Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the public hearing, and take the actions necessary to adopt the Fiscal Year 2021 budget as listed in Attachment A.  (Citywide)
Thank you. Now we're moving on to the budget here. Let me. 1/2. If you could read the item, please. Report from financial management a recommendation to receive supporting documentation under the record. Conclude the public hearing and take the actions necessary to adopt the fiscal year 2021 budget citywide. Okay, we're going to start the hearing by the remainder of the public comment, which we have public comment for us. I will allow the clerk to go through Parliament first. Thank you. Our first speakers, Brett Jorgensen. Brett Jorgensen. Hello. This is Brett Jorgensen. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. All right. Thank you. As I mentioned, my name is Brett Jorgensen. I'm the proud parent of two children who've been involved in the Long Beach Junior Lifeguard program for over five years. And I'd like to express concern about proposed budget cuts and elimination of the junior lifeguard coordinator and the 10% Ocean Lifeguard cut. For those who are familiar with it, it's a vital and important role. And the Junior Lifeguard program instills numerous values in our youth integrity, responsibility, hard work, dedication, leadership, and giving back to the community. So in saying that, we need to ensure that the guidance and resource funding does not go away for the program and is, as I'm a very proud parent for our Long Beach schools as well, I do have to say that personally, I've watched my children develop a greater sense of social community awareness, marine environmental conservation and care and safety of all of our Long Beach citizens as a result of the program. So the funding is what what I think hurt us in terms of long term to our long term future and then in terms of just long term. Program opportunity provides a pathway and a vision to help complement our kids education and looking at what their career opportunities could be to help better serve the community. My older daughter actually had an opportunity this summer to be an Ocean lifeguard, and I couldn't be more proud and thankful to Long Beach and the Marine safety organization. So please again, want to thank you. Our next speaker is Devon Beebe. Hello. I can hear you. Hi. My name is Devon Beebe and I'm a member of the Long Beach Lifeguard Association. I'm here to express concern over the proposed elimination of the junior lifeguard coordinator position and 10% of our ocean lifeguards. We're aiming to develop a workforce that reflects the community we serve by increasing and diversifying recruitment efforts, as well as accessibility to the Junior Lifeguard program itself. Through our partnership with Long Beach Unified School District. We've been able to increase access to both our prep class and summer program, as well as provide free transportation. This free prep class takes place at Cabrillo and Jordan High School, giving participants from underrepresented areas access to the program. I also want to emphasize that there is no way this program can run safely and efficiently without a marine safety officer in the coordinator position. This past summer, there are numerous times that having a marine safety officer on scene dedicated to the program was critical for the safety of participants. Further, our non-career lifeguards are the first line of defense out on the beaches, actively engaging with the community to warn about potential dangers and prevent tragedy. Over Labor Day weekend, lifeguards had over 150 rescues, this number being a testament to the importance of a fully stocked beach. Unfortunately, the lifeguards that would be most affected by these cuts are our most recent hires, many of whom came through the career pathway. That is the Junior Lifeguard program. I urge you to reevaluate these cuts and allow our lifeguards to continue to provide these essential services to our community. Thank. Our next speaker is Ella Jorgensen. Ella Jorgensen. Ella Jorgenson, your time starts now. Our next speaker is Jade Johnson. Thank you, Mayor and City Council. My name is Jay Johnston. I am the chairman of the Long Beach Police Honorees. I speak for all of our 650 voting members. We stand with the Long Beach Police Department and are against any budget cuts to the department. I live in the fifth District and my neighbors and I have already seen an increase in homeless encampments and crime. I mean, what's important to myself, my neighbors, the 650 voting members I speak for is the safety for this city, the safety for the residents in this city, and the safety for all Long Beach police officers. As the city council, you are expected to lead this city with rational decisions. Please make Long Beach a safer community. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Ella Jorgensen. Ella Jorgensen. Our next speaker is Mark Alonzo. Hello. Yes. We can hear you. Hello. Hi. Hello, Mr. Mayor. To City Council. My name is Mark. My name is Mark. Hello. Hello? Yes, we can still hear you. Okay. I'm sorry. Hello, Mr. Mayor. And City Council. My name is Mark Longo. I'm also a strong supporter and an LP, a honorary member. First of all, Mr. Mayor, I want to say again that I'm very, very sorry about the loss of your parents to COVID 19. And I want to offer my condolences to you, to you and your family. The father asked that you do not define the law to be speedy. And we're approaching the holidays, the Christmas holidays, and typically every year and the Christmas holidays, the crime goes up, especially money crimes which are referred to such as burglaries and carjackings and robberies, assaults, and not to mention the response times by the police, are going to become much, much slower because of the ban that they're going to have with other parts of the city. With respect to the helicopter, Forks helicopter and the K-9 unit, those are among the most important tools for our police officers to use in apprehending dangerous criminals or fleeing suspects. Without those tools, that makes it more dangerous for our police officers. And thank you. Our next speaker is Ellen Jorgensen. Hello. This is Ella. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. They can. Hello. I'm Ellen Jorgensen. I'm a former junior lifeguard and an ocean lifeguard. And I'm here with my younger sister, Paige, who is currently a Long Beach Junior lifeguard. We are here to address the proposed budget cuts of the junior lifeguard coordinator and 10% of the ocean lifeguards. Through my five years with the J.G. program, I developed skills in ocean safety, leadership, responsibility, professionalism, and improved as an athlete. I later joined the Cadet program, which prepared me for a career as a lifeguard. I also worked as a cadet intern, a position made possible through the partnership with ILB USD. This internship gave me exposure to what a marine safety officer does and has inspired me to pursue it as a career. Everything that I've learned from the J.G. program helped me to be successful, and I am now an Ocean Lifeguard with the goal of becoming a marine safety officer. If the J.G. program was run by administrative staff, I would not have gained so many skills or exposure to careers in marine safety. Also, if I were to be cut along with 10% of the ocean lifeguards, not only would the beaches be a dangerous environment for the public, but I may lose a chance at pursuing a career in marine safety. I respectfully ask that you reconsider these proposed budget cuts, as I hope that the youth of our community can have the same opportunities that I had with my program. With this program, for example, my sister. Hello, I'm Paige Jorgensen. I've been a judge for five years and have goals of going through the cadet program and. Thank you. Our next speaker is Marty Cox. Hello. I please begin. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi. Thank you, Mayor and council members. I've been a Long Beach resident for nearly 50 years. I've owned businesses here. I've raised my family here. I love the city. While I appreciate the difficult decisions facing you with regard to the 2021 budget. I do not support the city's plan to reduce the Long Beach Police Department's budget by $10.3 million, especially at a time when not only has the number of officers serving our city declined in recent years, but our city has grown and crime in our neighborhoods is on the rise. I believe these proposed cuts are too severe and that they will have a serious impact on the safety of our communities. Have there even been any detailed studies to determine just how these drastic cuts might negatively affect police response times? Not to mention the many successful outreach programs mentioned earlier. The city must assess and fully understand the potential impact these cuts will have on all aspects of public safety. I strongly urge the city to reconsider and find alternative ways to balance the budget as preserving public safety must remain our highest priority. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Mary Lee Chamberlain. Mary Lee Chamberlain. Our next speaker is Nancy Elorza. Hello. This is Mary Lee Chamberlain. Hi. Please begin. Okay. I would like to voice my support for the Long Beach Police Department and discourage you from approving the proposed budget cuts to the department. Our department has been understaffed since a 20% cut in 2009, with the population of over 463,000 people. 792 officers is not enough to ensure the safety and law and order for our city. The riots earlier this year speak to my point. We watched helplessly on television as private citizens businesses were looted and destroyed while the Long Beach PD stood down due to lack of officers. The crowds were so large and out of control that our officers wouldn't have stood a chance if they tried to intervene. While the rate of crime is up in the city, the use of force cases and officer involved shootings are down. I believe this speaks to the training that our officers have been receiving recently in those areas. I would ask that the City Council not pander to the special interest groups that are demanding the defunding of police departments all over our country. Instead, do what is right for the citizens, visitors and businesses that our city relies on for its growth, economics and way of life. Encourage you all to strongly consider the impact a cut to our department will have on the community at large. As a longtime resident, I am proud of our Long Beach PD and feel that they deserve to be treated with respect. After all, they're the ones that put their lives on the line every time they put on that uniform. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Nancy Loza. Hello. Eight. Please begin. Hi, my name is Matthew Moore, and I just wanted to say that I am against defunding the police or making a budget cut. I've been in Long Beach for over 33 years and throughout these years with police actually on our side helping clean up the neighborhoods in the community, they have been doing a fantastic job. It is very sad and disappointing that we are seeing people who are looking at only what they want to see, especially when it comes to BLM, BMO and all these things. They want to see the bad guys, but they're not looking to the good things that police officers are doing for the community, which is acting upon the police. The response to cops is an increase. I am very afraid of that, especially since we're being a better community with cops. I think that it is time for police officers to get their power instead of taking away their power by people who are making a crime. If you do the crime, you've got to do the time. Is that simple. Let's play by the rules. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Our next speaker is Rena Rosales. Hello. Hi. My name is Reynolds Wallace, and I do not agree with the proposed police budget cuts, but I think we have a lot to lose by furthering cutting police funding. Crime will continue to increase. We haven't fully recuperated from the 2008 2008 recession. So your plan on cutting over 50 from police officers, that's a huge question. Who will protect our elderly, our young from other criminals? Not only they live in our city to pacify. As we saw during the initial right. It's not the protest, but during the riots. Our businesses deserve protection protections. They bring a lot of money into our communities, in our schools or streets or visitors. Our children deserve the protection they need, especially once school commences. There will be a lot less on patrol. How long will it take for an officer to respond to an armed robbery or burglary? Home invasion? How about domestic violence? And you suggest that Foreign Office staff be replaced with civilians? I think that would be a even bigger liability force for our city. We have seen civilians getting hurt in other and other neighboring cities. I remember last year in Garden Grove there was a civilian that was hurt. She was stabbed and she was a large man. And I think that would be even bring a lot more losses to our city. We all want a safe city. We want. I know I heard some of the presentations and want to hire social workers and go ahead and do it, but not by taking away our sworn positions. We can't. If we we should come to an agreement where both social workers and our officers can work together. Why is there two different sides? Thank you. Our next speaker is Rick Chambers. Good evening, mayor and city council members. I'm Richard Chambers. I'm the president of Long Beach Police Officers Association. The public. Thousands of residents were asked how they feel about police funding, staffing and crime in the city. They've given you their feedback. I'm urging you to stop and listen to what the majority are telling you. 66% of residents want department funding kept the same or increased. The city's budget survey showed that maintaining a low crime rate is a top five priority. We understand that this is a tough budget, but let's find efficiencies where it makes sense and not allow excessive cuts based on politics or emotions. The proposed cuts will affect critical units in our department, which will affect public safety. We ask you to take the time tonight to understand how cutting these critical units will impact safety and response times. I encourage you to ask questions about the cuts and understand the answers before making your final decisions. The cuts to the warrant detail force legally mandated work undone or pushed on to on to others and the proposed cuts to the Air Support Unit need your attention. They need to be discussed. The police helicopter is a critical resource for locating and safely arresting violent suspects, for locating missing persons, and for providing homeland security patrols over the port. Civilian pilots cost almost the same as Warren and provide no savings. We have requested reasonable restorations that can make a big difference when it comes to the safety of our communities. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Cheryl Hill. Oh. Thank you for your time. Our Long Beach Police Department is not broken. Well, there may be the need for additional training. There is no justification for a general reduction in the police personnel when we are in the midst of increasing crime levels. If anything, I believe that we need an increase in our police presence in the city. The city council seems to be responding to the political wave sweeping the country for the municipalities are bending the knee to social pressure based upon a principle that violating the law is acceptable policy. I do not believe that the members of the City Council are truly representing the will of the people of Long Beach. If the Council is so confident that the cuts to law enforcement are beneficial to the city, then why not put the democratic vote of the people? After all, the citizens of this city pay taxes which pay the salaries of the police department as well as the city council. Are you afraid to put this to a vote of the people? Law and order is the priority of the police department and that is the constitutional duty of the government. I strongly encourage the Council to really understand the consequences of a police force reduction and what it will do to the safety and security of our city. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And give us a moment when we transition to the Spanish interpretation. Our first speakers. Maria Isabel. Luis Elorza. Send your alert to Mexico. They see this. Little picture perfect mandolin, but as a courtesy, the interpreter. Gracias. Okay. When I started, you know, Maria and I started seeing your president. Garcia. Good afternoon. You first met Isabel. And thank you to Mr. Garcia. Continue your thought. And I think with the butter up again and the stuff with other Lombard spectrum was my policy, as momentous policy as. I am supporting Pedersen and I am supporting a survey right now in order to ask to support Josie for support for the police of the city of Lambic. Continuing care, leaving children to the richest health policy possible. PELOSI Rachel MADDOW The Rachel MADDOW agreements are back when we get them up ahead on the stuff we belong, which. I am advocating for human rights. But human rights is that protect represent the bullies. How is it that criminals have more human rights than the police? I want more support and more human rights for the police. Computer came up with a similar strategy that communal policy at end users buying through models but a broader problem that. But without a necessity. That alone not. I put them in the trash. Doesn't matter. It's not going to get better. So what is going to happen then? What is going to happen with less police if they have the training? They watch the entire city. They are taking care of the entire CD. Then what happens? Any criminal would be able to get into our houses. Continue continuing. But in that particular policy, as long as they're muttering, they've got it in the accounts of what was one of several of them, the reputable government policy in the camp. In this stuff. Leader of Yemen. If so, yeah. So what? I mean, we have my policy on the enemy. There's invariably several of longer you have done so far as the end. The support is the one the policy has been etc. so whatever they and this aura I know okay I got of policy forum is more like the longer bang up a reputable feels them up pronto go up or you'll hear. And what's going to happen is that the police is going to take more time. When we call 911, they're going to take more time. They're not able