know, RFPs when we're doing this type of project does take time. This, uh, is something that we go out and do competitive work. Uh, that's something the council actually acknowledged during the budget process is this group has grown so much, but the administrative support to do that work has not grown. Um, there have not been people to be able to do all the invoicing and all the RFPs. And so, uh, that's something that the, um, the budget oversight committee made as a recommendation and the mayor and council did. Uh, we actually now do have, uh, AAA, an analyst who helps us do this work. Um, uh, someone we actually brought over from the health department who was losing a job is is now on the team to be able to help out. Uh, and so, and then we also were able to take additional dollars that came in through the, uh, the mayor's budget recommendations and the council approvals, and those were added into the scope. So rather than having to do a second RFP to go out and redo all that work again, uh we're able to take a couple of weeks and and add in some additional dollars. So, uh yes, we do we do acknowledge it's taken some time. Uh but these are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of city dollars that go out. Uh there are some public purchasing processes we need to go through um that are required under state and municipal code. Uh and now we're ready to go. So, uh we appreciate the patience and excited to start this. >> And I want to I want to note and thank you. It's the budget went to effect October 1. It's November 18th. We were able to include those dollars in the most recent budget in this RFP rather than create a new RFP which would take in another 6 to9 months. Uh instead you have you have this prepared in six weeks. Um next is Council Member Rickod. >> Uh thank you mayor. I'll keep my comments short. Um yeah, I just wanted to uplift uh the work of our um immigrant rights community. so many that came out um in the budget season to advocate um strongly um at our city council meetings, at our budget oversight committee meetings, right, around the importance of this program. um know that uh that that I heard you loud and clear and that's why we really advocated hard to make sure that community got those resources that we had the additional staffing needed because one of the things that we really heard was that this admittedly the the the slowness of the process right and the need um from staff and for community to make sure that we were able to deliver and to deliver this quickly. Um, as the mayor mentioned, we uh approved the budget in September. It went into effect October 1st. And so, um, I know community has been waiting, but I am elated to know that we are here today. We have awarded this to, um, a a group, the public council, right, that has a record of being able to do this work and to do it well. Um, and so I just want to thank community, right, again, thank you all for your advocacy. We are here because of you. I want to thank city staff for the work that they have done. Um, and you just know this for for many of us, this is deeply personal, right? It's not lost on me as a um as the district 9 council member watching what's happening in my own district uh watching what's happening at our different businesses uh dayto-day. Uh and so we are working as hard as we possibly can to make sure that our residents have what they need um have the defense mechanisms that they need, have the support that they need. Um and so again um just elated that this item is coming um and happily uh voting yes. >> All right. Uh Council Member Thrashinuk. >> Thank you so much, Mayor. Um thank you to uh both of my colleagues who uh did made the motion and seconded this. Uh Councilwoman Zendas, I want to continue to thank you for your leadership on this issue. As well, I'd like to express my full support for the Long Beach Justice Fund. Um it remains a vital lifeline for some of our most vulnerable residents. Um and this ensures that people who call Long Beach home have access to fair treatment under the law regardless of their immigrant status or for their ability to be able to pay for legal assistance. Uh we heard clearly from the community uh many times here on the dis that legal representation is an essential uh component for immigrant families. Um and it not only improves outcomes in individual cases but also builds trust between residents and local government. When people feel safe um seeking help or reporting harm, the entire city is stronger. So I believe that the justice fund represents more than just a program and is a con is a recognition of the many contributions that the immigrant communities have had here in Long Beach. I look forward to voting in favor of this motion. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Dougen. Well, I appreciate this item being pulled. I think there were a lot of comments by different council members that that are good to hear about the justice fund. Um, I do have a couple of questions. I think there's confusion around the justice fund just because people believe that all the money is set aside for providing legal services. And thank you for the presentation. it broke it down a little bit more um showing that the Justice Fund has funded a lot of outreach education to our local communities, but we still are struggling. I I know we've moved this forward, but we're struggling with keeping a consistent legal provider on board that provides the legal services. So, I am interested in how this contract is set up because if we're dedicating funding to this program, I want to make sure our residents are getting the services that council is dedicating the money to. And I'm concerned that we're spending nearly a million dollars to help 140 people. I believe that was what was on the presentation. 60 of them are getting consultations and another 50 are being helped in workshops to represent themselves. That leaves 30 people who will actually be represented by attorneys. And I don't have a better answer for this, but I am questioning 140 people being served for almost a million dollars. So, can you walk us through um how this contract is set up and build Um so to to facilitate the process to so we can renew the contract will be set up hopefully with amendments so that when we come to next year we'll be able to conduct an amendment without coming going to RFP again so that we can continue services without experiencing gaps or any delays. With regard to the amount of actual uh like uma like removal defense support, I also just want to acknowledge that many of those cases are complex and time inensive um and a single case can span one to three years. So while you're looking at just numbers, it's really important that we reframe the impact from number of clients served to the amount of time in which a person is able to remain with their family or in the states. To that end, I also want to acknowledge that um many of these cases can require hundreds of hours of attorney time, of court hearings, of evidence gathering. And so this is not a cheap program um by any means. And um that number is cumulative. That's 24 removal defense cases this year. That means another 24 possibly the next year. and we'll continue to reassess, but it's a it looks like a smaller number because of the labor intensive work that goes into representing those kinds of cases. Thank you for that explanation. Hundreds of hours, that's a lot. I just want to make sure it's um clear that legal services are a big part. Obviously, that's what you're talking about. 24 people served and then we could go with that the next year. But there are also workshops and people are being advised on how to represent themselves. So I just want to make that clear. That's my only point for a million dollars. >> All right. Thank you. So uh so we want to thank uh staff for those responses. Thank the city council. Um I just want to highlight what I think Joshua said. Um, there are a number of cities who are who are calling the office of equity and calling Long Beach to figure out how to establish this program. It's a program that we support. The city supports the city uh labors over this. The city funds this and we have incredible city staff. I remember 10 years ago when we didn't have an office of equity, when we were training ourselves on how to even talk about and think through these issues. We've come such a long way as a city and I want to give encouragement to city staff. I know how innovative you work, how work, how hard you worked to innovate and make sure we didn't have nine additional months until these new dollars could be deployed that they can be deployed within six weeks of the budget going into into effect. We could have this contract in front of council. So, I want to recognize you. I want to encourage you. We don't know what comes next with this administration, but I am confident in our city team that whatever it is, we're going to step up. We're going to continue to deliver for our community. That said, members, please cast your vote. >> Motion is carried. >> All right. Now, we're going to go to uh quick report out on close session. >> Good evening, Mayor. Uh deputy city attorney Elazar Benuel. Um we have nothing to report out of. >> That's a great report. Fantastic. All right. Now we're going to go to uh item 22, commission appointments. >> Mayor >> communication from Mayor Richardson, recommendation to receive and approve commission appointments and reappoints for non-charter commissions. >> All right, we're going to go to uh Council Member Thrash Intook for recusal. >> Uh thank you so much, Mayor. It appears that there is a very handsome uh gentleman who's being appointed this evening. Okay. All right. with whom I share a residence and family connection. And so I will be recusing myself from this evening's commission vote. >> All right, you guys calm down. All right, folks. We have a great group of uh commissioners uh residents who are stepping up to serve our city. I'm going to introduce them. I'm going to move through this pretty quickly. When you say when I say your name, if you're here, just stand up so we can see who you are. And we're going to start off with the Advisory Commission on Aging, Dr. Clarice Kavanaaugh. Please stand. That's you. >> All right. Uh Dr. Clarice Kavanaaugh is currently a university professor at Chicago School of Professional Psychology, podcast creator, host, coach entrepreneur motivational speaker, and after 30 years working in pharmaceutical home pharmaceutical, home healthcare and biofarma industry, she has now embarked on a second career as a volunteer. We thank you for your service on the advisory commission on aging. Next on the Belmont Shore Parking and Business Improvement Area Commission, the Belmont Shore Parking District, we have Mike Jensen. Where is Mike? Please stand, Mike. Uh Michael is a property owner. He he has owned the Long Beach Pacific Retail Partners Office, overseeing 16 commercial real estate brokers and support staff, a long career in the commercial real estate community. and he serves his community by being involved with Rotary of Long Beach and is a board member of YMCA of Long Beach and is a board member of the Trauma Intervention Program. Welcome to the Belmont Shore Park and Business Improvement uh Commission. Next, Commission for Women and Girls District 3 appointee Christine uh Dabre. Did I say did I get that right? Christine Dabre. Thank you. Christine is the operations director at Interval House. We love Interval House, a domestic violence program with emergency housing programs and housing programs that aid those experiencing homelessness. Her expertise in domestic violence will aid in the commission's efforts to address dating violence, sexual assault, and other dangers. Thank you for stepping up to serve on the Commission for Women and Girls. Next, the Commission on Youth and Families. We have a young person. Let's uh let's let's uh meet Luis uh Lewis Serrano, youth representative and is my neighbor, a district 9 North Long Beach resident. Uh Lewis is currently a senior at Jtown Jordan High School. He holds various leadership roles that oversee and impact the student body and engagement for students. He's serving on the youth advisory council. He's one of our leaders on our youth council as a youth council member. He uh his term lasted 12 months and he's ready to enter his second term and one day you'll be sitting up here uh behind this dis. Next is the economic development commission. We have a couple appointments here. First hailing out of Long Beach State, Dr. Miles Nevin, education representative in district three. Miles holds 20 years of experience in local, state, and national education leadership role roles and additionally has a long history of nonprofit and city commission service. He's alumni of Long Beach State where he had his bachelor's, his mers, and his educational doctorate degree. He's currently serving as the associate vice president of university business and nonprofit enterprises at Long Beach State. Welcome to economic development. Long Beach State always had a seat has a seat at our table. Uh our next uh commissioner, Andy Perez, the workforce representative on the economic development commission, District 5 resident. He is a public policy and government leader with more than 20 years of experience. He is currently serving as the economic development and labor relations deputy for LA County Supervisor Janice Han. We thank you for your service. You've served commissions in the past. We welcome your experience and we want to uh thank you for your service also to the supervisor on the homeless services advisory commission representing district a district 8 resident representing an atlarge seat. Jacqueline Romero Duran. Where is Jacqueline? There she is. Thank you for being here. She serves as the director of local government affairs for California Restaurant Association where she leads legislative affairs in multiple uh multiple counties across the state. Uh she was born and raised in Long Beach, California, and graduated with her masters in public administration from Cal State Long Beach and bachelor's office in political political science from UC Davis. Uh she um began her career assisting unhoused and low-income individuals with access to basic necessities such as food, clothes, and shelter at Christ at Christian Outreach in Action. Through the work of COA, she was able to see real outcomes on the ground for those in need. Thank you for your service. Next, we have a whole bunch of folks from the Long Long Beach Workforce Investment Network. Starting off, our healthc care representative, John Fay. John, please stand. John is currently a a government government community rel Oh, and we have little John. Um, John is currently a government and community relations manager for Memorial Care Healthc Care System. Uh, he represents Miller Children and Women's Hospital where my two little ones were born. The best nurses anywhere in the world are at Long Beach Memorial. Uh, his role centers on leading initiatives to develop de community benefit to underserved populations. uh collaborating with nonprofits, municipalities, and healthc care stakeholders. Uh so we thank you and we welcome you to Long Beach Win. Next, Ian Hall. All right, Ian Hall is in the house. Uh Ian is a mechanical engineer that specializes in controls, robotics, thermal systems integration, and he's currently working as a thermal control integration in in Let me do that again. He is currently working as a thermal controls integration engineer at Ford Motor Company, which recently opened their advanced electric vehicle development center in the city of Long Beach. Uh, and we know that Ian spoke recently at a Grow Long Beach presentation and recently bought a house in downtown. Uh, Space Beach is hiring and and and and Ford is hiring and advanced manufacturing is here and we're seeing real economic development opportunities here. Uh but probably most importantly, he is an active member of New Talanta chapter of Alpha Fi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated 06. All right. And sits on the community events uh committee for the Orange County chapter of the NAACP. We're going to shift that over to Long Beach. We welcome you to the Long Beach uh workforce um investment network at representing large businesses in the city. So, thank you so much and we thank Ford for getting involved in the city of Long Beach. Next, Roberto Ruiz, a workforce representative, currently assistant where? All right. Good. All right. Ian is a mechanical engineer special, excuse me. Uh, Roberto is currently an assistant superintendent at Cedar Sinai. He has several leadership roles including safety coordinator, lead man, foreman, general foreman, and he is currently a member of the carpenters union union through a project labor agreement initiative, opening a door to a meaningful career in the construction industry and labor advocacy. Through the union, he became a regular volunteer and was eventually elected as a delegate for local 562. Congratulations and welcome to the workforce board. Next, representing business, Kevin Smith. Kevin, please stand, Kevin. And little Kevin. Uh Kevin is currently a program specialist of the workforce of workforce development at Long Beach Unified School District. We're so proud to have LBUSD at the table at uh Long Beach Win as we update our board on future uh career pathways. Uh he's he's a part of a team that manages workforce related grants, oversees initiatives that several thousand high school students uh that benefit several thousand students across 37 pathways. We welcome your expertise as we shape workforce development in the city of Long Beach. Congratulations, Kevin. And then lastly, Henry Thomas. Henry, please stand. There he is. Henry, welcome. Henry has over 15 years of hands-on and leadership experience in workforce development, labor advocacy, and apprenticeship coordination. Currently working as a business agent at Lyona Local 1309. He is a laborer. Henry is an advocate for workers rights and equitable access to training, job placement, and career advancement opportunities, managing hiring hall operations, enforcing collective bargaining agreements, collaborating with contractors. Collaboration is what we're going to need. collaboration with contractors, training institutions, and apprentices to build a strong workforce. Congratulations, Henry, and welcome to the team. >> All right, we have just a few more, just two more here. On the transaction and use tax commission hailing from Long Beach City College, we have Udawak Joe Inuk, District 8 resident. uh district uh Udawak Joe is a nationally recognized energy and environmental expert where he testified as an expert witness before thei US House of Representatives subcommittee on energy and mineral resources. 15 years of public sector experience with roles in Long Beach, Los Angeles, LA County Metro, and the state of California. He's been elected to the Long Beach City College Board of Trustees in 2018, reelected in 2022, and has served three terms as board president. a third generation in Long Beach and we this is our transa transaction and use commission, our measure A commission. We serve on oversight. We support the colleges on their oversight and it's great that we now have college representatives serving on some of our oversight uh oversight board. So, welcome Udawok to the city of Long Beach. And then our final uh appointment, Mike Shaknovich. Where is Mike? >> Over here. >> There he is. And Mike's got little Mike over there. Okay. Uh Mike is uh a really good person and a great representative of the Veterans Affairs Commission. You were on our first Veterans Affairs Commission when we created this commission and now you are back representing District 2. Uh Mike is a US Marine Corps veteran serving from 2001 to 2006. Thank you for your service. He has he has a long history of managing events, promoting business development, overseeing vendor negotiations, managed operations for high-profile companies and events. During his time during his time in the Marine Corps, he acted as a marine combat instructor of water survival, ground support equipment production manager, quality assurance manager, and ground support equipment manager. And he previously served on this very commission for seven years. We are thrilled, Mike, to welcome you back. Welcome home. All right, we just have a few uh reappoints. Long Beach Transit Board of Directors, James Auma, and uh Sarah Bey is moving from at large to district 3 representative on the homeless service advisory commission. Let's hear for all of our future commissioners. Congratulations. Uh we're going to go go to the council. Uh council members in Dejas. >> Thank you, mayor. This is one of my favorite um times of years is when we are able to welcome new commissioners to our um our city family. Thank you. Thank you so much each one of you for saying yes um for stepping up and representing the entire city on the commissions that you are. This was a very impressive impressive um list. I also want to give a special shout out to Ian, first resident, first district resident. Thank you. We're so happy to have you um on that commission representing District 1 and we look forward to seeing all the great work that all of you will be doing um going forward. So, thank you for saying yes again. >> All right. Thank you, Council Member Exod. >> Uh thank you, Mayor. Uh yeah, I co-sign on everything that uh Council Member Councilwoman Zena said. I want to congratulate everyone uh who's getting appointed or reappointed. Um serving your community is going to be one of the best decisions you ever make and so thank you for being willing to give of your time, your talent, your treasure, all the things that come with serving your community. Um special shout out to all the parents over here holding it down with the small kids um as you as your commissioner. Um it's you bring everything, right, to the commission, all that background, all that history, all that experience, right? And serving so that your your your children also can have a better community. And so again, somebody who served with with my two kids, um, special place in my heart for you all. So, thank you so much. Um, and then I want to give a special shout out to my new commissioner, Luis Serrano, holding it down. He was our youth advisory commissioner. Now, love to see you on the youth and families commissioner. He's been a fantastic resident, active in our community, and so I'd love to see where you're going to go from here. But congratulations, my friend. >> I know where he's going to go. Right. That seat right there. >> Hey, come on. >> All right. Uh, we're gonna Is there any public comment? No public comment. >> Seeing none, members, please cast your vote. >> We do have two changes. >> Oh, that's right. We have um we want to reflect for the record on the two economic development commission. The term ends July 30, 2026, not 2028. And it has to be these are these are uh partial terms and then they have to come back for reappoint later. So, let's note that for the record. 