Speaker 0: I'll give Doug another round of applause for his lifetime of service. Congratulations. Okay. Great. I know we have a full agenda. We are going, like I mentioned before, to the item that most people are here for so we can get them on their way. And that is going to be item 34. So if I can have the clerk, please read.
Speaker 1: Item 34 Report from Economic and Property Development Financial Management Recommendation to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Grand Prix Association of Long Beach for the production of an annual Grand Prix race and associated events District two.
Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. We're going to turn this over, I know, to Mr. West, it's a staff presentation. Mr. Mayor.
Speaker 4: Council members, some time ago, the council directed us to do an RFP to look at the opportunities to continue our relationship with the Grand Prix or potentially to a Formula One race. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to our assistant city manager, Tom Modica, who will walk us through the process.
Speaker 10: Thank you, Mr. West, Mr. Mayor and members of the city council, we're here tonight to really give the culmination of a tremendous amount of effort and work that has gone in over the the last year or actually a year or two to really look at the possibility of a street race in Long Beach and whether to go with an IndyCar type race or a Formula One type race. There's been a tremendous amount of analysis and review. And what we're going to do with you tonight is walk you through the process that we used and talk about the kind of three different groups that we use to analyze the proposals. You're going to hear directly from our outside experts, KPMG, who we brought on board as this is very technical analysis and we needed some outside assistance to make sure that we're fully understanding both of the proposals. We will review City Staff's recommendation and ask for some direction to take the next steps in negotiation. And then we also want to spend some time to talk about the future potential of the shoreline area. That's something that I believe the council has been very interested in and the mayor has been actually very involved in in leading this. I believe he wants to make some comments about kind of the future of the shoreline area and the next steps there. So getting into the presentation. I'm trying to get this to work. Pardon me? Here we go. So one to cover a little bit of background, what is Formula One and what is IndyCar? So Formula One is the highest class of single seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the FIA. Formula One are the fastest road course racing cars in the world. Europe is really the sport's traditional base and hosts about half of each year's races. But the scope, the sport's scope has expanded significantly and an increase in the number of Grand Prix is are held on other continents now. There were 21 Formula One races held in the 2016 season, and those include places like Austin, Texas, Melbourne, Australia, Singapore, Sochi, Russia, Montreal and Canada and many others. IndyCar was founded in 1994, and that's the IndyCar Series. And is is the sanctioning body for the Verizon IndyCar Series. The Grand Prix Association of Long Beach currently operates and promotes the existing IndyCar event for the Long Beach Grand Prix, and it has conducted three races and Long Beach for the past 42 years. The current Grand Prix event is the largest single street race in North America and the second largest event on the Verizon IndyCar Series calendar behind the Indy 500. ABC and NBC provide comprehensive, live, high definition television coverage of the Verizon IndyCar Series in the United States, and ESPN International has race coverage in over 212 countries of our race. The Verizon IndyCar Series has 17 events on the 2017 schedule, and that includes places like Long Beach, obviously Indianapolis, St Petersburg, Florida, Birmingham and Toronto. So I wanted to cover a little bit of the proposals in the RFP process and the process that we use to be arriving in front of you with the recommendation today. So we when directed by the Council, the Council really started this process asking staff to look into whether or not Formula One or Grant or IndyCar would be the best fit for a Long Beach. And so having given this direction, we went out and found some assistance in developing an RFP, and our RFP was released on October 5th, 2016. Responses originally due on the 28th, and we allowed some extra time based on the request of the proposers to November 28, 2016. Responses were received by two groups, the Grand Prix Associates of Long Beach and World Automotive Championship of California, or WACC. Subsequently, two rounds of clarification questions were issued. So we spent a number of months really looking at the data and the proposals and then had some additional questions and issued those questions on May 18th and June 12th to both groups so that both groups could respond to those questions. And then each proposal submitted clarifying questions. So we had the responses reviewed by three separate groups. One was our economic and property development staff and our management team. We also brought on some outside consulting expertize as this is a very technical field and we engaged KPMG Corporate Finance and they have a sub consultant apex circuit designed to really do that due diligence and analysis of the selection process. And then we also had a third group that was doing interviews with the proposals and that consisted of city staff and some outside specialists in economic development and special events. So the KPMG study really provided for that technical qualification. They're looking at technical qualifications, assessment of technical reasonableness and achievability. They're commenting on economic data, the assessment of financial capability and review of all the financial data that's submitted by both groups in assessment for commercial viability. They provided a very significant report and that is attached in in your packets for you to review. And also, we consulted with our public safety personnel, our public works and our planning staff on any of the changes or improvements to the city's infrastructure and public safety plans. We had an interview panel as well that consisted of staff from the Economic and Property Development Department, Public Works and Long Beach Police and Fire. We also brought on a board or a member from our city's Economic Development Commission to help provide some of that expertize. And then we also went outside to the city of Los Angeles mayor's office for special events to get an outside view as well. And so with that, I'd like to turn it over to our KPMG team for them to walk through a little bit of what they found. And then we will follow up with the city staff's recommendations.
Speaker 5: Thank you. My name is Gareth Lee and I represent KPMG Corporate Finance. As noted, the city retained KPMG on April 18th to review proposals received for the city of Long Beach Grand Prix. Following the execution of our agreement. KPMG mobilized our team, including the International Expertize of Apex Circuit Design Ltd, in order to conduct our review of the proposals. I'm a I'm accompanied here today by Clive Bone, founder and Director of Apex Circuit Design Ltd. The scope of our assessment was to provide, review and comment to staff on the major area of areas of the proposals in line with the city's stated evaluation criteria presented in the request for proposals. Areas of focus included economic, financial and technical. As shown, the city stated nine evaluation criteria in the request for proposals, including things such as competence, experience, financial capacity and economic impact. Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, which I will refer to as GPA, was the incumbent provider. GPA indicated a continuance of a ten and a half day format, culminating in a three and a half day Grand Prix during round two of the clarifications. Both proposer teams were requested to confirm their ability to organize an event in 2019 which GPA was able to do. GPA indicated that they did not anticipate changes to the circuit footprint beyond adjustments for safety and identified that they have Coastal Commission approval for another four years. They have an existing FIA grade two license and demonstrated sanctioning body support in the form of a letter from the CEO of IndyCar with respect to potential economic impacts to the city. GPA included an estimate of $40 million in their proposal. However, they were unable to produce the report supporting that estimate, and we were therefore unable to substantiate that claim. GPA also provided a detailed schedule outlining set up time and take down times of 16 of 60 and 1717 days respectively. I will now hand over to Clive, who will summarize the Formula One proposal.
Speaker 4: Thanks, guys.
