Speaker 6: Thank you. Let's take item number 27 now.
Speaker 1: Report from City Manager Recommendation to receive a presentation on the proposed Long Beach Safety Recovery Plan. Provide input in policy direction and approve the plan to address the public safety impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic, utilizing available federal relief funding and to allocate fiscal year 2021 the expenditure of up to $5 million to implement the proposed plan citywide.
Speaker 6: Thank you. Let's hear that presentation.
Speaker 7: Thank you very much, Vice Mayor, members of the council, we heard very clearly from this council earlier this year that we were expecting to dedicate additional resources towards what we call our safety recovery plan. We have that plan ready and in front of you tonight as a proposed plan for your consideration. Assistant City Manager Linda Tatum will take us through the presentation and the different buckets. And it's important to remember that while we're proposing some additional safety resources, that's coupled with what's in the Recovery Act already, which was really focused heavily on longer term violence prevention. So we're going to cover that as well. And with that, I'll turn it over to Linda to walk us through the presentation.
Speaker 8: Thank you, Tom. We'll get started and we'll try to keep this fairly brief, as all of you are aware, since the start of the pandemic back in 20. Like many other cities, the city of Long Beach has had a significant increase in violent crime, especially crime around gun violence. This is a national issue, not just a local Long Beach issue. And it stems from economic distress, unemployment and societal stresses due to the pandemic. Gun sales have increased nationally. They're up nationally. Long Beach Police Department firearm seizures are up, as well as firearm assaults. In Long Beach. They are up 60% compared to 2020. And a call to action. Last month, the city council requested that the city manager work with our police department to develop a plan to address these increased levels of violent crime. The police department began their work in 2020 and they focused on a number of strategies to reduce violent crime. And I'll just highlight those here. They are neighborhoods and partnerships with community based nonprofits, organizations in the community. They are very focused on data driven approaches to allocating their over time and resources to address crime. They're also they rolled out this year a pilot program on a community or a coordinated response team, and they are committed to the implementation of policies, procedures and through the implementation of the Office of Constitutional Policing, which is a new component of the police department. The city manager worked with the police department and has is proposing this safety recovery plan that includes investments in additional policing measures and additional violence prevention work that was approved through the Long Beach Recovery Act that was approved by the council earlier this year. This plan allocates $5 million in one time general fund dollars, and these programs are led essentially by city staff. But they really do rely on those community partnerships with nonprofits and community organizations to implement specific components of these plans. So the funding will go not only to the to the city staff, but also to some of those organizations that will be assisting city staff in these efforts. This investment includes, as I said before, $5 million for violence prevention. And that is in addition to the $3.6 million that the city council approved through the Long Beach Recovery Act program earlier this year. And when you combine the 5 million with the 3.6 million, that's a total of $8.63 million that will be focused in our community to address violent crime. But also importantly, it will address violence prevention. And again, I will note that that funding goes to not just the city staff and that the various programs, but it will it includes components that rely upon funding for community based organizations as partners in these efforts. I'll walk you through some of the programs. These are all highlighted in the staff report, but I'd like to just talk about these. And these are the the new or continued programs that are proposed in the community in the safety recovery plan. The first of these is the coordinated response team, and this is funding both sworn and non sworn PD staff. They will investigate firearm incidents using crime analysis and intelligence techniques, and that's a $1.7 million. There's also what we call calls for service. That's fundamentally enhancing base staff staffing levels in the police department. This program supports reductions that occurred from last year's budget reductions in the police department. And it essentially is designed to maintain existing beat and deployment levels among the officers in the police department. And that the the focus here is to maintain response time so that they do not degrade from last year's response time. This is really critical to instill public trust and confidence and making sure that there is a public safety response as crime increases. There's also the Neighborhood Walks program. This is a new pilot program that started in 2021 with the objective of increasing outreach and community engagement with residents, businesses and community based organizations. It's the police officers actually walking in the community and engaging in direct engagement with residents and businesses. There is also the Neighborhood Safe Streets initiatives. This is very similar to the the Neighborhood Walks program where the the officers are on bicycles and it gives them a lot more flexibility to make direct contacts. However, the focus on the the bike program is its focus on the city's entertainment districts, the waterfront and the tourist areas and other areas that have been impacted by crime. We also have as a part of this program, a program that's called the Active Bystander for Law Enforcement, or the acronym is able. It's this funding is a match of a federal grant that the police department has received to support this this pilot program. It's an initiative that aims to prevent officer misconduct, police mistakes, and to promote general officer health and wellness. We also have the entertainment and business district program. This likewise will support staffing levels and respond to the increased calls for service in the city's entertainment districts and in the business districts. This will address an increase in some of the kinds of activities that have been occurring in those areas, such as fights, vandalism and other disorderly conduct by individuals, including individuals that are unhoused. The next program is the Community Youth Engagement. This includes a city team working with community based organizations and again, funding those collaborations with those community based organizations. And it really is a very it's a rich program where the city teams they they coordinate with to to offer programs such as Midnight Basketball Playground Partners and what they call summer night type programs in partnership with those local community based organizations. And this program, the funding covers officers overtime pay to participate in these programs like the Bicycle Program and the Community the WALKS Program. These programs are really all about relationship building by allowing the police officers to interact directly with residents. And in this program, the last program is the gun buyback program. And this was a council directed program last month that council approved. And this will involve a buyback event that's coordinated by a police department. And I'd like. I'd like to transition and briefly cover the the other programs that are really aimed at the the upstream to violence to prevent violence before it occurs. So I'll briefly walk through these programs. The first of these is the Be Safe program. This program has been offered for the last five years by the city's Parks and Recreation Department. And the funding that's proposed here would expand this program and offer activities for children, teens and adults to enjoy to enjoy summer evening hours and additional locations. And they already are being provided both in central west in north Long Beach. The next program is the Safe Passage program. This is likewise a violence interruption program. And it is this program is implemented by the health department. And it likewise expands upon a program that's already in progress. It provides safety to our residents or youth from gang related crimes against youth and families. And it's really focused on the hotspots