to come soon because there will be less policemen available. In the 1980s, we had more police than the year 2000. We had more police. It was safer. There were gangs in the neighborhood, but the gangs, as soon as they saw the police, they would run away. They will go away from there. So if we have less police, we're going to have more gangs. Continue. Said Thank you. Our next speaker is Rosa Gutierrez. Hello? Can you hear me? Yes. Hello. Hi, Mayor and council members. I would like to just give my opinion and feedback as a Long Beach resident. Also 35 years. Please do not make any budget cuts. We do need our officers actually more than ever. Cuts will only bring chaos fears to the good citizens that do not commit crimes. And if we do replace, you know, regular citizens that you mean by replacing an armed officer with a civilian, it will just be a joke. For an example, criminals don't respect your local security guard at any store. They just keep robbing, just increasing crime in our city. People don't realize that by cutting our budgets, that only means increased crime longer wait times. When you call 911 in emergency situations, the crime will go up. Residents will live in fear. There won't be enough help, support and city order. Period. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Thank you and thank you to everyone that has engaged the budget, not just tonight but throughout the whole process. We've had, of course, public comment at all the hearings. We've had the committee, the virtual community budget discussions, we've had the survey. So there has been obviously a lot of engagement. So I just want to thank everyone that's participated. We're going to move into the council discussion on the budget and the motions. I just want to just kind of remind the council especially I think this is probably councilman's in the House, his first budget. So kind of go over kind of how it works as well. So there is a series of motions that will be made and a series of votes and you probably have those in front of you. The the the first vote will be the mayor's proposed recommendations. The second vote is the bosses propose funding recommendations and there amendments to those recommendations. The third motion is just adopting additional expenditures or revenues in the budget book. And typically, if there are other types of discussions around the budget, they almost always happen in the second or third vote. The one of those two items, I think most of you know that already and then after those are after those we really get into just votes and I think are pretty standard every year, which are the adoption of fees, the capital improvement project, the Stanley Resolutions. And we'll go through all of those votes, but they all have to be voted on separately, just as a reminder. And there's there's a lot of them. So we just we just go through those one by one. So I'm going to go ahead and start the budget process. I'm going to make some overall comments before I turn it over to the first motion. And Miss Yoon from the Budget Office will read into the record after the clerk reads the caucus the motion. Ms.. Jung will read the whole documentation that's got to be in all of the items. So that will take some time. But she'll do that throughout for all the items for the committee. So I'm going to begin with some general comments. I want to just start by just kind of taking us, I think, back to the work that's happened to get this project to this point. And I want to just remind us that this is a $2.6 billion budget and it funds the operations of our seaport or water systems or storm drains or rescues operations. And, of course, all of the other issues that are that are there neighborhoods depend on every single day our parks, our public safety system, our libraries and all of the activities that happen within within this community. At the same time, we are living and leading through this COVID 19 pandemic. This is the largest global health crisis of our lifetime, and it has required us to take a really hard look at this budget and make sacrifices. And the truth is, is that everyone is sacrificing in this budget. There are cuts all across the city, many of which are difficult and many of which required creativity on really on the part of our staff. And I think I want to thank our entire finance team for their just stellar job in putting this budget together. Thank them greatly for. All their work. Up at the budget, also because of a $30 million deficit largely fueled by this COVID crisis. We've had to reimagine ways in which we deliver public safety and health care services and how we make our investments in infrastructure, homelessness and all the other issues that matter to us and our neighbors. We are still in a COVID 19 health crisis, and we have the numbers staggering to me. We have spent already over $100 million just to handle this response. It's been over 180,000 tests have happened in this city. We've sheltered hundreds of homeless individuals that needed shelter. We purchased PPE. We have done contact tracing. And we work with our partners at FEMA and at the state for a reimbursement and to get support for this community. And we've had to fight. I mean, the reason we have CARES ACT funding today is not because we were expected to actually get any when Congress passed the initial bill, but because we and other court and another and other coalition of cities fought for CARES Act funding through the state where almost $41 million and an additional almost $40 million to the county to ensure that we had proper testing and support. This pandemic has already cost the city over 200 almost 230 lives and is a leading cause of death in Long Beach. And so this budget is being adopted in light of that crisis and where we have this health crisis. We know that's also affected our economy and our economy. It's been fueled with the enormous amounts of unemployment, small businesses that have been really suffering. And I want to just commended this council for stepping up and establishing small business recovery programs. They are thought to ensure that small businesses would be supported across our community and we are fought for local, federal and state dollars as