Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with the Human Relations Commission to update and expand its mission and scope, and change its title to the Long Beach Equity Commission, in line with recommendations from the Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initial Report, and return to the City Council within 90 days.
And that's how I will proceed, since I don't have access to the Q system. So we'll start with item 17 and I'll make the motion on that one. Let's hear item 17, please. Item 17 is the communication from Vice Mayor Richardson. Councilwoman Van de has Councilwoman Allen, Councilwoman Sara recommendation to direct city manager to work with the Human Relations Commission to update and expand its mission and scope and change its title to the Long Equity Commission. Thank you. I'll go ahead and get started. So this is a recommendation from my office, and it's consistent with two recommendations in the Racial Equity and Reconciliation Initiative report. The Human Relations Commission has a long history. It began in the sixties with the civil rights movement was disbanded in 1981 and was revived in 1989 in response to calls from community groups and local ministers in response to an issue of police misconduct and police brutality within the city. Very same issue that led to the creation of the Citizen's Police Complaints Commission over the past few years has been discussions at the Human Relations Commission, and even more so now about aligning with a lot of the work that's happening here within the city to date. And by aligning the Human Relations Commission with work that's directly in line with the Office of Equity, the implementation of Racial Equity Reconciliation Initiative. Some of the important work that the City Council is doing, what we do is ultimately expand civic participation, transparency, oversight into some of this work . And so a citizen commission is is certainly something we're interested in. The motion initially says change the Office of Equity. In talking with the Equity Commission, I certainly support that. That's what's in the reconciliation report. But, you know, in talking to the commission and and community groups, there is an interest in having maybe a combination of equity and human rights. I think it's all fine. I think what's most important to me is alignment. I also want to just acknowledge the letters of support that have come in. We've received letters, support from Jessica Suma, from the Economic Development Commission, Walter Larkins, the Chair of the Economic Development Commission, the Lobbies Ministers Alliance, CCG, the LGBTQ center , Long Beach Forward Lobby, Center for Economic Inclusion, Success and Challenges and others. And so I wanted to thank everyone who participated in this, I think in alignment with all the steps we've done today, this is a good step the city council can take. The idea would be the commission is going to work with staff, come back to city council the next 90 days with the plan. And at that point we can vote to update and modernize our commission. And again, I think it makes sense. 30 year old, you know, this commission has been in place for 30 years. So has the PCC. They both sort of came out of the same moment and PCC has been modernized. I think it's time for the Office of Equity to be I mean, the excuse me, the Human Relations Commission to also be modernized. So those are my comments. I'll open up for a second and then we'll go to public comment. Is there a second? Second. Who's that? Sara. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Let's go to public comment and then we'll come back for council comment. I'm Clark. Our first speaker is Alyssa Gutierrez. Getting me Mayor and City Council. My name is Lester Gutierrez and I serve as chair of our city's Human Relations Commission. I'd like to thank Vice Mayor Richardson and the co-sponsors of this item for bringing this forward. The HRC strongly supports the proposal before you and is looking forward to working with the city manager's office to develop recommendations on modernizing the HRC role and updating our name to better. Reflect the core. Of our work. For decades, the HRC has been an ally and advocate in the fight for a more. Just and equitable on beach. Uplifting the experiences and needs of all marginalized communities. The very communities we've been talking about all evening low income residents, communities of color, rent burdened families, grocery store workers, members of the LGBTQ plus community women. Our current ordinance, written over 30 years ago, does not fully capture the realities of how injustice and inequity show up and more importantly, where they originate and how to address them. We know today that in order to create a more equitable city, we must go upstream and address inequity at the root in all its forms. As the city works to institutionalize equity, it's critical that an independent citizen commission has the ability to advise city staff and council on. Both practices. And be on hand to provide accountability and partnership. Throughout the process. We look forward to engaging our community partners over the next few months to identify what changes to our purview is needed in order to be a more effective advocate for all of our communities experiencing inequity. It's time to update the Human Relations Commission ordinance to reflect modern approaches to addressing inequity and human rights issues. Please vote in support today. Thank you, Mayor Richardson, and thank you to our fellow co-sponsors. Thank you so much. Thank you. Our next speaker is Amy Erickson. Good evening, Mayor. City Council, thank you so much for having this item on the docket tonight. I'm here as a. Lifelong resident. Of District two here in Long Beach and also been on the commission for over four years now. And I think it's really important that we make these. Steps to. Work. Alongside the work that is happening. With the framework for reconciliation. I would like to speak to a couple of those pieces, one of one being what we heard tonight. Every time we have public comment tonight. We've been hearing about how important equity is in our city and in in the systems that we have in the city government. And it came up over and over again that we that the city. Is dealing with issues of equity. At the Human. Relations Commission level, we would like to be able to not only. Be on public comment and give recommendations to you as council. Members. But be able to work with city staff. Who are doing amazing work in the Office of Equity City Manager's. Office, the Health Department, to make sure that every system. Throughout the city is looked at with an equity lens and can work towards doing the work that needs to happen alongside. The almost. 