2026, not 2028. Members, please cast your vote. All right, commissioners, come on down. We're going to take a photo. All right. Thank you. If everyone could uh we're going to continue the council meeting. If everyone can just exit quietly. We're going to take item 23 and then we're going to go to public comment after that. Item 23. Item 23, communication from Mayor Richardson. recommendation to request city attorney to begin preparing ordinance that consolidates the city's ethics policies, guidelines, and legal requirements into a single comprehensive ordinance called the Long Beach Framework for accountability, integrity, and reporting fair act and consider the proposed policy modifications outlined in the Long Beach Ethics Commission. Request city attorney to conduct any additional review as necessary to ensure the final recommendations and draft ordinance language. request city attorney to incorporate within the proposed Long Beach Fair Act ordinance framework key amendments to the city's lobbyist ordinance and refer to the government operations and efficiency committee for public input, discussion, and feedback on the proposed ordinance provisions. >> All right, thank you very much. Uh I'm going to go ahead and introduce this and I'm going explain what the process is moving forward. Um, this is incredibly important now more than ever that local government and government at all levels, frankly, uh, lead by example and take proactive, uh, steps to stay on top of transparency and accountability and demonstrate, uh, high standards. Uh, here in Long Beach, we take that responsibility very seriously. Uh, we went to the ballot and established an ethics commission. We've developed an eth ethics strategic plan. And now an important step is to modernize and update our ethics standards uh in our city. That's why today I'm proposing the fair act. That's the framework for accountability integrity and reporting. So the idea here is that this aims to streamline our strengthen our city's commitment to transparency through a few key actions. One, it consolidates all of the main elements of our ethics that are spread across the municipal code into one easy to understand clear ordinance. So you don't have to search around to find where the rules are. The public, the decision makers, everyone who's participated should be able to go to one place and have a single authoritative source for all ethical standards. This also allows you to do things like establish a very clear website for reporting and transparency and all those things. Secondly, update the and strengthen the city's existing lobbyist ordinance to expand public disclosure rules. Simplify filing requirements. The goal here is very simple. Help residents more clearly understand the organizations or entities that are influencing decisions at city hall. Very simple. And third, by promoting frequent reporting of local lobbying activities so residents understand and receive timely, transparent information about potential interests shaping city decision-making and planning efforts. So, it's important to know that these recommendations will will retain certain uh certain exemptions. Neighborhood associations. I've gotten emails, hey, are lab are neighborhood associations supposed to register when they call the council member? Absolutely not. Neighborhood associations, small nonprofit organizations uh are not included. And that's to minimize burdens on groups who should be engaged with the day-to-day operation of uh the services that they deliver. They're the customer. They should have the ability to openly communicate. as we see uh a lot of rhetoric and a lot of things that take place on the national narrative around misconduct and hidden influences and who's behind you know this decision or that decision. It's important that uh Long Beach is very clear that we choose a different path uh not back door. We're open and transparent and ethical about what we do. We choose transparency, accountability, and always keep our doors open to the public. These measures reaffirm our unwavering commitment to ethical governance and will help ensure that Long Beach continues to lead with fairness, integrity, and honesty. So, this is the beginning, the very beginning of the ordinance development process. as a next step in the process. The discussion tonight will be referred to the government operations and efficiency committee which will gather feedback from stakeholders and community regarding any revisions or adjustments that that can be made to refine the content of this ordinance uh while maintaining the spirit and intent of uh this policy. Based on that process, those recommendations then come back to city council to make a recommendation on the final ordinance that moves forward. So, city council will have a full conversation at that time and move forward in ordinance for consideration and adoption. So, this is the beginning of a two-step process. Committee, government oversight and efficiency committee first and then full city council consideration of all the recommendations. I want to take time to express my deep thanks to the ethics commission and our office of ethics and transparency for their diligent work over the past two years in reviewing policy best practices, soliciting community feedback through public meetings and surveys, and highlighting opportunities to update our city's ethics policies, all of which have brought us to this point today. I also want to recognize and thank Common Cause for their support and encouragement in their letter of support tonight. By working together, we can strengthen trust in local government and build a city that is truly worthy of the people that we serve. So, that said, we'll now uh we'll go to public comment. We have 10 members of the public signed up to speak. 11 members of the public signed up to speak. 90 seconds each. Barbara Pollock, Alyssa G, and Ellie are first. >> Good evening. Um, Barbara Pollock. I'm the chair of the ethics commission and I'm here with authorization to speak on behalf of the commission. I want to thank Mayor Richardson for bringing this matter to the city council. I appreciate your commitment to ethics in the city of Long Beach. And I want to thank all of the members of the city council in advance for your support of this important proposal. Um, as Mayor Richardson, as you were speaking, I started crossing things out. I could adopt, but you you maybe you read my my uh uh statement. Um I really appreciate the words. Um prior to the formation of the ethics commission, the city auditor retained an outside firm to conduct an audit of the city's ethics program and one of the main recommendations is that we develop a single comprehensive ethics ordinance to ensure consistent application of ethics standards. The Fair Act will consolidate in a single municipal code title ethics rules that are now distributed through other provisions of the municipal code policies and administrative regulations. The Fair Act also brings us into the 21st century um with changes relating to the adoption of technology and the speed of work. Um, as you noted, the ethics commission has worked on this project for two years. I don't consider this the first step. I consider it the next to last step, and I'm hoping we can get to the last step very quickly. >> Thank you. Your time has concluded. >> Thanks for your your testimony. It's a first step for this group. >> I know. Hi. Now, >> thank you very much. All right. Uh, next is Alyssa G. >> Hi, my name is Forest Brass. Actually, >> I have Alyssa right there behind you. She's next. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Are you deferring? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. Yes. Uh I want to say if I can start the time. Yeah. Uh thank you for everybody who's here who's human. I'm here to strongly urge that the city council to adopt the civil and human rights investment screening policy and to integrate it to the development of the fair act. While the Fair Act is an important step toward improving ethics and transparency in Long Beach, it is equally important that our financial decisions reflect the same values of integrity and accountability. Our investments are not neutral. They are a direct expression of what we stand for as a city. A civil a civil and human rights investment screening policy, which the ethics commission already approved to be agendaized. Um, by the way, LA last month, um, does not invest public funds in companies or institutions that engage in practices that violate human rights, fuel discrimination, or harm vulnerable communities. It ensures that our tax dollars do not contribute to injustice, whether globally or right here at home. This policy has already been recommended by the Equity and Human Relations Commission, and many residents have voiced their support as well. It perfectly aligns. Okay, I'm just gonna I had more to say, but I just want to say that the Fair Act uh is a great accompaniment to the screening policy that um we brought to you guys for the last few months. Um thank you for listening to us and please adopt this screening policy to match the fair act. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next is Ellie. After Ellie is Ted Chriswald and Susan Weiss. Wise sorry. >> Good evening. I'm a resident of Long Beach and a renter in the second district. I'm I'm happy to hear that you think the city of Long Beach should reflect values of transparency, accountability, and public trust because, as evidenced by this evening and many other instances, it it doesn't right now. Weeks ago, the Equity and Human Relations Committee heard and voted to recommend the Civil and Human Rights Investment Screening Policy. This policy has been researched and written over the past 11 months. Implementing this policy would be a fantastic first step for the Fair Act. The work's been done. The people of Long Beach support it. There's hundreds of signatures on a petition that's been going around and it's it's a common sense move. This policy has been written by successful business owners, entrepreneurs, educators, and civil rights advocates in Long Beach. It comes straight from the people. This policy is sitting on your desk and it's ready to be implemented with very little work on your part. It's a building block for the fair act. It's already done much of the work of consolidating Long Beach values of the people, not of the council, and has ways to promote equity throughout the investments of our city. I would heavily suggest that you agendaize this item uh in the next city council meeting and implement this policy as quickly as possible. And I I really hope that this policy also involves um divesting from the Long Beach police and supporting the family of Brandon Boyd monetarily and in any other way that they see fit. Thank you. >> All right. [applause] Next is Ted. After Ted is Susan and then Brandy Davidson. Hello, I'm Ted and I'd also like to express solidarity with the Boyd family and with the immigrant community and the ICE resistance community in the face of ICE attacks. Um, I also wanted to say that I think the the civil and human rights investment screener which has als which has been recommended by the equity and human rights commission already um would pair well with the fair act. Um, I became interested in the this the uh screener because like uh some of the people who spoke before me, I grew up um in public school and in Hebrew school learning about how the Jewish Holocaust um happened and how similar atrocities how to recognize similar atrocities um that might happen. And as I've gotten older, I've learned that our public funds and our through our tax dollars have gone into investments that have enabled genocides all over the world, Central America, South America, Africa, and are currently um funding one in Gaza. And this has been officially called the genocide by a United Nations special committee, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and the Lmin Institute for Genocide Studies, and Doctors Without Borders. This is obviously not the kind of thing that we want our public funds invested in and the screener gives us an opportunity to make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen. Um the policy would likely not be a major disruption in city investments as it only applies to the most egregious violations of ethical conduct and this ultimately impacts other communities in California, the US and around the world how we spend our time here. So just urging you to adopt the screener. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next is Susan, then Brandy, then David Kissinger. >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Susan Weise and I'm a resident of the third district. I've lived in Long Beach for over 50 years. I recently rolled off the ethics commission after six years on the inaugural elect ethics commission and served as the first chair for several years of that commission. uh this work represents a lot of time and that's what I want to just tell you about briefly. First of all, I urge you to give this matter some urgency. It's been um 15 months since the ethics commission presented its lobbying recommendations to the city and already five months since we presented the uh policy recommendations. I do want you to know too that myself and I'm quite sure the current members of the commission are more than happy to answer and help expedite this matter. So I know it's going to a committee and coming back to you, but we stand ready and that's because you got to know about the expertise that has already gone into this. There have been hours and hours of time from the city attorney's office working with ad hocs on the on the commission. The commission includes representatives, ethics officers and compliance officers from aerospace, um, national defense, uh, public utilities. All this expertise has gone into to the work that you are seeing before you. We've consulted with jurisdictions across the way. And you need to know that Long Beach is really admired by its peers, ethical uh divisions in other cities for its the manner in which its its charter is structured and the appointment process concluded. So we stand out for that that reason. Um additionally, we've had >> your time's concluded. >> Miss Weise, I'm not sure if you heard the time is concluded on the comments. if you could just summarize. I >> just want you to have confidence in in the report that's before you because of all the work that's gone into it and thank you for your enthusiasm, Mayor Richardson, and your leadership on this. >> Thank you. All right. Next is Brandy Davidson, then David Kissinger, then Richard Harvey. >> Is Brandy here? Okay, David. >> Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Council Members. David Kissinger with the Pacific West Association of Realtors. Um, for the purpose of this agenda item, PACWist is a 501c6 organization. I am a registered lobbyist with the city and a 25-y year resident. And I wanted to uh start by speaking in support of the the spirit of the fair plan in the sense that it consolidates everything into one kind of one-stop shopping. It it makes it easier for us to comply and easier for you at the city to enforce, right? And I think that's sort of the spirit. With that in mind, respectfully, I do want to highlight a few things that I would ask for you to really think about carefully as you move forward on this item. And in the staff report, I'm referring to two recommendations, number three and number four. In recommendation number three, it basically calls for uh a lobbyist to submit a number of items that have to do with contact with members with public officials. Those items have already been submitted. They are all public documents as you know. As soon as a document lands on your desk, it is a public document and immediately discoverable. So this creates more compliance burden for those for documents that you already have in your hand. Second, I want to ask you to consider and this is more of a concern. Item number four is be very very cautious please in where the exemption falls. Who is exempt and who is not. Is it all C6s that must comply and all C3s don't? That may create just quickly I'll wrap up. that may create an imbalance over whose voice must have scrutiny and whose voice must not. And so that is kind of a value judgment that's best reserved for somewhere outside of an ordinance. I would urge you to either eliminate that or use a great deal of caution. Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. >> Thanks so much. All right. Next is Richard Harvey and then Sarah Zidy and then Lou and then Lee. Is Richard here? Is Sarah here? Sarah, you're up. >> After Sarah is Lou and then Lee. >> Hi, Mayor Richardson and city council. You know, um I've sat here all night tonight and listened to you honor the needs for um the well-being and mental health of Native Americans. I've heard you, you know, um, acknowledge the heartbreak of Brandon Boyd's family. Um, and I've heard you talk about the justice fund, um, and advocate for that. I've heard one of the council members say, "When people feel safe, the whole, um, the whole city is stronger." Um, but there's a lot of people in our city right now who are not feeling safe because of what um because of the lack of transparency and accountability. So, I'm really here um to support kind of the um human rights um screening that the committee on uh the Commission on Equity and Human Relations has um put forward. and um really because we're not feeling safe when our when our city is investing in technologies and corporations that directly benefit from the violence against not only our black community. Um it advocates for or it leads to surveillance of those people who are being taken from our streets. So, I really just want to add my uh support to make uh eth ethical governance a priority and agenda and adopt the human rights screening policy. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. [applause] >> All right, Lou. >> Hello, council members. My name is Lou Rosen. I'm a resident voter in Long Beach. I greatly appreciate the council's attempts to strengthen and streamline our city's ethics policies. As part of this measure, I urge the council to take immediate action to agendaize and approve the recommendation by the Ethics and Human Relations Commission to adopt a civil and human rights investment screening policy for all city investments. Those who have spoken on the policy before me have sung its praises much more eloquently than I could. What I want to reiterate is that these city investments we are discussing are not just some abstract concept. The funds for these investments come directly from the people of Long Beach in the form of our tax dollars. Every single one of us in this room pays hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in taxes to this city each year. And the city council has a responsibility to make sure that the way our money is invested reflects our values as the people of the city of Long Beach. The people of the city of Long Beach don't support genocide. We don't support collaboration with ICE in any capacity. We don't support endless wars around the world, the military-industrial complex, or oil companies which seek to mortgage the future of our planet for future generations in the name of profits. Pass the civil and human rights screening policy and put our our money where our values are. Thank you to the Boyd family for speaking today. I look forward to seeing the council adopting the recommendations of the police oversight commission in the same way that I hope you adopt those of the ethics commission and take concrete action to reduce police force in our communities. Black lives matter. [applause] >> Thank you. All right. And Lee is our final speaker. >> Good evening, council. I am a resident and a renter in Long Beach's first district. The words to enhance transparency, accountability, and public trust hold important meaning when it comes to the governance of our beloved city. The Fair Act is a great start, but I ask the council to put their money where their morals are. If these guidelines are what you are governing our city by, then put it into action and agendaize and adopt the civil and human rights investment screening policy, which was already passed by the uh equity and human relations commission and sent to your desks last month. All you need to do is agendaize it and implement it. The screening policy would put these values into action. So, let's not just say we believe in these values. let's actually not spend money on the things that we don't believe in as a city. Um, ethical investing has been well researched and an established practice for decades and there's a lot of precedent from other cities doing similar things and seeing no negative outcomes. So, this must be an ethical governance priority in the city of Long Beach and I urge the city council to agendaize and immediately adopt and implement this important screening policy along with the uh the fair act. Additionally, Mayor Richardson, please get ICE out of our city. Stand up for us. Seriously, get ICE out of our city. Thank you. Open to ideas. We've been working on it. All right. We're going to take it back behind the rail. Council member Dugen. >> All right. Thank you. Thanks for um everyone who's come to speak. And you know, I appreciate you bringing this item forward. And I want to thank um Chair Pollock and the ethics commission for their years of work really diving into this understanding and being transparent is that's they're influencing our city leaders decisions and it's important to build and maintain uh the public trust in those areas. So, I'm glad to work with the government operations and efficiencies committee as the chair and my fellow um committee members and continue this discussion about how we can make the city more transparent. I do believe that airing on the side of being too transparent, but I think there are considerations about the amount of time and resources that extensive