Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. We're now going to move on to the first item of business that we mentioned here, which is going to be item 16, which is an item about the Aquarium of the Pacific. Madam Clerk.
Speaker 2: Report from City Manager Recommendation to approve payments to Aquarium of the Pacific for the $10.7 million balance of a $15 million aquarium challenge grant to be paid from Tidelands operating funds as part of the funding for the Pacific Visions Project.
Speaker 0: I think are we before we begin here, I think we have a staff report first. And so, Dr. Schubert, we're going to let the staff do the report and then we'll we'll begin.
Speaker 6: Doctor, you can say their doctor should be very, very brief. So council members and mayor, the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Long Beach Aquarium is facing a dilemma right now. They need to expand for the demand that they've created. If we I'm not comparing the aquarium to an amusement park, but if you look around us, you have Universal Studios had to add things like the Transformers. Disneyland continues to reinvent itself and add things. Knott's Berry Farm, of course, Ghost Town and Camp Snoopy. And with the economy of the Pacific, they're adding Pacific visions. And basically they're they're faced with an issue. And the experts and consultants that they brought on board are saying in order to meet your demand and increase your attendance and create new revenue, you need to expand and create a new opportunity for the public. So this is Pacific Visions. Dr. Schaeuble and his team are going to walk us through this in just a moment. It's a $53 million addition funded almost entirely by pledged donations, ours included. It'll meet their demand. It'll increase attendance, meet the demand of the region. It'll enhance the guest experience. It'll attract new visitors, not just new visitors, but donors as well. And it'll also maintain our position as America's premier aquarium. So we the big deal for the council to look at tonight is we have a challenge grant of $15 million that we were providing to the aquarium through Tidelands 100% through Tidelands throughout a 10 to 15 year period. We've already provided approximately $4.3 million. But in order to go forward, we were providing that as funds accumulated through Tidelands. In order to go forward, the aquarium needs to make a firm commitment on approximately the $10 million that's left. So we have it's in your packet, a scenario on how we're going to fund that. We're actually funding in fiscal year 17, $1.5 million of that that's already been approved. Dr. Schaeuble, the check is released tomorrow. And then we also have refunded our Rainbow Harbor bonds. And with the dollars that have come free from that, that'll take care of us for the last couple of years and at least $500,000 throughout the next six years. And we're not looking at any capital projects in Tidelands that this will be backed up against basically operations. And quite honestly, during the past decade or so, we've always had a surplus of about $700,000 in operations and title. And so that's the money that we would be utilizing to commit to this challenge. Grant So that Dr. Schaeuble and the team could go to the bank and know that it's coming. So with that, I'd like to answer any questions anybody has or turn it over to.
Speaker 0: The good doctor. I'm going I'm going to turn this over to Dr. Schaeuble in just a minute. Let me just also just to add to what the city manager said. So I just want to just, you know, take a little bit different also of of comments and just say that the aquarium is a, first of all, world class institution. And we are incredibly proud to have this not just a tourist attraction, but this is an educational center. This is an academic center. It's a a place that is rescuing teaching. It is a leading, leading place for science when it comes to climate change. And I just really proud of all the work, Dr. Schaeuble, that you and the board and Dr. Molina and just the whole board have been involved with on this incredible project. And so we're very excited about this project. We're very supportive of the work you've already done. And just look forward to the future of this partner. Incredible partnership and the, you know, the millions of of young minds that you continue to teach every single day to learn about our planet and to learn about being a good stewards of our environment. And so thank you for your incredible work. Dr. SCHAEUBLE.