Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 8.63 prohibiting the use of single-use food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam, rigid polystyrene #6, and non-recyclable and non-compostable material for prepared food distribution, read and adopted as read.  (Citywide)
Okay. Thank you. We are hearing Adam 34. Communication from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 8.63. Regulating the use of single use food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene foam for prepared food distribution in the city of Long Beach Red for the first time and laid over to the next regular meeting for Final Reading Citywide . Thank you. There's a motion and a and a second to Councilwoman Gonzalez. Do you want to do a staff reporter? Okay. So, Mr. West, Craig Beck, our director of public works, will walk us through what this was when a previous previously went to the council and what it's turned into tonight. So many members, the city council. Thank you for the opportunity. We are here in partnership with the city attorney's office. City Attorney's Office has been working closely to implement the changes and the recommendations that Council adopted when this was before you the first time. What we would like to do is just run through a very quick PowerPoint just to remind everybody what we're talking about this evening. What is part of the ordinance and how we're moving forward? And then staff will be available for comments. I'm going to ask Deacon Mokonyane to run through that for you this evening. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council. I'm going to take just a few minutes to give us a recap of what we're doing and how we're moving forward. So just to refresh everybody's memory, we are looking at banning expanded polystyrene and other non-recyclable plastics for a number of reasons three reasons primarily litter prevention, protecting public health and for waste reduction. So as a result of this and as of discussions at the October meeting where the city council directed us to come back with an ordinance, we have identified the materials that would be banned. As you see up here and again, there are non-recyclable food and beverage containers that are plastic. So here's some examples of some environmentally acceptable alternatives. We listen to stakeholder input. As you may recall, we had a lot of stakeholder workshops and one of the things that came up was don't replace expanded polystyrene with another form of litter. Replace it with something that is definitely recyclable or reusable. And here's some examples of of those types of items right here. There's a number of them out there. And the city council approved an approach on that evening, and they asked us to phase in this this ban. And so I'm going to go very quickly over the different phases of the ban. Phase one would be three months after adoption, and it covers this city departments and city facilities and city sponsored and permitted events. Phase two would be six months after that or nine months after adoption, and it identifies food establishments that sell food and or beverage to go for to go for onsite consumption in restaurants, over 100 seats or franchised grocery stores, food stands, delis, food trucks, coffee shops, etc.. Phase three, which would be nine months later or 18 months after adoption, would capture all of the rest of the small food providers. And they were defined by the city council as being 100 people or less, seating 400 people or less. Also, during phase three, there is a retail sale ban of polystyrene ice chests, polystyrene bean bags and crafts, and also a provision that utensils and straws will be offered at food service locations only upon request for take takeaway items . Along with this, there are opportunities for exemptions if a business can show that they have undue hardship for it. The Director of Public Works has the authority to provide exemptions as needed. So what I did briefly touch on our education plan we have there are two paths for the education plan regarding this plan. One is for businesses who are affected by the ordinance, and one is for residents to support the goals of litter abatement, waste reduction and environmental health. With regard to businesses, we have hired the CAP Agency to assist us with outreach and we are developing a campaign to support businesses in their efforts to comply with the ordinance. Environmental Services Bureau and Department of Public Works is prepared to upload a website as soon as the City Council may approve this ordinance. We're ready to upload the Web site to that offers initial compliance recommendations. And like I said, that's ready to go. We could do that tomorrow if that were the case. With regard to the public, we have hired a marketing group called We the Creative to assist us in developing a bring your own campaign. So not only will this bring your own campaign continue to reduce waste and litter, it will also hopefully result in businesses saving money by not needing as many to go containers. So just to be clear, a bring your own campaign would be encouraging people that go out to eat to bring their own Tupperware and containers so that if they have leftovers, they can just put it in their mature in their containers and take it home. We were also asked to look at economic incentives. We've been working with different departments to develop these, and one being economic development incentives for businesses to purchase compliant products before the required ordinance timeline. So there will be one time reimbursements made available. We're finalizing this and we will also offer opt in kits for businesses to self-promote their participation. So in other words, if you show that you are an early complainer, perhaps you'll get some sort of poster or some sort of decals for your window. You'll get some social media promotion and some promotion by the city for being a good partner. And hopefully that will drive up some interest in your business with a free advertising for you. We also have opportunities for bulk purchasing. There's a cooperative purchasing situation already established by Greentown or Los Altos. It's a free co-op open to all food service providers, and participants receive 25% discounts on our products, and that would be acceptable in this bill. Finally, compliance is an issue. We have integrated enforcement into our current city operations. We will be creating an Environmental Services Bureau Web forum for the public to report violations. We will have an education and compliance integrated into food facility inspections. Our health department, when they do their annual inspections, will be including a part of their inspection as checking to see if appropriate to go materials are being used. The enforcement structure would be based on administrative citation procedure, and there will be a process, again, a procedure for temporary exemptions due to undue hardship. I'd like to take a moment to thank all of the departments involved in the development and upcoming implementation of this program. It was an effort with many different departments and bureaus, including Parks, Recreation and Marine Development Services, the Office of Sustainability, Special Events, the City Attorney, Business Licensing, Economic Development. And I would be remiss if I didn't call out specifically the Health Department, Environmental Health Bureau that was so supportive and will be critical in the implementation of this program down the road. That's the end of my presentation right here for questions. Thank you. Gonzalez. Yes, actually, if I if we can take it to the public, that would be great. Sure. Public comment. Please come forward on the item by Steve Marion and I will make sure you please say your name for for the record before we Steve Marion. I would like to thank you all for for being here. City council members, staff and being here at this hour. Thank you for your time. I guess you can see green. Green, green. Green. Can you imagine which way I feel? But the gray hair comes from worrying about whether will implement these kind of decisions. And Councilwoman Gonzalez, thank you for these. And I love the color of your blouse. Mr. Silver, now, please say hi to the best secretary in the law. Meet Unified School District when you get home this evening. And now on to more serious business. We have a chance to lead in this decision. It sounds like you've already decided, but I'm not very politically savvy, so please bear with me. I think we have a choice and a chance to join in the leadership of 110 other cities out of 482 in California and more nationwide, and nine nine counties out of 58 in leading in this effort polystyrene from articles that I read and I'm not a scientist takes from 500 years to maybe never as far as decompose here it means it's always there it's all over the sand and in the ocean. Fish and birds eat it and feed it to their young. And it's not nutritional. And if the fish die, it's simple. We die. We are at a crossroads. We, as a people need to enact legislation that will decrease production of polystyrene. That's the key to decrease the production. Since the last meeting, I believe that I've seen costs of alternative sources of takeout containers go down because more cities are getting on board and more companies are already changing so that they're producing other containers that are more biodegradable. If we do, they will be. If we do follow this path, there will be less sales, less production, healthier oceans, healthier people, healthier planet. So please vote to help humanity to thrive by enacting this ordinance. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Charles Moore, Mayor Garcia, Vice Mayor Richardson, an ordinance proposer Gonzalez and members of the city council. Plastic pollution is no longer a peripheral issue, and that's visible in the fact that this Earth Day is dedicated to plastic pollution. The issue that I began to raise attention for 21 years ago. At that time, I felt that it was becoming ubiquitous. This material that doesn't degrade, that defeats natural decay. Only we humans make things that nature can't digest. And plastic is the main object that we make that nature can't digest. But there was a lot of pushback back then, the idea that it was ubiquitous, that it was going to be a problem, that there was reasons to worry about plastic. We're pushed aside. That's no longer the case. We now have evidence that it's in our salt and our water, in the food that we eat, in our environment, and that it has serious consequences for the future as much as production is anticipated to double in the near future. Now there are reasons why maybe a guy from Long Beach got into this. In my recent article in the Business Journal, I made the statement that Long Beach may be the most polluted city in the United States. By this material, we have the effluent of the Los Angeles River and the San Gabriel River servicing upwards of 15 million people, delivering their throwaways to our ocean and beaches. And maybe that's why I got into this. Maybe I saw it before other people saw it. I saw it in the middle of the ocean before other people realized what was going on. Now that term ubiquitous is getting no pushback. It's proven it is everywhere. It's in the air we breathe now. So we need to take steps to eliminate this threat. And eliminating Styrofoam is a step in that direction. Now, I collected some plastic from the gyre, sent it to China. They invited me to their first plastic conference at the mouth of the Yangtze River, which is the dirtiest river in China. That's the parallel to Long Beach. So I'm now going to China to do the very same thing or raise that awareness that you now are acting on. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. And thank you for your decades of work to this issue. So thank you very much. Next Speaker Hi. My name's Chef Paul Buchanan. I'm a resident of District three. I am a food service business owner. Thank you all for the hard work on this. It was very comprehensive, the outline and the ordinance, so thank you for reading that. That was excellent. I support the ban wholeheartedly. We need less plastic pollution. Plastic straws should be next, please. And McDonald says billions and billions serve. Now, those are the billions and billions and billions of straws that are out there. More plastic pollution for us to consider getting rid of. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Hello. Good evening. Mayor Garcia and city council members. I am. Certainly one of the co-founders. Of the Long Beach Environmental Alliance. And I have John here showing pictures of of litter, especially Styrofoam that we picked up during. Our beach cleanups. So I want to ask you all, do you value our lives, the lives of those that we love? Are you willing to fight for them? You are all sitting here in. A position where. You can make a difference. I am here. Today to use my voice for those who can't. The environment. You all have the voice to vote to ban the polystyrene. My organization, like I said before, we host beach cleanups, Alamitos Beach and Sun. And but that's just a start. Every piece of plastic made on Earth still exists today. Most of the plastic in the ocean comes from. Items we use every day. Most is single use plastic like Styrofoam. Plates, cups, plastic utensils. Straws. Etc. Plastic particles. Are found inside animals and throughout the ocean. The ocean is food chain. From shrimp, mussels, fish. I have. I may have mentioned some of your favorite food. Turtles to. Whales. We all. So we respect small businesses here in Long Beach. My solution for them and I forgot what his name over there is, is to. Educate their consumers, to bring you reusable items, to enable. Businesses to avoid constant purchasing of disposable items that end up in our environment. If pollution does not end up in our environment, will end up in the landfill, which when plastic when plastic mixed with organic matter, it creates methane gas, which is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. So the methane gas stays in our atmosphere a lot longer, and this contributes to climate change. If you decide to keep the polystyrene, you are promoting and accepting a wasteful. Bully. Culture. Resources are way too valuable to be thrown away, so please make the right decision. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Hello. My name is John Kendrick. I'm one of the co-founders of the Long Beach Farming Alliance. And we have walked from all the way from the L.A. River down to the San Gabriel River. And we see this every day. This is every day. This is not after a storm. When you walk down to a shoreline village on the rocks, look down at the rocks. This is the same trash we see every day. It used to be a time you saw those only after a storm. Now we see this on a daily, you know, 65 days a year. Also to this year, they were down to the deepest part of the ocean with a submersible. And they came back up with samples from every death and every living creature had plastic in a system, which means we have terminated a whole food chain. There is no safe place, no more the ocean where there is no plastic anymore. And then we talk about being a tourism city. What do you think people will say when they see this stuff on the beach? They take pictures and send it back home and their families. This hurts tourism, which hurts jobs. And then to our children, they've got to play in this stuff. What does it do to them? I think it's time we start to practice what we preach and actually clean up our city. Because a captain said won't be harbor in the city is now one big trash can. We are the worst. I've heard it more than once and I see it every day. And I would like to ask you to go down there and walk every day for a whole week and tell you what you see down there and take pictures of it. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker, please. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Kobe Sky. I'm very proud to chair the Sustainable City Commission and I just wanted to speak in support of this item. First, I wanted to express my appreciation for the Council and Deacon Marconi and and his staff for developing what really is an excellent ordinance. Because of the great discussion that you all had in October, I think there were a lot of improvements made to the original, original proposal, including a phased in approach, education, having exemptions for businesses that might be impacted with an undue burden, having utensils and straws only provided upon request, which is a win win solution that improves the environment but also reduces costs for businesses in going beyond just Styrofoam, looking at the impact of the materials themselves and focusing on products that are recyclable and compostable, which will mean that we're improving the environment and making it easier for the city and for our businesses to comply with state environmental mandates and to improve our environment. I just want to say that I support the ordinance as is with no amendments. I think that as previously discussed, we are in a crisis due to plastics impacting the environment and it is a particular burden on the city of Long Beach. And all the more reason for us to be leaders in developing an ordinance that I think will be a model for other jurisdictions to adopt. Stopping these plastics at the source and reducing that pollution is the most effective way to reduce the impact on our beaches. And so I ask for your support for the ordinance, and I appreciate all the work that's gone into it so far. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Hello, Gabrielle Weekes. The chair this year called for the region. So we have members in everybody's district and really not much new. This is the same topic we've had discussed here at the city council by many, many times. I know DEKA has been working very hard looking at other cities ordinances and how they phrased it, and it passed unanimously last time. I'm hoping nothing has changed. We can move forward with this so we can really brag about being a green city. And I thank Diego and his staff. I know that they've been working on this very hard. And I think that, you know, this is not new territory in a lot of other cities have done it, a lot of counties. And so we can do this. And I ask for your yes vote. Thank you. Thank you very much, Nick. Speaker Council members. Honorable Mayor My name is Katie Allen. As you may recall from past meetings, I'm the executive director of Al Goleta. So that organization that Charles Moore founded and our organization has been working to prevent ocean plastic pollution since 1997, after Charles sparked what we call the Great Plastics Awakening. Since inception, we've been working around the world. So we've interacted with so many different people, so many different communities. And what we're seeing is a global movement happening. And we now know that it's ubiquitous. It's throughout all environments. It's not just the marine environment anymore. It's in our tap water, it's in our bottled water, it's in our food, our air. It's in our bodies. Over the past two and a half years, our organization has worked with local high school students to collect plastic pollution samples from our water, seafloor and our shoreline of East San Pedro Bay. Sample after sample expanded polystyrene has been identified as the most common type of microplastics by count since the last time I spoke at this podium. Our team of students have analyzed 60 more peninsula samples. Our data shows an average of 208 pieces of expanded polystyrene per ten liters of sand. We're literally changing the composition of our beaches and our water. In 2028, our waters will be a venue for the Summer Olympics. The world will be swimming and sailing in our plastic mess. We have less. Than ten years to transition into a plastic, smart city. And if we cannot make it through this transition between. Before. 2028, the world will have some tough questions for us. If we're going to put our. City on a global stage, we better make sure it's clean and safe. I believe this ordinance has been identified as one of the most important action items to implement. Immediate. In order to reduce the amount of plastics in our local environment, phasing out polystyrene will be a huge leap forward in our. Transition. Towards a plastic, smart city. And I wholeheartedly urge you to move this ordinance forward tonight. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker. Hi. My name is Janine Rodriguez. I'm a marine biologist from Cal State Long Beach. And I just prepared a little something that I'd like to say. So I first became aware of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch while reading an article assigned during a class I took while attending Cal State Long Beach. The article went on to describe the increasing amounts of plastics found in our oceans, specifically the Pacific Ocean, where the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located, and how the pollution is affecting marine life. This article had such a great impact on me that I cheat, that I changed my course of study from molecular cell biology to marine biology so that I could further enhance my knowledge about marine, about marine life, and how to become more involved and truly do something to prevent plastic pollution such as Styrofoam. One One way I've been able to be involved is by conducting research, specifically hormone and proteomic analysis, all of which was completed in the I Do research lab at Cal State, Long Beach and on lantern fish that were collected from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch during the six week, six week long expedition done by how Goleta in 2014 results in a nutshell, of course, showed that there was indeed disrupted hormone regulation and essential proteins were either over under express compared to organisms that were considered to be from our control groups or control sites. Another experience I was fortunate to be a part of was ugliest experience ship this last fall here as a group, we created a trial that were that we could attach to the back end of kayaks and could collect microplastics at the surface of any body of water. It went across these these, these the. So these, of course, are only a few of the many ways one can get involved involved with. And it is and it is critical that we do become more and more involved in such activities in order to help preserve our oceans, because our oceans have provided and do so much for us, that it's time that we do the same for it. So thank. You. Thank you very much. Next speaker, gary mayor and council members. My name was mike murchison. I know i'm not the fan favorite in here tonight on this subject matter, but I want to point out a couple of things that are fact driven. Number one, you don't have Councilman D Andrews is here with us this evening. He's ill. And I know that he's very supportive of small restaurants. Number two, I provided a legal transcript of the October proceedings where the council had a very lengthy discussion on the. It was a very healthy discussion. I do remember very vividly, as I'm sure some of you do, that the very end of that discussion was the discussion having to do with the phase three. That Phase three had to do with our small restaurants in Long Beach, the vibrant community of small restaurants that we all depend upon in our community. And the decision reached that night by this dais was that you would wait, do a study before determining the outcome of moving forward with phase three. You're okay with phase one and phase two. I'm okay with phase one in phase two, but I am concerned that we follow through on what we stated back then in October. That was very clear when we reviewed the transcript that the council was supportive of a friendly motion. In fact, the maker of the motion, the original motion was supportive of that friendly. That said, let's do a study to determine, based on the data provided from phase one to phase two, how do we move forward with phase three on our small restaurants? I think that's very important for you all to recall that that's not something you can just kind of wipe out and just say, let's just move forward. There are small restaurants that are not here tonight because they're running a restaurant. They can't be represented here tonight. I'm here for them to try to have you folks take a step back and say, look, let's look at the data. There's no harm in looking at the data to determine what the impact is from phase one and phase two. I'm hoping that your city attorney will jump in on this conversation. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello. My name's Schnapp Christensen, community member. And I just want to thank you for all for bringing this proposal forth, and especially Dr. Charles Moore and Gabrielle Weeks and Kirby Skyfire for your endless commitment to banning plastic and protecting our environment. And I guess I haven't heard any other Indigenous people get up, so I guess I'll speak to that perspective that, you know, the earth is sacred. And I have read Dr. Moore's book and I'm big fan of your work, and he also I'm a founder of Protect Beach Wetlands. So we've got a youth group that's really been committed to cleaning up some of the trash on the highways, along the wetlands in Los Cerritos in an effort to get to know the land better. And we go out maybe every every second, Sunday of the month, every second and fourth Sunday. We've been collecting trash in giant ten gallon bags. And there's so much plastic and Styrofoam along the highways, we fill up usually like five or six bags. And so we just really need to get rid of this in in our environment. And from what I know, it's already part becoming part of our molecular structure. So, you know, it's it's like in everything we eat in the fish, in the ocean and the garbage patch is like twice the size of Texas and it's just sitting there waiting to come ashore. So anything you guys do to get rid of plastic, I don't think the small restaurant business is going to suffer that much. There's plenty of alternatives in terms of other materials you can use. I'm very familiar with Kirsten Bowman and she uses bamboo containers or she is this continues to take home that are like cardboard. And, you know, they're pretty durable. Even if you get like a big juicy burger or whatever, it doesn't even leak through. So, you know, we need to get rid of the Styrofoam and the plastic. And thank you very much for your support on that. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Hello, honorable mayor and council members. My name is Elizabeth LAMB and I'm here on behalf of the Low Street as wetlands land trust, as advocates for those Rita's wetlands. We realize that that goal cannot be attained as long as there continues to be an unending stream of these polluting and harmful polystyrene products in our local wetlands. Not only are these products unsightly, but can harm wildlife when they are accidentally ingested, or they can impede the ability of animals to forage. Furthermore, as responsible stewards of not only our local wetlands, but of the global environment, we are concerned about the consequence of polystyrene products circulating around the planet, never completely breaking down and making their way into the oceans and the food chain. It is unfair to risk the well-being of our children and our children's children and future generations by allowing this to continue. We wholeheartedly support the ban on polystyrene products, and I did want to mention the Speaker before talking about the hardship on small businesses. I remember that meeting as well. And I thought that the council very. Thoughtfully stretched out the implementation phase, which I thought made a lot of sense. And the other thing that really struck me was you querying. Your staff about other. Municipalities that had done this and the topic of San Francisco coming up. And from their unbiased perspective, there hadn't been any big problems because. This is a pretty. Easy issue to get your head around and to implement. It's merely swapping out a polluting and toxic product for something that's more sustainable. And I really do think about what this ocean will look. Like and what this world will. Look like five, ten, 2000 years. And the oceans. Full of. Plastic. Just seems so terrible to me. And this seems like, quite honestly, a small step to make things better. So thank you so much for your time. And your attention. Thank you. Next speaker Dave. Shukla. Councilwoman Gonzalez, Mayor Garcia, thank you for your leadership on this issue. As someone who grew up at the mouth of the San Gabriel River, this is something that would be very welcome, very much support the measure. As you know, toxicity is an issue across many different forms of product and attribution. Some of the other issues associated with it are going to be issues for us. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. All right. Hello. My name is Seamus Ennis. I'm with the Long Beach chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. Hey, guys. Thanks for having us. Good job. City council and staff, we really appreciate the effort and the time that you put into this. When I joined the Surfrider Foundation in 1999, it was kind of on the radar. But by 26, we started sending residents along. We started sending thousands of postcards to you, the mayor and the city council. And so you've been aware of this position from lots of our residents for many, many years. And so we then the city itself has been working on it for about 13 years, and now we're looking at the implementation schedule of about 18 months. So we think that's pretty modest. You know, we think 18 months isn't too fast because we already been working on it for 13 years. So the Long Beach chapter, Surfrider Foundation fully supports this ordinance as written, and we think you should just go ahead, go forward with it. And the final point is, we think it's pretty business friendly as well, because we've looked at a lot of restaurants that have already transitioned over from Styrofoam to other products. And it's been modest changes from a few percentage points up to about equal. And we have 40, at least 40 ocean friendly restaurants that we've already awarded and given them attaboys. And it has been no big deal for them and their customers actually appreciate it. So we think you can do it with the 18 month schedule as written is fine and it's not it doesn't hurt businesses at all. So thank you for your time. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello, everybody. Mayor, city council members. My name is Michael Doshi. Thank you so much for having me here this evening. Over the years, I've been a volunteer with five Gyres Institute, a member of Heal the Bay Speakers Bureau up in Santa monica, the rise of plastics manager for Los Angeles's Surfrider chapter. And right now I am a staff member with Al Goleta, Marine Research and Education as their education coordinator and project manager, also on the global plastic pollution movement. I am known as the Gnarly Beach Cleaner and my mission is to spread awareness of plastic pollution through fun and positivity. So what I'm really here to do tonight is to let you guys know that you're the best looking group of council members I've ever seen at any council meeting I've ever spoken to. And that's not much just talking about how good you look. I can just see the intelligence radiating out of your bodies. All right? And I can see your intelligence when it comes to dealing with plastic pollution. And I can see that you're smart enough to know that even if you're not down at the beach or in the ocean seeing what's going on, you know it's happening. You know that it's an issue. I like to look at single use plastic pollution as this big tree, this big rotting tree that's decimating the local population by dropping the single use plastic fruit all over the place, US activists, US organizations that are working to fight plastic pollution. We're that small ax that is trying to chop that tree down. What we need you to be is that sharpening stone to help our ax chop it down. And that's what we're trying to do on a global movement here. So with that said, I think it's a smart decision to be the change makers, to be that stone that can help inspire the youth, inspire people to continue to want to make changes here in the state of California, and hopefully translate that to other places in the country and around the world. You have an opportunity right now that might not be presented to you again, so why not take it and be leaders in regards to the small businesses? That's exactly why your hardship clause exists. And I read through the draft of previous ordinances and I saw that. And there's organizations such as Surfrider that has the Ocean Friendly Restaurants program, and they have done the work and they have done the research to work with small businesses to make sure that they don't even need to apply for that hardship clause. So utilize the research and the tools that are already out there and exist. Thank you so much for your time. I hope I can make you stoked. I hope I can make you smile and I hope to see you soon. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening, Mayor Garcia and members of the council. My name is Rob Northup and I'm the director of the Don't Waste Long Beach Coalition. And first of all, I'd just like to say thank you to Councilwoman Gonzales for bringing this forward. We've all heard the debates. You guys all know the facts behind this stuff. We've been talking about this for almost ten years now within this city in terms of trying to push forward with constant revisits and studies and delays and the like. So we know the facts. We've already heard from everybody here. We've heard from a restaurant owner who said, let's move forward with this thing. So what I'm here to do is just ask you all to please move forward with this stuff. Because I do recall also at that last October hearing where another excuse that came forward was if we you know, we need to study this stuff. And if we did this here, it still won't have any impact because other cities are going to continue to have this and haven't banned it. So we'll still see Styrofoam on our beaches. And while that may be true, that's not an excuse to not move forward with this. Particular thing, right? I think things change when individuals are in this case, cities and councils like you are. Move forward with courage and leadership to actually move this thing and changing, doing what we can to change our little corner of the universe and making sure that we're making life a little bit easier and a little more environmentally free for everybody else that's here. Right. So again, I ask that you all move forward with this tonight, as is there's also, again, extending the 12 month phase in 18 months for businesses in a hardship clause. So we've done the study, we've done the analysis. And let's move forward tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you, Max Baker. Good evening, city mayor and council members. My name's Jennifer Granholm. I actually migrated down from Los. Angeles just for this meeting. I came down because I considered. Long Beach as a pinnacle of. Progress with a green room and sustainability. And just as this previous speaker said, I'm not. Going to harp on that actual. Notion too much at this point in time, because I think it's been abundantly. Clear how everybody feels more. So it's regardless of where you started. The reason I'm coming up to the podium is to ask you a question about what brought you. Here to the city council. What made you want to be a leader? What brought you to want to. Make a change in. The world? I think we all actually have. More in common. Than we think. That we do. If we take a look, regardless of what your status is, you. Have a desire to protect your loved ones or protect your family to provide to progress. I think it's all about a balance. And regardless of this one or any of. The other policies that come up on the floor, just take that into consideration. Whenever you have another environmental thing that's coming up on the floor, particularly about small cells or whatever it is, that's it. Thanks so much. And we have a last four speakers and then we're close. We're close. Okay. We have we're going to last five speakers and closing the speakers list next speaker. Good evening, mayor and council. I am Melissa Bean Hyson and I'm here last minute on prepared remarks on behalf of my sister Julie Darrell, who is a small business owner in Long Beach. She has been working for about a year trying to promote awareness about single, single use plastics and how to avoid them. And I've just seen the first Sunday of every month at the Alamitos Bay Farmers Market. The community has really responded positively. They are. They laugh about, you know, taking your own containers to restaurants, but they do it. And it's every straw that isn't used or every piece of Styrofoam that isn't used is just one way that we are moving forward to the community to keep Long Beach Green or to move it towards being green. My five year old nephew is having a hard time not picking up trash. So we're working on that. But if we can get him in the right direction and kind. Of real bad in a little bit, then I think a. Yes vote in this area would also help the city move. Forward. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker Evening there. Members of the city council. My name is Mark Coleman. I live in the peninsula. I'm here tonight on behalf of the Peninsula Neighborhood Group Association. So for many of us neighborhood associations, this is a huge issue. And I think I'm the only neighborhood association here. I'm not sure, but certainly in Belmont Heights, Belmont Shore and the Peninsula and our board six months ago notified Council Woman Price that we wanted her to support this ordinance. The beach. Those of you who have independence, the beach know it's ground zero for plastics, pollution and the documentation by our Goleta Marine Research has documented the depth of pollution. It's extensive. When and if the city really wants to use that beach for any purpose other than as something to pass by on the boardwalk, it will take major efforts just to clean up the plastic out of the sand. We cannot go any further like this. Every day that beach is inundated with plastics from the L.A. River and the San Gabriel Channel. We need your help. The city needs your help to pass this ordinance. Let's be at the forefront. We thank you for your support. Excellent report from staff that really is going to move this forward. Not just this issue, but the whole issue of bringing containers, eliminating any containers whatsoever. So we eliminate trash, which is a major problem. Thank you all so much. Please pass the ordinance. Thank you, Mark. Next speaker, please. Anna Christensen, protect the Long Beach. Slow, serious wetlands, obviously in support of this ordinance. I do want to direct everybody's attention to the screen behind you. However, council apparently regulating the use of sin. If you look at the board here. So that's a real challenge. And and speaking of which, since plastic comes from oil, I think one of the great benefits of this project will be to ah to maybe be forgiven for the sin of continuing to drill for oil which Long Beach does. So we can regulate our own sinning by not producing more plastic or using more plastic. Styrofoam made from oil means that if we use less Styrofoam, if we consume less Styrofoam as a city and as a community, then we will not be making more in our oil refineries to the west. So it's a it's a step. And it's also really kind of surreal to have everyone on the same page as environmentalists in Long Beach, which we all were before. Beach Oil Mineral Partners Divided US. So sad, but still on a positive note. Let's regulate that use of sin. Okay. Thank you. And our last two speakers control. And Cantrell. Good evening, counsel and honorable mayor. I have gotten used to bringing my own flask for water and kicking the plastic bottle habit. I take my own reusable bags to the grocery store instead of using plastic or paper bags, and I am sure that I and many other people can get used to bringing our own reusable takeout utensils to a restaurant. Habits are hard to change, but we can do it. And I don't think that this is going to cause the small restaurants to lose any business if they don't provide a Styrofoam takeout container. I've trained all my family now to say no straws when we go into a restaurant. And I think I can train them to take, take, take out. And I hope that you will pass this tonight as is and not extend it any further. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and City Council. My name is Sona Coffey and I'm a resident of the fourth District and also serve as your vice chair on the Sustainable City Commission. Pardon my grand. Entrance on the thing, but thank you for. Letting me speak here tonight. I will add my voice in support of adoption of this ordinance. I know there's a lot of supporters tonight, and there was also some concern about protecting small business. And I do want to. Help the public. Relies on the groups realize I know our Surfrider member mentioned we have 40 businesses and small businesses that are certified under our ocean friendly restaurant program. The city has a green business certification program. Small businesses are doing this already. They're making that switch voluntarily. I think what this ordinance will do is really help solidify the city's stance on this issue and really help us become take that next step in becoming stewards of our environment here. I know many of you believe that we have that responsibility and I do as well. So thank you for bringing this forward. And I encourage your vote and support tonight. Thank you so much. Thank you, everyone that spoke. I'm going to turn this over to Councilman Gonzalez. Yes. So I want to thank you just for being so patient with tonight, but also for the incredible showing of support for this item. I've only been on this item for two years, and I want to thank my chief of staff, Corey, for being very involved in this and my office. We had a ton of interns who also were at Cal State Long Beach and really turned to more environmentally or environmental majors because of this, because they were so fascinated. So I want to thank you all again. We should give you a big round of applause. You've been at it for so long. And we have a representation of, of course, community advocates, people in the food industry. Captain Moore, who's here, who's been doing this for many decades, academic institutions who've been a part of this. So let's give all of you a big round of applause, because I really appreciate the support of that. And I'd like to thank my co-sponsors on here, Councilwoman Pierce and Councilmember Urunga, who joined me on this item. And I appreciate their support in this as well. And I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight. I know these nights are never easy, but I really appreciate it. And as many of you know, this material is one of the most prolific materials found on our beaches. I think we haven't said it enough. Right. Our beaches, waterways and our streets. I'm now a member of the Master Plan Committee for the L.A. River. And that was the one thing that all of the 710 cities talked about. The very first thing was pollution. And it absolutely was brought to my attention multiple times that Styrofoam was one of those main polluters, not just here in the city of Long Beach, but along the 710 corridor, which we know is a is a big deal for many people. And because we know it's nearly impossible to recycle, it ends up spending over 500 years in our streets. So unfortunately, long before any of us will, we'll see that biodegrade. The ordinance before us is actually very generous, and I want to thank my council colleagues from last meeting back in December of 2016, actually, when we proposed a few things, we talked about moving the phase plan from 12 months to 18 months, and that was proposed by Councilman Price. And I appreciate that the polystyrene ice chests as proposed by Councilwoman Mongeau and I appreciate that. And then the recommendation to include as a voluntary option for straws by Council Member Pier. So I really appreciate those as we implemented those in the ordinance. My team and I, as many of you know, we've been working on this for nearly two years, but the city of Long Beach has been working on this for nearly 13 years. We have studied this, I would say, ad nauseum, and I hate to say that, but we absolutely have been studying this quite some time. In addition to the great work that our city staff did, obviously there was a categorical exemption report, and that includes a technical documentation of an environmental analysis, which in essence is another study. And it also includes a lot of information about Long Beach specifically and the impacts that we're seeing because of single use. It also validates a lot of the questions that we've had here about what it's actually doing to our waterways and what it's doing to our streets and litter and pollution. But I also would like to thank there's a ton of people, but our public works department, Environmental Services, DeKoe and Craig Beck. We really appreciate your work in this. I know we went through this similarly with the plastic bag ban, although this is a bit different, you all did a tremendous job of going to our business community . You talked to many of our community advocates that you've already known. So we appreciate that. And Amy Weber from the city attorney's office, thank you for your support and help in this and getting the language just right. And Mike Mays as well. And what I'll say is we have a lot of groups here, as I mentioned, a lot of good knowledge here from very many decades that have provided good information. And I think this is very fair. Three months for city facilities and city sponsored events, nine months for large businesses and 18 months for small businesses. Less than 100 employees. My office personally reached out to every single business improvement district district. We talked to the Business Journal as well and talked about that everyone from Naples to Coba, which is an assortment of many business improvement districts, to include downtown and Bixby Knolls. If I wasn't personally there, my chief of staff was there talking to them about the specifics of this ordinance. So they understood and I would say that, you know, a