Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 5.57 related to the regulation of nuisance motels, read and adopted as read.  (Citywide)
I see no public comment on this item and I will go and do a roll call vote. District one yeah. District four, yes. District six. District seven. District eight and District nine. Motion carries that six votes. And next up is 31. Report from Development Services recommendation declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code related to the regulation of nuisance motels read and adopted as read citywide. I have a motion any second. I do have some public comment on this item. Uh as an I can't fee and Jerry Glenn Thomas are the two folks I have is Jerry Glenn Thomas here? Nope. Mr.. Can we go ahead? Please put. The micron. Okay. It's unfortunate. Can I get my 8 seconds back mouse again? It's unfortunate that all the housing people have left, because I'm really curious on what the municipal code defines a nuisance motel. Being curious because, you know, everyone watching those that don't know, you know, motels are a vital part of the ecosystem of housing homeless people. So I'm always worried when I see that term Nuisance Motel. I know what it means. It means that there's drug activity possible, gang activity possible, uh, you know, uh, prostitution, etc., etc.. And this is true. But I'm worried that when we define things, uh, as such, it limits the opportunity of places for a lot of our homeless and housing impaired people to go to these vouchers. My mother works for the Department of Family Service at the county building on Santa Fe, and she specifically she's eligibility worker, so she's defining who gets to have a housing voucher each and every month. There's over 60 people a month. Those are 60 people who take housing vouchers from the county. And where do they go? No, there's no there's very rarely any Section eight or or apartment or subsidized housing providers who are taking these vouchers. So nine out of ten times, most of these homeless people who are on the streets are going to the county building, getting a voucher from them and then going to a motel. So if we start getting rid of these motels and or we start labeling them as nuisance motels, we're therefore eliminating housing opportunities for homeless people, thereby putting more people on the streets. So I'm just curious to see, like, what what, you know, what were the finances? And I'm worried that, you know, I understand that some of these motels are are, you know, harboring certain activity. And we don't want in areas that are now being redefined and changed and rightfully that's. And I appreciate them for that. However, you know, we can't get rid of opportunities for homeless people to have housing and at the same time say, well, we're going to knock down this nuisance motel. And then in 5 to 10 years after, it's been an empty lot for X amount of years because we don't actually have the capital funding to build the building on top of it, we're going to put affordable housing there one day. So it's like you're going to get rid of motels that actually do homes house homeless people right now or what. So I'm just curious to see what the city is going to do with that, because that county money is really like people are using these motels purely to get off the streets today. So. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you very much. That concludes. That concludes that concludes public comment as a sign. Oh, yeah. Okay. Here we go. That concludes public comment. And we do have Councilman Austin who has some comments. I did. Just just to clarify for clarification purposes. And following up on a public speaker, the the comment. Can you city attorney once again define what a nuisance site is or would be considered to be? Certainly in the in the nuisance, this ordinance is trying not to close them, but to make sure that they are in conformance and not creating a nuisance. And in the event, for example, of drug related arrests at the location or excessive calls for service by the police department for services, it could be deemed a nuisance hotel. And if it is deemed a nuisance hotel, then the that business should shall retain its license only if it conforms to a series of and there are 22 requirements that they have to do in order to make that hotel a non nuisance hotel and maintain their license. So it's it's a combination of calls for service and complaints from the community that we're trying to address by this ordinance. So. And I just want to ensure that that, you know, we're we're being fair here and understanding that, you know, one or two complaints from. One person is not, you know, used as a trigger to to a nuisance. That's absolutely correct. Okay. So I just want to clarify that, because I know I had a few people reach out to me after our last meeting. Just just for clarification on that. That's why I asked the question. I'll be supporting the item. But again, I want to make sure that we are not deeming every motel in the city as a nuisance property. Just just those specific ones. And I know we had a list of when we we looked at the study to begin with, there was a list of of specific sites that that that caused this or created this this ordinance. So. Thanks. Thank you, Councilman Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just want to speak in support of this. You know, staff done a good job. It's been a long time coming. We know the issues. We know the hotels. We know we. This gives us the definition of what a nuisance motel is. It helps add clarity, set some standards, and and it's going to have an overall impact on the quality of life in every neighborhood. So we're really proud that this has come forward. And thank you. Can I support this? Thank you. There's a motion and a second. No other public comment. So please, let's do the roll call vote. District one. Yet true to. District four. Yes. District six, seven, eight and nine. District nine. Yes. Okay. That is six votes. That concludes the regular agenda. And so that's the I believe it's the last item. We do have some additional comment, but that is the last item 31. Is that right? Madam Quirk. Great. I do have three speakers I want to invite to please to please come forward a Cathy item.