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Anibal Maria Garcia, members of the City Council and senior city staff and city manager. We appreciate this opportunity to be here. I'm Jerry Schauble, president of the aquarium, and I'm joined this evening by the immediate past chair of our board of board of Directors, Dr. Mario Molina, who chairs the Pacific Visions campaign and is a charter member and by a charter member of the board, Ross Hill, who service goes back to 1998 before the aquarium ever opened. And we're joined by a number of of our staff over here to my left. And later, we'll be joined by a penguin and a talking bird. And that should be entertaining. Tonight, you as as the mayor has said, you're going to vote on a measure to approve the final 10.7 million of the city's $15 million pledge to the $53 million expansion of the aquarium. Lola, our talking bird is programed, but she can be unpredictable and she probably has two responses depending upon how the vote goes. One One of them may be R-rated. So before you take your vote, my colleagues and I would like to make just a few remarks about the aquarium to remind you of a number. Of things about about it. We're coming to the end of the most successful year in our history. We will have 1.7 million visitors. We have 113,000 members. 13,000 from Long Beach. 3.1 million website users. 140,000 people who follow us on social media and 730,000 YouTube views. 500 million. Our reach through PR and advertising. We reach 1.6 million visitors teachers, rather, on the online PBS Learning Media, and we reach 110 museums, science centers and aquariums through our science on a sphere network. And we also have forums, lectures, workshops, and we broadcast a lot of these online to reach a very large audience. Financially, this has been a, again, the best year in our history, $37 million in unrestricted revenue. We're on track to have the strongest year ever. Annual economic impact is more than $60 million for Long Beach and 160 million for Los Angeles and Orange counties. And in the past decade, we've been able to invest more than $25 million back into the facility, and none of those dollars were city dollars. They were from the successful operation of the aquarium. And over that decade, we've been able to contribute $22 million toward the city's debt service and the aquarium. Within the Long Beach community itself, we have 1500 volunteers, 25% of whom live in Long Beach and those. Volunteers contribute about 160000 hours every year. We have climate resiliency programs for the city. We have a live program with Miller Children's Hospitals Hospital where they can talk to our vet when he's doing checkups on animals. We engage local artists, performers and cultural groups at the Aquarium of Cultural Festivals, and the operating company has never missed a covenant from the implementation agreement, which I'm going to ask Ross Hill to comment on in just a minute, because over the years he's been the primary architect of all of that. So we've never missed a rent payment of $2.2 million, and we've never failed to reinvest at least 6% of the operating revenue in enhancing the city's facility this year. We will exceed that by a couple of million, and since June of 1998, this has become the most distinctive aquarium in the country and perhaps in the world. And to give a little bit of context, I want Ross Hill to make a few comments. He served as chair of the board on four different occasions. Ross.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Jerry. It shows I'm not a very good.
Speaker 3: Recruiter that I kept operating as the chair.
Speaker 7: But actually some of you may know, some of you may not know that the choir was originally formed as a strong partnership between a private, not for profit operating corporation in the city. And that has been really, really important because that's what's allowed us to raise private capital to help build the city's aquarium. We couldn't have done that otherwise. And in this project, as Jerry mentioned, it's $53 million with 15 million coming from the city. We've been through several iterations in financing, and I think most of that predates this board, but it's called an implementation agreement because it is the document that allows us to work together but still meet the bond covenants. And that's a very complicated document indeed. As Jerry said, we've never missed a covenant and we pay the rent to the city and the operating expenses. So I believe it's become the most distinctive aquarium in the country with a combination of superb animal husbandry, our use of media technology and convening and in participating with groups , talking about the environment and about cultural issues, as the mayor indicated before. I'd like Jerry to show.
Speaker 3: You some more highlights of that. And so some of the.
