Speaker 1: Thank you. That concludes with a comment. We're not going through the regular agenda. We're going to begin by taking item 46.
Speaker 0: Item 46 is communication from Vice Mayor Richardson. Councilwoman Allen. Councilwoman Farrow recommendation to direct city attorney to draft a resolution in honor of Long Beach 24th Annual Veterans Day celebration.
Speaker 1: Mr. Richardson.
Speaker 5: Thank you. Tonight, I'm proud to bring forward a draft resolution in support of Long Beach's annual Veterans Day celebration. On Beach has a long and rich history of being home to our veterans and supporting our local veterans. We became a home to many after World War Two, shaping our city's legacy as we know it today. We're home to century villages Cambria, which offers short term permanent housing to 700 veterans. We have our own VA hospital. I was there this morning helping provide lunches to staff and veterans there at the VA hospital. We also have a long standing tradition in my own council district as home to the Long Beach Veterans Day Parade and Veterans Festival for many, many years and many generations of council people. So supporting our veterans is something important to our city. It's something important to me personally. My father was a veteran. Many of you know, I was born on Air Force Base and Scott Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Illinois. Many of my uncle's family members were veterans. These were heroes to me. I've revered these people. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Long Beach Veterans Commission. Many of you are, many of whom are here today. We've been there since the very beginning. I'm proud to have introduced that. But even more proud of the work that this Veterans Commission has taken on over the course of the past five years, including the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Strategic Plan, which is the document this this commission worked on and is currently in implementation. And we certainly still have much to do, although we've taken great steps toward eliminating veteran homelessness and offering a pathway to permanent housing. We still need to do more and continue to take steps to support our veterans here in our city. I'm glad to see our city staff who have served our country coming together as a staff association to offer support and pathways for other veterans who are seeking opportunity in our city. And above all, please take this week to extend your own support for those who have served and join us at this Saturday at the annual Long Beach Veterans Day Festival on November 9th, where we will offer special recognition to one of my predecessors, former valor of former Vice Mayor Lerche, who chaired our Veterans Day Parade for many, many years, who's been a champion for veterans, who's a good friend to many of us. We're going to have a very special presentation in recognition in honor of Bell this Saturday. And so that said, I'm happy to make this motion today in support of this resolution. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman. Sir.
Speaker 0: Q Mr. Mayor, I am honored to second in support this item. I thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson, for bringing forth a resolution to honor our veterans. And just wanted to share to that that I have a veterans park in my district that I hope that we can do more to honor our veterans. And I also want to thank my six district commissioner on the Veterans Commission, Lance Santiago, who has served our country but continues to do so in his way, in ways he can give back to the community and. And just want to express my appreciation to all our veterans for their service that they have provided to our country and continue to do so to this day.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for bringing this item forward to my colleagues. I feel very strongly that Veterans Day should be recognized as an important holiday in our city and throughout the country. Rarely do you find people so dedicated to a cause or value that they are willing to put their lives at risk to fight for that belief. These are the people of our United States military during intensely difficult work, far from their homes and their families, and often unimaginable conditions. The role we ask our military to play is far reaching, and it's the only interaction that people abroad may have with an American on many occasions. So building trust in complex situations is critical to the work that they do for our nation. Military veterans should hold a special place in the hearts of all Americans and especially those of us here in Long Beach. We may disagree with politics or decisions to engage in war or the use of military power around the world. But the people who willingly put themselves in harm's way to defend America around the world are uniquely heroic. And for that, I thank them and I thank all of you as a military family with a spouse who is a veteran. I know that the commitment our veterans make, and I know and I hope that everyone will take the time to thank them for their service. And I do so tonight and will do so as often and as frequently as I can. Thank you for your service.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilwoman Councilman's in the House.