Speaker 5: So for Formula One, we had a submission from the World Automobile Championship of California, also known as WEC for Short, who are the bidding promoter for the Formula One race in Long Beach? The wax submission proposes a long weekend of activity, starting with free practice on Friday, qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday with supporting events for spectators throughout that weekend. It's interesting that White can't commit to an earlier first date than 2020, and I will explain later about why the circuit will need to be upgraded to host Formula One as the existing IndyCar circuit doesn't meet the minimum track length for Formula One. So two extensions have been proposed as upgrades, together with more general upgrade to meet the higher safety standards required. And no change to the existing infrastructure can commence without Coastal Commission approval. And we don't believe that work have yet opened a dialog with the Coastal Commission, a process we understand can take two years. Formula One is the highest level of motorsport sanctioned by the FIA, with the international sanctioning body, a French named entity translating roughly to the International Automotive Federation. And the circuit will need to accommodate an FIA Grade one standard. Formula One cars are mandated to run on circuits which have smoother, flatter surfaces, have more energy absorption in their barrier systems, and are engineered to a higher standard than for a grade two standard, which is the current specification for Long Beach. The process of homologation or being issued with a circuit license by the FIA starts with a full design submission to the FIA Circuits and Safety Commission followed, following which the FIA design approval is usually achieved in a few months and the actual circuit license is only ever issued once the upgraded facility is complete and ready to host an event. The sanctioning process with the FIA can only commence once there's a contracted event in place with the city of Long Beach. Concurrent with the design approval process with the FIA, then the World Motorsport Council will need to approve the event for the following year's calendar. Hence the claimed inability to achieve an event sooner than 2020. Somewhere in all of this, too, would be the negotiations with the commercial rights holders for Formula One. Neither bidder provided any economic impact analysis to review, and so we can't substantiate the $100 million claim for economic benefit to the city of Long Beach. Lastly, the submission proposed a quicker set up and teardown schedule than the current program, which is interesting, but probably the result of having a permanent pit structure in place in their proposal. I'll just give you a little bit of a synopsis of the tracks that are proposed. I presume that most here are familiar with the existing IndyCar layout, but I'll summarize it briefly. It's entirely temporary in terms of setup. The pit and paddock complex are based in and around the elephant parking lot. The team set themselves up in here and control the race from here. The pit lane, which provides a safe mechanism for access to and from the circuit, uses the northern carriageway of the east side of Shoreline Drive, a road, by the way, made of a concrete slab, something I'm going to refer to later. The pit lane joins the track, which uses the southern carriageway, a short line drive heading west and turn one. The Toyota turn is a 90 degree left hander opposite the Pike outlets and starts a low speed sequence past the Aquarium of the Pacific. Around the aquarium garage and back onto Shoreline Drive at turn five, a small section of track runs in the opposite direction on the approach to turn six, which is a 90 degree left turn onto Pine Avenue, a very bumpy and cracked concrete surface, and then turn eight takes the track along seaside way, which by the way is one of the better sections of Resurface Road before the track, then peels across the elephant parking lot and rejoins Shoreline Drive the hairpin at turn 11 on Shoreline Drive is the final turn before the run to the finish line opposite the pit lane. By comparison. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the submission made by Wack to show their proposed track layout. Norm in this industry would be to submit a 3D computer aided design submission. Even at this early stage in proceedings. So to assist you in understanding our interpretation of their sketch, a handwritten sketch, and the written submission from Wack, we prepared this. The track is notionally the same as that used by IndyCar, but to achieve the additional lengthier extensions at each end of Shoreline Drive. So Turn five is now a left hander running west and you hairpin is established after 65 yards before the Queensway overpass and then follows the existing last until the track rejoined Shoreline Drive . After crossing the 11 parking lot, a new hairpin near Iteration Boulevard intersection is required, resulting in a net increase in track length to just over the mandated minimum of two miles wack identified certain upgrades, namely a fixed pit structure which might be permanent or semi-permanent, similar to that used in the Singapore Marina Bay Circuit or Albert Park in Australia. This pit structure is proposed to be 520 feet in length and 40 feet in depth, which would make it the smallest on the F1 calendar. The track would be widened on the approach to and into aquarium wear at turn one. And of course the two new corners which have already been described back, acknowledge that some road improvements are required. And I'd like to draw attention to the fact that all of the track on Shoreline Drive and on Pine Avenue will require re-engineering on one hand, you back to Catholic. I can. So in summary, GPI has confirmed its ability to conduct race in 2019 with no changes to the existing format and existing permits and licenses in place. However, it is noted that GPA has been unable to confirm economic impacts associated with the event, while on the other hand has indicated that they are unable to organize events in 2019 and based on the information reviewed are scheduled to the achievement of permitting and approvals was not made clear and presents additional risk for the implementation of this option. In addition, the city's financial liability under this proposal is also not clear.
Speaker 7: While materials were provided and.
Speaker 5: Reviewed indicating the benefits of Formula One on other regions and economic impact assessments specific to the city of Long Beach was not made available. Lastly, the work proposal includes structures that may limit long term redevelopment and impact city parking spaces in the area.
Speaker 10: So we wanted to now review and now that you've heard some of the analysis that your proposals city staff is recommending that the Council give us direction to begin negotiations with the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, and we wanted to review some of the proposed lease terms with you. I want to be clear, you're not approving a lease tonight. You were essentially giving staff direction to go and negotiate. And we wanted to give you a sense of the areas that we were going to be working on. We will work on those planning council direction and then come back to you with an actual one agreement that will be negotiated and ready to be approved. And so those proposed lease terms are in your packing, on the screen and on briefly go over some of those. It would be a five year initial term with a15 year option at the city's option to extend the term. We would require that all physical improvements to the track be the responsibility of the promoter. There would be a minimum of at least 14 cars to participate in the race, and that race would occur in April unless unless otherwise authorized. The promoter will be required to submit a schedule of all the planned races for events for race week which the city will approve. We are also going to be asking the promoter to essentially match the WACC proposal as much as possible to reduce the current set down and take the set up and take down times . And we would negotiate what that is and of course make sure that it's a time that is also abides by all the safety requirements in addition to reducing that sit down, set up and take down time. One of the things we do want to add is a requirement that the promoter would take responsibility to alleviate some of the negative physical impacts that we've seen. Those are things like markings on our streets. Your city staff has spent a lot of time over the past year trying to test a number of different solutions to get those marks off the street. And we believe we are successful and have now identified one that can safely remove them. So we'll be including that into the agreement. We want the parties to agree on a promotional package to be provided to the city. This is to help with our economic development efforts. We also want to ensure that we have an outreach program for disadvantaged youth so that they can participate in in the Grand Prix as well. The promoter will pay a race fee, administrative cost reimbursement and all extraordinary costs, reimbursements and lost revenues to the city so that the city is not financially on the hook for anything. And we would have no responsibility as a city for out-of-pocket expenses associated with the race. And then finally, one of the things that did come to light during this process is we need some better data on our economics that there is. Both parties really didn't have the type of data we were looking for, for economics. And so we'd be requiring Grand Prix Association of Long Beach to provide an economic impact study that the city would work with them on, on finding a qualified vendor, and then periodically update that so that we have some some real data on what the economic impacts would be. So the next steps we're asking for your direction to execute and into an exclusive negotiating agreement for up to 90 days. We hope to be back within 90 days. We would have the ability to have 230 day extensions for any unforeseen circumstances. We would negotiate the terms and others, the terms I just described as well as some others, and bring all that back to you for final approval. And with that, I believe the mayor had wanted to have a little bit of a discussion about some of the kind of future potential of this area and how this fits in with the Grand Prix.