Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare an ordinance establishing a permanent increase of the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) at the rate of one percent, to be collected by the operator from each transient with the room payment and subsequently remitted to the City of Long Beach, to be placed on the ballot in the March 3, 2020 municipal election, and any and all documents related thereto.
Motion carries. Thank you. Now we're going to be moving on to item 11, which is the transit occupancy tax item. Communication for Mayor Garcia recommendation requests City Attorney to prepare an ordinance establishing a permanent increase of the transient occupancy tax at the rate of 1% to be placed on the ballot on the March 3rd, 2020 municipal election. Thank you. Well, I want to I want to first thank everyone for being here. I know that we have a a group of folks here to to speak and to support this this measure. And I want to thank all the work that's gone into this item up until today. We do have a presentation from staff that's going to begin in just a few minutes. But I want to just say a few broader comments, and then I'm going to turn this over to our acting city manager, Mr. Modica. We all know that that arts and culture is incredibly important, not just to our economy here in Long Beach, but to the life of cities in general. Cities and great cities across the world and across the country have a thriving arts and thriving culture. We also know, and I think, that this council should be very proud that over the last few years there has been a focus and a commitment to the arts and to our tourism economy, which I'm going to speak to in just a minute. When you look at the arts as our as an institution and as activity that happens across our community, the city has been very committed to to our arts programs. We know that museum for our Long Beach Museum of Art, which houses art the city's art collection, has increased over the last few years thanks to the work of the Council and the commitment of the community. We know that we've been working with the Museum of Latin American Art to ensure that their facilities and masterplan continues to grow. And that's something this council did through its budget process. We funded permanently programs like POW Wow, which has brought over 100 murals across the city to really create an outdoor gallery of pieces and incredible artwork and murals. And most significantly, the council, just about a year and a half, two years ago adopted a new 1% for the arts program on public construction projects. That helps bring additional funding to our arts organizations. Last year alone, that 1% for the arts brought in about $218,000 for additional programing through the Arts Council and through the work that they do as well as are major arts organizations. But as we discussed then and as we know now. For our for our arts institutions to succeed, there has to be public investment. The truth is, is that we shouldn't look at the arts as a private enterprise. And art should not be expected to turn a profit to succeed or to maintain themselves. The arts are what we call what we know as the public good and all programs that that all programs and folks that are that work towards the public good know that there has to be government and public investment for those organizations to succeed. The truth is that funding for the arts across the country is viewed and invested through this public good lens. And it's something that we've done in Long Beach, but also that's something that we can do better or we know at the same time beyond having this investment in the arts, which is critical. We also are driven by our tourism economy, and most of that economic output and input comes through in and out of our amazing hotels that we have across the city, but also the convention center, our convention center, our Terrace Theater, the Beverly O'Neill Theater not just housed these great performances, but are bringing in hundreds of thousands of tourists, visitors, people that that book, hotels that fill our restaurants, that shop in our small businesses and make our city run. The tourism economy is an enormous part of the overall Long Beach economy, and we're very grateful to the work that the CVB does that the board works on. Of course, under the leadership of Steve, Steve Goodling and the entire board, the convention center and our tourism economy is also critical. Over the last couple of years, we've been having discussions, myself with Mr. Goodling, the art leaders of our arts organizations, about how we can provide more stable and long term funding for not just the arts , but for the convention center as well. What we have in front of us tonight, which Mr. Modica will present in a minute, is a transformational opportunity to support the arts and tourism in Long Beach in a way that we probably have not been able to do in decades. And so this is an important presentation. I'm very thankful that so many art patrons are here tonight to support this proposal. And I want to turn this over to Mr. Modica to kind of describe the proposal we have in front of us. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think the mayor laid out the framework pretty well for the case of why we're here tonight. And I wanted to walk through some of the details. So the culmination of all those efforts the mayor talked about really ended in October 22nd when we received a letter that went to the mayor and city council and a number of other entities from the LBE CVB, their hotels, and our major arts organizations really outlining that need for a stable source of financial support for the arts and for the convention center. And in that letter, it was requested that we consider a 1% increase in the total, which is the transient occupancy tax, which is also known as the hotel bed tax. And we'll talk a little bit about how that works in a second. And really the concept behind it is to provide funding for student arts education programs, community arts, cultural programs, local museums and theaters, convention and entertainment center. And that was the request from the groups. And so what is a transit occupancy tax? It's essentially the bait, the bed tax. It is for any occupancy of a guest room in a hotel, a motel in or a short term rental like an Airbnb or a Vibro. Anything less than 30 days is essentially in our ordinance what is counted under a transient occupancy tax. It is not paid by Long Beach residents unless they are using those facilities as a guest. So if you were to go rent a hotel room, you as a city resident would pay it. Otherwise you are not paying that tax. Essentially it is it is collected by the operator and remitted to the city. And our rate right now is 12%. 6% is a rate that goes to the general fund, and 6% is the rate that goes to what is called the Special Advertising and Promotions Fund. And that's the fund that is dedicated to advertising, promoting the city public relations and special events that cause that call positive attention to the city of Long Beach. So what would a 1% total mean? Essentially, the the proposal here is to increase the general fund portion of the total to go from 6% to 7%. So a 1% increase. And what that means in terms of dollars to a visitor renting a room, it's about a dollar 80 to $2 more per night. Even though that's a very small amount to the individual paying paying that tax, it actually does add up because we do have a lot of people staying in our hotels. And so that would be approximately $2.8 million annually that would be available to be able to allocate to two programs. That number will go up and down to what is a revenue source that fluctuates. But right now, we're estimating it at $2.8 million. So how do we compare to other cities? This is a chart that we wanted to provide the council to show that cities charge different rates and they charge them in different ways. So there's something called the top, which is what we were talking about, the transient occupancy tax. It ranges from about 10%, up to 15% in Anaheim, and we are currently at 12%. We also have and other cities do as well a business improvement district where the hotels actually tax themselves. It's a voluntary tax that they come together and assess themselves that they use to promote tourism. In Long Beach and in Long Beach, that is 3%. In some cities, it's they don't have it at all. In some cities like Huntington Beach, it goes as high as 4%. And so when you add those two together, you have a total tax. Anywhere from 10 to 17%. And in Long Beach, it's 15. A couple of other cities do things differently. They don't assess a percent. For example, in San Francisco, it's a nightly fee of $2.25, which then adds to their 14%. And in San Jose, it's also a nightly fee of $2.50. And so the measure in front of you would put us at about 16% if if that were brought to the voters and approved, we would be at 16. And how does that compare to a city of Los Angeles? Well, different cities actually charge different amounts for their hotels. And so on average, we are still about $100 less per night than rooms in the city of Los Angeles when you consider the entire cost of the room and the taxes that are associated with it. And so arts and culture, I think I think the mayor did a good job, a really good job of going through the key components of why arts and culture are important to cities. They are critical for our quality of life and to our identity and well-being. They also have a direct partnership with tourism and our conventions. And people like to come to cities where there's a lot going on and there's a rich arts culture. And as the city grows, which we are. The arts need to grow. And, you know, great arts make cities greater. And so, you know, there is a lot of benefit to having, you know, wonderful arts communities in Long Beach and and to do even more, although right now we do not have any fiscal resources, really, for growing that commitment. Do you want to take some time to talk about the convention center? The convention center is a wonderful asset in Long Beach. It brings a lot of business. It brings a lot of people in. But it also is an aging facility built in the sixties and seventies. It needs to be modernized to really support the range of arts that are possible in our in our artistic climate, as well as the other things that really bring in revenue to the city. We want to become we are a preferred destination for many organizations, but really they keep coming because we provide that first level, first class level experience and we want to continue that. So we recently done some study out of the convention center. We have been maintaining it and putting in dollars, but it is below what we need to be doing to bring it up to a level that, you know, that is sufficient. We have today over $50 million in critical needs at the facility. And that's really just the bare bones, not even the things that that bring in additional business. So there is clearly a need there. And what you're being asked to look at tonight is also what's called a fiscal emergency declaration. This is very similar to what we did under a measure. And these numbers you've seen before. This is to really point out that the city does not have additional resources to invest in this area or even to invest in our basic infrastructure or other basic services. We are looking at shortfalls over the next coming years and do not expect that there is going to be room for enhancements. And so Proposition 218 requires that new and increased taxes and extensions voted on at a regular general election of the city unless the council adopts a finding of emergency by unanimous vote. And so that is what is before you tonight is to have that declaration of a fiscal emergency or at least give direction to the council or to the attorney to come back with