Speaker 6: Strength of that partnership with the community is shown on this slide. We have a huge number of partnerships. Mola, Queen, Mary, Long Beach Airport. I'll let you look at these. I won't read them all, but the list grows every year. We also have partnerships with local businesses, restaurants through our Future Seafood for the Future program that includes Parker's Lighthouse, King Seafood and Gladstone's. And we also partner with Molina Health Care and Boeing. One of the challenges is to make the aquarium accessible, since we have a lot of people in Long Beach who can't afford to come to the aquarium, even though we are much less expensive than going to Universal Studios or to Disneyland. So we have a number of programs. We send 50% off coupons to all the residents. We have passes at Long Beach public libraries that people can go check them out and take a family of four to the aquarium. We have the free nights that are hosted by the mayor and the city council. Every Friday night we have free Shrek Lagoon nights and we we participate as an institution in many parades and festivals across the city. And we support local charities through ticket donations, coupons and venue use educational programs. The mayor mentioned we are an educational institution and we are we're an informal educational institution and we specialize in lifelong learning. We have programs all the way from pre-K up through retired people. We get more than up to 200,000 educational visits every year, more than 10,000 from Long Beach. 35,867 are free. 30,000 get served by our aquarium on wheels. If people can't come to the aquarium, we take the aquarium on wheels to them. We have the most extensive and diverse lecture system anywhere in Southern California that includes all the universities and colleges. This year will end up with 42 lectures that are all streamed live. We have Aquatic Academy courses. The one we'll be giving in the spring has to do with sustainability. It will build on the strength of what the city is doing and focus the spotlight on the city of Long Beach. And we will have the National Academy of Sciences here to underscore the importance of what this city is doing. We have programs and events for teachers and homeschool families, and we do a lot with the visual and the performing arts. That's another thing that makes us distinctive. The use of media technology in combining the arts and the sciences are among our signature programs. Pacific Visions When It Opens. It will increase the number of visitors by at least 200,000 in the first year. The majority of those will come from outside of the city, but they will spend money here. They'll spend money not only on parking, and that will yield at least a half a million dollars to the city since the city receives those revenues. They will eat in our restaurants, and we hope many of them will also stay overnight when it's when we expand. This new building will be an architectural icon that will attract people to Long Beach just to see the building. It will serve as a world class, educational and arts institution that will engage the public like never before, and it will tackle the planet's most pressing issues. It will be the most powerful platform in the world outside of the military, that allows the public to explore alternative pathways to the future and determine how our actions collectively will determine the future. We actually have. And now I would like to turn it over to Mario Molina.
Speaker 3: Thank you. So, first of all, I would like to thank the city and thank all of you for your support. None of what the aquarium has done would be possible without the city's support. This slide shows you what the expansion will look like. It will be a glass covered building. It will be iconic. And I think people will come just to see the building itself, frankly. I'm very excited about this. You know, Jerry talked to you about our attendance. We are bursting at the seams. This gives us additional capacity, and it will bring more visitors. More visitors means more parking revenue. It means more people visiting restaurants and local businesses. So I think this is going to be very good for the local economy. Can I get the next. Yes, go ahead.
Speaker 0: I just.
Speaker 6: Press. Yeah.
Speaker 3: We have a short video we want to show you. It's about 90 seconds now.
Speaker 7: And there's no guarantee that you.
Speaker 6: Get somebody in with the trigger. This there's no green arrow for us. Okay.
Speaker 8: Our world has been a place of creation.
Speaker 6: Devastation.
Speaker 8: And regeneration.
Speaker 6: For 4.6.
Speaker 3: Billion years. The only constant.
Speaker 8: Has been change in the past few thousand years. Our ingenuity has led to incredible progress. But we've accelerated the pace of change.
Speaker 6: The impact on our natural world. His profound nature can no longer keep up. To solve these challenges. The Aquarium of the Pacific invites you to join us in creating a thriving planet. The Pacific Visions.
Speaker 9: Immersive experience.
Speaker 6: Welcomes performing artists, scientists, global innovators and youth to participate in designing a sustainable world. There. Humans live in harmony with nature.
Speaker 7: Pacific visions will inspire.
Speaker 6: That same entrepreneurial spirit. To ignite a Blue Revolution. We are a creative, innovative and compassionate species. The actions we take today will determine our tomorrow. Join us as we design a better future for all.
Speaker 3: Well, I want to thank you for your time and the attention. And we have a couple of visitors we want.
Speaker 6: To bring out bring out our visitors. And while we're bringing them out, I also I want to thank you personally. This wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the support of the city. And it wouldn't be possible, though, if we to create this kind of an institution in most cities. We're very fortunate to be in Long Beach, and in spite of what you hear sometimes and read in the media, it is not hopeless. We have the knowledge, the tools and the technology to create a glorious future, and that's what we're all about. So if you would like to will be happy to answer any questions from any of you on the council and if you'd like to have your picture taken with any of these animals. No. Did we ever get to it? Did you ever teach Lola to say thank you?
Speaker 5: No. He says it, but not.
Speaker 6: Well. What is Lola do if it sees a shark? What do.
Speaker 5: You do? You see a shark?
Speaker 0: Thank you, Dr. Schaeuble. I have some some councilmembers that have some some comments in question. So let me get through those and then we'll go to get to the vote and.
Speaker 6: Then we'll take some pictures. So. Absolutely.
Speaker 0: Thank you. You guys are saying, all right, that's great. Let me go and get through this. I know. Council woman Pierce, you made the motion.
