Speaker 0: Thank you. We're down to our last two items. Let's go ahead here for item 14 next, which we'll have a short report. I know. And then we'll move on to our largest item of the night, which would be 13. So let's move on to 14.
Speaker 1: A report from city clerk and City Manager recommendation to receive and file an update on the status of the Independent Redistricting Commission applications citywide.
Speaker 0: I'm talking.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight's presentation on Redistricting Commission will be given by JT Nagi, Jamar and the City Work Department.
Speaker 3: Good evening, Mayor and City Council. We will be presenting.
Speaker 5: An update on the Independent Redistricting Commission recruitment and the possible timeline changes to the process in 2021. When we last came to council on December, we presented the redistricting plan and an overview of the process. Since that presentation, we have ramped up our outreach efforts and opened the Commissioner application.
Speaker 3: On April 1st.
Speaker 5: I'm excited to announce that as of this.
Speaker 6: Morning, we have 186 applications submitted. We have far.
Speaker 5: Exceeded our expectations halfway into the application period. Heading into this, we expected around 100 to 150 total applications, which is similar to the number of other cities of our size as received during the entire application period. But we have received a great response and are now in the fortunate position where we can target certain.
Speaker 6: Demographics to create a more.
Speaker 5: Diverse pull back bookings. Since we have met the charter's applicant.
Speaker 6: Pool requirement.
Speaker 5: The application period will close.
Speaker 3: On June 30th.
Speaker 5: And won't be extended. Anyone still interested in applying can apply on our website or request a printed version of the application which is also available.
Speaker 3: In my Spanish inter-government.
Speaker 6: In the next slides.
Speaker 5: We will break down the demographic information provided by the applicants. The charter mandates that the pool of applicants.
Speaker 6: Reasonably reflect.
Speaker 5: The diversity of the city and defines diversity as including, but not limited to racial, ethnic, gender and sexual.
Speaker 6: Orientation. We have a fairly well rounded.
Speaker 3: Group of applicants for the demographic.
Speaker 5: Categories of gender, income and age which are included in the staff report. So we will be focusing on the results by Council.
Speaker 6: District.
Speaker 5: Race and race and ethnicity and sexual orientation.
Speaker 6: The following chart reflect the data.
Speaker 5: Collected by Collected for the.
Speaker 6: Staff report as of May 8th, when we had 154 total applications.
Speaker 5: On the on this first slide, we have the breakdown.
Speaker 6: By council district. The highest.
Speaker 5: Number of applications by.
Speaker 6: District are from three and five. And we will be working to increase our numbers specifically in districts one.
Speaker 5: Seven and nine.
Speaker 3: The results also reflect one.
Speaker 6: Applicant who does not live in Long Beach. On the next.
Speaker 5: Slide, we have a breakdown of race and ethnicity.
Speaker 6: A majority of the applicants.
Speaker 5: Identify as white or Caucasian. So we will be focusing on the minority populations within the.
Speaker 6: City to create.
Speaker 5: Greater diversity in the applicant pool.
Speaker 3: On the last slide, we have the demographic breakdown.
Speaker 5: Of applicants by sexual orientation. Most of the applicants identify as heterosexual or straight. So we will be conducting additional outreach to the LGBTQ community.
Speaker 6: To achieve these results. The early outreach, education and motivational.
Speaker 3: Phases of our.
Speaker 5: Communications plan was focused on outreach events and spreading the word about new about the new commission. We began with the Budget Committee budget meetings last.
Speaker 6: August and since then have attended 36.
Speaker 5: Events, including 18 in partnership with the census team prior to the cancelation of public gatherings. The main portion of this phase began in January when we launched our Long Beach Transit bus, shelter and airport ad, along with the airing of.
Speaker 6: The TV PSA. We are now in the activation.
Speaker 5: Phase of the communications plan. During this phase, we have partnered with community groups through updates and presentations to the Long Beach Center's Complete Count Committee.
Speaker 3: Hosted a webinar, launched the social media campaign in English.
Speaker 5: Spanish into garlic, and included a flier on the city's utility bill, which has been our most.
Speaker 3: Successful outreach tool. The next part of our outreach.
Speaker 5: Phase will be focusing on the specific demographic.
Speaker 6: Groups we.
