Speaker 0: Thank you very much. We will now be going on to. Back to the regular agenda and we had item one which was removed from the account.
Speaker 1: Report from city attorney recommendation to adopt a resolution expressing its intent to prioritize spending of the oil barrel production tax revenues for specific purposes if approved by voters in the November 3rd, 2020. General municipal election and provide direction to the city manager regarding possible information. Educational materials relating to the ballot measure to be provided to Long Beach residents citywide.
Speaker 0: I'm turned over to staff.
Speaker 5: Mayor and members of the council. Thank you very much. The city attorney, Charlie Bergen. Yes. At the request from the council, we are bringing back the resolution which expresses your intent on how to prioritize the spending of the funds for the item that is placed on the current November ballot. And so we bring that back for your review and approval added to this item in the supplemental agenda was it was a second item from the city manager regarding the possible information education materials relating to the ballot measure. And we stand ready to answer your questions. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. City Attorney. I have a motion and a second to approve by Councilmember Richardson and a second by Councilmember Pierce, counsel for Richardson.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, staff, for bringing this back. Just a reminder for the public back in, I believe it was July, we made a motion to explore this. Then we took steps to place this on the ballot and we said, come back to us in a month, month and a half or so, and and show us how you can align this with youth health and climate. I see the resolution. I think it does those things. I also know that the purpose of the resolution is really just to talk about the types of uses of the funds. I want to I want to just call out a couple of things here. So so first aunt, where it talks about climate. I want to make sure that both climate justice as well as a sea level rise sort of purposes could be included. So offering that is a question. Mr. City Attorney, did you anticipate see sea level rise strategies be included, a potential use here?
Speaker 4: That is correct, yes.
Speaker 3: Okay. And then and then I've heard from Blame the Clean Air Coalition, others that really want to see some emphasis on strategies around climate justice and things like that. Can we include climate justice as well?
Speaker 5: Mayor, members of council Councilman Richard. Yes. This is going to be an annual item, I would assume, for the council discussion to prioritize the climate priorities.
Speaker 3: Right. So I just think it's important that people see these things because, you know, in case they want to go out to the committees and talk about it, things that these things are are reflected here. So I just wanted to call those two things out. Secondly, I know that I see that the Climate Action Adaptation Plan is called out here. A number of plans are not. I understand why, but I think it's it's important for us to underscore that we have a number of plans in the city from the My Brother's Keeper plan, youth strategic plan, Community Health Assessment, and they change from time to time. But the Climate Action Plan is something that would is supposed to be in place for a very long time. So that's why that is called out specifically. But some of the other strategies are not. Mr. MODICA Could you just speak to how you plan to just walk up council through, you know, how you plan to utilize this resolution to make sure that we sort of maintain the intent that we outlined when the council put this for you?
Speaker 5: Certainly. So when we have this original discussion with the council, there were three areas of focus climate change and the environment, community, health and youth services and children and youth services and programs. And so this really is kind of a broad, longer term document you're passing here. This tax revenue, if it were approved by voters, is going to be around for a while. So we wanted to make this a living document, one that can adapt with the times. That's part of the reason staff isn't recommending calling out specific programs and plans, because some of those will be done in the short term, we hope , with implementation. But they're reference here. So when we talk about, you know, youth strategic plans, health focus, strategic plans, all the current effort you're working on right now are we are on your behalf. Those would all be possible fundable items. We did call out the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. That is a planning document that has a long term horizon. So we expect that to be around for a long time. The way this would work is you're not approving specific projects today. You were approving buckets and large areas that you want us to focus on. This is still a general fund tax. It's not a specific tax. And so every year during the budget process, we would bring you back through the city manager's proposed budget ways to invest in your priorities that would meet these three priorities, as we have done with measure a measure may other taxes that have had similar resolutions of intent and mayor and council all add that this this resolution, as you're all aware, is non-binding. It is it is an expression of ten. And as the city manager indicated, it's meant to be a living document so that it can adjust as your circumstances change.