200 items in the framework for reconciliation. I just think it's so important that there be an opportunity to update the ordinance as this commission was formed over. 30 years ago, and I'm sure you'll hear. More about tonight. But it's so important. Right now to take a look and see what we can do. I also appreciate Vice Mayor Richardson for thinking about the title of this commission. I think titles are very important, and so making sure that over the next 90 days, as. We go through staff work to and to look at this and really look at what we do as a commission. I hope that we can take a look at what other council members want and what other commissioners want to see what this title could be. I think human rights is very. Important, and some people might think that if we think only about equity, we're not thinking about. The other items that really take care of our human needs and our community and those needs. Of marginalized groups. Not only including those that are being referenced. In the framework, but also. Our queer community, our community of women here in the city. And so we really want to take a look about how we can handle taking care of our community in a way that other commissions don't have the purview for. So we want to make sure we handle that. As past chair of this commission, we did a lot of work around our mission, and the mission is to inspire and support social justice and equity in the city of. Long Beach and to foster mutual. Understanding and respect for all. That's very important at this time in our. In our city's life. And I think it's really important to work alongside the framework. For reconciliation as well. I look forward to hearing what the next steps are. And thank you so. Much for this item. Thank you. Our next speaker is Corey Allen. Hi. Vice Mayor and council, this is Corey Allen. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be before you today. I serve as the District four Commissioner for the Human Relations Commission. And I want to thank you for. Your leadership on this item, as well as the co-sponsors for. This. The Human Relations Commission, as the vice mayor mentioned, has. Been at the forefront of a lot of these. Issues around equity. Around. Supporting the community and making sure that we are responding to. The work that's happening on the ground. You heard the vice mayor. Mentioned several of the iterations of this commission. And one. Of the other things that in. Its previous life this commission really championed was the human dignity. Program and. Really working on hate crime. Statistics and understanding how to de-escalate issues around hate crimes and make sure that. We were really working. In communities of color and in our LGBTQ communities to ensure that we were providing those resources as well. And I certainly. Would be remiss if I didn't. Acknowledge and call out Teresa. Gomez. Who is our amazing staff member who has been with this commission for several years, as well as Katy Balderas, who who has joined us every single week or every single month for our commission meetings. Just know you have. A dedicated crew of community leaders, a diverse crew of community leaders who are. Fighting hard alongside you as counsel to do this work. And we're excited to join you in this new iteration of our commission. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Eduardo Lora. Good evening. My name is Dr. Eduardo Lara, a professor in the department at Cal State Long Beach. My areas of expertize, for context purposes include social justice and intersectionality. I'm calling tonight to lend my support to this progressive change in the Human Relations Commission. I'm going to applaud the city council sponsors and mayor for bringing this item forward. It is an inflection point for the city to shift from a human relations model to equity is a modernization of this commission, bringing it up to speed to both the framing and best practices for advancing equal opportunities for our city's residents. To be clear, this item is aligned with the spirit of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that have swept non-profits, businesses, universities and now government institutions. Adhering to diversity implies there's representation across various identities. But with attention to historically marginalized groups, a commitment to equity ensures that fair treatment to all, while recognizing that each person and community has different circumstances and may require different resources to bring about equality and inclusion. The steadfast commitment to Building a culture of belonging. In other words, if you're a resident in Long Beach, you belong and are entitled to a seat at the table. Whatever language you speak, regardless of documentation status, you belong at the heart of these three pillars of justice that braids them all together. In other words, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are brought together by a common vision to distribute resource equitably aligned with social justice, preferably through a lens of intersectionality. It's important to note that intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal scholar and black woman. She came up with the framework in the late eighties to help convince legal community that just because we bring about further equality for black people and women, it doesn't necessarily