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Murdoch. And I want to just begin, of course, by thanking staff for their extensive review. And I also want to thank I know the council has been very involved in ensuring that this was a process that was open and ensuring that it was also a process that was fair, but one that also, I think , address some of the needs of the of the city, whether it was around ensuring that we had strong infrastructure and some of the the needs of the business community as well. And so I do want to thank the Grand Prix Association or the folks from F1 that were also involved and everyone that contributed to the process. I wanted to just also mention a few things. I think it's important to talk as we go into this process and as if the council moves forward tonight and begin negotiations with the Grand Prix Association. There's also been some conversation around the actual site itself. And so I just want to say a few brief notes about what is happening when it comes to this this site. So we know that the Grand Prix, of course, also and the track of the Grand Prix is also built around a very large parcel of land that is in the downtown area. The lot is sometimes called the elephant lot. It's highly used not just by the Grand Prix for that for the event, but of course we know is used extensively by the CVB for numerous events for parking, it's used for events, it's used for Long Beach. Pride uses it for many of their events. So it is a pretty active staging ground for for many of the events that happen in the city of Long Beach. At the same time, it's also an underdeveloped site as well. And so one of the things that I was I just want to make sure folks know is that over the course of the next few months, I had I've already been and already engage with Councilwoman Pearce as well as the District two team and city staff. But we will be launching a visioning process for the long term use of that site and the long term development of that site as well. This will also concur concurrently as the city begins to redo the PD six zoning zone. So for those that aren't aware with our our zoning jargon, that part of the city is actually called the zoning. A name is PD six and it needs also an update for zoning. And that's since we did the downtown plan many years ago. But PD six or basically south of Ocean was not done. And so there are many partners at the table from our residential community to the Dolby to the CVB and the Grand Prix and others that need to be at the table as part of that process, as well as, of course, the business community and the businesses that are there along the coast. This is a process and the visioning process. I will also say there will be a lot of interested folks involved. I have assured those who are involved, including those with our current race, that the Grand Prix would be and will be an important player and partner in any discussion about the future of the site, as would be the other partners like Long Beach Pride and others that use that site for large events. And so I do want to thank everyone that's been involved in that. And I just let you all know that in the course of the next few months, you will be hearing a lot about the beginning early stages, which is essentially visioning process to begin having a citywide conversation long term about what we do with the incredible amount of land that is there along the coast of the city. And so I wanted to say that because we've had a lot of questions about that, and I look forward to working, of course, with Councilwoman Pierce and the city on that process. And so with that, I'm going to turn this over to the the maker of the motion and the seconder. And then if there is an objection, I'm going to go to public comment or I can go through the whole council and then do public comment. It's really up to when we do public comment first. Okay. So why don't we go ahead and go and do public comment on this is public comment for the Grand Prix and for and for this contract. And then we'll come back to Councilwoman Pearce. So let me begin. I'm going to invite first I know that there was a request from from Jim to come up and say a few words first. So if Jim, you could please come up and then we'll do begin public comment.
Speaker 4: But thank you very much, Mayor Garcia, members of the city council, city staff. You know, 43 years ago, a unique proposal came before the city. City then was known primarily as a Navy town and it was looking for a way to increase its identity. And Long Beach, as the Grand Prix Association was looking for a place to stage a race, a lot of transpired. In the interim. Look at the city now. Dynamic, vibrant, growing. And the Grand Prix Association, too, has grown over those years. It has become the largest street race in the world and we're very proud of that fact and it has contributed immensely to the recognition of the city. We are over 183,000 people come to last year's event. Almost 2.5 million people watch the race on national television, not including the international component. And we've had a number of accolades from that. The USA Today poll showed that Long Beach Grand Prix event was one of the top ten races in the world. The Washington Post indicated that this was the gold standard of street racing in America, and the L.A. Times and the local press Telegram have also talked about the marketing capabilities of the event. But I wanted to take a moment tonight to talk to you about where we see the vision going of this unique partnership into the future. And it really pertains to something that's really critical to us, and that is something we call commitment, because that is really what we represent here in terms of our relationship with the city. And for us, the commitment starts at the top. It starts with our ownership. Kevin Keller, Calvin and Jerry Foresight bought this company in 2005. They've been significant supporters of this event and of our company over the years. In fact, Kevin has actually flown in from Florida tonight to be here. And I wanted to take a moment to recognize Kevin Carl Coleman, one of the owners of the Grand Prix. Thank you very much. Thank you to you and Gerry for your continued support. It's really important. And the city has in this possession a commitment from Mark Miles, who's the CEO of the Verizon IndyCar Series, to continue conducting their race here as a part of our weekend for as long as we have an agreement between the city and ourselves. And we really could have made this event happen if it wasn't for the extremely capable staff that we have at the Long Beach Grand Prix. They have a tremendous amount of experience. Some of them have been with us 20 years, 30 years, one of them who's actually been with us for 40 years, and they know how to put these events together and do them in a manner that makes it a really a for first rate operation. I'd like to take a moment to ask our staff to stand up and be recognized. There a great group. It's my privilege to be able to work with them every year. And speaking of commitment, I know that there's a number of activities that take place in this town that we are committed to continuing as we go forward. Like we talked about the reimbursement of the city expenses and making sure that there were no city expenditures involved in that. And we will continue to do that. We also have made a very significant effort to keep this event as affordable as possible.
Speaker 0: And Jim, we've got a wrap we're going to wrap it up some time. Okay. Great.
Speaker 4: If you take a look at our ticket prices, they're very, very reasonable. And we also have the opportunity for children 12 and under to come in for free, which is really important for us. And we work with the CVB in terms of filling hotel rooms and also working with the stakeholders in the downtown area. But there's one other point that I think is really important to remember, and that is this is a city event. We are part of the fabric of this community. And as such, it's really important for us to be involved in the activities in this in this region.
Speaker 0: Thanks so much, Jim. So we went over the 3 minutes. I got to keep the 3 minutes to everybody.
Speaker 4: Okay. Okay. Just to wrap up. Go ahead. Let me let me just let me just say that in concluding this really important for us, that we make the commitment. Our commitment is that we will continue to operate a very fan friendly, family oriented festival here in this town. That's our commitment to you and to all the residents that will bring them an event that they will be very proud of. And we're delighted to be able to continue that relationship for years to come.
Speaker 0: Thanks so much. Thanks so much, Jim. Appreciate it. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Mayor Garcia, Vice Mayor Richardson and honorable members.
Speaker 6: Of the city council. Good evening. My name is Peter Santillan.