that have been identified in the communities to offer safe passage for for for youth in the community. And on the other program is the Office of Youth Development. This is a summer neighborhood engagement program. It offers our youths training in civics leadership development in partnership, again with local community based organizations who would receive funding from the city to participate in these programs. And I'd one of the other particular efforts of this program is the foster community or neighborhood pride in the youth, in areas such as the Washington Street neighborhood, as well as additional neighborhoods in north and west Long Beach. A another program is the it's called the increasing funding to to current building youth social capital grantees. Again, a, this is a partnership with some of our community based organizations. This program is already in its currently existing. It would increase funding to the eight organizations in partnership with the city's health department currently. This funding will expand youth engagement opportunity in these existing work programs. We also have the Teen Center Enhancement Program. Fundamentally, this program expands existing normal operating hours for 16 centers in the community, and it expands those hours from 4 to 6 hours per day. It also allows enhanced enriched programing at these ten teen centers for four Long Beach youth. And we also have the. It's called career exploration. Exploring Space Beach. This funding is a variety of work based learning activities that raise awareness of careers in careers and academic opportunities in space technology and engineering. With our local emerging space tech partners that they include Virgin Orbit, Relativity and other a new space technology firms that have located here in Long Beach. Okay. I'd like to really briefly summarize the other the remaining programs that are part of their safety recovery plan. And these are programs, again, that were previously funded by the council approved Long Beach Recovery Act. And there are six programs. Here are the first is youth academic programs. This funding goes to the city library to expand library services and programs for teens. The Youth Life Coaching and mentoring. This program by the Health Department would establish a life coaching network and mentoring for youth in impacted areas of the city. The Youth Health and safety programing. This is a collaboration of both the health department, the police department, Parks and Rec, as well as community based organizations. And this is a very robust variety of programs. These activities occur in city parks at night. They include midnight basketball, as these are examples, because it's a pretty robust variety of programs midnight basketball, job readiness, life skills, family and teen enrichment and wellness classes and summer lunch programs just to name a few. So again, a very robust program that it requires a partnership between multiple city departments as well as our community based organizations. And then we have the the Be Safe program. I talked about that program earlier. This funding through the L we are a enriched that program which is already in operation and this expands that program to give it a higher impact in some of the cities communities that are impacted by violence. It provides access not just to the youth, but also to provides family supportive services. We also have the reentry pilot program. This program is to provide services, reentry support for individuals coming out of an incarceration setting. It actually integrates and provides support for mental health services, employment and other supportive services for these individuals that are reintegrating into our community. Then we have a mental health crisis, a response pilot. This funding provides a community, a community responder team that provides responses to calls for service that do not require a police response. These responders are these calls are typically the lower risk calls related to mental health addiction, and they do provide a collaboration with the city's homeless response teams. So that's a summary of the programs, both those that are proposed by. Proposed as a part of the program. And lastly, I'd just like to acknowledge that, like the city's CARES Act program that was implemented last year and closed out this year, this program incorporates strategies from the city's equity toolkit, and the proposed safety programs will be designed and reviewed through an equity lens to ensure that they reached the city's hardest hit communities and those areas that have been most impacted by COVID. The fiscal impact. This authorization is requested for this current fiscal year for up to 5 million and general fund. These costs are intended anticipated to be covered as we discussed earlier under the city's approved Long Beach Recovery Act funds. And these funds are currently set aside to cover budget shortfalls and to replenish the reserves for FY 21 and 22. And lastly, all of these funds are one time request and they do not involve any structural enhancements. In closing, I'd like to conclude with the recommendation that the City Council consider the proposed plan, provide input and policy direction, and also improve the plan and its priorities to address public safety impacts that the city is is experiencing due to the COVID 19 pandemic. And the final recommendation is to authorize the city manager to allocate, in this current fiscal year 21, the expenditure of up to $5 million in general fund group to implement this proposed safety recovery plan. That concludes the staff recommendation.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Linda, for that presentation. I know we have a number of people have been waiting for public comment. We're going to go to public comment first on this item, Madam Clerk.
Speaker 1: Well, the first five speakers line up when I call your name, Robert Castillo. Manuela Almaguer. Kenny Green. Alfredo Gomez. And David McGill Soriano.
Speaker 6: Thank you, council members. My name is Robert Castiel. I am the program manager for for work force department at Central Community Hispanic Association. Also more popular and popularly known as CHA. I specifically work with the reentry population at Central CHA. I work with a program that's funded by the Board of Border State of Corrections Community. We help individuals that are returning from prison back to their communities. I also oversee the staff that works with the with funding from the Department of Labor. They work with youth that are that have been there. They're justice involved. And, you know, so that's what I do, the central. I think that we do a very good job there. I want to believe that a lot of our success has to do with because we're culturally relevant. You know, some of my past experiences and my journey have helped me to help others. But besides just my life experience and things that I've gone through in my life, I also have an education. I have two master's degrees. I studied or earned my master's degrees that are future specific. I have one in theology also of a master's degree in psychology. So, you know, I look the way I look, but I consider myself a very educated person. And it has it has allowed me to just be real effective in working with the population that I work with.
Speaker 1: Mr. Love, to you. Your time is up.
Speaker 5: Okay. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Next beaker, please. Good evening, city council members of Long Beach.
Speaker 2: My name is Manuel McGarry. I'm a constituent of the sixth District. I've been a Long Beach resident for all my life. I am a product of the.
Speaker 1: Educational system here. I attended Woodrow Wilson High School as well as State Long Beach.
Speaker 4: And most.
Speaker 2: Importantly, am talking about identity. I am an older sister to four siblings and also the main breadwinner in my mixed immigration household.
Speaker 4: I remember being the age of 16.
Speaker 1: Excited to start my paid internship program at Central Chop. It was an opportunity to.
Speaker 2: Develop my workforce skills, but also more importantly, to put food on the table for my family.
Speaker 1: Seven years later, I've been given the privilege to work for the organization that has helped me navigate the.
Speaker 4: Educational system.
Speaker 1: And also shaped me into the person I am today.
Speaker 4: Working there, many.
Speaker 1: Of the participants I serve either have faced or have faced where situations and I have.
Speaker 4: Many of their challenges are brought up by gang violence.
Speaker 1: The justice system.
Speaker 4: Poverty and since.
Speaker 1: The pandemic have also been dealing.
