Recommendation to request City Manager to study and make recommendations that further support smaller, low-volume, and less-intrusive options for music venues and return and present recommendations at a future council meeting in 120 days. Report should consider a tiered approach to regulation of music venues and consider the following: • Encouragement of smaller, low-volume, and less-intrusive options for music venues. • Look at volume (sound level) considerations. • Look at number of people being entertained and/or size of facility. • Consider exemptions to what are currently restrictions based on characteristics such as lack of alcohol, dancing, admission charge, etc. • Consider time periods for the entertainment. • Review current definition of entertainment activity and fees. • Review whether any options should not include fees or licensing. • Review potential monitoring and compliance processes. • Impact on existing entertainment permits. • Impact on surrounding businesses or residences.
Thank you. That concludes public comment. We're now moving on to the rest of the agenda. We're going to hear items 27 and 28 next, which are the two entertainment items. And so, madam, we I'm assuming and as we do get ready for that, we have a deal. We do have a report out of closed session. Thank you. Mayor remembers City Council. Pursuant to the government code in closed session in the matter of Fulcher versus Secretary of Veteran Affairs by a vote of 8 to 0, the city council approved an amicus participation in that matter. Thank you. Thank you. And with that, we're going to turn it over to the clerk to read item 27. Communication from Councilmember Pearce, Councilwoman Gonzalez, Councilwoman Mongo and Vice Mayor Richardson. Recommendation to request the city manager to study and make recommendations that further support smaller, low volume and less intrusive options for music venues. Thank you. And I want to thank this guy comes away far. I want to thank everybody from our Arts and Music Council for attending today. I want to thank the mayor's office as well and give a big thanks to the Music Council for approaching us with these ideas back in March. Our work over the last several months shows the power of the community groups engaging with their electeds around issues that matter most, where you can see a difference. In April, we hosted a terrific event with the Music Council and the Arts Council to discuss ways that the city could better support our music community. With over a hundred people there was nicely packed in. One thing became really clear. We had a strong and vibrant music community and no shortage of talent here in Long Beach. What's also clear is that the music and arts and culture are huge local economic drivers for our city. In 2015, the Otis study found that a total economic output for the L.A. region creative industries is $176.9 billion and generated over $7.7 billion in tax revenue for L.A. County. That's huge. In Seattle and Austin, the music industry directly creates over 11,000 jobs and 18,000 jobs generated 90,000,040 million and local tax revenue, respectively. Here in Long Beach, we have a higher portion of people employed within the arts and entertainment design and media industry, directly accounting for over 9000 jobs. That's from a Beacon report that the city commissioned last year. As a city, we're struggling to fully capitalize on the talent opportunity because of outdated or restrictive regulations. In December, we took an important step forward with the percent for the arts program. And now we must make sure that our tax dollars are paired with regulations that support and not hinder our arts community. We are in the process of many forward facing challenges here in Long Beach, whether it's our draft economic blueprint for our for our city or our 2040 general plan. These changes reflect a city that is setting a vision for its future. And tonight's proposals are no different. And we haven't updated our definition of entertainment activities since 1996. One of the defining factors in many large cities across the U.S. and the world is that they have a vibrant arts community . This isn't by accident. It's by design, by policies and frameworks that cities have laid out over time, which don't just tolerate the arts but cultivate them, welcome them, and embrace them in an internationally recognized report. Making Music Making a Music City. They laid out five essential components to a successful music city. These are the presence of arts and musicians, which we know we have a thriving music scene, which we also have available space and places for music which we're trying to grow in a receptive and engaged audience, which I've definitely seen a record labels and other music related businesses, which we know that, you know, places like or organizations like Front Porch Records started in the second District, which I'm proud of. Of the seven strategies listed, number one is creating music friendly and musician friendly policies. Tonight, we're taking an important step forward as a city to support the arts in all its forms, acknowledge music both as a cultural and economic driver, and ensure economic growth in years to come. So we've got two items on the agenda, and I'm just going to briefly go over the first one and then we can have our colleagues have a discussion. Councilmember We're going to do because I know we have the same folks want to speak for both is I mean, have you read both items and that way we understand what both items are and with the public comment for both items, I like it and we go from there. Okay. Sounds good, mayor. Okay. The first item is about having our regulations, Max, to match the reality of a wide range of music venues we have here in Long Beach. The problem right now is that the code which defines entertainment activity as whenever amplified or more than two people, uses a lowest common denominator approach to regulating and puts almost all venues in the exact same category. As a council letter says, this means that a jazz trio in a small coffee shop is subject to the same rules and regulations as a rock club that serves alcohol to 100 people. The average cost of an entertainment permit is 1700 dollars, and this number is higher in denser areas like our downtown. The other option is where to get occasional event permits. Each time may be less expensive on a one time basis, but ends up treating casual live music as a special one time event. And as we also know, many places that would fall into this category actually don't end up pulling their permits at all. And so it makes it difficult for us to say as a city how much music and entertainment we actually have. And so we again, we want to make this easier. In both cases, the existing regulations discourage business owners from hosting live music, provide less options for musicians, and ultimately lead to less music and potential economic activity in Long Beach. Our goal is for the staff to study the issue from all angles. Review current definition of an entertainment activity. Consider factors such as decibel levels, crowd size, and determining whether a business has to apply for the cost of the application. For example, some cities exempt business. Says that don't serve alcohol or have an admission charge from having to even apply for the entertainment permit. We're not here to say that there should be no oversight, but that the oversight and the process should match the impact they have, not hold them to the same standards as a result will increase our number and consistency of live music throughout the city. So that's number 27. Okay. I am going to very quickly try to get to number two. It's much shorter, don't worry. So our second item is let me just skip over that part. The second item is making sure that we have music at cafes and street performing. That is directly connected to economic activity by attracting people to areas where there are businesses and enhancing the character of everyday experience. So this is the idea around busking and live entertainment on our sidewalks and in our downtown corridors. If you've ever visited a first Fridays in Bixby Knowles or newly installed fourth Fridays on Retro Row, you'll see the way the street performing can bring street to life. Something as simple as waiting for the for the walk light can turn into a memorable experience. So we want to make sure that street performing is not commonly looked down upon and that it's done in areas where we can make sure that we're doing some great placement making, often due to confusion both within the code and inconsistent enforcement and misunderstandings between businesses. These opportunities are shined away from, for example, Title 14 says a permit is required to perform in the public right away, but no permit exist. So our goal is to have the city sit down with business associations, performers and definitely residents to understand where we're at, how to encourage this, and how to balance the type of entertainment that will bring life to our corridors. So I respectfully ask for our council support on both of these items. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Councilman Gonzalez. And then we'll go to public comment for both the items. Sure. Thank you. I want to thank Councilmember Pearce for bringing this forward. I think we are exactly everything that she mentioned. We are absolutely a music city, an arts and culture city. But certainly with music, I don't think we give us give ourselves enough credit. And I think these two items will kind of make things start and initiate that credit that we deserve as a city that has really enabled so much talent to get even more popular. As I was saying outside, we can even name a multitude of of artists that have made it big just from this city alone. And in addition to that, the locally, organically grown artists that are here that will make it big one day. I would hope that we make it a lot easier. It's been a struggle for musicians to just play at a coffee shop. I have North Pine residents, business owners, in fact, who want to start a Twilight walk again every Thursday. And all they want to do is have a jazz band out front of their cafe. And to do that is so cumbersome. To do that is such a hassle. And so I really thank you for digging into these details to make sure that we get it right. And I also see down the down the line that we look at this a little bit more comprehensively as well. There's a lot more that we can do here in terms of music. And I look forward to all of our ideas and making sure that we make it happen here in Long Beach. So thanks again and I look forward to public comment as well. Thank you. If there's no objection, we've got a public comment. Okay. So why don't we go in here for the public on these two items? Please come forward. Good evening, Mayor. Council members. My name is George McCaleb. I'm a resident at Lena Gonzalez's first district. I'm a musician. And I also host a weekly open mic here in Long Beach. I am continually amazed at not only the level of talent here, but the variety. The diversity that I see is astounding. I don't know why it should surprise me. Long Beach. Has a history. Of great music in a variety. Of areas. Charles Mingus. With Birdland. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band came of Long Beach folk music. The Carpenters. Popular music. Sublime Rock Music. Snoop Dogg rap. You name it. We've done it here and we've done it well. And I'm proud to be part of that community and that legend. When I was looking for a place to host my open mic, I found a venue that would have been excellent. Management was on board. The owners were interested in doing it. Till they ask the question, What kind of permit do we need? I did some homework. I found out it would cost over 1500 dollars, actually over 1550 just to apply and have the inspections done. That's nonrefundable money. That would get them in front of the council where they could ask you for a permit. If you said, yes, that's another thousand dollars per year. This to host a one night a week open mike and a pizza parlor. They were willing to make the room available as a service to the community. They were not willing, and very understandably so, to spend over $2,600 just to get the first act in their. Long Beach has a great tradition of music. It has great potential for music. Like I said that the talent here is phenomenal. Variety is amazing. You can't find another city this size that has that kind of. Variety and that level of talent. I'm very happy to be here. I just wish the city would make it easier for small venues to get a license to do this and do it within the law instead of doing it kind of on the quiet, like a lot of things are happening right now. And I thank Councilwoman Pierce for doing this. I want to acknowledge my councilwoman. I want to acknowledge the other people that have signed on with this. And for those of you who haven't. I hope I've been able to educate you a little as to what it's going to take to make this happen. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Hello. My name is Tim Donovan. I've been playing on the. Street in Long Beach Music for over 25 years. Is this thing. Can you hear me? Okay? Just talk. Okay. Over 25 years. All right? I'm a one man band called Testament. Some of you may see me for different events. I've worked with several. City organizations over that time, over the 25 years, as well as small businesses, members of the art community who have hired me. For street events. I've done private parties. I played the farmer's market every Sunday. For a long. Time, these farmers market sometimes downtown. I've been involved with the Armature Business Association, Public Corporation for the Arts. East Village Arts District, which we know is Business Improvement Association. Long Beach City Nursing School has hired me. Fourth Street Rose Park Organization has hired me. I also have been instructor at kids camps and poets. Word is as well as afterschool. Programs for Drumline. I played on the street in many locations. I try to. Always choose them carefully and ask those local businesses, like in the case of Shoreline Village, there's a bunch of kiosks and I talked to them and I said, you know, they get to know me and they say. Sure, come on. You know? And then it would be every Saturday was okay, somehow that's been ruined. I don't know. Why it doesn't they won't allow me to go on down there anymore, but I feel that some of these groups are misrepresenting me. There's been advertising on the Internet and. Maps to inform people of the places and locations that I've researched for years and in basically been my whole life is just plain. Going and doing. My one man band and playing all the items for my one man band are found objects from. Long Beach, from the city, from going around on my bike and finding things. And that's how it started, you know, and it's been 25 years into it and now I see it in the paper and I get a couple of days ago that this is going on and no one's asked me and no one's bothered me at all. So I feel pretty left out and I feel like I'm being misrepresented in this case. I like some of the ideas that I've seen, you know, finally this evening seeing what's going on here. But I feel it's kind of. Vague, a lot of it. And I want to be involved with with any major decisions. Going on with this, you know, and I'll be I'll be, I hope, speaking and meeting with the council members soon. And I thank you for your time. