Recommendation to receive and file a report and presentation on the development of a comprehensive wayfinding signage program, including City gateway entry signs, directional signs for public parking, and coastal access signs.  (Citywide)
Item 17 is a report from Development Services. Recommendation to receive and file report and presentation on the development of a comprehensive wayfinding signage program citywide. Okay. Thank you. And I turn this over. Councilman Gonzales from the city staffers, the presentation. Okay. I know we have a important presentation on this, and I turn this over to Mr. West. Thank you, Mr. West. Mayor, council members, you might recall, I think, the first city retreat that we've had in over a decade at Long Beach City College. This subject was discussed by the new city council. It wasn't a decade. Since a retreat. Yes. I don't think we've had a retreat in over a decade. Oh, okay. I thought you said a decade ago I was like, wow. No, but we haven't we've not had a retreat in over a decade. It was the first retreat. And at that time, the new council. Does feel like a decade ago. I just. Okay. Well, it's been a lot of work and I'm just now it's over to the assistant city manager, Tom Modica, who's been working closely with the design team, Linda Tatum, Development Services. And I think what you're going to see tonight is going to fulfill all the talk and dreams, hopes and dreams that we had when this came up at the retreat. And take. Take it away, Tom. I think this is a very exciting report. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Mr. Mayor, members of the council. You will have a presentation. We will actually go over the actual gateway signage program and. And and show that to everybody. I do want to spend a little bit of time talking about how we got here. This is, as the manager mentioned, this has been a big priority for the mayor and the city council to really enhance what our gateways look like. It's been a long time since we've looked at our gateway signs. We did one back probably in the mid 2000s in throughout the city funded mostly the redevelopment. And then we also did some downtown back in the early 2000, just downtown specific. You received a briefing back in August to talk a little bit about what the public outreach was going to be, knowing that public outreach is really important. So we've done a significant amount of public outreach. We've talked to over 300 groups in 750 interview surveys that we receive back to help inform this design. So you're going to hear now from Melinda Tatum. We'll talk a little bit about kind of the history and and starting, you know, the kind of the overview of this. And then you'll hear from our design consultants, Albert Perkins, before we talk about next steps. So. Linda Tatum. Thank you. Mr. Modica. I'd like to start the presentation by just talking about how excited we are to be able to finally bring this to you. And what I'd like to do is to turn it over to our consultant. So Albert Perkins and Cliff Silbert will make a detailed presentation and staff will close out the presentation with comments regarding the next steps. But I'd also like to introduce our the planner who worked on this project, Gerard Coleman, who's sitting here at the dice with me. So, Cliff, if you could do the staff present the presentation on this item. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Linda. Thank you, Tom. Thank you, Gerard. And thank you to the honorable mayor and council. We really appreciate the opportunity to be able to present this exciting work to you. Just to get started. Everybody has a package in front of them. It looks like the goals of this project really to focus in on three different areas of the city as a starting point. One is to enhance the city's identity and update the entry monuments into the city. The second goal is to improve the parking signage and helping people to find parking. The third goal was to help people through a consistent wayfinding program, not to find a way around downtown into coastal areas, and ultimately to identify and eliminate problems with existing signs which might be inaccurate or confusing have information gaps are redundant, but probably most of all, there's a lot of clutter out there and a lot of sign clutter, so we want to clean all that up and reintroduce a new system that can enhance the city. We are the ultimate approach for the vehicular science system is to look at the city entries, parking and then access to the to the coast as well. As we just heard, we did an extensive public outreach program. I apologize for not having your names all on here. We interviewed over 300 people from different advocacy groups, including biking, aquatics, the Queen Mary, all kinds of different neighborhood groups, individuals, and certainly many of you on the city council as well. And I thank you for your participation in this process. We also put out a digital survey on your website and got approximately 750 responses, actually quite a few more than that at last count. And that included 92% residents, 6% commuters and a few tourists as well. And what we heard is very consistent group of words about what people love about Long Beach and what makes it unique. And they said it's diverse, it's creative, it's progressive, it's vibrant, inclusive, casual and relaxed and a great waterfront with unique, friendly, small time feel to all of its neighborhoods. And I think just I've attended a few city council meetings. It's pretty clear that's what this city's about. It's diverse, it's open, and people are very optimistic and progressive in this town. Some of the ideas also came up and said, Well, if you can do a city science system, maybe you should put a slogan on the city sign system. So the kinds of ideas people expressed were the international city, the gateway to the Pacific, unique neighborhoods, great city, aquatics, capital of America, where the going is easy, the bike friendly city. In other words, a lot of different ideas about what the city slogan could be. Our recommendation is to not put a city slogan on your signs. The reasons are multiple, but some of the key ones are. The signs will last for decades. City slogans tend to be part of ad campaigns, and they're better integrated with advertising, promotions, merchandise and visitor information. And they can really enhance the merchandise, the promotions, the advertising, the visitor information by constantly being updated and being kept up with the time city slogans can really be interpreted to to sell products, too. So we recommend that for those slogans are used and Long Beach is very diverse. We've heard that over and over again, and city slogans can be interpreted differently by different residents, visitors and nationalities. And frankly, I don't think you'll ever come to a consensus or agreement on a perfect city slogan that will last for the next two decades. So just a note about that. As we looked at the city, there are many existing gateways into the city, although I wonder how many of you would actually know when you've entered the city of Long Beach. We've heard it's one of the largest cities in California, but I've passed through it a thousand times and I still wonder why I'm in the city when I'm not in the city. So one of the the focuses is to look at the primary gateways into the city. It really announced and proudly make everybody understand when they've entered the city language, give it some awareness, give it a sense of place. Science can do a lot of things, but one of the things it does extremely well is it creates a great sense of place for people and they can be feeling part of that place. So we'll be looking at reprioritizing what you're seeing here as the yellow dots, but none of the locations are finalized at this point. We'll be working with internal groups, with the city and with yourselves to define the final locations. The existing conditions in this, frankly, makes it look pretty good. There are a lot of signs out there that are falling apart that are very. Poor condition are illegible. They're very dirty. They're not well maintained. And then as you look at city parking, it's a wide range of visual language out there. People get confused. They just have no