that next week so that this can be considered in March 2020. Staff supports that. So the sooner these are in front of the voters, the sooner you're going to have clarity of whether the voters want to do this. And that helps us prepare for our and prepare for the next budget. And so next steps, if you give us direction tonight, we would be returning to the council on November 19th. There'll be a supplemental item to be able to get this in front of you next meeting because there is an upcoming deadline. The county's deadline is December six, 2019, where all of the documents and everything has to be together. And so we think it's prudent to bring it back on the 19th to make sure we don't miss any deadlines. And then if it's the emergency declared, it would be on the March 3rd ballot. And again, I want to reiterate that the council doesn't make decisions about whether or not the total gets increased or not. You would just be putting that on the ballot and it would be voters that are deciding whether or not to increase the tax. And with that, we are available to answer questions. Thank you, Mr. Monaco. Great presentation. I want to just, you know, highlight the points I think are really are really critical. The first is that what we're talking about is essentially a increase that is not paid for by Long Beach residents and is actually not even paid for by the hotel itself. It is an added fee that get passed essentially to the person purchasing the night stay at the hotel across the city. In addition to that, we are on average already, even with this increase, $100 less than the average hotel room in the city of Los Angeles. And even with the total increase, we would be still 1% less than who we consider our nearest competitor, which is the city of Anaheim. So we are not in any way going beyond where our our our competitive level. Is it also as as is as we plan for the future, we know that we have approximately 600 hotel rooms that will be coming online in the next few years. And so the generation from this total will increase for our arts organizations. And I want to share also that at some point in the future, this Council will have an opportunity to actually have a discussion around how we structure the top. And as far as the funding mechanism. So that is not a discussion per se for tonight, but we will have that opportunity if the voters choose to implement this . But I want to just give you an idea of the impact. I know that Karen, for example, is here from A.C.T., which is an incredible professional theater company we have here in Long Beach. Just as an example, I'm at at her very best year, at her very best year, the city of Long Beach, I think it was one year was able to give her because of some redevelopment money and other funds, I believe it was a $100,000 master grant. And that was maybe 15 years ago or so that that happened. A proposal like this would have the capacity for Karen to receive that amount of money annually. That is transformational for an organization like ICG. If you're an organization like the museum, to be able to count on this type of stable funding, to bring in the type of shows and and support the kind of youth programs that it wants to do is also transformational. And I would add that goes on and on. I see friends here from musical theater West and Paul and I know you talk to me about the impact that this would have on your on your youth programs and so many others. And in addition to that, I want to, before I turn this over, is really commend the CVB and the leaders in the hotel industry that stepped up and said and could have said, we would like you to increase the 1% and it all go back into the convention center. But we we but we know how important the arts and culture is. And so we would like half of those funds to go directly back into the arts groups because of the work they do, in turn will end up enriching the city and therefore benefiting all of us in the end. And so I just want to thank to Steve and Imran and the board. Just thank you for for that leadership and and that ability to be inclusive within our arts community. And so with that. Before I cut someone fresh, join me do public comment versus do you want to go first. Why don't we do public comment? And then I'm gonna turn this over to Councilman Price. So I'm going to begin. And when I call your name, there's we're going to go in this order. We're going to start with Ron Nelson, then Madison Mooney, then Mujahid Kim, and then Imran Ahmet will be the first four. So, Mr. Nelson, you're up first. And if the other speakers could line up behind please, Madison, Mooney and Nguyen Kim and Imran on that. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, city council members. This is a transformational moment for the city, for the arts and the arts in the city continue to grow, but they're growing at a rate that is very exciting, but they're also growing at a rate that they really can't afford to keep up with, with all of our the nonprofit management throughout the city and that run most of our arts organizations, it's always challenging. And for us at the museum, it brings in it enables us to go in larger, greater exhibitions, number one. But number two, I also sit on the board of the California Veterans or the CVB, and knowing what the cultural tourism is and the impact it has on the city is rewarding to see it happen, but also an affirmation that it's happening and it's there and we just need to be able to support that and support that for all of the organizations that are here tonight and how many are here tonight, if everybody could stand from the arts. And this happens. Throughout throughout the throughout the year and throughout the day. What we bring back to the economy is big. What this brings to Long Beach, I think is even more significant. So I think in advance, this is definitely thinking ahead and it is forward in thought. And and quite frankly, we're all very grateful for this to go through. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Nelson. Madison money. Good evening, everyone. My name is Madison Mooney. I'm the executive director at the Long Beach Playhouse. Your local community theater over in the fourth District. And we are in the midst of our 90th anniversary year. As an arts enthusiast, administrator, performer and patron, I am in full support of adding this measure onto the ballot of Long Beach residents. Dedicated funding for the arts and the Convention Center will do so much for the population that we serve in Long Beach and those visiting us from outside our city limits. With funding from this dot increase, the Playhouse wants to expand our youth arts education efforts from only having a summer camp to year round classes and workshops for children and teens of all levels. And just like the Convention Center, the Playhouse, the building itself needs a little bit of TLC. And with this funding, we would update and better our facilities to make our community members visit with us much more a much more enjoyable experience and providing a space for the arts across town on the east side of Long Beach. And as a long art standing, long standing arts organization, we know that attendance and donations can ebb and flow depending on so many different factors. So having dedicated funding can make everything run so much smoother. I, along with my staff and board of directors, hope this measure can be passed tonight and take the next step in securing a brighter future for Long Beach Arts. Thank you. Thank you so much. We thank you. Between Garcia and council members. My name is Nguyen Kim, a general manager of the Long Beach Airport. It is my privilege and pleasure to be here tonight and make a public comment. I support 1% tax increase in transit and occupancy tax for a couple of reasons. The first, it is for the infrastructure need at the Convention Center. We really need to keep our convention center to staying competitive so that it can bring more tourism and convention business to the city. For the second reason, it is to support arts groups in the city so that more members of the community could have access to everything they offer. It will eventually improve the quality of life of the people within our city. A hotel doing business in the city of Long Beach. As a corporate citizen, I strongly believe it is our responsibility to return for a cause greater than just the hotel ourselves. I'm not saying it does not have any impacts on the hotels. It may have, but I know for sure it is a something we can afford for a great cause for the community and the members of community. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good evening, honorary mayor and the council member, Michael. Good evening. My name is Imran Ahmed. I'm the general manager of. The Long Beach Marriott and I also chaired the Long Beach Conventions and. Visitors Bureau. And with this 1% increase, we are 100% less fortunate because as we all have said. And, you know, I may sound like. A broken record, but it is very important for any city to grow, and especially our city, because we we take pride on our conventions and the business that we bring in. And we all the hotels benefit out of it. In addition. All major cities in the in the world, as you have said, honorable mayor that are known for their arts and and their culture. When we talk about London, when we talk about New York or we talk about other cities, our cities, our city has that. We just have to support it. And we appreciate your support. Thank you. And that speakers are time limits Karen Desai, Chin Patel and Daniel Luna. In that order, please talk of limits can decide. Chin Patel and Daniel Luna. Afternoon, Mayor. Members of the council. I'm Todd. I am a member of the board of Directors of the Convention Visitors Bureau, as well as one of the owners of the Breakers Hotel. And the Breakers. Will be the only hotel in Long Beach. Will have a live jazz club when we open. I'm the resident musician for our company. And I have been asked by my partners to come. Give our full throated support to this measure. The Convention and Visitors Bureau to the Convention Center really could use the money and visual arts. Theater and music are an absolutely necessary and indispensable part of our society. I'm also the parent of three local Long Beach musicians. Do it poorly when. It ROGERS And we can't support this enough. And we're we're thrilled to give our support. Thank you. Very much. Karen Desai. Good evening, honorable mayor and city council members. I'm Karen Deci, artistic director and producer of International City Theater, a dollar 80. A dollar 80 seems pretty inconsequential when you look at the return on investment and the impact you have upon the chance to make on the arts and on this community. And I can tell you from. Personal experience because I want to share some quotes with you because we produce five main stage productions annually. It gives us a chance to bring our diverse community together under one roof to better understand our shared humanity. We do six education programs that reach every district and every demographic. From age 4 to 104. We had a young man, 15 years old, view a production through our students two stage program. And he wrote on the survey. I found something inside myself that I didn't know existed. What a poignant, insightful discovery that young man made. One of our seniors for the low income senior program that we do that provides tickets and transportation to get them out of their homes, to keep them mentally and socially engaged. She wrote such a poignant comment about what the program did for her. She said. Forget problems, feel alive. You have an opportunity to continue that impact and grow it. Thank you so very much. Thank you so much. Can you tell? Hmm. You're gonna see our Long Beach City Council members, senior representative and give. First of