Speaker 2: With mental health issues and homelessness.
Speaker 4: So it's important for the city to find existing community.
Speaker 2: Organizations where the change will happen.
Speaker 1: And continue to positively impact the.
Speaker 2: Lives of our community members. Thank you.
Speaker 6: Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon or good evening. My name is Kitty Greenhouse Work at Central Trial. Prior to me working at Central, I had 25 years experience working with gang intervention and working with the DISENFRANCHIZED. And that taught me a lot about how much that population have really dictates the quality of life in our communities . You know, as I look at your at the $5 million proposed proposal, you know, I hear, you know, it's law enforcement working with CDOs. But when you look at look at it's it's the 5 million is 85% law enforcement, 5% CDOs. And that's that's really misleading because, you know, we have CDOs like Central Cha, where I work for has a track record of public safety. They have a track record of dealing with justice impacted folks and getting those like those violent people, those people in and out of the penitentiaries. And it's a menace in our society to heal them. So they don't so our our community can heal and thrive. So we need to look at and I heard the second part, there is a little bit of money in reentry. But again, you know, it's not enough money. And if we're going to be community partners, you know, I think that the funding should, you know, be a little more. Equal because everybody that's into, you know, the work that we do, we have a track record of public safety. You know, so I know my time's up, but thank you. Thank you for your time. Next speaker, please. Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Alfredo Gomez. I made a long life, long life resident at West Long Beach, just as some of my colleagues were saying. I'm from central China as well. I started off as a youth. I was referred by the. By the department of actually the department were.
Speaker 5: I actually. I'm sorry. I was referred to.
Speaker 6: There by the. But the Department of Probation.
Speaker 5: As a youth and.
Speaker 6: As a product of that, actually gained a lot of knowledge and information to where I didn't know how to go about my life. I actually gained the knowledge to gain a job, to gain employment, a career. I didn't know how to hold a hammer when I was a teenager. I wasn't you know, I wasn't taught that this place actually gave me somewhere to be instead of being on the street and causing havoc. This place gave me a license. They gave me a refinery safety overview, which I learned in my first job at the refinery, and I was able to provide for my family opposed to being on the street. So community based organizations like this need to see more of the funding to make sure that this product doesn't go to waste and it actually becomes a servant of the society. And I'm just trying to give back. Thank you. All right, next speaker, please.
Speaker 5: Hey, this is David.
Speaker 6: I live in the Washington neighborhood.
Speaker 5: And honestly, I wish I had to be here. I was home watching the NBA Finals with the Bucks and Suns. The bucks just took that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, unfortunately.
Speaker 5: But this is. This is not it. When I'm looking at this budget, we're not investing enough into our local youth. We're not investing enough into violence prevention or really works.
Speaker 6: I'm a Washington neighborhood youth. I'm a Washington neighborhood emerging adult. Ah, our youth are crying for help. Our young men specifically are crying for help in that neighborhood, and we need to actually start supporting them. You know, the Neighborhood.
Speaker 5: Walks program that's getting a lot of funding. And since that has been implemented, there's been so much crime since then. Rafael, 22.
Speaker 6: Was killed while you sitting.
Speaker 5: In his car right there on 15th and cedar seatbelts. There are movies in the park, Seaside Park, while they were watching a movie. Right. The Last Dragon. So there's a shooting Anaheim in Cedar.
Speaker 6: And the families have to watch the movie with the helicopter going around Seaside Park with their lights. Beam can't even hear the movie anymore.
Speaker 5: These families deal with violence day to day. You just live in this neighborhood like Washington, Erin and others, just for now. You actually see where it's at. And we need to start solving the.
Speaker 6: Problems in our community because we're not we need to start bringing.
Speaker 5: Solutions and into our most hit areas.
Speaker 6: In an equitable manner. When you start listen up to our youth and asking them what they they most want now, just telling them what they need. Start investing in violence prevention in our youth and put in these funds into our youth so they can be empowered and lead us forward. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. The next five speakers Abraham Zavala, Franklyn Simms, Jordan Wynn, Jesse Johnson Jr and Leonard Adams Jr. Please line up. Abraham Zavala, Franklin Sims Jordan. When Jesse Johnson Jr. And Leonard Adams Jr. Is Abraham here?
Speaker 6: Mr. Jordan. Europe. All right. Just checking around. Yeah. Thank you. Jordan wins second district.
Speaker 5: I am deeply moved.
Speaker 7: By the testimony that has been given so.
Speaker 6: Far as I hope you are as well.
Speaker 7: Diversion and reentry programs change lives.
Speaker 6: Investing in our youth substantially changes lives. And it breaks my heart when I see these presentations.
Speaker 5: And I see easily.
Speaker 7: Two $3 million thrown to police infrastructure, and I see $60,000, $35,000 to youth programs and prevention. It's not fair. That's not how we should be investing, especially after a year. I'm not convinced.
Speaker 5: That the police needs this money. You're telling me that crimes involving firearms have increased 60% compared to last year, 2020 a year when almost all people, everyone stayed constantly isolated inside their homes. That doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 7: Crime is still down compared to where we were ten years ago.
Speaker 6: Even five years ago, even three years ago. And we can't use.
Speaker 5: That as a justification to go back.
Speaker 7: On our promise to commit to our communities. When we're thinking about crime intervention, we're thinking about prevention. That's where we have to jump in. We're not jumping in afterwards.
Speaker 5: In fact, the police in Miami does not have a good track record after the fact when it comes to crimes. Three in five violent crimes in Miami, two remain unsolved.
Speaker 6: We think of Fred Taft, say his name. Fred Taft.
Speaker 5: Who's murdered by hate crime, still remains unsolved. And so many more families.
Speaker 7: That do not get justice. Even more shocking, in.
Speaker 5: 2020, only 9.1%.
Speaker 7: Of all property crimes were cleared. That Martin Luther King Jr. Statue desecration. There's an over 90% chance that that won't be cleared at all. We need to invest in our communities and stop investing in things that don't work.