Speaker 3: And I support that. And we know that we've done that in the past. We've held to that. I just think these three points are what's important, given what we've dealt with in the last few weeks in terms of seeing the real impacts of climate, you know, red skies, red sun and a lack of ability to go outside and exercise due to air quality, and that that is a direct impact of climate making investments to the climate makes sense. We all are concerned about the youth, the youth across our entire city. So investment calling out the types of uses to invest in our youth is something that makes sense and is strong. And we're in the middle of a health pandemic. We're one of three public health agencies in the state, and we know that there's there's always more that we can do to expand health and health equity, particularly in this moment where we're more aware of the way that public health has impacts on our residents across the city. And so for those reasons, I support this. I think it aligns with those of three very important topics climate, health and youth in this moment. And so I'm happy to make the motion to support this this this resolution. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Captain Pierce.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, city attorney, for drafting this. Thank you, Councilmember Richardson, for the motion and the hard work on this. I know that this has been a topic that's been around for several years, but specifically the last couple of months. I want to also say thank you to the Sustainability Commission and the Environmental Committee. We know that jointly they had two meetings that touch briefly on some of these concepts, but the Sustainability Commission has also really dived into this and I think it's critical that we acknowledge that it's not just climate justice, but that we talk about equity, particularly when we talk about air quality. We have the cow enviro screen that you can easily look at and see some of the key areas that have some of the worst air quality. But recognizing that climate change is something that impacts the entire city, but that we're trying to prioritize those areas that have the worst impacts over sea level rise. I think that's obviously not in my district's at the same level that it is in Councilmember Price's district. But the air quality is worse in our district than maybe it is farther on the east side. So I was I was hoping, Councilmember Richardson, that to be consistent with the document that we talk about equity when it comes to climate. And I know that this is a planning doc that's living document. And so pinpointing particularly things like the Columbia screen might not be appropriate, but being able to articulate that the spending for climate really can be prioritized in different ways with using the same equity toolkit that we already have for other documents. I would say that on each of these items, I know that I had asked Eric with our public works team, to give me a breakdown assessment and just recognizing that with our climate funds we do have really big priorities. I think there's a total energy efficiency related projects add up to about $80 million in the city, and that's just on energy efficiency projects. So we know that this money will definitely have lots of areas to be spent. And so making sure that we're prioritizing each of those areas within the Climate Adaptation Action Plan is really a key priority. So I'm glad that it's called out in this document. Councilmember Richardson, would you be opposed to including equity as part of the climate conversation, just like it's played out in the other two?
Speaker 3: It's not a problem. But what I would what I would highlight is that equity is called out twice in the document. I spoke with I spoke with City Manager Modica. I think it was just an oversight in the climate. So I'd like I'd like to bring him I think that's already his intent is to sort of apply this, but speak to that.
Speaker 5: Yes. We had looked at having equity in all three of them. We added it into human services, added into community health. And it was an oversight that that the term in the concept wasn't in climate change. You know, you have asked us as part of reconciliation to look at equity in all of those areas, and that's been approved by the council. And so we would you know, we would be bringing back things with an equity lens like we do with most of our items now.
Speaker 3: Certainly. And so I would just say, I think folks know the progression here. The council knew this was a recommendation that came out of the beginning of the Framework for reconciliation conversation. So there's a direct alignment with with that. There's also a direct alignment with things like our Climate Action Plan and strategic plan and a number of other strategies that we have that are on a shelf and haven't been implemented. So I hope that satisfies which we will.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I wanted to be specific just because of the issues with, as I mentioned, the Callen virus screen. So if you look at the calendar screen map, that's not even my district, but the first District seven, like the west side of the north side is it calendar virus screen goes from 0 to 100. And on those areas, it's all the way up to 100. Whereas areas in my district might be screened out of one. And so I just wanted to make sure I know that, that we didn't talk through this beforehand. COUNCILMEMBER So I'm sorry for spraying this, but I just want to make sure that as we talk about the Climate Adaptation Action Plan, and perhaps this could be put more strategically into that plan to make sure that there are areas that are prioritized when we're trying to reduce the direct impacts to people's health, like asthma impacts from being in that in that zone. So I recognize and appreciate that equity is throughout the document. I got several calls and emails about it today, so I look forward to hearing the rest of the Councilmember comments. I think it's a it's a great document, and I hope that people will stay this engaged as they have been on this plan, as they are when the Climate Adaptation Action Plan returns to council as well. That's fine.