Speaker 4: I'm the business manager, Secretary-Treasurer of Labors Local 1309. And with me tonight, we have several of our members, former employees of the Grand Prix. If I can ask you to stand and be recognized as well. And they're here today in support of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. A lot of these members have worked, are still working, worked on the Grand Prix this year. We work putting the track together and I think we do a great job. One of the things that I'm really happy about in partnering with the Grand Prix of Long Beach is the safety aspect that they follow that they stick to . We've been blessed and I mean, knock on wood, we've never had an incident, a situation where anybody's got injured. The track is put together again by them. And to my knowledge, since I've been business manager in 2012, everything has gone well. Today I want to, along with the members of Local.
Speaker 6: 13 or nine.
Speaker 4: Come before you and encourage you to move on the agenda as recommended by staff. We've we've had a long term working relationship with the Grand Prix of Long Beach. They've been a good partner. They take care of their members or of our members, their employees. The short period of time has been pointed out. 60 days set up, 15, 20 days to take it down gives a lot of our members the ability to earn insurance for their families, earn the pension credits that they need, especially during that first and second quarter when it used to rain in California, although we did have a lot of rain this year. But it bridges that gap in that those first few months of the year. So I know there's a lot of people behind me and I'm a wrap it up. I encourage you to to move and move this process along and approve the recommendation of city staff. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Council. I'm sorry. Next speaker. Hello. Thank you for.
Speaker 5: Allowing me the opportunity to speak. Honorable Council and Mayor Garcia. I guess with these couple of minutes, I kind of just really wanted to confirm what I kind of just seen. The gentleman who spoke about two spots before me. I think he seemed to indicate that there would be kind of no liability from the city of Long Beach if this moved forward as as planned. However, the previous visuals that I just seen, it kind of indicated that there would be a, quote unquote, severe financial liability and an unknown economic impact. Was I correct with with what I seen on the screen previously.
Speaker 0: Complete your comment and then I'll have I'll clarify that.
Speaker 5: Okay. I'll just take that as a yes. So that's a little bit concerning for me, most of which you'll find out.
Speaker 7: A little bit later when I give my pro-free market spiel.
Speaker 5: Regarding rent control.
Speaker 7: But I just want the public of.
Speaker 5: Long Beach to kind of be aware of what's happening. We kind of.
Speaker 6: Have just literally a council that will pass everything.
Speaker 5: On a nine no decision indicating that there's no that they're unified in all their decisions.
Speaker 0: Which is concerning and kind of.
Speaker 7: Speaks to a level of.
Speaker 5: I don't know, racketeering or some sort.
Speaker 7: Of questionable.
Speaker 5: Motivation that lacks transparency. And speaking of transparency, why would the Long Beach City Council incentivize this organization to do their own study, kind of outlining what the economic impact would be of their existence in this partnership? I mean, that kind of speaks of literally asking for some sort of study to be doctored. I mean, these are questions that hopefully our city councilman would be answering and asking among each other. But it seems as if you guys are seem to be unified on everything, which.
Speaker 7: Could be a good a good.
Speaker 5: Thing in a lot of ways, but it could be a bad thing in a lot of ways. So I just ask the city council that they, you know, make sure that they're not too focused on, you know, working on bypassing some of these backchannel deals in order to make sure that they keep their political friends and that they fight for the people of Long Beach and the people who are, you know, who have so much at stake regarding whether or not these programs actually do something for the for the people.
Speaker 7: So I'll address you a little bit later on regarding.
Speaker 5: Some of the other things that I've seen the city council do.
Speaker 3: That specifically hurts the free.
Speaker 5: Market, but then the city of Long Beach, but specifically on this matter with the Grand Prix. You can't have them do their own economic study that describes the impact of their existence and simultaneously exclusive negotiating rights to a city manager as a part of a city that hasn't proven that they're willing to, you know, advocate for the best possible deal. It's not something that I would say would be necessarily a good thing. So I don't think exclusive.
Speaker 0: Negotiating rights are critical.
Speaker 5: To this program to be implemented. So, you know, I would like to see at least some sort of a discussion about why exclusivity would be bad on this point.
Speaker 0: Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 3: Italy. Yes. My name is Robert Peak from Black Lives Matter and in the name of Jesus Speak. So I did all that he said. And welcome back, Mayor, from seeing Bloomberg help you to bring them New York ideas with you. Because we need California to stay like it used to be. I have a few things, a nice dress. I like your program and I want to see it. I like that. I like what they're doing over there. Mr. Andrews. Yes, and also.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, this is cool.
Speaker 3: I like the race and everything. I don't know too much about that, but I want to segway. I want to take this time the why the people here before they left to say, say no to love control, say no to just.
Speaker 0: Cause of it. So we can't we have to actually stick to the race. Please.
Speaker 4: This is I'm so glad for that.
Speaker 3: And I'm taking this before you send.
Speaker 0: Them all out here to say, say no.
Speaker 4: Direct control. Don't go with that. This keep this free market.
Speaker 3: And that's it.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Honorable Mayors City Council. My name is Ryan Cohen, owner of Core Events, a fourth generation small business owner. My dad started his first business in Long Beach at the traffic circle in 2007. I ventured out on my own to start an event company and every year I drove past that Long Beach Grand Prix and I said I would want to be a part of that event at some point called Jim and Tim and asked to build. And one of the best things that they did is they casted a vision of what our company would need to look like in order to handle an event of their size and magnitude. Over the last ten years, we've built a company that handles events such as Coachella, Golden Globes, Grammys. But there's no greater event that I get to work on than the Long Beach Grand Prix. I live in Long Beach, born in Long Beach, and I take an incredible amount of pride of building that event in my backyard. And with all those different events, I get to work with a lot of different teams. I get to see how they handle their event. And the one thing I can say about the Long Beach Grand Prix team from Jim Martin, Dwight is the fan experience is what they care most about, and that speaks volumes.
Speaker 0: Because that guides.
Speaker 4: So many of the decisions. Instead of cutting back and doing. Doing things not first rate. They always continue to protect the fan experience and I hope you move forward with them. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Ryan. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Mayor City Council Don Rodriguez, CEO of Boys and Girls Club, the Long Beach. I just want to thank the Grand Prix and King Taco for making affordable for our children and families that were able to go to the Grand Prix. People that would normally not have the opportunity or the funds to go and they were able to make it. We've had over 10,000 youth and families go over the last ten years thanks to King Taco and the Grand Prix. And I have one of our youth here that would like to speak on it.
Speaker 2: Hi. Hi. My name is Sequoia Simmons. I go to the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach. I would like to thank you guys for making this happen, because there's most of the young kids that go to my Boys and Girls Club who really want to be someone one day like me. I want to be an archeologist. And if I wasn't here doing what I was doing at the Boys and Girls Club, I'll probably doing something what I wasn't supposed to do. But thank you.
Speaker 4: Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council. My name is Rick Derry.
Speaker 3: I'm the president of the Grand Prix Foundation of Long Beach. And we thought it would be important tonight to at least make mention of the fact that the Grand Prix Association wears a number of different hats in our community.
Speaker 4: One of the most.