Speaker 2: HQ and thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson, Councilwoman Allen and Councilwoman Sorrell for bringing forward this item. Individuals are recruited into the Army and the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coastal Guards with the promise of greater opportunities and to honor and to serve the honor of heroes work, which is something that they do very good for our nation. Yet upon their return, sometimes they're not received with the resources that that they so need. So I hope that today we are reminded that we need to do better and do the things that will honor those who fight so much to protect our nation, our veterans. We need to make sure that we provide not only mental health for them, but also provide housing and be able to really honor them. How they deserve to be honored, not only on the special day, which I I'm so happy to honored them on this special day, but also honor them throughout the years by being able to give them the protection, the hope that they deserve, especially for fighting for our country. I am honored that we can celebrate Veterans Day, and I thank all of our veterans for their service. And I truly hope that this day serves as a reminder that we we not only get to celebrate, but let's continue to do the work so that we can continuously honor our veterans. Thank you also to all the veteran owned businesses that contribute to our local community and economy and to all of our V.A. systems, especially our V.A. hospital here in the city of Long Beach and to all of our vendor veterans that proudly serve our country. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman Allen.
Speaker 0: Yes. I just want to say thank you, Vice Mayor, for introducing this item and allowing me to sign on to it. I think it's important that we recognize the service of our community members who have sacrificed so much for us, for our country and our city. And we just have such great, deep gratitude for our veterans. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I, of course, like the council, want to thank all the veterans that are here. I know there are actually folks in the Veterans Commission and people that have served our country but also our city through through this commission work. And so I just want to thank you and I look forward to participating in the many events that are happening towards the end of this week and going into the weekend as well. It's going to be a great time, I think, to celebrate and to be with friends, family, and particularly grateful that the community and Vice Mayor Richardson are also honoring vice mayor of our church and his service, and not just to our country, but also his service to to the city as well. It's going to be a really special, I think, weekend this upcoming weekend. With that, let me go and go to public comment. I think, Madam Crook, I've got four members of the public.
Speaker 0: As we have four sign up for this item. Right. And his guests are also Sarah Green. And we need to double more. Can you please find out at the podium? Ryan and his.
Speaker 1: Honorable mayor, members of our city council. My name is Ryan Antes. I have the privilege of serving as chairman of the Long Beach City Veterans Commission. We just want to say thank you to the vice mayor and to the city council for the support we've received and for this opportunity to kind of find our place in continuing to serve veterans and continue that legacy of service, which is long been the history of Long Beach. It. It's difficult leaving the military, and I'm sure that I'm not unique in finding that. Learning my place in the post service world, in post combat world was kind of a great challenge. And I find that many of us look for opportunities to continue to serve as a real basis for helping transition into.
Speaker 6: Being productive members of our community.
Speaker 1: And events like the one that the vice mayors organized up in the ninth District on Saturday and the various other items that the city has kind of taking care of providing for us throughout the year really provide that opportunity to engage our veterans community and to help people feel at home here in our city. We appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve. Thank you all.
Speaker 0: Casarosa. Although by Sarah Green.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
Speaker 0: You may begin.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Gus Orozco and I am the president of the Veterans Day Committee, a nonprofit organization that is charged with honoring local veterans. I'm also a proud member of the city's veterans commission, which I have been serving on almost since its inception. And I want to thank Vice Mayor Richardson and Councilwoman Susie Price for helping me get on that. It's been it's been a really good ride, and I'm really proud of all of the work that we've done. I want to also thank you for honoring my friend, our friend and my mentor, Valiant, former vice mayor Valor, a Coast Guard veteran who served in the Coast Guard all together for over 30 years. As you all know, council member of former vice mayor, council and council member. Our lurch has been ill for the past couple of months and it's a very emotional subject. And I really want to thank you for making the last couple of weeks of his life something that he is going to take with him and something that we are going to be able to keep with us for the rest of our lives. His impact to the city spans generations and his impact is going to live on and I know it's going to live on for the rest of our life. Long Beach veterans are one of the most diverse special populations that exists. We've got generations that span centuries. And I know this for a fact, because if you look behind me, you'll see our friend Mike Murphy, who definitely spent a couple of generations. Mike. You and his friend next to him, who he just met, Jim Dolan, both Marine Corps veterans from Vietnam. I'll make this short. Thank you again for honoring our friend valor. And thank you for the commitment that you have made to help our veterans. We have we have a history. We have military training. And a lot of that military training instills courage, commitment and honor. It also instills a large sense of camaraderie and community, which you can see behind me. So thank you for this resolution and we'll see you Veterans Day.
