Speaker 1: I emotion is carried eight zero.
Speaker 5: But thank you. 15, please.
Speaker 1: Report from Economic Development Recommendation to authorize city manager to sign, petition.
Speaker 0: And subsequent ballot relating to city owned properties located.
Speaker 1: Within the boundaries of the downtown Long Beach property and Business Improvement District Districts one and two.
Speaker 5: Okay, I recognize Californians and they ask for their hand up for emotion and confidence and back Allen for a second chance on whether they are actually mayor.
Speaker 0: Vice Mayor. I'm actually just I have to recuse myself because I have two properties in the people I'll be fighting off.
Speaker 5: Okay. Thank you. So we need a second on it. I'll seconded. Councilwoman Zero.
Speaker 0: Do we have a president?
Speaker 5: That's right. Staff report. Excuse me. Yes, there are staff. Is there a brief staff report?
Speaker 4: Yes. Eric Romero from Economic Development can give a brief staff report in. All right.
Speaker 8: Good evening, Mayor. Members of the city council. My name is Eric Romero, and I'm the business development officer in the Economic Development Department. I would like to start by providing you some brief background on the downtown bid renewal history. The downtown pivot was established by the City Council in 1998 for a five year term. It was renewed for the first time in 2003 for a ten year term. It was renewed for a second time in 2012 for an additional ten year term. And the downtown pivot is now up for its third ten year renewal per state law. Ten years is the maximum term for a period that already surpassed its initial five year term. The permit renewal process, which has been led by the downtown Long Beach Alliance, was informed by a strategic planning process that included interviews, roundtables and an online survey completed by more than 500 downtown stakeholders in the next ten year term. The downtown pivot revenue will support a more robust, clean and safe program programs that address and assist downtown's unhoused population. Economic development programs that support small businesses and focus on business attraction marketing at special events and beautification and place enhancement activities. If the downtown permit is renewed. The estimated total annual cost of the city for the fiscal year 2023 assessment is 787 $785,156. Of that total amount, $220,000, more or less will be paid by a private property owner that manages city property in downtown. The remaining city assessment is $564,672. The recommendation before Council today is to authorize the city manager to sign the petition and subsequent ballot for city owned properties in support of renewing the downtown pavement. That concludes my staff report. Thank you.
Speaker 5: All right. Thank you for that report, Councilwoman Dana.
Speaker 0: Thank you so much, Vice Mayor. And thank you, Eric Romero, for that very good presentation and also for all the work that you've been doing on this. I think that that. Our downtown area is a very lively and fun area for everyone in the city, but in particularly for youth. I think that for many. Many years, we've learned that he cut our key criteria to ensuring our city continues to prosper, rest in the ability to keep our young adults living and working in Long Beach, way beyond high school and college graduates, especially in the downtown area. We need them to stay more. More importantly, we'd love for them to want to stay in our downtown area. In that same sense and for many other reasons as well, is very important that we care for our downtown area, establishing this area as a property and business improvement district. Back in 1994. First helped us get to a point where we can count on having additional services in maintenance, public safety and marketing in this area. These are services that are very much needed and that help us keep a clean and attractive area for our residents, for our youth, our young adults, and even for tourists and visitors as well. However, I do have I do have a couple questions that I that I would like to answer, if possible. I know that one of the main concerns with this debate in need for residents and business owners has been the 30% plus increase. If staff can answer this, how will this increase in assessment impact on local businesses during this recovery phase? We are in.
Speaker 8: Thank you. Councilwoman, I'm happy to answer that question. I do want to acknowledge, as you mentioned, that the property assessment rates for the downtown Peabody, if renewed, are projected to increase by an average of 34.5%. And the increase is really driven by a few different factors. So through again, the outreach that was completed through the strategic planning process and the Peabody renewal process. There is there was a request for additional services which include expanded sidewalk pressure washing services, increased tree trimming and plant maintenance, the hiring of a homeless outreach manager to collaborate with social service organizations to support people experiencing homelessness. The hiring of a downtown business navigator to provide better wraparound support services for both new and existing small businesses. And also an acknowledgment that there's a need to increase pay for clean and safe team to assist with both retaining and attracting talent in a competitive labor market. So for those reasons, the property assessment rate is recommended to increase. As certainly, you know, there will be additional costs that are taken on by both property owners and business owners. But I think really here that the case in terms of the downtown pivot is to leverage collectively a lot of different resources to further invest and support the downtown, to both improve beautification and the quality of life, and have an urban and a vibrant urban downtown center, which really is the benefits of downtown pyramids and pyramids. And Peabody is generally.