Speaker 3: Important in my mind is the foundation.
Speaker 4: I think most of you know, the.
Speaker 3: Foundation has been around for over 25 years. And during that period of time.
Speaker 4: We've raised and contributed.
Speaker 3: Over four and a half million dollars into local charities. And when I say local charities, they're charities that are basically homegrown. When we were founded, we made a decent determination.
Speaker 4: To stay away from the large charities, the ones that.
Speaker 3: Have their own 24 hour telethons, and stick with the local one, such as Meals on Wheels and food finders. The Ronald McDonald House at Long Beach Century Club, the Long Beach Day Nursery, the Long Beach Dental Clinic. And the list goes on and on. We're also very proud of the fact that we're a clearinghouse for the community. The Grand Prix Association gets hundreds of requests every year for tickets to the race.
Speaker 4: Where other organizations, charities.
Speaker 0: Civic groups.
Speaker 4: Can use those tickets to fund their own charity expenses through opportunity.
Speaker 3: Drawings, libraries, signage, auctions. And the foundation is the one that handles those requests and then allocates the tickets to so many different groups.
Speaker 4: So we thank you for your time.
Speaker 3: We appreciate your consideration on our behalf, as well as the Grand Prix. And I brought with me one of our recipient charities, one of the.
Speaker 4: The groups that we deal with each year.
Speaker 3: Carolyn Bell, who represents the Long Beach Bar Foundation and their program, shortstop.
Speaker 2: Think you mean cult members? I just left the dentist, so if I sound a little bit funny, forgive me. But my name is Carolyn Bell. I am the executive director of the shortstop Juvenile Crime Diversion Program. So we're one of the smaller agencies that the Grand Prix Foundation supports. We've been in Long Beach for over 21 years and we are a juvenile crime diversion program. And as you may know, nonprofits struggle with continuing to get funding and the Grand Prix Foundation has been there for us for over 20 years and we really appreciate their continued support. Not only do they give us grant funding, they also offer Grand Prix items that we can sell at our auctions and fundraising events. So they've been really instrumental in keeping our program going. I also appreciate the Grand Prix for especially this year. My son is autistic and they have an adult school in Long Beach and they wanted to go. So they're adult, but they have special needs. And I called Greg. He said, no problem. They got T-shirts, they got tours of the place, they took pictures, they got autographs and they were really grateful. So that's near and dear to my heart. But most importantly, on the small scale, since we are trying to divert crime for the city of Long Beach, we need support from local foundations to help keep us in operation. And the Grand Prix Foundation has been truly instrumental with our program and we serve as over 300 families a year and it's for first time juvenile offenders. And if we can catch them on their first offense and divert them away from crime and help them become contributing members of society, then we've done our part in keeping the city functioning at the level that you'd like to see it function at. And we owe a lot of that to the Grand Prix Foundation as well. Thank you very much.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Thank you right now to chair elected the debate. I just want to express our support for a lot of the proposal that we had seen in the earlier slide. Given the modifications.
Speaker 2: To the.
Speaker 4: The Grand Prix agreement, most notably the term and actually giving it some thoughtful time to actually look about the programing of that site, which is an important asset to the city. In addition to looking at ways of repairing and maintaining the facility once it's been utilized for this important event and of course condensing the impact, meaning the time set of time and breakdown time of that event. I would like to provide to the council members via the City Clerk a copy of the July tap.
Speaker 2: Study that was prepared. So the debate.
Speaker 4: Engaged the.
Speaker 2: Urban Lands Institute.
Speaker 4: A few years ago to actually study this site, knowing its incredible importance to the city and untapped resources and what it could be and looking at it in concert with its partners CDB, the Grand Prix and others, and how one could make it a cohesive structure. So we applaud the visioning process that's been discussed and outlined and looking forward to playing an active part in the advocacy of that effort.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thanks, Ryan. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Good evening, Honorable Mayor. My name is John.
Speaker 3: Sagmeister and members of the City Council. It's my pleasure to be here. Brighter days lie ahead for our city, and how we develop our waterfront is key to that success. As I look out at the 70 acres of the parking lot, I think every day as I drive by it, those are jobs that we haven't hired from our residents, residents in the six, seven, nine districts. It's my privilege to employ several hundred people here in the city. For many of them, it's been their first job.
Speaker 5: But I tell.
Speaker 4: Them that's not going to be their last job. But what we want.
Speaker 3: To teach is. Develop a good work ethic and a great attitude, and you will go a long way from that.
Speaker 6: If we look around the world and.
Speaker 3: How other cities have.
Speaker 4: Approached the.
Speaker 3: Development of their waterfront and the keys to.
Speaker 4: Their success.
Speaker 3: I would encourage us to focus on Barcelona.
Speaker 5: San Diego.
Speaker 3: Sydney.
Speaker 4: Here's an example. In San Diego, in the last nine years, they've developed eight new hotels. And I'm not talking eight stories.
Speaker 3: Talking 40 stories.
Speaker 4: Thousands of jobs. Thousands and thousands of.
Speaker 3: Jobs for San Diego. And this is an opportunity for us and how we develop it and how we thoughtfully discuss this is key to our success. Thank you very much.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 2: How good looking like average eighth district. I just want to quickly say thank you to Kevin for your investment and your belief in Long Beach. You really took the race to another level when things were looking pretty tough. And Jim, for your amazing leadership and Gemma for holding them all together. You know, the Long Beach Grand Prix does more than just hold an annual race. They do so much for our community overall, and I hope that our city councils will continue to support them for decades to come. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. So good, Hugh Laurie.
Speaker 4: Good. You're clear. As he addressed, I moved into Long Beach and Grand Prix Day May 1977. It was a Sunday. And if memory serves me correctly, the mayor then was a unique Seattle mayor of impeccable, impeccable character, cut from far, far different cloth than our current mayor. But I fully support this concept of it in genders dollars, which the city needs. All right. The problem is, of course, the city's management of that money becomes an issue. But we can deal with that later. I'm going to suggest also that when the study is done and I support the concept of having an outside study as well, is to consider fashioning the venue in such a manner that the event that took place in the Marine Stadium last year, in the year before being relocated down there along our shorefront, it has clearly outgrown that and it shares one thing with the Grand Prix. It is not quiet. I could hear and people could hear those noises all the way down in Los Altos Shopping Center. And I think having it down in the waterfront area would help tremendously because the buildings themselves was to act as a sound barrier. And I believe it's a I think there could be legitimate revenue streams to that because obviously the guys are making some pretty good money on there and so forth. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. And a final speaker, Arthur, to Mark Short. Go ahead.