Speaker 0: Customers and asked.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. And as the chair of the Election Oversight Committee, I just wanted to reiterate my support for this kind of of calm, of this kind of item and resolution. I think that it's very important that we do look at it through an equity lens, but we also need to work together with staff to, you know , to make sure that our our constituents are well educated on on this resolution and what exactly means. And I'm very confident that working together, we can we can do this so and have it ready for the November 3rd election and be able to do outreach and educate our residents on on what exactly this is. So thank you. And I fully support this.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Count to my price.
Speaker 2: Q Mr. Mayor, can you hear me okay?
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 2: We can. Okay. Thank you. So I guess my question would be for the city manager, since it's the city manager who would be interpreting the intent and transferring that intent into practical application when we're talking about equity in this context. Well, let's just start with climate equity. What does that term mean to you in terms of how you allocate resources?
Speaker 5: Well, I think it could mean a lot of different things. Climate impacts people in very different ways. Sea level rise is one of the more immediate ones in terms of loss of property and damage. And so that certainly would be an area and that's going to affect, you know, the northern part of our town, a lot different than the southern part of our town. We certainly have other things like Heat Island Effect, which are very different as you go further north. And and the heat island effect is much higher than it is down by the coast. So in our mind, you know, the concept of equity is looking at what people need and looking at a needs based system and in trying to bring those resources to where the need is. So I think it would be complex, but we wouldn't take a one size fits all. We would be looking at the various areas of climate change that we would want to address in any given year and bring those forward. Some might be more immediate in one year than others, but again, this is a long term planning horizon that we're looking at. If this funding source were to be passed.
Speaker 2: Okay, I get it. So so just to understand more clearly, like in the example of climate equity, you would view sea level rise. As in when you're saying we're looking at things with an equity lens, you give you you'd view sea level rise as something that would be worthy of view from an equity lens.
Speaker 5: Yes, I think you've got an equity lens, but you've also got your entire climate action goals and programs and sea level rise is one of those big ones that's identified as one of the more impactful, especially in the next, you know, 15 to 20 years. So sea level rise is certainly one that we would be looking at.
Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you for that. And then I had assumed so, but I did get a few questions today, and I just wanted to clarify that it's really this concept of equity is based on me. So when we're talking about youth programing, for example, how would you define equity in terms of youth programing?
Speaker 5: So I think we would look at again what some of the needs are that are out there. We clearly know that we have some, you know, high poverty areas and areas where there's higher crime. There are needs in that area and some pretty dire needs for youth. We also have areas that youth have very different needs where they may need more, you know, emotional support or programing, you know, for, you know, socialization or to deal with school stress or those types of things. So we would take a look at in that given year what the need and priority is, you know, where we can make the best impact. And again, with a $1.6 million week, there is a lot that we can do every year. We're not planning, at least from staff's perspective, to recommend this to be a lot of structural programs. We would actually be looking to fund individual efforts each year. So if in that year, some money needed to go towards, you know, kind of youth intervention prevention type programs, those would probably be focused on the most in need for violence. And in that area and others could be more city wide approach for other things like school stress programing or other types of similar needs.
