Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Chapter 9.16 in its entirety, relating to abatement of public nuisances caused by illegal conduct involving sale or manufacturing of controlled substances, read and adopted as read.  (Citywide)
Item 19 Item 19 Report from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Chapter 9.16 in its entirety. Relating to the relating to abatement of public nuisances caused by illegal conduct involving sale of manufacturing of controlled substances, read and adopted as read citywide. The items being moved and seconded. Is there any member of the public that wish to address Council on Item 19? Please come forward. State your name. Yes. My name is Patrick Brody of the American Patients Rights Association. I have a specific concern over the definition of controlled substances, because that may apply to medical marijuana within the city of Long Beach. Now, if that is the case, this action is not in compliance with federal or state law. I should bring it to your attention. The Department of Justice did recognize California's Proposition 215 last month, and that. By Proposition. 215, restricting the growing of medical marijuana within a person's domicile is illegal. The city may not prohibit that because that that is recognized by federal law and it is state law. So. Yes, thank you. Thank you. My name is David Zink. I live in the seventh district. Our city doesn't have a very good history. Of dealing with this issue. I'm afraid it's sad. But at the July 17th Planning Commission meeting, our chief of. Police stated that his men have. Watched dispensaries and they determined that the people didn't look very sick going in and out of these places. That is the most absurd assertion I have ever heard him make, and it angers me. No doctor. Doctors? No doctor. Ah, but. But why would a bus load of doctors would not sit and try to diagnose people from afar? But this is the kind of leadership and example our department is getting. It's not right. As long as the unreasonable attitude of the prohibitionists that exist in our city government. Continue. Their unreasonableness. There will never be a reasonable resolution because we have a 48 page document produced by the City Attorney's Office that is the most atrocious thing. And after they looked at the task force that had put together some work look, looked at their work, they only had 41 pages. They added seven more pages. They thought of more ways to restrict and choke this. They're following the lead set by our former attorney general when he called them together after the police chiefs and the sheriffs to discuss how they could undermine, circumvent and otherwise scuttle this law. That's not the job of any police officer. They are not to make judgments about the law. And that's why I say our department is poorly led, poorly disciplined, poorly trained and out of control. Thank you, Mr. Zinke. Distinguished Long Beach City Council Mayor Garcia again. It's Richard Eastman, former HIV AIDS commissioner, county of Los Angeles, friend of Dennis Peron, the author of California, Proposition 215. And I sat on the committee that drafted S.B. 420, which was Mark Leno. Paul Koretz and the state legislature and a man living with AIDS for 20 years. It was 77 years ago. Mr. Mayor, you don't want to look at me now that this government made marijuana illegal. 77 years. July 12th, 1937. I've been coming to this council now for quite a few years, except for when Mayor Foster asked me to leave. And, you know, going back to that last point, I'm glad you saved those records, because we need the Justice Department of this great nation to subpoena the city of Long Beach and get Mayor Foster's records. And every record from the fake lottery and the taxation and everything in corrupt cities in the state of California that stifles the demand of the voters of the great state of California. In 1996, when they passed this historic law that saved my life. I'm a gay man, Mr. Mayor. So are you. There's a lot of people in your town living with AIDS. I don't like to yell at anybody, but, you know, I don't know how many more years I'll be able to come down here. I'm 61. Mr. Brown was on the phone with me a few minutes ago. He's 68. He's going to his doctor tomorrow to find out if he can come down here, maybe want to talk to you in person, because obviously you don't listen to the people of this great state of California and the federal government, because everything you're done is against federal law. You can't tax marijuana. You can't lottery. Is it? You can't say that patients can't grow 12 plants because it says and does before 20. They can. And you're actually putting yourselves all in jail eventually because marijuana is hemp and hemp is rope and rope can heal you or hang you and marijuana can heal your hand you. And sure, it ain't perfect. But we saw somebody in here earlier. I don't want to say the man had alcohol problems or he was a stroke victim. But, you know, you just approved an alcoholic beverage place. How many people in this town die from automobile accidents and vomit on your streets and piss in your gutters? Pardon my English. AIDS patients don't do that. They vomit. If they can't eat, they choke on their vomit. They die if they don't eat. I'm asking you for a final time, Mayor Foster, in this council before I go to Washington again and demand Eric Holder to issue all subpoenas. And my friend Senator Patrick O'Leary of the Judiciary Committee is holding hearings on September 10th in our great nation's capital. I hope to be there and maybe, perhaps they will give me some good information about when they're going to indict you guys because you need to be indicted for corrupting a law that saved my life. God bless you. And may God bless the city of Long Beach, because when we're done with you, some of you are going to jail. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Melissa Techno and my address is on file, nestled right in the middle of this ordinance. And between all the legal jargon, it talks about heroin and methamphetamine and cocaine, and then it says or any other controlled substance. So everybody's already talking about medical marijuana. I'm curious if that is what's being talked about in the ordinance itself. And if so, where are the way? I'd like it stricken from the audience. I'd like to know what exactly we're talking about, what clarity in the ordinance. It's way too broad in overreaching. It just feels misleading as well. And in addition, I'm curious if there's any appeal provision in this ordinance. It's giving way too much power to a city attorney to work hand in hand with the police officers with no appeal provision. So anybody could go in there, say, this person is doing that. And there's nothing you can't even appeal what's going on. And I'm curious if the citizens of Long Beach, if this city council is ready to give that much power over to the city attorney who's been here for a long time to within a new city council . I mean, it's it's moving quickly and I feel like. Intentionally. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. To additional public comment. Please come forward. Petitioning Mayor Price and City Council. Council. My name is Madeline Johnson. I have one more thing to say, and this is directed to Charlie Parker. And then neither of you to think that the patients in Long Beach are going to get away with this. Just so you know, you have to direct all questions to the chair. So if you can directly. Us, we are not going to allow you as patients to put this ordinance and put it through. We will sue the entire city. And this is not collective owners. This is not dispensaries owners. We are patients that's going to come after you and we're not going to stop until you are in jail. There is a motion on the floor for the ordinance council. Are you Kira? Go ahead. Yes. I just wanted to get some clarification before we vote on this. I know this came before our council last week and this is the second reading. Am I correct? Mr. City Attorney, can you just give us just went through briefly what the intent of the ordinance is. Yes, Mayor. Members of the council, as you recall, last week on the first reading of this ordinance, the city of Long Beach has been conducting this program for over ten years as part of a pilot program authorized by the state of California under the civil code. We are now enacting our own ordinance, which mirrors the civil code, and it uses the unlawful detainer process to allow us to remove those individuals who are dealing narcotics from residents. And we've been able to use this program very successfully without challenge for the last ten years. So the intent is not to to prosecute people who are using medical marijuana in their homes legally. That's that's correct. I understood the intent to be to go after dealers and apartments and homes that have been reported by by by other residents, correct? That's correct. Or from police reports. It's, for example, in the last year, we probably reviewed approximately 3000 police reports and only applied this program in approximately 250 situations. All right. Thank you for that clarification. I'm ready to vote. Thank you. Please cast your votes. Well. Motion carries nine zero. Thank you. Item 20. Item 20 Report from City Attorney Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Section 5.46.060 relating to the public posting prohibited, read and adopted as read citywide.