all, I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you. I want to be brief. I'm here today to speak about the organizational on which they had to transform the lives of many low income students, particularly on the migrant education program of Long Beach United School District, where I'm a parent representative, which Angelica has been very kind, generous to, invited many of the families in our program to attend several beautiful concerts during the last three years. This is a very cross my heart, because many years ago I was walking with them, my son in the ocean . He asked me that What is that place? The Long Beach Committee said that, I told him, is a theater where they have chosen music. He asked me, Can you go there? And I say, no. I'm sure that tickets are expensive and you can afford it many years later. Part of the Mega Kitchen Program. What is your own invitation to go to a music Angelika concert for free? I couldn't believe it. The concert was incredible. It finally attended an event inside the convention center with my family. Many of us cannot even dream of attending this type of concert because of food. Because food and shelter take priority in our lives. But music and just comics makes possible. Our children love to put their best outfits and attend this special concert concert. I want to recognize missing Angelica to their generosity and inspiring my students to themselves as visions. If I was a family of four children in our program, who decided to become musicians in a sense of thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Next three speaker Daniel Luna, Dr. Felton Williams and Kelly Lucero. And then we have one more speaker after that. Two more after that. So next up is Daniel Luna. Dr. Felton Williams. Dr. Williams. Come on up. Good evening. Honorable Mayor Robert Garcia, members of the city council staff. I'm Felton Williams here as a committee member for the African-American Cultural Center of Long Beach. We are in favor of the tax as a beginning organization in the city of Long Beach. And just a little bit about the African-American cultural center, the city. The is to create opportunities for open dialog regarding issues of race and culture that will translate into. Building a more cohesive and enduring city and nation. As I stated, we are developing organization. We are we are in need of financial support as a developing organization. And again, we do support the tax. And I have my colleague here, Tasha, that's going to also say a few words. Thank you for bringing this forward. And we do support this and we just ask that there is an equitable process when the time comes and inclusionary process. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Kelly Europe. Good evening, everyone. I'm Kelly Lucero. I'm president of the Long Beach Symphony and a proud 32 year resident of the city of Long Beach. I know you all understand the importance of great arts in our great city, but I'm not sure you understand how precarious our funding is. I run one of the largest arts organizations with a budget of $3.2 million. Two thirds of our budget it funds people union musicians, vendors, staff, yes, artists. And about 10% of our budget funds, free programs in the community. We're proud of that. Until economic uncertainty hits like it did last spring, which jeopardizes our ability to make payroll, we had to scramble and end in the black with a $9,000 surplus. $9,000 and a $3.2 million budget is a very tight margin. And actually, thanks to the 1% of the arts, we were able to do it. I want to thank the CVB, the CVB board and Steve Goodling for presenting a creative solution. The funding would be transformative for all of us. Instead of panicking on a day to day basis about making payroll, we would be able to take that time and energy and resources and further invest it into this great community by providing more free programs for all demographics in our in our community. In our community. Funding would be reinvested into our venues, which is critical and will ensure that diversity and culture inclusion plans for our Native American populations and every other population gets a free, wonderful quality of life experience. Thank you so much for considering. Thank you so much. And then if I can have a last three speakers come up. That's Gary Sheldon and Cantrell and Larry Goodhue. Please come forward. Miss Cantrell, since you're right here, you can come forward. Not very good here so just can't control. And Gary Shilton. Good evening and Cantrell. And I am certainly in favor of this hotel tax being put on the ballot. I'm wondering if there are going to be restrictions on this money. All it says in your item on in the agenda is that the money will be remitted to the city of Long Beach. And I'm wondering if when you put this on the ballot, it's going to be restricted to the arts, culture, the convention center. If that's the case, then I would be totally for it. I'm not surprised that one of the partners from The Breakers is in favor of this, since you have allowed the Breakers to keep 80% of their. Jyoti, I believe it was for eight years. And if this is raised, they'll be able to keep a lot of this money that should have gone to the city. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, is. There something we can point? Good evening, Mayor. Council and staff. Well, I'm kind of settling in. If you can turn to the second page of the the mayor's document, the agenda item document, and look at the 2.8 million here in the last paragraph. Maybe circle that or something. That's that's where I'm going with my thoughts. There's nothing I would like to vote for any more than this next March. It's an exciting opportunity for the arts in Long Beach. But the reason I wanted to point out that $2.8 million was I understand that that's what this 1% generate in additional I guess, additional revenue. It says additional revenue. That would cause me to think that the other 12% that that amount of money is what rendered this $2.8 million figure. If I do the math correctly on this, that would suggest to me that the current total is running at about $35 million a year. And the last I checked, I don't remember it being quite that high. So I wondered if in your questioning, in your or your or your speaking with the staff on this, you might double check that. But then even more surprising to me was the staff report from the interim city manager suggested that that's all that 2.8 is all going to the CVB side, which would suggest that the current total is generating about $75 million a year. So just my way of looking at the idea of the disconnect there in the numbers and before I go to vote for it, I'd like to. Know a little more precisely what I'm voting on. Thank you so much. Thank you. You bet. That concludes public comment on the item. So appreciate everyone's public comment. Let me turn this back over to the city council and Councilwoman Price. There's a motion and a second, Councilman Price. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you very much for bringing this forward, and thank you to all of the supporters of this item who are here. I'm going to be wholeheartedly in support of putting that on the ballot. But also, once we move forward, I will be very actively supporting it and urging my community to do so as well. And the reason for that is as follows. As as a mother of two children who have been through the Long Beach Unified School District's arts programing. I am very well aware of that. But for the organizations that we have in the city that provide arts, outreach and education, many students would never have exposure to arts and education. Certainly they would not have exposure to the wide variety of arts and education that they get exposure to now. They visit so many different sites and get to see different forms of art, whether it's through museums, including our ranchos that they get exposure to, to, to just visual arts and music, arts and theater arts and all the different arts that they get exposed to. They would many of these students would never have the opportunity to be exposed to the arts, but for these outreach and education programs. So that's the key reason that I'm going to be supporting this item not just tonight, but for as long as I can and have the opportunity to do so. A lot of these organizations have been sustained year after year through the work of volunteers serving on nonprofit boards. And as someone who has been involved, you know, in behind the back stage, trying to raise money for these programs to continue to thrive. I can tell you it is incredibly challenging, especially with competing interests, hard economic times and just the vast number of operational, administrative things that are required for volunteers to be able to help raise funds for school, public education and arts programing. Many of the the individuals who serve on these nonprofit arts boards, obviously, they're residents throughout the city and within the region. But in looking at the lists, as I've been doing over the past few weeks, I noted that several of them, you know, live in my district. And there are people that I see day in and day out, and they serve on multiple boards as volunteers. And their only mission is to try to help find a way to bring art education into schools. The work that they do is just unbelievable. And in my opinion, it cannot be sustained in a city of our size with the demand and the growth that we're seeing in arts and and diversity in our city. They cannot be sustained with nonprofit support of fundraising. We need to have some city dollars that help support and sustain our arts organizations. The other area that I want to touch upon is our our conventions and visitors bureau. And I know, Steve, we've we've talked about it. His name comes up a lot. Steve Goodling is really a visionary and has taken us to another level in terms of our ability to recruit and attract visitors and conventions to the city of Long Beach. Enough cannot be said in words to highlight and underscore the work that he does. And I know that I've had several conversations with him over the last year, year and a half, about the fact that the convention center, in order to continue to be marketable and of interest to all those who are looking at competing facilities, has to maintain a certain look and it has to maintain a certain condition. And unfortunately, the city is no longer in a place where it can keep up with the demands of the convention center, especially not through our very limited Tidelands Fund. And that's a conflict that we've had for years now, where the resources that are needed for us to maintain operations and infrastructure in the Tidelands area continue to increase while our general fund dollars for those areas continues to decrease. And so we're not able to support the convention center in the way that we have in the past or the way that it should be supported. So this is a very creative solution. And I thank Steve Goodling and I thank our mayor for being creative and thinking outside the box. And again, I wholeheartedly support this. It's something that we frankly need to do. And it is not fair to expect. Art enthusiasts who sign up to volunteer to help promote the arts have to produce the type of budget that it requires to touch every Long Beach Unified School District student, which are in the thousands. They need help and we can help them. So thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilmember Pierce. Thank you. I wholeheartedly also support the step to put this on the ballot. The second district, obviously, we have the convention center. We have our small park, it park, our arts park. We have artists that live in unique housing. And so obviously for me, the second district is a place that will benefit greatly from having some dedicated funds for the arts. I know through the years we've