Speaker 6: Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. My name is Jesse Johnson. I'm the founder of the 100 Men of Long Beach, as well as the past advisory board member of Midnight Basketball. I want to commend the city council and the chief of police for a successful position. That was a successful program we had in the past. Midnight Basketball basically is a program where we assist and with youth by providing meaningful workshops to empower them and then let them play basketball close to midnight. It's been so successful. And thanks to both Mayor Doris Type-C our board and chess ancestrally Walter that we it started here and not about 1995 and there's actually 26 leagues throughout the nation and there's one in London. So again, thank you for this consideration. And this program is, again, well needed because it's a fact that when that program was not in existence, crime went up in the area. So, again, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, City Council Honorable Rex Richardson and all of the council staff. My name is Leonard Adams. I am from the sixth district of Long Beach. I am also the ex coordinator for Midnight Basketball. I was in charge of the program for 13 years. So if you heard anything about midnight basketball more likely? I was a part of it. So midnight basketball actually started in another city. It started in the city. Maryland, Glenn Arden, Maryland. It was started up by a city manager. His name was G. Van Standard Sanford. It was started because he started to notice between the hours of 8:00 and 2:00, there was a lot of crime, a lot of shootings that are break ins, residential burglaries. So he figured out a way how to get those those population of people to be in one spot at one time. So he started by going around town looking for empty buildings. And he found one and he installed some some basketball goals in it. And he invited kids in it. He let them play, just basically have free play. And later on, he developed a program called Midnight Basketball, which we had for 13 years here in the city of Long Beach. The crime went down about 60%, according to public records. Glenn Arden, Maryland. The program also was implemented by President George W Bush, not George W, but George H. Bush in 1990. He earned the honor grandstand for it and also call it 124 points of life. So if the city is willing to take a chance on our today's youth, I believe that midnight basketball is the perfect tool to have in our community to come back crime and to drive down the violence that has been occurring for the last year and a half. Thank you very much for coming next. Speaker, please.
Speaker 5: To be polite. This plan stinks like a porta potty and it's full of bad ideas and no toilet paper and only five months. This plan spends nearly $2 million on police salaries and overtime for just one investigation team. In fact, 92% of the plans $5 million will fund police salaries and overtime. Under this plan, police will get another almost half million dollars of even more overtime to walk the Washington neighborhood. But the city manager said that with 186 overtime hours, the police made only 300 contacts in Washington. That's one community member every 37 minutes. Steve Urkel could make more friends in 37 minutes. And it's a sad commentary when meeting neighbors requires overtime in a pilot program instead of simply being a part of your job. And then there are the bifocals. The city manager admits that an additional half million for bicycle cop is perfect for a waterfront business and entertainment districts. Well, that's just perfect because Mary, Sue, Lee, Roberto and Rex have beautiful waterfront and business entertainment districts. Ideal for bicycle camps. And when I'm done, the city manager will tell you there is a recovery plan for next year. Has plenty of work missing this year. It's not true. Most of next year's money goes to parks and library programs. We hardly have enough parks in the neighborhoods where the shootings are popping up and the library programs are great for kids, but they don't work for teens. Choosing between schools and gave one three, five, seven, nine. And the mayor, you're up for reelection. And this is the issue on everyone's mind.
Speaker 1: Mr. Simms.
Speaker 5: Are my kids safe? Am I safe? And the answer is, hell, no.
Speaker 1: The next five speakers Melissa morgan, Dr. Kim Tiberi, Adrianna Redmond, Jessie Johnson and Caroline Hines. Speakers. Can you please line up? Melissa morgan. Dr. Kim Tiwari. Adrianna Redman, Jesse Johnson and Caroline Hines.
Speaker 6: I think we already had Jesse. I don't see Doctor the bar here. I think we just have Melissa and Audrina and Carolyn.
Speaker 4: All right, 90 seconds. Remember these numbers, one 814 zero one. We have one person here, a guy from Washington neighborhood. He's our hope. He's our future. He's and we're fighting for and why we're showing up and staying late and missing our kids for dinner. One eight $8 million. You're squeezing into the police department's budget for fiscal year 21. Do not pass this program. Come on, you guys. Come on. Last year, you hear this? There are people in the street saying defund the police. What does that mean? Divest, invest, shift your money. Here's a gift thinking caps for each of you to think creatively outside of punitive work. I worked with Chief Luna in the past 15 years ago doing youth and gang violence prevention. This has not worked. Using police and using punitive measures does not work. We heard from that one gang. You're telling us you're giving police 8 million more dollars, 14. You want to increase the police budget by $14 million? That's two more health departments. We're saying get money to the health department, give money to Centro to give money to what works. We know what works here. Some sounds slick, slimy, slimy, sleazy, slightly sickening soap opera. That's what this police department's budget looks like. You're asking for money at the last minute, squeezing it in. The community has the answers. You hear us coming here? We're passionate. We can come to a principle for a day to have Washington. I live in Washington for a day. See what happens. Council members see what life is like on the other side.
Speaker 6: If you make speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Audrina Redmon.
Speaker 5: Resident of District two, BLM and the People's Party Coalition. I'm going to put this here because this says defund the police. This was a cry, a mantra. It is a call for an opportunity for the city to invest in something other than failed policies like the Long Beach Police Department. Specifically, I want to point out and reiterate what other people have said. But I am struck by two things. A couple of things, actually, Abel, which is the active bystander law for law enforcement. Now, why in the hell do we need something like that? Isn't that supposed to be a part of their training already? You're supposed to be able to to. To do policing, right? And to stop your fellow officer when they're murdering people and abusing people, which our city has a very strong record on. I'm ashamed that something like this has to be put into our budget. I'm ashamed that we have. What is this? The notion of an office of Constitutional Policing. I remember when Chief Luna came in and I went to a couple of his introductory meetings to the community, and I heard him talking about constitutional policing. It sounds like some more B.S. for police funding. There's plenty of money for the policing in our budget, existing 44% or more of our city's budget. We think that 25% of that ought to be taken away from the police department and reinvested into things the community really needs, reinvested into the hopes and and the direction expressed by David from the Washington neighborhood.
Speaker 1: That's Redmond. Your time is up. Thank you.
Speaker 5: I'm still talking the general fund. This is a guy's is $5 million additional money for the where the police department is is a ruse. It's all a ruse just to give them more money. It is not addressing any of the things the community talked to you about when you got down to those items in the in the in your budget. It was shameful is shameful how little you really care about the things the community was calling for and you're still doing what you've always done, which is hiding behind criminalizing people, which is hiding behind looking at folks as if they are are wanting to exist in the way that they are.