Speaker 2: And when we're determining need, are you guys doing any sort of surveys to determine that? For example, I'll give you an example. When we're determining what we need in terms of youth programing for for children, if equity is being defined as identifying need, then I think we'd probably want to know how how much is an average family earning? For example, are both parents working? Is there someone to watch the child during the day? How much are they spending on childcare, for example? And do they need or could they benefit from city subsidized programing? So what I want to give a huge shout out to our new PR director, Mr. Dennis, because for some reason, the last time we talked about youth and equity, the only after school program that we had in the third district got taken away, which I wasn't sure how that need determination was made, but it was recently reinstated, which has been great because if you're a working family and you don't have anyone to watch your children in light of the COVID school closures, then then there may be a need there. Right. So for some subsidized assistance from the city. So how are you guys determining need when it comes to running youth programing equity?
Speaker 5: So I think we start with data so we can look at a lot of data, everything from, you know, income to, you know, you know, all the different data sources that are out there. We look at our strategic plans as well and why we didn't list specific strategic plans. We are in the middle of some efforts like the Youth Strategic Plan, which has a citywide process that we've been going to through to get input. Those plans all have different aspects of them, and so does the reconciliation plan, so does early childhood education plan. And so we been looking at those kind of council approved documents, and we would be bringing back actual programs through the budget to look at all your priorities. You can certainly give us input early on in the process on what your priorities are as well. But to get down to that level of detail of what the need is and what kind of input we're taking, that would go through the budget process.
Speaker 2: So I appreciate that. Thank you. I'm wondering if there's this is something you don't have to answer tonight, but I appreciate Councilman Richardson's comments earlier and the focus on making sure that we have programing so that every child in the city feels supported. I think that's really important. I think that's what we all every member of this council wants. But in light of that, maybe there's something the city council can do. Maybe we can put out our own surveys. You know, this council works really hard to support working families, and I would define working families as especially right now in light of COVID. Many families with both parents working outside the home with a tremendous need for childcare, intervention, assistance. I mean, there's so many, you know, forks in the road that children will face right now and without proper guidance and oversight, if they don't have a parental figure there to oversee them, they could make some tremendous mistakes or go go take the wrong route. And so I think as a city, we could maybe participate as council members in getting you data of how many working families we have, how many families need childcare, how much people are paying for childcare, you know, what portion of their income goes to things like their mortgage or their rent and how much is left over? Is there enough left over for them to be able to get quality childcare without city subsidy? So maybe we can put together a survey or something so that we can make really informed decisions about need that are based on some data and not maybe assumptions. Because even though there may be different income levels, you know, the expenses that a family puts out may be such that affording childcare may be a stretch or a burden. And so when we're talking about youth programing and opportunities to have assistance and support for children, every child in the city, you know, I want to know if there's any way that we as a council can help the city staff get data, or maybe we can hire a contractor to do a study or a survey. I don't know. I leave that to you as the city manager, but I certainly think that if we were to get some of that data, some of the results might be surprising and might inform our decisions of need maybe differently, maybe the same, but at least provide us some data with which to make those decisions. And that would be important to me as part of this process. I understand that we're a ways out from implementation of this and certainly where we're having a discussion about something that hasn't even come to fruition. What that means to me is we have plenty of time to determine if equity really means need and if the intent is to support every child in the city, maybe we can get some data to help inform those decisions. When you come forth with your proposals.
Speaker 5: It would be happy to look at any data that anyone wants to provide. I think that those are all part of the things that we look at is, you know, what are the different neighborhoods and what are the different needs out there? I think you gave a good example of Parks and Rec. If you look at what we did this year with the coronavirus and we changed our parks and rec programs and we were actually able to merge them two different programs into one, lower the fees for everybody, and then also create equity based programs where people that even couldn't afford those reduced fees that they had the ability to apply for, you know, for even a more reduced fee than that. So that's actually one where we were able to lower the costs for everybody and create more slots. And we were able to offer that throughout the entire city while also thinking about need and people who have lesser ability to pay.
Speaker 2: Very much. I have no additional questions or comments.
Speaker 0: Thank you very much with that. There was any public comment and then we'll go to the well-placed.
