Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute all necessary documents, and any necessary amendments, to receive and expend grant funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies for an amount up to $3,000,000 over a three-year period, beginning January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017; Authorize a required cash match of $1,000,000 over the course of the grant period; and Increase appropriations in the General Grants Fund (SR 120) in the Department of the City Manager by $1,000,000. (Citywide)
Sarah Nathan We have 11 and then ten. Item 11. Madam Clerk Item number 11. Report from City Manager and Financial Management Recommendation to receive an expend grant funding from Blue Burg. Fellow. Excuse me philanthropies for an amount up to 3 million authorized or required cash match of 1 million and increase appropriations in the General Grants Fund by 1 million citywide. Turn this over to, I believe, Mr. West and Mr. Modica. Mayor, Council members this is a very, very, very exciting opportunity to participate in the Bloomberg group and this is a foundation that has selected 14 cities across planet Earth and we're lucky enough to be one of them. So we're looking for a real fantastic three years working with this grant without. I'm going to turn it over to Assistant City Manager Tom Modica to walk us through it. Thank you, Mr. West, Mr. Mayor, and members of the City Council. I think the manager said it very well. This is an exciting opportunity. The Bloomberg Philanthropies grant really? Philanthropies, Grant, Grant, excuse me, really provides an opportunity to bring kind of the best in the best of innovation to City of Long Beach. It is a grant that allows us to employ a team that is really designed to go and throughout our departments and work with them on some of the most pressing challenges that we have. There is no one identified thing that they're supposed to be doing. It really is the ability over the next three years to address a number of priorities. The first of which we've identified is economic development. This team is going to work hand in hand with our departments. We get, as I said, up to about eight staff members and we've identified the grant match of a $1 million. And a lot of that money will be going towards actual actual implementation of their ideas with the idea of making government smarter and better and more cost effective and also save money as we prepare for some financially challenging times that come in the future. And so with that, we're available to answer questions, and we're very excited about this grant opportunity. And if the council accepts it tonight, we're ready to move forward. Okay. I have councilmember I have a motion to approve by Councilmember Richardson, seconded by Vice Mayor Lowenthal. We take public comment as public comment on the item first. Could you. Larry Clark has the address. Obviously, Mr. Bloomberg is one of the most preeminent public officials in the country. And in fact, I would not mind spending the dollar amount and hiring him as city manager. However, I would suggest and I have so communicated to Mr. Bloomberg and I've given you copies of that. That this is not the right time for a long beach. To get his hands on those monies. And I would suggest if you haven't read. The very serious indictment handed down by the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit of all courts. The indictment that almost rises to the level of a of a ritual, an operation. On the states attorney general relative to the corruption. And if you study the findings of that panel and listen to the tapes. Their concerns echo the same concerns. That I have expressed relative to the criminal ruse engaged in by the city manager. A city manager, the mayor. And his aunt Carmela. Relative to gifting $300,000 of tidelands money. If you listen to the tapes. Of the justices. Their reaction is the same as mine relative to the conduct here, and it is just a matter of time. And this goes to the issue until we do have a new mayor. And a new city manager. And at that time at that time, we will be well positioned to manage those moneys otherwise. As I expressed to Mr. Bloomberg. In my view, the record indicates this would just be feeding. The same version of our local version of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall. Mr. Bloomberg is no dummy. He's seen it all. And if we fail and this money grab is fouled up. We will have a extraordinarily difficult time obtaining any grants from any organization. In the future. So I would suggest we hold off until we have the new mayor and the new city manager and have a government and a local government. It can be contrasted, it can be trusted and not viewed as thoroughly corrupt as that is the view of. Increasing numbers in this city. Thank you. Always a pleasure. Thank you. I mean, any other public comment? No public comment saying no council speakers. Please cast your votes. Think motion carries eight, sir. Thank you. I just going to make a quick comment and then move on to the last item for for the councilwoman. I just wanted to just briefly say, I want to thank I'll certainly on behalf of the council, Bloomberg Philanthropies, who I know is paying attention and watching the work that all of us are doing in Long Beach. And I want to thank them for everyone from Mayor Bloomberg down to the folks in the staff that have entrusted and really believe that Long Beach is one of these 14 world class cities that they've chosen to kind of bring some of the best economic minds, social scientists and others, to look at ways we can improve economic development. This is a group that's looking forward to working with our Economic Development Committee of the City Council. It's a group that's looking forward to working with our staff, and we're we're excited about future opportunities with Bloomberg Philanthropies with this. I believe this is just the beginning. And it's a it's great to see the support and certainly we look forward to welcoming them to Long Beach, probably in a mr. Motorcade probably in a few months, is when the team will be put together that sound about right. So all good stuff. So thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Item. Mr. Mayor. Yes. I did not queue up in time, but I did want to personally thank you. I know that this is not an opportunity that would have come to us on its own without your efforts and your work and your focus on technology and how to bring our city to the highest level possible so that every resident has access and it's a fundamental access issue. We discuss access quite a bit here in the city of Long Beach. We have lots of advocates in our advocacy community that come forward about access for all residents, but not having this kind of access through technology. As a resident of the city of Long Beach is a fundamental core issue for us. And I want to thank you for that. Absolutely. Thank you, Councilman Richardson. I think this is fantastic for the city of Long Beach. I'm already starting to put together my list of projects for this team to work on in North Long Beach. Mr. Mayor. Congratulations. Thank you, Councilwoman Gonzales. I, too, want to thank you, Mr. Mayor, and just the direction we're headed as a city. This is an opportune time, and I'm very excited about this. And so I just want to congratulate us, but also you, for taking the lead in making sure that we were obtaining this grant. So thank you very much. Thank you, Councilwoman Mongo. I also wanted to express my excitement for this exciting grant. As someone who really looks to budget opportunities, leveraging a investment in our city for this great opportunity and for our constituents to to participate through our upcoming Economic Development Commission will be an exciting time for citizens to be engaged in this process. So thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I do think this is a bold move that could potentially bring benefits to the city. I supported this because I do support out of the box thinking and I support the fact that we do need to be innovative as a city and we do need to get new ideas. I don't want to be duplicate services. I don't want to duplicate efforts. And so I will be watching this process vigilantly. I did. I would like to, you know, have an evaluation process after one year to determine whether or not this is working for us in the manner that we wanted to work for us, because we are investing our our our resources in this as well. Evaluation will be part of the components. Absolutely. Well, thank you all again. And I'll just finally say this to the council. Thank you. And I also wanted to say to the council that I actually believe that one of the reasons why we received this grant is actually because of the current makeup of the city council. And they're very I think, very they look at who's on council's and where they're going, and I think it excites them to see that the council that wants to do kind of big and exciting things. And that's a that's a great thing for for Long Beach. So thank you all. Madam Clerk, last item for councilwoman is item 11. I'm sorry.