Recommendation to direct City Manager and the Parks, Recreation, and Marine Department to explore the feasibility of, locations for, and funding options for the construction of a public pool to serve the North Long Beach community and return to council with a report within 120 days.
Thank you. Next up is item 20, please. Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson. Councilwoman Zendejas. Councilwoman Price. Councilman Austin. Recommendation to direct City Manager and the Parks Recreation and Marine Department to explore the feasibility of a public pool to serve the North Long Beach community and return to council with a report within 120 days. RICHARDSON Thank you. And I want to go ahead and get started on this. This proposal two days is really not the beginning of a conversation, but beginning an effort. We're a city that's certainly committed to a climate city that's demonstrated our commitment to equity to invest in our youth. And I think this is a bringing this conversation forward as far overdue. And I'm happy to do so tonight in partnership with Councilman Austin and our colleagues on the city council. Councilmembers Price and de Hartzell, thank you so much for supporting this effort. I think one of the first questions for me is. You know, where we passed the Climate Action Adaptation Plan and we see the impacts of climate change. We've we're talking about waste and a number of things on the agenda tonight. But what does climate resiliency really look like aside from the coastal areas? What does it look like inland? Well, we know if we look at what the data says, the data says that from the California interactive heat map shows that the further away from the coast, particularly North Long Beach, are some of the hottest areas within our entire city. North Long Beach contain contain some of the hottest areas. More specifically, we have more days above 85 degrees in a given year than any other area of the city. Every year it's going to get hotter. That's just a reality. And the reality is that people, particularly the children that live in the North Long Beach community, live the furthest away from the beach and the furthest away from pools. It's going to get hotter. Kids are hot this summer. We need to make sure that we have the resources and we're making the investments so that kids can get to the pool. There's a there's a video circulating on next door in North Long Beach circulating on social media. You know, it's a few kids and I'm not going to show the video because, you know, it's a little disturbing. But, you know, the neighbors have seen this video circulating around and it's you know, it's a few kids, five or six kids, some, you know. One of them says they live in this apartment building and some say they don't. But they jumped the fence and went into an apartment building to go swimming. These guys have trunks on. They're having a blast. And there's the apartment manager and he's saying, hey, you guys don't live here. You need to leave this pool. I'm going to I'm giving you a warning. I want to call the cops. We're going to leave this pool. Think back to myself at that age. I've jumped fences to get to a pool. When it's hot, kids are going to find a way to swim. But we have to do it in a way that it removes barriers. If you're five miles away from the nearest pool, four miles away from the nearest pool, it's difficult if you don't have access to the blue line, access to public transit. It's going to be difficult to get access to a pool, and you're going to have to go to go to other communities in the north Long Beach community. You have public municipal pools in Lakewood that are closer to us than our own public municipal pools. Now, we do have, you know, tremendously grateful for the nonprofits in North Long Beach that have provided this service for a long time. Fairfield Family YMCA. I served on the board there. Councilman often serve on the board there. At least four council members I can think of in the recent years have served on the board there. They stepped up and done great work. It's still not a public municipal pool, their various pools of hope. I've served as a volunteer on their board for many, many years. Warm water pool accessible to the community. It's really about therapy. It's not really recreation. It's a heated pool for therapy for most of the people that are referred by their health insurance to go to therapy. You have the Jordan High School pool and we've worked through joint youth for many, many years. To structure it in a way that it that it works. But we don't necessarily control that agreement. It's difficult to access. And so in the North Miami Beach community, there are significant gaps. It's transportation is a barrier, you know? You know, I look at a friend who took a took one of those little scooters up there. Right. The e-scooter up there. It takes some time to get from there to the water. So for me, this is a climate issue. It's a neighborhood quality issue. It's a quality of life issue. It's an invest in youth issues, an equity issue. It's time for us to, you know, put a flag in the ground as city staff. And what my ask is today is that we begin the process and the feasibility look at some potential locations that is feasible. Look at what cost may be strategies to get it as a priority in the city. Funding strategies state and federal, local and present some opportunities to put the Council in the position to close this this longstanding gap. And for me, that's that's really what this is. It's an opportunity. Invest in our youth, invest in recreation, give kids an opportunity to do something safe in their own communities. You know, I'm having a good time watching the Olympics, you know, watching these kids swimming and diving. You know, my kids take their two Barbies and we have this little pool and they're doing synchronized diving with their Barbies. It's really cool. People are interested in this, but we have to make simple aquatics, basic, you know, accessible to every neighborhood. That's what we should be doing. And that's really the gist, this item. So I'm happy to make this motion tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Austin. Thank you. And I want to thank Rex for bringing this forward. I want to just say that I fully support this item. And I know many people in the North Long Beach community have been asking for many years, you know, why don't we have a pool? And it makes a lot a lot of sense. A couple of opportunities and options have come forward. And so I certainly support the idea of study in a location, the best location for for such a pool. I know this item was specific to the 90805, which is a pretty big geographic area. You know, it's going to require some some community input and as well as some strategic placement and obviously assessing our available space in the community to put a pool in. I think opportunities should be extended to areas of the city where they traditionally haven't been. And when given opportunities, young black kids and brown kids can certainly rise to the occasion and take full advantage of the aquatics experience that there's a void of today. On a personal note, I'm hosting as a young college student in my home. She's a water polo player at the Women's Water Polo Final at Cal State Long Beach. And she's our niece. She's been involved in aquatics since she was very, very young and probably one of the few kids that look like herself playing at the level that she's playing at. But it was because she was exposed to aquatics at a young age. She learned how to swim at a young age and fell in love with the water. And so I think there's there's opportunities beyond just recreation that can be extended. There's opportunities for college scholarships and long term career options for for young people. I know we talked about just the last year in our budget process, the junior lifeguard program that should be extended should not be a program that is only specific to a certain area of the city. Let's extend those opportunities throughout. I do think that there are some unique opportunities in front of us in North Long Beach and with our community partners. It was mentioned that the YMCA has a pool. I do serve on the board of the Fairfield YMCA. Full disclosure, but the YMCA is not a brick and mortar organization either. They can they can extend it and be a resource for us on beyond their borders. And so when it comes to even our school board, our school district. I think Jordan High School should be a a target for for ongoing recreation, particularly opening up that pool during these summer months. I know that was a practice for many years that we did have. We may have gotten away from it, but no matter where we are again, we're starting a conversation today about a pool in North Long Beach. We need to figure out how to bridge that gap today. Right. And over the next several, I want to say a few years before we actually are able to to get to a reality. And so, again, I fully support this this item. I throw out, you know, a couple of options in 90805 that I know of where we have a park in the. They set in the middle of the car milito for three and a half acre park. That is not programed. It's never been programed. It's just a big green space. We need to figure out something to do there. Davenport Park, I think, provides options. And I know Rex has been talking about Ramona Park as his options. We can't have this conversations without talking about where the opportunities actually are. And so, again, I'm happy to support this item and I would ask that our colleagues do as well. Thank you, Councilman Price. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wholeheartedly support this item. I'm super excited about this item. You know, we are a beach city with a pathetic. Access to public pools. I mean, we just don't have enough. It's not anyone's fault. No one's pointing the finger. But are the children in the city need to know how to swim? Every single one of them needs to know how to swim. And I don't know. I know that we can't mandate that, but we we definitely need to have more pools and provide more opportunities for it to be a norm, not an exception. Our special day just needs to be a norm. And so I support this item and I support us building more pools throughout the city anywhere. I think the opportunity for us to enhance some of our joint use agreements with the various schools that have pools is also a good opportunity for us to try to look into and take advantage of. There are a lot of assets that are part of the school district and even the community college that perhaps we can try to have more access to for our communities. And I would hope that in the short term we could look into that. I think to me where the location of it is. It really to me, I just think we should build more pools throughout the city. It doesn't really matter to me what district it is. It's more about the access that people have to those facilities. So the more we can have throughout the city, the more access people will have. And I think as a city, we're stronger together if we're trying to advocate for and obtain more city assets that all of the residents of the city can utilize regardless of district boundaries just as a city. So wherever this pool hopefully is built and goes, I think will be a welcome addition. Councilman Austin, you mentioned the Junior Lifeguard program. I do want to just give a shout out to Chief Gonzalo Medina. The reason the program can't really be extended is because it's an ocean swim program. So it has some limitations because they're teaching people how to rescue. People in the ocean. But Chief Medina has done more for aquatics and equity during his eight or so years as the chief than this city had experienced for decades. The Junior Lifeguard program now is the highest a membership that we've ever had. And we have students from all over the city of Long Beach joining the program. And for those who have had children who go through the program, the initial test to become a junior lifeguard is very difficult. My own kids failed, you know, multiple times before they finally were able to pass. It's really hard. So what Chief Medina did was he created a program to allow kids the opportunity to have a smoother