Speaker 2: Yes. I am very excited to have you guys here today. I remember one of my first briefings I had after stepping into office was on this project and kind of that question of what do we want to do? And and this is something we as a city want to invest in. And I think your team and your staff really have demonstrated partnership and vision and every aspect we've made along the way around partnering in our parks or along our beaches to expand the great work that you guys are already doing. You guys are your whole team is right there. And I just really want to say your team is are some of my favorite people to meet with and give them a round of applause for all of their hard work that they do. And I think you guys did a great job of laying out the numbers, the economic impact. What is it going to mean for tourism? What is it going to mean for the city? I've had the privilege of getting to know a penguin and getting to know Molly and of course, Betty, two of our otters that you guys have. And one thing that was really exciting to hear is one of our orders that we have, the typical lifespan, guys of an otter in captivity is around 10 to 12 years. We have an order in Long Beach that is the oldest living otter in the world in captivity. That doesn't tell you it's about to be 20. That doesn't tell you how much people in our aquarium really care. It's we should be really proud to have a great facility like this. My mother brought me behind the scenes at places like aquariums and SeaWorld to try to enlighten me on what did it mean to be compassionate , to care for those that couldn't fight for themselves. And it was really animals that did that in spaces like yours. And so I wholeheartedly support this investment in one of our city structures. And I really think that the city staff are doing the hard work to try to get to the numbers that made sense for everybody. And I think that Long Beach is just going to be better for all the work that you guys have done. So thank you very much.
Speaker 0: Thank you. The second of the motion was Councilwoman Price.
Speaker 4: Do I echo the comments of my colleague? And I want to thank you for your excellent work and the presentation tonight. I will say my my favorite part of the proposal and the budget aspect of it is that it will not impact any existing or future projects out of the Tidelands area. That's a real concern for those of us who fund many city assets through that that particular budget. I think it's a great added benefit to the city. And again, I'm very much looking forward to being a continued partner with the aquarium, seeing the great work that you do and seeing the facility open. And thank you so much for bringing in our special guests. The Girl Scouts are here tonight and they were so excited, I asked them to stay so that they could see the live penguin and bird. So thank you very much for being here. And again, we look forward to a continued partnership.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Vice Mayor Richardson.
Speaker 8: Thank you. And I just want to say what amazing presentation that was. I can tell you that, you know, community is clear, your commitment to community. It was clear in that presentation and it's clear in terms of what you do in your partnership in the community from, you know, the the free knights of the curiam to the sponsorship of local events, the mobile aquarium. I think it's really clear people are proud that this aquarium is ours. And, you know, I you know, the part that struck me differently now than before was the part in the video when it showed the young person walking along the beach and said, we have to think about the future . You know, my you know, my daughter loves fish. We only have one little fish, just one. We got a 70 gallon saltwater aquarium with one fish. And and I've got to protect that fish, because if that fish comes up missing, I'm going to be accountable for it. So I totally get it. But I'm a you know, I just think it's amazing to have an asset. And I would say to the level of, you know, Knott's Berry Farm at Disney, like, we have that level of stature in our region to have that here is a real asset and we should invest in it and we should protect it because it's a community asset and it adds real value to Long Beach. So keep up the good work. You obviously have my support here and let's keep an open door.
Speaker 7: Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Mongo.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank you for the partnership that you have in the community. I received a couple of calls today from some misinformation that was out there about what the council item was tonight. And so I want you to know that your supporters are out there following what's going on and ensuring that this great asset that we do have will be held in perpetuity and that the city council, along with the city staff, know and understand what's what's moving forward and what that information is. So thank you for what you do. Thank you for those at home who said they would be watching to ensure that this was exactly what I said it would be. And thank you for for holding true to what you've promised the community and your donors, because that's very important as well. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Councilman Gonzales.
Speaker 4: Much of what I wanted to say already has been said. But I also want to thank you and congratulations for all your hard work at the aquarium and really your commitment to sustainability and environmentalism. I know that's really important for the aquarium and certainly I appreciate it. So thank you very much.
Speaker 0: Councilman Andrews.