reporting takes. So, I'm glad to be able to find this balance with my council colleagues on the government operations and efficiencies committee and uh bring it back here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Exod. >> Uh thank you, mayor. Um and thank you to the mayor's office for the work of our ethics commission. Um we know that thoughtful recommendations like these don't just materialize. Um they take uh research and advice and consulting of folks that um are steeped in this. And so I want to thank you for bringing something so thoughtful to us and for the mayor for bringing that forward. Um and yes, I'm actually looking I'm looking forward to the discussion we're going to have in the govern operations um and efficiency committee related to this. Um I definitely appreciate the uh the perspective of thinking about where all these things are in our municipal code, making sure that it's clear, that the policy that the city has is upfront and clear, doesn't have areas that are gray areas, that we're clarifying the definitions. Um but as uh council member uh Dugen also shared um I do want to be thoughtful about how we operationalize this um as we are in the government operations uh committee and efficiency committee right around how this is going to get done. I know there's some recommendations in here around like uh what that involves as far as reporting, portals, staffing, funding, right? So, I want us to give some really clear thought to that. Um ad admittedly when I look at this, I'm like, yes, excellent transparency, but then I also think about the the work that my staff already do to be honest. Um and how much additional requirements that'll this will put on council offices that are already have a ton of work to do. Um, so whether that includes additional staffing necessary then to allow us to do these things. So I'm really interested and looking forward to the conversation that we are going to have at Governor Operations and Efficiency to make sure we're putting forward something that is equitable um and represents our city well. >> All right, Council Member Thrash and Tuk. >> Uh, thank you so much. Uh, so Mayor Richardson, first I'd like to thank you. Um, and I'd also like to thank the ethics commission for your years of work and commitment to this matter and bringing forward this proposed framework for accountability, integrity, and reporting fair act. Um, it's noted already by my colleagues, this is a crucial step in centralizing ethic polic ethics policies and updating our lobbyist ordinance. Now more than ever, city leaders must reaffirm our commitment to ethical governance and transparency. So, I'm fully supportive um of that spirit and intent behind this comprehensive reform. I really appreciate the way that the recommendations looked at simplifying the registration process by focusing on the number of contacts and clarifying that lobbying includes influencing any legislative or administrative action irrespective of its pending status. This closes important loopholes and brings our ordinance in line with best practices. So, as we look towards drafting a new ordinance, um I have a few questions regarding implementation, administrative feasibility, and cost to ensure that our commitment to transparency is something that we can actually meet um and that it's smart and also is effective governance. So, I would just say to my colleagues who are on the do the um governance [laughter] committee, >> not the doge committee, it's not the doge committee. our uh government efficiency uh committee um as well as to our staff. Um I want to share a series of questions. None, you know, they don't all have to be answered here today, but I want to make sure that they're included in the analysis as you move forward. Uh yeah, that's been on my mind today. Um so let's talk a little bit about operational questions related to our calendar and disclosures. So I agree, let's have full transparency. Um, but I also see that there is a duty to the safety of our staff and to this body. We are a supermaajority of women who are serving on this council. So, this proposal mentions exemptions for security that are modeled on Santa Clara's ordinance. But who specifically defines what constitutes a security risk for redaction? Are we asking our schedulers to make legal determinations on what should be redacted 12 times a year? and what is the liability of missing something along the way in doing so. So that's the first one. Second, we currently have a public records act process and I believe that it works because it allows for specific requests. My concern is staff time required to upload calendars proactively every month. Uh we are part-time council members. We have limited staff budgets and not every office has a dedicated scheduler. someone who's focused on the calendar because we're prioritizing responding to the community. So, as a result, I wanted to make sure that the city manager is considering the significant staffing impact um that this might have on uh and consider the fiscal analysis. I want to make sure we're not creating a new administrative bottleneck and that actually slows down the process and keeps us from being able to meet our needs of the residents. Uh third, the memo notes that we need to develop new technology capacities to handle the calendar disclosures and filings. Um do we have a system in place? I presume not at this time that automates the uploads of and redact redactions or will the staff have to manually go through PDFs. So I think it'll be important to review whatever that technology will be um so that we can ensure that we have the resources and the ability to implement that. Moving on to I've talked already a little bit about um fiscal and staffing impact. Uh the memo states that we'll have significant staffing impact beyond normal duties including staff time for calendar uploads and training materials um as we draft the ordinance. Can we um specify the dollar amount that would be associated with this policy? So adding the additional technology, the time that's going to be needed, uh will the clerk have additional resources in the office or is this an additional unfunded mandate that the council and staff will have to manage? And finally, uh I want to clarify um recommendation number five. The mayor actually went over that in his remarks. um we just want to make sure that as community leaders give us a call and ask us to do something like um ensuring that potholes are filled that those are not considered um administrative items that would have to be uh disclosed accordingly. So I believe these questions are vital to ensure that the fair act is not only strong in principle as I believe the um commission is interested in but effective and fiscally sound in practice. So, I look forward to working with the staff as well as uh the committee uh to make sure that these details are included in the drafting process. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Kerr. >> Yes. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank um all the past and current members of the ethics commission for their hard work on this. Um it's been, as uh Ms. We wise said, it's been a long process involving lots of professionals, and I I respect the work that you all have been doing. I want to thank my council colleagues for raising uh questions that need to be included in the conversation at government operations and efficiency committee. Uh I just wanted to add a couple of more questions for consideration. Um I didn't when reading it um and diving in as we look at lobbyists on behalf of businesses or business owners. Um I would love some clarity in the work around what does that mean for our business improvement districts or our business improvement associations. And so the staff of those districts and associations often will call and report there was a break-in, there was a call, I have a concern. Are they are they considered lobbyists? Like how they fit into the definition and those folks who have those more formalized relationships with the city and with the council offices. Um so if we could include that would be helpful. Um I appreciate the conversation around um calendars and scheduling. Um, I think we need clear clear language defining what a non-scheduled meeting is. Um, we know what the exemptions are, but what would be considered a non-scheduled meeting? Is it I stood in the line at the coffee place and ended up talking to someone who I've known my whole life because I was born and raised here, but it was longer than 15 minutes. But I know that they is that something that I have to go back and add to a calendar even though it was an impromptu we just ran into each other kind of situation. So, I think some clarity on that would be really helpful. The questions around um the budget and can we operationalize this and what the dollar amount looks like both to the city clerk's office as well as to council offices to do that work have already been asked and I will um say here here to having that information really clear. Um and I think I so appreciate um the intent and where we're going with this and being clear with our information and our calendars and all of that. Um, I do want to say that, um, as someone who was born and raised here, I know a lot of people across a lot of different areas. I know educators, I know parents from PTA. I know people whose kids I babysat for who happen to have jobs that overlap with some of this work. And so, as we authentically live as council members, I wonder if we have consideration that there are some times where I'm not the council member. I just happened to be at dinner with some friends or I just ran into somebody at the movies. And so as we're doing the intent of being transparent, understanding that privacy and safety and security are paramount to our families as well as um being transparent with the public. And so as we operationalize this for human people who are really trying their best to do the work, um making sure that the the knowing every minute of every day of where I happen to be and I had coffee at the merchant if that matters to somebody and I talked to a business owner, those kinds of things are real. Um, so as we implement things that are on paper, how we operationalize them in our own lives, I think is important to those of us who have to do the reporting because when we're trying our very best and we live here authentically, making sure we get it as right as is intended to get right. And so I would ask that we don't forget the humanness of I will speak for me of me in the work and the relationships that I've built over a lifetime in this city. um that when I chatted with my friend about something that happened in the city, it was because I'm a resident here, too. So, I think we just have to be clear about the authenticity about the letter of the law and the intention. Um, and one of our our values here on the DAS is that assuming good intent. Um, so I just want to throw out the humanness of this as well as we read this and try and figure out how do I make sure my staff is doing all of the things right when my staff is focused in many places. So I just want to throw that out for the consideration of the uh committee. Thank you. >> All right. Well, I want to thank uh the members of the council for uh those questions. I think they're all fair questions. These we we're going to need this to be embraced. We're going to need folks to understand and have clarity on how this works. Uh but ultimately what comes back to the city council and what I ultimately sign needs to be um a document that advances our city, moves transparency and public trust forward. And and I think I think uh nothing that was raised today should be a barrier from us doing that. Thanks a lot everyone. Members, please cast your vote. >> Motion is carried. >> All right. Thank you. All right, we're going to we're going to do uh 24 quickly and then um go to public comment. >> Item 24, communication from Council Member Rick OD, Councilwoman Thrash Enuk, recommendation to request Long Beach City Council adopt a resolution in support of the Women's National Basketball Players Association. >> Council member Rick OD. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um I'm proud to bring forward this item today in partnership with Councilwoman Threshuk. It's an important opportunity for the city of Long Beach to reaffirm our commitment to equity, inclusion, and fairness values that guide so much the work we do here. At its core, this resolution is about supporting women who are advocating for her dignity, and equity in their profession. The Women's National Basketball Players Association has been a champion for improving workplace standards, strengthening protections, and ensuring fair treatment for women athletes. Their work reflects the very principles that Long Beach has stood long stood behind, supporting workers, uplifting women, and fostering environments where people can thrive. This moment also connects deeply to our city's history. Long Beach has a proud legacy of advancing women's rights embodied by one of our most iconic figures, Billy Jean King. She found her love for tennis on public courts right here in Long Beach before becoming a global leader for equality and women's empowerment. Supporting the WNBA today is another way we honor the legacy and continue the work she began building a future where women are valued equally in every sector. We also know the progress made through Title 9 continues to shape opportunities for women. Title 9 opened the doors that once seemed impossible, creating pathways for women athletes at every level. The work of WNBA is a combination of that progress, ensuring that as women excel in this field, they are supporting their fairness, respect, and safe work conditions. This is also aligned with our own local efforts. The creation of the Commission on Women and Girls strengthened our city's commitment to improving outcome for women and girls here in Long Beach. We are also continued to create space that elevate and celebrate women in sports. One of the newest examples is the WatchMe Sports Bar. The first sports bar in Cal in I think in the country actually dedicated entirely to the appreciation and celebration of women's sports. It has space and has quickly become a community hub where residents can come together, watch women athletes compete at the highest levels and experience firsthand the excitement and pride that women's sports brings our city. The presence of a woman- centered sports bar right here in Long Beach reinforces how deeply our community values women athletes and the visibility they deserve. Whether it's economic mobility, safety, public health, or leadership, we have a consistently shown that gender equity is a priority for the city. Supporting the WNBA um PA reinforces our role as the city that stands behind women advocating for equitable treatment. Long Beach has also been a leader in protecting workers rights and elevating fair labor standards. From improving wages to supporting economic justice, our city has consistently shown that we can be the voice of fairness. And of course, um, the Los Angeles Sparks are part of our local regional community and serve as a role model for so many women athletes right here in Long Beach. Standing with them today reinforces our commitment to creating opportunities for young women to see themselves represented, supported, and valued. Adopting this resolution is a positive and meaningful step forward. It allows Long Beach to continue demonstrating leadership, honoring our heritage, and supporting women who are reshaping the future of athletics and equity. I respectfully ask my colleague support. >> Thank you, Council Member Thrashinuk. Anything? And thank you so much. I just want to thank Councilwoman Rick OD for bringing this forward. Um, as a super majority women council, it is exciting to be able to be aligned with the efforts of the WNBA and looking at women being lifted up equally in the sport of basketball and all sport accordingly. Um this evening just represents a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the fact that we are now at a point where not only can we um be a count a council uh with women on it but bringing forth uh measures that are important to advancing the condition of women and girls within our city and within the region. Thank you. >> All right. uh here here in support, you know, as a a a dad whose daughter joined the basketball team and she made two baskets this season on board and and uh you know, the the Sparks actually last season played their first five games at the Pyramid in Long Beach. I don't know if any of you actually went. It was pretty it was pretty incredible. So, obviously uh proud to throw my support uh behind this effort. We have one member of the public signed to speak, Ivon Wheeler. I don't see Steve Neil signed up. I see Ivon Wheeler signed up [laughter] and the honorable Councilman Steve Neil in the house. We see you. >> Good evening, city council members. My name is Ivonne Wheeler and I'm a president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and I rise today to ask you to respectfully uh support the resolution to adopt in support of the Women's Basketball Players Association. Uh we know that this uh the WNBA is the first professional women's sports in United States history and has represented athletes since 1998. Today is members across 13 teams are engaged in six contract negotiations. Their contract expired on October 31st and they're working currently without a contract. What most people don't know is that the women of the WNBA does not get pay equity. They get paid less than any the male basketball teams. When it talks about profit sharing, the male teams get 50% of profit sharing. The women in the WNBA gets 9%. When you talk about travel, the women in uh the WNBA uh has to travel on a coach flight and for commercial airlines while they uh the NBA has private airlines. The women on the WNBA does not have health care during offseason. And so these are inequities that we see across the board. We ask that the city of Long Beach adopt a resolution in support of the NDB uh WNBA during their contract negotiations. And I think both uh city council member Joanie Rick ODI and Tenure Inuk uh Thrash Ink spokes uh eloquently about why the need is today and it will always be and I ask that you support the resolution as written. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. All right, that satisfies public comment. Is there something you wanted to add? >> Uh, yes. Uh, mayor, our office actually needs to review this because we're responsible under the charter for all resolutions. So, need to come to us just to review to be compliant with state law and then we can just bring it back. >> Absolutely. Thank you so much. All right. Uh, members, please cast your vote. >> Motion is carried. >> We're going to take 32 quickly. The ordinance. There's no presentation here. Report from city attorney. Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to the designation of the property located at 149 Sienna Drive as a historic landmark. Read and adopted as read. >> Is there any public comment? Seeing none, members, please cast your vote. >> Motion is carried. >> Right. We're going to go to public comment. All right. If you hear your name, please come forward. Forest Brass, Nasar, Michael G. Anthony Holmes, Anita Ball, uh Brett Frink, Dave Shukla, Alyssa Gutierrez, and Audrina Redmond. Is Forest here? >> Yep. >> All right. Please come forward, Forest. >> Oh, here you go. >> Hello, everyone. If you're dressed in suits or uniforms, I hope you know that you're human beings at the end of the day, and hopefully we can address each other as such. Um, sorry. I uh I wanted to continue what I was reading um about the screening policy here. Um I'm just going to go ahead and start again. I'm here to strongly urge the city council to adopt the civil and human rights investment screening policy and to integrate it into the development of the fair act items 20 23 for today. While the Fair Act is an important step towards improving ethics and transparency in Long Beach, it is equally important that our financial decisions reflect the same values and integrity and incalibility. Our investments are not neutral. They are a different expression of what we stand for as a city. A civil and human rights investment screening policy ensures that Long Beach does not invest public funds in companies or institutions that engage in practices that violate human rights, fuel discrimination, or harm vulnerable communities. It ensures that our tax dollars do not contribute to injustice like the killing of Brandon Boyd. Whether globally or right here at home, this policy has already been recommended by the Equity and Human Relations Commission, and many residents have voiced their support as well. It aligns perfectly with the goals of the Fair Act, which seek to build public trust, strengthen accountability, and modernize our ethics standards. I urge the city council to direct the city attorney to incorporate this investment screening policy into the fair act framework and to make it a central component of the upcoming public review through the government's operations and efficacy committee. If Long Beach wants to lead on ethics, transparency, and justice, our governance practices and our investments must be aligned. This policy gives us the opportunity that opportunity. Thank you for ensuring that Long Beach fi long Long Beach financial decisions reflect our community's commitment to civil and human rights. With the rest of my time, I'd like to have a moment of silence for uh the family of Brandon Boyd the people of Sudan, Congo, Palestine, and everybody else who is abused and used by a very uh white supremacist system. Hopefully, we can I don't know, stop doing that. free sign. >> Okay, next up we have Michael G. >> Good evening, council. Um, I'm a resident of district 5. Hello, Megan. And, uh, I'm called to speak tonight for several reasons. I just I um it's really good that I have been here the whole night hearing about the Long Beach Justice Fund and some of the the things that are in the works that are, you know, making Long Beach what it could be. Um really kind of upset about a lot of the missed opportunities. I see Long Beach in particular, the city council and our city management uh are are missing opportunities to really uplift the the people of our city. I mean, of course, I'm sitting right here on top of a bunch of white flowers that people brought for Brandon Boyd today. And, you