Speaker 4: Mr. Mayor. And Council. My name is Steve McCullough. Just a guy that's been to 27 consecutive Long Beach Grand Prix. I started 1991, and I want to say I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Chris Puig and Mr. McCallion. And with that, Mr. Colvin and Mr. Forsyth, it's one of the greatest things that about the L.A. area. It's a highlight of my year and having been to 27 consecutive ones. It just keeps getting better and better every year. There was a split in open wheel racing here in America once upon a time. And when the when it happened, that one fell. And the other one getting the only thing they wanted was the Long Beach Grand Prix. They already had the Indianapolis 500. What they wanted was Long Beach. Everything else was negotiable with that. On the other side of it, the international FIA, they want to have market penetration in Southern California. Who doesn't? This is a proven product that we've had for 33 years, since Formula One was once here and then left because of financial considerations. It wasn't cost effective for them. I'm going to cut this short.
Speaker 3: Because I just.
Speaker 4: Appreciate your time. Go at the Long Beach Grand Prix. A proven commodity. Thank you.
Speaker 0: And Mr. Sant will be our final speaker, and then we'll go back to the council.
Speaker 3: Hi, Tom Stout. I think the Grand Prix Association's done a great job for a lot of years. I started attending the first 5000 race a long time ago. I brought many of my students from my auto class here, compliments of, I guess, the Grand Prix and Toyota. They enjoyed it immensely. It brings in a lot of income to the city. It's if the city were run as well as the Grand Prix, we wouldn't be having as many taxes as we do. So you guys should maybe talk to them a lot more because they seem to stay within a budget.
Speaker 4: And as a lark, I.
Speaker 3: Asked one of the council people I got one of my bucket list requests was I'd like to have a seat in the Long Beach booth. And obviously, you know, I didn't think that was going to happen and it wasn't. I was offered a seat in the section with the people that were promoting Measure A, and since I wrote the ballot argument against it, I just thought that was cruel and unusual punishment. So, Pat, maybe before I expire, I can get that bucket list request. Maybe you could talk to him.
Speaker 4: So Grand Prix is great.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's an international event. The only problem is it's so expensive. I mean, that's why it disappeared the first time. You can't afford it. Indy cars, America. Well, at least. Well, I can't say the cars are and I can't say the drivers are. But the event is there are a few drivers now, so that's good. But it employs a lot of people to keep it. You know, I never thought you were really serious about going with the the Grand Prix anyway. You've got a proven quality quantity here. Stay with it. Don't screw this up.
Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes public comment. We're going to go back to the Council for fair deliberation and comments, starting with Councilmember Pearce.
Speaker 2: Great. Thank you so much. I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and sharing your support or your concerns. An event like this that is such a big deal for our city, not only to the residents that live nearby, but is televised and get such recognition for our city is a big decision. And so I want to first thank the mayor for our conversations that we've had in the past around visioning for the highest and best use of this piece of land. We want to make sure that as we support the things that we've historically done in the city we're talking about, how do we integrate that into the.
Speaker 1: City that we're becoming in the future, and how are we making sure that we're doing that in a community.
Speaker 2: Process that's engaging and so thankful for that process? I also want to thank staff. I know Tom and the team have worked really hard on this and Tosha day and special events when we talk about special events in our city. I cannot imagine a more logistical challenge than this one. And so I really want to just give a round of applause to all the staff that works not only on the past events, but just getting this together today. So they're fantastic. Round of applause. They deserve it. I don't want to put on a Grand Prix race, let me tell you. I also want to talk just a little bit about the Grand Prix and what I've got to learn about them. I want to say that Jim has demonstrated a real partnership with the city. I don't know that anybody in the city has reached out to me as often to sit down and talk about not only this, the event itself, but how they're working with those nonprofits, how they're working with our schools, making sure that they're going in and talking about science, talking about engineering with our kids, and that they're doing that in as many schools as they can. I think they said almost every school except for maybe the elementary schools. And so really appreciate that real partnership that they have there. I have a few questions for staff. Can you guys elaborate just quickly for us? How long does it take to set up prior to the event historically and take down afterwards?
Speaker 10: So historically it's been about a 60 day prior to the events set up in the current event. And then about 17 days after in the last time that we did the contract negotiations, we heard loud and clear from the council in the community to shorten aspects of that. And so there are aspects that are actually open within 24 hours and taken down within 24 hours of the race. So that is something that we have made a lot of progress on. And we're looking for this next iteration to to shrink that a little bit, particularly on the set up time. I think we do pretty well on the takedowns time.
Speaker 2: Great. And can you share with one other concern that I've heard from community residents? Is the clean up? Is that done by our city employees? Is that done by by Grand Prix or is that done by the bid?
Speaker 10: So the Grand Prix Association has some requirements to do clean up after the race and with street sweepers and a number of things. I think what you're referring to more is what happens afterwards after they're all cleaned up. They do have a requirement to restore the track to its to its prior condition. But we have had challenges with the street marks that are left on the street. We've been looking to find ways to environmentally or to remove those in environmentally safe manner and also in a way that doesn't degradation degrade date the street. So this year we actually tried, I believe, three different methods to see what we could do. And we believe we finally found one that works. It's actually a pressure washing type of very high pressure to remove those marks. So we'll be working on that in the next. We've been doing some work actually in July and finishing up in August and and we're going to build that into the contract so that gets done or there'll be a slurry seal in order to keep the streets looking the way that we'd like them to.
Speaker 2: Great. Thank you for that. I really have looked through the proposed lease terms, and I think the one that is the most important is that the promoter will provide the city with the economic impact study. And I know there was some questions and concerns. Can you clarify that that study will be done by a third party?
Speaker 10: Yes, it would absolutely be done by a third party. We envision that it would be someone that the Grand Prix Association would go through a process to select and that the city would have a role in making sure that it's an independent third party, that it's a qualified group. And of course, so we have a lot of the data that they would be looking for, as well as Sebi and others, so that we would be partnering in that in that effort with them.
Speaker 2: Great. So in that economic impact study, just want to ensure that we're looking at things like ticket sales, attendance, the number of jobs created. I know that there's some discussion about, you know, that we've had a ton of jobs. We just had several people here that mentioned that they were on those jobs. So looking at the long term effect for that would be helpful.
Speaker 10: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: I thoroughly support staff's recommendation. I think that we're, you know, at a unique opportunity where we can talk about doing this for the next five years. It's going to take us a while to envision what else we want to see in downtown. I think the Grand Prix has again demonstrated a strong partnership with the city and as long as we continue to have transparency and we're able to audit the process, it's also, I think, something that is we've been able to depend on the fact that the city isn't at risk for spending any money, whereas with our other option , there are a lot of uncertainties from what I can tell. And so again, I think this is the best fit for us and I'm really excited and I hope that my colleagues will continue to support us. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Gonzalez.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you. I had a question. I think it was answered, but it was basically relative to the economic impact study. And you answer the question, it will be conducted by a third party. I'm looking over I believe it's Montreal's Grand Prix and their commission, of course, with their convention of convention bureau, as I'm sure we will , as well as their university. So I think that might be another opportunity as well. I know that's up to the Grand Prix, but just throwing it out there and it includes a lot of information which I think would be really great for us to look at in the years ahead. I know that it's a lot of work to pull together an economic impact report, but to do it in a way that really shines not just on the event but on the city as a whole, I think will speak volumes to what we can do in the future. I too will be supportive of this as well. I do believe that the Grand Prix has been a really great partner as well. Speaking with Jim on and off through the years and being able to just pick up the phone and call you, I know, of course, not only the community events that you drive, but just the recognition you give to the city in terms of bringing, you know, the drivers prior to. There's tons of events going on that even other colleagues from various cities and across the regions come to to enjoy here in our city. And I think it's just a wonderful time for us to gather and really celebrate our city in that sense. And I agree, too. I appreciate Ryan, bring the ULI report because I remember this a few years back and how important that underdeveloped land is, especially our underdeveloped land near water. And I know as we have these discussions, you know, anything that will be developed, I don't see that happening, you know, in the next five years or so. It takes some time. But in that time I know that the Grand Prix will take all of these proposals terms into consideration and they'll do the best that they can with our recommendations as well. So all to be supportive of this as well, and I thank you all for being a great partner. Appreciate it.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Mango.
