Recommendation to request City Attorney to draft an ordinance to regulate elevator repairs related to equipment failure. This ordinance should include verbiage that requires repairs due to equipment failure be completed within 7 days for residential and commercial buildings that house or serve seniors, people living with disabilities, and/or people with health conditions that make it difficult to navigate stairwells, and 14 days for all additional residential and commercial buildings; Request City Manager, or designee, to report within 120 days: a. A report of current elevator code enforcement procedures, number of violations for elevator failures due to faulty equipment, the initial number of days granted to repair and any extensions granted. b. Incentives for property owners with elevators to modernize equipment. c. Policy recommendations for hardship reimbursements to disabled persons who spend money on medical and quality of life services during the time an elevator is out of service.
Kane. Motion carries. Thank you. Item 26. Congratulations. Congratulations on having. Communication from Councilwoman Gonzales, Councilmember Pierce, Councilwoman Mango. Recommendation to request the city attorney to draft an ordinance to regulate elevator repairs related to equipment failure and across the city manager to report within 120 days on the current elevator code enforcement procedures, incentives for property owners and policy recommendations for hardship reimbursement to disabled persons. Thank you, Councilwoman Gonzalez. Yes, I. This has been actually an item in the making for many, many years. And I first would like to thank one of my residents, the first district resident who is extremely passionate about advocacy for individuals with disabilities. And I would like to recognize her. Frances, Emily, Dawson, Harris. I think everyone knows her, so let's give her a big round of applause. I'd like to thank her because not only is she an advocate, she's still very active in the community, but about, I would say, five or six years ago or so. I remember connecting with her over the holidays and it happened that she was actually confined to her building for 73 days because of an ongoing equipment failure with the elevator. It is an unfortunate thing situation that occurred and now many years later, now being on the council, I wanted to make sure that we got this address and we got it right. And so this this will ask the city attorney to look into drafting an ordinance for various things. I mean, we're going to ask for a current elevator code enforcement procedures violations to make sure that we are getting it right and that repairs are done right away, not 73 days later, that they're done in an efficient and a timely manner. And so there are roughly about 45,000 people living with disabilities, 55% of whom with live with ambulatory disabilities, and a total of 42,835 seniors in Long Beach. There are over 30 senior buildings and many large multifamily buildings within Long Beach, and many of them reside in the First District. Individuals with mobility impairments sued the New York City Housing Authority because they failed to maintain its elevator in working conditions. The lawsuit resulted in a supplement settlement agreeing agreement requiring the New York the city of New York to repair elevators within 24 hours. So a member of the provincial parliament of Trinity Hendon put forth a bill to amend Canada's current law with respect to elevators or crying repairs. And I and I know and I think that Long Beach can certainly do better. I'd also like to thank my staff member, Jennifer Kumi. I'm a back here who also worked with Francis in drafting this ordinance and works as well as the founder of the Wheelchair, Miss Wheelchair California, but also for her advocacy and making sure that this saw city council's desk. So with that said, I hope my council colleagues can support this item. We'll ask for report back in 120 days. But I think it's a definitely a great item for us to ensure that we are improving the working and living conditions of many individuals who happen to have disabilities. So thank you very much. Thank you. Councilmember Durango. Thank you, Mayor. And I want to thank Councilmember Gonzalez for bringing this forward. It's a very important item. As we all remember a couple of years ago when we had our power outage, there were a number of people who were stranded in their buildings because they couldn't get down because of elevator operators. So I think it's important that we address this as quickly as we can. But I'd also like to ask a question from our staff. Do we require buildings to have emergency sleds, especially those that are multi-story buildings? I don't believe so. Okay. If a council member would indulge me, I would like to make an amendment to the motion. If we can have our staff also look at requiring an emergency sled, emergency evacuation, sleds in buildings that are over five stories to ensure that if there is a power failure or there is a fire or there's another emergency or there's a power failure that these emergency sleds would be available to in buildings that are five stories or greater. Absolutely. I'd be happy to include that. Okay. Thank you. I'd like to welcome that amendment. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Pearce. Yes. I, too, want to thank my colleague for her foresight to to consider this. I think sometimes we find ourselves in situations that seem isolated or building by building, but it makes sense to try to make sure that there's protection for those. And I to remember folks in the second District being trapped in their buildings at a time whenever our electricity went out. I have to just clarifying questions. One I'd like to ask the colleague, you're Roberto Duran. Is there a reason for five stories instead of maybe. Three. Or. No? I mean, whatever the consumer goods dollars would be available to, I just thought that five would be it would be the a threshold. But that's really available to 2 to 3. Yeah. Okay, great. So if we could just look into that as a whole for any two story or three story buildings. Great. My second question is for the city attorney and just clarifying, because it says city attorney and it says city manager