idea where to park. In fact, you have quite a bit of parking available and nobody knows how to get to it. And then on the gateways are all different styles and different versions of it. Some you can't read at all. They're just too small to read, but mostly they're out of date. So we want to take a new look at how to enhance the entry experience and how do you find your way to parking into the coast. So as we look at Gateway signs there, the city has a very powerful and clear logo and identity. And we looked at introducing these elements at different types of gateways through the city, including a signature gateway, which would be large letters, vertical gateways, which have a number of vertical posts and a color palette that is part of the city brand and enhances and gives us a feeling of a beach community or an ocean community and also enhances itself with some spots of color to to represent some of that diversity. Also, smaller monuments as well can be placed around the city. So there's a wide range of small, medium and large types of gateways that we're proposing. And there are a few different places where these can be located. Maybe one of the most important spots, though, is really where could we put a signature gateway that moment as you enter the city, there are a few spots in the city that make this really a glorious idea. The first one is at the 710. As you enter into the city, there's plenty of space out there. The pretty dramatic Long Beach lettering that's about 15 feet tall and dramatically welcoming you into the city. You certainly know you've entered into Long Beach in a place that its community can be quite proud of what it sees. And then at night we could spotlight this so there wouldn't be a night sky issue, but we could also provide lighting that that would give it some fun colors could colors that would enhance events and different holidays as you choose. But a very simple Long Beach sign that reinforces the brand of the city and announces when you've arrived. There are other opportunities around the city that are currently kind of visually terrible, so we would like to enhance some of those moments too. And this is one option on an overpass that right now is is kind of in poor condition. And is it one of the entries on Studebaker and seventh? So enhancing these underdeveloped and underutilized areas as well is one part of the goal of vertical gateways are proposed in order to really take advantage of the small footprint that they can create, but also the dramatic impact that they can have from a car. We want to make sure anything we put in it is large enough to see it's legible and it certainly gives a positive image for the city. So here's how that might look in Artesia. And we're again still looking at the different locations. And certainly we want to enhance these with additional landscape around them whenever possible. But the intent is to always locate them places that are safe, that are clear view to it, and also provide some real enhancement visually for the gateways. At the small end. There are plenty of spots that we don't have a lot of space and there are fewer cars passing by so it can become smaller. So and we can look at the color palettes of these as well. So there are a lot of opportunities and a lot of options for how these pieces can be put together. This gives you another example of how a smaller sign might look in these locations. As you might imagine, we prefer the larger ones more because of legibility and awareness. But certainly there are many places where this is the appropriate size as well. And then at the smaller size, very simple signs that really reflect some of the existing post mounted signs that are out on the site. Probably the closest thing you have to a historic feeling sign. But the idea here is to integrate the color palette of the city again with simpler signs at certain locations where the space is extremely limited and also the visibility is very, very evident. Wayfinding signs will help people find their way to parking and to other destinations in the city. The proposed right now is a very simple sign. One of the things we really heard is people felt many of the signs in the city were overdesigned. There's too much going on to the point where they can't even read them. So and the other important aspect is people want to know how to get to. So the proposal prioritizes parking and makes the P very clear and then we can add destinations to each of the site. We're also recommending that no vehicle signs have more than three messages on them because, as has been shown through speed limits, this is the optimal number of messages people can read from their cars going at the speed limit. We also want to make a unique sign for coastal access to really encourage coastal access. So make it very clear how to get to the coast. We looked at a lot of different versions here in this one currently represents a very soft beach in a sense, and now big waves because I don't get the big surf waves here, but the quiet, calm beach and ocean side that we see here. And these signs could be mounted to existing infrastructure, to St Paul's around the city. So we're not proposing any new polls, but wherever there is an existing sign, we're proposing to take it down as well. So as you come in on Broadway, what you might begin to see on the right is the directional sign on the left , a banner on down the street. You can see other directional signs and other elements attached to the infrastructure of the city. And then coming into Long Beach, we would also like to add, wherever possible, the welcome to Long Beach sign. So people begin to get the message that this is a welcoming place. Might seem like a very simple idea, but it's that kind of step that could help people engage and become part of the city again. And then finally we want to get to parking. So there are a couple of ideas about parking. One is when you arrive at a parking place, it makes it very clear you're at a parking garage, tells you the street you're on at that garage, and then tells you how many spaces are still available in that garage. This is current technology available today and being installed throughout the country and throughout the world actually. So you're going to be seeing a bit more of it. Another idea is to, as a later phase, let people know how many parking spots are ahead of them on the next block at the next garage. So the sign on the right is a digital marker that will help people understand as they enter the city where to find parking. Very simple, very direct, but also designed in such a way that enhances the city and has a unified color material and lighting to it throughout the city. We also hope to enhance the system with a pedestrian time program. We're working with downtown Long Beach to develop this part of the program as well. And this means once you get out of your car, you have a map, and that map will help you understand a five minute, ten minute and 15 minute walk from your desk , from your location, and also give you context in the city. And we're starting to see maps like this around the world that are really enhancing pedestrian movement and reducing pollution because people are getting out of their car faster when they park and they're starting to walk around and use the city much, much more. So it enhances not just the walkability of the city, but also the economics of the city. Then we're also proposing a series of banners that are essentially set up as templates to identify different areas of the city, streets in the city and key locations in the city. We've also showing some placeholder ideas here for imagery, Civic Center, Pine Avenue. These are areas that we could begin to take a step further in defining the kinds of activities and uses that are on those streets. And then we want to have a vehicle and pedestrian system enhance the overall connections. How do we get from Pine Street down to to the to the waterfront right now? That's a rather scary walk to take. We want to help people know that it's an easy walk. It's just a few minutes and enhance that with elements that they can see in the distance to help guide their way and give them a sense of security and safety and identity that comes with with walking