Speaker 0: Actually me, Madam Court, I've had a council request to actually hear item 16, so let me do 16. Then we'll do 17. Then the budget and the rest of the agenda. So we'll do item 16, please.
Speaker 1: I'm sick. I'm sick. This is a communication from Councilman Spooner, Chair of the Government Personnel and Election Services Committee recommendation to approve renaming the sports complex at Chick fil de Andrews Sports Complex at Citi Field District six.
Speaker 0: There's was emotion and a second. Frontman Austin.
Speaker 4: Sir. Thank you. And I want to thank, first of all, the government Oversight Personnel Committee. I'm. I'm soprano. Soprano and Cindy Allan, who sit on the committee. I want to thank the many residents who have written letters in support of an action that started at this city council. And that is a motion that was made to rename Chinook Field after the Andrews. Oh, the sports complex. I want to be very clear that this in no way is meant to undermine or undercut the the reverence and respect that we have for the true Dick family and the contributions that Mr. Chillicothe has. I want to point out that the critic name in the critic field will always be critic field as far as I'm concerned, because there is a significant investment in terms of signage that is already there. But I think it's important that we point out that. Former Council member and Vice Mayor Andrew's great commitment to the community as a young child. He played at what was Hamilton Ball and now to the field as a city council member. Oh, I want to go on to greatness in high school. Become a legend at public high school, a legend at Long Beach City College, a legend in the community, but also someone who was and has been instrumental in touching the lives of. Countless young people as a mentor, as an educator through the longest unified school district. His commitment to the city, his love for the city, his his accomplishments are far too much for me to go into right now. I'll leave that up to some in the community and my colleagues. But he is worthy of of our honor and this distinction. Our Parks Recreation Commission voted unanimously to support this naming. Dozens of letters have come in and public speakers from through the process have sent letters to my office and that of the sixth District Councilmember, Sally Sara. I want to thank Councilmember Sara for her support in this process because obviously this is this is something that will be in a sixth district in the central area, like I said, an area that a former councilmember or Vice Mayor DeAngelis represented for 13 years from 2007 to 2020 2000, 2013 years. That's that's that's another record, I believe, in terms of service on the city council. That should be noted. So that's it. I am very proud to bring forth this motion. I think of everything that this city council has been working on. Working on from the standpoint of. Equality and connecting and allowing our community members to to to have buy in. And in terms of process 2021, I think is is a great time, great year to to honor our former colleague, the Andrews. And so I'm proud to make this motion and as my council colleagues support.
Speaker 0: Throwing mango.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm very excited to support this renaming opportunity. I want to thank the committee for their diligent work on this important project. It was great to see Councilmember Andrews about a week ago at a local fifth District place. He's a staple of the community and it's great to still see him around and participating and I'm excited to support this in the same way that he has supported our city and our residents for more than a decade. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Councilwoman Price.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I support this item, and I very much appreciate everything that Vice Mayor Andrews did for our community and all of us individually as his colleagues. He was always so kind and understanding and just really taught me a lot about being on council and answered any question that I had when I first started and was just has always been just a very friendly and kind human being. And I think he presents a really amazing, selfless role model for a lot of the youth in the community. And he has been a very positive influence on a lot of people in terms of sharing his own experiences and lessons learned in his life. And for that, I'm grateful for him because not everyone shares this openly and as transparently as he did, and he did so far a greater good and really made some positive changes in our city. So I'm very happy to support this item. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you very much, Richardson.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Wanted to chime in. My voice is in support of this this action today. I think it's appropriate. Think it's fitting. I'm honored to have spent the time that I've spent on city council with Vice Mayor Andrews. I'm honored to cast his vote today in support of this effort. I think Councilman Vice Mayor Andrews has left an important impact in his story and his example and the fact that he loves Long Beach. And I'll tell you about the history. He'll tell you, you know, about his health, how he's helped impact history and set an example that anyone anyone born and raised or not born and raised in the city, you have something to offer and you can make a difference your entire life. And I think that's what it represents. And I think this is a very appropriate, very fitting. A great recommendation that came out of the committee. I want to thank both council members, Sorrell in Austin, for working together to make sure this this happens, Parks and Rec Commission and everyone involved. So I'm happy to cast his vote today in support of the news of the sports complex it should feel to be Andrews sports complex to feel. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Council Supernanny.
