Recommendation to approve the use of the Sixth Council District's one-time infrastructure funds transferred from the Capital Projects Fund (CP) in the Public Works Department (PW) into the Legislative Department (LD) operating budget in the amount of $150,000 to support a partnership being entered into with Killing Fields Memorial Center, Inc., in order to develop the Killing Fields Memorial located at 1501 East Anaheim Street; and Increase appropriation in the General Fund (GF) in the Legislative Department (LD) by $150,000.
So we'll move right along. Next, we're going to be taking up item number 30. Clerk Please read. It. I will have to because I'm going to do an amendment on this. So I will be reading it. Oh, the clerk let the clerk read the item first, then you make the motion. No, no. Because I'm going to do an amendment on it. Oh, okay. Yes. Great. Fine. Thank you. Vice Mayor. No, I don't think it's fine. Go ahead. Tells me. Yes. Yes. Typically that typically the clerk opens up the item, then you make your your motion. Okay. Even if you want to change it, you can just. Okay. Madam Clerk, go for it. Communication from Councilman Andrew's recommendation to approve the use of the six council districts one time infrastructure funds in the amount of 150,000 to support a partnership being entered into with Killing Fields Memorial Center. Thank you, Councilman Andrews. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And I'd like to make an amendment to that, and hopefully I will get a second from this because I'll need it, because the fact that this is something that we have been trying to work on for the last five or seven years now will be coming to fruition. The recommendation to approve the use of the Six Council District one time Infrastructure Fund transferred from the Capital Project Fund, CPW, which is public works department into the entire economic project. Poverty and Economic and Poverty Development. Operating budget in the amount of 150,000 to support the partnership and enter into a Killing Fields Memorial Center in order to redevelop the Killing Fields Memorial location at 1501 East Anaheim Street, Ottawa authorize the city manager to execute the necessary documents with the Killing Field Memorial Center, a nonprofit organization, in order to develop the Killing Fields Memorial Location at 1501 East Anaheim Street. Increase appropriation in the general funds in the economic and property development budget by 150,000. You're not likely to get a second, if I could, on that. Thank you. 1/2. By Councilwoman Pierce. Councilman Pierce. Yes. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your forward thinking and trying to partner with such an important organization that raises a lot of awareness, but also provides an opportunity for people to reflect on their history and learn from that. And so I think this is very noble of you. Great. Thank you. Councilman Austin. Thank you. And I'd like to just support Councilmember Andrews motion. Obviously, this is a. Something, an endeavor that will will certainly embolden and recognize the rich culture of the Cambodian community here in Long Beach. But I think it's also an appropriate use of infrastructure dollars as it will go into building infrastructure in the community. So I congratulate you and were happy to support this motion. Thank you. And we'll come back to Councilman Andrews. Thank you very much, Vice Mayor. Okay. With this item, the Cambodian, you know, celebration community, there are brothers and sisters that escape the killing. We called the cameras and came to America and to settle here in Long Beach, where they have built up the American dream. Long Beach has had a long and large population of Cambodians outside Nam PIN. And I know that in my district especially in Cambodia town, many of the residents survivor and the. And they are. Genocide and will never, ever make the trip back to Cambodia. This money will go towards completing the dream of the Killing Fields Memorial, first of its kind, outside of Cambodia, and to provide some healing. And this is why we think this is so important. And I want to thank everyone for coming out here tonight. And I know we have a few speakers who will come up here to talk with you right now. Yes. Thank you, Councilman Andrews, or any public comment on this item, please come forward. I know there's a number of speakers that will be the time. Okay. So I see that there's a request for some speakers before we go to public comment. Who are who raise your hand if you're here to speak on this item. Okay. Let's just do this and public comment all together. So please come forward. You have 3 minutes. Thank you. Yeah. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Member City Council. My net metering and. I think my republic veteran, an acrylic survivor and a president, not the caliph where member of center. I see. On behalf of the board. The member or Cambodian American in Long Beach. And Cambodian all over the world. I would like to. Express our deep gratitude. To City Council Bay and to. And the city council. On your vision and relationship. To help. Rely on our team soon. The clearly frail Memories Garden, the first of the kind outside Cambodian and inside the most diverse city in nation. With the hope. The hope. From important stake holder and partner. So. Yes, the theosophy line we. And the Cambodian Train Association. We hope to read. Our construction. Google within the list time timeframe. Thank you so much. God bless you and God bless America. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Two groups who are. Good evening, Mr. Vice Mayor. Members of the City Council. Thank you so much, Ms.. Pearce. Mrs. Price. Happy Persian Holiday, New Year. We actually we do have a great man at the courthouse, a great public defender named Nima Farhadi, a champion of human rights. Ladies and gentlemen. Compared to the size of. The Holocaust Museum or the Armenian Genocide Museum. The Killing Fields Memorial Garden is a very, very small place. It's a miniature size of those two. But to the Cambodians in Long Beach, it is a giant a giant step for them. Two word closure and hearings. Healing the wounds and. Broken dreams and. Not. Probably no prize can ever be. Redeemed. Actually. This one here is a home to many, many Cambodians and the hope of many elderly survivors of the killing fields that they hope in their lifetime to come, to reflect and to remember their loved ones who perished tragically in the killing fields for four years, 42 years ago. We believe that the the killing feels like other genocides before and after it. Just as a part of the history of the humanities, where a people of a nation being subject to atrocity in human suffering, mass killings and the rest the remain of that destruction, the ash of that destruction got nurtured, brought to life back by another group of nation such as the city of Long Beach. And we're very grateful for that. Long Beach has been very, very good to the Cambodians, verse 13, to Hebrew. Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers for some who have done it. How pain angels without knowing it. And the city of Long Beach has done even more. In 2005, the city of Long Beach. Proclaim 17 April as the official city Monday council your anger it was your wife. My starting out your anger. Who co-wrote that one? And in 2012, Councilor Mandy Andrews. BRADY You did you wrote that one wit along with our group for the Genocide Awareness Month. And that was great because we embrace everything about genocide. We observe the Armenian genocide, the Jewish Holocaust, and also the Rwandan massacres. So the city of Long Beach has done a lot and. Recently, Mr. Parkin and Mr. Patrick West already signed a lease. Thank you, sir. We got the lease right now. And finally, we thank you again, Councilman Lee Andrews, for being the champion of the killing fields costs for the survivors and. With that, we will be very humble and honored and grateful for your consideration. Thank you so much. Thank you. I believe we have one more speaker in the group. Honorable Vice Mayor Richardson. Members of the Council. City Manager and City Attorney. City clerk. And your staffs. My name is Ernest McBride Junior. I've been a resident of Long Beach since 1938. You know, I've lived in the city. But I'm here to support my friend Paling Salve, who I met when Councilman Andrews first. You know, I ran for the council district and through him I was able to meet a lot of these people and they're really great and wonderful people. And I'm here to kind of support the efforts to get this killing memorial made. And I first became aware of this. There was a film that came out in 1983 called The Killing Fields, and it portrayed two journalists. One was for the New York Times. He was a Cambodian gentleman named Pran Death Praying. And then it was an American journalist, and his name was Sidney Cronenberg. And they had got a the plot of the movie was they had to go to a city in Newark, Lou Luang in Cambodia, because they heard that an American B-52 bomber, it bombed the city. And when they got there, they found out that that was a true fact. And so while they were there, they were they witnessed the execution of the Khmer Rouge operatives, and they tried to take photographs and they were arrested. Well, they managed to get out of there, you know, to get released. And then two years later, they went, you know, to the Pan-Am pan, to the French embassy. And then while they were there, the Khmer Rouge marched in the print arm pen to take over the city and doing a parade. And the these gentlemen were arrested. And then the Cambodian pran he because he was a Cambodian, he was on an arm. He negotiated the release of his friends. And then so they were able to escape to Thailand. And then several months later, Schanberg was in New York City, so he wanted to go look his friend up. And so what happened? His friend Pran was enslaved in. And, you know, he was in slave and he escaped one night. And he he ended up in a muddy cesspool filled with rotting human corpses because he happened to stumble upon the killing fields itself. And then we kind of heard about there were over 2 million Cambodian citizens were murdered by the Pol Pot's regime. And I think memorials are a great reminder to help us remember atrocities that communities face in our young people need to know be aware of this because this is like the Jewish Holocaust, right? Yes, please. Your time is all right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, as I understand, at the end of the presentation, we're going to open up to public comment if anyone else would like to speak. You have 3 minutes to speak. Dennis Dunne, $150,000. Do you know how much that would help the homeless hungry? Those who can't find homes? Better yet. How would it help the Cambodians to have a