in Long Beach in this particular spine here, we'll be receiving other enhancements, building renovations and a new hotel. So it's also a critical spine for the city between the convention center and Pine Street. We really want to show the importance of this spine and enhance the walkability of it. At the same time. Also, there are a lot of opportunities to talk about not just bicycles and the bikeway system that's being installed now and enhancing that, but also looking at historic markers in each different area. So there are these are essentially preliminary designs or templates that people might consider as options for how to identify historic. Destinations, important destinations in their communities. And then as you enter these neighborhoods, we would like to enhance the identity of the neighborhoods and in the areas in commercial areas and residential areas, and setting up a series of opportunities for neighbors to establish their own neighborhood identity. And they can do it within the citywide system, which also would allow them to add their own pattern languages and their own other languages as they may see fit. And this would be an opportunity for the neighborhoods that would be funded separately from the main program. So these signs might include commercial IDs, signs of residential I.D. signs, neighborhood I.D. signs, and other types of neighborhood identity signs. And these could be enhanced with other colors and patterns as well. These are provided as a template for those communities. I just want to work with that template and easy enough to install it as in their different locations as needed. We've also been partnered as part of this with Dubé, and I'm going to pass it back to Linda to give you a little information about how they will be working with us. But what you're looking at here is a preliminary map of downtown and how the map is evolving. One of the things I'm sure will come up is, you know, what's digital about the system? To preempt that question, I'm just going to say we we suggest that the digital part of the system be in your phone. This is why we see around the world it's working much better than walking up and having touch screens work. So it works in tandem with digital systems and allows us easy updating and it also allows people to absolutely locate themselves. You cannot actually locate yourself with Google Maps walking around the city. They're just not that detailed. So we need a partnership with static elements. And static elements also provide something the phone can't do, and that is a great sense of place for people. So that's part of why the map is here. And we would hope that that map would appear on everybody's phone, on the website and on the site. So that will really begin to link everybody together as they use the city. So again, I'm going to pass this back to Linda to talk a little more about that. Thank you. Cliff, I'd like to just highlight this component of the project deal. Bay and their staff here in particular, Shawn Warner has been a key member of the city's project team, which included the development services staff as well as public works staff working with the LBA. And we're excited about their participation because they are concurrently with the city's efforts. They are undergoing working with Cliff to develop their own comprehensive sign program, which they will phase in over time, and they will take care of the funding of that effort, which will significantly complement the city's wayfinding program. And it will also be at a much finer level of detail regarding getting around within the downtown area. So we're really pleased to partner with the lobby on this effort. And as Cliff mentioned, this is a preliminary design. We are still working to refine this design. Audie LBA is still working to refine this design in coordination with staff. So I'd like to close out by talking about what our next steps are with the Council action on this item. Tonight, we will work with the consultant who will start preparing a much finer level of detail for these drawings coming close, preparing construction drawings, and we will work with them to identify specific locations for each type of sign that we've discussed and presented here. And we will also refine the cost estimates for these each one of the the various sign types of so that we can work to identify the phasing and recommended locations for each one of these signs being sensitive to the cost parameters. And what we are hoping is that if we continue on the pace that we're working on now, we anticipate having being able to see the actual installation of the first phase of the signing, which we anticipate to be the the signature gateway entry signs. We anticipate having those installed by early fall of 2017. So that concludes Steph's presentation, and we're available to answer any questions you might have. Thank you very much. I'm just going to make some a couple of comments, Councilwoman, that you want me to go to you guys first. I would do public comment first. Okay. Why don't we why don't we go ahead and then just do public comment first and then we'll go to the council. So public comment on this, please come forward and and as as folks are lining up, I just want to say that I think this is I know this is something we've been talking about for a for a couple of years. We put it we put some initial money in the first in that first budget to get this thing funded. And I just want to thank staff. For their work. The same consultant that was hired by staff is was well known as one of the best sign consultants anywhere, you know, just singing your praises, sir. And so. I think we're we're grateful that we're with the processes at this point now are we can take some input and and take the next step. And so coming to public comment, please. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Sean Warner. I'm with the downtown Long Beach Alliance. I just want to commend the city for bringing this project forward. This is an exciting project. We're excited also to be a part of the project. Appreciate the city recognizing the importance of wayfinding throughout the city. Not only helps get people around, including visitors, but it in turn generates economic activity in our downtown and throughout the whole city. So we're also pleased that it's a comprehensive approach. It's not looking at just one type of signage, but it's looking at vehicular pedestrian signage and gateway signage. I think that's very important. And the fact that it's a collaborative effort between the LBA, the city and other partners. We're excited about that and be able to contribute to the downtown portion as well. I also want to thank city staff for the outreach they've done over the past 12 months in doing online surveys, meeting with different community groups. They also met with our Public Realm Committee last summer. So it's it's really encouraging to get the outreach and see the the comments that we heard during that outreach realized in what what they're presenting tonight. And finally, I just want to say that we're excited to begin implementing this project over the course of the next few years as funding is identified. One last note I did want to make is that next Thursday at Studio 111 at 5 p.m., DLB will be hosting a meeting to update our stakeholders on the pedestrian portion of the project in a little more detail. So please pass that information along. We'll be sending more information about it as well. But thank you again. Thank staff and we look forward to moving forward. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. Mr. Mayor, and council members and staff appreciate this report on the presentation. However, one of the things that was missing on that list, I think on page four, stakeholders that you talked to was Aquatic Capital of America. And it's very disappointing to us that we were not heard. I only heard about any of this stuff through or any community outreach through one woman affiliated with McCormick divers who went to a meeting, I think back in November. And then she provided some information. And also I did take the survey as many of our board members also did. I'm here as a representative of the aquatic capital of America, as the vice president. And the survey basically talked a lot about what direction do you come in from to the city, from what areas do you use? How do you walk, do bike, do you drive? What kind of parking issues are there? But nothing specifically about what would be on the science. So I was very disappointed to see this on the agenda tonight. As being an item where you would see the designs for the first time and we've had no. Public input as we have had on. Other projects when the designs. Came out before it went to council. So we would like to see you know, I had asked each of you yesterday to pull this item so that we could have this kind of conversation and put this off until some point when this conversation has been held so that we can have our sign, our side heard as well . In our input specifically in terms of the gateway and not. Having a slogan. I think when we've got the slogans up there now that say International City, that goes back, I understand, to when we hosted the Miss Universe contest 40 years ago by Friendly City, there's many, many cities that would, you know, appreciate the efforts of Mr. West and everything he. Wants to do to. Make the city more. Bike friendly. But I think there's many cities in the country that would make the same claim. But there's no other city that we know of in this. Country that can claim aquatic capital of America. With our history, our beaches, the bay, the lagoon we're in stadium. The number of Olympic athletes. The types of activities that we take place here, we're clearly the aquatic capital of America. And one of the I think was on page maybe eight, the top right. Monument sign showed. Aquatic Capital of America. And it's a very nice cement. Very project. That would be a monument that would last for. Many, many years as Mr. Siebert, I believe. Sorry if I missed your name wrong. So I think we'd like to revisit that issue as well and have some opportunity before the council approves this and moves forward with that to have our voice heard as well. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Tom Troutman, founder of the Long Beach. Quite a couple of America. Could you put up the seal of City of Long Beach, please? Can you do that? Before collared seal. I don't know that we have just an image of that available, but that's what we have. I saw one in a corner of something or in a previous discussion, but what I'm trying to visualize here is when I form this. Organization here. It is. Perfect. Thank you. What we did, a group of people in Long Beach who are eager to see the. Energy of the. City being brought out and what we see as aquatics. If you look at Shell, what do you see? Water, ships, sailboats. This is what Long Beach is. What I'm seeing here in this presentation is. Very, very boring, frankly. Nobody ever contacted me or any part of our organization. I've been working on this for ten years. I can't believe this is what it is. I'm frankly very disappointed. And I think we have to get reconnect and get some of these people that I've. Put together over the last ten years who are eager. To showcase their city for what it is. We've got the Queen Mary. We've got the Port of Long Beach, all of these organizations, the largest marinas in the United States, sailing, swimming, all of this was here. This is showing up at presentation. Nothing. Oh. I'm just flabbergasted, frankly speaking. I love to talk with this group more about this. I think you should. Totally. And get more input from outside just the. Downtown area. We understand and we share things. That's okay. But the image when I go to every city in the country, I look at what is the logo? What's the slogan for the city? I travel the world. This is something that needs to be addressed. Now, before we go any further. Thank you very much. The keynote speaker, please. Hello again, Sylvia Contreras. And thank you for the presentation. I really enjoyed it. Actually, it was a new item for me. So if we moved forward with it is I'm fine with it. On the other side, I do agree with the people that are just mentioned here. My suggestion would maybe add a little design, a seagull or a Queen Mary or something like that to emphasize Long Beach. But otherwise I'd say just move forward. Thank you. Taking us back to the city council. Oh, Mr. Goodhue, please come forward. I think overall, the the concept is good, but there certainly obviously is the previous two speakers referenced some areas that it can be improved improved upon to capture the attention. My personal life is one of the greatest things we have. And the greatest icon we have in the city is, of course, the Queen Mary period that's internationally known around the world, period. But the level that there's a whole subset and the aquatic capital is certainly something that should be front and center and is matter of fact, is as part of that coming forward in the next six weeks or it's through the requisite commissions, I'm going to suggest. In fact, I've sent an email out to the council person on this relative to the open channel instead of calling that the open channel. I'm going to suggest that we call it Runnymede, and that is rooted in the understanding of the EGIS of the grant deed, which is singularly unique and very, very important to that. And of course, everybody knows what hopefully what Runnymede is. And there is within the grant deed, the what I have always referred to is the Magna Carta, the Marine Stadium, and more details will be coming out on that. But certainly the Marine Stadium and the sailing and the area activities that take place there should be incorporated in some of the signage in some areas that may not make any difference due in some part of the cities. But to ignore it, I think, would be rather ill advised and short sighted. Thank you. Thank you. I take it back to the council. Councilwoman Gonzales. Yes. I'd like to thank our design team, as well as our Long Beach Development Services team, as well as the EPA for their partnership. I certainly you know, I've seen I'm seeing the vision here. I know that some things I would like to see a little bit, maybe more character in some of the items. And I guess I'm looking to see how that evolves as the process goes on. And I know it will and the colors might change. So this isn't certainly settled, but I know that there was a lot of work put into this. And so I want to thank the stakeholders who were involved. And so on that note, what are the next steps and are we kind of talked about it, but in terms of timeframe and additional input, what would be the next steps just to clarify that? So Councilmember, I'll start with that. Essentially, after going through that public process and trying to listen to everybody and talking to all the mayor and council as well as the three stakeholders, this is kind of what the design team has come up with. We are tonight kind of out there to make sure that you, as the governing body, has a chance to see that and give us input. And so we're listening. That said, we would then need to start moving forward with kind of a design where we would start getting into further level of detail, especially realizing that some of what has come up today, some are more appropriate for certain areas than others. We'd be talking after we kind of come up with the initial staff plan with all the council members as well as what are the the areas that are more, you know, where each one of these could go and how those treatments could be. It could be done. We need to do some further cost estimates as well and really determine, you know, what budget is available and also what types of things like lighting would be appropriate in certain areas. And then in some areas, you know, for example, some neighborhoods we wanted to provide an option for neighborhoods to have this types of signage. But we also realize that neighborhoods are different and neighborhoods, you know, they have their own unique quality and their unique, unique needs. And so we're not necessarily saying every single neighborhood would have to have a sign that looks just like this. So these are options. And if neighborhoods are interested in pursuing a different approach, we would certainly accommodate that. Okay, great. I just wanted to clarify that, and I thank you for the hard