Speaker 0: So what we're doing item no, we're doing item number 5/1 and then we're doing item 11. So please read on five.
Speaker 2: Communication from Councilman Austin Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on the Historical Society of Long Beaches. New Exhibit Water Changes Everything opening on July 19th.
Speaker 6: Thank you. I just want to say that the Historical Society of Long Beach just opened a new exhibit at their location at 26th. I'm sorry. 4260 Atlantic Avenue. And that has changed. And it hasn't had a direct impact on every resident in Long Beach. Water does change everything. It shrank. It traces the importance role of water in Long Beach development, as well as discussing the crucial water issues facing us today. I'm pleased to invite Judy Barlow, the executive director of the Historical Society, to share a little bit about the new exhibit, as well as a collaboration that has been established, including the city, to focus on the importance of water. Julie, thank you.
Speaker 8: Good evening. Thank you very much, Councilmember Orson, for your support for the Historical Society and for this exhibition. And thank you, Councilmember Supernormal as well for your support of the exhibition. This is truly a historical night and a great council meeting for me to witness, so thank you for that too. I'd like to share about our latest exhibition. It opened last week and it's called Water Changes Everything. It runs through June 13th of 2020. I've been with the HCB for over 20 years and what I know is, is that people look to us to understand local history. They want to understand what happened in the past and how that influences where we're going today and into the future. Researchers come to search our archives for information about current issues. Looking at the past before acting will benefit us all and helps us prepare for the future, including and especially issues around climate change. As we all know, Long Beach is bound by San Pedro Bay. The Los Angeles sensing San Gabriel Rivers water or the lack of water, has been a defining feature for our city and the region. It is a source of our commerce industry and much of our recreation. Rising sea levels will intensify waters impact on us in Long Beach as well as throughout the world. Meanwhile, drought and rising temperatures increase our need for fresh water locally. You, the city, the Long Beach Water Department and others understand this. And the more the public is educated, the better we can work together for the future. We hope that this exhibition and related programs provide useful material about the city's historically changing shorelines, flood controls and water sources. We hope that it provides us for a shared basis for conversation moving forward. Communicating with the public about things matters greatly. And we encourage and appreciate and we hope that it encourages and increases appreciation for water as the scarce resource that it is. It's critical to to act now teaching the public about historical cycles of heavy rain, floods and droughts encourages water conservation and action going forward. As John Steinbeck wrote, I have spoken of the rich years when the rainfall was plentiful, but there were drivers too, and they put a tear on the valley. It never failed that during dry years the people forgot about the rich years and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. And it was always that way. And unfortunately, it still is that way. Our exhibition includes maps and images of what the area looked like before it was developed. It addresses the sources of water that supplied the growing city from local wells to the establishment of the local municipal Long Beach Water Department and our partnership with Metropolitan Water District. We included fun and iconic images of the pike and other recreation along the coast and bike path, and images of the changing shoreline in downtown and Belmont Shore. The exhibition features photographs from every district. It includes photographs of years when the Los Angeles River that was not yet cemented overflowed its banks and flooded North Long Beach neighborhoods and the Long Beach City College neighborhood, especially. It includes the storms that took out all the homes that were on Ocean Boulevard. So I encourage you all to come and see it. The final exhibition shares the message of conservation and climate change. We're using the site. The city's Climate Action and Adaptation Plan maps to share the projected flooding areas and sea level rise. We created an interactive section of the exhibition where people can map where they live and learn about in conversation ways to conserve water and prepare for climate change. And we asked them to make pledges about what they might do. In 2020, we'll have a series of public programs, including the first one called Long Beaches, Water and Natural History. And it'll be at Rancho Los Alamitos on January 30th. Other panel discussions will be at the Aquarium of the Pacific. One will be about water conservation and another will be about climate change and sea level rise. The Historical Society joined with other groups to found friends of Long Beach Water Because Water Matters. Friends of Long Beach Water is a coalition with current and ongoing water programs, and it includes the Historical Society of Long Beach, Long Beach Water Department, the Metropolitan Water District, the Water Replenishment District, Rancho Los Alamitos. Rancho Cerritos, the Aquarium of the Pacific, the city of Long Beach's Office of Sustainability and several Council offices. And the goal is to draw attention to this critical and limited resource in water. One of the first projects of the committee is to develop a website called Water Matters MLB.com, and we encourage you to share with us any events you might have that relate to water that can be included on that website. I'd also like to call for your support for the Friends of Water Group and share the share of those events that we're having as a group on all of your social media and in newsletters. And I ask that you continue supporting the Historical Society of Long Beach and History in the community. I'd love to have your questions and comments.
Speaker 0: Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Let's give a round of applause. Councilor Pearce. Anything on the motion? Nope. Councilman Mongo.
Speaker 5: I just think you did great work.
Speaker 8: Our water resources are just such an amazing asset. I think this is a very well-done presentation, and I think that the things that you guys are doing, we just appreciate you so much. So thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Julie, so much. As your public comment on this item Mr. Good here.
Speaker 6: Before Mr. Good who gets here. I'd just like to if everybody on the council or in the public has not actually gone out and seen the Historical Society of Long Beach, I would encourage you to do so. It's right in the heart of Bixby North, again, 40 to 60 Atlantic Avenue. It is a great resource for our city. Obviously, you're going to go and learn a lot about water today, but any day you're going to learn a lot about the city, the city's history and find so much there in that basement. There is, you know, I think every press telegram ever written from, you know, maybe 60, 70 years ago, it's fabulous. So please come out and check it out. If you haven't seen that treasure, it's a resource for our city.
Speaker 10: Thank you, Larry. Go to the address on file. I was going to do this during public comment time. I wasn't didn't realize this was up here. I'll be very brief if you did not see 60 Minutes last night on Sunday night either on Sunday night, relative to how the Netherlands, Netherlands and adjoining countries in that area of the world deal with and have mastered to a large extent deals with and eliminating flooding. Look at the article to Google and revisit 60 Minutes from this past Sunday. It's the answer to the same problems we face here. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you so much. And Councilman Ringa.
Speaker 4: Yes. This coming Thursday and Friday, there's going to be a L.A. River Revitalization Seminar project taking place in downtown Los Angeles. So I would strongly recommend that maybe you'd want to visit that and get an idea as to what's going on in the L.A. River. From the top of it, at the mouth, I guess, where the river starts all the way down to the Aquarium of Pacific. So. But thank you for your presentation.
Speaker 0: Thank you so much. And with that, we have a motion in a second. Please cast your votes and receiving a final.
Speaker 2: Motion carries.
Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. And thank you to historical societies. Give them a round of applause. Item 11, please.
Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on the Historical Society of Long Beach's new exhibit, "Water Changes Everything", opening on July 19th.