introduction into the process. So that test wasn't this hard entrance or denial. It was more of a process. And he's just done so much for the area in the area of equity. And that program, I'm I'm so proud of it every time I go and speak to those kids. There's black, brown, Asian, white and even Persian faces out there. And it makes me so happy to see the diversity that he has brought to the program, because it didn't always look like that. He's done an amazing job. So I think, you know, we use what he did as the example of incorporating aquatics into the culture of everyone throughout the city. We look at the we talked about the Olympics. There's so many aquatics Olympians from Long Beach. It's shocking. Wilson High School specifically has had so many aquatics champions go on to the Olympics and it's something to be proud of. When we started our rowing equity program earlier this month. We had such a difficult time finding students to participate from certain parts of the city because they didn't have the basic swimming skills. And that to me was really important because they're preventing themselves from the opportunity to get college scholarships because that entry point requiring swimming is not there. So I fully support this, and I think the more our students in the city know how to swim, the better it is for them in terms of opportunities. And also we think about our aging population. Water sports is the best type of recreation for people that have joint muscle and back pain, and that's something that I think we really should be increasing for our senior programing as well. So I wholeheartedly support this and can't wait to help make it a reality. Thank you. Freshman Richardson. Thanks, Mr. Mayor, and thanks to my colleagues for the comments. Some really good things stood out. I want to ask Tom to respond before I do so. I think some really good things that came out, I think it's important to call out, you know, race. Black and brown kids need access to both. This is one particular area to give that access. So I think, Councilman Alston, for calling it out and I want to underscore that. But Tom, how would you react to this this direction received from council today? I think it's pretty straightforward. It is clear we don't have a. Lot of swimming access in our city compared to some other cities. We do have some great assets, but there's not that many of them throughout the city. So happy to look at a feasibility study. We would. Take a look. At some of the areas that were mentioned here. We'd look at both capital costs and look at a couple of different parks that. We could put it in. We would also we have some experience on the capital cost. There have been a couple of pools in. The region that have been built, so we've got some updated pricing. We also need to look at some of the operating and I'll report back to you on on the operating costs of a pool. I would like to explore some of the joint partnerships, if there's any way, because this is a longer term project. So a project like this needs to start somewhere and we're starting tonight, but it does take some time to get it done and then we'll get you back information on the next steps, including kind of what a design process might look like. And and then I think the. Point is to really have a project ready and able in case. You know, the funding sources open up and we'll have this kind of already a little bit underway. Thank you. Thank you. I just wanted to also. If I had a direction I want to go. But since the city manager talked about partnerships, I think partnerships are an amazing opportunity for us. If you talk about lifeguard programs, the main trainer of lifeguards in our city that is not for ocean lifeguards is the YMCA. Because they have so many lifeguards, they need to run their pools. And then I don't know what we can do to find ways to provide scholarships and transportation mapping. There are very few places in the city that provide infant baby swim classes. And then the mom groups. There's a lot of talk about how to get to these three or four places in the city. There's one in Bixby in all the area. There's one in the third district, and then there's one in Los Alamitos. And I don't think people know how to get to them, even when they find where they are, because the connectivity between where the classes are available and the transportation, there's just a disconnect. And so there's a lot of parental talking of what needs to be done. And I think the same is true of senior programs. You look at our senior programs. They're great, but they don't have pools versus the YMCA is who are all connected up to Silversneakers, which are all paid for by Medicaid, Medi-Cal, all of those that allow those senior citizens to participate free of charge. And so how we can bring those programs to any school or any pool that we provide, I think is critical. And then I just also wanted to say and while I appreciate all the wonderful athletes that come out of Wilson High School, many of which were my friends back in the nineties when I was in high school . Will I'm sorry, Millikan High School put out a statistic that we've had an Olympian in every Olympics for decades. And then it just a shout out to Max Ervin on the men's water polo team who's a Long Beach resident. And he's been doing great and scoring lots of goals in the Olympics. So we're really proud of him. Thank you. Thank you. Members, please go ahead and cast your vote with them for public comment. Yes, we do have two speakers for public comments. And I can say and Anna Christianson. Aren't you a Lakewood graduate? I did go to Lake and BURNETT. We got three. Republicans in my district and it's also the most bussed to high school in the whole city. Of a comment please. Definitely took the one or two every day to go to Robert Millikan. I just think it's an amazing opportunity for pool equity. When I live in the common lidos, I learn how to swim at Fairfield as an infant and that program and then later got to level. Up when we used to have a pool here on seventh and Long Beach Boulevard, now a McDonalds and Walgreens. Go figure. But that being said. I would