Speaker 5: Our first speaker is Christopher Chavez.
Speaker 6: Yeah. Yes. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Chris Chavez, and I'm the deputy policy director for Coalition for Clean Air and a resident of Long Beach, the sixth District. I want to thank the staff who drafted this resolution, as well as the council members and their staff who've taken the lead on this issue , understanding that this resolution is a broad and overarching document. We appreciate it and are supportive of its goals. Further, we strongly support the commitment to climate and environmental equity and ask the city to consider Cal enviro screen stores scores the South Coast Air Quality Management District's multiple air toxics exposure study.
Speaker 3: And other.
Speaker 6: Relevant metrics. This advantage in low income communities, which are predominantly comprised of people of color, are disproportionately impacted by poor air and water quality as well as the climate crisis. As such, it is important for climate and environmental equity to be prioritized. To this end, I want to express my appreciation and gratitude to Councilmember Richardson and Councilmember Pearce for their questions. I'd also like to consider their I'd also like to ask the state to consider our other recommendations which have been provided in writing and verbal comments, as well as consult.
Speaker 3: With the environmental and environmental.
Speaker 6: Justice organizations when it as should this measure pass.
Speaker 3: And when.
Speaker 6: The time is appropriate. Thank you very much for your time and comments and I and again support this resolution.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mark Harris.
Speaker 2: Hello? Can you hear me?
Speaker 4: Yes, we can. Please begin.
Speaker 2: Dear may see him on this council member. My name is Mac Harris and I'm a youth ambassador for the city's Destitute Plan and a youth empowerment co-chair for exciting new local ballot. Measure, measure. Measure. I am also here as a youth ambassador for the Invest in Youth Coalition. Tonight, I'm here in support of you all to vote to adopt a resolution to prioritize the spending of the oil barrel production tax revenues for a specific purpose, to fund our fight against climate change, and to support the health and well-being of our youth and communities and communities most harmed by COVID and institutional racism. Imagine if all black, brown and Southeast Asian youth in our city have access to resources to stay resilient in these hard times. Right now, Long Beach has an opportunity to increase revenue for communities most impacted by systemic and environmental racism. When we vote yes on us, we hold local oil companies accountable to pay their fair share in taxes. Now is the time for Long Beach to level up and vote yes on us and ensure young people and those most impacted will receive the care they deserve. The truth is close to one third of Long Beach youth population were already living in poverty before the pandemic, and close to 7000 students attending USC reported homelessness. In this crisis, we know things are getting worse, but we need to act now. This is a step towards ensuring youth and families who live in historically and systemically under-resourced neighborhoods. Those who have historically had to carry the burden to fill in the gaps during.
Speaker 6: Budget cuts and recession will benefit.
Speaker 2: From equitable programs and public infrastructure to support strong, healthy and whole communities. I hope.
Speaker 6: That you all.
Speaker 2: Will vote to adopt this pollution and continue to have new voices at the center of this process because we need all of us. Thank you.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: That concludes ballot conferencing.
Speaker 0: Okay. Will do the roll call vote.
Speaker 1: District one. District White. I district to. District three, II District four, high District five. I. District six.
Speaker 4: I.
Speaker 1: District seven.
Speaker 4: I.
Speaker 1: District eight. District nine.
Speaker 4: By.
Speaker 1: Motion carries.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 0: We are we did provoke general public comment already. We're going to take iron and it's 26, 27 and 28, which are budget related. Madam Clerk, have you been keeping the timer for council comments?
Speaker 1: Yes, Mayor.
Speaker 4: You have. Okay.
Recommendation to adopt resolution expressing its Intent to prioritize spending of the Oil Barrel Production Tax Revenues for Specific Purposes, if approved by voters in the November 3, 2020 General Municipal Election; and 

Provide direction to City Manager regarding possible informational/educational materials relating to the ballot measure to be provided to Long Beach residents.  (Citywide)