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Next week. Karen Retherford, a resident of the First District. I'm going to talk about this from a couple of perspectives. I ran the Cultural Alliance of Long Beach for three years on Pine Avenue. When we started. Kalb There was nothing. We had all four spaces in the bungalow buildings. I thought artists that we were just initially going to be a gallery, but the requests from the community were for music, music, music. So we were one of those unpermitted places that treated the concern of the artists and musicians basically just want to play for an audience. So we let musicians play whether they had an audience of three, and our largest puts about 150 people. We hosted bands and that just wanted to play who then went on national tours. We hosted some really large groups. We hosted Grammy Award winning artists in our gallery. That was very, very secret. I can attest that the cost of permits we did a jazz event over at the Mad House. The cost of permits makes it really difficult for musicians to perform in our professional capacity. I also want to mention I love the fact that these ordinance suits are coming forward. Music is a great activator and the arts are a huge economic engine for our community. In my work with the Boys and Girls Clubs, I could see the differences that access to music and music instruction made in the lives of at risk kids. The kids need more places to stay, to play, to present themselves to the community. One of the groups that we. The only time we got a police car was from a neighbor across the street because we hosted a birthday party for a group of teens who brought in local teen musicians. And my first encounter with social media and the power of the message. And we had over 300 kids, you know, they were very well-behaved. But the neighbor, because I was trying to do crowd control and limit the attendance, the police made me cram everybody into the building. So because the neighbors were complaining, but we still didn't have any incidents. I can't stress to you how important it is that we create more opportunities for artists and musicians and performers to have places that are affordable and accessible and available, available equitably. I also want us to look at when we bring concerts and events to our community. How many local artists do we feature as opening acts? Where do we give our artists opportunities to perform? Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Give an honor to Jesus. This is a this could be good, but then it could be a bad, too. Because if you're talking about all these regulations on sound and everything, I don't like it. I went to the Long Beach Jazz Festival over a decade ago. James Brown is on the stage. He's just getting down. 10:00 comes Long Beach. Police say turn it down. How are you going to turn James Brown down? That's that's number one. I mean that was bad you had mostly white crowd Newcastle the police out themselves you know and that was back when I was a Democrat you know . But check this out. Hey, so you know, all that regulation now this is cool for the music, but not the regulations. I mean, you got to let the music grow, you know, all that, you know. So that's what I think about that. I'm too much on that. So good for the music. But regulations easy up you know you can't have a a rock band be the same as Mingus would eat I mean jazz is different. You got to let a rock rock be rock. You know, jazz isn't how are you going to have them regulated same levels. You can't do that. So, you know that's all I've got to say on that. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. So I am mayor and council. My name's Liana Cobb, and I'm the owner of Hard Knock Life Entertainment. I'm a music manager, actually. Entertainment Management industry. I also became a member of the Grammys in 2016. I'm very involved in the entertainment industry firsthand by experience. Knowledge is power, so you can definitely research a lot of information. But for me, I need it. I need to partner that out with experience. I'm also in charge of entertainment for Jacqui, a boxing gym here in Long Beach. We are having an event July 15. So my first question to the owner was, is there going to be live music all day? He said, Yes. I said, okay, we need a permit. At first he was like, Wait, wait. I said, We need a permit. Now the app, which is an occasional entertainment permit at this time, is only $100. Like I explained to my venue, if you can't afford $200 for that permit, there's much bigger issues than entertainment. Now with the OSP, you can only have two events per month, up to 24 events per year, which is understandable because you are in a non zoned entertainment community. If me myself, if I purchased a home in a community not by clubs, I want to be able to have some peace and quiet while your business is turning up. And then you go home and wherever you live and I have to sit up when insomnia or insomnia, try to recover from your business just turned up and it's not fair. So we want to make sure that we are looking at all aspects. I do have some questions with regards to some of the things that are being proposed with regards to the venues. Are the venues or where are the different licenses such as city licenses and BMI and Mascot? I know what the difference is. Someone in someone that's in the music community would say there's a difference. Yeah, I know that. But people who are not business inclined may not know that. So we need to make sure that they understand that if the city says you don't need a license or a permit for this, then being might ask as soon something. They don't like what the city just said. We have to make sure that we understand all the information that's being provided. Has special events been engaged with regards to the consideration of changing the permits? Does the venues understand why this submission has so many restrictions in the community? What measures will be put in place so that a coffeehouse doesn't turn into a full time music venue? Our chance of being made to these other locations and see how they're doing with these venues be allowed to serve alcohol. Sometimes we will say business is technical. Oh, you're being too technical. Business is technical and everything is all fun and games. Until something happens. You can have ten great unpermitted events are permanent events, but you have that one permanent event. Then it becomes a problem. So let's just make sure that we have all of the information. Again, I think I'm a resident and second District. I work in sixth District. We have such a great support from both district, especially from Councilman Eddie Andrews. So again, let's just make sure that we have all the information. The entertaining license does not come into play unless you want to do more than two events per month. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Honorable Mayor. Council Members. City Manager. My name is Mark Judah and I'm the one who is managing the second Saturday artworks in downtown Long Beach for 20 years now. And as you know, half of what we do during the art works is music, and we do have a permit for that purpose, although the permit that we hold is only for so-called background music to only 50 decibels per performer. And it's it's just about equal to two people talking on the sidewalk, you know, and a little louder. So it's impractical on top of. That. Because we are a public event on the public street. We facing other challenges. And I wanted to address a couple of those before I go to the event that we host for every month, for 20 years, is free to the public for the public from any charges or any submission fees, and it's accessible to everyone. And this event was is hosted since 1997. What we are struggling with is, is the surprising fact that the organizers, me and the non-for-profit that organizes the event, pays a repetitive fee to the city of Long Beach, to the special event office every six months for the same exact permit for 20 years. It is, as I mentioned, it is free to the public. So we kind of struggle with the fact that we actually have to pay for it as a non-for-profit organization providing service to the city residents. And also on top of that, the special event officer requires us after 20 years to sign signatures from residents and business owners every month in a number of 80% to approve the street closure, which, you know, in fact, is practically a solid part of the East Village reality. And we would feel that it shouldn't be even necessary. So what we believe is necessary at this point, as it made it three points we would like ask you to help us with grandfathering in this public event into the East Village structure and calendar and waive all the survey signatures, also waive all the city fees. And most of all, we would like to ask you to help us to dedicate a budget that would come from 1% for the arts for Long Beach to our non-for-profit organizations so we can continue running the second Saturday artwalk for the future generations. So with that, my might ask, what should we do at this point? What will be the next step? Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good evening. Mayor and council members. Thank you for for allowing us to speak tonight. I am standing with a member of the fifth District. I live in the fifth District. I also am the Minister of Music at Grace First Presbyterian Church, also in the fifth District. And I am also a member of the Long Beach Music Council, which is the organization that helped bring this along with the Arts Council. To your attention, today's matter of fact, I brought my sign to prove it. So that's my son. We are very excited about the chance to bring these things to you. And I wanted you to just. Address. This from a slightly different angle as my role as Minister of Music. We have music camps through the summer. Starting next week. We have a school of rock camp for high school children. And one of the things that I know that one of the reasons I joined the Music Council was because I wanted to do things to support musicians and to support the music culture in the city and to grow it. And these proposals are designed specifically to do that, to give musicians a chance to make a living and to stay here and want to help make Long Beach grow. And what that does one of the things that does that I've seen with the kids that I work with, they get a chance to work with people like Coon, who's going to be closing our concert, our camp next. Week, and Sarah Green of Spare Parts for Broken Hearts, both of whom are being in one was in. Music taste good festival last year and one is going to be in. It this year. And to have these local musicians be able to grow up and do these amazing things, and then to be able to watch that spill over into the education of the kids they get to touch with. The things you're considering to do today will not just help these particular things. These are helping to grow Long Beach as a as a music city and to make music an economic driver in the city. And that will have spillover effect in many, many ways, particularly for our kids and our youth. So I thank you for taking this on today. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. I close at speakers list. So. So, Mr. Cogen and then Mr. Goodhew. I'm sure he'll be the last speaker. Thank you very. Much. My name is John Serge. I'm in the fifth district as well as Stan. And I am a musician. I have a band, John, Serge and the Haymakers playing at the Shoreline Summer Fest, August 18th. Got to promote. But we're here. I'm with the Long Beach Music Council, which I think just a quick introduction to what we do. We we're here to. We're a volunteer group. We have absolutely zero budget. You see our signs up. There are people who become together in work, been working. The group has been working for about four years now. And I think it's really cool. It's a it's kind of the power of of a volunteer group of people getting together with passion for something that they think can make change in our great city. Because I think a common bond is we all love the city and we've come together. And frankly, you know, a lot of the folks here, you've been open to us bringing our issues to you. And we thank you for that. I mean, it's really been kind of an open or an eye opening experience. Like, wow, maybe we could get some change, maybe we could make some difference. And I feel like this is a first step. We feel like and the idea is, hey, Austin, New Orleans, Seattle, we can be as good as them. There's nothing stopping us except. We don't have the energy, the momentum, the passion. And we want this to happen because we can build a lot of build big buildings, we can build all this other stuff. But people go to Austin for music. In fact, their their slogan is a trip to Austin is not complete without live music. So that's what we're doing. We're kind of setting up. This is a first step. Come on. Small venues, two people in a corner playing acoustic guitar and singing harmony. Right. Street performers on a beautiful day. Colors of sound and in colorful clothing and people out and not asking permission from business owners. Really, we want to be respectful, but we also have to realize the musicians have their place. This is just a start and we hope to take this as far as making Long Beach a music city. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi there. Hi. Members of the council. Mayor. My name is Connor Locke. I'm a resident now of the third district, formerly of the fourth, and before that the third. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a community that valued music education, teaching kids to follow their dreams and their passions. I got to travel to San Diego, to Florida, to Walt Disney World, and to Hawaii as a member of a jazz band, and then the vice president of that jazz band and as the member of the marching band. So I learned to love music. Seeing my friends from that time in those bands try to make it in music in areas like Long Beach, like Northridge, in parts of Los Angeles and areas as far away as Berkley as Austin and Seattle, some previously mentioned cities. They're struggling really hard to get venue space, to afford to play. To find places to do what they were told they'd be able to do by following their passions. The opportunity. I know it's only a study at this point, but the. Opportunity to figure out ways that we can encourage our young people. And I think I'm the youngest person to talk tonight on this one. To follow their dreams, too. To bring art into our lives and to make that the soul of the community is something that you don't often get to do. So I don't want to use too much of your time, but please vote in favor of this. Please support young people following those passions and bringing our city a happier environment, whether it's. Tourism or not, although I'm sure it would be, is not the most important issue here. It's that we teach these kids and we invest in them as students from elementary school through high school to college here in Long Beach, and especially with the college promise that they're going to be able to make a living and do what they love. And we should really stand up to that and keep it going as they transition into adulthood. So thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. Suarez, the director of the arts council for long beach. Thank you. Mayor garcia, vice mayor richard, sitting council members for hearing this item tonight. Thank you to Councilmember Pierce. You know, it's been a great pleasure to work with your office and also with the Long Beach Music Council on this issue. And I'm so glad to be here tonight. We're glad that we are helping to amplify the voice of the arts here in Long Beach. As you know, we support our artists and musicians, and there are many a handful tonight that actually have received neighborhood micro grants to do their performances. And the musicians and performers of Long Beach are a vibrant sector of our arts. Ecology and music can transcend language and barriers and in many ways brings people together. So beyond the cultural benefits, music here in Long Beach also has an economic impact. As you know, customers come to businesses to listen to music. Tourists come to the city to listen to music, making Long Beach a place where people want to live, work and play. Recently, the Arts Council participated in a national study. The Arts and Economic Prosperity Index. And through that, our national study and the data that we've collected of our grantees throughout the years, we learned that the average person spends $31 on top of the admissions to a music or performance. So that means that dollars are coming into our city and that our musicians and performers are part of that. We also are known as a Long Beach Unified School District. We are known to be an amazing music education district. And so in making this item, bringing this city forward, we're actually helping not only build audience, but also build spaces, places and venues and business owners interested in employing our young musicians as they grow into their art form. We have made many strides in support of the arts and here tonight I think the music community and the performers are going to be part of those strides. Adapting our policies. Some that are as old as 20 years is a way to ensure the future growth of the arts. Thank you for bringing this to council tonight. And we encourage you to make Long Beach a destination for arts and culture and especially music. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening, Mayor Garcia. Members of the council staff. My name is Tasha Hunter, and I'm here on. Behalf of the Uptown Business Improvement. District. And I want to say thank you to Councilwoman. Pierce for bringing this. Study or this item to the agenda for allowing. Ah, the music. Music is an important part of, of our lives. And, and as far as the Uptown Business Improvement District, we do support this in our local venues as well as our street vendors. It's an economic driver. And with along with Long Beach, solidifying its reputation as a destination place, our street performances will create that positive impact that we love to see. I love walking somewhere. And like someone said ahead of me, when you hear those music performances, when you are allowed to have bands perform inside, it will not only draw people from within the city, it'll draw people from outside of our city continuing to make Long Beach a destination place. And we already know when they come to hear the music, they're going to want that slice of pizza, that ice cream cone, that jacket, when it gets chilly, which are all parts of it, could be an economic driver. And the more people on the streets means economic vibrancy. This will give us the proper ammunition, especially as we in Uptown Business Improvement District bring in additional businesses and help support the current businesses that are there. There's something special about other cities that we've seen and we know of Santa monica of Venice Beach that recognize street performances and music in our coffee shops and venues. As public. Amenities, as long as it takes place in a reasonable place and at reasonable times. So there's still many questions that we have and we look forward to working with the city and COBA, the Music Council and residents to take a peek at this study and just answer a lot of the questions that we still have. And also, I must say, as the current president of the Arts Council, Long Beach, and a Long Beach resident, I personally know that Long Beach is home to so many musicians. And it would be a very nice gesture to be able to allow musicians not only to go outside of the city to practice their art, but to allow their neighbors and community to appreciate what it is that they have in their own city. So thank you. And we look forward to helping in supporting any way we can. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Greetings, honorable mayor and Honorable City Council. First of all, my name is ah, Netta Maslow and I am the ambassador for Make Music Long Beach. First of all, I'd like to thank the Arts Council, Long Beach. The Long Beach Symphony. City of Long Beach. Honorable Councilwoman Janine Pierson. Her office. Long Beach Public Library and downtown. Long Beach Alliance. Because tomorrow, June 21st is the first day of summer solstice and Long Beach is going to be lit. And what I mean by that is that the city is going to be lit up orange in honor of summer solstice . And the first time that Lone Beach is being part of this global event, which includes 800 cities across the United States and 120 countries globally. What I found in organizing this event is so many people, organizations within our community wanted to participate, even nurseries, youth organizations, but they were concerned about permits. And so many people declined because of that. And we've got to change that. There are so many opportunities and so many creative people here within our city. It's just amazing and it's also. So very beautiful. So tomorrow what I'd like for you to do is come out and support over in the fourth District, also on First Street, on fourth Street. There's going to be it's going to be lit up orange at the arts building, the arts theater. The fountains here in Long Beach are going to be lit up, orange, Queensbridge and another other installations. And you can check that out and make music wellbeing. And next year, we'd like to have this event just be something phenomenal. This was put together rather quickly as I was brought in at the last minute, and I was thinking, Oh, okay, yeah, we'll do this. We'll have it ready for 2018. They said, No, we want it this June 21st. And the outpouring of love in this city and just the outpouring of just participation just warmed my heart and just elevated me. And to remove these constrictions, these financial constrictions on these smaller businesses that can benefit from this. It'll just be phenomenal and even better next year. So I thank you. And anyone who wants to participate, you can contact us at Make Music, L.B. and you can find us on Facebook and on Twitter as well. Thank you. Thank you. Now, I had Mr. Good. Who can you come down? I had to close the speakers list, sir, but I will let you stay in line. It's okay. But these are the last three speakers, Mr. Cogen. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Members of the City Council, Craig coaching with the downtown Long Beach Alliance. Our organization has been producing events in our downtown for many, many years. We would never consider having an event without entertainment. Not only. Because of the value that it brings to the artists and to the community, but also to the economic benefit that it. Derives from creating events with. With the entertainment. Our downtown has a dining and entertainment district ordinance. We've had that for many, many years. And so it's I would be very interested in seeing how this materializes. This conversation continues to materialize relative to what we already have in place. I'm very supportive of the idea of having a 120 day period to study both of these agenda items. It certainly gives us the council offices, the Council of Business Association and. All the neighborhoods that are impacted with improvement districts, as well as those neighborhoods. Outside the improvement districts. To have that discussion, to have that. Open public display. Of transparency and understanding really what we're getting ourselves into. This is something that I. Think is long overdue to look at these policies and reevaluate these. Policies. Thank you, Councilmember. Pierce and those other council members that signed on to these two agenda items to be able to bring this forward. And we look forward to this ongoing conversation. Thanks very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. First of all, thanks for having me. I was actually handling some other stuff for another music event that's going to be happening. I just moved here in January. I lived in Austin, Texas, for 12 years. I could really see when I moved here, I I'm constantly, you know, in any city I go to, I've traveled all over the country and United States have been very fortunate and almost been to all 50 states. And every place I go, I have my ear to the ground looking for what sound is going to lead me. You know, in here it's been quite interesting trying to find that because it you know, we do have Alex's bar. We do have we do have places that have live music. But it's it's just so separated that it it's it's saddening to see because I know that this is going to be symbiotic for the for the city and for the musician. Obviously, there's a lot of loopholes and a lot of things that you have to make type before. And but it really looks like this is this is something that we've a lot of people have been waiting much longer than I have. But as soon as I got here, I realized that, you know, it's kind of it definitely is an issue. You know, there's there's that's the culture of the city is