gravestone? Glorified in the United States when good causes for Cambodians could be spent on education, jobs, and particularly language development. Not on a graveyard, not on a tombstone. They could even make it even have The Killing Fields movie screened at schools to see how atrocious the actions really were. Cameras. That would be far more descriptive, entertaining, informative and educational than a museum. What are they going to have with the museum? Who will go? Thank you. Any further public comment? William Shibley I've been involved with the Cambodian community for many years and. It's an honor that I feel that I have earned because of my upbringing in Long Beach. I hear people talking about being in Long Beach 35 years. My grandparents came to Long Beach in 1921, 96 years ago, and my father, uncle, brother and I all graduated from Long Beach, probably my son graduated from Long Beach in turn for Senator Feinstein and is now doing a pre-med program on the East Coast. But one thing that I learned from my father is that none are better than the least of us and that we support everybody. In fact, in the forties, Mr. McBride and my father helped organize the local chapter of the NAACP. There was a murder case called the Sleepy Lagoon Murder case that they made a movie called Zoot Suit Out Of. I would not be here. But for that murder case, because in the middle of the trial, my mother, who'd been married to another Long Beach alum, guy named Van Heflin, had gotten divorced in the late thirties, come to California. And in 1941, friends said, you've got to go to this trial. Six days later, they they eloped. But I have always grown up and my family always believes that we must support our newcomers. Those in need, those under risk. And the Cambodians have suffered more than most of us. I mean, I congratulate Councilwoman Pryce on the Persian the Iranian New Year. And my family is Lebanese-American. We came to the States 1899 also to flee the Turks, because the Turks were massacring not only the Armenians, but the Greeks, the Syrians, the Lebanese and anyone else they could get their hands on. But we need to support the Cambodian community, and building a memorial for the Cambodian community will help heal their wound and help us understand. The importance of the humanity that we must treat each other with. And I thank you very much. Thank you. Any further further comment on this item? Please step forward. For. Very good. Just briefly, I want to commend Councilman Andrews. This is a type you know, he's doing this not for making political hay. He's been around long enough. He doesn't need that. And and he ought to be commended for that. This is certainly one of the greatest strategy tragedies that the world has ever seen. Thank you for bringing us forward. Thank you. Any further public comment? My name is Michael Ferrara and. I would like to just say a few words on this. It's not just for the Cambodians. In fact, vice mayor, members of the board and or council and also public. This is probably the best spending of public funds that I've seen in a long time. And I'm going to tell you why. Because it's not just for one community group. This is for everybody that lives in Long Beach. All right. This is a teachable moment. This is building a space, investing in a space where it's not just where you go to relax or meditate or even just to think about what is genocide about. And it's not just about Cambodian genocide, from what I've read about it. They are making this a genocide awareness place. And it's a it's a place where you can actually have what they call an experience. All right. It's an experience. There will be some of the people from our Cambodian community who have gone through the horrors of the killing field. And our younger generations will be able to sit there and and make a touch. I mean, if you look at it's a touching point. It's a teachable moment. If you look in any of our history books and you look at The Killing Fields and what they teach them in high school or middle school, it's a paragraph about this large. And they say, yeah, that's genocide. This is a look. We do a lot of things in Long Beach. I remember by my house, they made a park called Rosie the Riveter Park. Why? Why did we do that? Just to have a cute name and a cute symbol from World War Two. No, because we were sitting there and saying women are valuable in the workplace and deserving of recognition, and we put a park to that. So parks are spaces where we express something about our community, where the community comes to meet in a teachable moment or for recreation. But this is very specific. This is something you guys are doing. One of the best things I've ever seen. Making an investment. An investment in the entire city for all people, not just the Cambodians, so that we can have a space where the conversation about genocide can be a real conversation, where it's a meaningful place to have a conversation about genocide. And I think we look at the world right now. The place is rife with it, boiling with it, and our history, recent and far back, is boiling with it. Let's make this a public space to start that conversation and hopefully into the future. Genocide will just be a bad dream or bad memory. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Any further public comment? The Honorable Vice Mayor Rich and Honorable City Councils, all members of City Council. My name is. But which. I come here to say thank you. Want to say thank you to Phelps and Academy. Thank you to Dartmouth College. Thank you to P.S. you law school. And I would like to say thank you to everyone here. I am here not for myself, but for my baby sister. I am a martial artist. I'm a teacher. Every time we talk about it feels that I got to hold myself so well. No idea what kind of hell it was. Thank you. I would like to let you know. As a martial art teacher. We do fight back. We we sue you. As you remember, Saturday, April 9th, when this son of a dictator came to Long Beach. What happened? He. He knocked a process over Paul Hayes unconscious in front of La Lune restaurant. We sued a dictator. We fought back. That memorial is very crucial just to let the elders here, who are a lot of them, are survivors, to have three instance stars to burn to to be peace. So I would like to let you know, we are not weak people. We are very we would like to thank you, all of you, just to let us have some peace. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you to all of our speakers. So we will take it back behind the real Councilwoman Pearce. You seconded the motion? I already spoke on that part. I just wanted to just say how inspire it's been to hear you share your stories and that you are a community that is resilient, that's courageous. And again, just thank you for creating that space. And my staff and I will be out there in the next month for a staff retreat so that we can learn from you all and be a part of your community. So thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Durango. Thank you. Mayor, back around 1980, 81. I was part of a ceremony where the Cambodian community had just. Become a major population group in the sixth District right off of Anaheim. It was a part of the city that was highly Latino at one time, and there was a community center there called Centro de la Raza. Which the United Cambodian community bought and did a groundbreaking to change the building into a Cambodian community center. I was part of that ceremony to make that transition symbolically, make that transition from an area mostly populated by Latinos to now a the idea of the upcoming of a Cambodian population in that area. And it was our way. My way. The Latino of of Long Beach, in a way of welcoming the Cambodian community into Long Beach and providing them with a place of sanctuary, a place where they can come and receive services such as taxi services, tutoring. There was a bit of a little library in that in that center. So this opportunity now to recognize a dark period in the in Cambodia's history is something that we need. We need to, again, commemorate and welcome because it is part of history and we can't forget history. We always have to remember where we came from and the struggles and the challenges and the travails that we all face as immigrants and community groups here in not only Long Beach but across this country, and have that history be part of our community. And so I look forward to the day when I'm able to join you. When you had a groundbreaking when you had a ribbon cutting for that memorial. Because I will be not only celebrating with you, but I will also be sharing your memories with you, because it's something that we all share together. And we are all of one community. We are all one long beach. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilwoman Price. Thank you. I want to thank Councilman Andrews. He is a true champion for the Cambodian community. And ever since I have known him and I've had the opportunity to serve with him. He's always advocating for the needs of that community and fighting hard to make sure that the history, legacy and opportunities for the Cambodian community are at the forefront of our policymaking. And I just want to thank him for that. And, of course, I support this this motion wholeheartedly. Thank you, Councilmember. Super or not. Thank you. I'd like to thank all the speakers here tonight and also thanks to Councilman Andrews. For this motion. And this memorial will be in the 1500 block of Anaheim. And the fourth Council district that I represent starts at the 1900 block of Anaheim. So a large portion of Cambodian communities is in the fourth Council District, and it will certainly be shared by my constituents. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Andrews. Yes. I'd just like to thank everyone for coming down. And as we say, Leah Ackerman. Thank you. All right. Now I'll just add, you know, congratulations to Councilman Andrews and his staff and working really hard. Congratulations to the elders and the community for for staying in front of the city council, making sure that we're aware of your culture, your community, and the needs of how we can serve it. And I just want to say, you know, I completely support memorials when I travel to different cities. Personally, I like to go see the landmarks, the memorials. It really says something about the richness of that community. And I make it a point to go into those things. So I will be there in 18 months when the project is finished. I think this is going to be something amazing and we're all going to be able to go look at this. In addition to all our other memorials like the Vietnam veteran, the Lonesome Saint, Lone Sailor Memorial, and all the others will be able to go and see that. So congratulations to all of you members. Please cast your vote. Motion carries a zero.