well. And we have ensured in this process that we work with our city employee groups to come out with fair and responsible ways that we can all contribute. And through furloughs and through other programs across the city. And we also know that we are living in this just incredible moment where we're all moving towards a more just country where we're focused on racial justice and equity. And I just want to uplift that within this budget. There is an enormous. Commitment by the city and the council to racial justice and to a breaking down systemic racism that we know exists in all institutions, not just here locally, but about across the country. There are there are direct investments and reinvestments within our Long Beach black community, but also other communities of color in health and community, life, crisis response and violence prevention programs. And we know that that that list will continue to grow as as we look at the needs that we have in front of us. We have had a difficult but also an important conversation around public health and safety. And the largest police department within this budget has also put forward new models and new ideas on how we can really focus on community based policing. And we've heard the protests on the streets through actions that have happened within the city. This is a moment where we are also pushed to reevaluate and do better as a city and as a community. We know that within within our own work that we. Struggle and continue to struggle with all the work that's ahead of us as it relates to breaking down and reimagining our institutions so that they're more just are we the racial justice work that's happening? Everything from our universities, college promise, equity evaluation or police department reforms that are in this budget? I mean, shifts that we've made towards health and wellness. I also just want to add something that was mentioned earlier. The work doesn't end tonight. We have work ahead to reexamine our homelessness and mental health support. A lot of folks tonight talked about the Cahoots program and other programs that exist across the country. We are looking at those programs that communities looking at. Those are, along with the police department, is taking a really hard look at those to ensure that we are doing everything we can to ensure that if someone is having a challenge with addiction or mental illness that need assistance, that we ensure that there are social workers and clinicians there to help and to assist. And I just want to at this moment just thank everyone that's been involved in this in that part of the work, and that includes our public safety officers. I want to thank the police officers that are out there working every day under very difficult conditions. I want to thank our firefighters that are out there working every day, not just in our city, but across the state dealing with these wildfires. Our Marine safety officers, we have a public safety team made up of of of police officers, of firefighters, of marine safety officers, of lifeguards that put on their uniform every day and work to make our city safer. And so I know I speak on behalf of all of us when I say thank you. This is a tough budget for everyone. But we will we will continue to try to to do right by by the whole city. And so that safety work within this budget continues. And there are reforms that we should be proud of. And there's also a lot more work to do. And I think we all we all know that. I just want to also just uplift that there's over $50 million to address homelessness within this budget. And I want to thank all of our partners involved on that on those issues. There's incredible work around housing. I'm really I'm proud that we're able to expand important work to help communities that need additional support and and our our voice around language, the language access policy or the justice fund and and areas around housing. And I want to remind us that we've taken, I think, some pretty good steps on making the budget even stronger. We're making sure that our libraries don't receive substantial cuts. We're making sure that we're not contracting out critical services. We're making sure that we are investing in our people, which is really which is really critical as well. I want to also just add that arts and culture is getting a huge boost thanks to measure. Be. And I think I want to think in particular, Councilman Austin in the B or C, who will be making some presentations on some of that measure B money, which we're really excited about. And I want to thank him for his partnership on that and the B or C and and I also want to just just remind us as well as I close, that the budget that we also have in place continues this enormous, enormous infrastructure plan that we have in front of us. And it's it continues to be the largest infrastructure plan we have had in the last 50 years. We can always do more, but we should be proud of all the work that's going to happen in this budget to work on our on our streets and our sidewalks and our public buildings. And it's incredible, an incredible capital improvement program that exists. And so there's obviously a lot more than that in this budget. But I just thought it was important, just to recap, just in this moment, that there's a lot of areas in the city that we can be proud. And I want to thank every single member of this city team, all 6500 employees. Thank you for your hard work. And I want to add to the members of this council and especially the B or C, councilman Austin, Councilwoman Price, Councilman, rearrange. I want to thank you all for doing that extra work around around the budget, which is which is really, really significant, especially at this time of year. And so I want to thank you all for that. And with that, I want to turn it over to Councilman Austin, who's making the motion. We're going to go into the motions. And, Councilmember, do you want to make a couple comments now or do you want to make them at the start of the next item? I will make the motion to on this item, but I will save my comments until the B or C recommendations. Mr. Mayor, if that's okay. Great. Thank you. Madam Clerk, can you read the first budget? Number one.