work, especially in terms of the parking. I think that's long overdue. We definitely need to consolidate the messaging. Definitely need to get up on our technology and. Making sure that people know exactly where to park in all sorts of areas of the city. So thank you very much. Thank you, Councilman Alston. It's a great. Question because you actually took one off of my my list. Thank you, Councilmember. Regarding the neighborhood signs, I think the question I actually had well, first of all, great job. This is very inspiring. It's exciting. And I want to just say, the the the concept for the entryway signs are very impressive. And so great job there. I don't I wouldn't change much in terms of what I have seen there so thus far. But I want to go back to the goals that were mentioned in from the beginning the beginning of your presentation. Yeah. PAGE So how did we arrive at the goals? So the goals. We looked at three different things. One, that Mayor and council talked about really highlighting our gateways and making sure that our gateways were signified with something special and unique so that you knew when you arrived in Long Beach. Separately, we also looked in our parking impacted areas, especially where we have a significant amount of parking lots like in downtown and parking structures. We how to actually navigate to those. And and it also was complimentary with a grant that we've received from Metro to do a lot of that electronic signage that Councilmember Gonzalez just spoke about . And then the third came from a ability to direct people to the coast. It's something that we've been working on, on all of our Tidelands projects and as part of our ah permitting requirement with development services is how to make sure people are aware of our coastal activities and how to get to the coast. So those were the three primary goals that we looked at. Well, I don't I don't disagree with the goals in any way. I think they are laudable. We we want to make sure that, you know, we're maximizing our potential as a city. But my my comment regarding the goals in terms particularly with the wayfinding signage and I believe my comments when, when I was interviewed would be to include some of our other amenities in the cities as well, and not just, you know, focus on downtown in the coastal areas. We do have some great communities throughout the city. We have thriving business districts. We have business districts. We want to draw not only local residents from a pedestrian and bike standpoint, but we want to draw regional dollars into our city as well. And so I would just add that, that when we look at wayfinding, we we want to direct where we are, improve our economic development potential for for other areas of the city as well. So that that's just my comment on that. And then certainly and if I could just provide some input on that and part of this was because we have a funding partner. The downtown is really focused because they're funding it. We were designing this as a system that if your neighborhood would want to use these types of signs, that they could be used in other areas . So we certainly have a template and we can we can expand this project and contract as dollars and others become available. But that is the intent. Salute. Great job. Forward to it. Thank you, Councilmember Ringo. Thank you, Mary. I want to commend our consultants and our staff, obviously, for putting this together. But, you know, when you have a young you also have a gang. We're talking entry level gateways. What about exit as you enter Long Beach? It's big limit sign. And how about when they exit? We're like, Thank you for shopping Long Beach or Thank you for visiting Long Beach or You're leaving Long Beach, something that tells them Thank you for being here. I've seen that in other cities. So just think about that in terms of when you have an entry, you also have an exit. So I'll think about that. Also, just a fun fact. Here are how many cities border the seventh district? Does anybody know? For Los Angeles? Carson, Signal, Hill and Lakewood. And that includes Dominguez, Dominguez, Rancho Dominguez. So we have a lot of entry points. You border a lot of cities. So you might want to consider that into play, especially when you're talking about the exit signs, where they're leaving, where they come from and where they're going. But other than that, I'm looking forward to this. I'm colorblind, so color doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me. But what does make a difference to me is like would say caricature. Sorry. Excuse me. You could put my emoji in there or my or my emoticon that all that. As you're entering the seventh District. Those are, you know, who get e-mails from, you know what my mole can looks like. But good job. I'm looking forward to seeing this the some some more of a finalized product so that we could discuss it a little more. Thank you very much. Thank you. We're going to go to councilman before we go to Councilmember Pearce, just one thing that you had mentioned about just before we leave that topic, Mr. Modica because it's my understanding that the reason why there's so much downtown in this is because they're paying for their portion. And so while I think that the intent, of course, would be that there would be equal signage across the city and the downtown, obviously, if they're going to pay for that piece, that'll be the deal, be a piece. But as far as our research resources are concerned, I would expect that all areas of the city are treated equally outside of the downtown, regardless of that investment. Now, if you know the Northtown group or if you know Cambodia town, if they invest in a portion of for themselves, I'm assuming that that would create more signage opportunity . Right. But I'm just want to make sure that's clear that this should be this should be equitable across the city. But, of course, focusing on the gateway areas. Absolutely. If you remember, there were three different sections and that to the to the goals and one really that the gateway signs is distributed completely equitably. So if you saw in the presentation, we showed four different areas. Those were just examples to show that where there'd be entrance to downtown, to the west side, to the north side and the east side as well. And then the downtown was really focused on from the pedestrian side. But absolutely, as we start to roll this program out, we will be investing throughout the entire city. And and the other thing because you mentioned it, because I think it's also important to note we actually have a lot of existing very nice neighborhood signage. And so whether you go to University Park Estates or you go to North Alamitos Beach or you're going to go to Bixby Knolls, I mean, there's obviously a lot of these neighborhoods already have signage that they worked very hard to to put up and they've invested in, and it's kind of tailored to that neighborhood. And so I just want to make sure we're clear that in no way are we coming in and asking anyone to replace their signage or to somehow remove that. Because I think we I mean, I think I like and think we like the fact that a lot of neighborhoods choose to have their own distinct character. This is more of a more kind of global approach to gateways. And as we're adding signs about Long Beach and if neighborhoods want to be a part of the program, then they could be. I just want to clarify that because we have a lot of nice signage across the city that are very different per neighborhood. That's absolutely correct. We're not looking to replace or change the neighborhood identity in any way. We do get requests from time to time about we want to put up a neighborhood sign and what could that look like? So what we wanted to provide here were some options to also help the neighborhood association reduce the cost. It would be pre-designed and say you can pick from some of these and add some of your own flavor. But if they wanted to go a different direction, we think that actually helps with the character of the neighborhood is that not every sign looks ever exactly the same. There are some cities that are master plan that way. That really isn't the Long Beach flavor, but this would provide some options. Thank you very