Speaker 0: Great if you feel like work. Also, could you share with us so the community can know some of the outreach that has been done on this people?
Speaker 8: Absolutely. So while the strategic planning process isn't required in advance to leading up to a downtown permit renewal or a permit renewal in general, the downtown Long Beach Alliance did decide to lead a comprehensive strategic planning process that again included a variety of one on one interviews, focus groups, roundtables and an online survey to gauge input directly from property owners, from business owners and residents that are ultimately impacted and supported by the services that are funded by the downtown period. Revenue for the online survey alone that included over 500 responses from downtown stakeholders. Additionally, the strategic planning process was also implemented under the guidance of a 35 member committee that included property owners, business owners and residents, and of course also included the downtown Long Beach Alliance board of directors, which again includes property owners, business owners and members of the community.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Eric, again. I think that's very important for the community to know about that. And, you know, the outreach that has been happening, I want to say that I know that in this particular item that we have in front of us today is so that we can prove to be for the as a member of this people that we can approve to sign the petition going forward to be part of this bill. I think that's also very important, and maybe you might be able to elaborate a little bit more on that.
Speaker 8: Yes, I'd be happy to. So through the Peabody, both formation and renewal process. Property owners that are ratepayers into the Peabody are responsible for ultimately vocalizing their support or their their being against the Peabody renewal or formation. So all property owners in the petition phase, which is a phase that we're currently in for the downtown renewal all property owners of record that own property in the downtown Peabody that would be subject to a private property assessment receive a petition of those petitions. Over 50% of all the property owners responsible for assessments in the Peabody have to return that petition in support of renewing the permit in order to enter the next phase of the Peabody renewal process. The city of Long Beach is a large stakeholder and property owner in the downtown Peabody. So the recommendation today and the decision in front of you today is to really authorize the city manager to sign the petition for city owned properties in favor of renewing the downtown Peabody. Assuming that over 50% of property owners, based on the weight of the assessment, return their petitions in favor of the Peabody renewal, then that would trigger the next phase of the renewal process.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Could you also explain how what it would be like if or what would happen if it didn't meet that threshold?
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 4: That's a that's a really good.
Speaker 0: Sure. Okay.
Speaker 8: Okay. Yeah. So if if the there is a timeline to renew the P bid, currently the timeline that we're working toward is really by summer 2022, by August 2022. And so it's important right now to secure, you know, all of all enough support in the petition process to renew the bid. If that support is not secured, the bid renewal process would not continue. So again, the recommendation for you today is really to authorize the city manager to support the permit renewal through ultimately filling out the petition in support of urban renewal for city owned properties.
Speaker 0: Thank you. And lastly, I was wondering if you if you could express to to the community how much of the first District is now in this piece that the downtown Long Beach Association Alliance.
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's a good question. I don't have all of the details on all of the parcels in front of me right now. But I can say the bulk of the downtown period is in the first council district now. Yeah.
Speaker 0: Thank you. I also like to take this moment to give a shout out to the Red Shirts from the Army. There are safety ambassadors who are amazing and do a great job out in our downtown area as well as the cleaning team. I know I personally use the safety ambassadors a lot to go from point A to point B, especially at night when I'm exploring the district. So I just wanted to say thank you to all of the safety ambassadors for all the wonderful work that you do and for always helping us out as well with our people experiencing homelessness and for always being so compassionate to them as well and trying to provide and help them find services. I know that your job is huge and I just wanted to take a moment and acknowledge. Thank you very much.