lot of them will welcome this. A lot of them, as we've mentioned, and I am one that does not cook, if you can believe that I have two jobs and my three kids. So I eat out a lot. And so I'm noticing and I'm seeing a lot of the businesses that I would have seen have Styrofoam maybe two years ago that don't have Styrofoam anymore. And I'm really proud of these businesses for taking the leap to do that. And we want to make sure that they're recognized. So in that, I will say I hope we do not delay this. We don't, I believe, need another study. We've studied this quite some time, quite a bit. We have a lot of great people that we've been working with that have ventured, you know, on this great item with us. And I think delaying this would just be a disservice to our community. We know many of our communities, we've invested in the Long Beach Clean team, we've invested in the Aquarium for Wildlife Restoration and expansion. MLB must program. A lot of these initiatives are what are the truly the values of Long Beach, and I hope we can continue that by solidifying this ordinance tonight. And then lastly, a few other people I must thank as well, Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, don't waste Long Beach with the Teamsters 396 as well. I'll Goleta Marine Research heal the bay Long Beach and Bar. A mental alliance. And so many of you that have been by our side to help us in the Long Beach Area Peace Network as well. So thank you. I will leave it there. And I really ask for my colleagues support. Thank you so much. Catherine Pierce. Thank you. I think my colleague, Councilmember Gonzales kind of said. The majority of what we need to hear tonight, that we've been here for 13 years with a lot of hours, a lot of sweat equity and a lot of process. Sometimes local government and bureaucracy, we get called out for not doing enough process, for not having everybody at the table, for not hearing all the voices. And this was not a dog and pony show of process. This was real. Engagement with small businesses, with big businesses. With DART, the people that make a lot of these products to small restauranteurs that might not have understood some of the benefits of going this route. And so I want to say that tonight, not only am I proud for everybody that's in the audience that's been working on this, like Surfrider Sierra Club residents, but I'm really proud of the city for taking the time and I'm proud of my colleague for saying, yes, we could try to push something through very quickly, but instead let's do a phased approach. And as she recapped. For us, that last meeting that we had really did take apart from everybody, and it felt like we were all on that same page. And so I'm honored tonight to be here with everybody. And I like to always share with folks know, my first action of being a rabble rouser was not on a picket line. It was actually picking up trash door to door when I was in fourth grade. Going door to door to my. Neighbors and collecting cans and trying to do recycling. And my mom was like, recycle what? You know, she could not. Comprehend that I now had five bags of of cans. In our yard that I needed her to drive to take me to go recycle. And so from that being. My very first activism to being a part of this council where we are really taking the actions necessary, it's a proud day. And I hope that everybody can walk away tonight feeling proud and like we've put forth our best effort. So, again, congratulations. Councilmember Gonzalez, for your great leadership. Thank you. Thank you. I know we have some folks cued up to speak. I want to just I wanted to speak after the makers of the motion on this issue tonight. And I want to just say a few things. The first is I strongly support the ordinance as presented by staff. I supported this since the conversation started by Councilwoman Gonzales, and I really want to thank her for her leadership on this issue. And I want to say a few things that I think are important to note. So in 2011, when I was on the council, I just got on the council and at the time we had an ordinance, a ban, single use, plastic bags. And when we did that in 2011, there's a lot of the same similar type of conversation. In fact, a lot of you that are here on this issue, we're also here on the conversation on the single use plastic bag issue. And it was difficult and we implemented a lot of this of of the similar kinds of measure to support small businesses and the phased in approach. And some things happened which were significant. The first is we saw an immediate reduction of plastic bags and the single use bags and the litter that they created all across the city and our beaches. And that was reported pretty heavily through the work of city staff. So there was an immediate impact to the city. The second thing that happened, more importantly, was Long Beach became one of the largest cities in the state of California to actually ban single use plastic bags, which led then the state legislature just two years later banning single use plastic bags up and down across the state of California. And so it is important for big cities to take initiative on issues that affect the environment so deeply, which is why I believe it's so important for Long Beach to do the same thing on on this issue. But we now have a state that moved forward on an ordinance at Long Beach, led on when it came to single use plastic bags. And on this issue, we can't expect as a community to ask our neighbors to not put their runoff and their pollution into the river if we're not willing to step up ourselves and eliminate from our own community the single source of pollution that we have in our river and into our coastline, which is polystyrene and Styrofoam products. It is it is causing incredible damage to our coastline. It's causing incredible damage to marine life here. And I know that. Yes, it is. I understand that it is a burden to some small businesses. I think that is a reality that that I think is true. But it is also true that there is no single, larger polluter and cause of devastation to our marine life and to our ecosystem in the San Pedro Bay than polystyrene. And so I'm hopeful that we move forward on this in a in a way that is strong and send a signal to the other. Is that this is a direction that they need to go as well in order to truly clean the San Pedro Bay. We have to lead for the other cities north of us to do the same thing and hopefully for the state of California to do the same thing. And that's how we get our local beaches here in the community clean. And so I think for for a city that has led on issues around solar and LEDs, conversion, multimodal transit, urban farming, plastic bags, I think this is a natural step in that process. And I want to uplift not just the work of staff, but the work of the sustainable the Sustainable City Commission. And I think it's important for us also to understand that the work that the Commission has done on this issue has been extensive. They've been discussing this issue for years, and I'm really proud of them. A couple of those members of those that have been involved are here, including one member of our council, and that was also a member of that group. And so I think that we owe that commission, but also the community to move forward and to ban Styrofoam in Long Beach. So thank you very much. And with that, let me turn it over to the speakers that are cued up, starting with Councilwoman Price. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Okay. So a few things. First of all, I support this item very much, and I think the credit really needs to go first and foremost to those who came before us on this body who really laid these efforts, the foundation for these efforts. I remember talking with Councilwoman Lowenthal and Councilman O'Donnell when they were on this council with me about this item. And I know that Councilwoman Lowenthal was really working on this item and developing it. And we we had a lot of conversations about it. And as someone who represents the coastline and the bay, I think this is definitely a step in the right direction, although there's a lot more work to be done. So I do support the item. I will say, though, that when the item came forward in October, we had a very healthy and robust discussion involving the roll out as it related to our small businesses. And I think that a little bit of that has been lost in tonight's discussion. Jack and I Jack Cunningham is my chief of staff. That that meeting I don't know how many of you guys were there that night, but it was a very long meeting and the motions that went back and forth were very complicated. So Jack and I had a chance to watch the video the day after the meeting and circle back with the city attorney. Just to get clarification on what we had actually voted on. And because it was important for us to message to our residents and our business community what it is that we had voted on. We sent out an email after council meeting to our constituents, letting them know what has been voted on. And for that clarification, we reached out to the city attorney. I've also had the chance to read the transcripts of that night. This morning in preparation for tonight, because I don't believe that the staff report adequately addresses what was passed. And I know Amy Webber from the city attorney's office is