know, it was a year ago tomorrow that he was murdered with our tax dollars with militaryra weapons and flashbangs instead of empathy and deescalation. That's that's on our city. That's on you guys. You know, you're a part of that the the city that makes that happen. I'm talking to Rex really right now. Sorry. Uh, Mr. Supernaw. Uh, usually he gets my uh my eye contact, but I don't know where you are, Rex. Uh, if you're on the toilet, just know I'm talking [ __ ] about you right now. Uh, because when we said Brandon Boyd's name today, I heard you, Rex, say his name. That was encouraging because the day after he was killed, you didn't say his name. You called him a suspect. >> Okay. You still have not corrected that. Say his name. Brandon Boyd. Wherever you are, Rex. And then we need to get ice out of our city, guys. I heard someone say it earlier and I saw Rex mouth like, "Oh, believe me, we are. We're doing our best. Where where would we see that? Where do we see outward like whether it's performative or not, some sort of statement saying that ICE is not a welcome place for people hanging out at the yard house assaulting women when they're off duty from ICE. This isn't a place where uh masked up unbagged people can come and kidnap people. We haven't heard Rex say that or any of you. So whether you have things in the works for million-dollar like ways to help people after they're detained by ICE, that's so important. What are we doing before they're kidnapped right before our eyes? When people go out to protest where the ICE people are hanging out, kicking back, drinking their Milkalob Ultra before kidnapping people tomorrow. We're out there protesting. What do the LBPD do? They come and arrest us. They don't do anything to stop the kidnappers from being in our city. That's on Long Beach Police Department. That's on you guys. What are we doing? Do more. Instead of cancelling uh Dia Deos weren't parades, we should be calling out for everybody to be there to support ourselves. >> You can wrap up your comments. >> Uh next speaker is Anthony Holmes. >> Anthony Holmes up next. We also have Nasar's >> speaker number two. >> Okay. >> Is there a Nasar? >> Nope. Anthony Holmes. >> Let me go. >> I don't know how this will be transcribed because of my voice. Sorry. Uh, good evening, uh, council members. Um, I'm a newer resident to Long Beach and I love this city. Um, I'm very impressed to hear that you're prioritizing ethics, women's rights, justice, and fairness. So, I have one concern. Although I love the boardwalk shoreline, I live in district 2, um, the circuit trolley, all those great things that you've incorporated into our city. Um, knowing your legacy for doing the things that you do, which is responding to citizens, residents, people living here, I come here today with a serious important concern, hoping you will do more than what is being done. [sighs] For decades, business permits have been issued to illicit establishments that sell services to clients who are husbands and boyfriends. This action, act, transaction has contributed to the disintegration of the American family. It's a national epidemic. And though these businesses advertise themselves as massage parlors, massage and spa with questionable licenses as masseuse. There are flashing red lights, lace curtains, and you have to be buzzed to come in. They don't service women. They only take cash and they speak limited English. There's a reason I've mentioned that. Um, they're located in the rundown strip malls in all of your districts. They're up and down Spring Street, 7th, Anaheim, Willow. In fact, rubmaps.com lists erotic massage parlors all over Long Beach. And all these are signs that these establishments are modern brothel that have been issued licenses by this city. residents. Many residents, you can guess which gender, disapprove of these establishments [sighs and gasps] and are hoping LAPD, uh, excuse me, uh, Long Beach PD will monitor such prostitution fronts, shut them down permanently. I don't know the chain of authority in making this happen, but regardless of the please let me finish this. Regardless of the revenue that these businesses bring the city, please consider the women, the sex trafficking, the mothers, everybody involved in these disgusting businesses that are impossible to avoid. You see them on the left, you see them on the right. Please do something more than what's being done. >> This is a disgrace. Let's not allow >> Okay. Um shall we go back to speaker number four, Anthony Holmes? >> I was hoping that Ky Rex was going to stay up here, but I came to address something about you, Christina Douglas. You know, in the beginning, I used to root for you all the time. March, when I first made my appearance down here in March 7th, I told you I thought that you can be the next mayor. But I started watching you closely closely in two in 2023. You was one of the ones that then called that voted no for ceasefire on Palestine. Um, and then I watched you last week. I didn't come to that meeting. And on the record, Rex don't play with Belmont Shore, but he played with people like me October 22nd when I came when he didn't let the people over there do the presentation. He made sure that presentation went and all them white folks in Belmont Shore spoke after like it was supposed to be. But I watched you speak so passionately about what's going on in Belmont Shore and how we should protect Belmont Shore and look out for that community. And I thank you Tan toa for checking her. We we look out for all the communities by the way. And you started to point the finger as in Dejas. That's how angry I seen you look ever. So now y'all know the division starts within the city council. >> Um we just had new eight new hires this Monday and you guys wanted to Tom Monica, you wanted to get rid of y'all wanted to vote yes on measure JB. Well, eight new eight new hires came in on Monday. Guess how many black people were hired? one person out of eight people. >> Yeah. Ridiculous, huh? Um, I don't know if you've seen Basil Canton after me, antilackness guy. Like, he keeps coming after him and I I'll see you December 9th. I hope you in the meeting, not one of your representative for your administration. Um, I want to share a quick story with you. You know, my girlfriend, she always asks me, Anthony, do you love me? And I will always tell her, "You already know the answer to that." Then she would tell me that she need reinsurance. And I'll tell her, you know, I love you. So, I just want to let you guys know every time y'all do something wrong, y'all don't y'all don't protect black employees or black residents, I'll be up here to reinsure y'all. Don't want to cuss, but I have to stay on y'all ass. You know, I don't know if y'all city advisers told y'all in the beginning, oh, Anthony Holmes is going to go away. I'm not like other black people. I'm like nobody in the sixth district that when it get when the pressure is on I don't run away. I'mma come knock at your door and bring it to your doorsteps. And I hope every black person come down here like all the residents in Belmont Shore. And honestly, I want to collaborate with Belmont Shore and applaud them for coming down here. And we don't need no more investigation. We need an intervention. Like get these [ __ ] out of these departments and actually do something. I hear a lot of talks about the ethic commission. The ethic commission ain't done nothing. I've been coming. I I almost served y'all whole term. You done in what? Next year is your last year. I've been here ever since then and I watched all y'all. But you guys have a blessed day. Brandon boy, rest in peace. Stay woke, Black Long Beach. >> Okay. Uh, next speaker is Brett Frink. >> Hello everybody. Um, my name is Brett Fink. I'm a District League resident, a small uh small business owner, and the lacrosse coach at Cal State Long Beach. Uh, it's really hard to follow up everybody here tonight. Um, you know, the one thing I I could say is we all are a community together and hope that resonates with everybody across the line. I have a a smaller issue that's happening in my district, District 8. Um, and I've been in communication with our council woman's office about uh this issue um which is daily street racing, burnouts, reckless driving, threats from drivers, and recent gang gang tagging. Uh myself, I was threatened by one of the drivers who's doing um street racing where I live. Um it's not an occasional nuisance. It's happening multiple times a day. My neighbors and I have video timestamps, license plates, and the behavior is getting more brazen. Um, and if you even look at Google Maps data for 48th, 49th, and Pacific, you will see in 20 as far back as 2014, there are skid marks all over our streets. Um, one of the biggest reasons for this is um the street is extremely wide at both 48 uh 48th and 49th Pacific. Um, and that gives drivers a long open runway to pick up speed, drift, and race with almost no resistance. It is a design problem that encourages dangerous behaviors, and the entire Bach is feeling the impact. I appreciate the initial response from the council woman's office. I look forward to our on-site meeting being scheduled soon. But this issue needs to be on public record because it's escalating quickly and becoming a real safety threat for the families in the community, children, and anyone walking or driving in the area. And let me tell you, that's a lot of people. Um, we're asking for traffic calming solutions, mini circles, speed humps, lane narrowing or or cameras. Anything that breaks up the straightaway and forces drivers to slow down. the same thing that our neighbors in Bixby Nolles have. Um, these tools work and they work immediately and we do not see the same love that they do. My neighbors and I are ready to participate in the process, petitions, whatever we need to do to bring safety to this corridor. Um, I've lived here since 2022. I'm a homeowner. I want to stay here long term and be a part of this beautiful and vibrant community and uh h have some help with doing the right thing in our community. Um so thank you for your consideration. >> Okay, madam clerk is does that conclude public comment or we have anyone else? >> Uh we have a few more speakers. Dave Shukla, Alyssa Gutierrez, and Adrina Redmond. >> Thank you, city clerk, council members. Um I'd like to speak on the subject of emissions reduction. uh both India and China have consistently dropped emissions from the fossil fuels uh from fossil fuels in the generation of electricity in each quarter of this fiscal year uh fiscal year 2025 according to a new report uh from the ember think tank. This is incredibly significant uh and quite a hopeful sign frankly for the human species because it it is this very energy transition that is driving the slowdown in overall global emissions globally. the smallest increase on record will be this year, fiscal year 25, uh estimated at only uh 1.1%. Uh from last year, uh now depending on who you read, uh China's emissions have already peaked or are just about to and they certainly have been steady uh leveled off for uh the uh past four quarters. Uh what this indicates is that we could rapidly be approaching the global peaking of emissions necessary for you know future life on earth and all that but uh necessary also for the continued growth of economies and the driver of that growth is the very ground that this country the United States has seated to China now that's a choice uh it's the wrong choice uh but it it it should be noted that this year China is taking complete control of the necessary shift in the rapid deployment of renewables and clean tech globally. 50% of the electric vehicles uh 50% of the the the cars on the road in China are electric vehicles. Uh again, those are their choices. Uh they also through their uh climate core uh were able to plant over a million trees last year. Uh now it's good to hear uh million new trees. It's good to hear about the new Ford facility uh that the that the uh city has attracted. Uh but frankly, the city of Long Beach has more power and more responsibility than mere merely being pliant to business interests as they are currently trying to uh buck up against reality. Um, as the oil revenue discussion over the past few months in this city has shown, not only are revenues declining and will continue to decline, but there's already a sufficient hole in the necessary uh funds for decommissioning that could approach as much as two billion within the next decade. These are funds, frankly, this city could have already been generating towards in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year had it led and decided to lead five years ago. uh the creation of a regional community choice aggregation uh joint powers authority. Council members, this city needs to re-evaluate its position in the overall regional energy system. Electricity rates keep going up. The city keeps paying into it instead of benefiting from it. It's ridiculous. And you're going to have to pay for the oil one way or another. It's no longer going to be an ATM for the city and for the state. Thank you. >> Okay, next up we have Alyssa Gutierrez. Hi, good evening, mayor, city council. My name is Alyssa. I'm a second district renter and a mom of four. I would also like to express solidarity with the Boyd family. As a grieving sister who lost my baby brother three years ago due to mental health challenges, I cannot even begin to imagine the added trauma and devastation of being treated with such disdain by LBPD. I pray for healing and policy change and justice for the Boyd family. What I came here to talk to you about initially was last month the Equity and Human Relations Commission took a courageous step and voted to recommend that the city council adopt the civil and human rights screening, which you've heard about a bit tonight. The message was clear. Where the city invests its money matters. Long Beach residents do not want their tax dollars contributing to genocide, apartheid, occupation, war crimes, child and slave labor, and extreme environmental degragation. As a Jewish little girl, I grew up immersed in the stories of the Holocaust of my people. From a young age, I was taught that never again was not meant to be selective. It was meant to be a moral commitment to humanity. That no community should ever face mass killing, starvation, forced labor again. And that if they did, the world would step in and do everything in its power to stop it. I've spent the last two years grieving that illusion. While the actions of Long Beach alone cannot change the world, we can do our small but meaningful part to ensure we're not complicit in these atrocities. History has shown us that how we use our money is one of our biggest and strongest levers for justice. When cities, universities, governments around the world divested from companies supporting the South South African apartheid, that collective action helped bring down a brutal system of racial segregation. Long Beach has the chance to be part of that same legacy of moral leadership, showing that where we place our dollars can either uphold oppression or help dismantle it. And I want to be clear why there are several genocides happening right now as we speak. This policy is not about one country or one company. It's about refusing complicity wherever atrocities occur. Because today it might be one government, tomorrow another. That's why it was written to endure across time and context. When I put down roots in Long Beach 12 years ago, I did so because I love this city, its diversity, its vibrancy, its progressive values. Long Beach is a place where people like my brother who was out and proud could come and feel seen and feel that they were somewhere where they belong. That's why I'm proud to live here and why I'm so invested in seeing our city live up to the values it professes. So, I look forward to having more conversations with with each of you about the details of the policy and urge you to agendaize the civil and human rights screening for council discussion and consideration. Thank you. >> Okay, our final speaker is Adrana Redmond. >> Hi there. I'm going to seed my time to Melissa Morgan. >> Okay. So, um, I wanted to mention we're wearing green ribbons in honor of mental health awareness and wanted to bring the green flowers to recognize that as well, the green leaves. Um, work shouldn't hurt. Work shouldn't hurt. Um, I work here in Southern California now with black workers, uh, with black worker centers. We're also building a center here in Long Beach. And I'm talking about item number three where I think you all voted to give 175,000 buckaroonies uh towards an attorney who is fighting for you all against black workers who have worked for this city and still work here like Anthony. Anthony picks up garbage. He's a garbage man. And he comes down here all the time asking for dignity and for you to hear his voice and not be like, "Oh, it's complicated." but to actually really dig into what's happening around anti-blackness in our city, happens in our school district, happens in the city here, and I've experienced it. These allegations in this lawsuit, they don't stand alone. They reflect what the data shows. Uh this is data I share with other workers and learn across the country. Uh in this in the nation, black folks, black workers, we earn about 70 cents to the dollar for every dollar paid to white workers. So, for those of you up there who are white like my mom, you guys will make more money than people who look like me. Even when your qualifications are the same, black applicants are passed over at much higher rates. Black applicants are passed over at much higher rates. Hello, council members, please take some notes. Mentally, white applicants with criminal records, I've heard Anthony talk about this, more likely to get call backs than black applicants. Race-based discrimination at work impacts black workers mental health. People report being pushed into lowest paid work who are black. People are passed over for promotions who are black. They deal with hostile environments because they're black. They're treated as disposable. When they speak up because they're black, they're pushed to the side. This isn't surprising, but it's what happens. It's unacceptable. Off script. I was there the night that there was the photo that was going around. Rex saw it of the police officer with the baton and the blood spattered on the ground. That was the night I got invited to his meeting with some folks in this room about starting the racial equity initiative. That was what spurred it. That was one of his thoughts, one of his reactions. Let's bring people together and talk about equity. You guys have talked about that tonight, but you really need to dig into asking hard questions of our city manager here, white guy that I used to work with in the city manager's office to express our human dignity policy with the city. Everyone should be treated with courtesy and respect regardless of your race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. That was a lot of weight for me as a black worker to hold and one of the reasons I left the city. I wasn't treated the same as you all who have white skin. White skin like my mom. Please do better and ask tough questions and dig deep into the anti-blackness in this city. Shame on you for spending that money to fight instead of really uplifting workers rights and dignity. [applause and cheering] >> Okay, that uh concludes general public comment. Uh we'll move now to uh hearing item number 21. And if we can have the uh clerk read that item and introduce the item >> report from community development recommendation to adopt resolution certifying Park Tower student housing project environment environmental impact report making findings of fact related there too and approving a mitigation monitoring and reporting program. adopt a resolution approving a general plan amendment to change the land use place type of the property at 5150 East Pacific Coast Highway from community commercial to neighborhood serving center or corridor moderate place type. Adopt an ordinance approving a zoning map change request to amend the zoning designation for the property at 5150 East Pacific Coast Highway from community commercial automobile oriented to mixed use three zoning district. read the first time and laid over the next regular meeting of the city council for final reading and affirm the planning commission's conditional approval of the site plan review and conditional use permit and adopt the proposed findings and conditions there too for the adaptive reuse of a sevenstory office building into a special group residence with 593 beds a new 728 ft pavilion building approximately 22523 square ft of open space and 364 parking spaces within an existing parking structure located at 5150 East Pacific Coast Highway District 3. >> Okay. Uh thank you, Madame Clerk. And now I'm going to introduce the assistant city manager, April Walker, who will introduce city staff. >> Yes. Thank you. We have um Allison Spindler Ruiz and Gina Casillas from community development. >> Okay. Okay. So, we have a staff presentation at when there is no oath required for this item. >> No oath is required. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, members of the council. Um we are excited to be before you this evening uh for a series of legislative actions to support um project approval for a proposed private uh student housing development. You might be aware that we have over 73,000 students in higher education in Long Beach. Yet, we only have three student housing developments on or off campus in the whole city. Um, so when we talk about the need for housing, this is one of the most acute needs and it's actually called out in our housing element with the state as an area of focus uh due to that uh lack of housing. And I will pass it on to the project planner, Gina Casillas, who will provide uh the presentation. Uh good evening, mayor and uh council members. This is a request for a general plan amendment in the zone change to facilitate an adaptive reuse of a sevenstory office building into a private dormatory. The applicant is proposing to adaptedly reuse an existing underutilized commercial office building to a private dormatory with 149 student residential suites serving up to 593 students with shared housing, a new student um uh a new 728 foot pavilion build building and 364 parking spaces and shared amenities. The requested action tonight is to certify the environmental impact report, approve a general plan amendment and a zone change. Um on September 18, uh 2025, the planning commission conditionally approved the site plan review for the adaptive reuse of the building and a conditional use permit to allow special group residents private dormatory. The project site highlighted in red is located on a 51,000 square foot triangular shaped lot addressed as 5150 East Pacific Coast Highway. The project site is bounded by Pacific Coast Highway to the north and east Clark Avenue to the west and east Anaheim Street to the south. The site is surrounded by commercial office residential and religious uses to the north and east past Pacific Coast Highway, a recre a recreation recreational golf course uh to the south and commercial and residential uses to the west. The project site is currently developed with a sevenstory 120,000 square foot office building, a surface parking lot and a subterranean parking garage constructed in 1981. The three-sided building features an expansive glass facade in all three sides and several decks located at different floor levels on the three sides of the building. The project site is landscaped in a manner typical of the early 1980s office complexes with landscape planners or ornamental plants and ground turf located along the perimeter of the tri triangular shaped lot. There is one street tree along Clark Avenue and four street trees along Pacific Coast Highway. Again, vehicular access to the site is provided by two driveway approaches located on Clark Avenue. One driveway approach provides access to the surface parking lot and the other driveway approach provides access to the subterranean garage. Uh the subterranean garage is comprised of three parking levels and provides uh parking for both vehicles and bicycles. The project site is identified in the community commercial CC place type in the two uh 2019 general plan LUE and it's zoned community commercial automotive orientated with the height limit overlay. Um the CCHL zoning district. Uh the surrounding land use place types are um the neighborhood serving center low. Um you've got open space to the south. you've got uh uh and the founding contemporary neighborhood place types FCN um place type and the subject site is located it's zoned community commercial automobile orientated district um and it's surrounded by CCA and R4R um to the um north and east to the south it's a park zone and to the west it's moderate density um residential and uh R2N which is uh two family residential district. The project includes both interior improvements and minor exterior improvements to the building to facilitate the change of use from an office building to the dormatory. The perimeter landscape areas will be repurposed to create new common outdoor space for the residents uh which will consist of new dining areas, fitness area, and flex space. The surface parking lot would be removed and a 728 square foot pavilion building and a new splash pool would be installed in place. One drive aisle along Clark Avenue will would remain which provides access to the subterranean parking garage. New rod iron fencing will be installed along the perimeter of the site. Pedestrian gates will be located on all three sides of the building which provide entry into the site. The project would provide approximately 22,000 uh 22,000 square feet of new open space that would include a student plaza, benches, lounge areas, the splash pool, the patio, outdoor barbecues, and and such. Open space areas on the ground floor would be accessed uh from all three sites, Pacific Coast Highway, Anaheim Street, and Clark Avenue, as well as from the interior of the project site from the uh subterranean parking garage. The parking garage would be improved with new EV charging stations and ADA parking spaces. A total of 364 parking stalls is proposed for the use. The project is designed to promote pedestrian and bicycle safety and include um bicycle parking spaces and bike lockers on the first level of the subterranean parking level. And the applicant is also exploring the provision of shuttle services, card car share, and scooter access. The first floor of the building will be remodeled and improved to create administrative management offices and various amenity spaces which include a lobby, mail room, kitchen, dining areas, small study space, laundry and fitness room. The second through the seventh floors would be remodeled and improved to create 149 residential suites with a total of 593 beds in total. The existing land use element uh community commercial place type and the commercial commercial automotive orientated zoning district do not permit residential land uses in order to facilitate the adaptive reuse of the building. A general plan amendment is requested. The applicant is requesting to change the place type to the neighborhood neighborhood serving center or corridor moderate place type. Uh the NSCM place type accommodates moderate density mixeduse development that is typically located near single family neighborhoods. The NSC moderate place type adheres to the project's need for residential occupancy and is compatible with the surrounding LUE place types which includes um the NSC low and a multif family residential uh place type to the northeast and west. This is the only parcel that is in the community commercial place type. A zoning code amendment is requested to change the existing community um auto orientated zoning district to the mixeduse 3 zoning district. The mixeduse three would assign align with the proposed NSC M place type. The mixeduse three zoning district permits residential uses special group residency which includes dormitories upon the granting of a conditional use permit. The MU3 zoning district is compatible with the mix of residential and commercial zoning districts adjacent to the project site. The MU3 zoning district is an appropriate zone for the properties located along major trans transportation corridors such as Pacific Coast Highway and East Anaheim, both of which contain a mixed and intensity of compatible residential and commercial uses and zoning. The proposed general plan amendment to the NSCM place type would allow moderate density mixeduse development located near single family neighborhoods. The general plan amendment would facilitate the adaptive reuse of an office building into a dormatory and it would aid in adding um the needed student housing where there's an extreme shortage of student housing within Long Beach. Long Beach serve is served by several high higher education facilities across multiple campuses. Um, and despite serving over 70,000 students in the higher education, there's only three dormitories within the city that are on campus or off campus. And those dormitories only serve Cal State Long Beach. Uh the city has coordinated with Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach City College, and the Long Beach Unified School District through the housing pro promise initiative, which seeks to address the shortage of student housing by building more public student housing and by facilitating the development of private dormitories can also be part of the solution um of the student housing shortage. The general plan amendment request is consistent with the goals and policies of the LUE that include divers diversifying new housing stock and creating opportunities for the development of new student housing. The goals and policies of the housing element identifies a shortage of housing within of student housing within Long Beach and facilitating the development of a diversity of housing to meet the needs of all residents is a city priority. A dormatory project would support the character of the surrounding residential neighborhood and be consistent with existing commercial uses along Pacific Coast Highway, East Anaheim, and Clark Avenue. The existing commercial development on the project site is highly underutil utilized due to the changes in the commercial office market. Facilitating the general plan amendment to the NSCM place type would allow more productive use of the existing structure which is consistent with the city's sustainability development goals including the LUE and the climate action plan by allowing the conversion of an existing structure to new land uses that serve a community need extends the life of the building reduces the use of new construction material and reduces construction waste generally. generate um generated um generated basically. This is particularly important in serving the documented acute housing needs of students uh who are considered a special population under the state housing law. The project proposes to change the CCA HR zoning district to the MU3 zoning district to facilitate the proposed residential land use. Uh the MU3 zoning district permits residential uses and special group residency which includes dormitories upon the granting of conditional use permit. Uh the MU3 zoning district is compatible with the mix of adjacent residential and commercial zoning districts uh to the project site and its appropriate zone for the properties located along the major corridors. The project site is surrounded by wide paved sidewalks. The site is sufficiently um accessed by pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular circulation, and it's served by multiple transit lines and has class one and two bike lanes along Pacific Hills Highway. Additionally, there are bus stops right adjacent to the project site. On September 18th, the planning commission approved the site plan review for the adaptive reuse of the building. Uh the planning commission determined that the adaptive reuse of the building would meet the site plan review findings and the intent of the adaptive reuses to allow the conversion of existing structures to new land uses that maintain or enhance the character of a neighborhood or district that extend the life of the building and reduce the use of new construction materials. Minimal changes um to the exterior of the building is proposed that include the majority of the outdoor landscape areas to uh be repurposed for student um how student population. Additionally, the demand for office buildings is significantly lower um due to a variety of economic factors and trans the transition of this building to a more economically productive land use while also meeting the significant housing and planning objectives of the city is important. The site is served again by multiple transit lines and non-motorized transportation transportation modes that run along Pacific Coast Highway in Anaheim. No additional on-site parking is required for the conversion of residential uses uh located. Um no additional on-site parking is required for the conversion of the building. Um how and in addition um this property is located in a parking exempt area. Um but the applicant is providing 346 on-site parking spaces to serve the use. Uh based on the communal nature of the use limitations on the onsite area and site configuration, um the project is an appropriate scale of open space configuration to serve the student population. On September 18th, 2025, the planning commission approved the conditional use permit for the proposed dormatory use. The planning commission determined that the findings um were satisfactory um in supporting the use of the dormatory. Uh dormitories are subject to special conditions that regulate density, location, consideration of overconentration, open space, and whether the site is served by public transit. Um there's no density limitations in the MU3 zoning. um and an overconentration of dormitories does not exist for this site. Uh there's no operator for the dormatory identified at this time. As a result, several conditions have been placed um to ensure the operation of the land use aligns with this conditional use permit. An environmental impact report was prepared uh for this project. Uh this uh notice of preparation and scoping meeting was held uh during the summer of 2024. Um draft EIR was circulated. Um comments were uh received and included in the final EIR. um mitigation measures were identified for the topic areas of um cultural resources and geological and uh tribal cultural resources. Um there are no potentially significant impacts that cannot be mitigated to a level of less than significant and there are no uh cumulatively significant impacts that would result from this project. Four uh public comments were received during the planning commission um review and two additional comments were received for the review uh for city council. One letter identified concerns of density and parking impacts and another letter um was very similar to the letters that were received under the planning commission. Um these comments were addressed already in the draft EI circulation. The project was uh properly noticed. was uh 265 public hearing notices were uh distributed and um the hearing notice was published in the press telegram um 20 days prior to the hearing. Uh public notices were distributed to an interest uh interested parties list and the notices were posted in three publications. And to that point, um staff is recommending um that the city council uh certify and adopt the environmental impact report and adopt the mitigation monitoring and reporting program for the park tower student housing. recommend that city c city council adopt a resolution approving the general plan amendment to change land use place type from community commercial to the neighborhood serving center corridor meet moderate. Amend the map LU 7, amend the map LU12, amend the map LU14, and amend the map LU25. It's also recommended the city council adopt an ordinance approving the zone map change to change the zone to MU3 zoning district and also to formally approve the site plan review and the conditional use permit for the dormatory. If you have any questions, I can answer them at this time. >> Okay. Thank you to Gina Castillia for uh that comprehensive report. Um, we're going to move to public comment at this time if the clerk can announce it. >> If Ray Lawson and Steve Weaver can step to the podium. Ray Lawson and Steve Weaver. >> Good evening, Long Beach City Council members. Uh, those who are still hanging around. Um, once again, my name is Ray Lawson. We're part of Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. Uh we live recreate right here in the city of Long Beach. Um we ask that um before approving this project that you just consider um the people that build it. Uh we are the builders of Long Beach, those that have stuck around. Uh we have apprentices, we have carpenters that live right here in Long Beach. They would love to work on this project, but the project needs to ensure that the developers will hire a responsible contractor that will be willing to pay a livable wage, a prevailing wage to the people that build it, that do the work. Um, we've seen all throughout this meeting, uh, people complaining about racial issues, uh, uh, underprivileged, uh, oppression, suppression. Uh, we at the Carpenters Union, we don't see color, we just see, um, labor, uh, labor together. We had one of our brothers come earlier and get, um, welcome, get appointed into the workforce com investment commission. And that's what we're about. We're about developing workforce right here in Long Beach. Uh it's no color. It's it's no creed. If if you're willing to work, you're willing to learn. We believe in accepting that brotherhood and sisterhood of labor. So with that, we also believe in apprenticeship. We believe that the apprenticeship is the future and that this project should have some apprenticeship language in it to where um the people that work on it can go to school, get training, uh be able to get raises, be able to uh get skill level uh and once they get to a certain level, they can become journeymen and be able to take care of themselves and be able to join the middle class by through apprenticeship. And we also believe that health care should be provided for the men and women that work on this project because we see health care has been a big issue throughout the nation through um the government shutdown and that healthc care is important and it should be important for this project that it be considered. And then finally uh local hires uh we believe live here, work here that the Long Beach residents should have a chance to work on this project. Cal State Long Beach students, LBCC students that the construction program that they have over there, they should have an opportunity to work on this project, learn the trade, learn the craft, and be able to take care of themselves. That can be another form of education for them. So, thank you for your time and hearing us out. >> Okay. Thank you. Next up, we have Steve Weaver. >> Good evening, city council. Darl, thank you for your time. I Steve Weaver and I'm representing the Park Estates Homeowners Association. We are located immediately to the north of the project site bounded by Pacific Coast Highway, Belfflower, Athetherton, and Clark. And immediately adjacent to this area in a residential community that has been there since the late 1940s. Uh my wife and I have been fortunate. Uh we've lived in Long Beach 33 years and raised three adult children who are teachers and coaches in this area. And the single family community of Park Estates uh represents approximately 600 homes and approximately 2,000 members. uh our board of directors has agreed that we don't feel that this development uh and the density is amendable to our facility and our way of life. Um we feel that uh city staff unfortunately some of the issues related to uh the density were not addressed and I wanted to kind of highlight these. Um the 594 people in the project uh primary project and 364 parking spaces. Uh that will actually spill over into our residential community. Um some people may say, well, you can get parking permits. It it is a it is a nuisance to to residents to do that. But even in that light, um, you know, we we look at the number and the density of the number of students that are going to be there and the safety issues. I mean, between 8 and 9 and 9:00 a.m. having that many people on electric bikes and scooters trying to discharge from Clark and get onto that corridor of Anaheim Avenue, I somebody's going to get killed. I I don't think that the city staff has analyzed this in in full detail. I really do not. And I feel that uh some of these density issues really need to be accommodated a little bit more thoughtfully managed. Um respectfully, I don't know if city staff received our letter and put it up on on visual, but we did write a three-page letter. Um the E environmental impact report had alternative three which was proposed to be senior living combined with dormatory student housing. So it was combined use and in that option you were only going to have 445 total people and you would have 445 total parking spaces. There would be no overflow. there would be less people on the streets and it would solve some of the problems that we feel are going to be arising. Um, respectfully, I I hope that you would um delay this project, delay approval and study this a little bit more before having any uh element of uh proceeding with this immediately. >> Thank you for your comments. Okay, thank you uh Steve and to the carpenters Rey for being here for three over three hours to speak. We really do appreciate it. Um so I'm going to go ahead and close public comment and we'll move to uh council deliberation at this time and I think we have um council member Mand Zena who'd like to speak. >> Can I speak first and >> can I speak first? Can you give me that information? >> Okay. All right. So, we'll go to the um maker of the motion. I'm sorry I don't have that information. Um Christina Dugen representing district 3 where the project's located is going to speak. >> Thank you, acting uh well, chair of our meeting uh Councilman Supernna. And uh thank you for bringing this uh project forward, the hearing presentation, Gina. appreciate that. Um I'm actually um wanting to have this discussion about student housing. I didn't realize that there were I believe you said three dormitories um and we have a lot of students here uh in the city of Long Beach. So with this project converting an existing office building and I I've watched that building. there's been less and less businesses inside that building and we're going to be providing 593 beds. Um, plus adding amenities um that I mean this is this is what happens. I've seen other dorms across the country really and this is what they add because there isn't enough student housing in many locations. So, it's across from an existing park. Um, there's a lot of open space and it's down the street from CSUB. And I do believe that the parking ratio, although it doesn't match, um, there are going to be a lot of uh, bicycles used, scooters used, students don't necessarily have that many cars. So with this ratio, I I think um 364 parking spots is more than projects like this usually have. Isn't that the case? >> Thanks for the question, council member. So yes, um you're correct that uh student housing projects do um use quite a wide range of um housing ratios. Many students do live without a car either by choice or economic factors. Um and in this case um at a location so well um served by transit and proximate to the campus um that analysis was done by the applicant to look at what would the demand be. Um additionally I think it's important to consider um from a regulatory perspective we can't require any um parking um at this project as Gina touched on because it is in the parking exempt area under state law and codified in our local regulations to be compliant um with state law. And so, um, being able to get, you know, something in between zero and 593, I think, um, is a is a great, um, sort of compromise between what's required and, um, um, and how many students will be, um, served. And based on the analysis, we do believe it will serve, um, the students, um, appropriately at this location. >> Let's talk about the neighborhood parking. Um, I know that there are the adjacent neighborhood is permitted parking. Is that correct? >> There is a permit parking area nearby. Correct. Like a preferential parking >> area. >> Um any loss of street parking for nearby businesses can be made up for hopefully with the businesses getting more business from um the many students that will be living there. I'm supportive of this project and I'm asking my council colleagues to support this for student housing. Um that would be in district three. Thank you. >> Okay, next up we have the second of