Speaker 2: Excited to continue our partnership with the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The great things that you do in the community are felt by many. I know that this year, particularly with the heightened awareness related to this RFP, it really got people's ears open and eyes open. And I think that a lot of things great came out of it. I'm was excited to see the zip code breakdown of who in our own city are purchasing the tickets. I think that it's important for the community to recognize how big of an impact the Grand Prix has, not only on the region but on our neighbors . And so with that, I also hope that as a part of your economic impact study that we receive a yearly report on who's buying the tickets and what zip codes are they from. It's important that people from outside the city buy those tickets. Hopefully they're from far enough outside the city that they also reserve a hotel night and so that we can continue to grow that economic impact through utilization of our hotels and our local restaurants. And then hopefully the East Side hotels that are also filling up to the brim will be able to work out structures by which we help get people downtown, or at least to the blue line to bring them into the community more effectively. For one, I was looking at dates to book my wedding, and when I went to pick a date, the first thing I said was, When's the Grand Prix? Because our hotels do fill up. And we ended up moving at one week earlier just to make sure that if our family was in town. From Colorado that they'd be able to stay and experience something big for a long beach. So I appreciate you and I appreciate the name. It's brought to Long Beach. And I also look forward to seeing continued opportunities to feature the Grand Prix in the community at events so that the community year round can remember what a great asset it is and to hold that date a year in advance. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Pryce.
Speaker 8: Thank you. I echo a lot of the comments of my colleagues. I think I appreciate the work that went into this process by staff and the education by KPMG this evening regarding the process. And I think both of the RFP has presented some great opportunities and things for us to consider. I have done an extensive amount of research on this topic and I feel very comfortable supporting staff's recommendation this evening. I will say I do have and I want to thank the Grand Prix because over the years they've really integrated into the Long Beach community even outside of the downtown area. And so we're exposing a lot of our residents to the Grand Prix event and auto racing in general by virtue of the Grand Prix actually going into the communities and introducing folks to the sport of auto racing. And I think that's fantastic. So thank you. I'm encouraged to hear about the visioning process that we're going to be starting. And I'm I'm assuming from what I'm hearing tonight that this is going to be a process that's going to be parallel, moving parallel to us entering into this contract and entering into this new agreement, such that in five years, we have the opportunity to not only look at what development in the area could look like any recommendations, and then be prepared to implement any of those recommendations. And I don't know who on staff could maybe talk to the timing of a visioning process for the downtown area for this space. Is there someone who could talk to us a little bit about the timing and what we can expect in terms of this visioning process?
Speaker 10: So, Councilmember Price, I can give it a shot. We don't have a specific time yet where everything's laid out, but what we envision, we've actually already started. What one of the major things we need to do is this is one of the most complex parcels that we have in the city. It's got convention center uses on it. It's down in the coastal area. It's state lands, has a role down there. We have a lot of events on that space. So one of the things we're doing right now is going through an analysis of what is what are the encumbrances, where are the opportunities. This is obviously the site also for the Olympics that we've chosen in 2028. And how does that factor into it? So we imagine that's going to take a couple of months to really dove into all the operating agreements that we have for that space. Then we do want to kind of identify for the council what a visioning process could take and and how long that would take. And if there is financial resources that need to be dedicated, we want to start kind of on a on a low cost, obviously, to to start generating some of those ideas. And then as the visioning gets nearer and nearer, then there's other steps that would happen, such as updating PD sixes. The mayor mentioned, updating some of our zoning documents. So it would be a longer term process, but we would have some information back to the council fairly soon in the next couple months on kind of what that what the constraints are, what are some of the opportunities and then how we would move forward with the visioning process?
Speaker 8: Well, that's encouraging. And the reason I asked that question is because it is a lengthy process and we have a five year window to get ourselves in a situation where we're looking at opportunities and actually planning for implementation. Should we decide to do something different after that five years, should the sport of racing change in terms of trends, I think we should be in a position where we have data and some clear recommendations in terms of where we're headed. So I think that's really important and I appreciate that that we will get updates on this as we move forward so that at that five year mark, we're able to make some decisions. I was impressed by the construction period and the proposal by wack, so I'm hoping that we're able to make that a priority in our negotiations because I do know that that's something that Council has articulated very clearly, is an issue for our businesses in the area and our residents, of course. So to the extent and I heard Mr. Rodak, I heard you say that that's going to be something that we're going to try to impose some priority on during the negotiations. So to the extent that I could underscore that, I would like to do so. And I think that that's an important one. But but beyond that, I think staff for the recommendations and all of the folks from the Grand Prix for being here too tonight, for your support throughout the year and for integrating auto racing into our communities in a way that's. Very positive. So thank you.
Speaker 0: Dear Councilman Austin.
Speaker 3: Thank you. And I'll also be supportive of staff's recommendation. I think the Grand Prix is of Long Beach, is truly part of our city's DNA, our identity as much as the Queen Mary is in many ways. When people across the country think about Long Beach, the Grand Prix is one of the the points that that is also often raised. You know, I think it was mentioned that and I didn't know that we were the second largest IndyCar event in North America next to the Indianapolis 500 and the largest streetcar race in the country. I thought it was actually in Detroit, but that was my first experience to a Grand Prix. But I did have some some questions and I'm encouraged to hear that as we negotiate this, Indy, that there will be emphasis on economic impacts because I think, you know, the $40 million of income on comic impact that's presented and represented by the the Grand Prix along beaches is great. I'm interested in breaking that down and understanding how that is measured and how we can grow capacity in that regard and improve that economic impact if possible. And the same thing with attendance. All right. You know, I think the number has been thrown out that there was 183,000 participants and fans who enjoy the Long Beach Grand Prix . That is an impressive number. I want to know how we arrive at that number. I'm interested in knowing the methodology and again, how we can improve the capacity in that regard as well. And so I think the economic impact of study is something that I think is very important in terms of this negotiations. Again, I will be extremely supportive of this, I think, and I look forward to attending the next Grand Prix. I haven't missed one in many years. Thank you again.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilmember Wawrinka.