Speaker 0: Good evening, Mayor, and members of City Council. Thank you for bringing this item forward. I'm speaking as a U.S. Army veteran, but really speaking on behalf of all city employees who are veterans and all veterans within the city. Just last year, city employees for the employee veterans have started to band together to connect as a group, to support each other, share stories, share resources, plan social events, and hopefully be there as a welcoming group for folks that are transitioning out of the service, but really can be something that's difficult. I came right out of the army. I got out in June of 2017 and I started with the city in September of 2017. So I only had a few months between that, and I really connected with a lot of folks that are that are veterans within our fire department and police department. And they really were a welcoming group for me. So I'd like that to be for, you know, be that for other people that are that are joining the city as employees. So unfortunately, last year, COVID got in the way of us gathering. However, we're looking forward to starting to gather safely again in the near future, especially with all of the upcoming Veterans Day events this week. We're also especially excited to begin to partner with our Veterans Affairs Commissioners, many of whom are with here are here with us tonight. Thank you again for your support.
Speaker 1: When you get up.
Speaker 0: Yes. Thank you and good evening on the honorable Mayor Robert Garcia, Vice Mayor Rex Richardson and members of the City Council. My name is Juanita the Fillmore. I'm a member of the Veterans Affairs Commission representing the ninth District. I'm also a U.S. Army veteran, and I'm also an advocate for women and veterans of underserved communities. Presently sitting on the board of the International Association of Women of Color. Tonight, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak on the draft resolution in honoring of the 24th Long Beach Annual Veterans Day celebration. Such events are very important to members of the veteran community and also the servicemen and women that have that are presently serving, as well as their families and members of the community. It offers an opportunity of us to come together as members of the community and members of the City of Long Beach to celebrate present, past and current servicemen and women with high rates of substance abuse, PTSD, depression and homelessness. These events help boost morale and show appreciation for the service of the men and women to our country. In closing, please consider our veterans and transitioning servicemen and women. On budget and line items for such as housing, education and employment. Thank you again for your continued support of the Veterans Affairs Commission, the community and veterans services organizations that support veteran programs and services. And thank you for your time tonight and have a good evening at Miller.
Speaker 1: Good afternoon. My name is Eric Mueller and I'm the executive director of US Vets Long Beach, the home of the largest homeless, previously homeless veterans service organization in the nation. I just wanted to thank you all for the opportunity to speak today, and thank you for all of your support. Every day I look at young men and young women who have served our country and are unfortunately plagued with mental health disorders or the inability to find affordable housing, and is with the support of both our council members here in our community, members that I'm able to serve over 800 people a day. And so, with all things considered, I just wanted to spend this opportunity to both thank you and thank them for their service and thank you for acknowledging all of their hard work to make our freedoms what they are today. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Miller, and everyone that spoke, obviously. Again, thank you all for your service. Deeply appreciate. It's good to see Mr. Murray back there as well. So. Always good. Always good to see him. And I want to go ahead and also go to Councilman Mongo who signed up.
Speaker 0: Thank you. I want to take a moment to appreciate each of you for coming forward today. And then I want to extend a hand at least once a week. My husband and I visited American Legion. He's actually I just texted him to find out where he's at, 716 tonight. And if any of you wanted to pop by, he's happy to buy you a beer. I think it's really important for there to be opportunities for veterans and your families to come together in a very relaxed environment. And if there's anything I can ever do to be supportive of you or any particular veteran, please don't hesitate to reach out. This is a continued process and a very big gap between the ages that you see of individuals that have come together and the ages of individuals who are actually veterans. And so I'm appreciative of all of you and your diversity today and a lot of you and your youth. And I hope that you'll reach out to others in your same demographics and bring them in because that family is a very strong family. And until you can sit in a casual environment and really talk about life together and the perspective that you have, there's just so much value in that that comes with that relaxed environment. But if you'd like a beer, he's at 716 tonight and happy to toast to any of you. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Gentlemen, often. Thank you. And I want to also appreciate this presentation this evening and salute our veterans and everyone throughout the city who are coming together in recognition. Veterans Day is usually a very special day here in the city of Long Beach and particularly in the north side of the city where we do, you know, we have a parade and a fabulous recognition for for our veterans. I'm very, very heartened to know that we're going to give a special recognition to our former vice mayor, Val Lerche. He is deserving much deserving of the recognition because he has led the charge for veterans in the city for many, many years and oftentimes with what resistance. But he's done so valiantly. And it's really, really sad that to understand that he is dealing with some some serious health issues today. I'd just like to also take this opportunity, and I'll do so in home new business as well, but also to invite the public to the Expo Art Building at 4321 Atlantic Avenue on Thursday, Veterans Day from 12 to 712 noon to 7:30 p.m.. There'll be a special African American Military Heroes exhibit hosted by the African-American Cultural Center at Long Beach. And so a great presentation. There was a preview of it at first Friday's just the other night, but they really have gone out of their way to to to honor our veterans , particularly those of African-American descent. So I invite you to participate in that. And thanks again for this presentation, Athena. Thank you, Councilmember Ringo. Thank you. Not only does the US vet in the Senate district, but they also had a gold star matter that honors the families of our servicemen who lost their lives and made the ultimate sacrifice . One of the things that that has been known at me for for many, many years. Many of you know that I was a recruitment officer for the city for many years. And during that time we offered for employment. We offered reference points for individuals who were Vietnam era and before veterans. That has not changed from what I know and with all the various wars that we've had and they've been declared wars, we haven't changed that at all. And you know, with all due respect to my friend Mike, very Vietnam era. He's not eligible anymore for the veteran appointee to all. They're afraid that he's retired. There's there's a difference. But, you know, I think it's it's a shame that we can't offer veterans points to those who participated in the various wars in the last few years, you know, Iraq, Afghanistan, for 20 years who were there. And I think that we need to look at changing that. And we have a new human resources director and perhaps we can work with him and maybe what we can do to change that, that opportunity for veterans to gain a point or two when they get on the list for employment with the city especially, we're looking at those who are police officers and firefighters that we want to recruit and serve for the city. So perhaps very directive to the city manager in regards to maybe get something going with that if even if it's just the city lobby set offers that, I don't know if that would be possible, but I think it's something worth looking into in investigating. Want me to answer that, Mr. Modica? So come to me. I think Mr. Murdoch and I were literally just talking about this very same thing. So back when I watched you, when I was on the city council, I put a measure on on the ballot, a city wide ballot Measure C, and it did the exact same thing. It passed by a strong majority of the public. And it was just getting some of the data we're going to actually put out. I think Mr. Murdoch is going to be putting out a memo about this here in the next day or two. But the the additional points that were given to the civil service program has provided since we passed the since the city passed measure , see what it was put on the ballot. It's already provided 4480 veterans additional opportunity to seek employment, with the city making up seven to about 7.2% of the of our qualified candidates over the last ten years. And so I had not seen this data until just a few days ago. I think that this is a they're putting together a memo that's going to go to the council and to the community. And so we often don't talk about about Measure C. It's actually one of the first things that I brought to the council when I got elected and we put it on the ballot. And it has since then given those additional points to veterans that apply for city jobs through civil service. And so I think, you know, the city should be very proud that they implemented that measure. And it's actually not just a municipal code change, but it's actually in it was done by the people of the city with something that stands today. So we're really proud of that. I thank you for that clarification by me. And I think it's because we don't slap our own backs every now and then. I mean, that's something that we should always provide in terms of being proud to show that we are taking a very serious view of our veterans and their service. And for those veterans that are out there, thank you very much for your service. Thank you. We have a motion. Any second. Members, please go ahead and cast your vote to.
Speaker 0: But in this case.
Speaker 1: Thank you. And before I go from that, Mr. Modica, is that is that memo report going to come out the next. I know we wanted to get it out before Veterans Day this year. Is that coming out in the next day or two? Yes, we can get that out in the next day or two and talk about the specific points that are awarded. There's ten points for a veteran. There is 15 points for a disabled veteran. So there's different different benefit levels that we're able to provide to that. So, yes, we can do that. Try remember the year do we do that in 2010? 2010. All right. Thank you. Okay. We have next item that was asked to be moved up was item 45. And this is also by Tommy Richardson.
Recommendation to direct City Attorney to draft a resolution in honor of Long Beach's 24th annual Veterans Day Celebration.