Speaker 6: Thank you. I appreciate you. I think we get the point. Thank you. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Good evening. My name is Carolyn Christian.
Speaker 9: Hines and I reside in the.
Speaker 5: Awesome and amazing District One with the leadership of the unstoppable and incredible memories and day House. As my council member.
Speaker 9: I am here tonight because I am a alumni of leadership, Long.
Speaker 5: Beach and as many of my colleagues are here as well. And why are things that we learned about as soon as we completed the process we had to serve. And my first service was with the midnight basketball camp and program.
Speaker 9: We were able to bring in young men who are not all.
Speaker 5: Justice involved, not all gang affiliated, but many of them did have needs. They were either service suffering from homelessness or food insecurity. And so the finding we need I'm going to ask I'm going straight for the ask.
Speaker 4: We needed to.
Speaker 5: Provide the program to deliver it to the participants. Midnight Basketball was an amazing program like Leonard already mentioned, but in Long Beach, it was rewarding. It was. It was inspiring and it was definitely effective. My background, I work in Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council in the County of Los Angeles. I'm a grip and gang reduction and intervention professional facilitator. I also work with the L.A. Regional Reentry Program, and I started out with the Long Beach Bars program with Operation Shortstop. So our background is to get them in the game, play the game, and then we do workshops. So I want you to just know two things. One, we need the money. Two, We are productive and it works. So if you want gang intervention and prevention crime to drop this, we need funding for money for the program. Some of them just can't they can't even play because they're hungry. So thank you for your time. Thank you, council members and thank you for the money.
Speaker 4: I'm asking the Libyans.
Speaker 6: Thank you. All right. So now we'll take the conversation back behind the rail, the making the motion. Councilwoman Allen, your comments.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Vice Mayor, and thank you, Linda, for the presentation. And also thanks to all the folks that make comments tonight. Leonard, I love the midnight basketball idea. And I also want to thank all of our officers who have gone above and beyond in these challenging times. And and I appreciate you. Our business districts are finally seeing visitor numbers increase and tourism return. They need all of our support to keep their customers feeling safe and secure and to protect their businesses and properties. With firearm assaults up, prohibited possessors out and about, and increased calls for police services and our business corridors and neighborhoods across the city. We needed to respond to these serious issues. I will not list all the programs that will be funded. They are in the report, but a few of my priorities will continue to be community policing, entertainment and business district policing, ensuring adequate adequate base staffing levels and proactively targeting prohibited possessors. Youth engagement. And. Violence, violence prevention and in all of its forms. The amazing funding that we're getting from the American Rescue Plan gives us an opportunity to support violence prevention programs and early intervention. I believe we must tackle current crime and implement structural programs to reduce future cycles of crime and violence. The plan. This plan takes an important step towards both of those goals. So thank you, Chief. Thank you, city manager, for your hard work. I will be supporting this item. And Chief, I do have a multipart question for you. So can you please describe the reductions in staffing that took place last year in our entertainment and business districts? And and also can you walk us through what additional staffing like bike officers and targeted district staffing might look like?
Speaker 6: Good evening, Mr. Vice Mayor and members of the City Council. Thank you for calling me up. Obviously, this is a very complex issue. Very passionate. Glad to hear there's a lot of passion in this room about it. In regards to the last question, in regards to how the bicycles and foot patrols would be utilized. It's all data driven. Each of our commanders that are in charge of each division participate in dozens and dozens of community meetings where members of the community come forward and they talk about the challenges that they see in their neighborhoods. We listen. We deploy to those needs and where the where those needs are needed. That's where we would deploy. Regarding last year's budget, we took about a $10.3 million reduction in the police department budget. Which equated to approximately 51 sworn positions. And as I have come before all of you on the city council, as we're dealing with violent crime. Almost all of you were looking at all of us in city management and saying, this is unacceptable. We need to stop this. I agree. It's absolutely ridiculous. Our shootings are up. They were up a lot more earlier in the year. Right now, they're up approximately 56%. It's not something we're just seen here in Long Beach. We're seeing it in almost every large city in America. There's an epidemic of violence. President Biden talked about it several weeks ago. He talked about funding more police. But putting more police on the street is not the only solution. So those cuts have impacted our city. And this plan that we're putting forward adds additional officers on the days and the hours and the specific areas based on data to keep people safe. And I keep on repeating myself and saying this over and over. We've had 21 murders this year. All but one are people of color. That offends me. Just like I'm sure it offends everyone else in this room. And my job is to stop it. My job isn't to put people of color in jail. I do not believe in mass incarceration. My job, though, is is to stop the people who are using firearms to hurt people in our community. And I intend to do that and continue to do that. And I see I this is a team effort. We have the best police officers in the country.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Chief.
Speaker 6: Thank you. Next, we have Councilwoman Pryce, the second year of the motion.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Chief, since you're up here. One of the issues that I've been very concerned about is the proposed changes to the air support unit last year. And I'm the one that brought the item to ask us to reevaluate the proposal for last year. I think the Air Support Unit is a really great resource. It's it's not a street resource. It's it's an above ground resource that has a higher a better view, better scope of what they're looking for and is very successful in crime prevention and and crime. Solving crime really can be. I know that the police department issued a memorandum recently in response to the item that I brought to council, but I didn't see that called out at all in the safety recovery plan. And to the extent that we're having these discussions, I would like to see the Air Support Unit continue to be evaluated in terms of what makes most sense, because if we have to lose patrol officers to put them in the air support unit, that's not beneficial for any of us. And so I want to make sure that that's something you don't have to talk about it. Now, I know that August 3rd is going to be the main public safety budget issue of presentation, but that is something that's concerning to me. The other area that I know I've talked with you about and the city manager about is the area of traffic safety. I'm very concerned about the number of traffic fatalities that we've had. I realize it's a different type of violent crime. And I'll tell you, every family member that I have met who's lost a loved one in a DUI collision will tell you it was a very violent offense to them and it was a very violent tragedy. And so I want to make sure that we're not forgetting traffic safety. Our traffic division has been reduced over the years, and that's really not allowed for a proactive outreach and education, reminder about speeding, reminders to people about the importance of not being impaired when driving a car, things of that nature. So I was disappointed, too, that there was no money in there for traffic as well. So those are.