love to see if this could be a plural thing. I think the Councilman Austin made a great point with referencing the empty field in the common lidos. I think that there could clearly. Be some federal partnership there with respect to. The new census coming, you know, seven, seven, eight, nine are going to have the highest concentration of population increase. So it's clear that that's where children are being born. The emphasis in this point in my life at least, is children. So it's important that we have some type. Of relationship with swimming in aquatics or relation to kids in these areas. I think Davenport would be a great idea. Ramona maybe the forests or Coolidge. I'm just thinking about all the places that we can. I think it's like two or 3 million on average. You know. I figured that. You know, so again. It's a little bit more. Okay, well, I'll say 5 million. I know it's less than 107 million or whatever we're spending in Belmont. So that being said. It would just be great if we could do a plural, you know, maybe like for new parks, new public pools in the park system. It's great that we have private entities that help service to the load here, but would be great if, uh, you know, the city could take some of that financial responsibility off their backs. So thank you. Hi. My name is Ron at MAS. I'm in the Hamilton Neighborhood Association in. District nine and I do want to thank Council with all the support of the youth. Resources. That you've added to. Our youth development toolbox in North Long Beach, the library, the youth center. We appreciate those resources very much, and I know that it's going to help many children on the right path moving forward for years to come. And I think the pool is the next step in the. Resources for our youth toolbox. And I submitted that video. It was taken. Out of 5500 acre field. It was five or six children just playing in a pool. And I guess it had a profound effect on me because I saw children having to break the law. To enjoy resources and benefits that other people in our area may take. Not in our area, but in our city, in areas of our city that they take for granted. So just want to say that again, children had to break the law, jump a fence, get threatened by the police to play in a pool. And that area at. 5500 acre fields is very close to Ramona Park. This neighborhood or this apartment building has had these break ins consistently for years. And I don't know how police would feel having to go and arrest kids for playing in a pool. But it's it's embarrassing that we don't have these resources in our neighborhood so that these kids have. A place to go play. Have fun. And it's public accessible, easy accessible. I know, and I can speak for myself. Being a single mother years ago, I barely had enough money for a gallon of milk, let alone bus fare. To a pool. Miles away. Thank you for listening. Thank you. And please, Castroneves. We have one more speaker and I Christians and I. Only have two stickers on here, so. Now was my mistake. We missed. Miss. I'm sorry. It's okay. Go ahead. I had to. It's just. I think this always happens with us. There's always a little stress moment. First of all, I'd like to acknowledge that we're all here together on Unceded Tongva land. Good to be here. I have to pinch myself. I can't believe I'm hearing this. This is the great. So great. I really appreciate all the council members that spoke today, and especially Mr. Richardson for introducing this resolution. Long Beach Area Peace Network and our everybody in the pool program has been advocating for community pools. And I think it's really very important to acknowledge David's words from the Books and Buckets program. What what if I didn't have to take that bus? And you know, as well as the kids that came up here, our skateboard program, and that's what my son said, there are skate parks all over Long Beach. It should be the same with pools. And and whereas, basketball and skateboarding are phenomenal sports. Swimming is more than a sport. It's a life saving activity that everybody needs if you live near a large body of water. So this is basically clearly a public safety issue and not just for kids, but for adults. So I really appreciate it's just beyond beyond words. This is so important and it's so good to have the community coming together, our representatives coming together around this this matter. And I did send the sponsors some information. USA Swimming Facilities Management is partnering with Coke Total Aquatics programing and they present and they did back in the day and they offered to share this information with the city if we could only get to Denver. Well, they have been presenting virtual conferences and information not only on building community pools, but also on maintaining them and and having them be sustainable. So I really once again, highly recommend that we get out of our Long Beach bubble and reach out to the experts in both sending people to the Olympics, but also providing equitable public facilities and well designed. And that we we include I would love it if you'd amend the resolution to include funding, but I will at least consider funding a city council members and staff who could attend these conferences, at least access the webinar. I just want to say that even though I blame is not that is not that valuable valid. I mean, it might be valid, but it's not that valuable. But we do have a history of racism. We do have a history of classism. And we share it with a lot of people in the world. Right. A lot of communities. So how do we become a more equitable and a less racist community? We have it. We had a plan. We had a plan. That's our Healthy Communities plan that said we will put new recreational facilities in underserved communities. So not to end on a negative note, but I think this pool must be prioritized over funding the buyback safety before competition. Thank you. Thank you. Please cast your votes. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you. We're going to hear the next few items here. I know 23 is a presentation, 20, but 24, 25 and 26, I don't think too not. So let's go. Here I am 24.