much. Thanks for the clarification on that, Councilmember Pearce. Yes, thank you so much to staff to the team that's worked on this. I think, you know, you've got some really great ideas. I really like the Gateway City ones. I did have one question and it's not my district, so forgive me, but four or five and 710 area, it seems like that is a major gateway and I'm not sure it looks like there was some existing signage there, but are we going to be replacing that? Signage. Which one in particular at the four or five in the 710. Yeah. There's a four or five, seven, ten. There's one that says existing location. Well that remain there or will it be replaced with something. I'm looking at page seven. So there is an existing one there. We would likely through this effort be replacing those and we would work to see what makes sense there. Would that be a larger gateway sign or a smaller monument sign? And then on the gateway signs, I see the the colors are those colors by light or is that painted that way. Sorry. So the question that is light on that, the signature gateway, those are ground mounted lights that shine on the sign and the colors of the lights are the change. The sign remains the same color light. So say it's, you know, Saint Patrick's Day. Could we change them all to green or are we got to stick with the same color all the time? The the signature gateway. The signature gateway is currently designed so it could change the color. Okay. The secondary gateways are not currently designed to change the color, but certainly evaluate that option. Okay. I like the. Idea of being able to change color flexibility. You know, I think that the logo is really streamlined and I think it looks really great. Just want to make sure that we're exploring any opportunities to be flexible. And so thank you for that. I also just want to say how much I really appreciate the historical markers. I think they really, you know, give some flair and some some neat design, you know, when we're using basic of color. So thank you so much for all the work, guys. Thank you, Councilwoman Price. Thank you. Well, I have to start by echoing the sentiments of some of the speakers that today I'm incredibly disappointed that the aquatics capital of America is not listed among the organizations that were talked to. And if they were talked to, I'm extremely disappointed that they weren't made more of a focus of this presentation. I know that when I spoke with the with the group about planning for this project, I repeatedly stressed the importance of the aquatics capital of America to the third district. We have aquatics capital of America signs throughout the third district. It's it's it's an entity and group that we respect and value and appreciate their mission for all the great things they do for our city and for our young athletes. And so the fact that they were not a major part of this discussion is disappointing to the representative of the of the district. That's the beneficiary of many of their efforts. And as a city, that's the beneficiary of many of their efforts. So I want to start with that. So I would like to hear a little bit more about that. I think the idea of taking a pause and allowing them to be more involved is reasonable. And I'm open to hearing what my colleagues think about that. Beyond that, I like the the idea and the concept that we can individually tailor the signs to suit the needs of our particular district. And the reason I make that point is that I know I have talked with Tom in the past regarding the aquatics capital of America designation. I was not here on council when that happened, but based on conversations that I've had with colleagues throughout the years, based on the dialog that I've heard behind the dais, I don't know if there would be a unanimous will on the part of this council to have a city wide slogan that was related to aquatics . I don't know. I could be wrong. Having said that, I think it's important that we continue to echo the priorities and the the campaigns and the iconic symbols that are important to our communities, in our districts and in our neighborhoods. And I intend to do that fully, regardless of what signs we adopt citywide, the aquatics capital of America will have signage and representation in at least the third District Council by the third District Council office. While I'm here, I understand the disappointment that they have, because even as I look at the images here, I know there's a lot of images all throughout the city and they're scattered. But this is a really important group. They raise a lot of money. They help so many athletes throughout this city. They recognize civic engagement. They work closely with all of us. And the fact that they're absent from this document is really upsetting to me. So I don't know what happened. I was actually my excitement for the signs was overshadowed by the omission of this group from the discussion. And so I'm. I think, you know, the signs are very simple and I like that. I think it's an updated look for the city and it's classic and it's timeless. And I think that's good. I think when you have too many pictures and images and things like that, the signage becomes stale very quickly. Within a five year, five or ten year period of time. Even the seal. I love the seal and I love that Tom pointed out the seal. But it's not an updated look in terms of if someone was visiting your city as a way for them to be able to identify with an image or a brand. It's more historical in context and conveys a deeper meaning to the city. But to the user in the city, it's not an updated look. So I appreciate that and I like the simplicity of these signs. I think they're going to look great. My biggest commitment and my my my biggest concern has always been community engagement in this process. And every process that we do, branding a city is a big, huge deal and we're attempting to do that. And I know it's not possible to include everyone, but this particular group, I mean, I think the team I met with is right here. I repeatedly said to them, you have the aquatics capital of America, the aquatics capital of America. And I see some of the organizations reflected here, although, frankly, I don't this cannot be an exclusive list or this can't be an exhaustive list, because I would wonder like, for example, Belmont Shore residents associations listed here, that's really great. They're not the leading organization for Belmont Shore any longer. They have a membership that's much more diminished now compared to another Belmont Shore resident group. And I'm wondering, where was that group even reached out to so perhaps someone could shed some light on to how were these groups selected and others not? And is there a more thorough list that's not available to us at this time that we could see? Certainly, council member I can answer a number of those questions. So yes, indeed, this is an illustrative list that was put here. It was to show the magnitude and some of the sampling of the 300 plus interviews that we did in addition to the 750 specific survey responses that we got back. And I can tell you that, you know, that was an oversight on our part, that we tried to list as many of the entities as we could. We can certainly provide additional information, but we, the aquatics Captain America, has probably been our most frequently talked to group throughout this entire process. Myself, I think I've spoken to Tom several times since the beginning of this process. So he is very been very active. And in letting us know that they are interested in being on the aquatics, the capital of America has been part of this slogan. The city manager has spoken to them as well, and we also have them as part of our groups. You know, that being said, you know, we are going to continue to talk about aquatics, capital of America that, you know, I think you heard it from the consultant, regardless of whether it's on assign, given the recommendation from them not to put it actually on the sign itself, that doesn't diminish the city's ability to be able to do marketing, to be able to talk about important things like the aquatics capital of America. So that very certainly can still happen and we can still be part of our advertising and