advantage black women. An intersectional approach remedies that. As a queer Chicano researcher, I've seen the benefits of intersectionality as an approach for equity and also the empowerment of Latino communities. This item will help operationalize the recommendations from the reconciliation report. This will also help close three institutional gaps at the municipal level. Community voice, empowering community residents and crystallizing a formal structure for this. Empowerment is going to be lost on anyone tonight. This item is sandwiched on a day in between the celebration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And the inauguration of the first woman, a woman of color. As vice president kamala harris. It is equity policies like this one that can create opportunities for the next king and Harris. I look forward to seeing where this inflection point takes the city of Long Beach. Thank you very much. City council and mayor. Think your next speaker is Gregory Sanders. Hello everyone, and thank you. I actually applaud the genesis of the original human resource lease with the Human Relations Commission. However, 2020 was the alarm clock that has awakened us to the fact that names do matter. We've seen the replacement and even the removal of names on things as small as retail products to the evolution of massive fan based organizations like the Washington Redskins to the Washington football team. So moving forward with expanding the role of and a shift from being identified as a Human Relations Commission could not be more timely and even more relevant. The core values that actually underpants, sustainable community development, interdependence, empathy, equity and intergenerational justice are the pillars of the city's reconciliation efforts. So if we build this correctly, the Equity Commission is a viable vision towards an even better Long Beach being constructed. A lot of people want to skip ahead to the finish line of racial harmony. They want to get past all of this tension and unpleasantness to place to a place where wounds are healed and everyone sings Kumbaya and the past is laid to rest. But Benjamin Franklin said justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are. The Equity Commission can gently disturb the comfort of those unaffected while actually encouraging and empower those that are. Thank you so much. I appreciate you all. Talk to you later. I think your next speaker is James Sweitzer. Good evening, honorable man. Members of the City Council. My name is James Wilder and I'm a third district president and executive director of Long Beach Forward. Before I jump in the comments, I'd be remiss to say that I hope that we can be together in person soon, or at least on video in these digital meetings. Because I too was wondering what colorful bow tie and glasses that Pastor Sanders were. So I wish I could see that sometime in the near future. Nonetheless, I'm here tonight to talk to you and ask for your support and our organization asking for your support on this item. Our organization, Long Beach Forward submitted a letter of support in this item and asked for your affirmative vote to expand the purview and scope of the Human Relations Commission. So whether we're black, indigenous, Latino, Cambodian, Filipino, LGBTQ young people or seniors, it is vital that we all see the diversity and culture of Long Beach prioritized within our local government. And that means moving from equity from pages in a report to tangible policy recommendations and decision making is the next bold step that the City of Long Beach must take to build on that foundational work that has come from so many, so much community driven activism, the absence of equity and, of course, the framework for racial equity and reconciliation. The Human Relations Commission has consistently played a strong role within our local government for a more just and equitable Long Beach, uplifting the experiences and needs of marginalized communities, and also translating this into tangible change for people's lives. So expanding the official purview of the commission will aid the Commission in fulfilling its mission to inspire and implement equity in the city of Long Beach and also foster a mutual understanding and respect for all. And I want to be clear that working towards equity is not an easy process. Equity requires that we understand the path without being trapped in it, embrace the present, without being constrained by it, and look to the future guided by the hopes and courage of those who have fought before and beside us. And as city leadership continues to work towards advancing Long Beach into the new decade. We must also plan for a just and fair inclusion into a society where we can all participate, prosper, and people can reach their full potential. Committing to that equity commission is a solid step in that direction. I thank you for your commitment to advancing racial equity, and please vote yes on this item. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jesse Needham. Hello, Mayor and city council members. And all these. Great people I've been listening to on the call. My name is Jesse Needham. My pronouns are she and her. I'm here representing the California Conference for Equality and Justice CCJ. I'm also a Long Beach resident. Thank you to Vice Mayor Richardson for putting forth this agenda item. CCJ enthusiastically supports the expansion of the scope of the Human Relations Commission and the name update outlined in Agenda Item 17. In the 1990 and 2000. The Commission and CCJ or CCJ, as we. Were then known, work together to. Respond to and prevent hate crimes in our community. And we look forward to working with the Equity and Human Relations Commission. Sorry, Equality and Human Rights Commission. To address ongoing needs to uplift values of equity and inclusion in our. City and address the racism, bias. And bigotry that harm people in our communities. We also ask Council to call. On the city manager and other budget. Decision makers to. Ensure that the Office of Equity in the Health