Speaker 4: Two areas where I wish we could have.
Speaker 2: Contributed some more resources or allocated some more resources. I loved hearing from the audience today about some of the programs. I'm involved in several reentry programs and also diversion programs where we work with a lot of nonprofits that the the county and cities support. I think those programs are tremendously helpful. I think when you can walk alongside someone who is seeing things and getting support from the criminal justice system, nontraditional support partners and they succeed, that is the biggest reward ever. And to be able to work with people and get them into the trades as part of a reentry program, which is something I'm very involved in for folks that are coming out of prison, not jail, but but still it's so rewarding. Personally, it's so rewarding. And so I think those programs are great and I want to continue to support. Now we all know not all nonprofit organizations are built the same. So the foundation that an organization like center trial would have is going to be very different than maybe a newer organization. Everybody has to start somewhere. But I think those that have developed a strong foundation for rehabilitation, integration and access programs, I think we should continue to support them. And I'm glad to see that there is some support for those programs in the budget. I would love to see more, but of course it's always a balancing act and I look forward to hearing what my colleagues thoughts are on this topic and where that money might move around. But again, I, I would I would have liked to see a little bit more money for our support and traffic safety, because I think those are two very needed resources that every city should have and in the name of public safety. So thank you.
Speaker 6: Thank you. That was the motion in the seconder. I'd like to insert my comments here. I want to start with Mr. City Manager. So first of all, thank you for responding to the mayor's request. You were asked to do a public safety centered approach, largely because when we presented the recovery plan, there was no funding associated directly with the police department or safety. I want you to respond specifically to the claim about the funding being 80, 85% versus five or 15% for community. How would you respond to that?
Speaker 7: So as the assistant city manager talked about in the presentation, there are two components here. The original Recovery Act had about $3.6 million, and it was all violence prevention work. There was no public safety dollars in that. That wasn't actually an eligible use under the Recovery Act to begin with. That has changed and that has been changed at the federal level to also include safety type programs since that time. But when we proposed it, it was a 3.6 million there. So we heard very clearly from the council on multiple occasions about the need to address shootings and violent crime. And that really was our focus. So as we went back and looked at the safety recovery plan, we found the additional resources of 5 million. And so when you combine that with the Recovery Act money that was already funded, which is the longer term violence prevention, and a lot of that money is going to be going out to our community. When you put those two numbers side by side, it's about 53% would go towards safety programs in the police department and 47% would go towards violence prevention programs. So I think it's important to look at all of that together as a as a response plan.
Speaker 6: So the. What's the timeline on the violence prevention police? Do you anticipate that these all rolled out around the same time?
Speaker 8: Yes. Fundamentally, the a lot of the work for the Long Beach Recovery Act program rollout is underway. And we anticipate most of the programs that will fund community based support of implementation of those programs, those RFP will be going out within the next 30, 30 to 45 days. And all of the the various community based organizations that support the basketball programs, the reentry programs and all of those, they would be eligible to respond to the RFP and participate in those programs. In addition, though, the staff has a relationship with a lot of those organizations in the community. So what we do in advance of submitting the RFP is to to reach out to those individuals to make sure that they're aware that it is coming out and just make sure that they apply if they are interested in receiving that funding.
Speaker 7: And part of the strategy, if I can add, vice mayor, is we're dealing with shooting crises right now. So right now we know we've got programs that need to get funded, especially on the safety side that really is urgent. We can put those overtime dollars to use almost immediately. We can react very quickly with our own staff and some of our Be Safe program, and they're just adding more hours to people who are already on the payroll. Our nonprofits, we we really like working with them and supporting them. There is a competitive process we have to go through to make sure that we're allocating dollars fairly. So those do take a little bit longer and those are our longer term strategies. So both will happen. But there is a timing perspective on which dollars we can spend a little faster.
Speaker 6: Okay. So two, two things respond to that. First, I think we need to do a better job being clear about what people can expect in terms of the comprehensive approach. I think we need to lean in. I'm a big believer in violence prevention. Some people say it's fantastic. I know that it works upstream and downstream. So we need to talk about we need to when we present this, we need to focus on these are the things we're doing upstream. These are the community supports that we're putting in place or reinforcing. Here are strategies and here's where the suppression comes in. Here's where the Neighborhood Safe Streets program comes in. Here's how we're addressing this. And I think the responsibility is on us as the city to take that additional step and explain that to folks. I really want to see more of that moving forward. The second thing I would say is I want to thank all the speakers here, particularly the young man from the Washington neighborhood. I thought he had a very impactful statement. And what he really spoke, talked about was investing in youth and investing in youth works personally. Is that and I won't use the example, but my first year in office, there were three incidents that happened right before I took office violence and impacted four young men. And I was I was 30 at the time or 29 before right before I took office. And these three men, they met, I mean, they were very similar, similar age. You know, it happened these incidents happened all in the middle of the day between 12 and two and unrelated. They didn't know each other. But it struck me because I wasn't that far in age from where they were. And I asked myself the question, where was I at 2:00 and during a weekday? Where was I when I was that age? And I was blessed enough to have the opportunity to go to college? Some people were blessed enough to go into the, you know, have a good job or go into the military. And I always ask my question. I ask myself if we did lean in to those types of opportunities for more of those young people or those young men in particular, would they have been in that place at that time to be a part of that incident? And I firmly believe that the. More. We invest in them, we can impact their lives and it's backed up by data. You look at the victims of gun violence going back the last decade, the majority of them between the ages of 18 and 29. And that's the age group. They're vulnerable age group. We know where they are, you know where they live. And so if we use that, we we should continue to invest in useful. So I believe that we we certainly the way we talk, the way we walk and the way we invest, we have to continue to invest in youth. And that's the neighborhood support. But I also know as a council member, there's a lot of time where, you know, I actually, you know, set a budget aside because when bad things happen, they get they need to get a phone call. There's community support that needs to happen. You talk to the neighborhood group, you go do a community walk these things on violence happens. It it leaves and it makes an impact on the community. And so our communities want the shootings to stop. And we are one city team. So there needs to be invested in community and there also needs to be suppression. Police are a part of our city team. There needs to