marketing. So while it wasn't included here, we did have a number of of water groups and aquatics groups that were interviewed. They weren't listed, unfortunately, on on that slide. But again, that was illustrative. And we've had several conversations with the aquatics capital of America, and we apologize for oversight and not putting it in there, but that those conversations did occur. Okay. I want to move on to what I think is going to be the next phase. So I'm open to to more dialog and more conversations with them if there's still an opportunity for that as we move forward. So let me just say that and I hope there's some support from my council colleagues for that. Having said that, if we talked about this, I apologize for missing it. But what funding sources have we identified to get us started? Do we have any money? Yes. So the city council actually authorized about $400,000 if memory occurs to get us started, the consultant contract cost approximately 150,000 in that range. So we are still have significant resources to be able to, you know, to start and take the next phase and to get us into further refinement. We would also be looking through the budget process to look at funding this and starting to do these in phases. So we'd like to take a big jump forward in the next budget process so we can we can get a lot of this done. The coastal signs, for example, and the coastal wayfinding would be funded out of Tidelands. So that would be something that would be different. And then the parking downtown signage is actually funded out of some of the downtown parking meter money. We had looked at some of that as well as that one and a half million dollar, I believe, Metro Grant to be able to digitalize the signs and to really provide some of that parking in. Information digitally, which would also incorporate some of the signage. So we have a number of different funding sources available. Okay. Do we have any priority for which science would go where first? I think we would do that through our the next phase of our planning. So we really are in kind of the beginning part where we're talking about, you know, getting consensus on on the design so we can move forward and get that next level of schematic design and start getting into construction documents. We need to do a further survey of all the specific locations and really hone in on what goes where and what makes sense to go where. Once we have our design direction and we'd be talking to each of the council members about what's the appropriate fit, what what types of those gateway signs would go where, and to make sure that we're, you know, that we're in touch with the community needs. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Mongeau. I am very excited about this. In the fifth District, we have many, many entry points to other cities. Freeway on ramps. People come by not only vehicle and foot and transportation through public transportation, but also via air. So we have lots of different routes in which people are engaging and coming through the city. Just a quick. Second. I'm one of the. Individuals who really focuses on ensuring that these assets that we're spending a lot of money on can be maintained long term and what our plan is for that. Could you talk a little bit about the long term costs that we think might be necessary to mitigate potential damage? Certain types of things like this that I've seen in other cities can and do engage with wildlife and the community. And the heights of the fines and potential graffiti and things like that are really important to ensuring that these are at the forefront and always at a level that we are very proud of. Councilmember That's a great point. We want to make a lasting impression. We want these to look good for a while. And so that's part of the reason that we retain Sober Perkins. They are experts in that, and they really, as part of their design, look to see about durability and making sure that they look good. So for that, I asked Albert Perkins, Cliff, to give a little bit more information. Yes. The maintenance of the signs we design signs either be very easy to replace or very easy to clean and maintain. And I think our intent in this case is to make the panels easy to replace if it's hit by a car, but if it's merely vandalized any kind of paint, we would coat these signs in such a way that they could all be cleaned very easily. Probably the biggest maintenance item you could expect over the years would be lighting. Luckily, new LED lighting has made great advances, so most of the lights now last over 20000 hours. I think LAX is probably the best example we have of lights that have been in place for a little over ten years now, and they've been on about 12 hours a day. So lighting is really the biggest maintenance issue outside of people just banging into it with a car. So we want to make sure that we locate these in places people can't really get at too easily. And and those are the core issues there. We also it is possible to create an app for the city that locates every sign in the city that allows your maintenance department to locate any sign. So if it gets hit by a car, it sends a signal back to the city and says, what happened to it? So that is an advanced technology that could be incorporated. And certainly by the time these are built, that would be a pretty typical tech technology. It's interesting you mention that there is a monument. Sign that was hit by a car and. It took quite a while between the. Insured and the city and the community and everyone who tried to get it back put together. But when I look at page 31, I love the. Commercial I.D. sign. Do you have anything similar to this that has been around a long time? Because I do worry about the durability of letters. Falling off. And things that can happen. Sure, there are many examples around the L.A. area that we've developed similar signs. I'll use LAX again as an example. Every sign at LAX today has been installed since 2000 or 2001. So we have to build them out of durable materials and make sure they last. The other effects of climate out here, we've got the salt water. We've got a lot of wind, we've got a lot of just sunshine. So we have to fabricate these in such a way that they don't fade. And there are technologies available for us to do that as well. Well, I really appreciate the work that you did. I think that this is pretty comprehensive. I know that as I looked through the different pages and saw the many ways in which it could be spread throughout the city, whether it's through the banners and the others, I think that it really helps the business associations and the neighborhood associations. I know our business association spent some money this year putting up similar banners and had we had a template like this, I think it would have really added some continuity. And when you cross over from Los Alamitos into Long Beach or when you cross over from Lakewood into Long Beach, signs like this will really help. And I hope that we even get to a point. There are lots of areas around the edge of our city. When I talk to neighbors and they talk about the need for. Street repair and all of those things, they don't always know exactly. If they're in Long Beach or Lakewood or if they're in Los Alamitos or Long Beach and so on and so forth, or even unincorporated in Long Beach. And so I would even be interested in encouraging local businesses to take a sign somewhat like the the banner and change it into something that says like a proud Long Beach business for those broader businesses. So people can know there are a few key gas stations that we encourage Long Beach residents to use that live over on the borders that don't have as many accessible Long Beach sales tax, gas stations. And so I look forward to engaging with our business associations. I look forward to seeing these all throughout the city. And I think the more of them that do look exactly like this, the more identity we will build. I'm not encouraging us to take down any of the old ones. I too appreciate the uniqueness of our city, but as communities that don't have them yet want to add them. I think that this is an amazing resource and I'm excited that the council was able to come together in a unified. That idea. I'm right when we came together as a group almost three years ago to start something that really can have a lasting impact of identity. So I look forward to this and thank you for everyone's hard work on this. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilmember Superman. Thank you. I just wanted to reference a couple of points that were made here already. And also thank you to our consultant and all for the time you spent with my office. I don't remember everything I said. Just think kind of pearls of wisdom I dropped at that meeting. One was that Councilmember Arango referenced it with the multiple cities. I remember stating at our meeting that four of the council districts Border Signal Hill and we, according to this list, will only have one Long Beach sign. Boring Signal Hill I think that's on Atlantic and Spring. If you go if you want to Google it, it's 518 East Spring Street. You can go to Street View and there is a Long Beach sign. And I think to Tom Shane's point that for those of us who grew up here, it was always the nautical theme. And here we are in Atlantic and Spring, and it's a very over-the-top nautical theme for the sign. And I believe your colors do pick up somewhat of a nautical theme, but it's not as dramatic as as we've had in the past here. And I think of the old Queen Mary signs of international city. So there is a constant reference to the ocean. But back to the point on Signal Hill, if you want to go to the 1900 block of cherry, you're saying you don't know when you're in Long Beach where you can tell there because there's a signal hill sign. There is no language sign. So what I'm suggesting with our friends in Signal Hill, how we partner with them to get back to back signs, one sign says Long Beach or entering Long Beach. The other side says Enter in Signal Hill is a little economy there. And just overall, I just like to say that I think the design process, the creative process like this is give and take. Your first shot out of the box typically is not where we end up. So I look at this as a work in progress. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Councilman Andrews. Yes, thank you. I think a lot of this I think you guys did a great job. But I think it's a lot more to do because I hear about the aquatics situation. They talk about aquatics, you know, Long Beach. But, you know, I think if you come down to 17, I think if you take a left and come east, you can't, you know, overlook that little school they call, probably high school. And more NFL players came from that school in any other school in the nation. So you have to understand, somebody's got to find out where did these people go? Even that thug you talked about, Snoop Dog, he even went there. So I think there's something they should be remiss that we should see something when we come inner city, you know, I know downtown you they have the money, but we don't. So I think something should be really mentioned when we talk about saying things about the, you know, coming inside of Long Beach, not just down on the pipe and places like that and realize that the money that they have. But we want to know Long Beach. Long Beach is a very diverse city. I think when you when we have signage, I think those signage should be able to represent all of our diversity we have in the city. And I think you guys did a great job. But there are just some things I think that we really seriously need to be a little more noticeable about. And that's really when you come inside of the city of Long Beach. And then people know when you read various signs that there are places that I would like for you to come in and see, not just downtown, right? So keep up the good work. I think this is something coming out of the box. We're looking at it. It looks good, but we have some more work to do and thank you. Thank you. I think we've concluded council comment but Councilman Price. I just have sorry so so to the city staff and going back to the aquatics capital of America, Tom, I'm hearing you say that there was outreach there, organizations saying there's not outreach. Can can we at least agree that moving forward will do some specific outreach as we develop these signs further with the groups specifically, maybe go to a board meeting or something like that? Sure, we'd be happy to go and talk to the group again. We can also look at some of the other things that are unique, especially down the coastal areas. Signage. If you saw we did have some signage up there, that was banner signs which are kind of designed for us to be able to highlight certain areas and thinking in particular down by the beach and tidelands there, there may be some more appropriate areas to really talk about, you know, some of the aquatics, the great aquatics work that we have down there. So we'd be happy to go and talk again and get some additional input. Thank you. Thank you. No counseling, no other council comments. I'm going to just briefly say two things. The first is one of the things I actually like, and it's amazing. You know, people, you know, obviously see different things in signage. But I, I actually got a very nautical feel from the signs myself. And so what I saw to me and in the signs I saw. Waves. I saw blues, I saw whites. Obviously more of a modern take. But I think that that to me at least maybe it was different for others. But I saw a both modern and kind of contemporary approach that was kind of timeless to the idea of of the coast, but that could be applied, you know, whether you were in the coast or whether you were in North Long Beach or whether you were in in Central, it could fit anywhere. But still had that coastal theme to me at least. I just want to point out a couple little things I think are really important. I've mentioned these already. One is, you know, that entrance to me and I know that Councilman Price agreed the entrance to me that the four or five where all the freeways converge coming on to Seventh Street is critical. And so I'm really hoping that as we develop this and obviously with Councilman Price's input and everyone else, and I think Councilman Pearce mentioned this too, to me, that's just an opportunity for like a like a homerun, you know, and I hope that we're able to really focus some resources into that that entrance way into the city. That's also the entrance from Orange County. Right. So it's that corner county entrance into the city as well, which is unique, I think among other cities, like like is the downtown entrance. The second thing and and again, I only support this if Councilmember Super now supports it, but I'd love to see something at the traffic circle just because I think it's to me, the traffic circle is like so well known in Long Beach. And like when you're in the traffic circle, you know, you're kind of in the center of the city and, you know, it kind of it's kind of the place where, you know, pick your own adventure. Like, where are you going? Are you going to the airport? Are you going to go to East Side? Are you going to go to to to downtown? And so I just would love to see something, of course, unless Councilman Super hates the idea, but I'd love to see something. Some. Focus on on the traffic circle because I think it would be great. And then the last thing I'll say is I do appreciate and please we should keep the identity of other other neighborhoods like Bixby Knolls that has a very distinct look like let's let them keep it a look and keep going. And that's it. Councilman Hooper, now. Well, do I pick your own adventure? You don't mean the high accident rate around. Okay. Well, now, also, in that case, that is a Caltrans property. So we'd have to get those folks involved, too. But, yeah, wide open to that. Let's let's do something creative there. Thank you. Thank you. And Councilman Austin. So I think to your point about the traffic circle, if we're pointed to the east side, it could get really confusing right there. I'm thinking Councilmember Andrews. Would agree with that. Yes. Thank you. Got a motion in a second. And we're going to do some additional outreach of the aquatic capital of America board, hopefully here soon. Please cast your votes. Bush and Kerry's. Their machines work again. Excellent. Thank you. An excited, please.