the motion. >> Uh thank you council member Superna. Um and thank you council member Dugen for asking those important questions and for the really thorough presentation. Uh the the question I had was was again regarding parking and traffic in that area. Um I'm in that area often, but I also know that Cal State Long Beach and I also believe Long Beach City College might have shuttle services that pick up um at their dorms just down the street. And so I would hope that the developer of this project would be in close conversation with the university and their transportation department to make sure shuttle stops are added. Um and also to have that conversation with Long Beach City College because um as you mentioned, not all college students have cars for multiple reasons. Um but we know they need to access. So in addition to the many transit lines that go there, there is a shuttle that I think runs every half an hour or 20 minutes. Um and if there's an influx of students there, I think they'd be happy to make sure that their students are housed number one, um and have the ability to have housing, but also have transportation to their classes in a timely manner. So, uh, appreciate the team's hard work on this and look forward to how it continues. >> Okay, thank you. Now, we'll go to Mary Zindas. >> Thank you. Um, just wanted to say how excited I am for this project. To be able to provide housing for students at Cal State Long Beach is a big win for us. Uh, congratulations, Councilwoman Dugen, for having this in your district. And I know so many lives are going to be transformed by this. So great job on the presentation, city staff, and great great work on making this happen. >> Okay. Thank you. U I'd like to make my comments now and um I represent the Park Estates neighborhood uh directly north of the tower and I can answer some of the questions that were brought up regarding preferrontial parking. And if the technicians in the control room can uh put up my first slide. Um there it is there. Uh I'm sorry I didn't color code Park Tower the way you did in red because there was way too much red on this map. So I'm it's the uh bottom center of that uh screen and it's in we'll call that pyramid blue for the park tower the triangular shape. So what we have here these are preferential park. This is a preferential parking district represented by um the the red lines. So let me differentiate between what a a preferential parking district and a street that has prefer parking. So you'll see in Park Estates and that's Clark Avenue that um divides the the screen um from uh the north and south uh direction. So the first street um east of Clark is Greenbryer Road and they have voted in uh preferential parking. The only other street in um park estates that has it in place is Vista Hermosa. That's the one closest to the tower. So you'll see one, two, three, four other streets that have the ability to vote it in. And my guess is that's what will happen if there are parking impacts. So they have that in place. Now, I used to represent the area uh just west of uh the park tower that's now in district three, but you see there um pretty much parking impacted also. And the reason being for the surrounding neighbors, this isn't their first rodeo with student housing. You'll see the round blue circle there is the be beachside dorm. And u that's what kind of created the parking impacts that we have there today. Um, one thing I will mention and and first of all, I just want to say to Gina Casillas, I heard you say all this can be mitigated later. I get that. But this is my one and only chance to read it in the record. So, I want to u represent my constituents that way. Um, so we've actually had a fatality from a student dashing across PCH. um you know, parking on on the south side of PCH and we want to make sure we really look out for that consideration that we don't want to uh create a situation where people are parking um on the uh opposite side of PCH to get back to the the park tower. Um uh okay, I I have a second site on a on a different topic if we can move to that now. And this uh a shuttle service was mentioned um by my colleagues here. So this um slide represents the entire area. So you'll see the the red uh preferential parking uh district of park estates to the upper left. So we have two corridors feeding the university. So the preference is for the blue corridor that any shuttle service would use PCH and 7th Street. Uh turn left into the campus and that takes you to upper campus right there. There's a bus stop right where that blue line ends. um that's preferable to a shuttle going through the neighborhood. And that would be um around um uh Los Altos Plaza Park. That is Anaheim Road that goes all the way um east of Bellflower, north on Bellflower, across on Beach Drive, and then up Campus Drive uh to get to that same spot. So whether or not we can mitigate that later, that would be the desire of the neighbors um surrounding the facility. So that's all I have for now. Thank you again to staff for a a very comprehensive presentation. And um Madame Clerk, where do we go now? >> We go to a vote. >> Okay. All right. With that, >> good evening, acting chair. This is Aaron Weiser McKinley over at the city attorney seat. This vote will be broken into four votes and the clerk is ready for us. Um and we have our motion in second. The first vote is to adopt the resolution certifying the Park Tower student housing project EIR making those supporting findings a fact um and approving the mitigation monitor monitoring and reporting program. >> So if we can take that first vote. >> Okay. >> Councilman superer you and I. >> Motion is carried. That second vote is to adopt a resolution approving the general plan amendments to change the land use place type and update the related maps. Um and then to also adopt those supporting findings. >> Okay, members, cast your votes. >> Motion is carried. The third vote is to adopt an ordinance approving a zoning map change request and findings related there too to amend the zoning designation for the property at 5150 East PCH from community automobile oriented with a height overlay to a mixeduse 3 zoning district. And this will be the first read on that ordinance. >> Okay, members, please cast your votes. Motion is carried. >> And then the last vote will be to affirm the planning commission's conditional approval of the site plan review and the conditional use permits that support this project. And that's up for your last vote. >> Okay, members, please cast your votes. >> Motion is carried. >> Okay, thank you. And that concludes our hearing. Okay, next up I believe we have um item number 33, >> communication from council member Dougen, chair of the government operations and efficiency committee. Recommendation to request city council approval of proposed order of business changes to city council meetings as recommended by the government operations and efficiency committee. Request city council to direct city manager and city clerk to report back with implementation analysis on recommendations that need additional department research and request city council to direct city manager and city clerk to report back on implementation of Senate Bill 707. >> Okay, thank you. We have a motion and second. Uh, Council Member Dugen, the floor is yours. >> Well, this is uh laid over from last week. We're bringing scintillating information back. So, um, again, thank you to my committee, um, colleagues, uh, Councilwoman Ricks OD and Councilwoman Zen Dehas because there was good work that went into this and I also want to thank the city clerk's team for the work that they did. So, we've taken a close look at this and um, we want to make our council meetings efficient, accessible, and welcoming. This isn't just for council. This is for residents who want to come and participate in this process. And people are busy. They do have families. It's harder to bring your kids. We saw some kids here earlier, but that was early early in the meeting. Um, we did get some responses from our survey that was sent out by the city clerk. And um I think one of the things that this speaks to is there wasn't a lot of responses to the city clerk's survey. And I think that's really important um to other council members that we get representation when we're sending out uh surveys to get community input. So, um, the recommendation tonight, uh, it's about making small practical improvements, making the meetings easier to follow and more practical for everyone involved. And the we have it two buckets. Um, the first set of changes is the order of business updates. Lowcost, straightforward, makes things efficient. So, I'll include these five items. Expanding early public comment, establish establishing estimated times for highinterest items, adjusting times for public comments to formalize existing practices, upholding five minute time limit on ceremonial items, and finally setting city council meetings to start no earlier than 300 p.m. [sighs] If one of my colleagues have issued the order of business changes, we can always move these to the second bucket. Um, but I I want to clarify two of these items, remembering that the chair always with ceremonials, it's part of our charter to do five minutes. We just want to kind of keep it to that. But the chair always runs the meeting and it could go over five minutes because I think there are certain ceremonials that we want to um respectfully hear from them. And then clarification for setting the city council meetings to start no earlier than 3 p.m. We would continue to start our meetings at 5:00 p.m. But there are times where we might want to um look at at items. It's it would be a long meeting and we could be here till 11 12 one or two in the morning. So we can look deeper into that. Let's go to the second group of ideas. These have potential. They've been thrown out um by my committee me team members and but they do need more evaluation before moving forward. So, um, let's look at the second bucket and we can get staff feedback on that. Let's see. So, we're looking for efficiency and engagement. Um, but there does need review on these. The the final item that I think is important and it's coming to our council is to get a report back on Senate Bill 707. This is a new statewide requirement for how public meetings are conducted. And um altogether we're looking at how to improve our city council meeting and making our meetings consistent, more efficient, and welcoming residents. But we do need to look at SB707 and understand what that brings to us next July. So I want to thank my committee members and the city clerk's office. And with that, I move for approval of the item unless there is further comment and input. >> Okay. Thank you. Um we'll move to the second of the motion. Jon Rexod. >> Uh thank you, chair. Um yeah, I'll just uh reiterate what what um uh Councilwoman um Christina Dugen said. Uh the idea here is around discussing ways to make our meetings more accessible, right? Um thinking about barriers um that people have to participating in public meetings and how we can be more responsive to the community. Um and so that's what these are all um all designed to do. many of which as um as the councilwoman shared uh are related to practices that we already have as part of our city council processes. So formalizing them, making them clear so that residents understand them. I think sometimes they come to meetings and they see certain practices but they don't necessarily know um why they're done. Uh and then additionally the ones on the second bucket are areas of exploration as you mentioned right um for us to figure out if there are ways to either adopt those in whole or in parts um or if there ways of implementing them such that again the idea around efficiency access um for our meetings um because we know that as you mentioned I'm someone with small children or we have folks with a variety of needs in the evenings and so sometimes late meetings right where they want may want to come and do public comment on an item it's difficult if you have to be here till three, you know, three, four, five hours waiting for something, things come up. Sometimes certain items, conversations are longer than you expect. So, I really appreciate the the the thoughtfulness around the recommendations. Um, and again, I just welcome the fact that we can have an ongoing conversation about how to how to improve um access to our meetings. >> Okay. Um, and next up we have Megan Kerr. >> Thank you. Um, I want to thank uh, Councilman Dugen for bringing the conversation forward. Um, I always appreciate efforts moving towards efficiency. I do have some questions um, and some concerns. I I personally find that some of the requested changes, including several of those we're being asked to approve for in for um implementation tonight, do require further research to determine whether it's truly going to improve operations, particularly with the stated intent of approving civic engagement. Um I've been a part of public meetings for a lot of years and I think it's always important that we ask ourselves and reflect on who are we making this more efficient for? Um and what is the purpose of public engagement at a meeting? Um we know that public engagement I know that public engagement varies based on interest on items not just on availability to participate. We have residents who come every week once a month or only when a particular item comes up for discussion or never at all. Um and some come once in a lifetime for sure. Um so my questions um so and I think predictability is key in any kind of meeting to get people to engage on a regular basis. So my questions, the the expanding early public comment that the current practice allows 10 speakers to have three minutes equal to 30 minutes. So to remain within the 30 minutes, we're talking about having 15 speakers at 2 minutes each or even we could have 15 speakers at 2 minutes each or even 20 speakers at 90 seconds each. So if the goal is to serve more voices at the beginning, do we have different options that we could look at including maybe we increase it to 15 speakers and it's less. So, I think that's a conversation we need to have. Um, all of the all of my comments are are around SP77 as well. I think that's going to have a huge impact on how the order of business is done and what we can and cannot do moving forward. Um, and we talked a lot about transparency tonight and the importance of transparency. So, um, so in practice, we we separate procedural items into consent items. We already arranged the timing based on the chair and we do that based on the chair's discretion as we did this evening. So I have a concern with no with how we identify something as high interest and to whom it is a high interest. Um it could be a high interest to one council district, one demographic of our community, but I do not want to be in a position of making a judgment of what will be high interest to our residents. I think that's something we don't know until is agendaized or conversation has happened. And so if we estimate and we try to do time certain items, if we're in the middle of an item and we hit a time certain item, do we have to table what we're currently talking about to hit a time certain item and go back to a different item? And so the I fear the clunkiness of having very strict time certain items that someone has deemed high interest um could throw a wrench in that ease of meeting. um the predictability not only for staff uh but for folks who are waiting as well because if someone waited on an item that went longer than expected because we didn't anticipate it being high interest they now have to sit through another item to finish that that item. So I think we need to really look at um the discretion of the chair how that is utilized but understanding that um time certain items can be good and bad depending on how the evenings are moving. Um, I agree that we have some meetings, we have budget meetings that we choose to start at 3:00, some we started at 2 o'clock. And I think that's reasonable. I think those should be the exception and not the rule, unless we want to make a permanent time change because again, predictability. We know that people sometimes show up here on the fourth Tuesday of the month thinking that there's a council meeting and there's not, even though we know that our schedule is the first three meetings of the month. um when we are out of order or we change things, it makes it difficult for people who know in their head that city council meetings are on Tuesday at 5:00 PM. So, I think we need to be really thoughtful if we think we're going too late and we want to look at a time change that it needs to be something that could be considered a more permanent time change. Again, in conversation with SB77, um upholding the five-minute limit on ceremonials. I don't do too many ceremonials or presentation, but I did one tonight and I know for a fact it went for six and a half minutes. And I am aware that it went 90 seconds over. But I'm also aware that the mayor's presentation went a minute and a half over. And so, um, that idea that we try to hold to a principle, giving the chair some discretion is important. I don't think we need to have I don't want to cut off folks in the middle of things um that we have deemed important enough to do a presentation. And so, um, I want to trust the chair's discretion to be able to say, you know, you have one more minute. I chose to do that with my speaker tonight. like we got one more minute um to do that in a polite way and that's about us coaching our presenters too. Um the standalone study sessions I had a question because I know that that's what oftentimes we utilize committees for. So if we have a particular item that we think needs extra air, we have a committee structure that can allow for that item to get extra public comment time, extra public record receipt time. Um, so I think doing big study sessions of the whole council um may not be as effective as being really diligent with our committee structure and using it to its advantage. We have a mobility committee item tomorrow night. It's one item, but it's one that in the public process is important for there to be public time for people to come and be on the record. Um, so I think utilizing those might be more helpful. um tentative public schedule of future agenda items we can like I just think making promise I'm not big on making promises we can't keep and even tentatively tell someone we're going to try and report back in that four weeks but to public works projects and it rains we might not have an update because it rained and something was postponed so I don't want to make promises to the public on giving them information if we can't keep it um in the same vein the expanded pre-recorded staff reports um I know even in the school district staff reports. We always push staff to have those presentations as soon as possible. We get most of them by Friday. Um if a pre-recorded staff presentation is done, then we have no discretion. The chair has no discretion on moving a project along. We know that we get presentations done for us um by staff and sometimes we realize a 30-page presentation needs to get reduced to a 10-page presentation on the spot because of the way the evening's going. So, I think we need to look at these. It would be my suggestion and my hope and I will ask for a friendly amendment that all of these items come back um as a report back rather than an implementation and that we do it with enough time and I'm this is a long time, five or six months. I want to give the city clerk the ability to I know they were just at a conference learning about implementation of SB77, the ways that we have to implement SB77 could cancel out some of the things that we're already thinking about. And so giving staff enough time to do the research they need to do on SB77 and bring back a list of recommendations, these included um that seem reasonable that fit within both these presentations or these suggestions as well as what we didn't know about 707 before that we now have to implement into our systems. So if you would appre if you would consider a friendly amendment to have this come back if there's a report back, I would be deeply appreciative. Um, I do want to just clarify a couple of things. I I'm I'm I think your friendly amendment is is doable, especially with SB77, but I just want to speak to the fact that um for public comment, yes, it is for more people to speak, but I think there's fle with all of these. there's flexibility with the chair um for time certain again I think that's done by the chair right now um there are more urgent items or items of interest that our chair moves to the forefront of the meeting moves to the front of the meeting um but there's definitely a flexibility you say 6:00 for item 22 and it would be okay we're not going to cut off an item for that, but at least people could know it would be around 6:00. Um, and then consistency. Um, yes, we want the consistency. And like I clarified, sometimes there's times when we want to do earlier earlier meetings. Can um, so you want this your friendly. Tell me what your friendly is again. bringing it back with >> correct. Correct. So instead of the the four or five points that you wanted to do um for implementation um requesting they come as a report back with the with the items that you believe needed some exploratory um some additional exploratory conversation in the report back. So I I mean upholding the five-minute limit on ceremonials and presentations. I think the chair is clear that we really want to do that and is aiming to. Um I just I have a I have a real concern about establishing high interest items and how those are chosen by whom and why and when. >> Um and do we get a say in what a high interest item is? The chair does what the chair does, but I mean they set up the agenda and I think his office um just you know figures out how they're going to handle that. Um but my my issue especially is with um expanding early public comment and limiting the number of times. Three minutes is not a long time. Five minutes is not a long time for a presentation. And I think if someone makes the effort once a month or once in their life to come down to come down and say there are extra speakers tonight, so you only get 90 seconds, that's their time. That's the public's time. Um and sometimes it's nine speakers and sometimes it's, you know, 25 at the end of the night. Um, but I want to be respectful that the public has come to have their their moment to have a conversation. Um, especially on the non-aggendaized items because that's the time I I feel like people come um to say something that's really important to them that isn't on the agenda and to cut it down because there's a lot of people here tonight um feels a disservice to those people who make the effort to come. And then additional concern is with SP77, if we're doing online meetings and we have to queue online and in person, who gets priority if all the slots are taken already online and people show up to do it in person? Like that's a question just for the clerk to consider later. Um, so I'm just very wary of taking time away from the public on that item um to be able to have their moment to say what they need to say to us irrespective of what it is. And again, I'm this is just inconsideration of 10 speaker max before a meeting starts. What this offers is more people to speak before the meeting and not have to wait till the end because how many times do people leave and then they never have any public comment because they leave the meeting early. I'm I'm happy to to go ahead and um I'll take your friendly to come back with these items along with SB77. Uh priority being my first bucket of items. The second bucket of items need more work on them very clearly. You you brought those up. So I'm happy to do that. Uh I'll accept that friendly. >> Okay, we have a friendly accepted by the maker of the motion. There's a second of the motion. Accept that. >> I do accept that. >> Okay. Uh moving on with uh public comment, we have um >> And we do have other speakers. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Did I I meant speakers? I apologize. >> It's been a long night. [laughter] >> And just um Chair Supernot, just before we move on, can I clarify? Was it five months to come back within that time frame or >> clarification? >> Um I don't necessarily need to be specific. I just want it to be a long enough time frame that your team has the ability to do the due diligence on the SB77. >> Okay. >> Um, >> thank you. >> So, I would leave it to the to the maker of the motion of what acceptable time frame is. I just want to make sure that you're not rushed into doing what you need to do. >> Okay. And I apologize. I should have checked with the city attorney. Do we have that down what the friendly is at this point? >> We do. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, okay. So the next speaker is Tanua Thrash In. >> Thank you so much chair. I don't think I understood the clarification. Um I heard uh that the friendly um is asking for a priority on items that were presented as immediate action maybe as 90 days and all the rest of the items come back in five to six months. >> No, I didn't say that. I just said that the first listing of items that I read um are truly the priorities and the city clerk has the second bucket of items which was my second priority. All right. So for the friendly when the city clerk comes back with a discussion about SB77 and implementation um [sighs] you can prioritize. >> So I'm just trying to understand the number of days for each. >> I didn't give a number of days that was the city clerk if we did. >> You have are you willing to accept a friendly amendment on what the number of days might be? I suggested like five months >> for all items >> for all items. Okay. >> So that the clerk had time for SB77 research and implementation ideas, but I don't know if that's an appropriate amount of time. So I left it to the maker of the motion to come up with something different. >> So I I would like to start my time, but I'm just trying to understand what the total num total amount of time is for the report back and what the maker of the motion has accepted. I accepted uh Councilwoman Kerr's five months. >> Okay. Thank you. Um so, uh I want to thank the uh government efficiency and operations committee uh for all of your work. Wanted to make sure I got that right. Um we all want to find meaningful ways to engage residents and make city hall feel like it's a place that truly belongs to all of our residents, a place where everyone's voice matters. Um and to build the kind of trust and participation we must begin I think with open communication. Um so I thank my colleague uh for uh bringing forth a friendly amendment regarding the two groups which uh would allow us to have a little bit more time to review uh all of the proposals that have been set forth to ensure that we are encouraging as much public participation as possible. Um all the items that were of concern to me I think have been addressed in our conversation so far including start time uh for some who might be working starting earlier could be uh prohibitive in terms of participation um in terms of what is high interest how do we define that so that our community understands and then I'll just say if we are giving ourselves five to six months um there was a survey that was introduced in order to uh gain access to recommendations I'd like to um suggest that we pull up that survey again, maybe consider, you know, what those questions are and use that time to continue to get some additional surveys and engage all council members in their communities accordingly. I was concerned that less than 3% of the respondents had come from 90805 and I wanted to make sure that I could give my residents an opportunity to respond. Um, and if there uh I'd love to also include in the report back, um, hopefully the maker of the motion and the seconder might agree. Um, I'd love to consider the location of either uh committee meetings or the council meeting itself uh to be outside of city hall um to allow for participation as well as another uh opportunity to give residents a chance to connect. um location and being able to get to city hall could be prohibitive for some. Um and so I'd like to add that to the agenda for consideration um as the city reviews the list of items. >> Certainly, that's a that's a good idea that I've spoken with other council members about. Um and just to clarify, the survey was circulated amongst all council offices and um there were only a couple of offices that got responses back. So this is a great opportunity. Uh city clerk, can we re u circulate that survey? >> Yes, absolutely. We'll put that out. Great. I think that's great opportunity. >> Okay. Um we'll go to uh Mary Zindas for comments. >> Thank you, chair. Um first of all, thank you so much to our chair um Christina Dugen, Councilwoman Christina Dugen for leading us in this great conversation. I think that the intent here is absolutely to um be able to be more accessible to our residents and be able to bring them more closely into um into city hall and to the council meetings. And so I'm very um very happy that we're talking about this, that we're having these conversations. Um, one of the things that I'm most excited about is being able to provide more uh public comment opportunities for um for our residents. That's always been something that uh you know that's important to me and I know that's important to all of us um here today. Um, one of the things that I had recommended um was or that we kind of talked about but wasn't um actually implemented into the second bucket that I'm hoping we can consider is maybe having public comment a public comment section in the middle of the meeting because as we discussed um previously um there was there's people that can't get here right at live um before the city council meeting starts for the first general um public comment. And there's also people that can't stay until late late night. So um maybe um if you would accept to add um for us to explore the possibility of maybe doing a mid city council public comment um to um to better serve our communities. those um who are youth, those who have children at home that can't stay really late. So, making it a little bit more accessible. So, this is getting very broad. I would accept that because we had full discussion at the GOE meeting about specifically this. Um so, you have a very long list, city clerk, to go over to include with SB77. Um, I will accept that addition uh to the friendly. So, we're adding mid meeting public comment. >> Okay. >> Okay. U does the second of the motion accept that friendly? >> I do. >> Okay. And the city attorney has that? >> I I do >> documented. Okay. Uh, thank you. Next speaker. We're back to Megan Kerr. Um, just one thing that I forgot and and I would ask that as we look at recommendations that the Citizens Advisory Commission on Disabilities has an opportunity to review it. So that we're talking about accessibility towards meetings. I think we need to look to that commission and lean on that commission to make sure that there isn't something in there that we're not seeing. So if um the maker of the motion, I'd like to add that. >> I like it. This was actual building of good items to talk about. A little more work for our city clerk, but uh the citizens advisory committee commission will um we'll we'll send it to to them. So, let's talk about this though. So, city clerk's going to bring back SB77 and recommendations on the list of items that we've uh asked you to come back with, pros and cons, process, etc. We will then send it to the citizens advisory commission. Is that your recommendation, council member? Yeah, I think that needs to go through their lens first before it comes to council because there could be substantive that they see right away that we don't that the clerk wants to make some amendments on before it's brought back to us. So, I would I would want to see their re their recommendations um on the item. >> So, typically when you do this, if I can add a little bit of of context, uh we take the things you want us to study. We go through work with the clerk and management and the attorney. we can issue a report on kind of where staff is and what we see and and we'll do the survey and the recommendations. Then at that point it can go co at the same time it can go to kod it can go to goe we can get additional input then we can do you know summarize what we heard from the various committees and then bring staff recommendations that survey results and and hopefully get a a consolidated recommendation back to the council. >> Okay, that's one more friendly uh Dr. Joanie Ricky you okay with that one? I am. >> Okay. I think we have that uh clarified with the city attorney. >> You do? Yes. >> Well, actually, we have um you know, you know what? I haven't spoken yet. So, um >> public comment. No, >> I I'll spare you. We'll go to public comment. Dave Shukla is signed up for public comment. members. Uh, okay. Full employment for the city attorney and city clerk's offices. Um, I I thank you, Councilwoman, for bringing this forward. Um, I think it's a good idea uh to study this calendar year the imple implementation of SB77. I think it's a good thing to put another public survey out uh along with data on respondents uh out of contact points. Um one can always anticipate problems. Uh you know, I think that's the whole point of having it be uh kind of like a lot of bills uh this year in the state legislature. They came became study bills. Um I think it's also obviously a good idea to see there's not any uh problem with the ADA. Uh thank you. Okay, thank you. Um I actually am going to make a comment just have a rare opportunity to explain something that was once dubbed the supernaw rule and I'd like to add clarity to that. So we had the exact same motivation years ago uh to bring the streamlining council meetings. Um it was you know as a private citizen I attended a lot of council meetings but you know what from this perspective is where you really feel it when the when the chamber's empty. I don't know what to call it, but the word democracy doesn't come to mind when we got half the meeting left and and and no one's here. So, uh we endeavored to um engage people more and to streamline the process. Um but the interesting part about uh and I got accused of cutting public speaking time to a minute and a half. So, that's the one I want to clarify. What had happened prior to that time was the chair would see a long lineup of people and say, "Okay, the first 10 people have three minutes. The next 10 have a minute and a half, then it goes to one minute. And there was no formula for it. It was arbitrary each time. So what we endeavored to do was to put a formula uh to public speaking time. And what I did was I actually was not cutting time. I was saving anyone from having to go to one minute. Now I think our city attorney will tell us no u there's there's case law saying that we can go to one minute and that's why the chair has that ability to do that today. But the original intention was to give everyone never give anyone less than a minute and a half. So, um just a rare opportunity for me to clarify that. So, I took advantage. Thank you for your indulgence. Okay. Uh let's go to a vote. >> Councilman Subnire, are you? Motion is carried. >> Okay. Okay, thank you. Um, next item, item 25 has been withdrawn. Uh, so we'll go to item 26. Will the clerk please read? >> Communication from council member Rick Zody. Recommendation to recommend city attorney to draft an ordinance amending the Long Beach municipal code to prohibit the willful promotion or organization of illegal street races, sideshows, or reckless driving exhibitions on social media or any form of promotional material and to return to the city council within 60 days with the proposed ordinance language. >> Thank you. We'll go to the maker of the motion, Jonie Rick Sony. >> Uh, thank you, Chair. Uh, so today's item is about strengthening public safety tools and responding directly to what our communities, especially North Long Beach, continue to experience. Illegal street racing and and sideshows remain some of the most dangerous public safety challenges in our city. Between January 2024 and July 2025, the Long Beach Police Department received 569 calls for service related to reckless driving and vehicle speed context. And specifically in our in my district, we those um we accounted for 210 of those 569 calls. Um there aren't these aren't just numbers. They represent families losing sleep, residents who no longer feel safe, and businesses suffering serious damage as a result of these organized reckless events. On July 14th, 2025, during a takeover at Orange Avenue and Starting Street, a commercial burgly burglary um occurred in conjunction with the sideshow, leading leading to two arrests and the seizure of seven vehicles. This is exa this is exactly the kind of coordinated criminal activity that destabilizes neighborhoods and harms local businesses. Our residents have repeatedly made clear that the traffic enforcement and street safety are top priorities. I hear from all of our nine district neighborhood district 9 neighborhood associations from College Square, Star King, Hamilton, Deforest Park, Hton Park, we have a lot of parks and St. Francis. Our community deserves meaningful action to deter these events before they even occur. What we know from law enforcement and from statewide trends is that social media can be an engine behind many of these coordinated events. Organizers use online platforms to recruit drivers and spectators, share locations, and escalate the scale of these illegal gatherings. Cities like San Jose have recognized this and criminalized the online promotion of illegal street racing and sideshows, treating the organizer behind the screen as seriously as the driver in the intersection. Our proposed amendment reflects the same logic. If you organize, promote, or advertise an illegal street race or take over, whether through social media, group messaging, or printed material, you should face consequences. The proposed amendment aimed at targeting enforcement at the source of the problem with the goal of holding accountable those who intentionally coordinate events that create unsafe and violent conditions for our neighborhoods. My office received letters from the College Square Neighborhood Association leaders as well as our regional elected leadership including Assembly Member Mike Gibson, Assembly Member Loenthal, State Senator Lena Gonzalez, and Congresswoman Congresswoman Baggon in support of this item. However, as we seek solutions, it's important that we that we um ground our actions not only in data and community needs, but also in the reality of the legal environment we are operating in. City Attorney, it is my understanding that the legal landscape has changed recently and that there is litigation at the state level that directly affects how cities, including Long Beach, can regulate spectatorship and participation in street takeovers under our current municipal code. That ruling has implications not just for today's proposed item on promotion, but for the overall enforcement structure as a whole. With that, I'd like to turn it over to the city attorney to walk council and the public through the court decision, how it impacts this agenda item, and what considerations must be addressed as we draft the updated ordinance language. >> Thank you. Um, I appreciate the the opportunity to speak. So you are correct that uh on September 4th, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is not just at a state level, but covers uh nine western states, uh issued a ruling in a case called Garcia versus Alama County. Alama County has a an ordinance that's basically the same as what uh Long Beach Municipal Code Chapter 10.82. Um what that ruling said was that a u the first amendment covers that uh that particular ordinance and that uh an individual who says that they are a reporter has the right to be there in order to gather information, film it, interview people in order to put out a story um on those sideshows. And so therefore that ordinance could not be enforced against that individual claiming to be a reporter. um in order for us the the practical effect of it is that as currently written the ordinance cannot be enforced because of the fact that we don't have an any sort of an exception. So our first recommendation out of our office is to go ahead and create an exception for bonafide lawn uh excuse me news gathering um purposes uh within the the ordinance and we believe that that will take care of much of what the ninth circuit was concerned about. The second issue though is uh is also uh that while we completely understand the need to get to these activities that you're trying to stop and to the organizations etc. The reality is that there is the first amendment that we have to grapple with. We need to make sure that what we are not doing is basically issuing a rule that is a prior restraint on speech and that is going to be also be struck down if a court looks at it. Um, generally speaking, what our recommendation is that there are well understood uh terms that can be used in a in an ordinance like this and like any criminal statute that would basically bar the solicit the intentional solicitation and the intentional facilitation of these activities. And then that can be enforced. And that will include the people that are organizing these events that are getting people to go there, etc. But without uh creating a prior restraint issue or other first amendment issues that would that would arise if we were to simply implement a prohibition on the use of social media in order to organize these particular activities. Uh and city attorney, could you just also just clarify when you say the like enforcement, what would that look like um under the proposed language that you are sharing with us this evening? >> So what our recommendation would be is that the the way that it would be enforced is that once the police department, you know, uh went to one of these sideshows, picked people up, and then, you know, and uh uh detained them for these activities. They could also conduct an investigation of how did you get here? how did you hear about this? Who's organizing it? Etc. Who facilitated all of this? And that investigation can lead to charges. Uh but the the issue is going to be simply posting on Facebook that hey, we're going to do a sideshow this weekend. Enforcing that against somebody or trying to um uh criminalize that is very very problematic. So what you're saying is that this what would basically allows um our our our officers to say once something happens correct they then can um this then allows enforcement action once you're able to determine they came because of such posting or solicitation or facilitation. >> Correct. And then and that's something that they would be able to do and then in conjunction with the city prosecutor's office, they'd be able to actually um impose additional penalties for having u uh engaged in those activities. >> Okay. Thank you so much, city attorney. So um in light of that, colleagues, um and that background information that we have received from the city attorney, um I'd like to amend my motion based on the recommended langers from the city attorney. So, I'd like to recommen recommend that the city attorney draft an ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code, um, which is chapter 10.82 that relates to spectators prohibited at street racing, street races, sideshows, and reckless driving exhibitions. And I'd like to amend it as follows. One, to exempt duly authorized representatives of news organizations from the spectating prohibition of chapter 10.82 A2 and um to add now to prohibit individuals from int intentionally soliciting, inducing or facilitating street races, sideesh shows and reckless driving exhibitions. And with that, I would appreciate the support from my colleagues. >> Okay. Thank you. We'll go to the uh second of the motion. Uh Councilwoman Thrashuk. >> Yes. So, I accept those amendments to the motion as presented uh by Councilwoman Rick OD. Um, so street takeovers are incredibly uh alarming um in our communities and you've already noted they bring dangerous and unwanted activity to neighborhoods. It's often a difficult problem to prevent and enforce. Um so, we've got to address this from multiple angles. Um, social media promotion can increase the size of the crowds at these events, which lends itself to greater harm posed to commuters, bystanders, law enforcement, and the surrounding community. The ETH district has also seen some areas where street takeovers are a common occurrence. I hear from residents about the negative impact it has on their homes and businesses. In the Longwood neighborhood, these sideh shows take place on Susanna Road, a road that not only borders unincorporated land, but is parallel to a local elementary school. And just tonight, unprompted, I had a local 8th district resident come to council to share with us tonight about street takeovers and other donuts that are happening within his community um as well. So this reckless driving is harmful for everyone and is unacceptable in areas that are highly utilized by children and we must return our streets and neighborhoods to a state of normaly. Um as you've mentioned uh councilwoman M Ricks OD the municipal code currently prohibits spectators at shows which gave the city a tool of enforcement and prosecution with reckless driving. a multi-pronged approach is necessary and we must also begin to look at traffic engineering enforcement and other youth education and awareness programs. So these are the other things that I think we need to consider as well um keeping in mind that the traffic engineering activities um will require additional uh resources um and more long-term strategy. Um today's item fits into that comprehensive approach um that's needed to do all we can to combat sideshows um because this offers us a chance with potentially changing our um our current u municipal code on this uh a chance to be able to make social media promotion an actionable offense. So with that, I look forward to hearing back from the city attorney uh regarding the update of um the city's ordinance on this matter um so that we can at least start that process. And then as we do that, I think that there will be more to come in the future regarding the other elements that we can address as well around making the streets less attractive. um because clearly it doesn't happen everywhere, but it happens in certain areas where there is physically um a space to do that and to try and encourage young people to understand how this can have a detrimental impact um on um everyone who is involved. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you. We'll go to uh Council Member Dougen. >> Well, thank you to Council Member Rickod. This is a great item and um although District 3 doesn't seehows and organized street racing um that often, we see it enough in the news, we see the impacts of it and you've stated it here clearly how dangerous and disruptive they are. So, and I did look into this a little bit because I was interested in some cities have had great success with with um this type of ordinance. So, I just wanted to say um I'm looking forward to seeing what the ordinance does. Great change up tonight and um I am definitely supporting this tonight. >> Okay. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I see no public comment on this item. Okay. Let's go to a vote. Motion is carried. >> Okay, thank you. Um, can I get a little help with the next agenda item? Would that be item 27? >> Item 27. >> Okay, clerk, please read. >> Report from economic development and opportunity, energy, and environmental services. Recommendation to execute all documents necessary for an office lease agreement with Shoreline Square Holdings for office space located at 301 East Ocean Boulevard sweet 1600 for use by the city of Long Beach's energy and environmental services department 1. >> Thank you. We'll go to the maker of the motion, Mary Zena. >> Thank you, Chair. Um really excited about this. um our our energy and environmental services department needs a a space to operate um the great work that they do um and that they have been tasked with. I'm pleased to welcome them into the first district. I cannot wait until our senior center is up and running. But until then, I want to thank Shoreline Square Holdings for their partnership with the city and happy to support this item. Uh, thank you. The seconder, uh, Councilwoman Thrashuk. >> Uh, I support the item. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, seeing no public comment, let's go to a vote. >> Motion is carried. >> Uh, thank you. Next item number 28, >> report from Financial Management and Fire Department. Recommendation to adopt a resolution to execute a contract and any necessary documents with South Coast Fire Equipment for the purchase of a Pierce Enforcer urban search and rescue unit with related equipment and accessories in a total amount not to exceed 1,864,149 inclusive of taxes and fees citywide. >> Okay. Thank you. We have a motion, a second. We'll go to the maker of the motion. Megan Kerr. um support the item. >> Okay. Any comment from the secondary? >> I support the item. >> Okay. I see no public comment. So, we'll go to a vote. >> Motion is carried. >> Okay. Uh next up is item number 29. >> Report from Health and Human Services. Recommendation to adopt specifications and award contracts to First to Serve for the operation and provision of supportive services for the yearround shelter program in a total annual aggregate amount not to exceed 6,315,960 and execute all necessary documents to enter into the contracts citywide. >> Okay, thank you. We have a motion a second. We'll go to the maker of the motion to thrash and >> thank you so much chair. Um, so this is a a pretty considerable contract. Wanted to take a few minutes just to have a brief conversation with the staff and the team. Um, could you share a little bit about uh some of the services that will be provided as part of this contract? >> Good evening, council members. Uh, the uh shelter service contract covers a number of different things. It covers uh case management as one of the biggest pieces of it. Making sure that we are engaging with people. Uh working on housing plans and anything that they're needing in shelter. Uh ensuring that the shelter is clean. Uh providing three meals a day, providing security on site, um conflict resolution, and really referrals to other resources that are going to benefit people uh staying at the shelter. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Um, so, you know, we've got a site that'll be opening soon, uh, in the ETH district. Um, and I noticed that this operator will be part of that, uh, strategy. So, just wanted to, um, see if I could get a any feedback because I know we've had several folks come to council, um, that have had feedback about customer service, um, and their experience uh, with this operator. Um, have we had a chance to do any uh deep dive analysis into some of that feedback that we've received from the public? >> We've had some ability, I think, to get deeper into that uh, you know, is a little bit challenging on the spot, but we could definitely come back at a later time to give a deeper overview of how the city is working with them. our engagement with the people that have brought forward concerns regarding uh the shelter operations and what's occurring at the site. So, uh that is something that we could bring back and provide a better overview on. >> I think I would like that. I mean, I I know we've had several uh members of the public come before this body who have had some concerns. Uh I want to make sure that people understand and know that as they come forward for public comment that we're taking that very serious. um and want to take the time to ensure that we are providing the utmost service uh to the public in providing them with access to housing as well as uh other wraparound services. Um I like the idea of bringing the matter back. Um but I will uh go ahead and yield my time now to the secondary of the motion. >> Um okay, the seconder is Megan Ker. >> Uh thank you, Councilwoman, and thank you for raising those questions. I had really similar concerns. Um, we know that when folks come here and express concerns about services, uh, almost always they are met by a member of the team. They have conversations and and whatever particular individual item that they have brought forward might get handled at that time. I'm really interested in in what Councilwoman Thrashuk talked about about how have we looked collectively at some of those concerns on the whole. Uh so my question is is this item particularly timesensitive or can we wait a couple of weeks um or the appropriate amount of time just to get some more information back? >> Yeah, it's not that time sensitive. So um we can certainly spend some time and come back. This is a big contract. We've also been expanding our shelter opportunities throughout the city over the past two or three years. And so uh we welcome the opportunity to talk a little bit more about that. Also do some individual briefings and we can also bring it back as council. >> Great. Thank you. Council member Thresh, do you want to make a different motion then? >> Uh, I >> if I I just wanted to make one statement right now because this is that time of year where it's so tough to put something off because we have Thanksgiving holiday and then uh Christmas holiday. So, I don't want to I want to give staff plenty of time to to deal with the holidays. So, let's come up with a >> well, if we have to come up with a date or we're not >> It'd be helpful to be able to schedule that within that. So, um I wouldn't ask you to give this a time certain to put it to a certain date. um uh let us just basically um receive and file this and then or I'll turn to the motion whatever it is and then we can bring that back when we're ready to uh to bring it forward. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Go ahead. Go ahead to the uh make of the motion. >> Okay. Thank you, chair. Um so at this time we'd like to go ahead and change this from a recommendation to adoption to a recommendation to receive and file for today. Um, and we'd like to encourage uh the city staff to go back uh do some additional analysis and help us really uh understand the efficacy of customer service related to this vendor and bring it back at an appropriate time accordingly. >> Okay. And we have uh uh the second of the motion agree to those terms. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Okay. And um we have one person lined up to speak. Mary Zos, do you still want to talk on this item? Um, I think I I can wait. Thank you. I I had questions, but I think it's going to be answered once we bring it back. So, thank you. >> Okay. Um, so we have a revised um motion to receive and file. Uh, and I don't see any members of the public wanting to speak. Okay, we can go to a vote. >> Motion is carried. >> Um, thank you. Next item is number 30. >> Report from Health and Human Services. Recommendation to execute an agreement and all necessary documents with Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center to receive and expend grant funding in an annual allocation in the amount of 600,000 for a total of 2,400,000 for the dignity center for integrated care model citywide. >> Okay, we have a motion, a second uh to the motioner Megan Kerr. Second Joanie Bricks. >> No comments in full support. >> Okay. I seeing no public comment, we'll go to a vote. >> Motion is carried. >> Okay. Thank you. Item number 31, >> report from technology and innovation. Recommendation to adopt specifications and award contracts to various contractors for as needed network maintenance installations structured cabling, and support services in a total annual aggregate amount not to exceed 77 million and execute all documents necessary to enter into the contract, including any necessary amendments citywide. >> Okay. Thank you. I have a motion and second. Any comments by the motioner? To the second. All right. Seeing no public comment, we'll go to a vote. >> Motion is carried. >> Okay. Thank you. I have a vague recollection that we covered item 32 already. Okay. >> Yes. >> Um >> we are done with all the items on the agenda. >> Oh, thank you. Okay. So, we'll go to general public comment. Do we have any one signed up for general public comment? Yes, we have two speakers, Ellie and Ariel Wilson, if they're still in the audience. >> Going once. Okay, it appears that we have no public comment then tonight. All right, so we will move to um announcement and um let's let's I I have to see if who signed up here. Bear with me. Thank you. Um, okay. So, we have uh Council Member Rick's OD. >> All right. Thank you, Chair. Um, I'd like to invite everybody out to attend the, um, Long Beach School for Adults Fall Fair on Wednesday, uh, November 19th, uh, which is tomorrow from 6:30 to 8:30. This event will be held at the Long Beach School for Adults, North Long Beach campus. Most people know that as Baby Jordan, um, at 171 West Bort Street. Um, I also would like to invite everybody out to attend the College Square Neighborhood Association's Let's Share and Care Turkey Giveaway on Saturday, November 22nd from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. This initiative endeavors to provide some immediate supplemental relief to those in need by providing food distribution and safety resource material. The event will be held at the Pools of Hope at 6801 Long Beach Boulevard. And lastly, I'd like to invite everybody out to attend the North Long Beach Community Christmas Party on Sunday, December 7th from 3 PM to 6 PM. Come join the North Long. Come join the North Long Beach neighborhood associations, community members, elected officials, and neighbors for a community holiday celebration. Bring a wrapped ornament and your favorite dish. This event will be take place at the historic Long Beach Dairy and Crearyy at 167 East South Street, Long Beach, California. For more information, please contact our office at 562-570-6137 or district 9 long beach.gov. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. We will go to uh 8th district council member Fashenuk. >> Thank you so much chair. Um so I'm proud to share some incredible work happening in the eth district this week. Um before highlighting the upcoming events, I do want to recognize the m the neighborhood microrant workshop that took place yesterday uh in Longwood at what we know as baby Jordan. The community development department provided valuable information on how residents can use these grants to strengthen community safety and empowerment. I want to thank our dedicated uh staff and neighborhood leaders for attending as well as everyone who helped to plan the informative session. Uh my council uh fellow councilwoman noted that there will be the Long Beach School for Long Beach School for adults will host its fall fair tomorrow from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. That address 17 uh 1 West Bort Street. And uh please come out. It will feature all kinds of resources in the community. On Thursday, November 20th, I'll be hosting a solar clinic at Lindberg Middle School from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. As temperatures continue to cool, this clinic comes at a perfect time. Energy efficient options not only reduce cost, but also help promote health and sustainability of our neighborhoods. The clinic will include presentations on rebate programs, information on free solar opportunities, and hands-on workshops to help residents navigate the process. It's a family-friendly event. Dinner will be provided and additional details can be found on our social media. Uh please check out our social media as well as we will be popping up around the district with various different holiday uh turkey giveaways. Um we look forward to seeing you at one of those. And of course, as we approach the holiday next week, I want to wish everyone a joyful and warm Thanksgiving. I hope you have a meaningful time with your love loved ones and find moments to rest and to share moments of gratitude throughout the week. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. We have uh two announcements closing in memory of. Uh first is Christina Dugen. >> Thank you, chair. Tonight, um I'd like to close the meeting uh on behalf of in memory of Jeremy Spears. Jeremy was born on August 14th, 1993, and he passed away on October 25th of 2025, just last month. He was born to Chris Spears. And while his childhood in Long Beach was shaped by the care of his devoted grandparents, Rose and Melvin Spears, Senior, the loving presence of his mother, Chris, remained a constant throughout Jeremy's life. He attended John Mir Elementary School and Steven Junior High. He graduated from Milickin High School in 2011. Jeremy later pursued trade school at LA Tech where he earned his certification as a welder in 2015 and took pride in the craft. From a young age, Jeremy was drawn to the thrill and freedom of skateboarding. And by the age of 12, he had become an accomplished skater, spending countless hours at Elorado State Park and other skate parks throughout Long Beach. That passion for skating evolved into a love of photography and video videography. As Jeremy learned to capture fellow skaters energy and artistry on film, few knew that Jeremy played a key role in helping to design the skate park at Silverado Park. A testament to his quiet dedication and creative spirit. Jeremy never sought recognition for his accomplishments. He simply did what he loved and let his actions speak for themselves. Whether building skating or creating, Jeremy brought a quiet brilliance to everything he touched. Jeremy Jeremy married his high school sweetheart he called Lola. In 2016, they welcomed cherished son Jace. the light of Jeremy's life. Jeremy found deep joy in fatherhood, teaching Jayce to play basketball and reliving the wonders of childhood through his son's eyes. Now 9 years old, Jace carries forward Jeremy's love of the game and his adventurous spirit. In recent years, Jeremy embraced fitness and wellness, often working out at the beach and encouraging others. He loved the outdoors and found peace in nature, especially near the water. Despite facing significant health challenges, including including a serious head injury at 18, Jeremy remained resilient. He carried an endearing smile, a quiet strength, and an unwavering belief that he could achieve anything he set his mind to. Jeremy's life was a tapestry of creativity, perseverance, and love. He will be deeply missed and forever remembered. Thank you very much. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh we'll move now to Councilman Meer. Oh, >> I accidentally uh queued myself up. >> Okay, we have an accidental queueing. We'll go to Megan Cure. >> Thank you. Uh thank you, Councilman Dugen, for that. Uh before I close, in memory, I'd like to just do a couple of brief announcements. This week, I invite my residents to attend my office's next CD5 community meeting held Thursday, November 20th at 6 p.m. at the WLO Park Community Center. We will be joined by parks, recreation, and marine acting director Steven Scott as he shares the information on PRM's department responsibilities and programs. This is our last meeting for 2025 and will take December off and resume in the new year. We hope you will join us on Thursday, November 20th. You can connect with LBPD East Division officers for a coffee with the cop from 11:30 to 12:30 at the Nordstrom Rack in the Long Beach Exchange. On Friday, November 21st, I encourage all who may be experiencing food insecurity to visit a free food giveaway at LBCC's Vet Stadium hosted by LA County Supervisor Janice Han's office. This community drive-through distribution will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 12 with queuing opening at 8:30 and is intended to support those impacted by recent interruptions to CalFresh benefits. So, please spread the word to any neighbors in need. Additionally, you can celebrate h coming holidays and support local performance artists this season at the Long Beach Shakespeare Company's open opening their Cinderella Magical Christmas uh this Friday the 21st at 8:00 PM and the show will run through December 7th. Um and tonight I'd like to close uh colleagues as we adjourn in the meeting in the memory of Anne Berdett, a resident of Bixby Nolles who passed away just last week. And Miss Berdett was a vital member of our community, a passionate advocate for justice, and a beacon of light for all whom she helped in her work. She was deeply rooted in her faith and her call to serve others. She absolutely would have been here tonight to speak to us on multiple items, and she was missed. She never failed to find ways to support those in need, particularly those who often had nowhere else to go. Mrs. Berdette was a proud advocate for women's rights, immigrants, refugees, families facing deportation, and a fighter for equality and justice. Anne carried herself through the world with a distinct joy and lightness that was rooted in the seriousness and the gravity of the justice work that she undertook. She will be deeply missed and I expend my extend my sincere condolences to her family, friends, all who loved and were loved by her. She has made a lasting mark on this city. Her devotion to her family, her faith, church, community, and the greater LA region set an example for all of us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. I hope we continue to honor her legacy through our own good work. Vice Mayor Uranga has also asked me to share a few remarks on his behalf. I am saddened by the passing of our longtime resident and friend, Anne Berdett. She was a beloved member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church. and dedicated her life to justice and was a compassionate was compassionate about serving her fellow human beings. She fought tirelessly for immigrants and refugees through her leadership with Clue Clergy and Lady United for economic justice. She helped establish the Long Beach Justice Fund and supported families facing deportation. She was recently recognized with Clue's Giants of Justice Award, an honor my wife, retired Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Iranga was proud to present. This award celebrated Anne's decades of faithrooted organization and her commitment to show up for those in the struggle. She was a passionate educator, an ESL teacher, and a powerful voice for women and workers fighting for equality. She was one of the warmest and most welcoming people you could ever meet. We consider her a dear friend. Anne's husband, Dan, and all who knew her can take comfort in knowing her that her impact on the city will endure. On behalf of the city of Long Beach, the seventh district, we close tonight's meeting in memory of Anne Berdett, a teacher, advocate, and truly a giant of justice. Rest in power. >> Okay. Thank you to council members Kerr and Urango for that tribute. Um my announcement is um we will not be hosting our last Tuesday of the month community meeting at Los Altos Library uh next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. So, we'd like to thank you all for your civic engagement and we'll see you in December. >> [music] [music]