be we need to look at it comprehensively. And so as we invest, we need to make sure we're thinking with left side, right side of the brain. And we're doing we're standing up as one city family. In terms of some of the specifics here, I think, you know, question was raised about the bikes. I've been a fan of bikes because we've had bikes in North Long Beach. I just want to be clear that, you know, we have an uptown business district, but even outside of the Uptown Business District, I want to make sure I want to see some bikes on Artesia Boulevard. I want to see some bikes on Long Beach Boulevard, Atlantic Avenue. So so just first question. Can we just be clear that the bike program is not limited to the entertainment district? It's a question. No, it's not limited to just the entertainment areas. As a matter of fact, the primary role in the entertainment areas is more foot beats. That's been very effective. It's the foot beats that saved a young man's life when there was a triple shooting at the park about three weekends ago. Those are very effective in regards to bicycles. All of you I know have outstanding relationships with your division commanders. If there is an area where you see the need, you can absolutely talk to that commander. And they will provide that service if the staffing allows. Right. And, you know, I had a community walk with Commander's Able yesterday and she very much so supports doing doing activities. The next thing is, how can we I know that there's talk about business districts and funding for business district. There's both funding in the recovery plan for business districts. How can what I love to see as a part of this is a plan or strategy for each of those business districts. I don't want just P.D. operating in a silo from the security that assessments pay for. There's private security there. There are lighting plans. There are September plans. I would really love to see what the strategies are going to be to integrate on the business corridor. Atlantic Avenue. Michelle Obama Library. Artesia Boulevard. Right. Uptown Business, I think, is an example of a business that's very different than, say, the downtown entertainment district. And it really requires a little bit of focus. And so that's something that I'm going to be looking for. And the last thing I'll say is, with this with this program, I would love to see how we're going to how we're doing right. Let's get a report back on the safety recovery plan. We've asked for a report backs on every one of the recovery plans. I think this should be no different. So we should have report backs on how on what the impact the community is based on community impact, positive negative use data. And let's show some some impacts because if these strategies work, we want to stand up and say this strategy worked, this one didn't. And so I think that's incredibly important. So I support what's in front of us today. I think we can go a little bit further in terms of investment. I'm never going to turn down additional investment for North Long Beach and communities like North Long Beach. I'm never going to turn it down, so we need to continue to invest. But I support what's in front of us today. Next is Councilwoman Longo.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Chief. You mentioned that your department took well. First, let me go back. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you for staff for putting together the proposal. Thank you for the context that you provided, Mr. Modica. And thank you for all the very passionate speakers and. To to kind of touch on some other topics that my colleagues said before I go into my list of questions. I just want to echo the comments of my colleague, Councilman Price. I remember when I first was deployed to Lakewood Station, my sergeant said, the first thing you do is call air ops. It's worth 18 units on the ground. To be able to cordon off an area in a meaningful way is much more comprehensive and and often results in chases and other high risk things where an air support is just a different tool and having sworn. Both in the pilot's seat and calling out all the different things is just a huge asset that I just don't think people know or understand unless you've heard the difference on the radio. And I say the same of dispatch that I've said it in the past and things like that. But just to reiterate air support and how impactful it can be. Prevent chases, prevent all other sorts of things and the be safe program huge supporter of be safe every year as budget chair committed additional funds to be safe and I just believe in it so much and I think that it's a great program that we just have to continue to invest in. And I appreciate. Councilmember Richardson's continued advocacy for his his areas and his districts. I would just reiterate that we all have areas that we think are important, and I would just hope that we continue to focus on the data that's related to the specifics, because I know that the specific comments I'm sorry I'm losing my breath with this mask.
Speaker 6: Is.
Speaker 4: Really hard to speak in this mask. I shouldn't have worn burlap mask on on a council night. That the commanders know the data as well. And we just need really responsive data. And I don't know if you're getting the data as quickly. I know the systems used to not be as I know they were antiquated. I don't know what your time lapse is on accurate data, so I hope that you have that to make those decisions. And then I would just my last question was or I guess my main question, Chief, you mentioned that your department took a $10 million reduction, but I believe you also have a savings target. Do you know what your savings target is this year in terms of millions?
Speaker 6: We'll have to get back to you on that.
Speaker 4: Because I think that that's another component of this. I mean, if your department's been asked to save $2 million or $3 million or $4 million, I think that that's just another component of of. Areas where there isn't funding. And while I appreciate that some of these funds are coming in to target specific programs, and that's great. There's a lot of complexity in your budget, and I appreciate that you're you're working through that. And those savings are critical. I had an item that I've pulled from tonight, but you lost 80 officers last year. And you're about to lose another 30 officers this year. And. It's difficult to be a police officer. And the only way that we can continue to grow with the community is by onboarding.
Speaker 5: New.
Speaker 4: Young police officers and training them well. And so I really am passionate that you have the resources to make sure that your academy next year is funded. And I'd like to see a way that that happens. I know you have savings targets, but I. I don't see how we move forward without those things. Targets are one thing, but I'd love to see a dedicated set aside of funding that's necessary to restart your department. Thank you.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Councilwoman Zoro.
Speaker 2: Thank you, vice mayor. You know, I do appreciate having, you know, this Long Beach safety recovery plan and that there's just so much that's gone on in all rounds of violence, two crimes. And I think as a person who's come from doing youth development and leadership work as well as violence prevention, I think that that, you know , I believe and I've always spoken about believing that it works and investing in our community. But I also believe that we do have to have a balanced approach to also making sure that when people do want to call the police, that they're there available. Right. The services are there because I do get residents requesting for these services. And so I think that it's making sure people also feel that they're getting a response when, you know, as far as calls for police, when they do ask for it. So so I do believe that with the percentage of youth violence prevention and ensuring that we do think about the programing that is coming through the safety program. And I would like Chief Looney to speak to the community policing aspect of these programing, because I'm interested in learning while some of these are pilot. I'm interested in learning. How has that improved or is working towards or if it's a that's your goal to work towards increasing, you know, the relationship and trust in the community because that's one of the things that has, you know, in the past year demonstrate has been broken. And, you know, I'm interested in learning how how you think these programs are helping to do that.