Speaker 6: Thank you. It was quite an honor to chair the committee to bring this item forward. You know, there was on multiple occasions, I pointed out I was I was the number one sports fan of Andrew's. I think I showed his his highlight reel from the.
Speaker 4: Junior Rose.
Speaker 6: Bowl multiple times at.
Speaker 4: City council.
Speaker 6: But I'd just like to add to that, that when you consider that he was the first African-American student body president at Pauley High School in 1959, five years prior to the 64 Civil Rights Act, and he served on this council until 2020. So that's a leadership legacy within the community of over 60 years. And I'm just very, very proud to support this item. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Allen.
Speaker 3: I'm also very excited to support this item. I consider Councilwoman the Councilman de Andrews just a friend. I know also going to poly and being student body president one time. I mean, I think anyone that went to poly looks up to him. He's a role model and definitely a role model for me. And I also appreciated you know, we were talking earlier about the gentleman about jobs and and I know he was always pushing for jobs and and really hiring locally. And that's definitely a torch that that I'm happy to carry and just so proud of him. And I'm just so happy to support this.
Speaker 0: Thank you. The day has.
Speaker 2: Mayor also just wanted to make sure that I lent my support to this awesome item and to say congratulations to our former Vice Mayor Andrews for all the work that he did in the district and for his community. And to the naming of this and this location is definitely fitting. So very happy to support. And he will always remain in my mind as one of the best dressed council people I have always known. So. Cheers to our former vice mayor, Andres.
Speaker 0: I'll go ahead and say my comments at the end before the vote. And of course, I'm supportive as well. But I do think there's two members of the public. So why don't we allow the two members of the public to speak and then I'll close up.
Speaker 1: We have Sonic and Fay and Eric Parker.
Speaker 4: You can take my time, Mr.. If you want to. Okay. So I can say sixth district. It means a lot to be able here to support the former vice mayor, Dean Andrews. You know, when I was in the seventh grade, you know, I caught a case and, you know, and just the reality of the surroundings, of the environment that I grew up in. And my mother couldn't take off time to go to court with me. And for whatever reason, Mr. Andrews, you know, this is 24 years ago. He came in. He was my court liaison. And he helped me to get a very sizable amount of community service hours instead of the, uh, the sentence I never told him, and I don't think he remembers me. But, you know, that helped change my life. And I never forget that. And I asked him, uh, you don't even know me, man. And he said, Yeah, but I seen you in the neighborhood. And for me, it just, man had a lot to take and take care of the kids in the neighborhood, you know, to see someone of his size. So in a lot of the records that he was able to say 1248 rushing yards and Long Beach State. You know, he's still on the he's still on the records for that one. You know, I think he's the most sports accomplished council person in the last hundred years will say, I can't speak to, you know, the late 1800s, but I can say that in the 20th century, at least. And it's.
Speaker 6: Very appropriate that.
Speaker 4: Someone whose grew up in the 19th and Lewis, you know, he grew up in the neighborhood and it's just happened to skip away from city feel we in the community we very much support the civic family and and what it means to have them with respect to Hamilton Boone. And, you know, this is a, uh, um, a celebration of a pioneering athlete turned teacher turned, uh, political representative for a community that's been underrepresented for so long. And I just want to thank the city council here and everyone for supporting. And, um, yeah, I'm honored to speak in support of my hero, the former vice mayor Anthony. So thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. This town.
Speaker 0: Certainly got.
Speaker 4: Go. Oh, I got to put my back. About that, I guess you can describe. This town was very different when I came. Almost 60 years ago. There were places that. African-Americans could not go in this town. You can go to signal hill can go to some of that places these Long Beach. You council people are doing a great job because the symbolic. Effort. It's symbolic. Naming a field after a good friend of mine and a great person. But it stands to talk about how Long Beach has changed. In these years. Being an African-American, Latino, especially male. Living in this town and other cities in this country is tough. And for you to vote. Some of the ancestors who have gone and transitioned out are rejoicing now because you have voted. Someone who is African-American. In a symbolic way. And I think there are some friends of mine who's on the council vote on stance on talking about how you guys. But this town needs so much more. And this is a step in the right direction. I hope you take that seriously. You have to walk in the shoes of people who have been oppressed, and the equity things that you guys are trying to do with is monumental to try to bring some hope. To people who have been down depressed. You have an awesome responsibility. Let's not hide from it. Naming this field is a good token for that and it is very much deserving but says much, much more. Take out. From where you are. And look at the other guy. And legislation is not going to change it, but changing the hearts of people will. So supporting this is very, very good. Very honored to be honored this way. But there's so much more to do. And I know that because I know some friends on the council will do that. Thank you very much. That the new mayor council members. My name is Keith Durham. Lily. I grew up with this city.
