Recommendation to request City Manager to work with Homeless Services Department, Police Department, Mental Evaluation Units, HEART Team, Quality of Life Officers, Marine Patrol, Public Works, and Parks Recreation and Marine Department to report back on how the City can better address or enforce beach violations as well as the associated impacts it has on our beaches and residents. This should include: possible ordinance changes to improve the enforceability of violations of beach hours; added methods of preventing alcohol and drug use on our beaches through the City municipal code and through changes to current enforcement practices; and approaches to minimize trash, human waste, food waste, and large-scale littering on our beaches.
Item 16. Communication from Councilman Price Councilmember Super nor Councilman Austin. Recommendation to request City Manager to work with various city departments to report back on how the city can better address or enforce beach violations and impacts on beaches and residents. Thank you, Councilman Price. Thank you. I'm asking my colleagues support tonight in supporting this item, which really underscores the importance of maintenance on our beaches. The item as written is pretty self-explanatory. So I don't want to waste your time by going into it other than to share that. In the third district, we have had a few incidents over the summer. We had one pretty serious incident where we had a junior guard participant step on a hypodermic needle and during the course of the summer, staff has been incredibly responsive. The city manager should really be applauded for his efforts to increase enforcement efforts on the beach and to make sure that encampments are cleaned up and dumped, items are cleaned up, and items that present a public health hazard are routinely identified and and cleaned cleaned up. But he's done so really in collaboration with multiple departments working together. Our police department and our Marine Patrol division have already been taking a lead on some of the homeless outreach efforts that we have. And of course, cleaning up our tagging for cleanup items that have been discarded on the beach, which has been really helpful. I think as we start to see more popularity and use of our beaches, especially with the recent Washington Post article declaring us as the city with the highest number of nice days, we're going to see more use of our beaches and of course, our parks and our open spaces. And I think it's it's important for us to continue to enforce the laws that we have for beach access, because the beaches, unlike a lot of other open spaces, require or invite people to be barefoot, to be digging, to be playing in an area where public safety hazards can be easily concealed. And so it's more important than ever that we start to really focus on continued beach maintenance and making that a priority in terms of our cleanup efforts in order to prevent any public health hazards such that we've seen over the summer and mitigate anything that might happen in the future. So I ask for my colleagues support. Thank you, Councilman Austin. I'm happy to support this item. Little known fact I spend a lot of time at the beach. It's where I find therapy and time with my dog and and usually on the weekends. And, you know, obviously, the the maintenance component is something is, I think, very important to the to the city of Long Beach. You know, we can't sell our city. We can't market our city the way we want to market our city. If our beaches and places of entertainment are not to the best that they should be. And so, so I'm happy to support this, um, and looking forward to, to gain some of the feedback from, from staff on this and looking to support it in any way I can. But I think more community organizations and neighborhood groups should adopt. You know. Beach cleanups, like just in what Rudd has done for many years, Heal the Bay. I've been a part of both of those beach cleanups. They happen pretty regularly. But we need more, more efforts like that to, uh, to really make an impact, but also more attention from, from our city resources as well. And so I'm happy to support this. Thanks for bringing it forward. Thank you, Councilman Pearce. And yes, I, I guess I would like to address that this item while I beginning, I wholeheartedly support cleaning up our beaches. I spend a lot of time on our beaches as well and definitely syringes and how we have well our trash cans. Ah, I know we've had lots of back and forth with public works about the best way to clean up our beaches. And so just on that item might ask a couple of questions just on the clean and safety part, since that's what the councilmember addressed in public in her comments. Could public could staff help us understand where we are with the type of trashcans that we have on our beach? And then, too, I know that we have machines that go out and they rake the sand and they pick up some of the debris. I've heard constituents talk about other other machines that do that better. I'm just curious if we have any assessment about how we actually clean from our sand, since that's the first thing. However, Craig, would you guys. Be able to answer the trash can question? Pardon. But if we don't have someone here answer the trash cans, we can certainly get that back to you. But certainly, we're one of the few cities in California that sweeps the speeches daily. So we have machines to do that. We did get an inquiry when Councilwoman Pryce mentioned that there was a needle issue on the beach. We prompted an inquiry from a company in the Midwest that is going to be showing us