when you hear the sounds and I know that's it sounds redundant because I know everyone's been saying that. But, you know, with anything you have, there's a song that that kind of puts you in that same place. And I hope the song that that we will all be singing this time next year will be out there. And if somebody moves to the city from outside, they can they can actually find their way faster and enjoy the the culture that Long Beach has. The thing that I the reason one of the reasons why I moved from Austin to Long Beach in particular is because of the diversity, you know, in in Texas, there's there's not that diversity. And I'm really interested to see what what does Long Beach Street sound like? Thank you for your time. And I hope this all works out. Thank you. And our last speaker is Mr. Goodhue. You do the address on file? I'm a strong supporter of music, as you'll recall. I had suggested that we play opera in this chamber, soothing opera from 430 to 5 until the beginning of the meeting. But it was our mayor that said, no, that couldn't be done. Period. The key to having music in a neighborhood is to make sure that is appropriately located, period. There are many areas in our city where such as Second Street and on Broadway are. Music is very problematic in many times. So that is key to what's going to any growth of music is to make sure you have the right place. And the right neighborhood. And when I say right neighborhood, it doesn't make any difference what neighbor or who you're in. Probably 95% of the people do not want to hear when they go in their house at 10:00 at night. Music pounding for two, three, 4 hours. Coming floating from a block away or even two blocks away. So having it appropriately located. Is absolutely key to that period. Thank you. And I would urge the mayor again to consider soothing opera music from 430 when the chamber opens to 5:00. It will it can have a very soothing effect on those people that are sometimes rather riled up. Riled up. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Goodhew. Which are back to the council councilman Mongo. Thank you. I appreciate the feedback from all of the groups here. This is an important item. I especially want to take the time to think. Councilmember Pearce for being really inclusive in her item. I know oftentimes we get an item and we ask colleagues to sign on and one of the things that I thought was really important about this item was being really collaborative and I thought that she was really collaborative. And not only did she make necessary or recommended edits, but multiple edits. And I think that that was reflective of a really collaborative approach that she has taken all the way through on this item. And I think it's the only way an item like this will ever be successful. With that, I want to say that I hear from the community that there are current abilities to have some permits that are limited to a month. But I think a lot of the discussion also is about the seasonality of music. And I think that in discussing the potentials, perhaps certain businesses don't want music during certain months, but they want to aggregate all of their permits every Friday in the summer or different types of aggregation like that that make it really neat. So for that, I want to continue to support it and explore this opportunity to have a study come back and see what we really can do to make it a worthwhile opportunity. I can't tell you how many times when my husband and I are choosing where to go to dinner, we might say, Oh, doesn't so-and-so play on Wednesday nights at restaurant A or B? Do we want to go by this place because it has like a nice background? Or maybe we want to go hear what these people who are in from out of town because it's more than just great, great food, but it's also great music. And so I think those are really great components of some of my favorite places like Forbidden City and others that have music and while you eat and or drink coffee or any of those things. So I'm really excited about this item. I want to thank everyone who's done the work. I think it's important that we continue to maintain input not only from the music community but from the business community and from the residents, because all three need to work in harmony for any of this to be successful. Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to just you know, I've collected some thoughts through this whole conversation. So I want to start with thanking Councilwoman Pierce for reaching out and asking me to be a part of this conversation. I think music is is sometimes coolest words, most unexpected. It's been really core to what, you know, a lot of the changes we've seen take place in North Palm Beach. You know, when I first started working up here, it wasn't a place where you think of as a center for music. But nowhere else in the city have been able to get on the stage with Talib Kweli or the Far Side or D.W. Three, even Ozomatli this Saturday. You know, I've seen more elected officials come to North Lambie's for music than any other purpose. And, you know, when Beach Streets kicked off in North Lawn Beach or activate uptown, people didn't come North Lambie's for mobility improvements. They came because the music was the attraction. And and, you know, as retail continues to struggle with, you know, increasing demand of the on demand economy, you know, people are looking for more of an experience . And so we don't need to look at maybe the corridors and things have been successful in the past. We have to sometimes take a leap of faith and think about what could what experiences could be successful in the future. And music and art is core to that experience. We have to be more flexible in terms of how we how we regulate and allow music. Well, a couple other thoughts. You know, I noticed I was taking a like an executive leadership class at USC. It was. And they were looking at different models for civic engagement. And there was an example, a case study on a program called There's a Festival for that in Decatur, Georgia. And it focused on one area, one particular corridor that, you know, had some violence issues. And the way that the city and that district sort of resolved it was those violence prevention issues was by relaxing not just the entertainment permit, but also, you know, some of the special event permits. And essentially the rule was you come to this one corridor, you can you know, if you come, this one corridor will relax our festival permit. As long as you don't conflict dates with anyone else. Well, limit our will limit are no permit fees. You can only use local vendors, only use local artists. This area had two restaurants in a period of four years that had over 20 restaurants in that same little corridor, despite relaxing and creating a different culture. I also think we have to think about right now, California is paying attention to this and establishing new cultural arts districts, a process by, you know, to be designated for certain areas to be designated as cultural arts districts. I think this is a huge opportunity for us to think about how our policies align with that process and how we can help facilitate that some. Because if you notice a lot of the corridors that have violence issues or a history of violence, a lot of times are the same corridors that have a rich cultural history and diverse, diverse make up in those neighborhoods. Maybe if we look at some of, you know, some of the strengths in the area and then communicate with the people through music and art and culture and reflect and see it as a way to be a way to highlight that corridor. And then perhaps we can also mitigate some of the violence, violence, you know, use as a violence prevention tool. Another thing is, I think we should be I think we should maintain our flexibility and keep the the tools to protect the quality of life. Last thing I want to do is take away a tool that our planners, our code enforcement officers have to crack down on a, you know, a dove bar. That's really been a nuisance. And so I do want to make sure that we do have the flexibility when appropriate to