Speaker 3: I think you may also like to echoed the sentiments which are said here on the diocese, because the aquarium, you know, the Pacific is very visible and successful, you know, in our nonprofit organization I City. But also, I'd like to mention you that the addition to this specific vision, you know, is going to be a wonderful and a magnet to be attracted to everyone visit to the city of Long Beach. And that would be one big way we can afford to pay for it. So you guys continue to do what you're doing. Thank you very much. And that one visit a week is very important to my district. And I want to thank you so much for allowing us to do that. Thank you again.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Council member Ringo.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Mayor. I, too, are supporting this this motion. Your aquarium on wheels was absolutely amazing. You did the first one at Hudson Elementary School and West Long Beach. We're very proud of that, that we were the first and continue the good work. And I hope that you can expand that program to include bigger and better displays. Take them out to maybe a shark or a mobile shark tank. I wasn't scared. The bird. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Councilmember Pierce.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I just wanted to take a second while we have everybody's attention on the aquarium to say that our aquarium night is on the 19th and that the team here, David, and everybody, have been great. We are stepping it up and we're going to be doing a pledge drive for sustainability because you guys are making that such a a key part of your work. And so we'll have the city departments at the aquarium getting people that are showing up for free night to sign up and pledge to be sustainable on a number of different issues. And so just wanted to highlight that while everyone was, you know, thinking about these cute guys. We'll see on the 19th.
Speaker 0: Thank you. And as we go to a to a vote, I just want to obviously, Mario, Russ, Jerry and the whole team, thank you. And I think it's important for everyone to note that everything you've heard today is amazing. It's wonderful. It's the right thing to do. But at the same time, the work that I'm always most proud of is that the aquarium is leading our efforts on the climate change conversation in the city of Long Beach right now, and that is so critical for the future of our planet and sea level rise. This community and I want to thank you, Jerry. You've brought together scientists from across the country to advise us, counsel and advise me on what's happening, what the issues are. And it's that kind of work that you can't put a price on that you're doing every day. And I just just thank you for for your efforts there. Very important work. So thank you. Members, please go ahead and cast their votes.
Speaker 1: Motion carries.
Speaker 0: Great. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 6: Would anyone like a picture with one of them?
Speaker 0: Yeah, we're going to we're going to come over here right now. Let's all do a picture.
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Really? I've heard that. I'm going to do it right here.
Speaker 9: I just. I don't have my glasses. Tell me where to sign.
Speaker 6: Right here.
Speaker 9: Signature in my name. Okay.
Speaker 0: Yeah. Real quick. Just a quick announcement. I think in.
Speaker 6: All the.
Speaker 0: Real quick and all the penguin excitement, we didn't do public comment.
Speaker 6: So if there.
Speaker 0: Is public comment, if there is public comment, we should do it now. And if there is any interest, we could we could we can just vote one more time, but that we need to do public comment. Is there any public comment? Please come forward on this item on the aquarium? Yes. Okay.
Speaker 3: Certainly a commendable project. And I think we should also take hats off to former mayors Tom Clark and Ernie Kell. That champion had the vision had the vision back then to see the value of this and push this thing forward. Before there was the aquarium and so forth. Without that. Initial push, it would never would have gotten off the ground. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Any other public comment? I see no other public comment. We're going to take the vote one more time just to be extra sure. We don't want to have to do it again. So just checking in with the city attorney. We don't have to do a motion to reconsider just a revote. Correct. Okay. So no other public comment. CNN members, please go out and cast your cash for votes. There's a motion and a second there.
Speaker 1: Motion carries.
Speaker 0: Thank you. That's what this penguin studio sometimes. Okay. Thank you. We're going to move on to the next the next item, which is our 1% for the arts program item. I'm going to have the cork with the item number 17.
Speaker 2: Please report from city manager recommendation to receive and file a report on the feasibility and recommendations for establishing a percent for the Arts Program City.
Speaker 0: Thank you. I'm going to I'm going to go ahead and make some opening comments and then I'm going to turn this over to our staff to devote go through. By the way, I still see it on here. Okay.
Recommendation to approve payments to Aquarium of the Pacific for the $10.7 million balance of a $15 million Aquarium Challenge Grant, to be paid from Tidelands operating funds, as part of the funding for the Pacific Visions Project, subject to conditions, and authorize City Manager to execute the necessary documents in connection therewith.