Speaker 6: Yes, ma'am. Council member sorrow fundamentally from the time we recruit our officers and I think many of you and many in the audience, potentially even on television, have been involved in our civil service process when we hire new police officers. And you cannot be hired as a Long Beach police officer unless you talk about community policing, partnerships, diversity. That's the kind of police department we are and we've evolved into. So when that's just getting hired, when we train you. Whether it's in the academy, which is six months long, and then another year long program out in the field. Those are the things that we emphasize. So in some of these programs we're talking about now, and by the way, the emphasis is really on partnerships. A police department cannot be successful if it's not partnered with its community and vice versa. You need safety. It comes from both sides, and each and each and every one of our officers is trained that way. The standard is that way. Do we fall short once in a while? We're human. Of course we do. But I'm proud to say it's probably less than 1% of the time. But in some of these programs we're talking about as an example, our Neighborhood Walks program. I can't tell you how many police departments around the country are calling us to say, hey, how did you do this? What did you come up with? And basically what that is, is taking officers who work in a beat. And remember, we work in police cars because our number one priority is response time. We have one of the best priority one response times in the country. When people die, dial 911. They want a police officer there as soon as possible. So what we did is, hey, how do we connect better with the community? And we tried it first in the Washington Middle School area. We're currently doing it up on the market corridor up in North Division. And it's the officers coming back. And walking that beat so that people know each other on a first name basis. Yes, in a perfect world, if officers had more time when they get out of the cars to do that, we'd love that. But when we're handling 600 calls for service every 24 hours and making at least a thousand contacts per day in a 24 hour period, I know there's been some comments in here, but they're false. They're not real. I can give you the data. And when you're doing that, you don't always have the time. In this Neighborhood Walks program. You have the ability to get out and know the kids, know the parents, vice versa. I want the officers to know then I want them. I want each of them to humanize each other. And that's what our officers are doing. And they're doing an amazing job. There's stories of people just hugging the officers. Thank God you're here. You hear stories of people not liking cops. That's you get out there. And 80% of the people running it who love the officers in their neighborhood, they absolutely love them. So this program so far is working well. We modify it as time goes on because we want that connection that will make us safer. A lot of the programs that have been talked about here in the audience will make us safer. It's a collective effort. It is a balanced approach. And at the end of the day, that's a goal to make our neighborhood safer.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Can I add just one thing? I know my time's up, but I just wanted to make sure to do a shout out for them. Midnight Basketball. I appreciate Mr. Leonard and Mr. Johnson being here to share, and I hope that we can kick off the first midnight basketball in the sixth District where it started. So I know there has to be an RFP process, but I'm hoping that will get it in and get it kicked off in the sixth District. Thank you.
Speaker 6: All right. Thank you, Councilwoman. And they have.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Vice Mayor, and thank you to staff for the presentation and thank you to both of my first district residents, Carolyn and David, for being here and for speaking up and everybody else who provided their their public comment. I want to especially thank you, David, for your passion and dedication to our first District youth in our neighborhood, Washington area. I'm very proud to support and help fund your organization, books and budgets, which aims to provide alternative opportunities to our youth in our Washington neighborhood. In the First District, we continue to face the most shootings and violent crimes. This is why I know it is important that we acknowledge and to work quicker and more efficiently to address these issues of violent crimes and preventative measures. The reason that we talk so much about safety issues is because we are passionate about that, about speaking up for our youth. We want. Either our youth to grow up in a healthy and safe environment because they are the future and must be a key component of our violence prevention solutions. That is why I am a huge advocate and supporter of youth programs that seek to mentor, empower and support our youth to to head towards the best possible path for their future and ours. And one particular organization that is introducing this opportunity to the first district community is, again, books and markets, which I am very proud of . I think that we need to really. Look at programs that are making a difference in the youth that we have in our communities, like midnight basketball, like books and buckets, and so many other programs that help our community heal and that help a community move forward. Because right now we are going through a lot right now with violent crimes and shootings almost on a on a weekly basis. And it's it's got to stop. And we need to work together to make that happen.
Speaker 6: Thank you. All right. So just looks like that concludes council comment. Just one outstanding question and thank you, Councilmember Mongo, for raising it. Mister City Manager or Chief, what is the status of the Academy for next year?
Speaker 7: So we are planning for an academy next year that is going to be for F1 22. We do fund that using attrition savings and so we can get you some more information on that. We don't have yet a final amount or when. If you remember, we just graduated an academy in March 2021. We do our looking at attrition rates of probably between 50 and 80 over the next this year that we're going to need to replenish. And so that is planned for F1 22.
Speaker 6: Okay. A second question. I know that you're working on and you know, you don't have to share it if you're not ready for it yet. But what can we anticipate? A report on the the paramedic alternative response report that you're working on. What's the E.T.A. on that tomorrow? Okay. Well, we'll have to look at tomorrow. Okay. All right. Just so here's what I heard. I heard people want a balanced approach. I think your clarification, you know, 5050, that demonstrates a balanced approach. Council member Sorrell said, Hey, residents, when they pick up the phone, they want to make sure that we have a responsive response time that we show up on time. I hear that from my neighbors. I think that's a universal across across the city. So I think you're hearing that data and reporting or response data and accountability and reporting. I think that's a standard. Air support has been raised three times by the council. Investments in the community, we really heard that come out very, very clear. So we need to lead with that in the future investments in the community. And then seems like Midnight Basketball is a pretty popular program, so we're looking forward to hearing when I can get going. That's it. Thank you all for your comments. And members, please cast your vote.
Speaker 1: Motion carries eight zero.
Speaker 6: All right. So I lost my paper that showed me which item was doing that. Okay. We're going to take we're going to pick up item number 25.
Recommendation to receive a presentation on the proposed Long Beach Safety Recovery Plan (Plan), provide input and policy direction, and approve the Plan and its priorities to address the public safety impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic utilizing available federal relief funding; and 

Authorize City Manager, or designee, to allocate in Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 21) the expenditure of up to $5 million in the General Fund Group to implement the proposed Plan.  (Citywide)