Speaker 9: Thank you very much. My late father in law was a great, great fan of the Grand Prix, and I think he would kill me if I didn't support decision. But speaking of the Grand Prix and I know that there was a lot of study that went into it and obviously the feasibility of one versus the other came down to what would be the best race that we could have with the conditions that currently exist. What are the points that came out here that really stood out? Was the immediate availability of the Grand Prix to put out put on a race and the inability of the other or the wag to put on their race and not until 2020. And with that, the additional changes that would need to be made, such as extending the track and adding some other improvements to to the race itself. One question, I don't know who can address this, but does the Grand Prix have any permanent fixtures in the race that those that might last see that go up for the race but then stay up there for the next race the following year? Are there any permanent structures allowing the race round or anywhere for the Grand Prix?
Speaker 10: No, we don't believe that there are any permanent structures. It's essentially going to be the proposal that you see today, which is temporary. It gets put up and it gets taken down. That being said, there was a potential in the back proposal for a permanent structure or it could have been temporary staff looking at the size of it, kind of deemed that it would likely be a permanent facility, which of course would get into the council commission arena and really have to start looking at the permitting process for a permanent facility.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and that's what led to this question because I was looking at the at slide six in the what you gave us here, there are some proposed buildings, I guess, that would be there that would be permanent and a bit on the north side of the track, which would basically be on a year round basis, interfere with the view shades of people who come down to the beach and those structures be there and just interfere with the views to the beach. So, I mean, that that was something that I would not be able to support even here for, let alone it and the Coastal Commission, because the effect that it would have on view should and that is to the next question as well as in church. When we look at the at the at the visioning that we keep that in mind that the the current structure of the race is such that it's used for what is it, about 60 days in and 15 days after I guess, or something like that. And. Then it goes back to normal. I mean, it's it's like you wouldn't even know that a race was held there until the following year. So, I mean, I love that. I love the fact that we're able to hold a race, bring in a couple of hundred thousands of people to enjoy it. And then once it's done, it goes back to to normal, to being to be what the Long Beach offers, which is a great view of our ocean and a great opportunity to wine and dine and enjoy all the amenities that Long Beach has to offer along the shore. So in looking at this, I hope that it's not an issue now, but maybe we should put it on paper is a fact that hopefully during the negotiations that we can include in there an item that would that would restrict any structures being put up along the race that would be permanent in nature. Because I would like to have a permanent opportunity for us to put up and take down and return our, our shoreline to to its existing in 16 forms. So that that would be if if it's needed, fine, if not fine, too. But we won't want to memorialize that just so that we have it on paper, so that in the future, should there be a request to have a permanent structure put on there, that it would fit certain criteria, that that would not infringe on our views alone, of course, in long shortly. That's all.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Now.
Speaker 6: Thank you. Just very briefly, I wanted to ask staff and I'm not sure if if Tom or John would like to answer this, but if it proved tonight, can you tell us for the next 90 days, will there be a two from four member come back to us where there were other milestones that that council should look at over the next 90 days?
Speaker 10: So I'll start with that. We are envisioning going fairly quickly. Hopefully we're spelling out and it's helpful to get the council's input on those terms right now so that these are essentially going to be the major terms. We would sit down for 90 days and work with our partner and then we would come back with a council agenda item. If at the end of 90 days, if we're not going to hit that mark, I don't think there would be an issue. But if there were an issue, we would do a two from four memo and let you know that we're going to need to extend by 30 days or 60 days and give you an update of where we are.
Speaker 6: Okay. Thank you. And Councilwoman Mongo mentioned the impacts on the east side of town with the hotels. And I can tell you that the association got us on IndyCar before the race in April and we parked in front of Joe Joe's and took a picture. And as of tonight, they've got 927 likes and a 97 share. So it's a popular item. Thank you.
Speaker 0: And Vice Mayor Richardson.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to chime in and say I know a number of cities would love to be in this position, to have two world class races competing and come into our city and the opportunity to go ahead and further develop more opportunities in our waterfront. And so we should just take a moment and just acknowledge that as a city, I think I want to start with just thanking the Grand Prix Association and all of the family that is associated with them for conducting themselves in a way that the city staff feels comfortable making this recommendation to the City Council. I want to say thank you to the grant to Formula One for expressing this interest and coming through this process and allowing us to sort of test our mettle a little bit here. And I and I would say I think this is a smart approach. This five year agreement with the option to extend because it allows us to conduct those that visioning about the highest and best use of the area and allow some options to be placed on the table for the city council in the years to come for some flexibility. So to all the players, all the stakeholders. I look forward to many more fantastic races. You know, I've probably been to three or four of them, so I'm pretty new compared to people who have been going for, you know, I've heard, you know, 20, 30 years. But but we have a fantastic time every year and we get to know more and more people. And I brag about it more and more every year when I leave our city. Have you been to our Grand Prix? Because I feel pretty embarrassed. My first three or four years living in the city, I never I never I had never attended. So I think many more people are going to continue to discover this Grand Prix and what it what it really the way that it really demonstrates and showcases are our downtown. Thanks a lot and obviously has my support.
Speaker 0: Okay. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and go to a council vote. So, members, please go ahead and cast your votes on the motion in front of us, please.
Speaker 1: Motion carries.
Speaker 0: Great. Thank you. And of course, to Kevin, Jim, the association, all the incredible volunteers and community members. Just thank you for your partnership with the city of Long Beach. We look forward to many more years with the race and to our partnership in many other ways as well. So just thank you to the team and I thank you all for being out here. We're going to transition to the regular agenda. We I and this is I know an extensive agenda. We actually have three hearings that we have to go through. So if you're not here for one of the hearings, I do apologize. This is a long a very long agenda. And so if I can ask everyone, this would be a good time to exit if you're not here for if you're here for the Grand Prix. And we're going to go into our three hearings here in just a minute. So I'm scared. Just I'm going to restart in just one minute so people can exit. Okay. One minute.
Speaker 4: Bring us that. No. Okay, Kelly.
Speaker 0: Okay. We're going to go ahead and get started back. So please, if I can if I can have everyone exit the chambers that wants to chat and can continue with the meeting.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 0: So people can please take a seat when you get started. Madam Clerk, can we do a roll call? Police.
Speaker 3: There was.
Speaker 1: Councilwoman Gonzalez. Councilmember Pierce. Councilwoman Price. Councilmember. Super now. Councilwoman Mongo. Councilman Andrews.
Speaker 2: Councilmember Urunga. Councilman Austin.
Speaker 1: Vice Mayor Richardson. Mayor Garcia.
Speaker 0: I'm here. Thank you. If you can please read the first hearing item, please, which is going to be held on 1/2 hearing item number one.
Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. RFP CM17-011 for production of an annual Grand Prix Race and associated events; and

Authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to enter into an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with Grand Prix Association Long Beach, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, for up to 90 days with the option of two, 30-day extensions, for the production of an annual Grand Prix Race and associated events, for the period of five years, from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023, with the option of one five-year extension.  
(District 2)