Speaker 6: At.
Speaker 4: Seven years old. I came here from Oxnard, California. And the first thing, I lived in Navy housing and heard all the tales and stories about the great athletes we had. And then I got to meet this guy when I was 11 years old. We didn't know about college, but we knew about education. They took us to Cal State, Long Beach, put us on a bus, and we played all day. We went to the classes. We would play basketball. We swam and we were impressed. And as I got older, I played football and Pauly D rides up in a white Rolls-Royce with a white suit on and white shoes on, serve as a take tag. So the students were going like, I want to be like that guy. So we were like, He gets out, he's flamboyant, he's real cool. We say, Wow, we got to be like you. But the good thing about Eddie, he was the president of the Poly and Poly. I went to poly as the homeless and champions. So he just wasn't an athlete for be an African-American man to be the president. In 1959 at a school like Poly was run by a Virginia clergy club. You're going to be very bright as a person. You have to be on the class. You didn't get passed through like some of the athletes used to. So he had to be able to read and write, comprehend. So he's our hero. And I only had three heroes. I had it, Wilson, who was a councilman, he gave me a chance to see that somebody considered what you guys a black man, John Rambo, who's an Olympian, and the angels, those three people major me to do community work. I do now. So I represent a group called Cultural Arts in Long Beach. And about the future leaders, what we do. I teach young men to go out to be respectable, and I work with Council on Councilwoman Sue that facility. So we tried to build the camaraderie that the Angel talents to do, take kids where they haven't been before. We got to continue doing that. We missed that. You said said or high education is important athletic is second for a kid to be able to read and write comprehend like Mr. Judy and like you guys can do on this council. It represents what kids can be when they like Mayor Garcia. So we want to do the things and I feel I won championships there. I play there. We call the Hampton Ball. We call it the Dust Bowl because I'm mother. Why are you so dirty? We play at the Dust Bowl where you play. So we you know, we had a lot of the thing. So the church feel the angel feel together is a great accomplishment for a black man in that sixth district. So you guys keep doing a great job and thank you for honoring this. And you have a good day.
Speaker 0: Thank you, sir. I've actually got to give some additional comments before I close.
Speaker 4: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. They also want to thank those who took time out today to come and speak on public comment. I also want to thank the dozens of people who've written letters and emails and contacted my office and the sixth District office in support of this particular item. I think Mr. Lilley summed it up very, very well. This is an iconic figure. Who are we, who we are celebrating and recognizing home with this vote? And, you know, some of the people who have written and many of the people who have written in support of this item are our truly respected leaders throughout our community who've been impacted by Mr. Andrews and all of the impact work that he and commitment that he has had to the city of Long Beach for well over five or six decades. So with that is my comments. And again, I'm honored to bring this item forward and work with my colleagues to. Honor of our former colleague.
Speaker 0: If you're going to close. Close us up. I first want to just thank everyone for all the really great comments about Vice, me or Andrews or, you know, of course, Audie, as we as we all know him and and column and I particularly want to thank the members of the public that spoke. We've heard a lot of those stories before. But I think that the historic nature of the work that Vice Mayor Andrews has been involved with and especially his work at a time when he was a younger man, that was a much more difficult place for him. He's made a lasting impact on our community, and I'm just grateful to the entire council for working on this naming. It's very fitting and it's very, I think, very important a way to recognize someone's life contributions. And for those that haven't seen Vice Mayor Andrews in a while, he's doing very well. And he's still here and he's still going almost daily to his favorite McDonald's here in Long Beach. And, you know, he when when I hear things about him, is he every single day he goes out, buys a press telegram from the same delivery person every day, and then he walks into his favorite McDonald's in the morning and has breakfast there. So he's a real, real, real community guy. And with that, let's go ahead and vote on this item.
Speaker 1: Richard Kay.
Speaker 0: Thank you. So just as a reminder, we have one item and then after this one item, it's a presentation, an important presentation. Then we move on to the budget hearing. So we're going to hear an update on the Everyone at Home Long Beach plan and then we'll move on to the budget.
Recommendation to approve renaming the Sports Complex at Chittick Field “Dee Andrews Sports Complex at Chittick Field”.  (District 6)