a vehicle that potentially could pick up something like that, like a needle or something like that. But we do have state of the art vehicles and we look at those. And if anybody has ideas for vehicles that we could, we certainly would look at those. But again, we are one of the few cities as we sweep speeches every single day and we're always looking at a better product. Great. Thank you for that. So I would just ask that in whatever report that comes back that that's included. I do recognize we have pockets where our beaches are extremely littered and pockets where where it's not. One of the things we do try to do is to do the big bellies at the beaches. So that right. So that so that so that it gets windy at the beach and trash doesn't spill and stuff. But we do have beaches on Friday. Saturday night, Sunday nights are just killed. Weather. It isn't just Long Beach. If you go to Huntington Beach or Bowl or anything, you can imagine the work that the maintenance crews are doing. Long Beach included at 6:00 in the morning, 7:00 in the morning on a on a Saturday or Sunday or Monday to take care of all of the the public activities on those nights. So, trashcans, I don't think it's possible to have enough trash cans where everybody will use. But definitely I want to let everybody know that when we've been addressing special events now. So we're pushing harder and harder and harder. So whenever there's a special event at the beach that there's. A walk through before. They leave, that they have to leave it as found. They have to put things near the trash can if, if, if it doesn't fit in the trash can so that we can pick it up first thing in the morning. So but we will get your report on that. And I've already the council has already asked us to look at adding trash cans along the beach. Right. And I know that, you know, that we ordered the big blue trash cans that are open on the top that the bags go in. But those are the exact kind of trash cans that get dumped over that people dig through. And I know that Public Works is looking at some options for a less expensive big belly option. So I would just it's been probably since the last budget, since we really talked about it. I would love to get a report back on that stuff. Thank you very. Much. Thank you. But the second thing is, I'm reading this item. And while yes, it's about beach cleanliness, I unfortunately, I'm reading it's about ordinance violations, crime. It's really about enforcement is how I read it. And so I just wanted to go on record in talking about how it is a challenge for us whenever we're talking about homelessness and crime and making sure that we are improving the enforceability of violations during beach hours, and that that's really what I read the purpose of this item, not so much just around the cleanliness. So I did want to ask our police chief just a couple of questions. I know that we have worked with our commanders and making sure that they're out there and enforcing. I wanted to ask, how many times a day do you think that we have officers that are down in our beach area? And what time of day do we do? We have folks out there and maybe is that the right time of day? Mayors, member of the city council. Councilwoman Pierce. It's we don't have regular scheduling down there. We periodically go down there. Both of our beach beats that are adjacent beach to the beach. They have jeeps where they're able to access the beach when there's dispatches and such down there. But and Deputy Chief Wally Ibish can talk a little bit more in detail if we need more detail. We do run specific operations that are as a result of specific complaints. So if we're getting complaints, no matter you name the time of the day or the day of the week, we will run operations concurrent with those problem days and and and times of the day where we have gotten significant stats, meaning people that we observe that are breaking the law who either get cited or arrested for things they shouldn't be doing. This is not just focusing on homeless because there are homeless people who are down there enjoying the beach as well during regular hours and that's okay. But if we go down there and someone is breaking the law, we do take enforcement action. And so on on that measure. Enforcement action, I guess drug use, things like that. What is an enforcement action for somebody doing drugs on the beach? For someone using drugs or in possession of drugs, every situation is different. But as you know, with Proposition 47, possession of drugs and using drugs is now a misdemeanor crime, which generally it's a citation. But that's not going to be 100% of the time, because if we contact somebody who either A is consistently a problem for us or we run them for warrants and we see an extensive history or they have warrants, they could end up going to jail. But it's the officer's discretion, depending on the violation that's occurring and the the individual's criminal history, whether they're going to cite and or arrest, which means actually taking them to booking and to our jail. Great. Thank you. I think that what I get a lot of constituent concerns on our beaches around what is what is a next step whenever they encounter something. And so we're constantly reminding folks just to call PD. And that's the biggest thing is having your presence down there. And I know this budget, we're addressing some of our staffing issues. So I think I guess my one other question for you. My last question I know we have a time certain would be is there an ordinance or a change to the muni code or ordinance that you feel like would change the situation on the