Speaker 5: Have highlighted earlier. Specifically, council districts one, seven and nine. The Asian and Pacific Islander, African-American, Hispanic and LGBTQ communities.
Speaker 3: To target these.
Speaker 6: Communities. We will continue to partner with CBOs and neighborhood groups.
Speaker 5: Utilize targeted social media ads and increase outreach and.
Speaker 6: Compassion to call it through various.
Speaker 5: Media outlets such as the TV and the My.
Speaker 3: Post. Now.
Speaker 5: Deputy City Manager Kevin Jackson will.
Speaker 6: Continue the presentation.
Speaker 3: Thank you, J.T.. Good evening, Mayor, and members of the council. As part of this update, we just wanted to acknowledge some probable changes to the Census 2020 schedule that more than likely will have.
Speaker 5: An impact on the redistricting process in some form.
Speaker 3: Or fashion. And so I just want to share a few highlights about.
Speaker 5: The proposed schedule.
Speaker 3: Changes and also acknowledge that the schedule changes would have to be changed, would have to be approved by Congress in order for them to be effective. So the as you can see on the screen.
Speaker 5: The census response.
Speaker 3: Deadline, according to the new schedule, would be extended from July.
Speaker 5: 31st to October 31st.
Speaker 3: 2020, about about four months. And this would shift the apportioned the time frame that the apportionment counts are due to the president from two I'm sorry, to April 30th, 2021, instead of December 2020. As a result, the states would receive redistricting counts four months later than expected on July 31st, 2021, instead of April 1st, 2021, like we originally anticipated. So also, I want to point out that, you know, according to the city charter, the new maps must be approved by the commission at least six months before the next election in order for them to apply to that election cycle. So if the proposed modification to the census schedule is approved by Congress, which is very likely, and the 2022 primary election date of March eight is not extended, then the Commission would likely have less than a month to finalize the new maps. If they are to apply in the 2022 election cycle, it would be practically impossible for the Commission to complete the work of redrawing the maps in that timeframe.
Speaker 5: However, I want to point out.
Speaker 3: That right now there is a bill under consideration in the state legislature, SB 1970 that proposes to move the primary election date in 2022 from March to June of 2022. And if that were to occur, the Commission would have sufficient time to complete the redistricting process. However, the the the the planning time frame would be about one month less than we originally planned for. So it could have some impact on the number of meetings that we originally planned to do. But overall, the Commission if the primary changes from March to June of 2022, the Commission would have sufficient time to complete the redistricting process as proposed. So with that said, I think we'll just close out and J.T. will highlight.
Speaker 5: Some next steps in the process. Thank you. Thanks, Kevin. The next steps following the close of the application period on June 30th began with the initial review of the application to determine which applicants are eligible. After the initial review, the Ethics Commission will then create a sample of 20 to 30 applicants from the pool of eligible candidates , including at least two from each current council district. Once the sample is established by the Ethics Commission, the chair will then randomly select the first nine commissioners, one from each current council district. Those first nine redistricting commissioners will then select the remaining four members and two alternates for the remaining candidates in the sample. Once the Commission is fully established, training means will begin in December 2020 and the redistricting process will commence following the release of the census tract data according to the possible timelines Kevin mentioned. Thank you. And we are available to answer any questions.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Great presentation. So appreciate all of that. Let me I do have a motion to receive and file the some of your ringa in a second by Councilmember Austin. Let me turn to customary ringer first.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Barry. And it's a great presentation, but I see that the districts one, seven and nine have more work to do to get a more representative pool from the API Hispanic and African-American communities. The Asian, of course, one of the things that were questions that got asked during the presentation obviously was was the timing of the whole thing. And 2022 is a non presidential election year. So I'm hoping that the Legislature will proceed to move the election from March to June. If I recall correctly, that was already in in place, if I recall correctly, in terms of the legislature having presidential elections take place in March, in the presidential elections taking place in July . That is that correct? Or am I imagining things?
Speaker 1: So, Councilmember Your Honor, this is City Clerk Ponytail Garza. To my knowledge, that is not in place yet. Again, there is a SB 970 is addressing that, but nothing is set to change the election date in 2022. From March to June.
Speaker 3: Okay. I guess I was just ahead of myself. Then I'll be hoping they would do something like that. The numbers look good. Again, we need to increase in those underrepresented communities, including the. The. Gay community as well. So other than that, good presentation work. Good work. And let's keep it keep it going. Thank you. And then make the motion.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman Austin.