go in and say, look, you know, you don't get to play because you're not playing nice and you're doing these illegal activities here. And I think we should also be I don't think every neighborhood in town is going to be the same. So we should maintain some level of flexibility and tight things, the corridor to certain corridors. So I hope that we can work together with our community, with our business districts and with city council offices to determine where we think less restriction would be more palatable than other other areas. So that's something I think is really important. So those are some of the thoughts that I have here. And, you know, I'm going to go ahead and give a plug. Saturday sixth Annual Uptown Jazz Festival, Ozomatli DWI three partnered with my buddy Roberto Durango and a number of others to make this happen. So I hope you join us there. And Thursday, we have Pop Up Town, a pop up music event at the Michelle Obama Library. Nobody thinks about library and music at the same time, but I hope to see you all there. Thanks. And you have my support, Jeanine. Thank you, Councilwoman Grace. Thank you. I, too, want to echo my support for this item. I everything that the speaker said in terms of the. Benefits of music. I agree with my family and I all enjoy live music very much where frequent concert attendance and we often choose places to eat based on whether they have live music or not. So I am a big supporter of that. I do agree with Mr. Goodhew. So his his batting a lot of successes tonight and Vice Mayor Richardson, in regards to us having the flexibility and hopefully this report including the flexibility for us to be able to, you know, tailor any sort of ordinances or changes to particular neighborhoods. I can tell you in neighborhoods that have a business corridor that has close proximity to residences, this type of ordinance are relaxing the standards for music and talking about music. Music levels is a subject of major sensitivity. We often have our city crews out there with a noise meter trying to determine what the level of the noise reading is from a particular restaurant or bar and so on. In Belmont SHAW For example, a noise is a is a major quality of life issue for the residents, as one of our speakers talked about. And it's certainly something that is above all else a major priority for me, respecting the quality of life of the residents there and ensuring that they have the opportunity to sleep and have their kids sleep is really important. You know, this year we had a fantastic pride celebration, but that night at the Pride Festival, something went wrong with the music and we could hear it in East Long Beach. In my own home, the windows were rattling. My kids were not able to sleep. It was a school day the next day and we were the next door decomposed, were going off the charts in regards to people not being able to sleep because of the music. Obviously that's an unusual situation because you rarely would you be hearing music in East Long Beach from downtown. But the point to be made is that if you're not partaking in the music and you're just trying to live your own life and do whatever it is you're doing, hearing music may be a nuisance to you, even though the music may be beautiful and maybe, maybe the music is enjoyable to you. If you're not participating in the music, it may not be the time and place for it. So we want to just make sure that the music doesn't travel to the residential neighborhoods. And I can tell you there's a lot of businesses in Belmont Shore who would love to have an entertainment permit to play amplified music. But that's just that's something that we're like I said, we're very sensitive to and very carefully monitor. And this item, it's a fantastic item. It was on the supplemental agenda. So we have not had the opportunity to do the outreach with our community. So we're grateful that this is a report and allows for us to have the time or have the staff go out and do the necessary outreach and determine what's possible and feasible to Mr. Good. He was point again in the city of Sacramento. They actually pipe classical music through the downtown. I don't know if anyone's walked there recently. And there's data that shows they have a reduction in crimes in the downtown area, a reduction in transient activity because not everybody wants to listen to classical music all the time . So it may not be a place where they perch. I probably would. Choose to perch there. Because of that, but some are not. And so there definitely is a lot of data that suggests behavior is associated with music and the type of music. The other thing is that I'm hoping that the report also considers if there are any legal issues, this is more to the busking item, whether there are any legal issues regarding regulating content or regulating that type of content or anything like that. I know that's a discussion we've had in the past. So if we've got statutes that prohibit some content but not others, I just don't know what legal issues, if any. There may not be any, but I would hope that the report would also include that because those definitely raise some flags for me. Other than that, I think Councilmember Pearce and the folks who were asked by her to sign on to the item should be commended. I think it's a fantastic item and I think from what I'm hearing, everyone on the council really enjoys live music and we want to do whatever we can to encourage its growth in our city. So thank you. Thank you. Councilman Austin. Thank you so much. I want to thank Councilmember Pearce for bringing this item forward and allowing me to to sign on. I know she has been researching and our staff's been working on this for many, many months. So it's good to see it finally come forward, obviously, to the Music Council and Arts Council for providing your support . For this item as well. I see. We are we are engaged in a new economy. And it's been said many times we've we see many issues come before this council that suggest that. And I think this is what the new economy we have to take creative approaches to to to to creating jobs and economic opportunity. These both of these items will will create income for artists throughout our city, which I think is very, very important. It was mentioned regarding quality of life. Just yesterday, I live around the corner from Schiller Park and it was live music emanating from the park as the Be Safe Long Beach program kicked off. And to me, that was a quality of life moment because it was good to hear live music coming from the park. It was great to hear the laughter of many kids and families enjoying our public park as well. The obviously it's been mentioned there'll be many economic potential economic benefits from from these items. It's an opportunity to build community and hence our overall experience, particularly on our commercial and business corridors. I tell you, every first Fridays, Atlantic Avenue comes to life in a way that that is unique to to the Bixby Knolls experience. Many of you have participated. I see some of the artist out here, some of my favorite artists who Cybill Fly and Chair Bishop and, you know, many others who are performing on a daily basis. And yes, they are a week monthly basis. They are household names in throughout the city of Long Beach. They would not have that opportunity to be known throughout the city, would not be able to share their art if we weren't for us being amendable and open to to them sharing that particularly through our with our business improvement district in Bixby Knolls and the businesses that that invite them to perform. I think I'm going to obviously support this. I'm not too convinced that Long Beach isn't the best city in the country when it comes to music and the talent. I'm convinced that we are certainly headed toward that path with these agenda items. So, again, I want to thank you, Councilmember Pearce, for for bringing these items forward. I want to thank the many artists who who came out to speak in support. And, you know, let's do it. And I do want to say to one point that in terms of how we go about doing this. One size does not fit all. It does not have to be a blanket approach. We have to understand that we have we are a city of very unique neighborhoods and very different experiences throughout this city. And I think we need to appreciate that. Well, classical music can be playing on one corner, rock and roll the next. Reggae music, hip hop music. We we we have every genre represented here in this city. And when I look out in a crowd here tonight, we have every genre represented as well. And let's just appreciate our diversity moving forward. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Andrews. Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I just want to thank Mr. Spears to bring us to the diocese. You know, you talk about music that savage just you know, when you talk about music that smooth the savage beast. Mr. Donohue, I mean, good. You I tell you, guy, you are on to something. But when I hear my young brother, he is talking about James Brown and no, how can you have any kind of anger in your heart when you listen to James Brown and a little opera at the same time? There is no harm in any of that. So I think we are on the right track. Long Beach is music. You talk about it. So all you look at all your great ideas that came out of you. So I think everyone should have a chance to be able to. And we talk about the Bears ordinance that we have to have. We need music, you guys in really special in order to get it. We're going to have to really do those corners so people can get a chance to be able to express their opportunities. And things were here in the city of Long Beach because we're growing so fast and so rapid. We've got to have any and everything we talk about. Strong beach music makes Long Beach strong. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. You're. You know, talking reflected on this topic. You know, when you have music, you have dancing. And Joe LeDoux, the shameless plug again, Uptown Jazz Festival, Ozomatli. Well, you know, in regards to how music can also be soothing, we are in the council chambers. I brought it. We bring some chamber music to welcome people to the council meetings at around 5:00. Be nice and soothing, gets people relax and gives people a peaceful so that when we come in, we're all already in a good mood to have the business of the city take place like James Brown, get on up, like get out of bed. And we say, How about I will read? We read in Spanish, but yeah, I will be supporting the. And thank you, Councilmember Pearce, for bringing this forward. Thank you. Great. Thank you. I'm going to Kasra Pearce is going to close with a couple final comments. I want to make some comments as well and a couple requests of staff. Want to thank Councilman Pearce. I think this is really a great discussion. I know that her office has been working also with my office and particularly Mark Taylor, who has a little bit of a music nut to talk about some of these issues with the Music Council. And so I want to thank the Music Council for their really hard work on. This would have happened without you guys. You guys have led the way on this issue. So a couple of points to reinforce which I think are really, really important. One is the issue of flexibility. I want to reiterate what Councilwoman Price said. I guarantee you that the you know, the the reaction from Belmont Shore and the businesses community there would be dramatically different than an appropriately different than perhaps in the downtown or in other places. And so there is obviously it's not really a one size fits all approach, I think, with the city. So I'm just I'm just hopeful that that that message is heard. I also want when we when we're reviewing our new rules, I just am hopeful that we also take a look at some of the best kind of live music locations in the country. So we had someone from Austin here. We obviously should be looking at what Austin has for their some of their rules in their entertainment zone and other cities like Austin. And I will say my personal opinion and I've shared this with Councilman Pierce is I think that the downtown entertainment district needs to be looked at extensively. I think personally that it's overly restrictive in the downtown. I also believe that the boundaries are currently of the of the downtown entertainment district are no longer necessarily should be the boundaries considering that the downtown has grown. And so those boundaries were drawn and written at a time where you had nothing going on above third street in the in the downtown. And so the downtown now is stretched all across the first District. And so I think the boundaries have to be looked at within the downtown entertainment district. I think we often have more restrictive rules in the downtown entertainment district than we do in other places in the downtown, which to me is crazy. And so I'm really hopeful that you guys take a good look. Obviously, we need to work with the Dolby and the board there and neighborhood groups, but that is something that for me my main request is out of. This is a strong and hard look at the D, at the downtown entertainment district, the zone, the rules and being much less restrictive than we currently are, in my personal opinion. And the last thing is, please also look at rules regarding these kind of pop up music parklets that are happening on the backs of trucks and busking is happening. So I mean, I'm at the Socialists and I might be having like a burger and a beer and this truck pulls up and is just playing music. And I love that. And we're and I, you know, it pains me when sometimes our folks are going by and shut these guys down. And it's to me, it's it's adds to the community. And so I'm not sure if the rules, whether it's amplification on the sidewalk and inside of venue and then these pop up music. Parklets, I just want to add that we're including that in the discussion, so I don't know if that counts as a street music or not . It's busking, I know, but can we please look at that as well? So very supportive. I'm looking forward to getting this done. And and and again, I think the message is the flexibility to really in hopefully some areas, particularly the downtown is dramatically reduce restrictions. Councilmember Pierce. Well, you stole all my talking points. I'm kidding. I want a just one last time. Thank everybody. And also, it was mentioned a little bit about who we be working with. So I wanted to clarify for folks that we have made sure that we'll have financial management and special events working collaboratively together through the process as we engage other stakeholders in this and made sure that we did this in much partnership with them. And the items changed a lot over the last couple of months by us working with city staff. So I want to thank Julia for doing that and also thank my staff for working closely with Mark Taylor. One other thing I wanted to say is, is the clarity on the flexibility. What we have on the item is that we want to see if it's legal to allow bids to make decisions on what those regulations are, how they would apply the policies that we have in place that way. In Belmont Shores, you might not have busking, but on Fourth Street where we love busking, you would be able to have that. And I had those guys serenade me many a times, and so I just wanted to clarify that for folks watching at home. I also wanted to just ask if we could also include looking at other cities and if they've done anything to lower permit cost for possibly like youth programs like the vice mayor was mentioning. As we I know there are a lot of groups in the city that do open mics for youth, particularly those that are. In difficult situations. And so if there's anything that we can do to encourage more youth programing around music and entertainment, I would like to see that included in the report. So thank you, guys, everybody. And again, this is just the beginning. We have a long list of fun, entertainment and live music things ahead of us. So thank you. Hey, thank you. There's a motion and a second. Please cast your votes. Motion carries. Kill. The Vice Mayor is going to item 25 May 28.