Speaker 5: Right. Thank you. I'll offer my comments in my second here. So we should absolutely as a city, both support the renewal of the event. In terms of the additional cost, I think it's important and thank you, Eric, for underscoring that the goal for this enhancement is to have a sort of more capacity to deal with nuisances in the area, to help keep the area safe, help make sure that we can navigate people around that are experiencing homelessness to the right services. And I think that's incredibly important. And in our downtown that we have that local touch from our downtown Long Beach Associates. And I think it plays really well with some of our strategies. Our local sort of non non-police led crisis response is around homeless homelessness. I think in order to really make an impact, we're going to have to see the P bid step up and the city staff to see see a real difference. And so I know that that's not cheap. I know that's also what the downtown businesses are asking for, what the downtown residents are asking for. So the city needs to be publicly supportive of this, not only just in our budget, but we should you know, we should probably talk about our partnership and the things that we're going to do with this enhancement to help make sure that our our downtown is clean and safe. And so I'm happy to answer a second here. I'm going to ask if there are any other council comments so I can take a list. Okay. Hearing none was here. Public comment.
Speaker 2: Are there any members of the public that would like to speak? Please line up at the podium. Or if you're attending, virtually, please use the raise hand feature or dial star nine. This is per item 15. Your time begins now.
Speaker 4: Thank you. Good evening, Honorable Vice Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Austin Mature and the Economic Development and policy manager for the de lba and the Delta Project plead for the renewal of the downtown property based Improvement District. First, I'd like to thank city staff and Councilwoman Mary's and de Haas and Councilwoman Cindy Allen and your assistance in helping to engage the downtown community. And I would like to also reflect, as stated by staff, that our process for renewing the property based improvement district really began back in January of 2021 with the convening of the strategic planning process with residents, property owners and small business owners. And during that process, we came out with five key themes to address within the new property based improvement district safety and security within the downtown, cleanliness within the downtown, connecting our unhoused population with available resources, addressing the storefront economy and vacancies, and assisting our small businesses and addressing connectivity issues between various neighborhoods. Since the start of the petition process, we've met with over 50, with nearly 50 property owners and one on one meetings ranging from nonprofits, large commercial property owners, small commercial property owners and residential property owners. We've engaged residents through virtual and in-person forums and will continue to engage the community through both virtual and in-person events, partnering with neighborhood associations and in ways to connect to downtown residents. Finally, I'd like to just briefly discuss, since the permit renewal only happens every ten years, I think it's important to provide historical context of where we are in the renewal process today and where we were at in 2012. Today, March 15th, we come before City Council Collection with a collection of petitions that represent 21% of assessments in 2012. The request for authorization did not occur until May 1st, and petitions represented 19% of assessments. Furthermore, we have nearly doubled our collection from residents in favor of renewal with 2 to 1 and comparison to the 2012. Renewing the debate is tough work, but we have been diligent in our process, method and outreach and I believe we are on the right track. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this item.
Speaker 0: Good evening, mayor, vice mayor and council members. My name is Rhonda Love, and I'm a business owner operating in downtown Long Beach. First, thank you, city council for the opportunity to speak tonight on this agenda item regarding the downtown property based Improvement District. As a downtown business owner, I'd like to express my support for the renewal of the bid and the continuation of the clean and safe services that the District has provided for over the last 25 years. In addition, the Dobie's economic development programs and special events have helped tremendously and creating an active, vibrant downtown for our small business community. The special events supported by the P bid and produced by the Dolby and the community generate visitors to the downtown businesses and help us to activate our neighborhoods. Events like Shop Small Saturday, Taste of Downtown, the New Year's Eve and At the Waterfront have all helped to showcase our unique neighborhoods to residents and visitors, tourists alike . I also appreciate the P bid for its broad economic development initiatives that assist businesses in underrepresented communities. The Downtown Peace Program, the Entrepreneur Education Services and the Google Workshops in the collaboration with the community partners have had a direct and lasting impact on the small businesses in downtown. Most recently, the SBA storefront recovery grants help small businesses that were victims of recent break ins to offset their property damage cost. Since the formation of the pea bed back in 1998, the downtown has grown into a healthier, cleaner and safer community for all to live, work, thrive and visit in the area. I'd like to see those services continue with the bid and the deal. Bay. Thank you again for your time and for allow me to express my support of the bid. And I hope the City Council will help to ensure the continuation of the bid by showing your support. Thank you.