here so she can step in and correct me if she thinks I'm wrong on any of this. But we've also talked with Charlie Parker on this. So I think I think we're accurate on this, the intent of the. Okay, so noticing tonight, there's a major gap in attendance by members of the small business community who were present in October. And I know for a fact the reason for that is because assurances were made to them by me and others that what we voted on in October involved us reviewing a study or a reporter data and being able to tweak it and modify it before we rolled out Phase three, that specifically what we had approved. And I think that that's what they relied on. So when we got calls from people saying, do we have to show up to council, we thought there was going to be an opportunity to modify or tweak before it rolled out to us. We said absolutely. That's absolutely what was agreed to. That's absolutely what we we committed to. And that was what was voted on. And I didn't hear that tonight. So I want to make sure, to the extent that it's clarified and I don't know if I need a friendly, I would refer to the maker of the motion on this, because I think the intent should be clear. And if a friendly is necessary or a substitute motion is necessary, I'm happy to make it. But the intent of the legislation that we passed in October was to give the council some data, some analysis of impacts before Phase three began so that we could have the opportunity to make changes if we needed to, for the small business rollout, specifically the motion that was made. By me was my friendly is specifically saying before we roll out the implementation of the small business portion, we as a body together would receive information on the data so that we could move forward with that implementation phase. Because you are right, if a TFF comes back and outlines the study, a council member may want to put it on the agenda, may not want to put it on the agenda. It may get lost in the mix. I wanted to actually come back so that we can hear the data and we can report to our small businesses that this is the data your rollout is about to start, and it's based on this great positive data. The city attorney then clarified, So if I can understand the friendly correct, then the 18 months wouldn't be a hard date. You wouldn't determine that date until you receive the study? I said yes. Then the vice mayor asked Councilwoman Gonzales, Do you need to respond to the friendly councilwoman? Gonzales said, Sure, that's fine. We can do a study session, but I would really advise this council to stick to the 18 months. I really would do that. The city attorney then asked for clarification and said, I'm sorry. I didn't hear the acceptance. I heard that the 18 month stayed in. Councilwoman Gonzalez hesitantly said, You're making me do it again. Yes. So the city attorney then said, and I didn't hear, is it the study session? Now that's the study session. And Vice Mayor Richardson said a report at council, she just referred to it as a study session. Councilwoman Gonzales said, and I agree with it can be a meeting, a study session, just some sort of a report back to council. And then Councilwoman Gonzales said an opportunity for us to review that. So I want to make sure that what we're voting on tonight allows phase one and phase to be implemented in the timeline that we've we've outlined. I think that's great. Phase three should not be implemented until we have a report back and an opportunity to make adjustments. We may not want to make any adjustments at all, but we may want to make a few tweaks here and there that make the rollout of this easier for our small businesses. I completely understand that sometimes we make hard decisions and the businesses feel it's going to be an impact on them. They feel they're going to lose businesses business. They feel that they're they might lose customers. We hear it all the time from small business owners who don't like legislation that we are going to be forcing upon them . I understand that sometimes those fears are founded, sometimes they're unfounded. What I'm trying to do is soften the blow for a lot of these small businesses who are genuinely concerned about what the rollout will impact them, in what ways it may not impact them at all and may impact them in positive ways. But the goal of this is for us to work collaboratively to identify possible changes to the roll out that we can make before Phase three is implemented. So I don't know if that's the understanding of the maker of this motion or if that needs to come in the form of an amendment or if it needs to come in the form of a substitute motion. But I'm just putting it out there and I look forward to hearing from my colleagues. I will also say just because I think I have a duty to because Councilman Andrews reached out to me and asked me to read this letter into the record I am currently sick from this is from Councilman Andrews. I am currently sick from severe allergies and unable to participate in tonight's meeting. And I feel that a small delay on this item is reasonable to ask to make sure my constituents interests are represented, to best represent my constituents, and to make sure this ordinance is done in the best way we can. Please postpone the first reading of this ordinance regarding polystyrene to the May 1st council meeting. I understand this email comes at the last minute, but I wasn't expecting until this morning to be able. I was expecting until this morning to be able to participate this evening. I do know that he had some health issues early this morning and so it prevented him from being here tonight. Again, I look forward to hearing from my colleagues on both of those issues. One, whether we postpone for Councilman Andrews at Councilman Andrew's request, and if we don't, whether or not the intent of the legislation we passed in October is included in what we're passing tonight, because I think that will determine whether or not I will be making a substitute. So thank you very much. Thank you, Councilwoman. Let me have Councilwoman Gonzalez maybe respond to the councilman's questions. Yes. So I would have to clarify the motion, because from what I understand and we've spoken to the city attorney as well as that the ordinance would move through and 18 months would be included. However, there would be, as a study simultaneously included with that. And we asked for a variety of things applicable to all small food establishments 18 months after City Council adopts. Yeah. So applicable after. After adopts the ordinance. We we basically included everything. We also included bean bags, crafts, straws upon request. We also looked at big belly type trash cans. So just to clarify this, because I'm from I'm then I'm in the understanding that it was in everything we have in this ordinance is going to be moving forward tonight. And that was the discussion I believe we had back in when we we had the previous meeting, but that the study would would simultaneously go forward. Is that correct? The way the ordinance is currently drafted, where the staff report is drafted, that is correct. So if you move forward tonight, clearly the ordinance that is passed would have a provision that allows for the roll out for the small businesses in an 18 month period. But there would be a study session sometime before then. And obviously, as with any ordinance the council passes, you have the ability to amend anything that you pass tonight. So if a year down the road after you have some good solid data on the larger businesses and you have a study session and you feel that it's not appropriate for whatever reason to impose those same criteria on the smaller businesses. You could simply amend any ordinance you'd adopted tonight. Okay, but the ordinance does include the 18 months act for small businesses. It currently does, yes. Okay. As long as we're clear with that, I'm good with that. Of course, more information will never hurt. Of course, I think we have all the studies we need, but absolutely, if we need to do some more studies prior to that so we can have more information to go forward, I'd be happy to do that as well. But thank you for the clarification. I hope that clears it up with my council colleague, but I'd like to move forward tonight with the motion on the floor. Okay. Thank you. Council member, you ring up. Thank you, Mayor. And I want to thank Councilmember Gonzalez for bringing this forward. I was one of the cosigners back in October on this because I thought it was very important. I was the one, I think, that brought up the the Great Pacific Garbage Patch back and that that that meeting because I had seen the, the film a few months before at the Coastal Commission and it was very compelling story to see all the plastic out there in the deep ocean, if I can also make a pitch . I also have a license plate that will tell my loyalty to help protect our oceans. But anyway, I diverge. One of the other things that happened since that last meeting in October, the Coastal Commission also adopted a motion to ban plastic straws in the oceans. So we are. We are. I definitely support this motion. I support the the ordinance that we're putting forward today. I don't think we need to change it much. Inclusion of a study is part of that. So I think that we're moving in the right direction. And when we are able to change how the behavior of our of our restaurant attending people which are bringing in their own plastic containers or plastic bags or other items for them to take home, I think we're making a hell of a lot of progress in that direction. And I think it would it would only help our communities and it would only help our earth. And I think that it's a great opportunity to make a change in our world. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Cipriano, I'm going to defer to Councilwoman Pryce because it's her motion. But I think the point here that is so important for us is that we adhere to what took place in our last meeting. And it was very clear from the transcript that we asked for feedback prior to this. And it's interesting because that I was part of that whole piece, that discussion, I guess a lot of us were, because it lasted a long time, but it came before the utensils piece. So I don't think we can cherry pick what we decided on at the last meeting. We have to incorporate it all. So that's my point. Thank you. Best move, Richardson. Just want to I just want to be clear, because it seems like there's two accounts of what happened at the last meeting. I want to hear from the city attorney. What is what is before us in terms of the 18 months and the the study session? Vice Mayor Richardson, what is before you tonight and I apologize. I was not here when this came for the first time when you gave staff direction. So I can't really comment on the and I have not read the transcript, as Councilwoman Pryce just did. So I haven't looked at them closely. But what's on the agenda tonight is, as it has previously been described, it's basically as far as the small businesses go, it would require the small businesses to comply after an 18 month roll out period. It would. Require. The larger businesses to comply sooner than that. It would require that there be a study session at some point in time. Before. The 18 months. And I was just talking with Mr. Beck and he indicated that that study session would definitely take place before the 18 months kick in, and it would if council wanted to change course at that time. Assuming you pass the ordinance tonight, you would have to amend the ordinance to make changes to it. So if you were dealing with small the small businesses, you could amend it to delete that requirement, extend it out further. Or do anything else that was reasonable. Thank you. That's consistent with what I remember. There was a lot of debate and, you know, both sides came together. I think we got a unanimous vote. And I think it was sort of, you know, we were concurrently evaluate as we were going. And then when the 18 month kicked in, there was a study session. Any given Tuesday, you can amend or place it on the agenda to amend the ordinance. So there wasn't a a stop or two, so to speak. There was a deadline for staff to present a study session on the findings before that third phase, third phase commenced. That's what I understood. That's what I understood. And I think that's what's presented today. So I'm I'm sticking with staff's recommendation and the motion on the floor. And I think that I mean, that honors what we did in the past. You know, there's a lot of negotiation that took place, but I thought we did a good job that night. So that's what I'm gonna support tonight. Thanks. Thank you, Councilwoman Brice. So if I can just jump back in for a second if one possible solution and it isn't clear from the staff report, but if you wanted to make sure that that study session took place without amending the ordinance that's before you, you could set a time certain tonight as part of a motion to have that study session . I mean, you could pick a date, but it could be no later than three months before the 18 month period would kick in or whatever date would be appropriate to give you enough time to later amend the ordinance if it was necessary to do that. And that way we'll all be assured. No question we're going to have a study session will be at a time certain. So let me let me go and go back to Councilman Pryce now has the floor. So, Councilman Pryce, thank you. And that's exactly what I was going to suggest, is that we have a time certain or a date certain. I do want to check with Amy Webber, who's here, because I know that she hasn't had a chance to review the transcripts in our correspondence with Charlie in October. If you can clarify really what the intent of the pass I mean, this is what happens when we make sausage. It's really hard to identify the individual ingredients. So if Ms.. Webber, if you can please tell us what your legal interpretation of what we approve that night was in terms of our intent. My understanding of what what was approved that night. And I do have a copy of the. Transcript that you and Mr. Murchison have referred to. Is, as Mike stated earlier, that that that the study session or the the the study was intended to occur concurrently and but that the Council was to be informed. Prior to. The effectiveness of the 18 month phase. In period. For small businesses. I would also note that in the transcript, the city attorney on the night of the event said, I'm not sure if your friendly is necessary. You can get the study back on any Tuesday and do an. Amendment to the ordinance or change. The implementation date of Phase three at that time. You could do that on any Tuesday. So I think the intent all along was that once you had the information, whether it was earlier or later or on a precise date, the council would be able to make any changes that they felt were necessary. To the. Ordinance. And that's and that's great. And that's my understanding of what we passed as well. I will say I don't believe the staff report clarifies that in terms of the study session preceding the implementation of Phase three and as having the opportunity to opine on the roll out of Phase three. But that's fine. We're clarifying it now. So what I would request, and this really would be up to the maker of the motion if she, she and the second are okay with it. Is that the and also it's not a really. Yes, we're having a study session but the the point of the study session is to study the impacts and the implementation of phase one and phase two. So we would be getting a report back of what the impacts, the benefits and all and such were. So my my hope would be that two months before the implementation of phase three, so that would be six months from the passage of this ordinance, we would receive no later than 16 months. We would receive information regarding the the rollout and what's been successful opportunities for improvement, recommendations for future implementation that will give us as a council about two months to make tweaks, if we want to, to any of the policies, procedures, incentives, etc.. So I don't know if that's okay with my council colleagues. Yes. And just so we're clear, October 2019, if I'm getting my math correctly, is about 18 months. So that would be based on what Councilmember Price mentioned would take us to about August of 2019. Do you want we can select a date now if we'd like to. We have August 6th, 13th, 20th. I'm I'm going to put it all out there. I don't want any confusion going forward. And I appreciate the clarification. And just so we know, just so I'm clear as well, you want to talk about the successes and that's just the whole ordinance. Not specific just for small business. It's for the whole ordinance and how the impacts are. Okay, perfect. We won't have implemented it on small businesses, but there might be lessons learned that we can't deploy. Perfect. So can we say I'm just going to pick lucky number 13, August 13th, 2019. Is that okay? It can be lucky. We can do the second, second week of August, second, Tuesday, August, me and Roberto's birthday that week next. Well, happy. Birthday. You're going to have to be okay. So why don't we just clarify, Mr. Mayor, if we can, to say, August 2019 and let us come back. That's in the middle of budget as well. So we'd like a chance either August? I think that's correct. Thank you. Okay. So I think that that hopefully clarifies that issue. Moving on to Councilmember Super now, just one last point, and this was back to that discussion in the past was who conducts the study are data gathering? There was a little we didn't want to put this all on city staff if it was too much of a burden . So can we just add to that will make that decision moving forward also so it makes sense in terms of of of who's actually collecting the data. And I would imagine that we would just we would do that study like we do every study. And oftentimes we contract we would contract that work out or we would work with our internal folks. And if we need additional support, we do that. Is that right, Mr. Modica? Yeah, that's correct. We would see what we could provide if we needed consultant expert experience on that or if we need budget. So we would have to come back and say, here's what we can do with what we've got or we'd need more money. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. There is a motion to second on the floor. Members, please. Gwen Casher votes. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. We're going to do quickly, we're going to do item 26 and then we're doing the rest of the public comment here. Item 26 Important.