Speaker 3: I think you are happy to support this and happy to hear the report from staff. I just want to commend the city clerk's office for the outreach effort. It. I think it's reasonable to think that people may not be paying attention to redistricting as much as they probably would be under normal circumstances. And so I would just. They continue the efforts. I've seen the advertisements and I think they've been very creative on social media and everywhere you look. And so hopefully we get a good candidate pool. I'm I'm encouraged by the numbers that I see so far. Obviously, I think we do need work to do. And I think council offices can can help with that. I know myself we have committed to getting that information out in our now daily newsletter constituents. And I'm very, very important to participate in this process. And let's just go back to the vision behind why we have a redistricting commission. It is to engage residents. It is to empower residents, and it's to take the politics out of redistricting. City council lives in our city. There's a great opportunity in front of our. And this is a great exercise. I hope that we get good residents to step forward and so happy to support this and I'm glad to hear the report. Thank you very much.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilman's in Dallas.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you very much, staff, again for this awesome report. I'm really looking forward to this process. One of the things that I saw that was not in the report was people with disabilities. I think that that's a very important voice to have in this process. So I really encourage that. You please look at applicants who do have physical limitations and that could provide a unique perspective to this process. So please keep that in mind as you go forward. And also, I'm more than happy to help out with more people from from my district as well. So thank you again.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilmember Richard.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think I think those are sentiments, my colleagues. I think they'll be I think the representation probably would have been more robust if if we were in the middle of this pandemic. So we have to double back. I think there were a couple of missed opportunities with some of the of COVID 19 and the black community, Latino community, AAPI communities to touch on some of these topics, to make sure that folks do know that, you know, this process is going. You know, I'm also reminded of we had the census presentation a couple of weeks ago and we saw the same areas of town. We're underrepresented in the census as well. So I love this. I think this is a wake up call that we need to double back with our communities, both on census and on this redistricting commission staff. I would say if there are other things that just have slipped through the cracks during this moment, we need to flag them so the council officers can do what we need to do to help get the word out. So please send me whatever information that you have. I'm going to work, you know, work together and get the information out as best as we can. Thanks.
Speaker 0: Think you got somebody ringer to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think they left out was precisely the point that Katherine Richardson just mentioned right now. And that's the sense is itself that we really do need also to redouble our efforts in getting people to fill out to complete the census forms. The latest report I saw that we were around 64, 65% complete. Some areas in my district are very low in terms and returning their their sense of data. And I'm sure other districts had the same issue. So we need to also ensure that we get get get out there and tell people to fill out their census forms . So that's going to make a big difference for us. As we know, we missed out an opportunity to get some federal funding because we were just short of the 500,000 population threshold. And the census makes it that much more important for us to make sure that we get as full, accountably, complete count as we can. So let's let's also redouble our efforts in getting people to complete census forms. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. And next up is Councilwoman Mongo.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to appreciate Mr. Jackson. I know that I've taken an interest in the census and the redistricting thing, and I appreciate that he's made the calls and we've been able to meet on their budget and their process. I've even had the great pleasure of attending a meeting. And so I thank them for what they're doing, and I'll continue to stay tuned into this process. It is the real backbone of our democracy that we have fair districts. So thank you to all who have volunteered.
Speaker 2: Please tell a friend.
Speaker 0: And Councilman Pearce.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I support all the comments, appreciate staff's presentation. I know a lot of district residents that enjoy watching or listening, and so I really want to encourage the district. I think we're behind the rest of the city in our census numbers. And so definitely want to remind everybody that we need to make sure that we we complete that. So thank you, guys.
Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes council comment. Great report to everyone. Let's do the roll call vote.
Speaker 1: District one. District one. District two. I. District three. I district for.
Speaker 3: Hi.
Speaker 1: District five.
Speaker 4: It sounds like Darrell's got the crickets now.
Speaker 1: District six.
Speaker 3: I.
Speaker 1: District seven.
Speaker 3: I.
Speaker 1: District eight.
Speaker 3: Hi.
Speaker 1: District nine.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: Ocean cares.
Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. We're going to our final item, which is item 13. Please read that item.
Recommendation to receive and file an update on the status of the Independent Redistricting Commission applications.  (Citywide)