Department have adequate funding and staffing to support the Commission's work. A name change that focuses our attention on the need for equity in our city is important. But Long Beach must put our. Proverbial money where our mouth. Is when it comes to supporting the commissioners and city staff to put ideas into practice. Long Beach residents must be able to trust that when concerns about inequity are brought to the commissioners, that they have. Sufficient resources to do further research and make policy. Recommendations and take action to with the city based on their findings. Thank you so much. Our next speaker is Suleyman Gonzalez. Thank you both, Mayor Richardson and City Council. My name is Selene Gonzalez. I'm human relations commissioner representing District nine. So the Human Relations Commission has been a strong ally and advocate in the fight for a more just and equitable Long Beach. Expanding the purview of the Commission will aid the Commission in fulfilling its mission to inspire and support social justice and equity in the city of Long Beach and foster a mutual understanding and respect for the city of Long Beach engages in efforts to institutionalize equity and infuse an equity lens through our practices, policies and decision making. It is critical that an Independent Citizen Commission has the ability to advise city staff, city manager and City Council on best practices and be on hand to provide accountability through. Through partnerships. In the process. I love Blondie and it is time for us to update the Human Relations Commission's ordinance to reflect the modern approaches to addressing inequality and human rights issues. Thank you. Your next speaker is Tiffany Davey. Good evening, Honorable Mayor Bryson, City Council Tiffany and David, District four residents. I am in support of this item which aims to go beyond simply renaming the Human Relations Commission to the Long Beach Equity Commission. I particularly look forward to seeing amendments to the purpose members functions and most importantly, to the authority the Commission has, as it currently outlined in the Long Beach Municipal Code, Chapter two, Section 44, which was last amended in 1989. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. So now we'll go back to the Madam Clerk if there are any council members queued up. Yes, we have. As Woman Sun has. Thank you, Madam Cook. I just wanted to say thank you to Vice Mayor Richardson for bringing forward this item. I think that, you know, this is very important going forward, especially in the times that we are living in right now. I think that, you know, one of the things I've always advocated for was a commission for quality of health of our residents. And I think that this is the perfect commission to implement that into. And I think that it is very important to be equitable when dispersing whatever resources we have from the city. So I think that it's very fitting right now for this commission, and I really do thank you for your leadership on this and for your vision. And I'm happy to support you. And if somebody has not yet taken the motion, I would like to. September 15. I believe. Councilmember Councilmember. Okay. And I should have gone to her to comment. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. And again, thank you for your leadership on this. Certainly. Thank you, Councilmember Ciro. Yes. And I, too, want to thank Vice Mayor Richardson for bringing this item forward and his leadership in ensuring that we're making alignments and modernizing the way that we address inequities in our city as it relates to the framework for reconciliation. And we have made a lot of changes to the Office of Equity, such as moving it to the city manager's office, expanding it in staff size. And I think it's also important that we also do that at a commission level to ensure that there is an alignment on the human relations side and making sure it's relevant to the time and the current environment we're in. And, you know, human relations is a lot about addressing and improving interpersonal relations among individuals and groups. And a lot of the causes are of of it are racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism that's been you know, that causes these differences and challenges we face in ensuring that our communities are united . And so it makes so much sense to me to ensure that we also have residents and leaders that are that can speak to these issues and address it and give us feedback and that are representing our residents at the commission level. So that's why I'm so supportive of this item. And, and I and so thank you very much for all of the community members that committed and gave your feedback. And thank you very much. Thank you. Is there any further further council comment, Madam Court. That concludes Council comments for this item. I also have a Councilwoman Allen. I have a comment as well. Okay. Thank you. I also want to thank Vice Mayor Richardson for his leadership on equity and conservation and to all the community and for their input as well. I signed on to this item because I too believe in equity, just like my predecessors who took timely action last year relating to reconciliation. And I want to be respectful to all the valuable work that was done prior to my joining the body. I would also be open to alternative names and look forward to seeing the proposed mission statement and scope of responsibility that ensures that the body continues to be fully inclusive to all of our communities and advocate for the protected classes. I do look forward to hearing back in 90 days from the Commission. What's the best way to represent and serve all the diverse communities that have suffered from inequity? Thank you. Fantastic. Thank you. Let's have a roll call vote, please. And so a woman Sunday has. I. Councilwoman, Councilwoman Ellen. I. Councilwoman Pryce. I councilman's a bona. Fide. Councilwoman, Mongo. Right. Councilwoman Sara. I'm Councilmember Granger. Hi. Councilman Austin. All right. Vice Mayor Richardson. I. Motion carries.