Speaker 4: Greetings. My name is and I can say sixth district resident. I actually wrote down here from my business, which is in the downtown area, just because I think it's vital to hear a, you know, perspective outside of what is the norm in the 150 block radius of the Dolby. There are only nine black businesses within them. I'm one of them. I think this is around is another one. I could list them because there's that few of them there. Actually, since the last renewal ten years ago of 2012, there's been a net decline. I think as a private entity, I can't you know, I can't tell people what to do, who to advocate for. But with respect to something like the Dolby, which is earmarked, a percentage of property taxes and stewardship of a lot of the fees that come out of the of the city, I think as a both as a taxpayer and as a business within the space, I think it's fair to express this the disappointment with respect to how I personally think things are run. I think with regards to the VA, I would not have problem necessarily with the renewal of it if I felt that African-Americans were viewed as equitable stakeholders with respect to what the future of the downtown looks like. I know on the housing and a lot of you know, our businesses sorry, on the on the housing end, we're seeing less of a focus on younger families coming in just post downtown plan. And I think with respect to the strategic plan, which I've read and I have attended a couple of the Economic Development Commission meetings, and I just keep abreast with these things. I don't necessarily know if this is an ample partner to steward some of this and this these fees. But with respect to this this moment of being able to speak, I hope that it can be used as an opportunity to kind of, you know, engage with the public and how can we bring more diverse businesses within the area? Because as it stands, the debate is not doing a great job with that, but hopefully within the future, that's something that we could see some more energy moving towards. Thank you. And just to be clear, when I say businesses, I mean storefronts, not holidays or cultural events. Those aren't businesses. Those are just moments in time, ephemeral moments sometimes. Thank you. Mayor, council members and staff. I'm Brock Howard, CEO for the downtown Long Beach Alliance. It's a pleasure to be with you in person this evening and being able to share some of our efforts thus far to renew the property based improvement district. The downtown has been described as the city's heart and economic engine, driving 1 billion in sales, in tourism, hospitality, retail and personal services, delivered in many cases by local businesses throughout the city, and resident workers as well. From most visitors, tourists, conventioneers, shoppers. The downtown will be their first impression of the city and its offerings. We have to deal. We often think of the downtown as the city's front porch. It's welcome mat to any visitor coming to our city. And over the last 25 years, the LBA has had the honor of maintaining this community in partnership with city departments and property owners, community organizations as well, while serving as a steward of the funding. The statistics are incredible. Over those ten years. In this current pivot term deal buddies clean and safe teams have annually averaged more than £75,000 of litter and green waste removal from gutters and sidewalks, 4000 instances of graffiti and stickers removed from poles and benches and electrical boxes. 8000 directions given to visitors, tourists and residents. 5000 instances of information being shared about parking, transit, hotels, events and businesses as well. That's every year on average. We've also had several partnerships with city departments that have resulted in job training programs and diversion programs for the unhoused. These are the services being delivered daily, weekly and annually to residents and commercial property owners that benefit every downtown stakeholder and in turn, give us pride in maintaining the city's front porch. We appreciate the opportunity to be with you tonight, and we look forward to hearing your support for this item. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Deborah, fixing your time begins now.
Speaker 1: Good evening. My name is Debra.
Speaker 0: Fix, and I am the chair elect of the downtown Long Beach Alliance Board of Directors. And I manage the property at Shoreline Village. And I want to thank the City Council for the opportunity to speak on this agenda item regarding the downtown property based Improvement District. As a representative for the property owner. I cannot stress enough the importance of the bid and the services provided by the GBA, especially over the last two years. The deal provides programs that have proven to be vital for our downtown through the pandemic. The proposed renewal plan includes an expansion of the Peabody boundary along the promenade in front of the convention center and the waterfront, enabling the safety ambassadors to engage conventioneers and visitors in the hospitality services while addressing the secure quality of life issues as they arrive at a rest downtown for the essential to its recovery and to play a central role in supporting this fall function and a growing and healthier city for all that live, work and sit. The next chapter, Gilda is being written through the hard work of its volunteer board, committee members and staff. I'd like to see those services continue with the bid and the difficulty. Thank you again for allowing me to express my support of the bid, and I hope the City Council will help ensure the continuation of the debate by showing your support tonight. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Deborah Coakley. Your time begins.