beach that we as a city could do considering Prop 47 and everything else? I'd have to think about that a little bit more. There's always a possibility of doing a better job. So I would have to sit down with the city attorney's office, the city prosecutor's office, and do some brainstorming to see what can be done. But from as I sit here today, I believe that a lot of the laws that are on the books do help. But again, not to get into a long, drawn out conversation about criminal justice reform that works against us in a lot of these instances, specifically where a lot of the homeless people that we're dealing with. And again, I'm going to be very specific. All the homeless people we deal with do not have criminal histories. There is a percentage within that population that probably would have been in the Los Angeles County jail if it wasn't for criminal justice reform, who are out on our streets, specifically our beaches, who are the biggest challenges to our police officers on the street and the citizens who are complaining? And by the way, just for the public to know, there are several council people I'm looking at that have me on speed dial. Every time we're having these challenges and they have no problem getting a hold of either the city manager or myself when these issues arise. Great. Thank you for that. So I'll close out and just saying that I think that cleaning our beaches is a great item. I think the enforcement piece that's throughout this, I would have liked to have worked with that a little bit more in recognizing that if we have a population that cannot go into our jails, that no longer, that the idea of going to jail to sober up is no longer an option that we really implore a lot. And that on the back end it is the lack of having a space for people to have detox beds, for people to have a place to get better for mental health situations. And so really when I look at this item and some of our challenges on the beach, I just see it as an opportunity to highlight the need for us to continue our efforts that we've already done a great job on, on this Council to support those that are struggling with with mental health and addictions, because that seems to be the population that's down at our beach is causing some of the challenges. So I just wanted to put that in the record and make sure we talked about that a little bit. Thank you so much for coming in, answering some of those questions. Thank you. Got somebody, Ringo? Thank you, Mary. And I want to thank Councilmember Ginny Pierce for bringing up two points that were a concern to me and obviously to the to the presenters of this item. Councilmember Price, Superman Austin. The only concern I have is that we all know, and it's been said many times, that being homeless is not a crime. So we know that. However, we do have challenges when we have people hanging out on the beach and they're performing some illegal activities that we need to be aware of. And obviously with the results of some of those is that we have syringes and the bear pinata area that is left at the beach. And I certainly support the the efforts to clean that up and try to get better equipment to be able to separate the sand from from those items. But my my my approach on this and when I read it was I did see it as well as a enforcement type of issue. And I hope that when as you look at this and I spoke with the city manager about this previously, is that when you look at this, I'm hoping that we can determine that, you know, we ensure that there aren't going to be ordinances or any other kinds of of legal remedies that are going to limit people from accessing the beach, because the beach is for everybody. As many of you know, I served in the California Coastal Commission and access is is a big issue to access 24 seven and I certainly would not want to see ordinances being brought forward that would limit that type of access to the beaches, whether you're homeless or not. It's for everybody to enjoy and to basically be able to to have a day at the beach, whether it's during the day or in the evening, than they or specifically we would like. The conversation that I heard right now is all taking place about, you know, during during day business hours or during the day. But we know that people are hanging out at the beach at night. We know that. And so to have some of these egregious activities take place during those times. But I think that the the solutions that we need to look at are more towards response, you know, the heart team and and perhaps a public safety get out there and and have people move on if they're especially if they're involved in in any kind of egregious activities or activities that are going to get them arrested. But again, I want to make sure that if we are going to be looking at this and we're going to be looking at it from the perspective of a law enforcement perspective or a thinking of other kind of enforcement perspective that we don't have a ordinances or regulations passed that are going to be limiting to people having access to the beach and. That would be my only concern at this point. So I will be looking at that when the report comes back. And I certainly hope that we can work those issues out there. And we haven't had really an opportunity to discuss what types of remedies we would be looking at in terms of of any ordinances or suggestions, for instance, that will be coming forward before the city council. Okay. Thank you, then, Councilwoman Price. Thank you, and I appreciate my colleagues sharing their concerns. We did reach out to our offices other than than those who signed on to get input. And