talked a lot about investment in our downtown, we've talked about investment in the convention center and echoed the same comments that Councilwoman Pryce said. It often comes down to that budget season where, you know, is it is it pipes and infrastructure that we can't see that none of us think is exciting to fund? Or is it that exciting concession stand? And so I want to applaud you guys for coming forward with some ideas. I applaud the mayor for bringing this forward so quickly. I know it's been an idea for a long time. There are a couple comments that I wanted to make just about the the depth of our art community. Earlier, we we recognized someone that's been doing a lot of work with Art Selby, which is a very small grassroots organization that that has done a mental health work in the second District. We've got our Arts Council, which funds individual artists. Maybe it's our very first time ever receiving a dollar to do art. And we've got the Symphony and Long Beach Opera that really can talk about global issues, whether it's racism, whether it's classism, whether it's it's just sharing grief stories. And so it's a really great city to have arts, and I totally look forward to funding this. I want to say that I hope when it comes time that we are talking about equity. And the city came out with our equity toolkit very recently, a couple weeks ago. And so when that time comes, I hope that we can have a genuine discussion around how we ensure that the funds have that lens as we have that discussion. I have a couple facts that I just wanted to share. I know everybody's kind of already mentioned it, but our arts and culture organizations, they drive our tourism, they retain local dollars, they attract new dollars not only to our main streets, but to our downtowns and to our schools. As a mother of a seven year old, I'm constantly trying to think about how she can exceed expectations in the classroom and when she's playing with her friends. I looked up some interesting statistics today. Youth who consistently participate in arts programs are four times more likely to receive academic achievement, three times more likely to be elected to a class office, four times more likely to participate in math and science in three times more likely to be and to receive an award for school attendance. And so when we talk about funding, while we're talking about these big organizations, we've seen the programs that they bring to our to our youth and to our kids. And I think that's so important in making sure, again, that we have that discussion in an equitable way, that everybody's at the table is going to make sure that we hit this. I don't normally use, you know, sports analogies, but it's a homerun. And so thank you again for the leadership, everybody. I look forward to voting on this and having the discussion down the road. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Pierce, Vice Mayor Andrews. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. I think a lot of this, when we speak about tax, everyone gets a little nervous. But I'm sure I think Steve got in his group for coming up with an innovative idea to really be able to help our African-American culture tune. Because the fact that this would be a jump start for the culture that we have such a small amount of, you know, economic. Money is coming back into it because this year this 1% will mean so much, because the fact that you guys and everything, everyone realize that, you know, when you talk about art and culture, it makes the whole thing work. And Steve, you and your group makes it so wonderful to think, you know, out of the box and let them know that everyone would be able to share. And with this. And Dr. Felten, I want to thank you so much for coming forward and letting us know that we do have an African-American culture group that are really looking forward to this 1% tax kick back. So thank you very much. Thank you. Councilman Austin. Thank you. I think everything is mostly been said by our public commenters, but I want to voice my enthusiastic support for this item that will result in greater investment in our Convention Center, Convention and Visitors Bureau. But it also market our city in equally important. It will be an investment in boom for arts and culture in the city. The arts really do define our city. There's been no issue like arts and culture that I've seen that bring people together, that galvanize our community and excite the people in our city like the arts. And so this is a no brainer for me. I'm very much in support of it. And I believe when this is approved by voters, obviously it will have limited and very minimal impact on the residents of Long Beach. This is this is going to be great. And I just want to commend the mayor for his courage for bringing this forward. And Steve Goodling, who is a creative leader and himself a marketing genius. And I'm confident that this additional revenue for the CVB and arts will be a force multiplier for our city. So I'm happy to support it. Thank you, Councilmember. We're going to go ahead and go to a vote. Members, please go ahead. And Castro votes. Motion carries. Great. Thank you very much. And I want to. I want to just I want to say I want to say first thank you to all the arts supporters are here. I want to echo something that Councilman Pryce said is, I see all of you work so hard all the time, all year at events, fundraisers at school events , programs for Long Beach Unified. And I know many of you, I don't normally come down also down to city hall downtown. And I want to thank you for coming here tonight and for being such an advocate for the arts and to keep keeping this important part of our city in the fabric of who we are constantly alive . And so thank you. And much work ahead of us. But thank you very much for all of you for being here. I want to I want to briefly do item number 12, which I know is also related to the convention center.