Speaker 0: Now. Good evening. My name is Deborah. I go by Deb Kelly, and I am a resident in downtown Long Beach for probably the past 11 years. I want to thank the City Council for the opportunity to speak tonight on the agenda of regarding the Peabody, which is the downtown property basically for the district. As residents, I would like to express my support for the renewal, the bid and the continuation of the clean and safe services that the district has provided for the past 25 years. The safety ambassadors, they are very helpful there and providing direction and everything for the visitors and the residences here. They're also they also offer friendly words anywhere within the district. I'm also a realtor and local realtor here. And I want to testify that every single person that I sell a home to in this area, I do convey to them about this, and they are not turned off by it. They're actually impressed by it. So this bid, from a realtor standpoint, it does add value to property here. The the value that residents have for if this goes away, it would be it would not be good. But since the formation of the people and since 98, the downtown, I've seen it grow in a healthier, cleaner and safer community for all that live here, work here, and especially visit here. I'd like to see those services to to continue on with the bid and the debate. Thank you for all of you and for letting me express my support for the bid. And I hope the City Council will help ensure the continuation of this by showing your support. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Well, the color with the last four digits, six, nine, seven three. Please unmute. Your time begins now. Yes.
Speaker 0: Right. Honorable Vice Mayor Richardson, Council members, thank you for giving me and others the opportunity to address this important item that will really shape the downtown for years to come. I'm Laura Kanab, owner. I'm the volunteer board chair of the downtown Long Beach Alliance. The debate. I'm here to speak in support of the property based improvement district bid renewal, as well as really just to show my support for staff who have been working tirelessly to deliver the great services and programs of the LBA to the community while managing the urban renewal. It's a lot of work in addition to being a volunteer. I'm also a 15 year resident. I love the downtown I'm in. The types of investments they make in the downtown are very different than other investments. We're buying homes for the first time. We're raising families. We're retiring here. We're building our lives here in the downtown and making great friends with our neighbors and business owners. I really can't imagine my neighborhood. Our neighborhood over the next ten years continue to revitalize and grow without the DDA as staff and my fellow board member detailed. Many of us are familiar with the organization through the grants and workshops provided to small businesses. The marketing support provided the special event support provided to the community, the projects to enhance and to connect our neighborhood. But as Councilman one has mentioned, most visible, you know, our clean and safe team, our red shirts, our red team, we see them around on foot, on bike, on sit on Segways. And I just really can't imagine our neighborhood without them. And let's be honest, the last two years have been very difficult. At the start of the pandemic, when the state was locked down. Who were the first people I saw on the street every day still working? They were the red team, picking up trash, fresh, washing the sidewalks, helping those experiencing homelessness to direct them to services. And honestly, just checking on our neighborhood. The new management plan provides expanded, clean and safe services and have since then include a homeless outreach wall which is very needed to be that bridge between our stakeholders and the city and our social services. The clean and safe team. They really feel a need that wouldn't otherwise be met. And the organizations at an exciting point with the search for a new leader of the organization and when selected, I'm very excited to see this new leader in partnership with others implement the new ten year plan built on the strategic planning the board and the community developed this past year. So thank you to the city for your support over the last several months. And I.
Speaker 2: That concludes public comment.
Speaker 5: All right. Let's go ahead to a roll call vote with.
Speaker 0: District one.
Speaker 1: My District three.
Speaker 0: I. District four. District five. I.
Speaker 1: District six. I. District eight.
Speaker 0: District nine.
Speaker 5: All right.
Speaker 1: Motion is carried six zero.
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to sign the petition, and subsequent ballot, relating to City-owned properties located within the boundaries of the Downtown Long Beach Property and Business Improvement District.  (Districts 1,2)