so I do appreciate the comments that we're hearing today. I will say absolutely. Councilwoman Member Pearce is correct. This item is about enforcement. It's also about enforcement in order for us to make sure that our beaches are maintained. The problem that we have is we have I don't know that we need new laws. We just we need to be enforcing the laws that we currently have. And we need to make sure that we minimize encampments and frankly, dumped property on beaches during the the last clean up on the beach. Public works literally removed a ton of trash from the beach. And that doesn't I'm not talking about wrappers and things that people littered. I'm talking about evidence of encampments that people have left behind the beaches. It is absolutely not illegal to be homeless. And this council has invested and will continue to invest as much money and resources as we can into outreach, education, services, anything that we can do to try to encourage people to take advantage of the many services that we have available in the city, and to procure more opportunities for services in the city, such as detox centers and housing facilities. That's absolutely a commitment that we have and will continue to make. But at the end of the day, you can't force people into services and you can't force people to accept services. So we have to enforce the laws that are already on the books that protect our residents. You know, I heard Councilmember Pearce say this twice as I want to go on record and fill in the blank with what she may have said. Well, I want to go on record as saying I'm going to do everything possible in my power to make sure that another junior guard kid doesn't strap on a syringe or that another member of the public doesn't step on a syringe. And if that means cleaning up dumped items and encouraging people to follow the rules that are already in place for the city, then I think that's what we should be doing. I do believe that our police department should be engaged actively in outreach, and they are. And I want to commend the chief and his command staff, because with very limited. Tools at their disposal. Because of recent changes in the law, they have been able to make some serious impact in the individual lives of people. I've had the privilege to go on ride alongs on multiple occasions with our quality of life team, and I can tell you they make a difference. That's that's what we should be investing in. But that doesn't mean that we ignore encampments that pop up here and there in violation of our existing local ordinances. If we're not going to enforce them, then maybe we should talk about removing them. But as long as they're on the books and as long as these laws are on the books, it's my belief that the police department should be enforcing them in order to preserve quality of life for our residents. If we don't think those laws should be on the books, then we should really have a conversation about that. But the beaches are as. As Councilman Saranga mentioned, we want to have access to the beaches. We want to have safe access to the beaches. We want to make the beaches a safe place for everyone to enjoy. I mean, he he spends a lot of his time outside of council working towards that mission. And so we want to make sure that we're doing what we can to make our beaches a place where everyone feels safe and well, where we're moving a ton of trash, much of it being from discarded property, from encampments. I think we need to think long term about the the focus of our cleanup efforts and making sure that we take it a step further. And and, you know, frankly, it's not just beaches. The item today is just beaches, but this conversation could be had about parks as well. It's a slippery slope when we start to turn a blind eye to encampments, because although we have policy considerations in mind here as a council in terms of what we're doing long term to address a very complex issue, the residents are looking outside their window and they're experiencing things when they're walking their children to school and they have expectations for what the government will and will not follow up on. And if we're going to have the laws on the books, we should be willing to enforce them. So thank you. Thank you, Councilman Mongo. I just want to add a small tidbit of information that I think that we're also very aware of is that sometimes the population that is most impacted by the encampment are those who have lived in encampments. And we've seen this through the Department of Public Health, clean cleanup, unrelated to the spread of Mersa, the spread of other things. And so and while it can be uncomfortable, we also want to take into consideration that oftentimes people who are down on their luck have the least amount of medical coverage and the least ability to protect themselves from certain types of. Different public health disasters that come about from encampments and or hoarding and or the different things that can happen when people are at different mental states or different times in their life. So I'm very supportive of the item and thank you for your work on this. But I do agree that it's not just about beaches, it's about beaches and parks and and even the flood control channels on our sidewalks and our communities and our alleys. So it's an all encompassing program. And thank you to Pete and the Hart team for all that you do. Thank you. Editor Public comment on this item. Seeing None members please go ahead and cast your votes. Motion carries. Thank you. We have one more item before we we have our hearing. We're going to go ahead and do the item 26, please.