to request back. So just clarify. This is a report to come back and then we would then do an ordinance. The I was just going to ask I actually I was queued up to speak to ask that very question. I think there are some issues of preemption when you're dealing with elevators in the state of California. All elevators are overseen by the Department of Industrial Relations. And so I think if we could the motion would be to do this study during which time we could look into what the options are. Available to the City Council for an ordinance and then include that in the report that comes back to you. And then we get further direction to prepare whatever ordinance. Yes, that was the intention of this. And thank you for. Thank you. Yes. Great. Thank you. And I'm proud to be a cosigner on this. And thank you for all the work that you did, Councilmember. Thank you. And I'm sure city attorney. I know you were a cutup. Did you have anything else or did you already know? Okay, then, Councilman Austin. Thank you. And I want to thank you, Councilmember Gonzalez and the rest for bringing this item forward. I will certainly support it. I think it merits the city staff looking into ways to improve and support the health and welfare of our residents, and particularly those who are most vulnerable in older buildings. City attorney kind of preempted me because I did have some questions regarding jurisdiction over inspections and who governs elevators, but I think this is a great item. I'll be certainly supportive. And then to any young people out there looking at future careers, I will tell you that there's always a shortage of elevator mechanics throughout the state and throughout the country. And so it's a great, great career that pays very, very well. So if you want to get a strategic advantage on on a career option, become an elevator mechanic, because obviously there's going to be a need. Thank you. Councilmember Mongo. I want to give a great, great, great bit of gratitude to the first District staff member who put an exceptional amount of work into the persistence of the community. This is a really important matter that often comes up only when it is too late when an emergency has occurred. And so we are looking forward to the opportunity to find what we are able to do. And if it only means that from here forward new buildings that are built, the city has the ability to put some restrictions in place. I think that we would go that direction, but we just need to be mindful of our scope and span of control and whatever we can do to make the world a more mobile friendly place for all of you. So thank you for your patience and cooperation in this important matter. Thank you. Councilman Andrews. Yes. Thank you very much, Mayor. First of all, I'd like to thank Our Lady Gonzales for bringing this item forward because of the fact that any time you speak of our senior citizens, which I am one myself, you know, and we talk about exits. I think this is a wonderful idea. And I was glad that both of our council members here talked about our height, because the fact that a lot of our seniors do live in very high places. But this is a very, very important item that you brought to the diocese year because the fact that a lot of us do. That's the only way of getting to and both to our, you know, place of residency. So thank you again, Mrs. Gonzales, for bringing this forward, and I truly will support it. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Gonzalez. Yes. I also wanted to acknowledge Heather in our city for working on many of these issues as well as Delores from the Disabled Resource Center. Thank you both for being here as well. Okay. Well, thank you very much. We're going to have any public comment on this item. Please come forward. We're going to. Okay. You. I am Francis. Emily Dyson Harris and I reside in District one. You have quite a bit of information that I have given to you, and I want to say thank you very much. Cast member Elian Gonzalez, Jenny Pierce and Stacey Monaco for, you know, bringing forth this agenda item. My very God daughter Amaya are being taken to school one day in November 2009. Said, Grandma, it's not right. The Miss Frances can't get out of out like us. What a profound statement and compassion for Sister Chow, which was, unbeknownst to me, the beginning of a horrific, horrific, horrific nightmare. I endured a non-operational elevator until January 29th, 2010. My goodness. 73 days. City Council members to have a power to flash a red light and stop such access, which may be considered a form of involuntary imprisonment. Similar incidents have been well documented on various news broadcasts. Every day is a process day and people have a right to lift it to the fullest. Days calm cannot be relent. Now please review attachment A as a notice of inspection by inspection, notice was served to the property where I lived at on the 16th of December 2009, and on the 23rd of December 29, I called the property manager. I mean, Ribo have her and he said, Francis, you're calling to tell me that you're out. So I'm going to tell you I'm not out. I've been in for my Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas and New Year. I mean, I'm going to who knows when I'm going to get out of here. So he was livid. His time. I served them and can scare the heebie jeebies out of him. Well, you know, they still did absolutely nothing. How sad that serious numerous violations would not adhere to until January 29, 2010. And then I have here about allowing a temporary interrupts a service, but I'm forced it has not clarified the number of days. What the problem is, is the federal regulations, which you have and I wrote a federal bill. It's kind of Washington. It came back. Congressman Albert has sent back to Washington. It has to be clarified the number of days when a temporary interruption services in town has defined no family status to the entity composed of fine. So that's been moved forward. But I just want to commend you for going ahead and putting this in place, because it's absolutely essential after two months of not having medical care, my condition just was just beyond words. Just and I had to find someone my friend found to carry me out of the building. I pay the thousand, sometimes $80, for grass assistance to get out of the building twice. Thank you, Councilmember DeAngelis, for asking me in 2010 words you can. And I told you basically that I was trapped up in the building. When people are in a decimation of lives, surely a non-operational hour puts them on a detour. Okay. And so back in March after that and then I have, I believe, most frustration it's created and met expectations and this ordinance. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.. So thank you very much. And I have a poem that I have for you, our, our friend. And we have, we have and. I'm going to give back to you as part of that. We have it already. The site. Thank you. Thank you so much. Make speaker, please. Mayor, city council members and the community. My name is Karen Reified and I happen to live in one of those multi-story buildings. I actually live on the 17th floor. And during the power outage, the elevators became a major issue. I want to suggest a couple of things. There's the evacuation and it's actually done by the fire department. And you've never lived till you've seen the fire department have to evacuate a woman from 17 floors and carry her down the stairwell who is over £300. We do have sleds in our buildings that they get removed and they don't get replaced. So that's another issue. Seven days is really too long for seniors to go without elevators. When the power outage hit, we discovered that we had an emergency generator, but it was not connected to operate the elevators. So we were without elevators for four days. I went personally up and down the stairs, 17 flights and I'm a mobile person. There are immobile people on my floor. Each floor has about 12 units. We had five people that had to sleep in the lobby on benches, hard benches, because they didn't weren't able to climb up the stairs to their third and second floor apartments. Elevators are absolutely critical for senior citizens. We also have issues not necessarily just for the repairs, but when they go down on the weekends. The moment this lasts Memorial Day weekend. We only had one elevator working in a building with 800 people. That's very critical. The elevators were very slow to get in and out. If you have a critical situation, fire department has to climb up those stairs and evacuate those people. So this is great that this is coming forward. I would suggest some some more changes and maybe some special provisions for on the weekends, because there's not always someone on call to respond if there's an elevator down. And oftentimes, it's just that they need resetting. And the seniors are without elevators for the whole weekend. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Male mayor, council members and others in the auditorium. My name is Ben Rockwell. I would like to let you know, I have experienced over the last 35 years that I've been using a wheelchair. Many times when elevators have gone out. Sometimes I've gone out while I've been on the elevator waiting to get down. And has taken hours at times to get out of that stopped elevator. It's very frightening indeed. Of course I do get to sit down and relax, which is better than most of you would. But even so, it's not very comfortable to be sitting there waiting for hours for the elevator. It would be nice if we had elevators that worked every time and were always doing what they're supposed to do. But we all know that isn't a good way to live in anticipation that that's going to always happen. But we do need to plan for the future and plan to get these things taken care of properly. I would like to have each person consider what it would be like to have to be stuck in their apartment for more than 24 hours or 48 hours at one time. It's not very much fun. But I will say we can get by with a little planning, planning for food as for any disaster, because elevators are a disaster, especially for those of us that do not have the ability to climb stairs. I would like to suggest that we continue to work on having quicker aims rather than seven days to make it a three or four day stay. Because seven days is a long time to get stuck, especially when it's a day before you are planning on going out to buy some milk. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rockwell. Speaker. Good evening, Mayor Garcia and council members. My name is Dolores Cindy, and I'm the executive director at Disabled Resources Center in Long Beach. And I am here to support the Reliable Elevators ordinance. And it looks like all of you are, to which you're a great council. You really are. Since I have worked at DRC for the past 25 years, I know how important it is for people with disabilities to have the same freedom to live their lives independently like the rest of us do. I have had the experience of knowing firsthand how tragic it is for someone to be trapped in their living space like Frances was for 73 days. During the time Francis was confined, she often called me and she would share with me what she was going through all season. Also, Cindy Soto worked at DRC for many years, and I remember all too well when Cindy would not be able to come into work because her elevator wasn't working. It's just inexcusable for persons with disabilities or for anyone else to have to be trapped in their homes. You often hear the excuse. Oh, well, the elevator is old, and it's hard to get parts. Oh. Well, you need to install a. New elevator, then. That's the bottom line. There should be no hardship for owners of these buildings. If they can afford to keep their elevators working, then they should own the building. They need to sell it to somebody else. You know, Francis is here tonight, and we need to put a face on people. More than than just a broken elevator. It's a lifeline for people like this. So thank you very much. Thank you so much. Next week, Speaker, please. Good evening, Mayor. City Council members. My name is Richard Hernandez and I'm a system change advocate at. Disabled Research Center. We are located. At 2758 Spring Street, Suite 100 and Long Beach, 90806. We represent the disabled community and seniors. And I'm also a commissioner for the Citizens Advisory Commission on Disabilities, Cape Cod. I'm here in support of Lena. Gonzalez's elevator ordinance. It is, which is long overdue. People with disabilities want to be independent. We want to go wherever. We want to go whenever we want to go. And when the elevator is down and we're stuck at home, we can't go nowhere. We need to be dependent and we want to be dependent. We don't want to dependent friends or family members to. Buy groceries or buy food. Or pick up our medicines. Not only is this not right, but it is dangerous because in an emergency, there's nowhere to go. I've heard. Stories of people. Being stuck in elevators for weeks and months at a time. It's unacceptable. Broken elevators should be fixed within a reasonable amount of time. So I'm asking for you to do to do the right thing and support this ordinance. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker, please. Hello. Honorable Mayor and City Council people. My name is Mary Sandy. Have a seat. Okay. My name is Mary Sunday House and I work with Cal State Long Beach, and I'm also the executive director for Professional Abilities Association of America. And I'm also a first district member resident, I should say. I want to thank Councilwoman Nina Gonzalez, her staff, Corey and Corey Allen and Jennifer Miyama for working so hard with Heather from the city of Long Beach. And also Francis. I know that that I'm a firm believer in things happen for a reason. And I think that the reason this happened to Francis because she has a very strong voice and she was going to do something about it. And I'm very proud of you, Francis, for bringing this forward and actually, you know, thinking of other people, because it's not only about Francis, it's about everybody else. So one of the things that's very important is that, you know. As a disabled person, we strive to be very independent. And when we get when we get stuck in a situation that prohibits us to be independent, we struggle and we struggle to ask for help because we're so used to being so independent. And so, you know, even though this is a big step, I'm really happy. And that Long Beach City Council is actually looking at this ordinance and saying, you know, that something needs to be done because it really does need to be done. And I see a community where, you know, we think of the people with disabilities, seniors as a before thought and not an afterthought. And and I really like that. And we need to continue doing that. I actually experienced both with you know, I experienced Frances being stuck in the elevator wondering when is she going to join us ? You know, I've also experienced Cindy Soto being stuck in her in her elevator. My worry was like, you know, as a professional, how is she going to get to work, you know, okay, maybe one or two days. But if you tell your boss, oh, again this week, my elevator still not broke. And so I'm going to have to miss another week. But that week turns into like a month. And it's just not no, it's just, you know, something has to be done and it is very inhumane. So thank you very much. Long Beach City Council for considering this ordinance. Thank you, Ms.. Sun House. Appreciate it. Next speaker. Please. Good evening, Mayor Garcia and councilman and also councilwoman. Thank you for being here and thank you for your service. I am here to tell you that I am 110% in support of the ordinance to regulate the elevator repairs related to the equipment failure. We are asking for the required repairs to be completed within seven days in the commercial buildings, also in the residential buildings as well that serve seniors, elders, people with disabilities and any other health conditions that makes it difficult to navigate the stairwells. Tenants pay rent for these services, so they should be able to request a reduction in rent if the elevators are not working. And that is just fair play for tenants and landlords. Thank you very much. Thank you. This is the last speaker. Mr. Goodhue, please. It's Larry Goodman. Obviously, it's a it's a much needed. Ordinates. I mean, it's just so obvious. It really doesn't need to be discussed. But one suggestion I would make is also reduce the time and the turnaround time. One day, one day. And that the company is not in a position to do that yet another company, period. And it doesn't make any difference to the age of the group. Whether they're seniors, whether they're kids in high school. College. If they're stuck, they're stuck and they need to get out of there in one day period. It was a good point pointing out the job opportunities with the elevator repairs. But they should understand there's some ups and downs to those type of jobs. Now, Mr. Goodyear, that was pretty funny. That was good about that. That concludes public comment. Let me go back to the council. Vice Mayor Richardson, thank you. I just want to chime in and obviously say good work to the council members who raise this issue. But what really prompted me to chime in and speak was sort of how enlightened I am now, just hearing the public comment, all of you come in here sharing the stories, helping us better understand there were a lot of people who were impacted. But you had a very specific impact, and it really impacts your ability to participate in society. Those are the kind of issues that we should take on to the city council. So so I feel really good about supporting this item. So I want to thank everyone associated with this. And I hope we can we can do something here to, you know, improve, you know, your quality of life. So thank you so much. Thank you. And Councilman Gonzalez. I just wanted to wrap up saying thank you again for for speaking. I appreciate each and every one of you and Mr. City attorney, if we can. I know things sometimes delay, but if we can get this back in 120 days, if not sooner. And also listening to speakers, if we are able to look deeper into that seven day window and tightening that up a bit, that would be most appreciated. And thank you guys again. Thank you. Okay. We're going to do some of our public comment now before our to take a vote. So please, members, cast your votes. Motion carries. Okay, great. I'm going to have our first three speakers of groupies by topic. There's a few folks here for the same topics Patrick Kelly, Duane Wilson and Dan Daniel. I think it says winner. I'm sorry for misspelled there at the.